2000 Chairman Report of IEEE HK Section Computer Chapter

First of all, I would like to thank every member in the Executive Committee of the IEEE HK Section Computer Chapter for all their hard work and make the year 2000 a great success.

We are proud to inform our members that the number of active members is growing. According to the latest statistics, there are over 1400 active members under the chapter and the Computer Chapter is the biggest chapter under the IEEE Hong Kong Section.

This year, we keep up with the good tradition and have organized numerous activities. In summary, we have sponsored 10 International Conferences, 11 technical seminars, a happy hour gathering, a short course, and a One-Day Workshop. We also jointly organized an Information Technology Functional Constituency Public Forum for the Legco Election, and was successful in persuading the government to set up the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). The year was then highlighted by the visits of the 2000 IEEE Computer Society President (Dr. Guylaine Pollock, the 1999 IEEE President (Dr. Ken Laker), and the 2000 IEEE President (Dr. Bruce Eisenstein).

Sponsoring conferences and organizing technical seminars had always been our major activities. This year, we have helped 10 conferences either as a seed money provider or as a named sponsor. In particular, we provide seed money to The 1st International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering (WISE'2000), and The First Asia-Pacific Conference on Quality Software (APAQS2000) in 2000, and to The Fifth Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD 2001), and The Computer Graphics International 2001 (CGI 2001) in 2001. On the other hand, the chapter also gave support to 6 other conferences in terms of a named sponsor to promote and publicize the technical events being held in Hong Kong over the year.

In additional to sponsoring conferences, we have organized altogether 11 technical seminars. Because of the current activities in e-commerce, the growing importance of Java, and the development in XML, six out of our eleven seminars are within these areas. Among these six seminars, five of them belong to the Hong Kong Web Society seminar series in which we jointly organized the event with the Hong Kong Web Society. Furthermore, because of the outbreak virus attacks and hacking activities, we also jointly organized a seminar with 11 sister societies including ACM-HK, BCS-HK, HKACE, HKCS, HKETSA, HKIE-ITD, HKISPA, HKITF, HKRPA, IEE-HK for a seminar on Internet Hacking and Security. The seminar was held in City University, and was well received. With over 400 participants, the discussion was fruitful and that seminar also alerted the government about the need for setting up a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). In fact, we followed up the demand and as a result, the CERT is scheduled to be effective by April 2001 and was reported in this year's Government Policy Address.

Besides the seminars on e-commerce and Internet Security, we are glad to have Dr. Sin Horng Chen to give a seminar on "Artificial Neural Network Based Mandarin Speech Processing", Prof. Rae Earnshaw on "The Challenges of Digital Media Research Issues and Future Directions", Prof. Sang Lyul Min on "File Caching in the Operating System and LRFU (Least Recently/Frequently Used) Replacement Policy", and a talk by Prof. C.V. Ramamoorthy and Prof. Benjamin Wah (2001 IEEE President) on "Services and Service Engineering - A Study of Its Evolution and Its Impact in the Internet Era". And together with a One-Day Short Course on Speech Recognition and a One-Day Workshop on XML - Standards, Technologies & Applications, we have had a strong technical programme for our members in the year 2000.

Our Chapter has also paid much effort in protecting the interest of our members and helping in the IT professional development in Hong Kong. We have representatives in the Advisory Committee of the IT Legislator, Mr. Sin Chung Kai, to provide our professional advice on IT legislative matters and plays advisory role to the Hong Kong SAR Government on making IT policies. We also had meeting with Dr. Cheng Cheng Wen, CEO of the Provisional Hong Kong Science Park Co Ltd., discussing the IT development in Hong Kong. We also had a meeting with Prof. Vincent Shen, Science Advisor of the Innovation and Technology Commission, and expressed our opinions and concerns on the Innovation and Technology Fund and related issues.

Our Chapter is well recognized in Hong Kong especially in the IT sector. Representing our Chapter, our Chapter Chairman has been invited to attend many events such as the Spring Reception of the Chief Secretary of HK SAR Government, the annual dinners of sister societies like ACM-HK, and HKCS, and various important events organized by The University of Hong Kong, the City University of Hong Kong, and the Open University of Hong Kong. Our Chairman also represents our Chapter to join the IT National Day Celebration Banquet Chairman Group in organizing the banquet and serve as a steering committee member for the Hong Kong Software Industry Survey 2000 conducted by the Hong Kong Productivity Council.

Last but not least, the year 2000 was highlighted by the visits of the IEEE Computer Society President - Dr. Guylaine Pollock, the IEEE President - Dr. Bruce Eisenstein, and the Immediate-Past IEEE President - Dr. Ken Laker. We enjoyed very much the dinner with Dr. Pollock to learn more about the current status and future directions of the IEEE Computer Society. On the other hand, during the dinner reception with Dr. Ken Laker, we are honored to participate in the IEEE Millenium Medal Presentation in which quite a number of our active members in IEEE as well as in IEEE CS received the Medal because of their significant contribution to the IEEE.

Dr. Bruce Eisenstein dined with us in October 28^th, and in the discussion over the dinning table, he proposed to organize a One-Day Symposium on "A Summit on Computing in Hong Kong". This event will be organized by IEEE Hong Kong and the theme will be around the topics in "Closing the Gap between the Industry and the University". Our chapter will be a major contributor and the coordinator of the event and the summit is tentatively set to be held on March 31^st 2001.

Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues in our Executive Committee. Without their firm support and hard work, we could not have established such an achievement.

Dr. Joseph K. Ng

Chair, IEEE HK Computer Chapter

Chapter Activities in 2000

Conference Sponsorship

1. APAQS’2000: HK$10,000 seed money

2. PDCAT’2000: Named sponsor

3. WISE’2000: Seed money

4. APAMI MIC’2000: Named sponsor

5. PAKDD’2001: HK$50,000 seed money

6. Computer Graphics International’2001: Seed money of HK$50,000

7. MDM’01: Named sponsor

8. Open Component Expo: Named sponsor

9. CSCWD’2000: Named sponsor

10. International Workshop on Cooperative Internet Computing 2000, Named sponsor

Seminars:

1. Internet Hacking and Security, 6 May 2000 at Lecture Theatre 2 of the City University of Hong Kong.

2. HKWS Seminar: How to build an e-commerce Web site - Software Infrastructure Prospective, by Mr. Benedict Lee, Consultant Informix Software (HK) Ltd. March 24^th 2000, LT12, CityU.

3. HKWS Seminar: Empowering Xml For Tomorrow’s Eworld, Mr Clive Tilbrook, Director, Software AG Asia Pacific, April 28^th 2000 (Friday), Lecture Theatre 15, Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong.

4. HKWS Seminar: Catch the Portal Wave, 26th May, 2000, Room U208, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

5. Artificial Neural Network Based Mandarin Speech Processing, Sin Horng Chen, July 5^th 2000, Dept. of EE, Ho Sin Hang Eng. Bldg., CUHK.

6. Developing,Managing and Implementing Effective E-Commerce Solutions, Morris Tso, July 28^th 2000 (Friday), Room A0411, Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Kowloon

7. The Challenges of Digital Media Research Issues and Future Directions, Prof. Rae A. Earnshaw, 5:30pm - 6:30pm on August 8^th 2000 (Tuesday), Screening Room, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (2/F near Lift No. 5, Academic Building, CityU)

8. Oracle Business Components for Java, Mr. Vince Wan (Senior Consultant, Oracle Systems HK LTD), August 25^th 2000, Room A0416, The Open University of Hong Kong

9. File Caching in the Operating System and LRFU (Least Recently/Frequently Used) Replacement Policy, Prof. Sang Lyul MIN, September 6^th 2000, Room 905, Sir Run Run Shaw Building, Hong Kong Baptist University

10. A seminar for e-business based on ebXML: INNOTATIONS: XML and e-commerce MARKET, AWARENESS, and EDUCATION. Date: November 11^th 2000. Venue: Rm A109, Institute of Vocational Education (Tsing Yi), 20 Tsing Yi Road, Tsing Yi, N.T. Sponsored by IEEE HK Computer Chapter.

11. Services and Service Engineering – A Study of Its Evolution and Its Impact in the Internet Era, C.V. Ramamoorthy and B.W. Wah, 19-20 June 2000.

Short Course and Workshop:

1. Speech Recognition: A One-Day Short Course, June 24^th 2000.

2. XML – Standards, Technologies & Applications: A One-Day Workshop, Date:25 October 25th 2000. Time: 09:00 – 17:00. Venue: Exhibition Hall, 4/F, HKPC Building, 78 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon. (Organized by HKPC, Name sponsored by IEEE HK Computer Chapter).

Other Activities:

1. Outstanding Internet Marketing Award: Name sponsor

2. Successful in requesting the set up of a JKCERT

3. IT Happy Hours (Main organizer: HKPC, Co-organizer: Computer Chapter) Date: August 14th (Monday, TODAY) Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm Venue: LG1 Lounge, Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC)

4. Dinner with Dr. Guylaine Pollock (2000 IEEE CS President) Date: August 29^th 2000. Venue: Han Bo Restaurant, TsimShaTsui.

5. Dinner and Medal Presentation by Dr. Ken Laker (1999 IEEE President). Date: August 31^st 2000. Venue: Taishan Room, Island Shangri-la Hotel.

6. Information Technology Functional Constituency Public Forum, Co-Organizer, Date: September 4^th 2000. Venue: CityU.

7. Dinner with Dr. Bruce Eisenstein (2000 IEEE President) and the Steering Committee of the "Summit on Computing" going to be held on March 31^st 2001. Date: October 28^th 2000. Venue: Peking Garden, TsimShaTsui.