ECom-IComp Experts Address Series (2004-2005)

The ECom-IComp experts address series is designed primarily to keep students and alumni of our programme up-to-date with the information technology and electronic business trends around the world. We invite our eminent overseas instructors to give the public address, which forms an important part of the learning process, and also facilitates our programme participants to network with local industry and business leaders. Instructors can also present unusual topics they are passionate about or which they think deserve more public attention.

Past Addresses  
Date Title Speaker
9 Sep 2004 Open source and open content offer insights for e-business Prof. Roger Clarke
5 Oct 2004 The Challenge of 15-24 year olds in Digital Entertainment Mr. Peter Looms
12 Nov 2004 Digital Rights Management - From Mobile To Internet Dr. Renato Iannella
28 Jan 2005 eGovernment in the United States Prof. Michael Shamos
10 Mar 2005 Why 'web engineering' is needed for web applications and services Prof. Bebo White
8 Apr 2005 Getting Started as a GIS Professional Prof. Karen Kemp
20 May 2005 Document Engineering with UBL: patterns for business document exchange Mr. Tim McGrath
24 Jun 2005 Understanding information seeking behaviors and user experience: How to apply research methodologies to information technologies management and new product design Prof. Denis Lee
19 Jul 2005 Creating Retail Decision Support Systems using Consumer Transaction Data Prof. Alan Montgomery

 

Title: Creating Retail Decision Support Systems using Consumer Transaction Data
Speaker: Professor Alan Montgomery
Associate Professor of Marketing at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
Date & Time:  19 July (Tuesday)
 7pm - 8pm
Slides [ Acrobat PDF ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Synchronized Audio Playback *
Synchronized Video Playback *
Venue: Room S27
3/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract: There has been an explosion in the availability of data and computing ability in retail management that has led to a new desire on the part of managers to implement demand based management. Demand based management uses statistical models to predict consumer price response using historical information. These models can be used to construct pricing decision support systems for retail managers. Currently, many firms have begun offering software to perform price optimization.  This talk considers how recent advances in academic research can contribute to the implementation of these systems, and in turn consider the new questions likely to be posed by the developers and users of these new systems.
Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Alan Montgomery

See Biography

 

Title: Understanding information seeking behaviors and user experience: How to apply research methodologies to information technologies management and new product design
Speaker: Professor Denis Lee
Professor of Computing Information Systems, Suffolk University
Date & Time:  24 June (Friday)
 7pm - 8pm
Slides [ Acrobat ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Video [ Windows Media Player ]
Venue: Room S7
3/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract: Understanding professional workers' information seeking behaviors and users' experiences can provide vital insight into the effective management of information technologies / information systems (IT/IS) work as well as new product design. In this talk, I will provide specific examples of how different research methodologies can be applied by practicing managers and engineers to analyze the complex socio-technical process of IT/IS work or new product design.
Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Denis Lee

See Biography

 

Title: Document Engineering with UBL: patterns for business document exchange
Speaker: Mr. Tim McGrath
Chair of the Library content subcommittee of the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL)
Date & Time: 20 May (Friday)
7pm - 8pm

Slides [ Acrobat PDF ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Synchronized Audio Playback *
Synchronized Video Playback *

Venue: Room S206
2/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract: Behind the idea of virtual enterprises and web services lies the very simple and natural idea of document exchange. But when they are implemented without disciplined semantics, the input and output documents of business processes often partition their information in incompatible ways, severely constraining the loosely coupled, "plug and play" interoperability that is the defining vision of effective services.

This address introduces the new discipline of Document Engineering, a set of analysis and design techniques that yield meaningful and reusable models of the information exchanges within and between enterprises. It then applies these techniques to describe the Universal Business Language (UBL) as a library of reusable standardized patterns for designing compatible and interoperable documents.

Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Tim McGrath

See Biography

 

Title: Getting Started as a GIS Professional
Speaker: Professor Karen Kemp
Associate Professor, Geographic Information Science, University of Redlands 
Director of the International Masters Programme in GIS, University of Redlands 
Date & Time: 8 April (Friday)
7pm - 8pm

Slides [ Acrobat ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Video [ Windows Media Player ]

Venue: Room S9
3/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract:

As GIS emerges as a widely implemented technology, the need for a professional workforce to support it has increased. Around the world, a number of post-graduate courses, certification programs and competency studies have been created. This session will explore what a GIS professional is and how to become one.

Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Karen Kemp

See Biography

 

Title: Why 'web engineering' is needed for web applications and services
Speaker: Professor Bebo White
Physicist, Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre
Stanford University
Date & Time: 10 March (Thursday)
7pm - 8pm

Slides [ Acrobat PDF ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Synchronized Audio Playback *
Synchronized Video Playback *

Venue: Room S25
3/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract:

The complexity and requirements of modern Web sites and Applications require a design process that is structured and systematic with many parallels to engineering. This process is multi-disciplinary and beyond the capabilities of a single individual. Therefore, the first generation Webmaster has been forced to evolve into a project team with specialized skills and talents capable of addressing Web issues from an engineering perspective. This talk will introduce the concepts of Web Engineering, why it is necessary, processes and paradigms used, and how we can become prepared to design future Web Applications.

Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Bebo White

See Biography

 

Title: eGovernment in the United States
Speaker: Professor Michael Shamos
Distinguished Career Professor
Director, Universal Library
Co-Director, Institute for eCommerce
School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University 
Date & Time: 28 January (Friday)
5:15pm - 6:15pm

Slides [ Acrobat ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Video [ Windows Media Player ]

Venue: Theatre T3, Meng Wah Complex
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road, H.K.
Abstract:

This talk is a survey of electronic government in the United States, which has a large and diverse federal structure involving the national government as well as state and local governments. Implementation of eGovernment and extensive use of the Internet is mandated by the eGovernment Act of 2002 and various related laws. We will look at how the statutory requirements are supported by a government-wide design known as the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF).

We will review various service offerings, including the government portal FirstGov.gov, Federal rulemaking, integrated judicial systems, land recording and emergency management. All of these require varying levels of security and authentication, so we will review the authentication methods used to secure government data.

Among individual states, Florida leads in making information available to the public electronically. A huge number of government databases that would be regarded as private in other countries, are freely accessible over the Internet, including land records, licensing data and very detailed criminal records. We conclude with a discussion of the nature of public records and the consequences of their ready availability on the World Wide Web.

Organizer: Tthe MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office

Michael Shamos

See Biography

 

Title: Digital Rights Management - From Mobile To Internet
Speaker: Dr. Renato Iannella
Chief Research Scientist, LiveEvents (Australia) 
Date & Time: 12 November 2004 (Friday)
7:00pm - 8:00pm

Slides [ Acrobat ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Video [ Windows Media Player ]

Venue: Room S7
3/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract:

This presentation will cover Digital Rights Management (DRM) and its emergence in the mobile sector. With the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) releasing advanced DRM standards, the major players have embraced the new secure and trusted features, with the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) as the underlying rights expression language. As DRM services increase, so will the need to integrate with existing content and identity systems.  The DRM community now has an open standard but will need to address interoperability with the commercial DRM players and its application to the less-secure Internet.

Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Renato Iannella

See Biography

 

Title: The Challenge of 15-24 year olds in Digital Entertainment
Speaker: Mr. Peter Looms
Multimedia Senior Consultant, Danish Broadcasting Corporation
Date & Time: 5 October 2004 (Tuesday)
7:00pm - 8:00pm

Slides [ PowerPoint ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Synchronized Audio Playback *
Synchronized Video Playback *

Venue: Room 610
6/F, United Centre
Admiralty Learning Centre II, HKU SPACE 
95 Queensway, H.K. 
Abstract:

Throughout the industrialized world, media consumption patterns changed quite slowly until the end of the 20th century. Significant change took a generation to make itself felt. However, in the last 5 years, the media consumption patterns of the under 25s have begun to change dramatically. Mobile phones, local storage devices for music, the Internet and broadband coupled with changes in print media are part of this - but we still have no clear picture as to what is going on.

Drawing on research and studies from around the world, the presentation provides a framework for assessing the impact of these changes and also offers suggestions for the future work of the digital entertainment industry.

Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Peter Looms

See Biography

 

Title: eBusiness Models for Content: The Closed v. The Open Approaches
Speaker: Professor Roger Clarke
Principle, Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd.
Visiting Fellow of the Department of Computer Science, The Australian National University
Date & Time: 9 September 2004 (Thursday)
7:45pm - 8:45pm
Slides [ PowerPoint ]
Audio [ Real Player | Windows Media Player ]
Synchronized Audio Playback *
Synchronized Video Playback *
Venue: Room S27
3/F, Admiralty Learning Centre I, HKU SPACE
Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, H.K.
Abstract:

In September 2003, my Expert Address was on 'Open Source and Open Content as Models for e-Business'. I developed that into a refereed paper, and presented it at the 17th International eCommerce Conference in Bled, Slovenia in June 2004.

This year's address is a further development of that paper. It focusses specifically on content rather than software, and contrasts the business models that are associated with the 'old' closed content approach with those evident in the 'new' open content era.


The debate about 'free' and 'open' versus 'proprietary' and 'closed' was first engaged in the context of software. But the digital era has also highlighted the need for an appreciation of competing interests in many other kinds of works. Conventional, proprietary approaches are well-established, and large publishers are intent on defending them against the depradations wrought by the digital era. Despite some early successes, it seems unlikely that the copyright supremacists will hold sway for much longer. On the other hand, it is unlikely (and undesirable) that copyright will simply collapse. Publishers need to adapt their thinking and their business models forward into the twenty-first century.

The open content approach can be easily depicted as a communitarian movement, whose values are antithetical to the closed approach and to for-profit business and even economics. But open models are demonstrably not as naive and anti-business as the proponents of greatly strengthened copyright laws and patent practice would like to believe.

The primary examples of open content copyright licences are in the areas of legislation and court judgements, education and training materials, software documentation, creative and literary works, and research papers. By identifying and examining those licences, it is possible to appreciate the kinds of business models that they can support, and to delineate the decisions that need to be made by the originator of a work when structuring the terms of an open copyright licence. 
 

Organizers: Jointly organized by the MSc (ECom&IComp) Programme Office and HKU SPACE

Roger Clarke

See Biography

 

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