2006.2oo7 PRESIDENT'S - MSc(ECom&IComp) Programme

A NEWSLEllER PUBLISHED JOINTLY BYTHE PROGRAMME O F F D E U N O C O N OF THE H T E R OF SCIENCE IN ELECTRONIC
COMMERCE & INTERNET COMPUTING PROGRAMME
ANOTHER SPLENDID YEAR
As I reflect on the Alumni Association's
activities over the past 12 months, I believe
we can be proud of our achievements.
Through the great efforts put in by fellow
members and the Board of Directors, we
fulfilled our goal of providing more networking
opportunities and benefits; we promoted the
Alumni Association's visibility among current
students in order to ensure a vibrant alumni
programme in the future; and we remained
one of the most active and supportive alumni
associations on the HKU campus.
For the year 2006-2007, the Association
hosted and sponsored a number of events,
expanded the range of benefits and services,
participated in experience sharing with new
students, and introduced new initiatives.
Below are some of the highlights.
NETWORKING EVENTS
Luncheon
(August to September 2006)
Happy Hour
(September 2006 to June 2007)
Dinghy training
(October to November 2006)
SIG Sports seminars
(October to December 2006)
Professional Development seminar on
Program Trading (December 2006)
HKU Marathon Team for the Standard
Chartered Marathon 2007 (4 March 2007)
Cross Countrv & Familv Fun Run
(April 2007) '
Annual event - BBQ at Aberdeen Boat Club
(26 May 2007)
CONNECTING FEUW ALUMNI
WITH NEWSnrDEN7S
At the invitation of the Programme Office,
Association members have an enjoyable time
sharing experiences wtth new students at the
Welcoming iWep€lon for New Students and
at the 2006 Graduation Dinner. They were
great ways to connect fellow Alumni with new
SEUtlents.
2006.2oo7 PRESIDENT'S
OUrsTANDlNG SERCiCE?S AWARD
my term of ~resirterlcy draws to a close, I
want to take mis opportunity to recugnise
and acknowledge the members who have
re~idersd outstanding sewices to the Alwnnl
bbsoCiation. It was with great pleasure that
the 2006-07 President's Outstanding Seivices
Award was p r e d at the annual event on
26 May 2007. X extend my congmtulafions
and heartklt thanks to these four mernbws;
Pattick Chan (VP, Membership) - who
was instrumal in secwing major
sponsorship for the HKU Marathan Team.
Denny Ma - br his strong commitment
ta, members' betuefb.
4 Angela Pang (up, student AfPairs &
Programme Of&@ Ualaon) - Por her
autstanding sewices in supporting the
Assodation's activities,
Michael Tsui (VP, Social Activities) - who
spearheaded a wide variety of social
acuvkes for the Assodation.
MEICOM CONNECT
At the invitation of the Programme Office, the
Association jointly published the Meicom
Connect newsletter twice a vear. The first
issue was in December 2006. 'I encourage all
members to contribute to the newsletter.
The editor would welcome your article, be it
long or short.
LAPEL PIN
In appreciation of the members' support and
to help promote the continual presence of the
Association, we are going to present a stylish
lapel pin to members free of charge. Please
send us your up-to-date contact details
(name, postal address, email address and
contact phone number) so that we can
update our address database.
Last, but not least, the Association cannot be
as effective as it has been without the
dedication of the Programme Office and your
continual support. I am truly grateful and I
am sure the new Board of Directors will
will appreciate your -
continuing support. My
best wishes to vou and
your family for a healthy
and successful future.
Letitia Ngan
President 2006-2007
MEICOM Alumni Association -
MEMBER BENEFITS AND SERVICES
We worked hard to expand benefits and
services to our members. Major offers
introduced this year include:
Stress tests special offer for HKU Marathon
Team members running at the Standard
Chartered Marathon, and
Access to external professional seminars at
discounted price.
Apart from the above, we continue to offer
members:
Free web-based email account with 30MB
of storage,
Free access to current lecture notes of the
MSc programme,
Continuing professional development
opportunities at privileged rates on current
course modules and professional lectures,
Career opportunities postings, and 1
Mentoring for students.

JULY 2007 ISSUE
Getting an Invitation to review the
programme's currlculurn brought back some
memories about why I joined the programme.
In late 1999, like many Hong Kong people, I
was In stock speculation on the dot corn
boom, undertaken In addltion to my day-job
as a banker. I thought I would have even
better trading results if I knew more about:
the so-called e-commerce. This was frankly
the key driving force in my application to join
the MSc(ECom&lComp) programme In 2000.
The enrolment at that tlma was verj cornpetlbive
as the programme was the first one launched
in 1999 in Hong Kong, and the second one
launched In the world (after Professor Shamos'
In Carnegie Mellon), and regarded as the best
In Hong Kong and In Asla (which It still is).
Unfortunately, the dot am boom burst In
September 2000 and this deflated me somewhat.
LuckJly enough, I did not qult immediately
and the study experiem really opened the
eyes of this middle-aged professional.
We were thrown Into the high-tech lingua
franca such as e-payment, e-voting, GIs,
wireless communication, VoIP etc., the
concepts of which were still at a pioneering
stage then, but have since been
Implemented. Nowadays, we talk about
micro-payments for music and vldeos (Apple
TV); we hear of construction firms looking
out for roofs requiring maintenance with the
help of Google maps, etc. TRe knowledge we
got back In 1999-2000 enabled us to better
understand and apply the 'tools' ahead of the
market, thus giving us a strategic advantage.
Equally important, through my studies, I met
and made many frlends from various industries.
They were interesting personalities with rich
and diverse experience: some were still in
their energetic youth; whlle some were, like
me, going through a bit of a mid-llfe crisis!
Our friendship has continued aRer graduation,
and through the Alumnl Association, we are
always meeting other gmduates and the new
cohorts af students every year.
WlWlin the Alumni Association, we have
discovered and come to share some common
lnterwts e.g. running, scuba dlving, eyding,
hiking, etc. For sure, the individual talents
and objectives vary. For example, Pauline Tse
(Sherbonne International) discovered her
liking and talent for runnlng, and is now a
fanatlc. But there are also some who enjoy
running as a gmup exercise for mingling and
smialising, and do not mind coming up last in
any races, lib myself.
I am honoured to be elected the President of
the Alumni Assodation for the coming year
(2007-08). The board of dlrectors and I am
determined to continue our momentum to
promote more diversified academic, social
and sports activities. Last year, we started a
basic sailing course. We plan to forms a few
teams in Tmil Walker /
Team Challenge Adventure
advitles this autumn and
wlnter. If you have any
other suggestions, please
email any of our dlrectors,
I
Meloom Alumni A etlon
When 1 get to the offlce eveiyday, I pull out
my RFIO staff card and reglster myself on a
global system that tells the entire company
that I am in and ready for actlon. I pull out
my mobile phone and plug in my Blackberry
for recttargtng at my desk. I cllp on my
In-house pager and I release my desk phone
off "Busy". I log into the computer system
and my SIX "persistent" IM chat rooms start
up automatically, along with my webcam and
ten little windows that show my colleagues
worklng In Slngapore and Tokyo. Our IM
(Instant Message) chats don't just allow text
chats; the same channel offers VoIP as well.
Anyone In my organlzatlon could have access
to me vla multlpla channels and in
multimedia: visual, audio and text. I sit out
In the open as no one has private ofices in
our company. Then again, prlvate o f R are ~
anything but prlvate In this day and age.
Anyone from anywhere can interrupt me
anytime and in any way they want. Oh, did I
mention the speaker box on my desk that is
connected to a worldwide "squawk" (volce)
system and the more tiadltional overhead
"publlc announcement" system that we are
so fond of using?
We are In the Information business and
Information travels fast and frequent in the
company, We are constantly Interrupted by
multiple channels of communications from
colleagues who want and expect
instantaneous responses. While the speed Zs
exhilarating and tasks get completed qutckly,
It is dlfflcult when we need to write an
evaluation, to develop a new plan or to flesh
out a new idea. To do anything that requires
more than flve minutes of attentlon is often a
challenge in Zen concentmtlon. In fact, it is
tempting to give up thinking all together
when it is easier to shoot off a message to
ask someone else. At the same time, since
we know conversations on electronic
mediums are kept for posterity, we tend to
give the safest answer possible and
sornetlmes wlth a few Ilnes of legalese mixed
In. When Intemctions with colleagues
become fragmented, transactional and
stifled, opportunities for discussions and
creative thinklng are lost,
As modem corporations race to embrace
modern communication technotogy, this
dissociation threatens to extend to
cllent-business interactions as well. Clients
are offered the use of online self-servlce
systems, onllne manuals, context sensitlve
help, ernails, electronic voice menus and IM
chats by way of support. The last time I saw
a bank teller must be about slx months ago.
Intemctlons between clients and thelr
customers therehre also threaten to become
fragmented, transctlonal and stifled. CRM
systems (Cllent Relations Management)
promise to help, but a vast database of
fragmented interactlons doesn't change the
fact that they are stlll transactional and can
easily be commoditlsed.
People do business with people they like. In
this highly computerlzed world of ours, the
value OF a genulne mile Is on a steady
up-bend. Our ability to Interact with each
other and to form relationships with a
colleague or a customer is the key advantage
that cannot be commodIUzed away. We are
what we are, and we are unique. One of our
company's key competitive advantages Is
that they have us, and there's only one just
to go around. As cllencs, we all want
attention, we all want to be treated as unique
human beings that we are. The two
questions most of our customers send to us
everyday are: Do you hear ME? Do you
understand what I want?
So, do not let the advent of technology
dictate our agenda. Technology should not
enslave us In small wrnmoditlzed confines.
Technology should free us up to be more
human. As corporate employees, all our
communlcatlon devlces do not have to be on
all the time. We do not have to read and
respond to every single email fmmedlately
upon i-ecelpt, We do not have to jump evety
ttme our Blackberry beeps or when our IM
agent flashes. We can check our
communications at regular intervals and
struggle to give ourselves time to think, to
create and hence to do what humans do best.
We can get off from our desk, walk over and
talk to our colleagues in person. We can have
conversattons over coffee or lunch. By the
same token, we can afford to be more human
on emails and IM chats with our clients. We
can let our personallttes show (God forbid!).
We can get off the "emall tmp" and pick up
the phone and talk to our clients instead. We
can visit our cllents, break some bread and
share some jokes. Our competitors might
have the same technology that we have, but
they dont have us.
They don't have us.
Use technology properly to free us up to be
humans - to Insplre, to create and to foster
relationships. That perhaps Is the ml
wlnnlng stmtegy in thls competltiw digital
world.
Jackson CS. Kwan
ZOOg ECQM Graduaia
htrp:l~.llnked&,WnAee~hen

SHOULD COMPUTERS BE USED FOR VOTING?
1 have been involved in cornputerlzed votlng
systems for 27 years, having been an offleiat
examiner of electronic vothg systems for
varlous states slnce 1980, conducted more
than 120 such examhatlons, and testified on
voting issues before the U.S. Congress four
times and before state legislatures five times.
So I have learned a few thlngs. Rrst,
computers afford the most secure method of
votlng ever develop& and computers can
guide voters through the process of voting
far better than any instructions that might be
printed on a paper ballot. But I have Iearnd
something else: the publlc does not trust
computers, or the people who programme
them enough to rely on electronic mdhods of
votlng. At least that is true in the Unlted
Stater.
The U.S., unlike many countries, has very
cornpllcated ballots. In one county in
California in 2006 there were 30 races on the
batlot involving 98 different candidates plus
another 30 referenda to be voted on. It
requlred votlng on six sides of optlcal scan
sheets. Unfortunately, the U.S. experience
with electmnic votlng has not been good.
Ever since the Bush-Gore debacle of 2000,
whlch resulted R the banning of punched
cards, everv other method of votina has led
to proble&. Most recently, in an ejection in
Sarasota County, Florida, more than 18,000
voters failed to cast a vote for a crltical
legislative race, a virtually unprecedented
undenrote of 15%.
applicable government standards, although
such a consequence was never intended.
The machines are atlowed to exhlbit a mean
time between fallure (MTBF) of 163 hours.
An ordinary personal computer has an MTBF
of about 30,000 hours, almost 200 tlmes
better.
The resutt of the U.S. experience is that
Congress and the states are moving to
outlaw electronic voting and replace It wlth
either hand-counted or optically scanned
paper ballots. That will be a great mistake,
for It ignores the very reason votlng
machines were introduced In the first place -
to eliminate rampant corruption of elecNons
through rnantpulation of paper ballots. In a
paper ballot system, there Is anly one copy of
the voter's choices. If anything happens to
that copy, such as alteratron, mutllatlon, loss,
or augmentation {called ballot-box stuffing),
it is impossible to rewnstruct the voter's
orfginal choices and the election is
permanently mmpromlsed. Many countries
exhibit an Inglorious history when it comes to
ballot manipulation. In contmst, modern
electronic systems keep redundant encrypted
ballot records on multtple physical media. It
Is essentially irnposslble to corrupt all of them
In a consistent fashlon, making It easy not
only to detect any attempt to intrude, but
allowing easy reconsttuctlon of the election.
Instead of expending englneeflng effort to
lrnprove system reliability and hence public
comfort, the U.S. is poised to move
backward. The reason Is largely
unwarranted feab compounded by computer
scientists who know a tot about computer
security but very little about security of
paper records. I urge a serlous, scientlflc
comparative study of
best modern system
rather than discardins I
Even when there is no overt lrrt?gularlty,
commercial voting machines have shown
themselves to be among the least reliable
devices on thls planet. It has been reported
anecdotally that approximately 10% of
electronic votlng machines fall in some
respect durlng the average of 13 hours they
are in Use on EIedlon Day. In some cases the
experience is much worse, Unfortunately,
such a failure rate is actually permitted by
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JULY 2007 ISSUE
FEAR AND DISTRUST OF TECHNOLOGY, OR OF ITS USE ?
By coincidence, two of our articles in this
issue deal with human anxiety over
technology. While Professor Shamos has
learnt that the public does not trust
computers or the people who programme
them enough to rely on electronic voting, our
graduate Jackson Kwan reminds us not to let
the advent of technology dictate our personal
agenda.
I believe we fear and/or distrust technology
usually for three reasons: we either know too
much, or we do not know enough, or we are
just unwilling to change because it
sometimes means giving up certain
cherished ideals or values in one's life and
society. The three reasons feature
prominently in the public debates over the
adoption of a national ID card in Australia
and the UK. After the recent terrorist attacks
in London and Glasgow, and the detention of
an Asian-born medical doctors recently
migrated to Australia whose contact
information was revealed on the SIM card in
the mobile telephone of one of the terrorists,
the verdict is still out whether technology is a
powerful tool to combat terrorism or one that
could easily be used unwittingly to
incriminate an innocent person.
In Australia, the national card was proposed
twenty years ago as a safeguard against
fraud and abuse of national benefits, but was
rejected by the majority of its people. Public
opinion is still divided about a national card
over its reliability, cost, and especially its
declared purposes, which are generally along
these lines: prevent illegal immigration, aid
anti-terrorism measures, and reduce benefit
fraud and abuse of public services. The
objections are loss of privacy, leading to
"function creep", and worsening harassment
of ethnic minorities. One of our Australian
instructors, Professor Roger Clarke
(ECOM6001: Internet and the WWW), has
pointed out that a card cannot be used as a
tool against terrorism because face
recognition is still unreliable (The Age, 2
August 2005). Some argue that unless there
is a real-time verification system at any
location where a national ID card check is
required, the service cannot work effectively.
Other concede that while the emergence of
web services will make a card more
achievable and eventually more affordable,
linking the card with various data sources will
be fraught with difficulty because of human
input error and the data to be linked might be
poor and incorrect.
I have just returned from a working trip to Hong
Kong where I had to change my old ID card for a
new smart card registering my photograph and
finger prints. While, like all good and obedient
Hong Kong citizens, I have never questioned the
government's purposes and uses of the card,
which has been around since the fifties; I do have
my occasional moments of doubts about how much
information is stored in that card about me.
Have my tax, health, trips, education and job
records been linked to the basic information on
the card such as my date of birth, sex, address,
and marital status and family? Who will have
access to such information, which may or may
not be correct, and for what purposes?
As we learn about and deploy smart cards,
RFID, GIs, data warehousing, data mining
technologies and information engineering in
gathering marketing and customer information
for e-commerce, perhaps hg4 E&>
we should also bear in
mind the human factor
and the paramount
importance of ethics
and human rights.
Angela Castro
MEICOM Connect Editor
ZOMPLETION OF THE MSC(ECOM&ICOMP)
ZURRICULUM REVIEW
4 curriculum review of the MSc programme
n Electronic Commerce and Internet
Zomputing has been completed. Thanks to
all those graduates, instructors and teaching
assistants who participated. Decisions have
Ieen taken to enhance the curriculum
:hrough the updating of existing modules and
:he progressive introduction of new modules.
Mr. Peter Looms will teach a new elective
nodule on "Technology convergence and
ligital entertainment".
1 Dr. Renato Iannella has revised the XML
nodule to come up with more advanced
:opics on Internet information engineering.
Dr. Joachim Hammer, who has recently
oined the Microsoft research team in
Seattle, will redesign the data warehousing
nodule to focus on Business intelligence.
1 New topics like Mobile commerce (ECOM
nodule) and Service science management
and engineering (ICOM module) are now in
:he planning stage.
ZONTINUING PROFESSIONAL
3EVELOPMENT (CPD) COURSES
Graduates are welcome to enroll in
YSc(ECom&IComp) modules for continuing
and professional development purpose. We
ill offer the new modules as CPD courses to
Iur graduates if enrolment quota allows.
hformation about CPD courses is published
In the programme web site in September,
lecember, and May. Watch out for our email
iotification if you are interested!
ATES
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, and given
by our visiting instructors who may also
choose to share other expertise beyond that
shown in their modules.
Mr. Sampson Lee from GCCRM presented his
research study on "Online Customer Experience
in Mainland China" on 26 February 2007. The
study revealed not only Chinese people's
surfing habits, but also their online experience.
In June, Mr. Bebo White of Stanford University
gave a talk on "Open Source Software - A
Collaboration Platform for Web Applications",
which was about the close interaction
between open source methodologies, tools,
platForms, and the construction of modern
web applications and services.
A panel discussion, chaired by Denis Lee,
Professor of Suffolk University, explored the
trend for IT/IS outsourcing and how Hong
Kong should develop its human resources in
the IT/IS area on 20 June 2007. Some
graduates and current students were invited
to join the panel to discuss and share their
experience.
The slides and video recording of most of the
addresses are available on our web site:
http://www. ecom-icom. hku. hk/seminar/
WELCOMING RECEPTION FOR
COHORT 2007-08 STUDENTS
We will have a welcoming reception for cohort
2007-08 students at Thretre B, Chow Yei Ching
Building on 1 September 2007. Graduates and
current students are welcome to attend this
gathering and share your experience with new
students. Please contact the Programme OfFice
if you would like to participate.
GRADUATE DIRECTORY
To stay in touch with the Programme and with
your fellow graduates, the Programme OfFice
provides a graduate directory for you to
update your contact information and look for
other graduates. So don't forget to tell us if you
have moved, changed your telephone number
or email address. You could check to make
sure that your information is correct and
up-to-date.
http://www. ecom-icom. hku. hwgraduate-info/
I
Panel Discussion on 20 June 2007
I
MEICOM CONNECT welcomes contributions and comments. Please email them to msc@ecom-icom.hku.hk. Deadline for the next issue: 7 December 2007.