Daily Bulletin

UW helps make community smart

Cowan (pictured at right) is the man behind the CSG's Waterloo Information Network, a high-tech, low-cost treasury of data about the city. Through an ordinary web browser, people anywhere in the world can find out about businesses and services in Waterloo, connecting names and web links to map locations, and Cowan is hoping to add information about everything from history to climate. "This is a project that's infinite!" he says.

Besides expanding what WIN offers about Waterloo, he has in mind expanding it horizontally, to include Kitchener and surrounding areas. That's where WIN becomes part of the Smart Communities initiative being carried on by the federal government. Twelve cities or groups will get $5 million grants for demonstration projects, and it was revealed last week that Canada's Technology Triangle, made up of K-W, Cambridge and Guelph, is one of five finalists for those grants.

"We are going to win this sucker," said an exuberant Jim Beingessner, chairman of the Economic Development Corporation in CTT, the organization behind the local bid for the "smart communities" grant.

UW is a member of the consortium backing the local bid -- "a very enthusiastic member", UW president David Johnston said last summer -- and the consortium's board includes Johnston, former UW president Doug Wright, and Cowan.

Johnston himself was chair of the federal "information highway advisory council" that last winter recommended the creation of the Smart Communities program. He said in August that while getting the federal government's endorsement, and the money, is important, 'it's more than just applying for a five-million-dollar government grant." Turning the K-W region into a smart community is essential, and will go ahead, whether the project is approved or not, he said.

And so will Cowan's WIN project, which started last February, with support and a little money from the city of Waterloo. "It basically was up and running in four weeks," says Cowan, noting that most of the information came from existing sources and was crunched into shape by "two high school students and my secretary".

The system depends on Sybase database software and a "map engine" produced by Mapconnects, which (like the local branch of Sybase) is a UW spinoff company. "This is built almost entirely out of local software," says Cowan. And "local" is the key word. He notes that WIN has identified a Web presence for several times as many Waterloo-based organizations as Yahoo, which is undertaking the impossible task of "trying to index the world. What you want to do is start with a community." A smart community.

Garbage news Patti Cook, UW's waste management coordinator, has a note for the campus. "The garbage dumpsters are disappearing," she writes, "to be painted, and then brought back. There have been a few phone calls to Plant Operations about where the garbage dumpster went?" That's where.

Toward software engineering -- by Barbara Elve

Scotiabank pledged $2.5 million earlier this month to help create the co-op degree program by funding the establishment of a lab, two research chairs, and a scholarship endowment. The joint proposal by the departments of computer science and electrical and computer engineering to establish the new program must be approved by the faculties of math and engineering before going to the senate for final assent next spring.

If all goes well, the first 100 students could be admitted in September 2000, with the first degrees being awarded in 2005, says computer science professor, undergraduate officer and associate chair (curricula) Prabhakar Ragde, who, with his counterpart Bill Wilson in E&CE, and colleagues in both departments, have shepherded the proposal to this stage.

Negotiations between the two departments have gone quite well, he says. "It was not so much a matter of hand-to-hand combat as learning to speak each other's language and to understand each other's culture. Once that had been done, agreement was not difficult. In both computer science and computer engineering, the curriculum is evolving rapidly."

The planning process has been an open one, with updates posted on the the computer science curriculum committee web page. "There have been quite a number of insightful comments from students, who are enthusiastic about the program, but express some of the same concerns as faculty" about such areas as curriculum content and "the potential negative impact on existing programs."

Ragde termed concerns about the impact on other programs "legitimate" and noted that "new programs can supplant old ones. But if it does happen, it's because of a demand and because a demand can be satisfied. That's truly a form of natural evolution. It's possible some programs will become obsolete."

Dealing with professional accreditation bodies has also presented a challenge. When Memorial University in Newfoundland attempted to use the term "software engineering" it was sued by the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland. The lawsuit has since been dropped, and the CCPE has reached an agreement with Memorial and with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada to establish an independent panel which will make recommendations on the "appropriate use of the term".

"Here," says Ragde, "we've tried to get all parties important to the process into the process. At UW, we're trying to satisfy professional engineering and professional computer science organizations, creating a program to be accredited by both. We should have no problem with the use of the term in an accredited program."

Although the program won't actually be accredited until the first students are about to graduate, he added, "we have developed a program to satisfy most written criteria of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)." The only outstanding matters involve the natural science requirements of the CEAB, said Ragde. "This is the first branch of engineering not producing any physical artifacts. We're arguing that not as much natural science is relevant, and are hoping the criteria will be changed."

UW began offering a joint CS/E&CE option in software engineering in 1995. Although that option is more limited in scope, "it would be possible to start mounting the (degree) program with existing faculty," said Ragde, namely those who teach the courses in the current option. That's only a short-term solution, however. "They also have teaching commitments to their core faculties. Ideally, we will have faculty dedicated to this program. Scotiabank funding is going to make a big difference."

Funding from the Access to Opportunities Program -- the provincial scheme to encourage expansion of high-demand technical programs -- will assist, as well. The 100 students entering the first year of the software engineering program will be taken out of the ATOP expansion numbers approved for the CS and E&CE departments, along with their ATOP funding, said Ragde.

He expects demand for the software engineering degree program to be high among high school students. "My guess is that this program is going to be highly competitive, with cutoff averages equal to or higher than those for computer science and electrical and computer engineering programs."

Designer creates Christmas cards

Unlike other artists employed by graphics on campus, Kirk did not specialize in graphic art, but in drawing and painting, graduating in 1979 from the Ontario College of Art. She works in pen and ink, pastels, oils and watercolours, creating paintings that have appeared in numerous exhibitions over the years, most recently last June at the Grad House.

Most of her work is in private collections. "I don't really pursue the commercial art scene," she says.

Every year Kirk creates her own Christmas card to send to family and friends, and last year designed a card for Courseware as a United Way fund raiser.

This year, she was invited by Graphics to contribute cards as a campus-wide benefit for the UW United Way campaign. "I was thrilled," says Kirk. She brought in seven designs; three were chosen and printed by Graphics.

The cards, packaged in bags of 12 -- four each of the three colourful designs -- are available for $15 at Graphics outlets across the campus. The entire purchase price goes to the UW United Way campaign.

What happens on a Tuesday

A panel discussion on careers in math and computer science is offered this afternoon for the benefit of students in the math faculty. Speakers will range from Sandy Graham, a 1990 grad in the computer science and teaching program, who's now a lecturer in the math faculty itself, to Nathalie St. Maurice, a 1996 CS grad now with IBM Canada, and Janet Grad, a 1993 graduate who earned a PhD in applied math and is now a research analyst with the Bank of Montreal. The event -- which starts at 4:30 in Math and Computer room 4020 -- is sponsored by the Women in Mathematics Committee; all students are welcome.

Concerts happen regularly at Conrad Grebel College; today at 12:30 in the chapel, it's a student recital, details not announced. Admission is free.

The senate scholarships and student aid committee will meet starting at 1 p.m. in Needles Hall room 3004.

The Hindi Film Society presents "Hum Aapke Hain Koun" at 9:15 this evening in Davis Centre room 1304; admission is $2.

A Book Fair, concentrating on books for children, continues (through tomorrow) at the Early Childhood Education Centre in UW's psychology department. "Books will be on sale," the ECEC newsletter says, "in the music/gross motor room, room 1015."

But not all children have easy access to books, a note from Jason MacIntyre in the retail services department reminds us. "As part of the K-W Record's fourth annual 'Books for Kids' book drive, the Bookstore is offering a discount on assorted children's titles purchased for donation. The goal of the book drive is to provide books for the thousands of underprivileged children in Waterloo Region whose families receive support during the holiday season. We encourage our customers to support this worthy cause."

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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