Daily Bulletin

UW link to Nobel winner Robert Mundell, who was announced yesterday as this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, was formerly a UW faculty member. He came to Waterloo in 1972 to chair the department of economics, and left two years later for Columbia University, where he continues to be an economics professor. Mundell "has established the foundation for the theory that dominates practical policy considerations of monetary and fiscal policy in open economies", the Nobel committee said in its citation.

Student stabbed, police say

UW police chief Al MacKenzie says the incident is being handled by Waterloo Regional Police, who say in a news release that they are "still searching for answers after a 20 year-old student from the University of Waterloo was stabbed in what appears to be an unprovoked attack.

"Shortly before midnight . . . a man was approached by a stranger while walking along a pathway leading from Columbia Street to Bearinger Road in Waterloo. For reasons yet to be determined the victim was attacked by the suspect and stabbed.

"Presently the victim is in the Intensive Care Unit of Grand River Hospital in Kitchener with what is believed to be a non life-threatening injury. The victim's family have been notified.

"An initial search of the area was conducted however the suspect could not be found. A scene has been protected for a further search of evidence to take place during daylight hours. Detectives have been called in to investigate.

"The suspect is described as a white male in his early 20's, approximately 6'2" tall with a slight build. He has brown shoulder length hair which was worn in a pony tail. The suspect was wearing glasses and a matching top and bottom blue warm-up suit.

"Given the apparent randomness of this attack, police are asking for public assistance in identifying the suspect. Anyone with information about this incident, or who may know someone matching the suspect's description is asked to contact Waterloo Regional Police Detectives at 653-7700 extension 330."

The name of the stabbing victim has not been made public.

A word on construction vandalism

He writes about "the warning signs, markers and barricades set up at any construction site. The current problem is the ring-road construction, where many signs and barriers are not only ignored but are being broken and/or removed.

"It takes neither brains or brawn to do this vandalism, so we are at a loss as to its purpose. Perhaps they don't comprehend the serious nature of their actions. They are not considered to be pranks. They create a possibility of a tragic accident, with injury to innocent individuals, great financial and legal liability to the University, the contractor and the party interfering with the safety devices.

"We ask that the vandals stop, out of concern for the safety and well being of all. We would like to thank all those who have been so patent with the noise, dirt and inconvenience."

Jason Hack, the fourth-year computer science student who was injured in a motorcycle accident near campus October 3, remains in serious condition in the intensive care unit of Hamilton General Hospital, the hospital said this morning. The UW board of governors is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, October 26, not October 25 as yesterday's Bulletin said.

New contract for temporaries

It'll now be the Prior Resource Group that supplies temporary staff to UW, he said.

"Kelly Services had the previous contract, and it was time to call for tenders," Murray says. "Prior was the successful bidder, based on their excellent reputation for customer services, very competitive pricing and their commitment to providing the best qualified staff for UW placements.

"Another consideration was that they are a local firm, Kitchener and Guelph offices, and they know and understand the K-W and area market very well. Prior also has a well established IT division which I hope we can develop as a potential source for temporary help in IT roles."

There will be an open house next Tuesday, October 19, for executive assistants and others "who are in the position of hiring temporary staff on behalf of their department or faculty offices", to provide more information about Prior. It runs from 3 to 5 p.m. that day in Davis Centre room 1301.

UW link to dictionary is history

A decade ago, the dictionary was a big deal at Waterloo. Under an agreement signed in 1984, UW was responsible for computerization of the huge, century-old dictionary. A research centre was created, which still exists as the Centre for the New Oxford English Dictionary and Text Research, directed by computer science professor Frank Tompa. The high-profile spinoff company Open Text Corp. was based on research done there.

And the second edition of the OED was published in 1989, succeeding the first edition, which appeared between 1884 and 1928. Oxford University Press's web site calls the work "the most adventurous computerization project seen in the publishing industry at that time".

Dictionary editor John Simpson was a visiting professor at UW during the early stages of the project. Now, he writes from Oxford that "we still hear news" of UW, thanks in part to visitors from here. Harry Logan of UW's English department is on sabbatical in Oxford, accompanied by his wife, Grace, who recently retired from the arts computing office. Neil Hultin, also of the English department, visited during the summer, Simpson adds.

"We don't have any formal relationship with Waterloo now," he points out. "We've been in contact on and off with Frank [Tompa], and with Darrell Raymond," formerly of the dictionary project and now of Open Text.

"We're going online next year, and we're looking to develop links with universities as the dictionary goes into the new millennium. Frank and I have discussed several projects, but at present all our effort is directed towards getting the dictionary online and revising the dictionary text."

That's why "your language needs you." Simpson has issued a worldwide appeal:

When the online edition is launched, I would be delighted to have a host of new readers helping us to map the past, the present, and the future of English. . . .

Contributors are invited to read any text from which quotations can be cited that provide new information on the English language -- both in traditional book, magazine, or journal form, or from historical text databases accessible online. . . .

We need readers' help to find printed evidence of new words from magazines, newspapers, books, song lyrics, practical manuals -- indeed from any published source. Slang and dialect words are also collected. New words from the past may sound like a contradiction, but this is a category where volunteers can be especially helpful. Dictionary editors are particularly keen to receive information about words from earlier centuries that have so far escaped inclusion: for example, words from books or manuals from previous centuries on any profession, trade, craft, or hobby with a specialized vocabulary. . . .

Please use the submission form and follow the rules for presentation it sets out. Each quotation must be preceded by a precise reference to the source from which it is taken.

Happening today and soon

Walter Panko, director of the school of biomedical and health information sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will speak at UW today, sponsored jointly by the computer science department and the teaching resource office. His topic: "Health Information Education for the 21st Century". Says Panko:

Preparing people for a career in health informatics will become more challenging in the next century. Almost every element of health care is undergoing rapid change, from financing to increasing concern about privacy and confidentiality. Further complicating the task is the rapid expansion of the technological and theoretical knowledge base of informatics. Finally, educators need to factor in the growth of online educational capabilities and reconcile them with the unique features of the healthcare professions. This talk will outline the challenges facing health informatics educators and identify possible strategies for meeting them.

The Retirees' Association will hold its fall wine-and-cheese party, postponed from September, at the University Club from 3 to 5 p.m. today.

A series of six talks sponsored by St. Paul's United College, under the title "The Future Isn't What It Used to Be: Hope for a New Millennium", begins tonight. Helga Mills, past principal of the college, will give the first talk in the series, "Spinning the Crystal Ball", at 7 p.m. at MacKirdy Hall at St. Paul's.

The career development seminar series continues: tomorrow at 10:30, in Needles Hall room 1020, it's "Successfully Negotiating Job Offers".

"The famous Arts United Way Chili Lunch is this Thursday," writes Richard Crispin from the psychology department. "The lunch will be at 12:00 in Humanities 280. For $3 you get chili, bread (both home made), a drink and a cookie, plus some great company. For an extra $2 you can purchase a ticket on our 50-50 draw. We will draw a name and the winner will get half the money collected. You can purchase your ticket from one of the arts United Way reps, or you can just show up, although we might run out of food if you come too late."

The information systems and technology department will hold an open house Friday morning about the Sympatico High Speed Edition Internet service offered by Bell Canada and endorsed by UW. Ted Poloni of Bell will be the speaker. The session starts at 10 a.m. Friday in Davis Centre room 1302. Paul Snyder of IST notes that HSE "provides an always-on, high-speed connection to the Internet from home. This presentation will include a description of the HSE and its many advantages over traditional dial-up services. Focusing on the technical aspects of the service, the presentation will describe the overall design of the service; the infrastructure that Bell has put into place to support it; features and limitations of the various components of the service -- for example the Nortel 1 megabit modem and the Access Manager."

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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