UW joins in Chinese Internet project

a release from UW's media relations office

A new international research centre based at China’s Tsinghua University, with support from UW, aims to develop refined Internet search engines that give more accurate answers in order to enhance access to information for millions of Chinese people.

The Joint Research Centre for Internet Information Acquisition will develop key information processing knowledge, analytical tools, processes, simulation techniques and technologies, along with continuing education programs for computing professionals. The collaborative work will involve faculty and students, who will participate in exchanges, academic conferences, seminars and workshops.

The centre's establishment builds on previous agreements involving the Tsinghua department of computer science and Technology and Waterloo's David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. The agreement to launch the centre lasts until June 2014, with a possible three-year renewal.

Although Internet search engines are the most efficient method to find information, there are several barriers in China. One problem is that 1.3 billion people cannot read English. Another is that there are 16 million visually impaired people who cannot use traditional search engines. Yet another is that 163 million use the Internet, compared with 580 million cellphone users.

To overcome the language barrier, commercial search engines now translate complete web pages, often with unreadable results. Instead, researchers at the new centre suggest the search engine find the answers and translate the short answers only. Those short answers could be converted to Braille or sound for visually impaired people. They could also be sent as text messages to mobile phones. The research work will develop a natural language search engine that gives concise answers, eliminating the multiple interactive processes in current search engines.

"The centre's researchers will develop techniques of information acquisition that will break down barriers to the Internet," said Thomas F. Coleman, dean of the faculty of mathematics. "They will collaborate on research and communication programs in order to foster the practical application of Internet information acquisition."

Faculty and students at both institutions will investigate how to make the Internet more accessible through a project funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre. It will be led by director Xiaoyan Zhu, professor of computer science and technology at Tsinghua, and co-director Ming Li, professor of CS at Waterloo. Zhu holds the IDRC Research Chair in Information Technology, while Li is the Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics.

As one of China's most renowned universities, Tsinghua University has become an important institution for fostering talent and scientific research. Tsinghua, which has developed at a breathtaking pace into a comprehensive research university, greatly values the interaction between Chinese and Western cultures, the sciences and humanities, the ancient and modern. At present, the university has 14 schools and 56 departments with faculties in science, engineering, humanities, law, medicine, history, philosophy, economics, management, education and art. The university now has more than 25,900 students, including 13,100 undergraduates and 12,800 graduate students.

The educational philosophy of Tsinghua is to "train students with integrity." Among more than 120,000 students who have graduated from Tsinghua since its founding in 1911 are outstanding scholars, eminent entrepreneurs and statesmen. With the motto of "Self-Discipline and Social Commitment" and the spirit of "Actions Speak Louder than Words," Tsinghua University is dedicated to the well-being of Chinese society and to world development.

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Notes for whoever's at work this week

A group of Waterloo architecture students going under the name of GALTstudio will be mounting a “public space” installation at the fourth annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche in Toronto, October 3, beginning at sunset. Dan McTavish, Mike Love, Shane Neill and Virginia Fernandez, all third-year undergrads, are the core members of GALTstudio. They are the centre of a team of 25 people who created twofold, which their brochure describes as “an investigation of differing pedestrian paces,” exploring the implications of that difference for the design of public space. “One thing that is quite interesting for us is the inverse relationship of lighting with density of occupancy,” McTavish says. “The more people there are in a given area, the dimmer the lights.” Visitors will be encouraged to interact with the fabric of the project, which will respond with changing light and sound. The installation is expected to attract up to 10,000 people to the Liberty Village area near King and Dufferin in Toronto.

The move to a more efficient system for shipping packages from UW is coming along well, judging from this progress report on the central stores website: “The implementation of a web based shipping system (UW/Go-Logix) is well underway and this system gives registered users the capability to fill out the necessary electronic forms for preparation to ship goods. Over the past few weeks, many faculty and staff have registered to become web based shipping system users. It is with great encouragement that we ask all other eligible shipping order users to contact their administrators and make the switch to the new system as soon as possible, as the old carbon copy paper Shipping Order form will no longer be accepted after September 1, 2009.”

Also from central stores comes a memo from assistant manager Joel Norris, updating an announcement last week about the Inter-University Transit Service: “IUTS was suspended on August 10, 2009 until further notice. As of Thursday August 13, Central Stores has processed all packages identified as IUTS using Canada Post mail services. Plans to continue the former IUTS service using Purolator Courier are being developed by the Council of Ontario Universities. Their initial plan was to begin the new delivery system on Monday, August 17; however, those logistics have not be finalized. Therefore until further notice, staff and faculty should use Canada Post mail services or UW's Go-Logix courier system to send mail and packages to other IUTS destinations. Once the replacement process is fully developed, further information will be provided.”

The staff association has called for applications for a seat on its Finance Review Committee and an “alternate” representative on the university’s Employee Assistance Program committee. • Long-time staff member Ursula Thoene (right), who most recently was the department secretary in the School of Computer Science, officially retired as of August 1. • The August 13 Daily Bulletin noted the death of Elisabeth Mersch, who worked in UW’s plant operations department from 1969 to 1977, but misspelled her name as “Elizabeth”.

Shopping enthusiasts in the UW staff association are putting together a fall trip to the retail meccas of Pennsylvania, home of the zero per cent sales tax, again this year. “The event has been a huge success over the past couple of years,” writes Sue Fraser of the kinesiology department, “and we plan on taking two buses. This is on a first-come, first-served basis, and is gradually starting to fill up.” The event will run November 6-8, and includes stops at the Prime Outlets centre in Grove City, Millcreek Mall in Erie, and Walden Galleria in Buffalo. The prices start at $230 per person, but can go as low as $134 for those who look forward to bunking six-to-a-room at Erie’s Holiday Inn Express. There’s more information on the staff association web site.

CAR

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