News

To extend the image border for our colleagues, we are pleased to announce that an Image Database Server, a new University facility, goes into service now. This facility uses the image database software “Live Picture”, which runs on a SUN system, to distribute and view high-resolution, streaming images over the network. It also provides capability for users to store and retrieve images flexibly. Colleagues can easily use the software by invoking it from the Intranet.To demonstrate some of the possible uses of this brand-new facility, a ready-to-use image library named “CityImage” has been established. The CityImage is a Web-based collection of images made ready for staff and students for academic, research and administrative uses. At the moment there are 3 categories: CityU Album, Image Collections and Reality Studio.

The wireless LAN of the University was formally launched on 15 March 2000 after the Inauguration Ceremony co-organised with Lucent Technologies, the wireless LAN solution provider of the project. This event has gained rather handsome publicity and was well covered in the newspapers as the City University is the first tertiary institute in Hong Kong that has the campus wireless LAN in place.Since the existing wired network can no longer satisfy the emerging demand of our students, the wireless LAN seems to be the right choice ahead. At the moment, 200 Access Points supporting 1,000 concurrent connections have been spread over in more than 120 classrooms and public areas on campus, including the Library, Wei Hing Theatre, Student Canteen, the 4/F Mall, Late Reading Room, Covered Terrace and academic departments. It is planned that 100 more Access Points will be installed in the coming summer and by then 1,500 concurrent connections will be supported throughout the campus.

A computer virus is a program that is designed to replicate itself by copying itself into the other programs stored in a computer. There are several types of viruses. The FILE INFECTORS will attach themselves to ordinary program files or document files. They usually infect arbitrary .COM .EXE, .SYS, .OVL, .PRG, .MNU or document files. The SYSTEM or BOOT-RECORD INFECTORS infect executable code found in certain system areas such as the partition table of your hard disk or the boot sector of your floppies.

The Computing Services Centre (CSC) has long been providing free electronic marking of multiple-choice type examination scripts and data capturing of survey forms ever since the optical mark scanning machines were installed in the University. Over the years, we have developed a comprehensive marking and scoring system to help staff implement various marking schemes and provide users with item analysis reports for analysing performance of students. The system as a whole is well received thus far.

Fast Internet access is essential for our work and daily life. Inside the campus, our sophisticated campus network guarantees that you have fast Internet access. However, you can only dial up to the campus network using 56Kbps (or lower) modems from home. As technology evolves rapidly, a faster approach to access the Internet remotely has become mature. Broadband is a communications channel that has a bandwidth characterised by high data transmission speeds, and it is becoming the future norm for Internet traffic.

In the past, the issue of setting up a supercomputing facility in the University was raised a few times but turned down due to a number of reasons. First of all, supercomputing is only required for large scale and number crunching applications which are, if any, rare in the University. It is therefore not viable to purchase an extremely expensive supercomputer especially when it is only to be used for a few projects. Secondly, there is the possibility of using the supercomputers in other universities in Hong Kong or overseas.

Technology trend has been evolving rapidly over the years. Most users in the CityU are beginning to appreciate new technology and are making every effort to keep up with its fast pace. Being a technology centre, the Computing Services Centre (CSC) has an obligation to develop new services and find ways to cope with the increasing needs. To name a few popular services, they are the CityU Intranet, Campus News, CityTV and CityVoD.

Live Internet Broadcasting Services CityLive and CityTV are two live Internet broadcasting services provided by the Computing Services Centre (CSC). These two services use equipment that supports streaming media technology, which allows users to capture video and audio signals to be viewed over the Internet instantaneously. It is suitable for live broadcasting of ceremonies, public lectures, conferences, seminars and performances. Some recently held major events such as the CityU 15th Anniversary Opening Ceremony in October 1999 and the Nobel Laureate Lecture by Prof. Charles H. Townes in November 1999 were being shown over the Internet using these facilities.

Crowds were there on the streets everywhere in the world. Thanks to the CityTV, a TV facility available on the campus network, the CSC staff had been able to join the fun and share the joy with people, not only in Hong Kong, but also in Beijing, New York, Gisborne (billed as the first city in the first developed country to enter the third millennium) etc., in celebrating the arrival of the long-awaited Year 2000 on the University campus. We watched the CNN and saw how the New Zealanders and Australians do the countdown excitedly. When it was the turn of Hong Kong, we did it in the CSC Y2K Command Centre together with thousands of Hong Kong people we saw on the TV. The Year 2000 arrived, the CityTV was still operating, and we had safely sailed through the first gate (campus network) without hitting the Y2K problem.

The Sports Facilities Booking & Information System is a new system developed by the CSC, which allows end users to book facilities in the Sports Centre such as badminton courts, table tennis and gymnastics.The system was first made available to the booking counter of the Sports Centre in May 1999 and the Web-based version was launched in December 1999 for staff only. It was then extended to students in February 2000. In fact, City University is the first institution in Hong Kong to implement such a Web-based booking system.