Information Systems hosts successful conference

Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price has congratulated the Department of Information Systems, co-hosts of the 10th Annual ZA-WWW Conference held at UCT from 3-5 September, for leading the field by attracting a multi-disciplinary field of cutting-edge researchers from around the globe.

The conference was co-hosted by UCT and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. On the opening day, Professor Melvin Ayogu, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, welcomed delegates from as far afield as France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Colombia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Botswana and the United Kingdom.

Papers presented advances in e-commerce, e-learning, e-government and e-society. Topics included the social impact of mobile phones on teenagers, as well as a study of the use of Facebook for social encouragement on the Cape Flats.

Price said new technologies had the capacity to stimulate commerce, industry and government. He also noted that the International WWW Conference was limited in its outlook, and commended the South African version of the conference for "leading the field".

He also issued a challenge to the conference, saying that his assessment of the papers presented was that they were largely "for academics and by academics".

Clearly there was virtue in this, he said, but it was also important to involve industry in the conference in a more active way , not just as part of the audience, but also as participants. Closer participation between the university and industry would lead to mutual benefits, he said, which would enable disciplines to grow.