DHAHRAN, 23 November 2004 — The 1st International Conference on Information and Computer Science (ICICS 2004) will be held at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) from Nov. 29 through Dec. 1. The conference activities include an exhibition on technologies related to the conference theme, “The Internet and Mobile Computing.”
According to Dr. Obaid S. Al-Abdali, supervisor, KFUPM PR and Information Department, months of preparation have gone into ensuring that the conference is a success.
“As many as 13 sub-committees have been formed to supervise the activities of ICICS 2004 under the guidance of an organizing committee chaired by Dr. Mohammed Omar Budair, vice rector for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research,” he said. “This is an international conference so we have speakers coming from outside the region to contribute their ideas to those presented by experts from the Arab world.”
Two professors from the US are scheduled to speak at the conference. Dr. Abdelsalam Helal, professor and director of the Harris Mobile Computing Laboratory at the University of Florida, will be delivering the keynote address on “Pervasive Computing for Successful Aging.” His speech homes in on the idea that nations facing the prospect of coping with growing numbers of elderly must make the most of new technologies to help elders maintain their independence.
“There is a significant need today to innovate cost-effective ways to help elders maintain their independence, and at the same time, reduce caregiver burden,” notes Helal. “The impressive wireless and portable technologies we have today, and the emerging mobile computing paradigm offer a unique and real opportunity for us to innovate pervasive applications and environments especially designed to support the elderly. In this talk, I will present our work on assistive pervasive environments especially designed to promote elder independence and quality of life.”
Also from the US, Arif Ghafoor, professor and director of the Distributed Multimedia Systems Laboratory, Purdue University, will be presenting his thoughts on “Mobile Multimedia Services: Issues and Challenges.” He points out that emerging mobile information and computing services are exhibiting increasing reliance on distributed multimedia information systems (DMIS). A broad range of technological solutions for organizing, storing, processing and delivering multimedia contents in an integrated, secure and timely manner, with guaranteed quality of service, are needed for developing mobile DMIS. Such development poses formidable research and implementation challenges which Ghafoor will present with the purpose of encouraging international cooperation in this area.
KFUPM has been working toward global representation at ICICS 2004 and with that in mind experts have been invited from both the West and the East. From the subcontinent, KFUPM will be welcoming R.K. Shyamaundar, professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. Professor Shyamaundar will be delivering the keynote on the “Paradigm for Development of Middleware for Wireless Networks.”
“When we put out a request for papers, we received more than 100 submissions,” said Dr. Budair, speaking for the ICICS 2004 organizing committee. “The response was extremely gratifying as this is the first time we are holding the conference. Through a selection process we have now chosen 60 papers to be presented in parallel sessions during the conference. The subjects for those papers include cryptography, network architecture and web services, which are all very hot topics today. We are expecting that Minister of Communications and Information Technology Muhammad Jamil Al-Mullah will speak during the opening ceremony and five keynotes are scheduled as highlights throughout the conference.”
Budair is pleased with the evolution of ICICS 2004. He explained that the conference grew out of four successful workshops on information and computer science that KFUPM hosted in previous years. It is hoped that ICICS will provide stimulation for an exchange of ideas resulting in fruitful research on the conference theme.
“The participant registration has already exceeded our goal of 250 individuals,” Budair said. “Participants are coming from both Saudi Arabia and abroad. The conference is open to all interested individuals and we are seeing a mix of registrants including graduate students, professors and researchers. The Internet and Mobile Computing are two areas that are moving forward in leaps. Opportunities for networking are essential though to keep up the rapid pace of development and we hope this conference will play a role in encouraging research and development in the Kingdom.”
The conference theme was chosen due to the high level of interest in the Internet and mobile computing both at the university and in the general community. Budair said the university is working to have a wireless network implemented throughout the KFUPM campus to facilitate the use of IT by both students and faculty. He emphasized that there is a new awareness at the highest levels in the Kingdom of the necessity of embracing the rapid utilization of technology.
“Everyone is keen on IT nowadays,” said Budair. “Such concepts as e-learning and e-government are no longer topics of discussion just among academics. The trend both here in Saudi Arabia and globally is to look to harness technology, especially the Internet and mobile computing, to serve the needs of society and enhance modern life.”
To facilitate the spread of the ideas discussed at ICICS 2004 a CD will be produced for distribution containing all the conference papers and proceedings. The CD will be catalogued and searchable. A hard copy version of the conference papers will also be made available.
Registration for the ICICS 2004 conference continues through the morning of the opening day. For further information click to http://www.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/icics.
