Annual Report 1999

Contents

5 Macau-Oriented Activities

1. UNU/IIST signed an agreement of cooperation with the University of Macau on 24 August 1999. The agreement formalizes an already impressive record of cooperation in the areas of education, research and the promotion of science and technology in Macau.

   Prof. He Jifeng presented a course on Object-Oriented Programming to a group of MSc students at the University of Macau.

   Dr. Gong Zhiguo presented a course on Databases to a group of undergraduate students at the University of Macau.

   Two UNU/IIST Fellows, Mr. Ke Wei and Mr. Dessalegn Mihret, attended Software Engineering courses at the University of Macau.

2. The Macau IT Congress, organised by Macau Computer Association was held in Macau on 17-20 March 1999. UNU/IIST was one of the sponsors for this event. Dr Gong Zhiguo gave a presentation entitled "Distributed Database Implementations with WWW Assistance". UNU/IIST also organised an exhibition of its work with demonstrations of prototype software.

3. The Transmac Management Information System has been in operation since 20 March 1999. This is a joint project between UNU/IIST and Transmac, a local bus company.

4. UNU/IIST played an active role in the Y2K Consultative Committee made up of governmental, quasi-governmental and international organizations. Recommendations from the committee resulted in the creation of the Macau Y2K Information Center. UNU/IIST holds a board member seat at the Center.

5. UNU/IIST began to cooperate with the Macau Electronic Data Interchange Working Group to study the feasibility of development of the Macau Customs and Excise Computing System.

   A report based on a feasibility study of the Macau Customs EDI system was submitted to the Macau Electronic Data Interchange Working Group in August 1999.

6. The Macau Foundation and UNU/IIST joint project, INCoM (Information Network Center of Macau), has entered its second phase. The following items have been covered by the second phase.

   1. After approximately four months of development, the Beta version of the Overseas Macanese Database System was produced on 26 April 1999 and met all the requirements. Thereafter the translation of all interface texts into Portuguese was completed. The database system has been in operation since May 1999.

   2. UNU/IIST submitted a proposal to establish the Macau UNESCO Center's virtual library system. Research has been conducted on the technical implementation of the virtual library system. The project is currently ongoing.

   3. UNU/IIST was instrumental in the design of the Macau UNESCO Center's Web Site and CD-ROM which were launched in July 1999. The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology has donated a Dawning computer to the Macau UNESCO Center to further advance these project activities.

7. UNU/IIST, together with the China Internet Information Center and the Stone Rich Sight Information Technology Company of China, was involved in establishing the "Macau1999" Web site. A ceremony was held at UNU/IIST on 27 August 1999 to announce the opening of the site. UNU/IIST is responsible for providing technical support to maintain the site. The site received a significant number of visitors, peaking at 127,394 pageviews in a single day during the week leading up to the handover of Macau to the People's Republic of China. Further construction on the site will be completed by the end of March 2000.

Annual Report 1999

Contents