ETELO, The e-Learning Prototype
ULB-STC has decided to explore a new chapter in its e-Learning research. During the last 3 months, different collaborators have put their efforts together to create a prototype course on CD-Rom. The course content is made up of 5 two-hour modules that cover different matters: from hardware architecture to operating systems, networking and security concepts. It is an extract from the course “Introduction to Computer Science and Telematics”, given in ULB’s DES in Telematics and Organization ( http://www.iihe.ac.be/telorga/ ) by Olivier PARIDAENS, a former STC member, who “daringly” jumped in the adventure and had his lectures filmed. An e-Learning project always has a reason to exist. In fact, this one is at the merging point of two of them. The first one is to meet the needs of the DES evening class students, who might find it easier to follow a course when and where they choose. The second one is an internal IT training course for the employees of the CIRB (IT Centre for the Brussels Region http://www.cirb.irisnet.be ) who can follow the course via the company’s intranet. The prototype was built to enable information granularity and allow easily updateable courseware. Thanks to the system of attaching a small video file to a presentation slide (Power Point), the learner may go						directly to a selected slide, and watch (or not) the corresponding lecture; the teacher can change the contents of a slide and easily adapt video accordingly. Making the CD-rom more lively has been done by putting additional content: links to web sites, bibliographies, but also filmed interviews of specialists: Paul VAN BINST explains the birth of the Internet, comments different IT topics in the Unisys IT Museum, and interviews Pierre BRUYERE, director of Belnet; Luc GOLVERS testifies on security matters. From a technical viewpoint, the team dispatched their efforts in 3 main areas: making the courseware slides, filming - with the collaboration of the CIRB and their technical team Odyssée (specialized in live streaming), rendering and testing. In fact, the project involves an STC member - Clémentine Valayer -  working on her Master’s thesis: “E-Learning: a Study of Tools”.

A new series of professional training seminars at CIRB/CIBG
							Following on previous successful experiences, the “Centre for Informatics in the Brussels Region”, depending from the Brussels government, asked us to organise a new series of five professional training seminars, which covered topics such as the evolution of WANs and LANs, as well as wired and wireless access networks, and security aspects.

"E-market week"
A unique type of event was organised at ULB in the week of February 18, in the scope of the postgraduate studies in Telematics and Organisation (TELORGA). Called "E-market week", it was a series of seminars conducted during four evenings of the week as well as on			Saturday morning (this is the same schedule as for the courses normally conducted in this postgraduate programme for professional people). Open to graduating students from certain sections of the University, as well as to old students of the TELORGA programme, the E-market week attracted more than 60 participants on each evening, most of the people attending three or more seminars during the week. The subjects ranged from B2B to B2C to Security to Public e-marketplaces, and the speakers came from the most prestigious companies and institutions, such as SOLVAY, BIAC (Brussels International Airport Company), the European Commission, BELGACOM, ORACLE, CARREFOUR, DELHAIZE, ALCATEL, the federal Ministry of Defense, etc., including a number of ULB Professors.

STUDY ON TELEWORKING IN BELGIUM
Financed by DWTC/SSTC of the federal Belgian government and in collaboration with the HIVA of the KU Leuven the STC will execute a comprehensive study on telework in Belgian SMEs with less than 50 employees. This study is carried out as an extension of the EMERGENCE project, which is a large-scale international IST project on telework in SMEs with more than 50 employees carried out in 18 countries within and outside Europe. In complement with the EMERGENCE project this new survey aims to achieve an as wide possible insight in the distribution, characteristics,								organisational conditions and implications of telework in the Belgian economy. This research will deliver perceptions as well in wide as in the deep sense. For this it will combine quantitative data collection through structured questionnaires with qualitative data collection through selected case studies. The quantitative questionnaires will set free data about telework for the complete Belgian economy, while the qualitative case studies will focus well chosen cases from four economic sectors. These statistical significant data will be used to guide future policy on telework.

Two new collaborators have joined our Group: two engineers, two girls, two continents!! Antal BULANZA graduated last year from the University of Brussels, while Fuhua YIN has already worked for a few years in China, France and Belgium.

MEMBERS of SERVICE TELEMATIQUE ET COMMUNICATION

Antal BULANZA, Ali HACHAMI, Agnieszka HENSOLDT, Marcin MICHALAK,  Ines MARTINEZ MORENO, Nadia PARONI, Manuela PROFILI, Krzysztof SOCHA, Clémentine VALAYER, Paul VAN BINST, Fuhua YIN. Our VUB collaborators: Alain ISAAC, Rosette VANDENBROUCKE (for all of the above, e-mail is: surname@helios.iihe.ac.be) Secretariat: Daisy PIRNAY (IIHE/VUB-ULB) (pirnay@hep.iihe.ac.be ) Other regular collaborators: Alvaro GUILLEN, Pierre MASY, Ramin NAJMABADI KIA (ARPnet), Joël CANNAU, Marie-Paule SPINETTE (ULB), Georges ROUSSEAU, Edwin TORISAEN (IIHE/ULB-VUB), Bridie NATHANSON. Contact: Service Télématique et Communication - Professor Paul VAN BINST ULB - CP230 - Boulevard du Triomphe - 1050 Brussels - Belgium Tel.: + 32 2 629 3211 or 3209 - Fax: + 32 2 629 3816 Rosette VANDENBROUCKE VUB - ELEM - Pleinlaan 2 - 1050 Brussels - Belgium Tel.: + 32 2 629 3210 - Fax: + 32 2 629 3816 World Wide Web Address: http://www.iihe.ac.be

DEEPSIA
The DEEPSIA project ( www.deepsia.org ) started in January 2001 is now well in progress. The finishing date of the project has been moved (from June 2002) to end of September 2002, so that all the socio-economic results may be gathered and analyzed. The project consists of two major parts—the development of the dynamic on-line catalogue with a framework of agents supplying the necessary data, and performing the socio-economic research on how the SMEs utilize e-commerce. This socio-economic research was divided into two parts: what is the attitude of SMEs to e-commerce at the moment, and how the introduction of a product such as DEEPSIA would influence their view and involvement. The first part consisted of gathering data about the SMEs attitude towards e-commerce, and the second aimed at gathering additional information from some of the SMEs previously questioned, after the introduction of DEEPSIA prototype to them. By now, the first part of the socio-economic research has been finished. Also the first prototype of the catalogue has been developed and is available for public access.								It is accessible through the DEEPSIA web site: www.deepsia.org .  Anyone interested in trying and evaluating the prototype is welcome to register at that site. After registration the prototype is fully available through any web browser. Right now, the focus of the project is on gathering the responses from test users, and also querying some of the SMEs approached earlier in order to find out if the like the idea, if they would be willing to invest money in it, and if they find it a useful tool of e-commerce. Also the project tries to estimate, if the introduction of DEEPSIA changed any SME’s view or approach to e-commerce in general. Some of the information gathered so far about the socio-economic aspects of e-commerce is available on the DEEPSIA web site along with a description of the system, and the prototype itself. More information coming from the second part of socio-economic research will be added there in the near future.

 

A trip to Iran
At the kind invitation of the Informatics Society of Iran, chaired by Prof. Ebrahim MASHAYEK, and with support from the Iranian government, Paul VAN BINST spent a week in Tehran and Espahan, giving a number of lectures on the topics of e-work (including the FLEXWORK project) and e-learning (including the UNIVERSAL project), for professional associations as well as university students. This trip gave of course also the opportunity to meet with a number of representatives from the administration and from the industry, and to esta-blish scientific and professional contacts. Alas, only a very small fraction of this short week was devoted to tourism…