Student orientation 2007
CityU will hold a series of orientation activities to help the new cohort of students to prepare for their learning journey at CityU. The welcoming ceremonies for students in different faculties/schools have been scheduled for 24 August and from 28 August to 30 August. To help students access the latest information about the orientation activities, the University has launched a website under the banner "Welcome aboard: CityU's new professional journey is your reward". The website is at: www.cityu.edu.hk/orientation/

SCM graduation show at MegaBox
The multi-media exhibition "In[s]pirit" showcasing 42 projects by recent graduates of the School of Creative Media (SCM) is on display at MegaBox in Kowloon Bay until 26 August. The opening ceremony on 20 August was officiated by Professor Richard Ho Yan-ki, Acting President; Professor James Moy, Dean of SCM; Ms Charlie Young Choi-nei, a local actress; and Mr Louis Yu Kwok-lit, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. A screening and post-screening forum on the video and film projects will take place on campus from 21 August to 26 August.

NGO Forum on social capital and correctional services
The Department of Applied Social Studies is organizing a forum on social capital and correctional services with the Correctional Services Department (CSD), HKSAR Government, on 12 September. The aim is to promote social capital that is essential to the inclusion of ex-offenders and to examine CSD's community involvement strategy. Participants include CSD and NGO representatives and academics. Mr Kwok Leung-ming, CSD Commissioner, will attend the forum, and Professor Richard Ho Yan-ki, CityU's Acting President, and Mr Yau Chi-chiu, CSD Assistant Commissioner (Rehabilitation), will give welcoming speeches.

Emerging Technologies Forum
The Technology Transfer Office will hold the Emerging Technologies Forum on "The Digital Multimedia Revolution" on 27 August. Dr Stephen Lam, Client Executive, Global Engineering Solutions, Systems and Technology Group, IBM, will discuss "Design your new product solutions with IBM's care and platform technology"; Dr Po Lai-man, Associate Professor, will give a presentation on "Transform-domain rate-distortion accelerator for H.264/AVC video encoding"; and Dr Peter Tsang Wai-ming, Associate Professor, will discuss the "Development of a painless solution for processing 3D content in existing video chains". Dr Po and Dr Tsang are both from the Department of Electronic Engineering.

International conference on Kunqu opera
The Chinese Civilisation Centre will hold an International Conference on Kunqu Opera and Intangible Culture from 28 August to 30 August. Kunqu, a traditional Chinese art form, was proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001 as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage. Once under threat of extinction and now the subject of renewed interest, Kunqu is facing commercialization and commodification. The conference provides a platform for issues concerning the sustainable development of Kunqu in the present social and cultural environment. Experts from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Canada will share their views on topics such as "The heritage of Kunqu opera experienced in different places"; "Stage performance and the heritage of Kunqu opera"; and "Oral presentation and music in Kunqu opera".

Kudos
Tommy Yang Guomin, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science, has been offered an international scholarship by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium. He is one of eight awardees worldwide, and the only one from Hong Kong, to receive the award this year. The scholarship, worth US$12,500 (approximately HK$97,500), is recognition for his cryptography research into digital signature schemes. The Consortium is a non-profit organization dedicated to certifying information security professionals around the world. It offers scholarships annually to postgraduate students conducting pioneering research into information security projects.

Dr Sia Choon-ling, Associate Professor, and Ms Cindy Cheung Man-yee, Senior Research Assistant, both of the Department of Information Systems, won the Best Paper Award at the 11th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems with their paper "How do people evaluate electronic word-of-mouth? Informational and normative based determinants of perceived credibility of online consumer recommendations in China". The paper was co-authored by Professor Chen Huaping and Mr Luo Chuan of the University of Science and Technology of China.

Annual report wins prizes
CityU's Annual Report 2005–06 received three prizes in the 2007 International ARC Awards Competition: the Silver Award in the category of "Cover Photo/Design: University"; the Bronze Award in the category of "President's Letter: University"; and Honorable Mention in the category of "Photography: University".

Calligraphy exhibition
CityU Gallery will host an exhibition featuring examples of Chinese calligraphy by 20 local and 80 mainland calligraphers. The exhibition is co-organized by CityU, the Chinese Society for Hardpen Calligrapher, Dailin Society for Hardpen Calligrapher, Hong Kong Association of Hard Pen Calligraphy and Hong Kong Hard Pen Calligraphists' Association. The exhibition starts on 24 August and will be open daily until 7 September.