Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Is it really over??

the presentation was already a week before, we made everything done and we did get back numbers of report for "memory".

indeed, tasks were gone. BUT, the tour is still here!

it's not already over, it's in our mind.. right^^?

buddies, who still keep on reading this 無人blog, are we going to meet in the next tour ^^?

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Finally...

This is the end of the study tour, and we seems finished most of tasks including reports, photo album, video, presentation and thank you notes.

We just finished a small clip of our learning trips and I believe we start another new journey of our learning trips.

For myself, I don't know how hard and difficult that I will face in the coming year. Actually, I do afraid very much as I first became a student in SA dept in four years ago.

I do know that fear alone is not use but I need to solve and overcome this 'fear' mind, let's says 'expend my comfort zone' is needed right now. Hopefully I can overcome these at the beginning of coming semester.

I really want to say 'Thank you' to our great coaches, Ms Mong and Prof IP, they brought us this great trip to see and learn lots of new stuffs in both computer sciences and culture. Lastly, thanks to all buddies, thanks for all of you accept my stupid acts and bad emotion.... and enjoy the happy time in UK.

Hope all of us have a good start of the new learning trip in coming September!!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Study Tour Sharing - What do I get?

Study Tour UK 2007, I treat it as a 4 credit hours course which last for at least half a year. Why do I join it and what do I get from it? It's pretty simple to answer the former question. There is something that attracts me so that I join the tour to get it. So, the remaining question is - What do I get from it?

I get duties, I get works; I get experience, I get feeling; I get knowledge, I get exploration. By the way, these are not the most attractive thing to me. So, what is the one? This year, Time Magazine selects Chris Anderson as one of the hundred people who shape our world. He is selected because he makes a Big Idea - the Long Tail. Am I going to get the "Long Tail" in the study tour? Not at all, but something similar. The most attractive thing to me is the idea behind the researches being done by those Computer Scientists. Thus, I join the tour. I want to learn from those ideas.

Indeed, these ideas are the ways of thinking in order to tackle down different challenges. They are not the ideas similar to the "Long Tail", but they are valuable to me as a Computer Science undergraduate. Then, the next question is - What are they?

Let me give some example.

The first idea I learnt from Professor Bob Fisher. If I am going to do an analysis on a pool of data sets which share some similarities, how can I catch the data set with dissimilarity in a fast and efficient way? There are two approaches actually, either observes the changes of data in different sets or finds out how difference between sets of data. The former one is simple but inefficient. It takes account with all data in every set to figure out the difference. The later one was the nugget given by Prof. Fisher. It takes account with the similarity of sets and figure out how much difference between sets. This is a complicated one, but it is efficient.

Another idea I learnt from Professor Sethu Vijayakumar. There are two ways of teaching. Teaches the system to perform a specific task; and teaches the system to learn to perform specific task. The former one is to program the system while the later one is to program the system to learn. Prof. Vijayakumar showed me the capability of teaching a system to learn. This elegant way of teaching is complicated and challenging, but it is the best solution to teach. If I don't want to teach every time, I must teach how to learn.

All in all, what is the philosophy behind these ideas? What is the impression to me?

These ideas are new to me in terms of Computer Science, but not new in other areas. So, why bother to mention? The point is, how can I bring the ideas across different fields. Or, let's put it in this way, how can I links up different things together in order to generate a new combination? One of the methods to generate innovation is - break the boundary and bring across the idea. This is the Big Idea I get from the tour.

I like thinking and I enjoy thinking, although I am not able to links up different things all the time. Thanks to the study tour and the hosts, I know how to bring across things now. It's quite simple. When facing challenge, step backwards and observe the situation. Figure out all the possibilities discreetly and multi-dimensionally. Then, form the solution by joining back the appropriate ones.

Here is a final note as a reminder. When I was leaving London, I was attracted by an advertisement of in the Heathrow airport. "You cannot view from different angle. Because you are not thinking in that angle." Ads by HSBC.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

An intermediate "review"? or it is a "meditation"...

I am writing the personal growth exercise...

so, the first thing to do ... pull out the notebook from the drawer and get back the background summary of Edinburgh.. (actually, looking for ILOs, plan, and activity).

When I pull the thing out from the pocket, i think of something...

I did many hardware for the tour... and I also did many software for the tour. I had already made a lot of STUFF!!! a big difference from the study tour to japan, which I didn't get this feeling...

- - -
Folks, who still keep on reading this blog ... Can you find any stuff you make for this tour ^^?

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Study Tour Sharing - What is Computer Science

"What is Computer Science?" This is a question that I bear in mind during the study tour. Here is a brief explanation that I learnt from the lecture - "Computer Science is not a kind of Natural Science that studies/discovers the nature. It studies the theoretical foundations of information and computation; and then, applies those researches/studies into our daily life." However, I think Computer Science is much more than this, and hence, one of my objectives is to "discover" a concise meaning to Computer Science for myself.

By the way, how did I achieve the goal? That's trivial and simple - "Ask and Listen"! By participating in the study tour, I earned opportunities to talk to research students, doctors, and even professors. I got direct interactions with these academic professionals. So, what did I got from them? Keep on reading!

The first thing I learnt was "What actually Computer Science is doing?" In order to apply those theories into our life, the simplest way of doing this is "Trial and Error". Professor Bob Fisher taught me an idea, "The nature of carrying a research is just simply try out some ways to achieve the goal and find out the most adaptive and compatible one." For short, "Try out and Find out" and then you make it! So, let me further elaborate on this.

When we get a problem in our daily life and we want to solve it by some mean of efficiency, then using computer is one of the approaches. After we decided the approach to solve the problem, we move onto the next step - find out all the methods that can solve the problem. These methods can be either theoretical or practical. Most likely we need more than one method to tackle down the problem. After that, we try to implement and connect those methods to solve the problem stage by stage. In each stage, we try out methods to see whether they are adaptable and compatible. We find out the most efficient one and use it for the next stage. When we get error in implementing or connecting, we step backward to previous stage and pick another method. All in all, by repeating the "Trial and Error"/"Try out and Find out" cycle, we made it!

The second thing I learnt was "What is the basic requirement of doing Computer Science?" I am not mentioning the academic result in Maths, Physics, etc., but the mental requirement for doing Computer Science. In fact, everyone can do Computer Science. Professor Sethu Vijayakumar taught me another idea, "If you do Computer Science, you must have the passion in doing it. That is the primary driver for doing Science!" By the way, how can we get the passion in doing Computer Science?

Indeed, we do not always have the passion in doing a particular thing at the beginning; but, we can grow up the passion gradually. First of all, we take the "Just Do It" approach. We don't consider whether we like to do the job or we get interest in doing it, but at least we don't hate it. This is the seed of growing up passion. Later on, we get more knowledge, experience, and feeling or even we find interest in doing it. Passion is budding. Afterwards, we would like to know more about it and even want to produce something belongs to it. We get passion!

So far, I talked a lot related to Computer Science. Perhaps, you might ask "Does Study Tour 2007 always talk about Computer Science?" Actually, this study tour did also give me an opportunity to explore the United Kingdom. I learnt some history of it, and I also know some culture of it. There are tones of it! I am not going to talk so much here. Go to the report and Check it out =D

Thursday, May 31, 2007

previous blog from my notebook =D

Day 0 -

yesterday, i spent all day to plan the self-explore. i used many brain juice -o- extremely tired. at night, i started to pack my belongings into luggage. super extremely tired!! d___... when i finished "compaction" on my luggage, i get a G__ D___ GOOD NEWS!! the tripod was still under the table of prj72... my goody pc at proj lab ^^"

so, this morning, when i woke; i brought my a__ back to project lab. a bad news to me, i have had at least 5 meals today -.- 60.5kg (last week) ... 2 meals at home, 2 in airport, and 1 on plane. i think, when i get back from london, i should be somewhere around 62kg.

- - -

Day 1 -

tired !! we leave airport at around 8am and we first settled down ourselves in hotel.

later on, we headed to greenwich. we went by tube. this was the first time for me to travel by tube. however, i dun think it's difficult to travel with.

when we first reached greenwich, we first get lunch. however, something unhappy happened. we noticed that we need to reunion at somewhere we don't know ... G__! at last, we gather together at restaurant and find the way to the reunion point lately. by the way, we got to greenwich observatory! something cool is that the environment near the observatory is extremely relaxing and comfortable. i have long time no walking through a peaceful and relaxing Green Heaven.

after that, we go to the musceum nearby and "take a look". i have no time to go throught everything.. >.<>.< ) moreover, i got a new term - "light field rendering" this rendering method is not rendering the polygon, but the light way itself. that's cool!! at night, we go to a theater for a musical "mary poppins". it talks about a lady who teach the kids something to belief and behave ... "anything can happen if you let it" Good Story! - - - Day 3 - i hurt my left foot today /_\ no mood to visit although edinburgh is fantastic ... i get a book today ... the gift for myself XD (happy birthday^^ shing) on the other hand, i am very tired... carrying a heavy baggage all the day ... G__! - - - Day 4 - yesterday, we met Taku... we got a good meal, and a good tour to national gallery and the castle. today, we go to the university! in the cricket lab, i got a message "even a cricket is so small, it's already very complex" after the university visit, i tried my first visit to cathedral! that's extremely wonderful when i first step inside it. i got a "shock" when i take the first look inside! - - - Day 5 - today, i went to so many scenic spots, i enjoy the parks in london very much. the british are putting a wood into a city!! there are birds, fishes, and even wild 松鼠. at night, i went to covent garden. when i get there, some people are dancing. they enjoy their dance and the audience also. i headed to the market. someone is playing magic! good show! and good night! (an observation ... difference between chinese and british... whenever there is a street performance, chinese are audience while british are player in the performance. british yell, scream, shout when they are enjoying the performance while chinese do not. british are actually enjoying their participation instead of the performance.) - - - Day 6 - =D food tour. british, itialian, french, thai, indian, chinese... food in uk are expensive >.<>.< !! buy a hat to make myself warm ^^v

- - -

Day 8 -

this writing is written when i am drinking at the bar of the hotel in london. today, we come back from cambridge. we did take a ride on river cam. i know why mathematical bridge is so called "mathematical bridge" now... that's because the bridge use maths to build with wood without nail and it's designed by Issac Newton. G__!!

moreover, we got to dept of engineering of university of cambridge. we climbed up to the roof in the dept tour =D first time for me to climb up to the roof. (this study tour gave me a lot of "first time")

today, i chatted a lot with prof ip. he's very nice ! we talked about science park, his career, cityu's student difficulties, and machine learning. i like to talk to him as i talk to dr kwok. i learnt a lot from them ^^

besides, i talked about my fyp with my "new friend" - chu. he also talked about his "previous" fyp (fyp few weeks ago -.-") a good idea exchange ^^

(G__! a false alarm break out tonight. some of our teammates were scared, some of them were feeling nothing happened, some of them were still staying in their room, when a fire alarm broke ... i am angry... because some of them said they need to get back their belongings while some of them brought along their souvenir down to the ground ... -.-) nothing much to say, good night!

- - -

Day 9 -

backed to HK. get back cs lab to return the heavy stuff and to organize the post-tour video stuff. and writing the blog ... =D

my weight ... 60Kg.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Here we go ~

Departure - Hong Kong
Destination - London
Time - 00:35, 22 May 2007

Let's make it ROCK!!!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Count down of our Study Tour

Only two days left behind from the start of our study tour~
Very excited!

Boys and gals, are you ready? :P

Hope we have a nice trip, and learn a lot of thing.

Work Hard!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Continue Speaking English...

After finished all of my tasks about teaching staff in office, my teammates and I had a meeting with Dr Clubb yesterday.

This was our third meeting and we have discussed freely with many topics: our placement works in office, our FYP proposal, our preparation on the tour.... He shard something about his family, his past experiences and other topics.

Thanks Dr Clubb very much! I will share my experiences about the tour with you and drink together~! :-)

Friday, April 27, 2007

a chance to understand more about HK

Recently, i am concentrate on my article 2 and the place that i write is Lantau Island. Through some research of this place, i found that Lantau Island is quite different from what i expected before. I some picture abt Lantau Island and found that it is really quite beautiful. From this, i really think i dun know abt HK so much. HK ppl are very busy, they all have many things to do and so do us, we hv to do our asg study the exam and test. This make us overlooked the place that we belong to. This year is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's 10th anniversary, and there is a theme song for this event, i dunno did u guys listen it before. if you didn't, go and listen it. I think this song is quite good that not all the singers invloved are the pop singer, you can find Mo Wah Lun is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3FWoG2pnzU


ha~I think i will try to know HK more after the exam~

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Does Blogging really Help?

At the beginning of this semester, I never ever blog with English. I afraid to think in English, and I afraid to write in English. However, because of the University requirement, I took an English written language course in this semester. (A big disaster for me..)

In the course, I required to write many articles. Not long, but not short. As a result, I practiced writing a lot in the course. At the same time, I joint the study tour. As all you know, we needed to write 3000 words.. GOD.. A challenge for me. By the way, I accomplished the task!

Today, close to the end of this semester, I find myself do not afraid to write and to think in English. However, I still get many problems in using English. For example, the grammar. I treated written English as Spoken English.. Just like blogging..

So, does blogging really help on my written English?

Actually, not in grammar; but I am now comfortable to blog with English.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

NameTag Design


I was running out of my energy on Database assignment, IAD project and SEP report. So I decided to move my attention to the NameTag design of Study Tour. Luckily, I enjoyed it and had a lof of fun. Here I would like to express my thanks to Kevin who taught me a lot on design. Above is my design of NameTag. Your comments are welcomed!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Article 2 ^o^

I went to the language clinic for my article 2 an hour ago. XD
I met a new tutor called Lucy. She is nice.
After reading my article, she said that I did it quite well and there's not much mistakes. :)
It's great that my English is not worsen. ^o^

However, it's a pity that Lou is not at the clinic today. >"<
Miss him so much! (Laugh)
Hope that I can meet him when I go to the clinic next time.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Speaking English

I got sickness since Easter holiday and now cannot sleep well due to coughing at night....

I have lots of opportunity to practice my spoken English in office in these two weeks because my boss assigns me to teach work flows of my team to some staff from oversea.

My spoken English may not good enough, but on their faces showing they can understand what I said. I must thanks to my colleagues giving this good chance for me say more English before the trip.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

After FYP Report

After submitted FYP Report, I fell asleep for 10 hours..
Just like unconscious~~
Many were happy of finished FYP.
But... I don't have any special happiness.

After 22 days, my university life will be end.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

i got a bad news...

When I read the news today, I find that Google just announced their Google Developer Day 2007 ..
This is a world-wide event which holds in Beijing, Tokyo, US, London. etc..

The date of the event - 31-May-2007 ....

I am excited in this event but I am unhappy that I am on the flight at the time of the event...
... a good show is being held in London but I am at the same time leaving London ...

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

This what we had done.



Not all, but a snapshot of what we had done.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Guys, we got photos ~~


Cool , we got photos ...







take a look of other photos here - http://www.cs.cityu.edu.hk/~stuk07/index.php?dir=photo%2Fpre_tour%2Fouting%2F

Can u notice that ... MOST of the spots can only be captured with a little lens? So, enjoy the time u are having, and don't miss any chance to expose urself to the world~

Monday, April 2, 2007

My feeling about Yesterday's Hiking Day

I think yesterday's hiking day is nice. It is the first time for all of us to have some activties together. This activty give us more chance to communicate with and know more about each other. I hope that there will be another chance for us to have such kinds of activity before the tour. Anyway, i am very glad to join the hiking day with all of you. I also want to thank Kathleen here for her preparation.

Hiking Experience

Today was a memorable day.
It is the first time for us to join together and have a activity.
This activity provided a chance to know you more~~
Thanks all my teammates give me a fun day^^