Let's face the music, and...

Appeared in Volume 9/3, August 1996

Keywords: conference.

JICSLP is my chance to catch up on several important and rich topics: German beer, German food, and German beer (have I mentioned that one already?).

Of course, my main aim will be seeing some old faces again, or perhaps I should say mature, seasoned, or pickled? JICSLP will also afford me an opportunity to meet some of the people I communicate with only by e-mail. This will be a bit stressful, since how do you recognise a colleague who you've never seen?

One recent solution is the person's Web page. Home pages often contain a photo, which can be studied for unique facial characteristics. A drawback is that these mug shots are frequently lifted from a passport or a Police charge sheet, with a corresponding reduction in quality. Many seem to be a tad out-of-date, and overly optimistic about the amount of hair, and quantity of wrinkles, that the real face possesses.

In the good old days, it was much harder to put a face to a name. Some journals included bibliographies (and photos) at the end of articles, and some texts were decorated with glamour shots of selected computing glitterati. A useful source in the UK was Open University TV programmes. I must admit to not having seen any since the late 1970's, so I'm not sure if the presentation (and content) have been revitalised. Back then, they often featured a computing hot-shot sat at a desk, or stood in front of a display stand. These scintillating action scenes would be interspersed by more pedestrian clips of humming IBM mainframes in air-conditioned offices.

One of my favourite stars of these shows had a liking for flowery ties: a style which has since become an icon of 1970's fashion. Strangely enough, I later encountered this same stylist when I became a student. Unfortunately, the ties had gone, replaced by a casual look based around a leather jacket (circa early Marlon Brando). Happily, the ties occasionally made a comeback (after a fashion). Often the style guru would skip a lecture, no doubt busy modelling haute couture in some chic French fashion house. In his place, his secretary would show us a video of one of his Open University appearances. And what an appearance!

On a more serious note, this will be the last newsletter produced at the University of Melbourne. From October 1996, I will be moving to Prince of Songkla University (PSU) in Thailand, and the newsletter will be joining me. I would like to thank the Department of Computer Science at the University of Melbourne for their enormous support during the last 5 years. Special thanks must go to Peter Thorne, Head of the Department, who has been a great help, especially when the newsletter and I first arrived in Melbourne.

Andrew Davison