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Foreword
Futuristic visions of technological advances emphasize the transformative power of computers and related technologies. That computers are in the process of making basic changes in social and personal life cannot be denied. Just as important, however, are the more incremental changes that are made possible. In particular, computers allow many traditional processes and tasks to be done with greater efficiency, not so much replacing human efforts as increasing productivity. Discussion of this topic provides an important theme for a cluster of articles in this issue. Chih-Hung Tsai, Chiu-Chi Wei, and Ching-Liang Cheng of the Ta-Hwa Institute of Technology in Taiwan directly address the issue of productivity by looking at an advanced method in project management. The efficient use of human resources is much more complex than can be captured in traditional single objective models. By introducing a method of such complexity that uses the resources of “fuzzy” approaches to problem definition this complexity can be reduced. Thus, here we have an example of technology adapting to the complexity of human life, and enhancing our ability to manage that complexity, rather than replacing that complexity with a “streamlined” digital reality. Although computers can play an important role in increasing human efficiency and productivity, there is often some reluctance to use the tools that would make this possible. In his article, Ho Leung Tsoi of the Australian Software Metrics Association examines this reluctance and the reasons for it. One might imagine that those working in the computer field itself would be early adopters of computerized project management, but looking at the tools that might be used to help out with the pervasive problems of cost overruns he found that even here cost estimating tools were not utilized. In the article, the author suggests ways that could be used to increase this use. In the article by S. C. Hui, S. Foo and S.W. Yip of the School of Applied Science at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore a different, but not unrelated, problem is considered. Sometimes, however, it is the computer technology that needs to catch up with human abilities. Human face-to-face communicative interactions constitute a wonderfully efficient means for directly and indirectly conveying the complexity of human concerns. While e-mail and other technology-based communications can convey specific information very efficiently, it tends to greatly reduce the richness of human interactions. Although video conferencing can serve to reintroduce some of that complexity into electronic communications, the nature of the Internet as packet-switched network transmissions makes smooth visual continuity difficult to obtain, creating a jarring effect that lessens the advantage of this important technology. The authors present a way of using dynamic video frames reconstruction to help minimize this problems. M. Y. Mashor of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University Science of Malaysia looks at technologies that allow the modeling on complex processes such as pattern recognition. More specifically, he looks at techniques for doing model validity tests on radial basis function neural networks. The world of modern technology does have its streamlined aspects, but human life simply cannot be reduced to computer models. The articles in this issue provide some indication of the ways computers are themselves adapting to human idiosyncrasies.
Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman |
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Assumption University of Thailand |