by Karl Diaz

Dr. Cedric Angelo M. Festin officially became the new Chair of the Department of Computer Science (DCS) last June 1, 2005, replacing Dr. Ronald M. Tuñgol, who has left for Canada after serving for three years at the helm of the DCS.

Dr. Festin has been teaching in UP since 1992. In 1995, he left for the United Kingdom to pursue his PhD and returned in 2002. He graduated from UP Diliman with a degree in Bachelor of Computer Science and in MS Electrical Engineering. For this semester, he is currently teaching CS 255 and supervises CS 198 and CS 298.

In appointing a new faculty member as department chair, the Dean of the College of Engineering meets with the faculty to discuss the selection process. There is then a two-week period where faculty members may submit their nominations for the new head of the DCS. Once the list of nominees is finalized, the Dean proceeds to interview the nominees, which will eventually be the basis for the appointment of the next Department Chair.

When asked about his plans as the new Chair, Dr. Festin said he will do what it takes for students to excel academically, for the faculty to succeed, and for all elements of the Department to “bring home the bacon”. His current tasks involve the relocation of the DCS to the new building.

By Erica Mae Abbass (http://cai.i.ph)

The UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR) and the UP Department of Computer Science held its annual College Survival for Computer Science Students (CS4CS) to welcome the new batch of CS freshmen to the Department on the morning of June 15, 2005 at the Engineering Theater.
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By Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph)

Teams from the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science garnered first and third place in the local finals of Microsoft ImagineCup 2005, held at the Eugenio Lopez Activity training facility in Antipolo last June 7 and 8.
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By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph)

The Association for Computing Machinery - University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM) bested 750 chapters worldwide — many of them from the US — by winning the recently concluded Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2004-2005 Student Chapter Excellence Awards.
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By Carlos Miguel Lasa (http://carlooos.i.ph)

The Department Computer Science (DCS) won two awards in the 2005 Undergraduate Research Competition held last April 21 at the 2nd Floor Lobby of Melchor Hall.
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By Tristan Jed Roque (http://teejay.i.ph)

Two of the oldest organizations of the CS Network, UP CURSOR and UP CompSoc, along with 16 other Engineering-based organizations, participated in this year’s Freshmen Orientation Program Committee (FOPC 2005), with CURSOR placing an impressive fourth among all participants.
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By Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph)

Prof. Rommel Feria, a senior faculty of the Department, is now a columnist of one of the country’s leading newspapers.
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By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph)

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, but teach him how to fish, and you feed him for life.

This was the guiding axiom for the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science (DCS) and the Association for Computing Machinery - UP Student Chapter (UP ACM) as they conducted the Summer Computer Literacy Outreach Program (SCLOP) last April 11-12, 2005 at Room 209 of Melchor Hall.
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By Tristan Jed Roque (http://teejay.i.ph)

DCS student and UP Parser news editor Carlos Miguel M. Lasa was awarded the 2005 Procter & Gamble Student Excellence Award (SEA) last March 17 at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.
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By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph)

Our very own Ma’am Riza Theresa B. Batista, together with Angel B. Calayag, won first place in the recently-concluded Call for Convergence: The Telic Communications, Inc. VoiceXML Contest with their project, the UP Diliman Voice Enabled Guide.

The University of the Philippines Diliman Voice-Enabled Visitor’s Guide conveniently and effectively finds directions within the UP Diliman campus using automated and interactive voice responses to user’s queries.

Batista and Calayag will be awarded $2000.00. The contest was sponsored by SUN Microsystems, Voxsant, and Kooltel.com.

Ms. Riza Batista and Ms. Angel Calayag are also currently completing their Masteral degrees in Computer Science, and are groupmates in CS 260: Advanced Software Engineering.

Visit http://www.callforconvergence.com for more details.

By Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph)

Last April 13 and 22, 2005, the Association for Computing Machinery – UP Student Chapter (UP ACM) and the UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR) jointly held two Knowledge and Information Sharing Sessions (KISSes), one on Macromedia Flash and another on Adobe Photoshop.

Over 60 people attended the free KISSes, which were hosted by the Department of Computer Science at MH 209. Jason Masipiqueña and Pio Claudio, Gaming and Graphics SIG Heads of UP ACM, taught the basics of Flash on April 13 for two sessions — 9-12 AM as a members-only session, and 1-4 PM as a free for all. On April 22, Daniw de Leon of UP CURSOR gave a crash course on Photoshop from 1-5 PM. Participants also had the option to have primer CDs burned at a minimal fee. The CDs contained the programs’ trial versions and several tutorials.

Both organizations are planning to hold several more sessions within the coming months.

By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph)

iBlog: The First Philippine Blogging Summit was held last May 7, 2005 at the National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (NISMED) Auditorium, UP Diliman.

The morning session, entitled “Blogging for Newbies” was conducted by Abe Olandres and Gail dela Cruz. Olandres, a founder of plogHost Web Services, presented “Blogging 101,” a crash course on how to make and register your own blog within minutes.

Dela Cruz, a freelance digital artist and creator of the 2004 Filipino Blog Site of the Year www.Kutitots.com, taught summit delegates the various techniques in beautifying their blogs.

The afternoon session kicked off with Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Commissioner Damian Domingo “Dondi” Mapa’s talk on “Governance and Blogging.”

Up next was five-time Palanca awardee and internationally published author Dean Alfar, who entertained the crowd with his witty and informative talk on “Blogging Creatively”.

Alecks Pabico of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) followed, sharing his insights on the emergence of bloggers as journalists and the role of blogging in journalism.

Last to present was arguably the summit’s main speaker, Connie Veneracion, popularly known as “The Sassy Lawyer” in blog-circles. Veneracion, a lawyer by profession and recipient of the Most Informative Blog Award in 2003, enlightened the delegates on “How to Build a Bookmark-Worthy Blog.”

Over 300 persons registered in the event hosted by the UP Law Program on Internet and Society (UP Law ISP). Delegates were given the chance to raise questions in the open for a following each session.

Aside from free food, people were also given free i.ph domains worth $15.00. Various iBlog t-shirts were also sold.

The summit’s official website can be found at http://www.iblogph.org.