Kuncoro

Complexity Economics

On 2021-06-19

Arthur WB (2021) wrote a paper comparing conventional vs complexity economics.

Conventional neoclassical economics assumes:

Perfect rationality. It assumes agents each solve a well-defined problem using perfectly rational logic to optimize their behaviour.
Representative agents. It assumes, typically, that agents are the same as each other — they are ‘representative’ — and fall into one or a small number (or distribution) of representative types.
Common knowledge. It assumes all agents have exact knowledge of these agent types, that other agents are perfectly rational and that they too share this common knowledge.
Equilibrium. It assumes that the aggregate outcome is consistent with agent behaviour — it gives no incentive for agents to change their actions.

But over the past 120 years, economists such as Thorstein Veblen, Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, Joan Robinson, etc have objected to the equilibrium framework, each for their own reasons. All have thought a different economics was needed.

It was with this background in 1987 that the Santa Fe Institute convened a conference to bring together ten economic theorists and ten physical theorists to explore the economy as an evolving complex system.

Complexity economics sees the economy as not necessarily in equilibrium, its decision makers (or agents) as not superrational, the problems they face as not necessarily well-defined and the economy not as a perfectly humming machine but as an ever-changing ecology of beliefs, organizing principles and behaviours.

Complexity economics assumes that agents differ, that they have imperfect information about other agents and must, therefore, try to make sense of the situation they face. Agents explore, react and constantly change their actions and strategies in response to the outcome they mutually create. The resulting outcome may not be in equilibrium and may display patterns and emergent phenomena not visible to equilibrium analysis. The economy becomes something not given and existing but constantly forming from a developing set of actions, strategies and beliefs — something not mechanistic, static, timeless and perfect but organic, always creating itself, alive and full of messy vitality.

Difference between Neoclassical and Complexity Economics

In a complex system, the actions taken by a player are channelled via a network of connections. Within the economy, networks arise in many ways, such as trading, information transmission, social influence or lending and borrowing. Several aspects of networks are interesting: how their structure of interaction or topology makes a difference; how markets self-organize within them; how risk is transmitted; how events propagate; how they influence power structures.

The topology of a network matters as to whether connectedness enhances its stability or not. Its density of connections matters, too. When a transmissible event happens somewhere in a sparsely connected network, the change will fairly soon die out for lack of onward transmission; if it happens in a densely connected network, the event will spread and continue to spread for long periods. So, if a network were to slowly increase in its degree of connection, the system will go from few, if any, consequences to many, even to consequences that do not die out. It will undergo a phase change. This property is a familiar hallmark of complexity.

Reference:

Arthur, W.B. (2021). Foundations of complexity economics. Nat Rev Phys 3, 136–145 (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s42254-020-00273-3

Fountain Pen Day

By Koen

On 2020-11-06

In Culture

Happy Fountain Pen Day! Fountain Pen Day is celebrated on the first Friday of November. But what is so interesting with this classical instrument?

The history of fountain pen must start with the long development of writing instruments, including quill and qalam. But the modern fountain pen we know today was first patented in 1827 by Petrache Poenaru, a Romanian inventor. However, it wasn’t until the 1850s that fountain pens became popular, thanks to the innovations made by Lewis Waterman. Waterman developed a system that used capillary action to control the ink flow, which prevented leaks and made writing smoother and more consistent. He also created a reservoir system that allowed the pen to hold more ink and made refilling easier. These innovations helped fountain pens become more reliable and convenient than earlier models.

The popularity of fountain pens continued to grow throughout the 20th century, as new designs and materials were introduced. In the 1920s, the first ballpoint pen was developed, which threatened to replace fountain pens as the preferred writing instrument. And the digital era have virtually erased the necessity of fountain pens from our society. Today, fountain pens are only used as a symbol of sophistication and elegance. They are often used for signatures, calligraphy, handwriting, and personal expression.

I started using fountain pen when I was an SMP student. I was a quite diligent student and writer, so I wrote too much. Instead of having to buy too many ballpoints, I chose to use my father’s unused Ero fountain pen, and just fill it with ink from a big bottle of Parker’s Quink at my father’s desk. My brother also influenced me to buy an Ero “two in one” pen — a single instrument with a fountain pen nib and a ballpoint. Needless to say, my memory of my SMP time involved continuously colourful hand, spilt by the blue, red, purple ink.

After digital era, I just use fountain pens occasionally. Buying ink was also weird, when almost all communications are established using computers and mobile devices. Just somehow I tend to get interested in using manual or semi-manual technology. And that’s the reason I still use fountain pens, albeit occasionally.

Despite the convenience and ubiquity of digital devices, many people still prefer using fountain pens for a variety of reasons:

Writing Experience — Many fountain pen enthusiasts appreciate the smooth and effortless writing experience that fountain pens provide. The flow of ink from a fountain pen’s nib can make writing feel more tactile and enjoyable, and can help to reduce hand fatigue during long writing sessions.
Personalisation — Fountain pens are often highly customisable, with different nib sizes, ink colours, and styles of pen bodies and caps available. This allows users to create a writing instrument that reflects their individual tastes and preferences.
Sustainability — Fountain pens are often viewed as more sustainable than disposable ballpoint pens, since they can be refilled with ink and used for years or even decades with proper maintenance. This can help to reduce waste and save money in the long run.
History and Tradition — Fountain pens have a long and storied history, dating back to the 19th century. For many people, using a fountain pen can feel like a connection to that history and to the writers and thinkers who have used fountain pens to create some of the world’s most influential works.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, besides creating and doing important things for the nation (trust me, haha), I also spend more time to maintain, use, and add the collection of my fountain pen. Please visit my fountain pens collection here: https://pen.dance; and let’s dance with my pens.

MSME Ecosystem

By Koen

On 2020-05-26

In Ecosystem, Telkom

Since 2016 I have a new role in Telkom Indonesia as the AVP (now Project Leader) of the Industry Synergy. The role of Synergy Department is simply developing the capabilities (mainly digital capabilities) and expanding opportunities of Telkom Group by maximising the collaboration with the industry. As a government policy at that time, the collaborations are prioritised with the state-owned companies (BUMN) in Indonesia. More than three years have passed then. We have changed the Ministry of BUMN, Telkom’s CEO, Telkom’s BOD in charge of Synergy programs, SVP and VP of Synergy, etc. But we are still developing our paradigm of digital synergy, i.e. developing digitally supported economic ecosystems in different sectors.

Using a metaphor from the environment, an innovation ecosystems consists of interdependent parties with different or often competing objectives and concerns, living and growing together in a common digital space, unified using one platform or more to enable them to live better and grow faster. Co-creation, collaboration, and competition are some key activities of the innovation ecosystems.

Last year, the new Minister of BUMN has addressed Telkom Indonesia to develop five ecosystems: Tourism, Agriculture, Logistics, Education, and Healthcare. We even hired a prominent global consultant to help us design the ecosystem. But this February, I requested an approval from the uplinks to add another ecosystem: the MSME ecosystem, to support non-digital micro, small, and medium business enterprises in digital way.

Previously we have had a program called RKB to develop the capability of SMEs in Indonesia. RKBs (BUMN’s creative house) have been established in 245 of 514 cities and regencies in Indonesia. In RKB, BUMNs provide training, consulting, and other facilities to leverage the capabilities of the SMEs in three product categories: culinary, craft, and fashion. But RKBs have failed to attract the SMEs since they do not really improve the sales of the SME products. An MSME ecosystem, on the contrary, should start with MSME commercialisation in mind.

We started with a small design by utilising a multichannel marketing application called SAKOO as our first platform. In March, many cities and locations in Indonesia (and other part of the world) are locked down (until the time I’m writing this post, btw) due to COVID-19 pandemic. We found some contexts for the usecase of the platform. To generate market, we will use BUMNs (and public, using campaigns supported by BUMNs) to create demands for the MSME market. BUMNs may buy the products of the MSMEs for their need, or as an aid to support the communities or health facilities in. Surely we first tried it with Telkom. Telkom has started purchasing MSMEs products using this platform, and has also sent support to communities in Depok.

The Minister of BUMN has a new expert staff: Ms Loto S Ginting — a smart lady working previously as a Director in the Ministry of Finance, managing sovereign bond. Now she advises the Minister of BUMN in the issues of Finance and MSME development. Our BUMN Law (UU 19/2003) mentions indeed that the strategic roles of the BUMNs include providing services for public, counterweight for private business, and support to develop small business and co-operatives. We approached her to discuss this first stage of MSME Ecosystem development program. She enthusiastically accepted the program. In addition, she improve the plan to add B2B transaction facility to the first stage of the program. The transaction data from B2B and B2C are further combined with data taken from e-Procurement systems of the BUMNs to make a dashboard to ensure the increase absorption of MSMEs products and services by the BUMNs. She calls this program PADI UMKM, stands for Pasar Digital UMKM / MSME Digital Market.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the nation into an economic crisis. To survive, MSMEs and their employees need the public involvement. The Minister addressed to rush the MSME platform development. We work with our startup partners: Anchanto, Tees, Payfast, etc to enrich PADI UMKM platform with wider multichannel, logistics management, B2B capability, financing facility, etc. We need to finish it next month (June), so we can start the transaction on July. Eight BUMNs have been selected for pilot project. A new PMO has been assigned to finish this project.

It still felt like a miracle that everything was only in ideation last February, and all activities are carried out during lockdown periods, with all meetings held using vicon, and coordination using whatsapp. Let’s hope we can finish it on June, to support more prosperous small business in Indonesia in long term, or at least, for now, just to have them survive these crises..

R10 Industry Relation Coordinator

By Koen

On 2016-10-28

In IEEE

Just a couple weeks ago, I’ve got an invitation from IEEE Region 10 Director-Elect, Prof Kukjin Chun. He will be the Director of IEEE Region 10 in 2017–2018; and he invited me to be a member of the Executive Committee (Excom), as the Industry Relations Coordinator.

This morning I got an Excel file from the Region 10, containing the list of the Region 10 Excom next year (starting 01 January 2017).

The IEEE Region 10 covers Asia–Pacific area. It covers a geographical area stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north-east to New Zealand in the south, and Pakistan in the west. It comprises of 57 Sections, 6 Councils, 17 Sub-sections, 515 Chapters, 60 Affinity Groups and 958 Student Branches. With a membership of 107,154 (about 25% of total IEEE membership), it is one of the largest regions in IEEE.

My predecessor on this position is Ms Pamela Kumar, the IEEE Region 10 Industry Relations Coordinator for 2015–2016.

Checking the IEEE Region 10 site, here’s the objective of Industry Relation activities:

Promoting IEEE activities within industries.
Engaging industries and practitioners in IEEE activities
Creating a platform for practitioners to network and benefit from being IEEE members
Creating benefits for academia-industry partnership to achieve innovations.
Recruiting more members from industry.

The responsibilities include:

Liaison with business and industry associations to facilitate collaborative applied research and development.
Providing assistance to academic research communities in transferring technologies to industry.
Providing services and holding activities for IEEE members and industrial employees to share knowledge and establish mutually beneficial relationship.

The activities, among others:

Creating a platform for Industry–Academia engagement during flagship IEEE R10 events – TENCON, TENSYMP, SYW and HTC conferences
Promoting programs to have practitioner oriented hands-on workshops (like MGA Metro Area Workshops)
Engaging and working together with local industrial bodies to promote interests of IEEE
Organising webinars on latest topics of interest to IEEE Industry members
Earmark and celebrate “Industry Day” during the month of November every year to have a platform to celebrate association with local industries.

Surely I will need supports from all of you: the academician & business people with concerns to technology development to enhance the quality of life. Please contact me for supports & feedbacks.

IEEE Tensymp 2016

By Koen

On 2016-06-18

In Event, IEEE, Travel

The 2016 IEEE Region 10 Annual Symposium (TENSYMP 2016) has been carried out in Sanur Paradise Plaza, Bali Island, Indonesia, in 9–11 May 2016. TENSYMP is the second flagship conference belongs to the IEEE Region 10. But TENSYMP is relatively new: this event was only the fourth TENSYMP. The aim is to serve IEEE contribution to the development, progress and welfare of countries in the Asia-Pacific region by disseminating technological knowledge and experience.

There were almost 213 papers submitted to the conference this year, of which only 96 papers were accepted, and 72 were presented in this conference. So, acceptance rate was 45%, and attendance rate was 75%. The conference was opened by IEEE Region 10 Director, Ramakrishna Kappagantu, accompanied among others by:

Satriyo Dharmanto, IEEE Indonesia Section Chair
Dr. Ford Lumban Gaol, IEEE TENSYMP 2016 General Co-Chair
Kuncoro Wastuwibowo, IEEE TENSYMP 2016 General Co-Chair
Prof. Gamantyo Hendrantoro, IEEE TENSYMP 2016 TPC Chair
Dr. Basuki Yusuf Iskandar, Head of Research & HR Development of the Indonesian Ministry of ICT

The topics for TENSYMP 2016 were selected by considering the position of Asia Pacific area as de facto centre for the ICT research, development, and industry. Digital devices, services and applications proliferate in unprecedented growth; but only a small number will become success stories. The others, despite their idealistic technical plan, will succumb the poor access to technology, market, community, or investment. It is the duty of the IEEE Region 10 as a community to arrange a coherence among those technologies, infrastructures, and business opportunities, to accelerate our common growth toward a digital society. Other big challenges are to develop and deploy our technology in meaningful ways – in real applications to enhance the value of human life. This is the expectation to choose the topic of TENSYMP 2016: Smart Computing, Communications, and Informatics of the Future. While we carry out deeper researches on those smart services and platforms; we keep in mind that our works are to enhance the quality of life.

On the Opening Speech, IEEE Region 10 Director Ramakrishna Kappagantu mentioned that with TENSYMP, IEEE Region 10 aims:

To provide a prestigious international forum for specialist presentations and interactions in one or more areas of Electrical, Electronics, Computer and Information technology through papers, exhibitions, plenary talk, tutorials, and other activities;
To contribute to the development, progress and welfare of countries in the Asia-Pacific region by disseminating technological knowledge and experience.
To encourage the study and discussion of technology and technological applications in a broad social, political and human context;
To polish and boost the interpersonal and professional skills of volunteers with the guidance of leaders and the renowned personalities in the respective field of Engineering & Technology.

The conference presented five prominent keynote speakers:

Prof. Kukjin Chun: Microelectromechanical Systems Technology Development.
Prof. Benjamin Wah: Consistent Synchronization Of Action Order with Least Noticeable Delays Ini MultiPlayer Online Games
Prof. Rod van Meter: Analyzing Applications for Quantum Repeater Network
Prof. Soegijarjo Soegidjoko, Biomedical Engineering Advances for a Better Life in Developed & Developing Countries
Dr. Basuki Yusuf Iskandar

The conference also presented 7 tutorial sessions, presenting tutorial speakers from spreading countries in Asia Pacific Region.

There was a Gala Dinner session on the first night of the conference, attended by all participants of the conference, and also by Prof Kukjin Chun as the Director-Elect of IEEE Region 10.

Other programs related to IEEE TENSYMP 2016 were, among others:

IEEE Region 10 Young Professional Gathering
IEEE Region 10 Women in Engineering Sharing Session
IEEE Region 10 Education Activities Sharing Session
IEEE TENSYMP 2016 Industry Forum

IIJ Special Issue on Internet IoT

By Koen

On 2016-05-19

In Technology

The Internetworking Indonesia Journal has just published a special issue (IIJ Vol 8 No 1 / 2016), presenting papers from the 2015 International Conference on Industrial Internet of Things.

Here are the content of this special issue

Guest Editors’ Introduction, Endra Joelianto, Augie Widyotriatmo and Arjon Turnip (PDF)
Road Road Travel Time Prediction using Vehicular Network, Sejoon Lim, (PDF)
Daytime Road Marker Recognition Using Grayscale Histogram and Pixel Values, Zamani Md Sani, Hadhrami Abd Ghani, Rosli Besar and W.S. Loi, (PDF)
A Food Ordering System with Delivery Routing Optimization Using Global Positioning System (GPS) Technology and Google Maps, Roy Deddy Hasiholan Tobing, (PDF)
Energy Aware Distributed Estimator System over Wireless Sensor Networks with Ad-hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) Routing Algorithm, Husnul Abady and Endra Joelianto, (PDF)
A Comparison of SVM and RVM for Human Action Recognition, Vina Ayumi and Mohamad I. Fanany, (PDF)
Online Brain Activity Extraction from EEG-P300 Signals with Nonlinear Autoregressive Model, Arjon Turnip and Artha Ivonita Simbolon, (PDF)
Ambient Environmental Quality Monitoring Using IoT Sensor Network, Arko Djajadi and Michael Wijanarko, (PDF)
The Application of Internet of Things System for Water Quality Monitoring, Tito Yuwono, Luqman Hakim, Irfan Ardi and Umar, (PDF)
Attenuation Measurement of Laboratory-Based PLC Implementation, Intan Sari Areni, Elyas Palantei, Ansar Suyuti, Adnan, Weni Sri Yusnita and Heni Susanti, (PDF)
A Distance-Based Approach for Binary-Categorical Data Bi-Clustering, Sadikin Mujiono, (PDF)
EEG-Based Brain-Controlled Wheelchair with Four Different Stimuli Frequencies, Arjon Turnip, Demi Soetraprawata, Mardi Turnip and Endra Joelianto, (PDF)
A Small Signal State Space Model of Inverter-Based Microgrid Control on Single Phase AC Power Network, Sutanto Hadisupadmo, Arista Nugroho Hadiputro and Augie Widyotriatmo, (PDF)
A Model of Turbo Encoder Based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) for Nano Satellite Application, Laila Prakasita, Heroe Wijanto and Budi Syihabuddin, (PDF)
Implementation of LSI Method on Information Retrieval for Text Document in Bahasa Indonesia, Jasman Pardede and Mira Musrini Barmawi, (PDF)
Design an Advanced Botnet to Monitor User Awareness on Harmful Malware Using VertexNet, Albert Sagala and Alexander Lumbantobing, (PDF)
Metadata of Dashboard Data Source Based on Study of Pentaho Dashboard Metadata, Rosni Lumbantoruan, Agnes Juliana Siregar, Erikson Matondang and Marisa Helen Gultom, (PDF)

Section Chairmanship Handover

By Koen

On 2015-02-25

In IEEE

It has been 2 years that I had handled the chairmanship of IEEE Indonesia Section, i.e. 2013-2014. At the end of the year 2014, I seek the support of the Advisory Board to prepare the Election to choose the new chairman. The Advisory Board formed an ad hoc Election Committee, led by Mr Arnold Djiwatampu. They also nominated Mr Satriyo Dharmanto as the candidate of the new chair. Satriyo was the chair of IEEE Indonesia Communications Society Chapter (2012-2014). The committee also invited other candidates through petitions. One candidate was nominated this way, i.e. Prof Pekik Argo Dahono, the chair of the Join Chapter of Education Society / Electron Devices Society / Power Electronics Society / Signal Processing Society. The election was conducted online on January 2015 with a web tool provided by the IEEE. The result was announced by the committee, one day after the election due. Satriyo won.

Then it was my turn to prepare the chairmanship handover process. I chose Jakarta Digital Valley (the HQ of Indigo Accelerator) as the venue for this handover. It was a symbol that this engineering professional organisation should put more attention to entrepreneurship based on technology innovation; without losing focus on academic research and industrial development. The handover ceremony was carried out as an IEEE Indonesia Section Member Gathering, conducted on 15 February, just a day before the Section’s anniversary. The IEEE Indonesia Section was established on 16 February 1988, through an approval letter published by the IEEE MGA.

To symbolise the handover process, Dr Wahidin Wahab (member of the Election Committee) put the Section Chair pin on Satrio’s jacket, and put the Section Past Chair pin on mine. So we have a new chairman! Then I handed over the Section banner (symbolising the life of the Section) to the new chairman.

Meanwhile, Dr Ford Lumban Gaol will retain his position as the Section Vice Chair. Dr I Wayan Mustika will be the new Secretary, and Ms Agnes Irwanti be the Treasurer.

What’s the duty of a Section Past Chair? We have never defined it. Obviously, the previous chair will support the new one with advices, guidance, and networking with the Region, neighbouring Sections, and the HQ. Some years ago, the Section established an Advisory Boards, populated by some former Section Chairs. I haven’t known yet whether I will be appointed as a member of this board. You know: as a chairman, I was not too warm hearted.

However, I will still work for the organisation (and, obviously, for the profession). Even after understanding that I would no more be a Section chair, some conference organisers have appointed be as a member of their TPC (technical program committee), scientific committee, or even steering committee. Here are some of such conferences:

Asia Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC 2015). IEICE Comsoc, KICS, CIC. Kyoto 2015. Technical Program Committee, Member.
International Conference on Computer, Control, Informatics and Applications 2015 (IC3INA 2015). LIPI. Bandung 2015. Scientific Committee, Member.
International Conference on Information & Communication Technology and Systems (ICTS 2015). ITS. Surabaya 2015. Scientific Committee, Member.
Asia-Pacific Conference on Computer Aided System Engineering (APCASE 2015). Quito, Ecuador 2015. Steering Committee.

Bandung: IC3INA 2014

By Koen

On 2014-10-31

In IEEE, Technology

IC3INA (International Conference on Computer, Control, Informatics and its Applications) is an annual conference, organised byResearch Center for Informatics, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). Since 2013, the IEEE Indonesia Section co-organised this conference as technical sponsor. This year, IC3INA was conducted in Bandung, October 21st-23rd.

I attended this conference as one of Scientific Committee member, and as the chair of the IEEE Indonesia Section. Last year (2013), they made me the moderator of all keynote speech session on opening day. But this year (2014), they only wanted me to present a 5 minutes speech as an IEEE representative.

Here’s what I read:

Assalaamu’alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh.

Distinguished Ladies & Gentlemen,

It’s always enchanting to be around the community of scientist, researchers, academicians, and technology professionals. Representing the IEEE, and especially the IEEE Indonesia Section, I would like to express our gratitude to be involved for this distinguished event, the IC3INA 2014 in Bandung, Indonesia, organised by LIPI.

We have known that the IEEE was established more than 125 years ago. This organisation is a home for scientists and engineers from the industrial world and academic domain to synergise their idea, and to collaborate their efforts to understand more about the nature and to engineer it toward a better life. In Indonesia, the Section was established only 26 years ago, and is now actively fostering the academic and professional engineering activities in Indonesia with its 10 chapters representing 15 different fields, and 7 student branches. It is a place for the engineering ecosystem to work in partnership and collaboration to enhance the dynamics and quality of our researches, our academic and professional works, for our mission to advance the technology for humanity.

The second decade of the 21st century has been witnessing new paradigms for the Information Technology. The Internet, which has previously revolutionized the communication and interaction among people, has started its next evolution to be the Internet-of-Things (IOT), with the ability to connect any digital entity or virtually anything to the network of information and knowledge. Information processing does not stop with just doing computation over data input, but would also enrich the information with aggregation of various supporting knowledge, with context-awareness. Big data technology allows the aggregation of large amounts of information from various sources intelligently to obtain results that are sometimes unpredictable.

But the challenge is to develop and to implement those new computing paradigms in real applications to enhance the value of human life. While we carry out researches on Big Data, we keep in mind that this is one of the key technologies to improve the quality of life. We expect better understanding to the universe and human, better education approach, personalised health care, smart city integrated with ubiquitous sensing networks, smart businesses that understand their customers in person, better approach for environment conservation, and others. The interesting thing about Big Data is the necessity on its implementation to maximize the role of the ecosystem, to involve all stakeholders in designing a disruptive lifestyle with this technology.

So let’s have some discussions, and warm networkings. All the best for you; all the best for the profession. Thank you.

Bandung, 21 October 2014

Kuncoro Wastuwibowo
Chair, IEEE Indonesia Section

Bali: APCC 2013

By Koen

On 2013-09-03

In Event, IEEE, Technology, Telkom

Alhamdulillah, we have finished APCC 2013. Just like TALE 2013 was somehow related to CYBERNETICSCOM 2012; then APCC 2013 was like a continuation of COMNETSAT 2012, when Prof. Byeong Gi Lee suggested the IEEE Comsoc Indonesia Chapter to host the APCC. This suggestion brought us to attend APCC 2012 in Jeju Island, where we won the bid to host the 2013 APCC. It was followed by a series of activities, including event organising and paper management. The IEEE Comsoc Indonesia Chapter appointed Dr. Wiseto Agung, an avid scientist an researcher from Telkom Indonesia, as the General Chair of the conference. Another strategic step taken is to arrange a partnership with ITTelkom (now the University of Telkom) as a co-organiser on both the technical issue and event organising. Originally, the number of submitted papers raised very-very slowly. A bit stressed, indeed. But a few days before the deadline, hundreds of paper came through the EDAS. From all over the world, those most educated human beings still chose to wait until the final second before submitting their papers. We collected a total of 309 papers. The Technical Program Committee was chaired by Dr Arifin Nugroho, with some vice chairs. The most active TPC vice chair was Dr. Rina Puji Astuti. Meanwhile I held the position of Chair at IEEE Indonesia Section, so I must share my resources (time etc) with many other IEEE activities. The Comsoc Chapter Chair (Satriyo Dharmanto) and the Past Chairs (Muhammad Ary Murti, Arief Hamdani) continued the struggle to succeed APCC 2013. With strict selection process, APCC 2013 passed only 163 papers (53 % of total incoming paper).

APCC, Asia – Pacific Conference on Communications, is a very prestigious regional conference in Asia Pacific, which is the region with the highest growth in the world of ICT technology. APCC is supported by the IEEE Communications Society, the KICS in Korea, the IEICE Communications Society in Japan, and the CIC in China. The names of the APCC Steering Committee members are also thrilling: the great figures who pioneered the world of ICT. APCC was first held in 1993 in Taejon, Korea. This year, the 19th APCC was held at the Bali Dynasty Resort in Kuta Beach, 29 to 31 August 2013. I had been in Bali since August 26 to attend TALE 2013. The other APCC organisers, from the IEEE Comsoc Indonesia Chapter, University of Telkom, and University of Udayana, has started preparing the event on 28 August.

Thursday, 29 August, the APCC 2013 was opened. With a lot of technical sponsors, some representatives had to deliver short speeches at that opening ceremony. But each one took only about 5 minutes. Opening speeches were delivered by Dr. Wiseto Agung (GC APCC 2013), Satriyo Dharmanto (Chair , IEEE Indonesia Comsoc Chapter), Dr. Ali Muayyadi (Telkom University representative), Prof. Zhen Yang (Chair of APCC Steering Committee; Chair of the CIC), Dr. Yoshihiro Ishikawa (Chair, IEICE Communications Society), Prof. You- Ze Cho (Vice Chair , KICS), and yours truly (Chair, IEEE Indonesia Section). IEEE Indonesia Section itself represented the IEEE as the technical activity endorser.

My speech just simply mentioned that Asia Pacific has great significance in the development of ICT. Besides the fact that this area is the center of the most competitive ICT industry, the residents are also among the most adaptive in embracing digital lifestyle in the new culture. Our cultural richness has supported the development of communication technologies, with the ability to understand and support the highly contextual interaction and communications. But the social problems in the region is also alarming. We open access to information technology, but we encourage consumerism. We facilitate the preservation of nature, but we also increase pollution. We help creating new jobs, but we also accelerate urbanisation. The engineers need to design and develop technologies that will address the various issues of humanity and the life of human being. And it was in this social context, that we chose this theme for APCC 2013: Smart Communications to Enhance the Quality of Life .

Keynote speeches were delivered successively by Prof. Byeong Gi Lee (Past President, IEEE Communications Society; Past President, KICS), Prof. Adnan Al-Anbuky (Director of Sensor Network and Smart Environment (SENSE) Research Lab, School of Engineering Auckland University of Technology, Auckland New Zealand), Mr. Indra Utoyo (CISP, Telkom Indonesia; Chairman, MIKTI), and Mr. Ichiro Inoue (Network Systems Planning & Innovation Project, NTT).

The next activities were typical for any international technical conference. Special speech sessions, tutorial sessions, parallel presentation sessions, poster sessions, etc. In the tutorial session, I chose to avoid mainstream discussions of mobile network etc, and chose instead the sensor network as one of the elements for the Internet of Things (IoT). The tutors happened to be a pair of professors from Coventry University. This is a modern university (compared to classical universities) that gained a lot of appreciation and awards everywhere this year. Another regular event was the Gala Dinner, with its semi-formal atmosphere, but also with its permission for a laugh-out-loud sessions. Here the Paper Awards were also presented by the APCC Steering Committee .

The last day, I spent my time to visit the poster sessions. Out of curiosity, I seriously talked to all presenters about the posters presented. It was a way to learn new things while expanding networks. Conversations in the poster session could be deeper and more interesting than the presentation session where time is very limited.

I recognised that it was a hard work for the organisers. In the review session on Saturday afternoon, I said that even though the organisers in any events always feel that there are a lot of unforgivable shortcomings, but the APCC Steering Committee and the participants, had personally conveyed their appreciations and positive feedbacks. Good job! The IEEE, Unitel, Udayana University, and all. Great job! This year there will be many other events of the IEEE Indonesia Section. Hopefully all will provide supports as it was for the APCC 🙂 . Thanks, all.

Bali: TALE 2013

By Koen

On 2013-08-30

In IEEE

TALE, the IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, is one of three key conferences of the IEEE Education Society. This year, TALE was held at the Bali Dynasty Resort, a resort on the shores of Kuta Beach, Bali , 26-29 August 2013. Indonesia was recommended to host the TALE Conference by Prof. Michael Lightner (ex IEEE Education Society President), who had observed the way the IEEE Indonesia Section organised IEEE CYBERNETICSCOM 2012, where he was present as a keynote speaker. Despite the obtained recommendations, the Indonesian team should still needed to bid on TALE 2012 at Hong Kong.

The technical aspects of the conference were organised by the IEEE Education Society. The IEEE Indonesia Section needed only to organise the event. The operation was led by Dr. Ford Lumban Gaol as the General Chair. He is also the vice chair of the IEEE Indonesia Section. Some universities provided some supports, especially Bina Nusantara University in Jakarta. TALE was carried out in serial with the APCC.

(Koen with Prof. Castro and Prof. Ken Soetanto)

I arrived in Bali on Monday afternoon, August 26. Ngurah Rai Airport was still in the process of intensive renovation. From the airport, we needed only 10 minuted to reach the Dynasty Resort. The first day of TALE was occupied by tutorials and workshop activities. I attended some workshop sessions, then I spent the afternoon biking along Kuta Beach, until the sunset. At night , there was a Welcome Party, with some introductions to the VIP and committees. Presented at the event were Prof. Manuel Castro (IEEE Education Society, President), Dr Alain Chesnais (ACM, Past President), Prof. Sorel Reisman (ex IEEE Computer Society President), etc. I spent a lot of time discussing with colleagues from Bangalore .

(TALE photo session after the Opening Ceremony 2013 : All in Batik)

The opening ceremony was held on August 27 morning. Opening speeches are presented by Dr. Ford Lumban Gaol as General Chair; Prof. Gerardus Polla (ex Rector of Binus University) who represented Binus as co-organiser; then IEEE Indonesia Section representation — yours truly. I started with the paradox that although almost all technological advances has been initiated or supported by the education, but the ICT has not been widely revolutionised the education field (compared to — for example — the field of communications , transportation, industry , etc.). ICT infrastructure for this purpose could be considered quite ready. But just to convert the education content and interaction into digital forms would be far from sufficient to achieve the expectations of creating a new way to educate more people, anyone, of any age, anywhere, in ways that remain humane and not by separating people with their natural environment. A new paradigm is required for a lifetime process of human education, with the support of pervasive ICT infrastructure. It was actually just the opening for the discussion :). Then the conference was opened by Prof. Gerard Polla with Balinese gong. Booom – booom – booom .

The keynote speeches were delivered by Prof. Manuel Castro of the IEEE Education Society, Prof. Ken Kawan Soetanto, and Prof. Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro from Binus Advisory Board. The education field is indeed interesting, encouraging, with a broad impact. Discussions on the keynote sessions were pretty hot, resembling various visions. We easily observed many pros and cons on every aspect of e-learning digital education, and others. But those battles of the titans had made this kind of a conference so much more interesting than just reading the paper stacks 🙂 .

(Prof. Reisman discussed with Prof. Castro and M Chesnais)

The conference continued with parallel presentation sessions. The discussions about education were still as hot as the discussion at the keynote sessions. At night, we had a Gala Dinner session to display the culture of the region: from Balinese Dance to Asia Pacific songs and music.

The last day, August 29th (the same day as the opening of the APCC), Bali was still consistent with its fresh but hot weather. We closed the conference with the awarding session by Alain Chesnais. I presented the closing remarks, and then closed the conference. This time there was no gong. So I closed this extremely important international conference with a bread knife tapped on a white cup . Tinq – tinq – tinq, and TALE 2013 was closed .

(Special photo with Alain Chesnais and Alain Chesnais)