[31 May 2006]
SiTF and SMU announce winners of "Speak out on ICT" oratory contest

National Junior College's Lim Perk Lun and NTU's Kelvin Quee emerged as the winner in the Junior and Senior category respectively

Singapore. May 31, 2006 - The Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and Singapore Management University (SMU) are pleased to announce the winners of "Speak out on ICT" oratory contest, the public-speaking competition organised jointly by the two bodies with aims to promote interest in pursuing an infocomm technology (ICT) career among junior college and tertiary students in Singapore. Lim Perk Lun from National Junior College won the Junior category, and Kelvin Quee from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) beat the rest to emerge as the winner in the Senior category. The finals was held at SMU's School of Information Systems on May 27. "Speak out on ICT" is a fringe event of iX 2006, the annual premier ICT event organised by SiTF, and will be held at Raffles City Convention Centre on June 21-22.

The oratory contest attracted numerous entries from junior colleges and tertiary institutions across Singapore, including United World College of Southeast Asia, Victoria Junior College, National Junior College, Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Singapore Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, SMU, NTU and National University of Singapore (NUS).

Five contestants in the Junior category and 15 from the Senior category were invited to present their entries based on the theme "ICT at Work: Collaboration and Peer-to-Peer Technologies" before a panel of judges on May 27. Each contestant was given a maximum of 15 minutes for his or her presentation.

The panel of distinguished judges included

. Stephen Lim, Chairman, SiTF
. Pek Yew Chai, Vice Chairman, SiTF
. William Claxton, Chairman of iX Conference Organising Committee, SiTF
. Practice Professor Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Associate Dean, School of Information Systems, SMU
. Yeo Guan Kai, Associate Partner, Accenture
. Tan Tong Hai, President & CEO, Singapore Computer Systems
. Tay Eng Hoe, Group CEO, ECS Computers
. P. Balachandran, Director, Robert Wang & Woo LLC
. Wong Ka Vin, Strategic Advisor, Virtual Practice

Contestants were judged on the subject matter of their presentation, relevance to the conference theme, as well as delivery. They were invited to use slides or other audio-visual media to accompany their presentation.

"While many of the presentations were well researched, informative and delivered confidently, it is noteworthy that the winning entries advocated a change in the way that enterprises use collaboration tools," commented William Claxton, Chairman of iX Conference Organising Committee, SiTF. "Lim Perk Lun advocated the need for a single standard for IM communications. Kelvin Quee advocated a change from competitive to cooperative behaviour in the enterprise."

The winning entry of National Junior College 's Lim Perk Lun was entitled "P2P Software: One is enough". It examined the benefits of peer-to-peer technologies to both consumers and businesses alongside their implications and limitations. On the other hand, Kelvin Quee from NTU debunked the common misconception about collaboration tools, highlighted the shortcomings of such technologies, and suggested a hybrid approach to solving the problem. Both will present their winning entries at iX 2006 Congress on June 22 before a large audience.

"The purpose of this contest is to get young people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just technology backgrounds, thinking about new possibilities for harnessing ICT in both their personal and professional lives. We are pleased that students from so many junior colleges and tertiary institutions took on the challenge to participate in this very first year of the contest," commented Practice Professor Steven Miller, Dean of the SMU School of Information Systems.

The judges were also impressed by many of the other contestants, and the following were particularly noteworthy.

- Wang Ruohan, Victoria Junior College, "Challenges and Promises of P2P Systems". Rouhan delivered a confident and informative presentation on P2P systems, highlighting some security and scalability concerns. He was runner up in the Junior competition.

- Nguyen Thi Thao Duyen, National University of Singapore, "Collaboration At Work - The Efficiency Of Peer To Peer Instant Messaging Applications". Nguyen provided a lively presentation focused on the pros and cons of IM applications in the workplace. By examining IM from the enterprise perspective, her presentation was seen as more relevant.

- Ng Pin Quan, Columbia University (graduated Anglo Chinese Junior College ), "Knowledge Aggregation And Transaction/Agency Cost Strategies Through P2P-Based Workspaces And Networks". Pin Quan's well-researched presentation was rated very highly on subject matter and relevance. His delivery was confident and he spoke clearly, especially toward the memorable "resistance is futile" ending. However, much of the talk assumed a somewhat academic tone, perceived as perhaps too abstract for the target audience (enterprise IT managers). Pin Quan was runner up in the Senior competition.

- Kaushal Dugar & Karthik Raja, Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, "Using P2P Project Collaboration Applications To Form Metadata About Information Used In Interest Based Communities". Karthik delivered the presentation, which was rated highly on subject matter, and was delivered with passion. The presentation described work that the two are pursuing to develop an application that encourages users to share metadata for their project files.

- Ng Ming Yeow, National University of Singapore , "Why The Software-As-A-Service Model Is The Future Of Collaboration". Ming Yeow's presentation was a timely critique to vendors that pay too much attention to the buyer rather than the user. He strongly advocated the model of software as a service, which the judges found compelling, and profiled some AJAX applications. His presentation was rated very high on content, and he received good marks for relevance and delivery. Ming Yeow was second runner up in the Senior competition.

- Cheryl Chen Shulian, Singapore Management University, "Collaborate, Don't Just Communicate!". Cheryl's presentation focused on the role of Wikis in the enterprise, and advocated a change of work styles. She got high marks for relevance and delivery, but the judges felt that the subject matter lacked the depth of the earlier presentations.

The SMU School of Information Systems is the academic partner of iX 2006, and the co-sponsor of the "Speak out on ICT" oratory contest.

iX 2006 is organised by SiTF, and is part of the infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX). For more information about the conference, please visit the official Web site at www.ixconference.com .

Issued on behalf of the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation by TACT Public Relations.

About the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation

The Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) is Singapore 's premier infocomm industry association. SiTF brings together 400+ corporate members from MNCs and local companies. Collectively, our members account for over 80% of the industry revenues. The SiTF assists its members in business development, market intelligence, overseas trade missions, networking and alliances.

SiTF has eight chapters under its wing - Best Sourcing Chapter, Digital Media Chapter, eGovernment Chapter, eLearning Chapter, Singapore Enterprise Chapter, Security Chapter, Web Services Chapter and Wireless Chapter.

For more information on SiTF, please visit www.sitf.org.sg .

About the Infocomm Media Business Exchange - imbX

The Infocomm Media Business Exchange - imbX, is Asia's largest infocomm and media event that fortifies Singapore's position as a leading infocomm and media hub. imbX brings together business leaders, companies and industry professionals to showcase their latest innovations, network, exchange ideas and tap new markets. Held annually in Singapore in June, imbX incorporates a series of exhibitions, conferences and inter-government meetings and is attended by over 60,000 delegates from more than 100 countries. For more information on imbX, please visit www.visit-imbx.com .

.