Seok Chern's Blog ~ @ ASP.NET/IIS MVP @ ~

We're off to Geneva Switzerland for two weeks to represent Malaysia in the Global Forum on Youth and ICT!!

The finals of the Astro Technologenius 2007 competition held on September 11 saw the team from KDU College PJ Campus together with four other teams clinch the prize of representing Malaysia in the Global Forum on Youth and ICT (September 24 to 26) in Geneva, Switzerland.  KDU’s winning team lead by Lim Boon Yean, a graduate of the Diploma in Business Computing and currently pursuing the Murdoch University Bachelor of Business Informatics, will be spending a fully sponsored two weeks in Geneva, Switzerland for the Global Forum as well as exploring the sounds of Geneva.

Lim who came up with the initial idea of the winning idea also put together a team of differing academic backgrounds and strengths.  The idea of creating a ‘Psycho Sensor’ seemed far fetched initially as it was to read the user’s blood pressure and heartbeat rate using any MP3 enabled device.  Ngan Seok Chern, a recent graduate of the Northumbria University Bachelor of Science in Computing Studies was able to study the feasibility of the idea utilizing his strength in the technical field.  Ea Qiu Hua, a Murdoch University Bachelor of Commerce student together with Lim researched emotions and categorized them into two major groups: angry and stressed or sad and sleepy.  The impact would be either heightened blood pressure and heartbeat or lowered blood pressure and heartbeat.

The team also recruited Lum Yan Yan, a graduate of the Diploma in Business Computing and currently an MLVK tutor in the Department of IT.  Together, the far fetched initial idea became a possibility and the idea expanded to include tunes to fit the emotion, sensations to alert users and voice activated messages to fit the emotions.  The evaluation criteria of concept and idea, innovation and feasibility was always kept in mind whilst preparing for the competition.

Ngan, who was also the Microsoft Ambassador for KDU College PJ expresses that the product if integrated into wrist watches or mobile phones could help in reducing the occurrence of depression and traffic accidents in Malaysia.  Ea exclaims that the sensations in alerting users could include prickly or heat sensations to remind users of the change in their emotions.

The team will be leaving for Geneva on September 22^nd 2007 and are motivated to excel not only academically but also in their careers.