Focus on Surrey: Our new campus opens Sept. 8
Document Tools
Your bride is in the mail
Naughty words and high definition
Learning to squeak
Your bride is in the mail
These days finding a wife or a husband can be as easy as going online. The mail-order bride industry is thriving with the growth of the internet, says Jen Marchbank, director of explorations in arts and social sciences at SFU Surrey. Marchbank is researching the industry, investigating the experiences of brides and their husbands, and looking at the politics of immigration, marriage and international economic policies. The former co-chair of the U.K. national body for women’s studies can talk about her research and that burning question — what attracts men and women to these relationships? (She’ll give a talk at SFU Surrey’s campus opening on Sept 9 at 2 p.m., rm 3090)
Jen Marchbank, 778.782.7607; 604.657.8727 (cell); jmarchba@sfu.ca
Naughty words and high definition
When it comes to filtering sites on the internet, who handles the 'naughty word' list? Who makes the choices and what are their interests? Social scientist John Bowes, director of the school of interactive arts and technology at SFU Surrey says we need to be asking these questions. Bowes studies policies for internet content and examines issues of web censorship. He also researches trends in technology such as consumer adoption of high definition television. Bowes notes that the highly sought-after systems are improperly set up by more than half of HDTV buyers who believe they are viewing HDTV — but are not.
John Bowes, 778.782.7441; john_bowes@sfu.ca
Learning to Squeak
Squeak is an interactive object-oriented programming environment designed for education — the ultimate digital toy box. It enables young children to write interactive stories, animate digital aquariums, give birth to blobs and create movies. The tool is the brainchild of Toby Donaldson, a lecturer in the school of computing science at SFU Surrey. His interest is artificial intelligence; natural language processing and problem solving. He is currently working on the redesign of ‘turtle’ graphics from the early computer Logo language — turning turtles into educational ABC blocks for beginning programmers.
Toby Donaldson, 778.782.7433; tjd@sfu.ca