Feature

Another Dimension of the Digital World

Tanzina Rahman

OVER the last few years, the transformation and development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has dramatically changed in Bangladesh. The typical use of mobile phones for instance, can be seen in the most rural areas of the country. Not only the nation is relying on such technology today, but also is looking forward to compete with the developing world by creating a digital social dogma. With ICT becoming an integral part of every sphere of our lives, starting from agriculture to primary education to health care to industrial production to transportation to crime prevention and detection to national defence, it is really impossible for us to predict where we would stand twelve years from now.

In line with this notion, School of Engineering and Computer Science, of Independent University, Bangladesh and Department of Computer Science and Engineering Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) jointly organised the 12th International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (ICCIT) at the new campus of IUB.

After receiving positive response from abroad and from our country, MIST and IUB hosted this event for the second time with the aim to serve as an engine for students, researchers, and faculty members of Bangladeshi universities. Professor Mohammad Anwer, Director of School of Engineering and Computer Science and Chair of Organizing Committee, Professor Omar Rahman Pro Vice Chancellor of IUB, Brig. Gen. Akhtaruzzaman Siddique, Head of Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering of MIST, Professor Mohammad Ataul Karim, Vice President of Research of Old Dominion University and Chair of International Program Committee, Brig. Gen. Habibur Rahman Kamal, Commandant of MIST, and Professor Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury, Vice Chancellor of IUB were present at the inauguration ceremony.

According to Professor Mohammad Ataul Karim, this year's conference received 473 submissions of which 150 were finally accepted after rigorous selection. This amounts to an acceptance rate of 31.7 among which the majority of the papers came from outside of Bangladesh. A team of 83 reviewers, all from outside of Bangladesh, evaluated these manuscripts. Like last year, a number of selected papers will be recorded in renowned journals.

The three-day conference focused from a range of topic of the ICT world, such as Communication and Networking, Wireless Communication, Knowledge and Data Engineering, Signal Processing, Web Applications and many more. It created a platform for discussion, exchange of ideas and to challenge the existing ideas among the participants.

Speaking about the future plans and ICT in our society, Professor Mohammad Anwer said, whether or not government is supporting ICT, it is becoming part of our lives. Developing policy instrument by our government has become a vital necessity. Currently we do not have any legal bindings as to what is permissible in ICT and what is not. Child pornography for instance, there is no law to stop it from happening in our country. In future these issues will be brought up in conferences like ICCIT and many others.