Gwangju International Center

The Intersection Between Government and Computer Science

Speaker: Robert S. Wang (U.S.A)

Date: September 22nd, 2012

Review writer: Nguyen Hoang Quan

Proof-reader: Bradley Weiss

On September 22^nd the GIC was honored to welcome Robert. S. Wang as presenter for GIC Talk. Mr. Wang received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 2003, and is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Honam University.

Mr. Wang’s presentation, “The Intersection Between Government and Computer Science” was clearly well researched and informative, and was well-received by the audience. The presenter stressed how computer science is currently becoming an ever more important part of our lives, in aspects ranging from services to health care, etc. However, Mr. Wang’s wished to emphasize an important area in which computer science plays a part – that is its function in government. This is an aspect that perhaps many people hadn’t given much thought to, and so the topic seemed to really draw the attention of the GIC audience.

In the first part of the talk, the presenter mentioned in general the relationship between government and computer science. This included discussion of such topics as the role of government in building the Internet, as well as governmental achievements made possible by computer science, including some of humanity’s major scientific breakthroughs, such as nuclear weapons, man-made satellites, etc. Mr. Wang then traced some important points through history involving the interaction of government and computer science, from the achievements of the Soviet era, such as the launch of Sputnik, to the invention of information processing techniques. This led to a discussion of the events of the so-called “Arab Spring,” the recent political uprisings that were made possible by social media such as facebook. These social media platforms, in turn, were all products of computer science that had a direct effect on government in the form of regime change and reform. The speaker discussed how even the election of Barak Obama to the presidency of the United States was in part made possible through the success of his fundraising website early in his campaign, which proved him to be a credible candidate.

In the later part of the talk, our presenter came to pose a crucial question: What can social scientists do to help computer scientists. He discussed designing an engaging interface, and about how government data could be gathered for policy makers in order for them to make better policies. He also talked about the application of computer science for government, which could allow agencies to work better with citizens and other agencies.

The end of Mr. Wang’s talk was met with the audience's enthusiastic applause.

Saturday September 22nd, 2012 was also something of a milestone for our beloved GIC Talk, for we said goodbye to our current volunteer members. The four previous members had a productive tenure at GIC Talk for 6 months, which might seem like too short a time for them in some way, but definitely was a time they will never forget. GIC Talk was also glad to welcome the four new members to the team: ......

With the hope they will have an enjoyable and valuable experience, contributing their great efforts to the GIC, as well as GIC Talk. 

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8rrmqyCkGc&feature=relmfu