A First Full Day Back

This is my second in a series of GridCast posts for ISGC 2010. The first is here.

It is good to be here and see so many locals, event organisers and delegates that I recall seeing at ISGC 2009 and during my extended at Academia Sinica around that time - a little less than a year ago.

This morning I met François Grey at breakfast after a morning swim. He is part of the ISGC 2010 GridCast Team too :-). Also on the team of seven (surely we should have a nickname!) is my friend Vicky Huang who I met last year when she looked after me and worked very hard to successfully organise things and try to make everyone happy. After walking round the corner from our accommodation in the convenient and comfortable Guest House I took a photo (hopefully to be found somewhere near this text) of my friend Alex Voss as we headed to the International Conference Hall to register.



After registering, I settled into a comfy chair to to prepare for: the Social Simulation Tutorial that I am helping to run on Sunday (tomorrow); and, presenting my GENESIS Paper in the Applications on Humanities & Social Sciences I session on Wednesday.

I unpacked my conference bag to find:
A paper Program Book of proceedings
* The online version is here.
Two invitations for evening events: a Welcome Reception on 2010-03-09; and, a Banquet on 2010-03-11.
A 4GB USB stick data key dongle thingy
EUAsiaGrid bumf about Building a EuroAsian Grid Community (which I am proud to be part of in a collaborative sense)
* This came with a useful pen and a fancy bookmark
Tourist maps of Taiwan and the local area

Fantastic! I decided to display the bag, its contents and my computer by an orchid which was nearby and take another photo to share with you (hopefully to be found somewhere near this text).


I studied the Program Book and went about business...

The day was nicely punctuated with refreshment breaks and updates from colleagues. I enjoyed informal chats with other delegates, I learning what some of them are working on, and sharing knowledge about customs and language and about the local area. As this is an international event, it is to be expected that delegates come from far and wide and it is a great pleasure that this event like eResearch generally seems to attract open minded people that; practically try to make a difference and help improve the world or support others to do that, and who also have good humour and are friendly. Another thing that impresses me is the command of the English language by those who's first language is not English.

I was kindly invited to a posh dinner with collaborators on the EUAsiaGrid project. We ate well and it turned out to be a birthday occasion too which was a happy coincidence. I learned that traditionally Taiwanese brides wear red, the colour of love. Also I had it confirmed that in Chinese culture a husband that wears a green hat is signalling that their wife has been unfaithful! Apparently there is still some confusion on St Patrick's day when the local Irish go to town!

It is not just GridCast blogging from ISGC 2010. There are many others that take photos and write blogs in attendance. I remember this from last year, and I'm thinking about how best to link to these once I locate them... Personally, I try to keep blogging about most things I'm up to work wise. I don't plan to bore you with details of that in my GridCast posts. However, if you are interested to look up some details of my work and what I get up to here at ISGC 2010, then my main blogging for this event is here. Currently, my main blog that links to most details of my work is here.