REGION 10 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE — July 2020
Dear All IEEE Region 10 Members,
Even though all are suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope each of you is individually safe and healthy!
When we held our most recent 7th March online Region 10 Meeting, in fact the first such online Regional meeting among all our ten IEEE Regions, we had an ominous feeling concerning future events. Yet a number of events have since been successfully held online, and further online events and meetings are scheduled. These are to include our Sections Congress, R10 SYWL Congress, TENCON 2020, and R10 HTC 2020.
We are getting used to online meetings in this difficult situation, helped by our being engineers. But I still believe face-to-face meetings and the warmth of a human touch are very important for our organization and its gatherings. Like you, I naturally look forward to a return to such occasions in a not too distant future.
During this period of staying home, we began some outreach programs making use of local languages. Within our Region 10 we have a plethora of local languages, and there are many who would like to receive materials in their local tongue. With the generous help of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, not long ago we provided both Chinese- and Japanese-language subtitles for a very popular plenary speech on the topic of AI. We’ve also started a webinar series in Japanese. Let me know where local interest lies in furthering such innovation.
Indeed, many Sections have signaled their interest in this activity of reaching out to local groups and subgroups, and I’m confident that a wealth of such materials in diverse languages will follow from our initial efforts with your significant help.
Another piece of news is new multimedia content in the current issue of our R10 Newsletter. We try fully to utilize our technology to create enriched content. I hope you will take notice and be pleased with the results, perhaps suggesting or facilitating further experimentation.
Now we’re halfway through the year 2020. Most of us are still faced with a changing variety of restrictions, especially in traveling abroad. For example, I am addressing this message to you during the current online Board of Directors meeting series, supposed to have been hosted in Chicago instead of digitally.
The good news is I and others are able to avoid long-distance travel, but the bad news is that a number of us have to attend meetings during our local nighttime and then work as usual during the day. We know we have to take care, but at the same time, we are striving to create a new normal both in our daily lives and in all IEEE activities. I do hope we are creative enough do that and perhaps some unexpected good will come of it.
Keep staying safe and healthy!
With every good wish,
Akinori Nishihara
Director, IEEE Region 10