Source: School of Communication and Design
Written by: Li Yongmei, Li Yu
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On January 11, 2015, the School of Communication and Design of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) and the Laboratory Center of SYSU East Campus jointly established the first Big Data and Communication laboratory (BDC lab) in south China, and hosted the 1st roundtable meeting of Big Data and Communication, inviting guests from both academic and industry field.

Prof. Chen Chunsheng, Executive Deputy Secretary and Vice President of SYSU, attended the opening ceremony. He said that the BDC lab is committed to become a collaborative platform that links academia and industry, eliminating barriers and combining liberal arts and science.

Prof. Zhang Zhian, Dean of the School of Communication and Design and Director of the BDC lab, said that the lab is aspired to pursue three “topnotch” — the topnotch data resources, the topnotch problem awareness, and the topnotch teaching and research. He also pointed out that the lab would lead the way for experiment teaching reform in traditional liberal arts schools based on the cross-disciplinary cooperation with data-driven research.

Then, Prof. Zhang Zhian and Mr. Liu Shuyu, Director of the Laboratory Center of SYSU East Campus, jointly unveiled the plaque of the Big Data and Communication laboratory. Dr. Yu Xiao, CEO of Weiboreach, delivered a speech on behalf of the partners of the lab.

At the roundtable meeting later in the day, the participants discussed topics such as “what problems can big data and communication study” and “how can the study transfer from data-driven to problem-driven”. The attendees included the CEO of Weiboreach Yu Xiao, CEO of Kdnet Chen Guchuan, Editor in chief of ZAKER Ye Weimin and Associate Professor Liang Yucheng from the School of Sociology and Anthropology of SYSU.

In the end, Prof. Zhang Zhian gave a summary of the unveiling ceremony and the roundtable meeting. He said that the core purpose and goal of the lab is to establish big data and platform that can communicate with the government, enterprises and citizens, and the media.