Jean-Paul Van Belle Home Page

	Chronological page index
2006	Another exciting year with the Postgraduate Diploma course (INF4015Z) as well as some other post-graduate (honours, masters) and undergraduate lectures and lots of new research including some jnl articles, chapters in books and conference papers. I also decided to make my Information Systems textbooks available for public download - under a creative commons license - namely the (somewhat dated) Discovering Information Systems as well as the Office XP for Business which includes some good introductory as well as more advanced notes on how to use Excel in Business. Being the chair of the academic programme for the 2006 SACLA conference also took quite a bit of my time. Travel included a visit to my brother in India where we had great fun exploring Rajastan on his Enfields and I spent some great time in the Osho Meditation Resort. I also had some great trips to conferences including IRMA06 in Washington and the 2nd Intl OSS in Bled (with a great side-trip to Slovenia). Family trip to Belgium & Scotland planned for December.
2005	This year's lecturing revolves mainly around our Postgraduate Diploma course (INF4015Z) though I'm also involved in the part-time honours and masters programmes. I'm section head (the buck stops here?) of the post-graduate courses. Research is great. I am still pursuing the EduBoard project - now re-christened the "Magic Lantern" and involving some more mainstream ICTs - which I believe to hold great potential for school education in developing countries. Thanks to UCT funding, we've already got a prototype going. I've also got some very interesting research projects going with my students - check my 2006 publications :-). And, hey, they promoted me to associate professor. On the personal level, I'm hoping to tie in some sightseeing with some conferences in Botswana, Jordan, India... someone has to do all the hard work! :-] I also had a great time organising the third Festival of Running. It has been nice to ease off a bit on the competitive racing and just enjoying doing great events like mini-ARs, Addo 50-miler, Polaris MTB etc. at a more relaxed pace. We sold our mountain land to a group of Tibetan Buddhists who have established a great meditation centre there.
2004	Another busy but great year. The first semester saw me coordinating the INF314 E-commerce course and the full-time masters students, with the Technology module of the PGDip tacked on for good measure. Luckily, I am currently enjoying a sabbatical break to focus on a few research papers, upgrading some of my skills and re-focusing some of my research. This year must have been my most productive research output year to date, with lots of papers incorporating both my own Ph D results as well as supervised student research. I'm also slowly getting back into physical shape, including a Half Iron Man, Rio marathon, the good old Puffer and some mini-adventure races.
2003	Yes! I handed in my Ph D at last - now I must still write a couple of papers/articles from this research. In the meanwhile, I've presented papers at CISTM'03, ACIS'03 and ICEB'03. On the lecturing front, I had some great fun with the INF314 E-commerce course as well as with my full-time masters students. The popular Office XP for Business was completely revised (more than 50% re-written from scratch) while Jane re-did Discovering IS. Highlights on the personal front were my visit to my family in Europe in June, the organization of the St Helena Festival of Running in September - check its website - and a 10-day tour of W-Australia.
2002	A lot more work went into my Ph D and I had great fun with the technology courses for PGDip and INF206. I delivered a couple of conference papers, including at SACLA (East-London), CATaC'02 (Montreal) and SAICSIT (EL). On the sport arena: Team Energy (where I am the navigator) did a couple of very successful adventure races including a win in the Swartberg Challenge and the Eden Challenge. I did well in the Polaris MTB/Orienteering events with a win and second place. On the running front, the organizing and running of the Puffer was there, but my main training target was the Western States 100 miler. I also conceived and completed the 30 Peaks Challenge, my 11th Two Oceans, the Mont-Aux-Sources and Amatola. Another highlight was our trip around the country to see the solar Eclipse, traversing all 11 provinces en route.
2001	I managed to finish off the bulk of my Ph D during my sabbatical in the second half of the year. I also had great fun coordinating the new INF316F course using the WebCT software. Eva and myself climbed Kilimanjaro using the Arrow Glacier route in September (read Eva's report English or in Dutch or see the Kili photos). It was a good year for running: on the way to my brother Jean-Philippe's wedding, I popped over to Scotland to run the West-Highland Way 95 mile trail run; I won all three events in the inaugural St Helena Festival of Running, completed the tough Iron Man Afrika in Gordon's Bay, was one of only two finishers of the War Trail Tri-Challenge and did a back-to-back Two Oceans. Adventure racing: in the world-series Discovery Channel Adventure Quest (Africa), Team Energy (where I'm the navigator) came second overall. We also did the Mazda AR in December. In January I visited the wonderful Cango II Cave. And father Christmas brought me a Suzuki GS400E.
2000	The new millennium starts off with a lot of published work: I contributed about 8 chapters to the Juta's textbook and the IT keywords Interactive Science Dictionary. I also got two journal articles and a couple of conference papers published. One of these allowed me to spend some magnificent time in the Western States. I did my first Adventure Race (see photos) and finished first in the 2-day Amatola 100 trail run.
1999	High time that I think about organising a new trail run... what about the Moonlight Hell Run? There's the interesting ACIS conference coming up in New Zealand, with a smaller JADE conference on the side. What a perfect opportunity to take the entire family along and spend two months touring this beautiful country - it's almost like a replay of the Trans-Europe Run, but without the running. Well ... if one doesn't count the magnificent Kepler trail run and the Millennium Marathon - the first marathon of the new millennium.
1998	Wow! After some really hard work we managed to finish our two introductory textbooks: Discovering Information Systems and QuickStart to MS-Office. Guess what: Runner's World has a competition. First prize: a free entry to the Reunion Grand Raid. I send in well over 300 entries and, with well over half the total entries, I win the lucky draw. What a run, what an experience!
1997	A new start (a change's a good as a holiday?): I join the Information Systems crowd at the University of Cape Town. Great guys, great environment, lots of energy. This year's new trail run: the Cederberg run, a lovely 70 km trail run from Pakhuis Pass to Sanddrift.
1996	Oh dear, my push to establish the IS department in the Commerce faculty at UWC backfires: I get to be the acting head of the department.
1995	The year starts with a bang: we welcome Sylvia into our now-not-so little family. Since I can no longer run Comrades (16th of June is exam time, wedding anniversary and Jonathan's birthday), I need a new challenge. If there is none, let's create one: this year sees the birth of the PUFfeR (Peninsula Ultra Fun Run): a wonderful trail run along the Peninsula's mountain spine from Cape Point to Ferryman's at Cape Town's V&A Waterfront.
1994	I'm also mostly involved with the initiative to establish a separate department in Information Systems.
1993	My running gets better - a silver Two Oceans and Comrades, sub-3 marathons are no problem. The dreams get bigger. After reading Ffyona's "Feet of Clay", I dream really big: what about running across Europe? This marriage of my travel and athletic dreams solidify into the Trans-Europe Run: the first official 5459 km run from Nordkapp to Gibraltar - to raise awareness about Tuberculosis (SANTA). (Check out the report, Eva's diary and photographs.)
1992	At UWC, I start making big noises about the lack of an Information Systems department. Okay - I get dropped on a committee and start writing funding proposals. Eventually Old Mutual bites and offers a professorial chair. Thinking about my new year's resolution, perhaps I should now really get my butt off my chair and do something sporty - perhaps some jogging? At that same moment Eva disturbs my musings and says - why don't you start doing some sports, like running or so? So I rock up at the Fish Hoek Athletics Club and run my first 5 km run. A week later I do my first 10 kay, the next week a half marathon, the following week a 30km run. Two weeks later I run the Peninsula marathon. Everybody tells me I've qualified for the 56km Two Oceans (6 weeks later) and of course, after finishing that without major problems, I get talked into doing Comrades. There's always one more sucker in the world.
1991	UWC decides to throw out the PLATO mainframe and downsizes to a PC network. Since I was making the most noise, I get to be seconded for a year as coordinator of the Computer-Supported Education unit in the Academic Development Centre. Hey, I'm a bit short on technical and IT management skills so I enroll for the part-time IS honours at UCT. A great but steep learning experience! On our wedding anniversary: surprise! surprise! Jonathan arrives on the scene. I have been looking for a while for a mountain hide-away. And at last here it is: Drooge Rivier Mountain Retreat (also: pictures) - although it takes quite some doing to get it established as a private nature reserve.
1990	A quiet year. I am very involved with the strategy planning for replacing PLATO and the UWC2000 plan.
1989	What a way to begin the year: Anneke's born - not an easy birth but all's well that ends well. I'm growing the JSE and writing lots of shareware reviews and related articles & publicity.
1988	I want to buy myself one of these new gimmicks: an IBM-compatible personal computer (since my Commodore 64 doesn't cut it any more). However, money is tight, so the PC will have to pay for itself. Why not start a computer-based business? Here's to the birth of the Joint Software Exchange (JSE). UWC gives me a couple of months off so that I can finish off my MBA thesis - basically building a financial model. Old Mutual gives me a gold medal for all the hard work I've put into my MBA. With Eva deciding to give up her job (earning more than I do!) and the JSE needing more space, we decide to move back to Fish Hoek. Through great fortune we find a lovely house on the hillside overlooking the Kalkbay mountains, village, beach and False Bay. The view never tires and in spring we do a fair bit of whale watching.
1987	Still working hard on the MBA course, but luckily I can squeeze some time out for a trip to Namibia
1986	Wanting to brush up on my business skills, I decide to sign up for the part-time US MBA programme. Say goodbye to all my free evenings and week-ends for the next two years.
1985	We buy our first house: a beautiful corner house in Kenwyn - exactly halfway between UWC and the beach. We also go on a wonderful mountain bike trip through Malawi
1984	On the 3rd of January, I officially report for work at the University of the Western Cape. The place is as dead as can be ... it takes me a while to cotton on to the fact that university life takes a couple of weeks before starting seriously. On 16th June, another one bites the dust . Eva and myself go back to Belgium (picture) to get married "legally", cycle around Belgium and Holland on a tandem for our honeymoon trip, and return to Fish Hoek for the church dedication.
'62-'83	After some unsuccessful attempts to get me educated at St.-Leocollege, they give me the Kredietbank gold medal (plus, more importantly, some money to spend on books) and send me off to the Rijksuniversiteit in Gent where I added to the already gray hairs of the professors in Economic Sciences. I spend most of my final year establishing the AIESEC stock exchange game (together with Patrick and Lucia). I also have to write a thesis on Technical Stock Analysis (which seems to conclude that the Brussels stock market is not really all that efficient) and they even give me an award for saying just that. I managed to save a few pictures of my youth. After meeting an interesting girl on a hike in Italy (Eva still maintains that someone with her name shouldn't go hiking in a place called "Gran Paradiso" ;-), I decided to visit my wife-2-B in Fish Hoek, a favourite holiday resort near Cape Town in South Africa. I do a bit of job-hunting and just when I get most desperate (after two weeks ...) I get offers from two different universities. What do I want to be: lecturer or researcher? After deciding to become part of the more dynamic or, shall we say, interesting work environment, I go for a walk: from Hermanus along the coastline to Cape Agulhas and then finish off with the Otter trail. I also start caving in the Kalkbay and Cango caves.
1961	Born on 29th July 1961 (a Leo), I grow up in the most beautiful and romantic city of the world: Brugge - or Bruges (you want a picture?) for those unfortunates who don't speak Flemish. My seven brothers and three sisters are very slow to get on-line, so I can't put in any links to their home pages though you might want to try to e-mail Marie-Rose, Jean-Louis, Marie-Claire or Marie-Jeanne.

Note: the index below does not list all information - just those items which are important enough to deserve a separate html document. More info is available on each head topic Index page.

Note: this is not the full listing - below I list only those publications which are available on-line. The full listing is available on the Publications Index Page

Adventure races

The Old Mutual Adventure Race report as seen by Dougie Rossouw. There is also Caroline Brawner's photographic report

We came second overal in the Hi-Tec Discovery World Series Adventure Quest in Kwazulu-Natal - August 2001. Read the Race Report by Caroline Brawner, UCT Monday Paper Press Report and check out the Pictures.

The Mazda Adventure Race in Dec 2001.

Winning the Swartberg Challenge in Feb 2002 as well as the Eden Challenge in Oct 2002.

Have fun surfing and don't forget to e-mail me some feedback.

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