News and Events

The Ads Have Eyes
Software uses tiny cameras to track who's watching digital ad displays

DIGITAL ADVERTISING IS UBIQUITOUS THESE DAYS: You can watch TV on the subway platform, in the shopping mall and even in some elevators. And while you might not be aware of it, those TV screens are often watching you.

A company called CognoVision has developed software that analyzes the view seen by a tiny camera next to the screen. Developed by a UofT computer science grad, the software can tell how many faces are watching the screen, and for how long. It can also determine, with about 85 per cent accuracy, if the viewer is male or female, and can estimate their age - vital information for advertisers trying to reach a specific demographic.

The program can also change the ads on the fly in response to the audience, explains Shahzad Malik (PhD 2007), one of the three founders of the Markham, Ontario-based company and the brains behind the software. "For example, if there are mostly women in front of a display, the software might choose an ad for cosmetics, while a male-dominant crowd could trigger an ad for a sports car," he says.

CognoVision has also developed an overhead tracking system that uses ceiling-mounted cameras to monitor customer flow through retail spaces such as malls and grocery store. The software can track the number of people that enter a store each hour, which parts of the store they go to and how long they have to wait at the checkout - information that owners can use to better organize their retail spaces.

Founded in 2006, CognoVision now counts the Canadian chains Whole Foods and Pizza Pizza among its clients. After significant startup costs, Malik says he expects the company to start showing a profit in 2010.

The technology may evoke Big Brother, but Malik stresses that the people the camera "sees" remain completely anonymous. "It doesn't know whose face it's looking at," he says. "All it knows is, 'that's a face'" -- Dan Falk

Source: University of Toronto Magazine, Winter 2010

UofT Rated Top Canadian University for Academic and Research Performance in Prestigious International Rankings - 27th in the World, says Shanghi Jiao Tong University. 12-11-09

By Laurie Stephens  (<-- broken)

The University of Toronto's strong academic and research performance ranks among the best in the world -- and the best in Canada -- in prestigious international rankings body announced Oct. 30.

U of T ranked 27th, the best of any Canadian university, in Shanghai Jiao Tong University's annual Academic Ranking of World Universities report. Released Oct. 29, the report analyses 1,200 universities on research output, the quality of faculty and the quality of education.

U of T finished 24th in these rankings last year and 23rd in 2007.

"This ranking is further affirmation of the quality of U of T's faculty and students and their relentless focus on academic excellence and discoveries of real importance," said Professor Cheryl Misak, vice-president and provost. "We're very honoured to be recognized by our international peers as being among the best research universities in the world."

The university also fared well in Shanghai's ranking by field and by individual subject. In particular, U of T finished 8th in the world in the subject of computer science and 19th internationally in the field of engineering, technology and computer sciences.

Shanghai Jiao Tong ranks universities by measuring several indicators of academic or research performance. These include alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals; highly cited researchers; articles published in Nature and Science; articles indexed in major citation indices; and the per capita academic performance of an institution.

Harvard University was the top university in the rankings, followed by Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Since Shanghai Jiao Tong's rankings began in 2003, U of T has consistently ranked in the top 30 of the world's best universities and has consistently been the top Canadian performer.

This year's result comes on the heels of impressive scores in other international and domestic rankings:
- 11th in rankings compiled by the Higher Education Evaluation and
Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT);
- 13th-place finish in ScienceWatch.com;
- fourth in SCImago Institutions Rankings;
- ninth in the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings that
surveyed almost 10,000 international academics about the reputation of
621 universities worldwide; and
- first in the medical/doctoral category in Research Infosource Inc.
rankings.

For full result of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings, go to http://www.arwu.org/ .

Source: http://www.news.utoronto.ca/campus-news/u-of-t-rated-top-canadian-university-for-academic-and-research-performance.html  (<-- broken)

Girls Take a Byte Out of Science 11-05-09

In a small laboratory, thirty-one chatty grade eight girls stirred excitedly in front of computer screens, their young faces glowing with enthusiasm as they designed computer games. It was part of the Gr8 Designs for Gr8 Girls program, which took place at U of T Mississauga on April 30.

Gr8 Designs for Gr8 Girls was created in 2007 by Michelle Craig, a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. The program, which runs for one day, aims at providing young girls with the opportunity to learn about computer science through fun and interactive activities.

"The goal of this program is to encourage young girls to perceive a career in computer science as being interesting and to consider it as a career for themselves or their female friends," said Craig.

For the first two years of its existence, Gr8 Designs for Gr8 Girls was only offered at the St. George campus, but this year, due to an overwhelming increase in demand, the program has expanded to U of T Mississauga, McMaster University and the University of Guelph. The expansion of this program was made possible by funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Also sponsored by Google, this year's program offered activities like designing Mad Libs, MP3 players and computer games. The girls also listened to talks given by professionals in the field of computer science. The speakers emphasized the lack of women working in this field and urged girls to consider the career as a possibility for themselves. "They made me think outside the box," said one young participant.

At U of T Mississauga, the event was facilitated by Sue McGlashan, the systems administrator for the Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences. According to McGlashan, the U of T Mississauga team's purpose was "to show the girls that computer science is used throughout the university and touches every aspect of our lives." U of T Mississauga computer science student volunteers Akanksha Kumar, Aleks Micovica, Natasha Prasad, Andrew Su and Meenal Tayal also contributed their time, knowledge and enthusiasm to the event.

"I would definitely recommend the program to my friends who are in grade 7," said another young student. Parents joining their children at the end of the program praised its impact. "This was my daughter's first time participating in the program and I would definitely register her again," said Nancy Stewart, a participant's mother.

By Patricia Figueiredo

U of T President David Naylor plans to increase enrollment at the Mississauga Campus 29-04-08

The University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, but for president Dr. David Naylor, the goal isn't to keep expanding. In fact, the long-term plan is to eliminate thousands of undergraduate spots at its main St. George campus in downtown Toronto.

This school year there are close to 35,000 full-time undergraduates at the main campus, with another 5,000 attending classes part-time. The University of British Columbia, by comparison, had about 23,400 full-time undergraduates at its main campus last year. McGill had just under 20,000.

UofT is planning to increase undergrad spaces at its two suburban campuses, while decreasing the number of undergrads downtown by a greater number...read more.

U of T Mississauga computers being tracked for phishing attacks 12-01-07

Professor Stefan Saroiu of mathematical and computational sciences is leading a new Internet-security project that will provide some insight into Web phishing.

Professor Stefan Saroiu of mathematical and computational sciences is leading a new Internet-security project that will provide some insight into Web phishing. "Phishing is luring unsuspecting Internet users to a fake website by using authentic-looking e-mails in an attempt to steal passwords or gain financial or personal information," Saroiu explains. The study will help identify the general networking behaviour of both the attackers and the victims. For example, are the victims frequent Internet users, browsing a lot of websites and/or downloading programs? In order to analyze the Internet traffic of a large sample of users, the team is studying all Internet usage at the Univeristy of Toronto Mississauga and recording whether phishing attacks occur. He hopes that this project will ultimately help to develop simpler and more effective Web phishing-detection solutions.

For more information, please go to UofT Mississauga's Research page.

SOURCE: Carla Demarco