arts stream in their high school days. 
Therefore, they were exposed much more 
to disciplines like history, economics, 
literature, etc. Very often, these 
students in the arts stream are neither 
mathematically inclined or competent. A 
sense of phobia is commonplace among 
them on scientific concepts and 
applications. In a few cases when they 
have learnt some science subjects (like 
mathematics, computer science, etc.) in 
their lower forms, teaching geocomputing 
is an enjoyment to both teacher and 
students. On the contrary, a general 
deficiency in science and technology 
concepts is often the order of the day. 
The above discussion clearly demonstrat- 
es the existence of economic and 
structural reasons which retard early 
and full-scale import of geocomputing 
technologies into the curriculum, at 
least from a geography department's 
perspective. There is no quick solution 
to those problems. However, something 
can still be -done and they are presented 
below. 
IMPLICATION ISSUES 
Like other developing areas, Hong Kong 
is advancing into the area of high 
technology. Its problems are of great 
value to other areas which aspire to 
achieve similar statuses in the future. 
Therefore, several implication issues 
associated with the initiation and 
expansion of geocomputing education are 
listed here for references to education- 
ists both locally and abroad. 
Since financial resource is always 
limited, one must approach funds 
acquisition with tact. From experience, 
top administrators in universities, 
especially those small ones, are more 
interested to allocate resources to 
areas where students' marketability will 
be enhanced. In essence, a "cost- 
effectiveness" approach is often taken. 
This does not mean everything requested 
must be applied in nature. However, 
when one is able to justify large spend- 
ing items in that direction, the chances 
of success may increase. When one is 
constrained with a tight budget, another 
consideration is to aspire for "medium" 
range products instead of the latest 
models which are often costly. Given 
teaching institutions are-spending on 
public money, they will never be able to 
acquire the latest technology as done in 
private industry. A pramatic way is to 
follow an incremental approach: prepare 
carefully designed plans and chart out 
implementation by phases, with alternat- 
148 
ives listed as contingencies. With some 
luck, what is worth achieving could 
still be available, although not 
immediately. 
Another point of note is the importance 
of outside contacts in the expansion of 
geocomputing education. This include 
close liaison between the educational 
party and the government, consultancy 
firms, and various other agencies which 
take in students trained with geo- 
computing knowledge. To these organi- 
zations, the current students will be 
prospective employees in the future. To 
those students, these organizations are 
definitely the only employers. Thus, 
if some kind of internships could be 
arranged with these organizations, 
valuable experiences will be gained for 
the students. This shortens the time 
for on-the-job training when they are 
hired in the future. Also, if the level 
of competence of a department offering 
geocomputing training has reached a 
standard where  sub-contracting . of 
consultancy work could be done, this may 
be a source of discounted equipment 
which is often far superior than those 
could be purchased with regular limited 
funds. When infrastructural work of the 
developing world is on the rise in 
preparation for economic  take-off, 
opportunities for such .collaboration 
should be wide open.  This.is encourag- 
ing news to those planning geocomputing 
education in the future. 
With regard to constant updates of 
technology, there is a definite need to 
keep abreast of these ever changing 
advancement. If current instructors 
were once trained overseas, connections 
with the West should not be any problem. 
Information. about upcoming conferences, 
workshops, short-term training, and 
other related. activities. must be 
gathered. Also, subscriptions to major 
journals and magazines should be made. 
These actions ensure thät the latest 
technology will not be masked because of 
the distance away from the focus of 
activities. Participation overseas 
entail costs. The institutions concern- 
ed should be responsible for subsidizing 
portions of the costs. If financial 
circumstances allow, experts passing by 
the territory should be invited to give 
seminars on topics of current concern. 
In doing so, constant enrichment on the 
topics will definitely raise the level 
of competency in all fields of geocom- 
puting. However, one must be careful of 
straight adoption of foreign technology 
without modifications. In the long run, 
the policy of indigenization should be 
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