about me

hi. my full name is hussein suleman. and this here is my web site that you're reading through at the moment. this website documents mainly the places i go through lots of pictures and the things i do through lots of academic information i have contributed to. prepare to spend days perusing this website!

i was born and lived virtually all my life in the Republic of South Africa. thats a sizable country at the very southern tip of Africa. i grew up in a city called Durban, on the east coast. Durban is the second largest city in SA (after Johannesburg). tourism is a big thing in good ol' Durbs since its the most easily accessible coastal city for most of the people in our country. Durban is also the largest and busiest port in Africa. but one of the best things about Durban is its year-long moderate weather ... hey, i didnt even see snow until i left home many years ago ... (see pictures for details)

i grew up in a township called Chatsworth, where about a half million people of Indian origin were forced to live together on the outskirts of the city proper by the apartheid government. Chatsworth is know for having, for some time, the largest concentration of people of Indian origin outside of India, but mostly for its unique sub-culture - especially language/accent. i chune like a charou whenever i vy pozzi to check my bally and ma.

these days i live in Cape Town. thats because i work at the University of Cape Town - specifically in the Department of Computer Science. UCT is especially great because of its location on the slopes of Devil's Peak facing the Cape flats!

what do i do ? well, i study and teach computer science. i mostly do research in an area called Digital Libraries, which is all about making information accessible to people. it is an exciting area to work in because of the far-reaching impact of information accessibility. a whole lot of information on my research can be found on this site. i currently run the Digital Libraries Laboratory at UCT, which is probably the only research lab of its kind on the continent!

but of course i do other things besides research ... this includes:

• making stuff ... anything really ... especially woodwork and electrical/electronic gadgets
• scrabble and puzzle-type games
• coffee in all its wonderful manifestations ... i own way too much coffee equipment for one person
• cooking ... all forms of cooking, as long as it has flavour!

i did my undergraduate studies and and some other stuff too at the University of Durban-Westville Computer Science Department. this has since been merged with other institutions to form the University of KwaZulu-Natal Computer Science Department.

i did my ph.d. in the Computer Science Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where i was a member of the Digital Libraries Research Laboratory. VT is located in the rather scenic town of Blacksburg (Virginia, USA) very near to the Appalachian mountains. i spent a most fascinating 5 1/2 years of my life there.

if u're curious to know what i look like, i have lots of current pics on my pictures pages. and if ure thinking "can i marry you", its already been thought :) and you will find many pics of my gorgeous wife Waheeda on the same pics pages.

ps. for the geek in all of us, this logo was created in TrueSpace→EditStudio→GifAnimator