Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Digital Researcher 2012 - Go Digital 2012! - British Library - London

This Vitae event is for Research postgraduates and staff. Vitae are an organisation that provides support, resources and events to researchers. The website for a full description and booking is http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315321/Digital-Researcher.html.

"Vitae in partnership with The British Library are running Digital Researcher 2012: an innovative, thought-provoking one day event to help researchers make the most of new technologies and social media tools in their research.

Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, this interactive event will be held at the British Library on Monday 20th February 2012, and will provide an opportunity for researchers to think about how they undertake research and to consider whether new technologies could improve their research."

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Stanford University - Free courses - List - 2012

I've finished my Stanford University - Introduction to Databases course.

There are many other courses available all free. They don't result in University Credit from Stanford, but are free and I enjoyed my course. I have a journal paper to finish and a funding bid so aren't doing any more of these courses yet, but hope to when I have time. From my experiences on the course I've finished I would certainly recommend studying these courses, you get the knowledge and a calculated overall grade.

The courses are not only computing, but others as well. The full clickable list is available from the page below, underneath the Introduction to Database Info. -

Stanford University Free courses - http://www.db-class.org/course/auth/welcome.

I've also included the list below -

Entrepreneurship
* Lean Launchpad * Technology Entrepreneurship
Medicine
* Anatomy
Civil Engineering
* Making Green Buildings
Electrical Engr.
* Information Theory
Complex Systems
* Model Thinking
Computer Science
* CS 101 * Machine Learning * Software as a Service * Human-Computer Interaction * Natural Language Processing
* Game Theory * Probabilistic Graphical Models * Cryptography * Design and Analysis of Algorithms I * Computer Security

Thursday, December 01, 2011

BBC - News - Government backs call for classroom coding

This post and list of many links highlights the debate over whether to teach more programming at school and for all other ages.

Updates - 14th Jan 2012 -

Royal Society offers ways to overhaul ICT teaching - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16515275 - 13 January 2012 -BBC -

"The Royal Society has suggested ways the government can overhaul information and communications technology (ICT) teaching in schools.

It follows promises from Education Secretary Michael Gove to scrap the way the subject is taught currently.

The body, which oversees UK sciences, recommends dividing computing into distinct subjects such as computer science and digital literacy.

It said the government must do more to recruit specialist ICT teachers."

ICT victory for the coding campaigners - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16544845 - BBC - Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent - 13 January 2012 -

"for me the biggest news I've missed has been of a significant victory for the campaign to improve the teaching of computing and technology in schools. The announcement that the current ICT curriculum is to be scrapped and teachers set free to use more creative methods comes after some brilliant and imaginative lobbying by a few dedicated individuals."

School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16493929 - 11 January 2012 -

"By Judith Burns Education reporter, BBC News"

- "The current programme of information and communications technology (ICT) study in England's schools will be scrapped from September, the education secretary will announce later."
"The subject will be replaced by compulsory lessons in more rigorous computer science and programming."

"Michael Gove will call the current ICT curriculum 'harmful and dull'.

ICT teachers welcome new computer programming lessons - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16509298 - BBC 11th January 2012 -

"Information and communications technology (ICT) teachers say plans to shake up the curriculum in England are "exciting" but 'challenging'.

Current ICT lessons will be scrapped from September and replaced by an "open source" curriculum in computer science and programming."

Coding for kids -

A few things as we try to get more kids interested in IT
- A group has been set up called Coding for Kids with the purpose of finding ways to support education of programming and computational thinking for the current and next generations in the UK. Whether this be through traditional education methods - or other stuff. They can be found here http://codingforkids.org/wiki/Main_Page

- There is also an e-petition to support "Teaching Our Kids to Code" here https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/15081 If it reaches 100,000 signatures, then it may be considered by parliament.

Other recent links -

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg takes coding course - 6 January 2012 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16440126 - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has resolved to take an online computer coding course.

The mayor is joining more than 180,000 people currently taking part in Code Year, a campaign to encourage more people to program.

"My New Year's resolution is to learn to code with Codecademy in 2012!" he wrote on Twitter.

Participants in the course receive an interactive lesson each week, via email.

The campaign promises that participants will be "building apps and websites before you know it".

November - December

This article examines the issue of the type of teaching of ICT. It's an interesting article that argues for more teaching of coding rather than just of the use of office software.

Government backs call for classroom coding - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15923113 - 28th November 2011.

"The teaching of computer science must become more relevant to modern needs, said the government.
The government said the current teaching of IT was 'insufficiently rigorous and in need of reform'.
The call for change came in a response to an industry report which looked at technology teaching in the UK."

The report discussed in the above article focuses on school classes and the need to teach game code - (A good mechanism for getting younger people involved in coding).

A related article - Coding - the new Latin - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15916677 - Rory Cellan-Jones - 28th November 2011 - Makes the same point about the lack of focus on coding and Computer Science at school, and that this leads to fewer University applications for Computer Science.

I believe the same issue of lack of focus on coding is an issue for adult education. The trend is for provision of free or heavily subsidised teaching of use of office software, this is good, but then students need to meet the full costs if they want to move on to programming and/or web development.

I'm one of those that began to learn to code on a BBC Micro. Because so little graphics capability and software was available in those early times there was little difference between using software, or having a go at developing something. It was easy to switch from one mode of thought of using to that of development.

This article describes those early years - The BBC Microcomputer and me, 30 years down the line - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15969065 - 1st December 2011.

An interesting thing here is the use of the term 'Computer Literacy' in the BBC project back then that included programming. The term has changed its meaning now to mean use of computers software. There are good reasons for this, as of course it is much more possible and necessary to be able to get use out of office software. However it would be god to provide a straightforward path to a kind of 'Advanced Computer Literacy' that involves an element of coding.

The video here based on a round table discussion of the British Computer Society (BCS), Chartered Institute of IT, and BCS Academy of Computing - http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/42962, and the related NESTA report http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/assets/features/next_gen cover teaching of computing and the need for this to include creating applications not just using them.

This article from BBC - 14th December 2011 - is also relevant to this issue - ICT 'poor in secondary schools', Ofsted says - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16157519.

"The teaching of information and communications technology (ICT) is inadequate in a fifth of secondary schools in England, Ofsted says.
Inspectors said teachers lacked the expertise and confidence to teach more demanding topics properly.
The report said areas such as databases and programming were poorly taught, with some pupils making more progress outside lessons than in them."

I believe this is not just an issue of teaching and learning but of a more general disconnect between the use of ICT and development, with a lack of a way to progress from tool use to development. There is no clear path within applications to be more involved in customisation and development of tools.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Bristol Systems Engineering and Computing Events

INCOSE UK - Bristol Local Group Wed 30th Nov 18.30 for 19.00

- Organisation and Behaviours - Systems Engineering within the wider enterprise -

http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=203.

"This event will feature Richard Beasley and will be based upon the relevant sections on SE and organisations from the public review version of the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) which can be found at http://www.sebokwiki.org/, and has been developed as part of the BKCASE (Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering) project. Attendees will be invited to discuss and review the material so far, with the intention of feeding pertinent observations back into the public review process, acting as a sanity check from real-life practitioners."

From BCS Bristol Branch Members - November Newsletter

"As winter draws in we have some great talks coming up to take us through to the Spring School
First up only a few days away.- Graham Lee is speaking on "Mobile Application Security and Privacy: State of the Disunion" at the City of Bristol College on Wed 23rd Nov 2011. Find out details for Graham and tell us your coming: http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/125

- On the 5th of December Paul Gerard will be giving a talk on "Using Business Stories to Test Requirements and Systems" at the City of Bristol CollegeFind out details for Paul and tell us your coming: http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/130

- Our Xmas event on the 12th of December has proved very popular on "Future Technology - a younger perspective" Presented by Metaverse Evangelist Ian Hughes at @Bristol. At the time of writing there were only 3 spaces remaining. Full Details are here http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/127

- We have the BCS President Professor M.J.Norton coming to the City of Bristol College on the 11th of Jan 2012 to give a talk on "Achieving successful IT enabled business change"This would be a great opportunity to Q and A with the president so lets get as many people along as possible. Full details can be found here http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/121
You can see a summary of the full program on PDF by following this link (http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/2011/Bristol-branch-program-2011-12.pdf) or via the events page on the website (http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=event/new)."

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

BBC News - European commissioner calls for 'digital champions'

This BBC technology article - European commissioner calls for 'digital champions' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15544517 - is interesting and shows what a good example Martha Lane Fox and her role is for other countries. The article discusses the social benefits of enabling more people to be online and reducing exclusion.

"Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, has called on EU states to appoint digital champions similar to the UK's Martha Lane Fox.

Ms Kroes said the lastminute.com founder was "doing a great job" at convincing UK adults who did not use the internet to change their minds.

Talking to the BBC, Ms Kroes said it was vital to deal with the 30% of Europeans currently not online.

She said EU states needed ministers with specific digital portfolios.

Ms Kroes made the comments at the inaugural London Conference on Cyberspace.

She took the opportunity to emphasise the social benefits of being online."

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

BBC News - Artificial intelligence community mourns John McCarthy

BBC News - Artificial intelligence community mourns John McCarthy - 25 October 2011 -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15444222

This article commemorates this important Artificial Intelligence Pioneer, and also is informative -

"Artificial intelligence researcher, John McCarthy, has died. He was 84.

The American scientist invented the computer language LISP.

It went on to become the programming language of choice for the AI community, and is still used today.

Professor McCarthy is also credited with coining the term "Artificial Intelligence" in 1955 when he detailed plans for the first Dartmouth conference. The brainstorming sessions helped focus early AI research."

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Oxford University warns of losing talented students - BBC News

This is an interesting article from BBC about how lack of funding for research could cause UK to lose out to other countries economcally. This is a warning from the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.

Oxford University warns of losing talented students - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15170451 -

"Oxford University's vice-chancellor has warned that a lack of funding will make it difficult to compete with international rivals.
Professor Andrew Hamilton warned that the UK's universities would struggle to compete for the best research students in the "global market for talent".
This was not only about competing with top US universities, but also China and India, said Prof Hamilton.
The UK's higher education sector would "increasingly lose out", he said.
In his annual speech, Prof Hamilton highlighted concerns about funding for postgraduate research."

I've also posted this on the Vitae Researchers blog - What's up Doc blog - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441-464371/Oxford-University-warns-of-losing-talented-students.html.

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Stanford University - Free computer science courses - Introduction to Databases

I've taken my own advice that these Stanford University Courses are a great opportunity to study free courses. I've registered for the 'Introduction to Databases' course. It actually starts on Monday (October 10th). It runs until 12th December. So I'm glad I registered this morning, and happened to be in time for this course. The registration was straightforward, and immediately made available online resources to help me prepare.

These are the links to my previous blog post and to the Stanford University news article - http://userdrivenmodelling.blogspot.com/2011/09/stanford-university-free-computer.html.

The Stanford University Website I referenced, which is the place to start if considering registering for any of these 3 courses - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/august/online-computer-science-081611.html - 'Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Databases'.

Thursday, October 06, 2011

BBC News - Steve Jobs Apple 'visionary' dies aged 56

Sad news - 6 October 2011 - BBC - Steve Jobs Apple 'visionary' dies aged 56 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15193922.

"Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chief executive of US technology giant Apple, has died at the age of 56.

Apple said his "brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve".

Jobs announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer in 2004.

US President Barack Obama said that with his death, the world had 'lost a visionary'. "

Saturday, October 01, 2011

BBC article - Battle of the knowledge superpowers

This article is a useful discussion - Battle of the knowledge superpowers - By Sean Coughlan - BBC News education correspondent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14949538. -

"Knowledge is power - economic power - and there's a scramble for that power taking place around the globe.

In the United States, Europe and in rising powers such as China, there is a growth-hungry drive to invest in hi-tech research and innovation.

They are looking for the ingredients that, like Google, will turn a university project into a corporation. They are looking for the jobs that will replace those lost in the financial crash.

Not to invest would now be "unthinkable", says Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, the European Commissioner responsible for research, innovation and science, who is trying to spur the European Union to keep pace in turning ideas into industries."

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

BBC article - Google+ opens social network to everyone

This is an interesting article on the BBC News Technology page about Google+ social networking.

Google+ opens social network to everyone - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14985494 - 20 September 2011

"Google+ is being opened up for anyone to join after two-and-a-half months in closed testing.

The search firm's latest foray into social networking was initially offered to journalists and people working in technology related fields.

However, members' ability to invite friends meant its user base quickly grew to tens of millions."

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

INCOSE UK Bristol Event 28th September

An interesting event takes place on 28th September at University of the West of England. The title is 'The Rise and Fall of the Systems Engineering Lifecycle'. The event is organised by INCOSE - International Council on Systems Engineering.

Booking is online at - http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=198

Details of the event are :-

"The Bristol Local Group Presents
'The Rise and Fall of the Systems Engineering Lifecycle'
Kicking off the new Bristol Local Group season, this event will examine how the nature of systems engineering changes across development lifecycles, how organisational roles and responsibilities adapt to suit, and what happens when there are mismatches between them. This interactive workshop will include an examination of the following questions:

•What tends to get missed in commonly used lifecycles?
•Where is the Systems Engineering focus and how does it shift?
•What information flows and networking between stakeholders and organisations is necessary and how is this encouraged?

Date: 28th September – 6.30pm for 7pm till 9pm
Location: Room 1N05, University of the West of England (UWE), Frenchay Campus, Bristol

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME."

Also an INCOSE conference takes place at Warwick in November, details are available at - http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/ASEC2011/General_Information.aspx?CatID=Events

"Annual Systems Engineering Conference (ASEC) 2011
9th-10th November 2011
Scarman Training and Conference Centre, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Doing Systems Engineering well'
The UK's premier Systems Engineering event will address key contemporary themes for a wide audience, and provide an excellent forum for networking, sharing experience and advancing the discipline."

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Stanford University - Free computer science courses, new teaching technology reinvent online education

This is a very useful educational resource provided for free by Stanford University Professors. The courses are - Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Databases.

The article that explains this is at - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/august/online-computer-science-081611.html - Free computer science courses, new teaching technology reinvent online education - Stanford Report, August 16, 2011.

Below is part of the article, and those interested can click on the link above for the whole article.

"Stanford Engineering professors are setting out to add a new level of interactivity to online education by offering three of the university's most popular computer science classes for free.

Morgan Quigley

Computer Science professor Andrew Ng uses tablet-recording technology he developed to instantly display notes for his interactive video lecture.
BY JAMIE BECKETT

Stanford Engineering professors are offering three of the school’s most popular computer science courses for free online this fall, and at the same time launching an experiment that could transform the way online education is delivered.

The professors are taking technologies designed to enhance learning for Stanford students and extending them to a broad online audience. They are delivering lectures as short, interactive video clips that allow students to progress at their own pace through course materials. They are offering live quizzes with instant feedback. And they are testing new technologies that allow students to rank questions that should be posed to the instructors.

The professors also hope to extend the benefits of Stanford-style education to those who lack access.

“Both in the United States and elsewhere, many people simply do not have access to a high-quality education. By putting out this initial set of courses, we hope to teach some of the latest computing technologies to anyone who wants to learn it – for free,” said Andrew Ng, an associate professor of computer science who is teaching a new online machine learning course.

The three courses – Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Databases – cover material that forms the basis of some of the most prevalent technologies today, from online shopping to web search and robotics."

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

When algorithms control the world

This BBC story based on a book by Eli Pariser 'The Filter Bubble', is interesting in how it explores the way algorithms affect our lives in unpredictable ways. An important example of this is the way so much financial trading is done by algorithms with no human interaction, with unpredictable consequences -

When algorithms control the world - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14306146.
23 August 2011

By Jane Wakefield

Technology reporter

"If you were expecting some kind warning when computers finally get smarter than us, then think again.

There will be no soothing HAL 9000-type voice informing us that our human services are now surplus to requirements.

In reality, our electronic overlords are already taking control, and they are doing it in a far more subtle way than science fiction would have us believe.

Their weapon of choice - the algorithm."

Monday, August 08, 2011

Careers in Academia - September - Vitae - Birmingham 13th Sep 2011

This is a useful free careers event for Vitae. Vitae are a very helpful organisation for researchers. I'll copy and paste the details below, from their website. More information and the booking form are available on the website -
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/53174-382791/Careers-in-Academia---September-.html.

13th Sep 2011


"
This interactive one-day event is aimed at postgraduate researchers and will enable you to:

* review the current higher education environment
* meet with successful academics from a range of disciplines to hear how they advanced their academic career
*understand the balance required between skills, achievements and building your professional profile
*review where you are in your career, where you want to be and how to get there
*ask questions that you've always wanted to but weren't sure who to ask network with fellow researchers
*develop an action plan to strategically manage your career.

The research carried out by the UK's higher education sector is held in extremely high regard by the international community. In producing 8% of the world's scientific papers and 13% of the world's most highly cited works, the UK ranks second only to the USA. The UK's research staff are central to this achievement*.

Like most careers, there are many elements that are required in order to develop a successful academic career and these are not always transparent. This event addresses how to succeed in a competitive and complex research environment and will allow you to think about the pros and cons of different career options available.
"

Saturday, August 06, 2011

World wide web celebrates 20th birthday - BBC News

This short video from BBC goes over the invention of the world wide web -

World wide web celebrates 20th birthday - BBC News - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14430076.

6 August 2011

"Exactly 20-years-ago today a modest British scientist launched his new invention. At the time, almost no-one noticed but it has since revolutionised our lives.

Tim Berners-Lee called his new invention the "world-wide-web".

Richard Westcott has been taking a look back at the technology that went on to change the world."

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

BBC Computing stories - NHS, Sun, Web blocking, IE browser Spoof

These are some interesting computing stories from the BBC website in the last 2 days.

3 August 2011

Pull plug on NHS e-records - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14378346
By Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, BBC News

"Ministers should consider pulling the plug on the central part of the NHS IT programme in England, MPs say.

The Public Accounts Committee said mounting problems with the electronic records system were making the £7bn project 'unworkable'."

3 August 2011

Government drops website blocking

"Plans to block websites that host copyright infringing material are to be dumped by the government.

Business secretary Vince Cable announced the change following a review of the policy by telecoms regulator Ofcom." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14372698

2 August 2011

Data of Sun website users stolen

"Thousands of people who entered competitions on The Sun website have been warned that their personal information may have been stolen.

The paper's publisher, News Group, said the data was taken when the site was hacked on 19 July." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14371738

3 August 2011

Internet Explorer story was bogus

"A story which suggested that users of Internet Explorer have a lower IQ than people who chose other browsers appears to have been an elaborate hoax.

A number of media organisations, including the BBC, reported on the research, put out by Canadian firm ApTiquant." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14389430

My Publications on UWE Research Repository

I've been putting all my publications on to the UWE - University of the West of England, Bristol research repository. I'll list them below in order of publication. The repository makes publications available in Word/PowerPoint and PDF formats -

Hale, P., Scanlan, J., Hill, T., Nour, M., Bru, C., Jocelyn, A., Round, M. and Dunkley, M. (2001) Provision of a web based decision support system for wing box tooling. In: ICE 2001 (International Conference on Concurrent Enterprising), 23rd - 25th June, 2001, Bremen, Germany. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15279/.

Hale, P., Scanlan, J., Bru, C. and Dunkley, M. (2002) Preliminary findings from the DECIDE project. In: 9th International Conference on Concurrent Engineering ISPE/CE2002 Concurrent Engineering Conference, 2002, Cranfield University, UK. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15523/.

Hale, P., Scanlan, J. and Bru, C. (2003) Design and prototyping of knowledge management software for aerospace manufacturing. In: 10th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering ISPE/CE2003, 26th-30th July, 2003, Madeira, Portugal. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15355/.

Hale, P., Solomonides, T. and Beeson, I. (2009) Enabling diagrammatic de-abstraction and modelling of engineering problems. In: University of the West of England, Bristol, Graduate Conference, 15th June, 2009, Bristol, UK. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15112/.

Hale, P. (2010) User driven modelling and systematic interaction for end-user programming. In: Systems Research Showcase, 24th March, 2010, Bristol, UK. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15113/.

Hale, P., Solomonides, T., Beeson, I., Willey, N., Bultitude, K. and Reynolds, D. (2010) Requirements for phylogenetic tree visualisation: A user driven approach. In: BBSRC/AHRC Workshop on "The Challenges of Visualising Biological Data", 16th-17th November, 2010, Bristol, UK. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15118/.

Hale, P., Solomonides, T. and Beeson, I. (2011) Requirements and software engineering for tree-based visualisation and modelling: A user driven approach. In: Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory (PCCAT 2011), 8th June, 2011, Exeter University, Exeter, UK. - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15077/.

I have a Journal Publication to be accepted subject to amendments and the same for my PhD. When they're published I'll add these to the repository.

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Systems Engineering Event, Bristol July 13th

This is an interesting and useful event in Bristol on Wednesday -

"INCOSE UK

The Bristol Local Group Presents
The Final Step - Getting Systems Into Service


Why does the final part of getting a system into service often follow a more protracted path than expected?

This event will look at this important part of the lifecycle from both a systems and a project management perspective to examine some of the pitfalls and issues that can occur, and some of the approaches that are used to mitigate against them. This interactive workshop based event will examine the following questions:

How should systems be engineered to achieve a controlled entry into Service?
How are systems engineered for entry into Service?
What needs to be done to bridge the gap?
Date: Wednesday 13th July – 6.30pm for 7pm till 9pm

Location: Room 1N05, University of the West of England (UWE), Frenchay Campus, Bristol

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME.

This event is free, and refreshments will be provided, however to ensure appropriate catering arrangements can be made please register online at: .
http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=165."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

PCCAT Exeter University Conference Paper June 8th 2011

This is the paper and presentation I gave for Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory (PCCAT 2011) - June 8th 2011 - http://www.pccat.ex.ac.uk/index.php?pid=1

The paper is titled - Requirements and software engineering for tree-based visualisation and modelling: A user driven approach

This is the link where I placed it in the University of the West of England Research Repository. The PowerPoint presentation I gave is also there. There are Word and PowerPoint 2007 files and also PDF versions. These are all available from this link - https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15077/.
This is the abstract -

Abstract

This paper is about potential to provide an interactive visual ontology/taxonomy based modelling system. The research is part of efforts to structure, manage, and enable understanding of complex engineering, business and/or scientific information to enable those involved to collaborate using a systems approach. The aim and objectives are to provide a taxonomy management system to close the link between requirements gathering and end-user modellers. The research is into modelling of product data structures. This research could be adapted to business process modelling, and biology taxonomy visualisation/representation. The modelling system was developed to assist decision support for problems such as wing and engine design. The methodology involves modelling using tree structured ontology based modelling. It is argued that visualising this structure enables improved Maintenance, Extensibility, Ease of Use, and Sharing of Information, and so enables better and more accessible modelling. This is achieved by uniting the software taxonomy structure with the structure of the domain to be modelled and visualised, and using Semantic Web technologies to link this with ontologies and to end-users for visualisation. This research assists with management of development, use, and re-use of software in order to make this an integrated process. The research brings together related fields of Semantic Web, End-User Programming, and Modelling, to assist domain expert end users.

Further information -

I've published my more general thoughts about the benefits of Postgraduate Conferences and Research Repositories to students, in the UK Vitae (organisation for research students and staff) - What's Up Doc Blog - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441/Whats-up-doc-blog-for-postgraduate-researchers.html. I publish my thoughts that are more general to all researchers rather than my specific research to there -this is my post to that blog - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441-406701/Getting-your-Research-Published---PostGraduate-Conferences.html.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Development of the Internet - Timeline

Alexandra L. Hanchar-Martinez emailed me details of his Internet Timeline educational resource. This is a useful resource so I provide the links below -

History Of The Internet Timeline -
Technology Milestones In The Development Of The Internet
Updated June 13th, 2011

http://www.high-speed-internet-access-guide.com/articles/internet-timeline.html -

"As of 2011, the Internet has become an accepted part of everyday life. Despite our daily reliance upon this technological marvel, to many of us, how it came to be is still a mystery. This brief Internet timeline details how the Internet was started, which major technological milestones affected its development, how it is used for communication today, and where the Internet is headed in 2011 and beyond."

Researching this led me also to this teaching resource -

KHS Teacher Resources - http://www.khsteachers.org/.

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Exeter University June 8th - PCCAT 2011 Timetable

This is the timetable for the Exeter University PCCAT Conference June 8th (Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory) -

Timetable and travel advice -

Programme (link to PDF doc) and Map - http://www.pccat.ex.ac.uk/on-the-day.php.

Programme (PDF doc) - http://www.pccat.ex.ac.uk/files/programme.pdf.

My talk is scheduled at 2.30 pm - This is -

"Requirements and Software Engineering for Tree-based Visualisation and Modelling - a User Driven Approach
Peter Hale, Tony Solomonides and Ian Beeson
University of the West of England, UWE"

This is my Revised abstract -

Abstract
This paper is about potential to provide an interactive visual ontology/taxonomy based modelling system. The research is part of efforts to structure, manage, and enable understanding of complex engineering, business and/or scientific information to enable those involved to collaborate using a systems approach. The aim and objectives are to provide a taxonomy management system to close the link between requirements gathering and end-user modellers. The research is into modelling of product data structures. This research could be adapted to business process modelling, and biology taxonomy visualisation/representation. The modelling system was developed to assist decision support for problems such as wing and engine design. The methodology involves modelling using tree structured ontology based modelling. It is argued that visualising this structure enables improved Maintenance, Extensibility, Ease of Use, and Sharing of Information, and so enables better and more accessible modelling. This is achieved by uniting the software taxonomy structure with the structure of the domain to be modelled and visualised, and using Semantic Web technologies to link this with ontologies and to end-users for visualisation. This research assists with management of development, use, and re-use of software in order to make this an integrated process. The research brings together related fields of Semantic Web, End-User Programming, and Modelling, to assist domain expert end users.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Vitae - What makes a successful researcher? invitation to take part in a focus group June 15th London

This is a forum organised by Vitae who assist research stuents and staff in their development. Vitae will refund travel expenses for this focus group.

This is the event description and contact details copied and pasted from Vitae :-

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is a comprehensive new approach to enhancing the careers of researchers. It was developed through interviews with successful researchers in a range of disciplines. It encourages you to identify your strengths and prioritise your professional development. Divided into four domains and 63 descriptors it covers all the skills and attributes to become a successful researcher. The RDF enables you to consider skills and experiences that will enhance your career prospects and articulate your knowledge, behaviours and attributes to employers. It is not exclusive to people hoping to pursue an academic career (there are some frequently asked questions on the RDF).

The RDF has been incorporated into a 'Professional Development Planner' to allow you to identify the areas you want to develop further, create an action plan and record evidence of your progress. You can use it to help you plan for your long term career ambitions but also to make a feasible short term plan. The planner allows you to set targeted aspirational goals. For each descriptor there are successive phases of ability. Read the phases and decide which phase best describes you currently (with as much evidence as possible). Decide where you would like to be and come up with an action plan with realistic goals and time lines to get you there (using training, experience, practice, networking etc.)

I will be starting a pilot on using the RDF planner next week, culminating in a focus group in London on 15 June. This is a great chance for you to focus on your personal development and get help drawing up your action plan. It is also an opportunity for you to inform the development of a powerful career tool for all researchers in the UK. Your input would be invaluable in ensuring the Researcher Development Framework is an effective personal, professional and career enhancing resource for postgraduate researchers and research staff.

We’ll refund travel expenses for the focus group. Please send me an email at tennie.videler@vitae.ac.uk to take part or get some more information, ideally before 1 June.

Looking forward to seeing some of you on 15 June!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The value of an EngD in Systems – what an EngD did for me

This is a useful event for anyone interested in EngDs or in engineering R and D in general. The event is organised by University of Bristol, involving INCOSE Bristol Group also.

This is the description by INCOSE Bristol group of the event :-

"Want to know more about the Engineering Doctorate in Systems? In a spirit of inclusivity, this INCOSE BLG event forms part of the University of Bristol's Second Annual Research Conference for Engineering Doctorate in Systems, and will include refreshments on arrival, a poster session by 50 Research Engineers, talks from two Research Engineers who have recently completed their EngD courses, and a Q&A session with the Systems Centre staff.

Delegates wishing to attend the main University of Bristol event can find more information here: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/eng-systems-centre/events/2011/conference-engd.html. The University of Bristol has kindly reserved 20 places for delegates who usually attend INCOSE BLG meetings, but these are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration for the main event needs to be done directly with the University of Bristol, not INCOSE UK. "
Date: Tuesday 24th May – 5.30pm for 6pm till 8pm

Location:Room 1.01-1.01a, Merchant Venturers Building, University of Bristol, Woodlands Road, Bristol, BS8 1UB.

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME.

This event is free, and refreshments will be provided, however to ensure appropriate catering arrangements can be made please register online at: http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=187."

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Computer Software, Users and Trust

I'm at the What's up Doc Research Blogging training event today and very much enjoying it - http://www1.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441/Whats-up-doc-blog-for-postgraduate-researchers.html.

I wrote this post on the train from Bristol to Birmingham, I've just been working on my PhD changes and on an NVQ 2 in business admin. I often undertake vocational training to keep my research focused. The combination of the PhD changes, Communications Unit I just finished, and the What's up Doc? event hashelped me generate this post.

Communication is the key to successful computing, so this involves person to person, person to computer, and computer to person communication.

For some tasks the person does not need to know how the computer is doing the tasks. Feedback is still very important. For example when applying formatting to a document a person does not need to know how the computer processes this, only how it's applied. Just like in person to person communication what is needed is trust. The software provides feedback illustrating what has been done. The person then trusts that what he or she has intended has been done. A failure of trust may occur when formatting on screen and in print preview looks a certain way and the printout looks different. That loss of trust affects the quality of user interaction for the task, the application such as the word processor, and the persons' trust in computers and computer applications.

For modelling and calculation, the user seeing the results is not enough to establish trust. When taught maths at school we were taught 'show your working'. We could get follow through marks even if our result was wrong, because exactly where the mistake happened could be seen. The same is true for computer systems, they must show the whole calculation chain. The more complex the calculation, then the more effort is needed to ensure good representation, visualisation, and interaction with the calculation including the 'workings'. This must be done in an audit trail that is developed with the users in mind. Then as users have different needs it should be possible to choose different visualisations. More advanced users may want to create and edit their own model and visualisation. This is where the end-user programming/modelling comes in.

The user needs to be able to interact with the way models/calculations are performed to create and edit them, and choose how they display. The more this can be achieved via diagrammatic programming skills such as drag and drop, then the wider the range of people that can model/program this way.

For written information also, trust is required, this is often called 'provenance' in science for example, who is the source? and can they be trusted. Wikipedia documents show an audit trail of changes. A more structured and visualised view of sources and provenance helps a user track these sources and establishes trust in the document writers (if the trust is deserved), the document, and the document management system. Semantic Web based systems based on RDF (Resource Description Framework) can track these relationships of provenance/trust. Visualising and enabling of user interaction with this would enable trust built on greater user interaction.

Users aren't stupid, so developers should always enable the maximum interaction that is necessary and useful, then trust the user to get it right, but leave them a way of backing out when they make a mistake.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

What's up doc? Blog Training Day - Attending May 12th - Birmingham

I'm delighted to have been accepted for this event, and looking forward to going on May 12th. It's a good opportunity for me.

I'll include the details below -

"Blog Training Day - a few places still left!

12 May 2011, Birmingham

'What's up doc?' is a new blog which provides a forum for postgraduate researchers to share experience, give information and tips on matters relevant to them in a fun, yet informed way.

As part of the launch we will run a free blog training day in Birmingham on 12 May. Apart from learning what makes a good blog post, we will also explore how to increase your online profile. To apply:

post an example of an article on the
'What's up doc?' blog
send an email outlining why you want to be involved, what discipline your research is in and what you would do to champion 'What's up doc?' to tennie.videler@vitae.ac.uk before 9 May.
We will select applicants based on this and reimburse reasonable travel expenses. Places are limited.

http://www.vitae.ac.uk/whatsupdoc"

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Human Semantic Web - Further Reflection

The web is a useful environment for enabling people to add their knowledge in both a less structured Web 2.0 way (development of less structured but interactive web tools/programs), and a more structured Semantic Web way. The greater interaction in the Web 2.0 approach at least makes it more likely that Semantic disagreements will be spotted, but it takes the structuring in the Semantic Web approach to then show the meaning of terms more clearly and unambiguously so that agreement or disagreement about and mapping of terms can be reached. This then makes possible Naeve’s (2005) ‘Semantic Collaboration’ through and also defining the ‘Human Semantic Web’ that Naeve advocates. This then enables moving on from the Web being an environment only for simple tasks to one where sophisticated programs and models could be run that enable calculation and decision support.

This combination in approaches of enabling greater human interaction, and more definition of semantics can be illustrated by adapting the table displayed in my previous post.

Table - Language and Tool Mapping - Further Development



















Thus Increased Semantic Structuring and Collaboration from right to left, combined with Increased Human Interaction from bottom to top makes it more possible to undertake modelling and programming because the information is then well mapped and structured, and made available for visualisation and human interaction. On reflection AJAX/Web 2.0 technology spans more than one part of this diagram depending on the emphasis of whether to structure it and/or enable greater interaction. To reach the top left of the diagram requires layered use of technology as per the diagram developed by Berners-Lee (2000) and also McGuinness (2003). This layering of technology is needed in order to translate from the computer centred representations in the bottom right to the human centred representations and modelling in the top left. Human centred representations are too abstract for computers and computer centred representations are too abstract for humans. Therefore the technologies in the top left are not superior to those below and to the right as they need to be built on those technologies. Further there is more than one way to reach the top left, e.g. along the diagonal arrow from Naeve’s (2005) Semantic Isolation through Semantic Coexistence to Semantic Collaboration, or by moving up then left, or left then up. Following the diagonal arrow based on Naeve’s analysis is best for planning and building such a project from the start, but the other forms of navigation might be the best way to build on an existing project that has already been moving in a particular direction, that is not on this diagonal arrow.

References

Berners-Lee, T., (2000) Semantic Web on XML – Slide 10 - http://www.w3.org/2000/Talks/1206-xml2k-tbl/slide10-0.html

McGuinness, D. L., 2003. Ontologies Come of Age. In: Dieter Fensel, Jim Hendler, Henry Lieberman, and Wolfgang Wahlster, ed. Spinning the Semantic Web: Bringing the World Wide Web to Its Full Potential. MIT Press, 2003.

Naeve, A., 2005, The Human Semantic Web – Shifting from Knowledge Push to Knowledge Pull. International Journal of Semantic Web and Information Systems (IJSWIS), Vol 1(3) (July-September 2005) pp 1-30.

Naeve - http://kmr.nada.kth.se/wiki/Amb/HomePage

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Human Semantic Web

My thoughts on the work of Naeve http://kmr.nada.kth.se/wiki/Amb/HomePage and Enoksson on the Human Semantic Web and implementation of Concept Maps.

Enoksson (2006) explains the advantages for extensibility of an open standard language, he used RDF for Conceptual Browsing on the Semantic Web. Enoksson (2006) models things with concept maps that break an overall ontology down into concept sub-ontologies/taxonomies.

Naeve (2005) argue that “combining the human semantics of UML with the machine semantics of RDF enables more efficient and user-friendly forms of human-computer interaction.” Using UML for production of ontologies is as advocated by Baclawski et al. (2001) and Kogut et al. (2002), and Enoksson (2006). Naeve (2005) examines this strong separation between types (classes), and instances (objects) and considers this to be a weakness, which he rectifies for ULM (Unified Language Modeling) developed from UML.

Naeve (2005) gives an example of the need for “semantic mapping” between different words with the same meaning such as ‘author’ in one ontology and ‘creator’ in another ontology in order to establish interoperability and machine readability.

The Table below shows tools, technologies, and languages that can assist in this, and where they are based in a hierarchy from low level information centred interaction to high level user centred interaction (bottom to top), and computing focused to human focused representation (right to left). The Table also shows how each tool fits in with Naeve’s (2005) analysis based on “characteristics of the three different semantic stages” of “Semantic Isolation, Semantic Coexistence, and Semantic Collaboration” :-

Table - Language and Tool Mapping















Naeve (2005) describes Semantic Isolation where databases are available but hidden behind web portals, though the portals advertise their address. Semantic Coexistence is achieved by databases being structured in such a way that it is possible to search them without having to know their location. Naeve gives the example of RDF Schema - RDF(S), this standardises the structuring of the information across RDF(S) databases. RDF(S) provides standardised elements for the description of ontologies, so assisting to enable Semantic mapping. Semantic mapping enables Semantic Coexistence due to Semantic mapping enabling agreement on terms. For the table above the argument presented is that high level user centred interaction (bottom to top), and computing focused to human focused representation (right to left), enable Semantic Coexistence. The tools in the top left are built from those below and to the right of them so the Semantic Coexistence is built from Berners Lee’s (2000) Layered Architecture. Naeve (2005) argues the need for semantics that are understandable to humans as well as machines. That is an important objective of the research outlined in my thesis as without semantics that are understandable to humans, it is not possible for non programmer domain experts to undertake collaborative modelling. Naeve (2005) discusses a bottom up approach where there is a set process of deciding what can be agreed on, what cannot, and on documenting both.

Naeve (2005) argues that where knowledge is tacit it is vital to keep track of the individuals or groups who have this tacit knowledge, and that also the ‘Human Semantic Web’ can help elevate tacit knowledge to explicit.

References

Baclawski, K., Mieczyslaw, K., Kogut, P., Hart, L., Smith, J., Holmes, W., Letkowski, J., Aronson, M., 2001. Extending UML to Support Ontology Engineering for the Semantic Web. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on The Unified Modeling Language, Modeling Languages, Concepts, and Tools, pp 342-360.

Berners-Lee, T., (2000) Semantic Web on XML – Slide 10
http://www.w3.org/2000/Talks/1206-xml2k-tbl/slide1-0.html

Enoksson, N. (2006) Serverside Solution for Conceptual Browsing on the Semantic Web. MSc. Dissertation, Stockholm University.

Kogut, P., Cranefield, S., Hart, L., Dutra, M., Baclawski, K., Kokar, M., Smith, J., 2002. UML for Ontology Development. The Knowledge Engineering Review Vol 17(1) pp 61-64.

Naeve, A., 2005, The Human Semantic Web – Shifting from Knowledge Push to Knowledge Pull. International Journal of Semantic Web and Information Systems (IJSWIS), Vol 1(3) (July-September 2005) pp 1-30.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

How Ontology and Modelling Tools were chosen for my PhD

The modelling tool Vanguard System was chosen because it handles Units and uncertainty well something that was necessary for the DATUM project with Rolls-Royce as partners (Scanlan et. al, 2006). The same advantage was the case for the PhD because of the need for extensibility such as risk and uncertainty modelling. Other advantages of Vanguard System were ease of installation and use, ease of linking to spreadsheets and databases, facilities for web enabling of models, and the ease with which formulae can be entered and linked with a high level programming language where necessary (similar to spreadsheets but with a tree based user interface). Experimentation with Protégé showed it was possible to translate the Protégé tree into a Vanguard System tree. This fit in well with the stepped translation to be developed. The open standard nature of Protégé made it possible to use this software without being locked in to it. Tools such as TopBraid Composer can provide additional higher level functionality such as an improved user interface and more tools for user interaction and modelling by end-users so is future work.
There was a need for the DATUM project and for the PhD to minimise programming, so Jena was not used, but Leavers' (2008) MSc project used this effectively, and there was regular contact with the developers of ACUITy (Aragones et. al., 2006), to examine how that more software centred approach was used. Given more time that approach could have been used. Metatomix M3t4 was also used effectively as a high level tool to interact with Jena. So results of research with Jena and/or ACUITy and m3t4 would have shown similar results to the approach of using Protégé and Vanguard System.
These types of tools improve with research and development each year so reproducing this research is becoming easier. New ways of modelling at high level with involvement of end-users is thus practical.

References

Jena - A Semantic Web Framework for Java [online]. Available from: http://jena.sourceforge.net/ [Accessed 21 April 2011].

Leaver, N. (2008) Using RDF as an Enabling Technology. MSc. Dissertation, University of the West of England, Bristol.

Metatomix M3t4 Dashboard [online]. Available from: http://wiki.m3t4.com/homepage.action [Accessed 21 April 2011].

Protégé Welcome to Protégé [online]. Available from: http://protege.stanford.edu/
[Accessed 21 April 2011].

Scanlan, J., Rao, A., Bru, C., Hale, P., Marsh, R., 2006. DATUM Project: Cost Estimating Environment for Support of Aerospace Design Decision Making. Journal of Aircraft, 43(4).

TopBraid Composer, The Complete Semantic Modeling Toolset [online]. Available from: http://www.topquadrant.com/products/TB_Composer.html [Accessed 21 April 2011].

Vanguard System [online]. Available from: http://www.vanguardsw.com/solutions/application/modeling-and-simulation/
[Accessed 21 April 2011].

Monday, April 11, 2011

What's up doc? Join the blog for postgraduate researchers - My case for an invite

This relates to my previous post of April 7th about the research blogging event in Birmingham next month. I've posted to their blog and emailed them to make my case for inclusion. This is my post to their 'What's up doc?' blog - Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory (PCCAT 2011). The post itself is about a different event, a computing Conference at Exeter University and the abstract of my paper for that.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

What's up doc? Join the blog for postgraduate researchers

Below are details of an interesting event about blogs for and by researchers :-


'What's up doc?' is a new blog which provides a forum for postgraduate researchers to share experience, give information and tips on matters relevant to them in a fun, yet informed way.


It replaces GRADBritain, which has been a popular online magazine written by and for postgraduate researchers studying in the UK.


As part of the launch we will run a free blog training day in Birmingham on 12 May. Apart from learning what makes a good blog post, we will also explore how to increase your online profile. To apply:


* post an example of an article on the 'What's up doc?' blog


* send an email outlining why you want to be involved, what discipline your research is in and what you would do to champion 'What's up doc?' to tennie.videler@vitae.ac.uk before 25 April.


We will select applicants based on this and reimburse reasonable travel expenses. Places are limited.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Systems Research Showcase - Bristol, UK, 30th March

I presented at this event last year. This is a good event for anyone wanting to find out about the latest doctoral level research in Systems Engineering.

The details are below :-

"The Bristol Local Group Presents
Systems Research Showcase
Once again, the Industrial Doctorate Centre at the University of Bristol invites you to its Knowledge Exchange Suite in Woodlands Road to see a cross section of systems research activities being undertaken by the region's universities.

This is an opportunity for researchers to see the work of others in similar fields, and for practitioners to discuss the application of systems research with those currently immersed in its investigation and use.

Date: Wednesday 30th March – 6.30pm for 7pm till 9pm

Location: Knowledge Exchange Suite, Ground Floor, Merchant Venturers Building University of Bristol, Woodlands Road, Bristol, BS8 1UB.

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME.

This event is free, and refreshments will be provided, however to ensure appropriate catering arrangements can be made please register online at: www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=163. "

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory (PCCAT 2011)

I have submitted a paper to this conference at Exeter University in June. These are the details of the conference - http://www.pccat.ex.ac.uk/ -

"Home Page
Welcome to the website of the second Postgraduate Conference for Computing: Applications and Theory (PCCAT 2011). Following the great success of PCCAT 2010, we are pleased to announce that the University of Exeter will host PCCAT on 8th June 2011.

PCCAT 2010 proved a great success, both in terms of networking and introducing the vital world of conferencing to postgraduate students.

We are inviting the submission of abstracts, which if accepted will be extended into either a short paper or a poster for presentation on the day. More details can be found on the Submissions Page

In the new year, we will be inviting interested parties to join the paper review panel, which will be responsible for reviewing and providing feedback for short papers. If this is something you feel you would be interested in, please contact us (details of how to contact the committee are here

We hope to see you at PCCAT 2011, and look forward to hearing from you.


Max Dupenois and David Walker
(PCCAT 2011 Programme Chairs)"

This is my Abstract for the paper -

"Abstract: This paper is about potential to provide an interactive visual taxonomy management system. It has been and is part of efforts to structure, manage, and enable understanding of complex engineering, business and/or scientific information to enable those involved to collaborate using a systems approach. The aim and objectives are to close the link between requirements gathering and end-user modellers. The main subject will be editing and display of product data structures (already implemented), business process modelling, and discussion of possible application to phylogenic/phylogenetic (biology taxonomy) knowledge. Modelling in all these areas could make possible new insights. This approach could also be used for public understanding work and visualisation, e-science, and information management. The aim is to apply novel end-user programming research to enable the editing, management, and representation of anything tree/taxonomy based by uniting the software taxonomy structure with the taxonomy structure of the domain to be modelled and visualised, and using Semantic Web technologies to link this with overall ontologies then to end-users for visualisation.

The purpose of this work is to ease management of development use, and re-use of software and make this a continuous integrated process.

To achieve the above aim what is necessary is to establish or link to a computing infrastructure for representation of complex, engineering, business, and scientific information. This kind of Computer Science/Software Engineering research allows for bringing together related fields of Semantic Web and ontology/taxonomy management, end-user programming, and visualisation and interaction with complex information. Then management of software development with and for such professionals can be eased and all be involved via the web.

Further, the structure and accessibility of Semantic Web technologies may also assist with broadening this approach to accessibility for people with various disabilities, and also for environmental modelling."

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Government IT use must change: Institute for Government

This BBC article summarises the important point that for IT projects it is crucial to roll them out in increments and test each with the users and for the purpose they are designed for. This is essential for IT project success in the public and private sector also.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12616777.

The article begins -

"The government's handling of IT is locked in a 'vicious circle of costs and failures' and moves at a 'glacial' pace, according to a report.

The Institute for Government recommends sweeping changes to the way ministers order new computer systems.

One recommendation is that new IT systems should be built piece by piece and tested by those who use them."

This article is based on a report by The Institute for Government - http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/23/system-error

System Error
Fixing the flaws in government IT
Author: Justine Stephen, James Page, Jerrett Myers, Adrian Brown, David Watson, Ian Magee
Date: 01 March 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Resources for Programming Languages

Resources for Programming Languages -http://www.guidetocomputertraining.com/library/programming-languages-basics

This resource is very useful containing a history of programming and programming languages with appropriate links to good articles.

Then there is a section on popular programming languages of the modern day, and another section on uses of programming languages, again with useful links.

This is the description of the site :-

"Computer science is no longer a burgeoning field in education -- it is one of the more popular. With steadily growing job markets due to increased reliance on computers and the internet, learning programming languages may one day be a secondary-school requirement like taking Spanish or French.

For those interested in staying ahead of the curve or just pursuing their interests in programming, there are lots of resources out there available for students and teachers alike. Novices need not be lost, especially because the first language is always the hardest -- after that, they come much more easily. For background information on how programming languages have evolved, and how you can use them, check out the links below to some of the top sites around."

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Social Media - Interesting BBC articles - Social Media, Future and Egypt Protests

For my 200th blog post I was inspired to write by reading of 2 BBC articles. One is about the role of Social Media in the Tunisian and Egypt Protests.

Internet role in Egypt's protests - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12400319. - 9 February 2011 Last updated at 06:00 - By Anne Alexander - University of Cambridge.

This article discusses the way Social Media acted as an aid to organisation of the protests, and that this worked in conjunction with ways of spreading the word and existing organisations. The Egyptian Governments shutting down of the internet was not successful because these other ways of organising were already established through a mixture of word of mouth and Social Media

The other article is about the future of Social Media, and the other about the future of friends: Who can topple Facebook? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2011/02/the_future_of_friends_-_who_ca.html - Rory Cellan-Jones 08:00 UK time, Wednesday, 9 February 2011.

This article also mentions the radio 4 program on this subject, which is available at - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y8xdv, with links to the previous 2 episodes. The article argues whether Facebooks dominance is likely to continue or whether new competitors will challenge this.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

INCOSE - Systems Thinking

This event was a very useful talk and discussion (Bristol, England) about What is Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking, and examining of a booklet (Z Guide) that describes results of an attempt to write down an explanation of this.

The talk was by Patrick Godfrey of University of Bristol. The description and link are here :-

"Systems Thinking

This event features Patrick Godfrey, the author of the recent Systems Thinking Z Guide, explaining what Systems Thinking is and how it is essential to the work that we do as Systems Engineers. "

http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/Groups/Bristol/Show_Event_Details.aspx?.CatID=Groups&EventID=162

The next event is good also, I gave a talk at last years', it's a chance for PhD and EngD students to present their research.

"Bristol Local GroupEvent Title: Systems Research Showcase
Event Date: 30/03/2011
Event Time: 18:30
Event Details Once again, this event will provide a chance to see some of the latest postgraduate research in the systems arena being conducted in the south west. This event will take place at the University of Bristol. "

http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Groups&EventID=163

INCOSE Stands for - International Council on Systems Engineering

Monday, January 17, 2011

First Day Back At Vassall Centre - Social Media

I'm a volunteer at Vassall Centre and restarting for my first day of working part time whilst finishing my PhD Amendments.

This describes what Vassall Centre does, and our website is - http://www.vassallcentre.org/.

"The Vassall Centre Trust, a charity led by disabled people, is transforming a former military hospital in Bristol to make it fully accessible for people with all forms of impairment, to empower them and enable them to work on equal terms with non-disabled people. The fully accessible David Hiatt Baker Conference Centre is based within the Vassall Centre."

Vassall Centre

I'm working on web, and database. On my first day back today I'm creating a Yahoo Pipe of Vassall Centre related news. A good test for this will be that my Yahoo Pipe should bring in this Post as searched for by the tag Vassall.

Yahoo Pipes is a drag and drop way of mashing together RSS feeds, this enables searching, filtering and sorting of feeds via linked information source boxes and operators. This is interesting to me because it involved drag and drop programming without code, a key technology for my PhD.

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Internet of Things Consultation Workshop, Jan 28th

Interesting event :-

EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) consultation workshop entitled: "Kick-starting the Internet Of Things Ecosystem" on January 28th, led by three Knowledge Transfer Networks on behalf of the TSB, and with support from RCUK Digital Economy Programme and BIS. This workshop is to explore the opportunities of, and barriers to, an Internet of Things ecosystem of application and services. This professionally facilitated workshop will bring together present and potential actors of the ecosystem and will explore, debate and make recommendations on these key issues. The output of the workshop will inform potential investments and initiatives by the Technology Strategy Board in this space.

The workshop is open to all, and it will fill up quickly, so if you are interested, please register asap.

From EPSRC Information link is to :-

https://ktn.innovateuk.org/web/2206770%20alt%20=%22Funding%20Workshop%20Web%20address%22%20/%3E

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

PhD Viva Presentation

I've put online the presentation I gave at my Viva recently. I'm also putting it on my blog one or 2 slides at a time with an explanation of the research in each area, so will keep doing this roughly once a week, with some posts in between about workshops and events that are happening early this year that look interesting.


This is my PhD Viva presentaion and it's a PowerPoint 2007 file - https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bx_KguSfl6vSYTY4NDhiN2YtNDc3Yy00MmJkLTlkOTUtNjQ0ZGI5ZGZkNDQ1&hl=en- PowerPoint 2003 version - https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bx_KguSfl6vSMTdiYjdiMWItMmRmNC00YTJkLThkYmYtYmIwM2VkM2IzZjRm&hl=en.


User Driven Modelling: Visualisation and Systematic Interaction for End-User Programming


Peter Hale

Director of Studies – Tony Solomonides

Supervisor – Ian Beeson