In Jan 2004 I decided that Simon Cowell was making far too much money out of rubbish television that largely benefited his own pocket a lot more than the people entering his TV shows.
So I thought, wouldn't it be good to have a TV programme that the public voted in but instead of benefiting a few people, society as a whole benefited.
I developed the idea a bit and in Feb 2004 got in touch with someone I know who runs his own independent TV company.
He thought my idea was very interesting and in the end the idea went to BBC Scotland as a programme concept. BBC Scotland wasn't interested but they thought some of the ideas in it were worth taking further so it then went to the BBC in London. It was discussed there but nothing much more came of it. In any case, there was always commercial TV, so my contact suggested sending it to some commercial companies. Back in 2001 I had some correspondence with Channel 4 about their E-millionaire show and thought they might be interested. The people behind that programme then got back in touch saying they were already doing something similar. That was October 2004.
18 months later, still no sign of the TV programme they had in production.
However, we now have Web 2.0. One of the key differences with what I was suggesting is that this wasn't just a programme with a social conscience but it was one that worked in a variety of media and tied together local papers, the Internet as well as TV and phone voting.
With the advance of Web 2.0, I thought that now is the time to revisit the concept. Certainly as one that got both a production company and BBC Scotland showing some interest, perhaps Web 2.0 is the forum that will make this happen. Not so much a TV programme with an Internet element, but a Web 2.0 site that happens to have its own TV programme (program for those in the US).
Is this the chance for Web 2.0 to make its break into TV?
Here it is:
THE BIG IDEA
Turning problems into answers into solutions.
A series for Television and the Web.
What big idea have you got - for your own, your family'’s, your community'’s or your country's future? Are you the next Trevor Bayliss with a terrific idea but struggling to find the right people to bring it to market? Maybe you're the next Stelios with a new business model in need of momentum? Maybe you're the next James Dyson needing significant finance to get a revolutionary idea off the drawing board. Hey, even the Beatles and JK Rowling had a tough time finding a route to market. Why does it have to be so difficult?
The initial idea.
I'm Scottish - – my country has produced some of the world's greatest thinkers, scientists and inventors. Yet, where are they now? The easier it becomes for the big thinkers to get attention for their ideas and bring them to market, the more of these ideas will be able to get into the world and make people's lives better in many diverse ways.
Better in what way? Everything. The BIG idea will cover the whole spectrum of ingenuity. One person's BIG idea might be a new ultra labour saving vacuum cleaner -– another's might be dealing with environment waste more efficiently. There will be no limit or limitation to bringing any idea about anything into contention, practical or impractical, very large or very small. The BIG idea is a can do programme not a can't do one.
All over the UK there are men and women with projects and ideas that could be the next big thing. The BIG idea will get those out of the drawer and onto the screen – and the public will vote to choose the best. The IDEA of the YEAR.
The idea in practice.
The BIG Idea starts with a national trawl for plans, possibilities and potential. Press promotion and road-show days in a number of places across the country will produce the long list. This isnÂ’t just a TV programme, itÂ’s a national event which works at the local level too with local papers promoting community based ideas and entries and local enterprise companies assisting people keen to take their ideas forward and presenting prizes to local winners.
Step 1
People are invited to text, email or submit via the web very short (a few sentences of ideas/invention/social change that they would like to see happen and why. Doesn't have to be patentable.
Step 2
Inventors are then invited to submit in detail their ideas for solutions to these problems. They can of course submit their own "problems" as well. It is important that they enter what the idea is, not how it works.
However, access to the new database above has major advantages:
1. If many people are requesting the idea, this is an incentive to further refine and develop the idea before submitting it since many other inventors might also have seen the opportunity. The requests could show against the idea like votes on a story on Digg.com
2. If not many people have requested the idea, it could indicate the idea is truly innovative.
3. Seeing what has been requested could help develop new lines of thought and spot opportunities - a brainstorm database. Like comments on a blog.
When a solution is submitted, it is attached to a problem and people searching can see how many problems have prospective solutions, but not what the solutions
are. Like Questionville.com
Step 3
Judges then review the thousands of ideas submitted by inviting the inventor of the most promising ones in the database to do an elevator pitch on each one (ie. like Pop Idol phase 1).
However, the people reviewing the elevator pitches have no prior information about the idea. The reviewers of the "elevator pitch" recommend who should go forward.
This next list is then put back to the Internet.
Step 4
Each idea at this stage is then published in a form carefully checked by a patent agent that reveals enough to make the idea interesting but not jeopardise any prospective patent application. Note it is not a requirement of the competition to have a patentable invention - EasyJet is a huge success but isn't patentable, yet is exactly the sort of radical solution which might have come out of a competition like this. Similarly "Freeserve", etc. New business models are just as valid as the next wind up radio or bagless vacuum. Hey, maybe someone could actually figure out why Dysons get such lousy marks for reliability from the Consumers Association!
What is revealed about the idea at this stage is a short "What it is" rather than "how it does it" plus key points detailing target market, market size, principle benefits.
e.g.
I've invented a super widget which analyses your diet and makes recommendations
based on your calorific content, nutritional balance and dietary needs. It
assists with your online shopping, cutting your online shop from minutes to
seconds and ensuring your are buying your weekly shop from the cheapest
supplier.
Target market : Anyone interested in diet or saving money.
Market size : Global, billions
Benefits: Saves time and money. Makes diets simple.
etc
(this would be based on the principle that you could tie up bar codes on food roducts with their associated nutritional information and then tie this back to a central database which recorded what you had already bought that week or eaten so far that day).
At this stage, each idea is given a shortcode which can be used to vote by SMS or phone with touch-tone. Shortcodes are viewed on the web.
Businesses can also bid for the exclusive rights to take a product to market. Supposing a phone vote cost 20p, well a business could put in 1000 votes for £200, etc. Bit like E-bay but the winning business would buy the first refusal rights to take the product to market. Money raised is used to fund patent applications and take out advertising in national newspapers to raise awareness of the ideas, develop a market.
Competition progresses by having intellectual rights in the businesses registered then revealing more and more about what they are about, the benefits, building a prototype, facing challenges etc (e.g. a competitor has started, how would you deal with that; you have a week to find a real company to manufacture your product etc). The public votes for the business and leader each week who they most want to see to market.
Key points about the competition:
Open to anyone. Age completely irrelevant (that one throws out the rule book right away!! Today's Trevor Bayliss or tomorrow's Branson - each has an equal chance. No ageism, sexism, racism etc here.
Sex irrelevant, background irrelevant, etc. Ideas and their markets are being assessed not people. Questions about age, gender etc will not be asked on the forms. (this is where funding goes wrong - some funds are only for under 30's, the Innovation Fund is only for people at University, and so on).
It is a competition that is open to anyone regardless of ability or background.
The point is to get people excited about solving problems, being innovative and encouraging people who are good at ideas but who don't necessarily see themselves as managing directors or for various reasons can't commit the time or don't have the money to launch via other routes.
The long list will be chosen by the production team, working with outside experts. Each item on the long list will be allocated a "celebrity champion" (for example Stelios, Richard Branson) who will state during the show why they like the idea.
The BIG idea will seek to work with these bodies and companies whose job is to produce the goods – bodies such as Scottish Enterprise (for Scotland), the Arts Council and the venture capitalists. Their support and expertise will be invaluable. Successful and innovative project sponsors will also be sought. But above all it is the participation of PEOPLE who want to succeed that will essential – for the show is about celebrating not only innovation, but the power of society to be positive and create change.
The money generated from the phone vote and from sponsorship will provide a prize that helps to do that either in the form of a commercial exploitation, or in the form of a publication, an art work or even the foundations of a building. The BIG idea is about making things happen, and the winner (or winners, for some of the long list projects will undoubtedly attract interest from others) will be guaranteed the chance to do just that.
The BIG idea.
The BIG idea is participation television, it is interactive television, it is the Internet complementing television, it is positive thought, it is community involvement - it is television that thinks, it is television that entertains and it is television that actually makes a difference rather than being couch potato material. It is, in itself, a big idea which the UK and nations need in order to move forward. It is the kick start to getting Britain and the world to think about itself and about what it needs.
(at the very least this will stop Simon Cowell with coming up with something similar and then saying he thought of it!)
04 May 2006
May the fourth be with you
Are you Darth Vader, a borg or a dalek?
On Star Wars day, May the Fourth be with you, a chance to look at some top villians from science fiction and see who you can spot in the world of business.
Darth Vader from Star Wars?
The Borg from Star Trek (discounting the Tom Baker Dr Who episode with a character called Borg in it)
The Daleks from Dr Who?
What's all this about then? Ever watch The Apprentice? Don't suppose Sir Alan Sugar wouldn't get on too well as an employee, he's too much his own boss and certainly isn't a team player. Just as well he started his own business, I doubt many would want to hire him. The same is also true of many other sucessful people who spent very little time as employees before they set out to make their fortunes. Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson spring to mind. Yet each has a very different technique for success.
The world of business and the world of employment have a conflict of philosophy.
In the world of employment, you need to be a team player, if you recruit then discrimination is usually illegal.
In the world of business however, it pays to be ruthless. "You're fired" as Alan Sugar says. It's every person for themselves. If you don't win market share then someone will steal yours. Finally, discrimination in the world of business is rampant and encouraged. Well of course there's plenty "woman of the year" awards, especially when there is no male equivalent. Do you think a company could get away with having "female employee of the year" and no male equivalent? There's also ageism - many startup funds are only available to people who have had a certain number of birthdays or less. This rampant discrimination seems to be par for the course for startup funding, business awards and so on yet quite rightly ruled illegal in the workplace. Maybe those who fund such awards should look more closely at the message they send out.
So the world of the business leader is often a rough one, dealing in a world of discrimination, trying to outplay the opposition, using every trick possible to succeed. The world of the employee is tough enough with redundancies, downsizing, outsourcing and so on yet the team spirit is enouraged. Working together is encouraged. The "no blame" culture is encouraged. Collaboration rather than confrontation. One wonders how these people will ever fit into the culture of the leaders.
Back to science fiction.
Darth Vader works in collaboration with the evil empire that attempts to appear as the one true way.
The Borg assimilate the opposition and incorporate them for their tools and knowledge.
The Daleks eliminate all who stand in their way
Microsoft, Oracle, and sir Alan Sugar anyone?
May the fourth be with as as we look for a leader that as a role model for the next generation of enterprise is a Jean Luc Picard, Luke Skywalker or Dr Who. someone who can truly Do No Evil.
Beam us up- there's no intelligent life down here, Scottie.
On Star Wars day, May the Fourth be with you, a chance to look at some top villians from science fiction and see who you can spot in the world of business.
Darth Vader from Star Wars?
The Borg from Star Trek (discounting the Tom Baker Dr Who episode with a character called Borg in it)
The Daleks from Dr Who?
What's all this about then? Ever watch The Apprentice? Don't suppose Sir Alan Sugar wouldn't get on too well as an employee, he's too much his own boss and certainly isn't a team player. Just as well he started his own business, I doubt many would want to hire him. The same is also true of many other sucessful people who spent very little time as employees before they set out to make their fortunes. Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson spring to mind. Yet each has a very different technique for success.
The world of business and the world of employment have a conflict of philosophy.
In the world of employment, you need to be a team player, if you recruit then discrimination is usually illegal.
In the world of business however, it pays to be ruthless. "You're fired" as Alan Sugar says. It's every person for themselves. If you don't win market share then someone will steal yours. Finally, discrimination in the world of business is rampant and encouraged. Well of course there's plenty "woman of the year" awards, especially when there is no male equivalent. Do you think a company could get away with having "female employee of the year" and no male equivalent? There's also ageism - many startup funds are only available to people who have had a certain number of birthdays or less. This rampant discrimination seems to be par for the course for startup funding, business awards and so on yet quite rightly ruled illegal in the workplace. Maybe those who fund such awards should look more closely at the message they send out.
So the world of the business leader is often a rough one, dealing in a world of discrimination, trying to outplay the opposition, using every trick possible to succeed. The world of the employee is tough enough with redundancies, downsizing, outsourcing and so on yet the team spirit is enouraged. Working together is encouraged. The "no blame" culture is encouraged. Collaboration rather than confrontation. One wonders how these people will ever fit into the culture of the leaders.
Back to science fiction.
Darth Vader works in collaboration with the evil empire that attempts to appear as the one true way.
The Borg assimilate the opposition and incorporate them for their tools and knowledge.
The Daleks eliminate all who stand in their way
Microsoft, Oracle, and sir Alan Sugar anyone?
May the fourth be with as as we look for a leader that as a role model for the next generation of enterprise is a Jean Luc Picard, Luke Skywalker or Dr Who. someone who can truly Do No Evil.
Beam us up- there's no intelligent life down here, Scottie.
02 May 2006
Extreme Management, investment in people
In my earlier post on extreme management (XM) I mentioned there weren't many books on it.
However, Kent Beck's reference work "Extreme Programming Explained" is about more than just programming. It isn't just about software engineering either (documentation, analysis, design, code, test, deployment, support, close).
Much of the book covers the extreme team and roles within it such as the customer, coach, tracker and also the more managerial activities such as management strategy and business issues. However, these are still written from the point of view of people in a small team working alongside the extreme programmers.
Taking a step back, if the principles of XP work for programming, what about the other aspects of running a company which have nothing to do with programming? What about the levels of management in a Big Company that are 2 or 3 levels removed from the programmers? Would a board meeting work as an agile scrum rather than a long meeting with lots of nice executive food laid on? It might even decrease boring meetings with buzzword bingo the main entertainment.
Could XP work for sales, marketing or business development? I'm sure it would shake up Dilbert's view of some senior managers..
Let's look at some of the principles and characteristics of XP and rather than thinking about programmers, see if they could also be applied to other departments and/or senior managers:
This looks to me like a set of attributes that are relevant for everyone in a company. XP in a company is like the company's attitude to quality, voice of the customer, or employee development. It works best when the whole company has the same work ethic.
So if you see your management team locked in a room for hours or days doing waterfall development for a business plan, why not suggest that a small incremental change to the business plan every week might work better than a big bang approach every 2 years? Their programmers might be able to teach them a thing or two as well. XP Knowledge can spread upwards.
I like an advert that's running in Computing at the moment which says "Meet the CEO of cubicle 36". In XM, everyone is a CEO, all that changes is the size of technical, financial or business responsibility that you are CEO for. Everyone does a much more similar job and there is more crossover between skills in different departments. Great if you like engaging your whole brain sometimes rather than just the techy bit.
This isn't really new however, it was a work ethic I picked up at Digital where in my first job I was given significant responsibility dealing with the company's biggest customers worldwide and authorising their networks for connectivity to public networks. Management empowerment can spread downwards.
In the XM world, it isn't just empowerment that sweeps down an organisation though, it's the cross sharing of knowledge across departments. Did you know for instance that the financial formulae that your financial director uses to make decisions can be applied to a small software team? You might have heard of Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for calculating whether to embark on a project, but the same formulae can be used to estimate the financial benefit of any work task, such as "having an offsite meeting" "conducting market research" "attending a conference" and so on. Skills and knowledge of the problems and solutions can circulate.
By spreading the work skills around an organisation and managing empowered people, not only does the organisation as a whole start using its whole brain but the transitions in terms of responsibility up the corporate ladder become less severe in terms of either "technical" or "managerial". This in turn allows for smoother career transitions and promotions, more opportunities and greater staff retention.
People are a company's #1 asset. That #1 asset also leaves the building each night, a risky prospect for any asset manager. If everyone feels they are their own CEO, not only will they likely enjoy their jobs more but will have invested in its people and gained their respect.
Perhaps XP will come to mean eXtreme People rather than just programmers.
Craig (CEO of this blog)
However, Kent Beck's reference work "Extreme Programming Explained" is about more than just programming. It isn't just about software engineering either (documentation, analysis, design, code, test, deployment, support, close).
Much of the book covers the extreme team and roles within it such as the customer, coach, tracker and also the more managerial activities such as management strategy and business issues. However, these are still written from the point of view of people in a small team working alongside the extreme programmers.
Taking a step back, if the principles of XP work for programming, what about the other aspects of running a company which have nothing to do with programming? What about the levels of management in a Big Company that are 2 or 3 levels removed from the programmers? Would a board meeting work as an agile scrum rather than a long meeting with lots of nice executive food laid on? It might even decrease boring meetings with buzzword bingo the main entertainment.
Could XP work for sales, marketing or business development? I'm sure it would shake up Dilbert's view of some senior managers..
Let's look at some of the principles and characteristics of XP and rather than thinking about programmers, see if they could also be applied to other departments and/or senior managers:
- Incremental planning. Flexible scheduling
- Lightweight, efficient, low-risk, adaptable, fun.
- Able to try things out and get results back quickly in response to business needs
- Relies on good, frequent interaction. Close collaboration and regular meetings.
- Relies on the four values of communication, feedback, simplicity and courage.
This looks to me like a set of attributes that are relevant for everyone in a company. XP in a company is like the company's attitude to quality, voice of the customer, or employee development. It works best when the whole company has the same work ethic.
So if you see your management team locked in a room for hours or days doing waterfall development for a business plan, why not suggest that a small incremental change to the business plan every week might work better than a big bang approach every 2 years? Their programmers might be able to teach them a thing or two as well. XP Knowledge can spread upwards.
I like an advert that's running in Computing at the moment which says "Meet the CEO of cubicle 36". In XM, everyone is a CEO, all that changes is the size of technical, financial or business responsibility that you are CEO for. Everyone does a much more similar job and there is more crossover between skills in different departments. Great if you like engaging your whole brain sometimes rather than just the techy bit.
This isn't really new however, it was a work ethic I picked up at Digital where in my first job I was given significant responsibility dealing with the company's biggest customers worldwide and authorising their networks for connectivity to public networks. Management empowerment can spread downwards.
In the XM world, it isn't just empowerment that sweeps down an organisation though, it's the cross sharing of knowledge across departments. Did you know for instance that the financial formulae that your financial director uses to make decisions can be applied to a small software team? You might have heard of Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for calculating whether to embark on a project, but the same formulae can be used to estimate the financial benefit of any work task, such as "having an offsite meeting" "conducting market research" "attending a conference" and so on. Skills and knowledge of the problems and solutions can circulate.
By spreading the work skills around an organisation and managing empowered people, not only does the organisation as a whole start using its whole brain but the transitions in terms of responsibility up the corporate ladder become less severe in terms of either "technical" or "managerial". This in turn allows for smoother career transitions and promotions, more opportunities and greater staff retention.
People are a company's #1 asset. That #1 asset also leaves the building each night, a risky prospect for any asset manager. If everyone feels they are their own CEO, not only will they likely enjoy their jobs more but will have invested in its people and gained their respect.
Perhaps XP will come to mean eXtreme People rather than just programmers.
Craig (CEO of this blog)
01 May 2006
Mayday, Mayday - Beltane out for help
The 1st of May is of course Latha buidhe bealltainn, the golden day of May and the start of the Celtic summer.
The Celtic year was divided into 2 halves - the dark winter half and the vibrant summer half. Each half was then divided again to mark the seasons.
The year began with the dark half at what is now Hallowe'en. 6 months on and today we enter the summer half. I recall when I was a student in Edinburgh that there were no formal events to mark this occasion, other than washing one's face in the morning dew to symbolise cleansing and renewal. Since then however, Beltane in Edinburgh has (with the help of the School of Scottish Studies) become something of an event with the Beltane fire festival now attracting up to 15,000 people. It also happens to be the day in 1989 when the Gaelic-L list was founded, a list I jointly managed for many years and which was the Internet's first list for a minority language.
Perhaps if there were more schools of Scottish studies around Scotland or indeed if we took more interest in the customs of our country, then observance of the start of summer would be more widespread. After all, Hallowe'en has now become highly commercial and American customs such as "trick or treat" are taking over from guisin'. By contrast, Beltane would be an ideal opportunity for us to look at our past in a more traditional way, especially as the US is about the only country not to recognise the May Day holiday which falls on the first Monday in May and often coincides with Beltane.
Beltane out for help - it shouldn't just be Edinburgh which celebrates this event, as an important part of the Celtic culture which has influenced Scotland, it should have greater recognition throughout the land. Especially as it often coincides with a holiday, it's an ideal time to promote culture and benefit from the knock on effects on tourism. Certainly the 15,000 people celebrating it in Edinburgh would agree and there's an opportunity here for other places in Scotland to take similar advantage.
Yet as a country we are sometimes reluctant to nationally embrace Celtic aspects, even though we have readily embraced the Celtic kilt as a national symbol. It is even difficult to find any teaching of Celtic customs in Scottish schools - so the children learn their "authentic Celtic customs" from TV and the High Street shops rather than as part of their education. Curious how we introduce Scotland's favourite novel, Sunset Song, as part of Scottish literature yet don't explain the more ancient standing stones from which the principle character draws strength. An opportunity missed that the main character Christine Guthrie 1896-1999 didn't explain it all.
Is it Mayday (help) for Scottish culture? Or is it the start of a renewal- a symbolic revival and the summer of a culture's confidence and growth? Certainly if we learn to embrace our nation's cultural past, it is a sign that we have emerged from the winter of the Scottish cringe into at least the springtime of our national identity.
The Celtic year was divided into 2 halves - the dark winter half and the vibrant summer half. Each half was then divided again to mark the seasons.
The year began with the dark half at what is now Hallowe'en. 6 months on and today we enter the summer half. I recall when I was a student in Edinburgh that there were no formal events to mark this occasion, other than washing one's face in the morning dew to symbolise cleansing and renewal. Since then however, Beltane in Edinburgh has (with the help of the School of Scottish Studies) become something of an event with the Beltane fire festival now attracting up to 15,000 people. It also happens to be the day in 1989 when the Gaelic-L list was founded, a list I jointly managed for many years and which was the Internet's first list for a minority language.
Perhaps if there were more schools of Scottish studies around Scotland or indeed if we took more interest in the customs of our country, then observance of the start of summer would be more widespread. After all, Hallowe'en has now become highly commercial and American customs such as "trick or treat" are taking over from guisin'. By contrast, Beltane would be an ideal opportunity for us to look at our past in a more traditional way, especially as the US is about the only country not to recognise the May Day holiday which falls on the first Monday in May and often coincides with Beltane.
Beltane out for help - it shouldn't just be Edinburgh which celebrates this event, as an important part of the Celtic culture which has influenced Scotland, it should have greater recognition throughout the land. Especially as it often coincides with a holiday, it's an ideal time to promote culture and benefit from the knock on effects on tourism. Certainly the 15,000 people celebrating it in Edinburgh would agree and there's an opportunity here for other places in Scotland to take similar advantage.
Yet as a country we are sometimes reluctant to nationally embrace Celtic aspects, even though we have readily embraced the Celtic kilt as a national symbol. It is even difficult to find any teaching of Celtic customs in Scottish schools - so the children learn their "authentic Celtic customs" from TV and the High Street shops rather than as part of their education. Curious how we introduce Scotland's favourite novel, Sunset Song, as part of Scottish literature yet don't explain the more ancient standing stones from which the principle character draws strength. An opportunity missed that the main character Christine Guthrie 1896-1999 didn't explain it all.
Is it Mayday (help) for Scottish culture? Or is it the start of a renewal- a symbolic revival and the summer of a culture's confidence and growth? Certainly if we learn to embrace our nation's cultural past, it is a sign that we have emerged from the winter of the Scottish cringe into at least the springtime of our national identity.
29 April 2006
Scotland Search Engine
The Scotland Search Engine, supplied by Rollyo and compiled by me. This one seems to work quite well, enjoy!
I also tried building a search for UK shopping sites and finding a job with mixed results.
Roll on the semantic web and being able to make more sense of these pages.
I also tried building a search for UK shopping sites and finding a job with mixed results.
Roll on the semantic web and being able to make more sense of these pages.
28 April 2006
Track all the Digg Frontpage Google stories
Want to see of all the latest Digg.com Frontpage stories about Google, including new features?
Here's the link!
Track news about Google.
Here's the link!
Track news about Google.
Is Test-First Development an Impediment to Creative Flow?
Weblogs Forum - Is Test-First Development an Impediment to Creative Flow?. Worth a read if you're into Agile/XP. Coincidentally, I'm off to a seminar on automated testing this afternoon.
First Event of 2006
Date :- Friday 28th April
Venue :- Scottish Widows HO building, Morrison Street, Edinburgh
Time :- 13.00 (registration and buffet lunch from 12.15)
Presentations :- By Mark Fewster (Grove Consultants -
http://www.grove.co.uk)
Mark continues the trend of excellent speakers who is well known and respected throughout the testing community. He has delivered presentations and tutorials all over the world and is co-author of one of the leading books on Software Test Automation. Since joining Grove Consultants, Mark has specialised in software testing techniques and all areas of test automation. As a consultant, Mark has helped many organisations to improve their testing both by the better use of techniques and by the successful introduction and better use of a software testing tool. The theme of the event is, not surprising, given Mark's expertise, is Test Automation. This theme is in response to feedback and requests at previous events.
Organised by the British Computer Society's Scottish Testing Group.
First Event of 2006
Date :- Friday 28th April
Venue :- Scottish Widows HO building, Morrison Street, Edinburgh
Time :- 13.00 (registration and buffet lunch from 12.15)
Presentations :- By Mark Fewster (Grove Consultants -
http://www.grove.co.uk)
Mark continues the trend of excellent speakers who is well known and respected throughout the testing community. He has delivered presentations and tutorials all over the world and is co-author of one of the leading books on Software Test Automation. Since joining Grove Consultants, Mark has specialised in software testing techniques and all areas of test automation. As a consultant, Mark has helped many organisations to improve their testing both by the better use of techniques and by the successful introduction and better use of a software testing tool. The theme of the event is, not surprising, given Mark's expertise, is Test Automation. This theme is in response to feedback and requests at previous events.
Organised by the British Computer Society's Scottish Testing Group.
27 April 2006
How do you discriminate?
Consider this imaginary scenario.
You're a bouncer at a nightclub wondering whether to let people in.
Two people wait to get in. One in a nice suit and tie, the other is rather scruffily dressed with long hair and wearing what can best be described as a white sheet with very casual shoes.
Who do you let in? Most nightclubs would of course go for the nice looking gentleman in the suit.
Congratulations, you just let in Hitler and left Jesus standing outside.
An imaginary situation, but one that highlights how much we can discriminate on appearance and how we should be looking at the person rather than the clothes they wear.
Our society is riddled with opportunities for discrimination and the UK is one of the few countries in the world with a wholly uncodified constitution (the others are New Zealand, Bhutan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Israel). If we had a constitution and set out a fundamental principle that all citizens are equal and discrimination is illegal we would be a lot further forward. Instead, we end up with piecemeal legislation with loopholes in it that starts with the premise that discrimination is legal unless the legislation says otherwise. So in 1975 we had the Sex Discrimination Act. In 1976 the Race Relations Act (amended 2000). In 1995 the Disability Discrimination Act. In 2003, Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations outlawed religious discrimination. In 2006, there is The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations. In 2007 the Gender Equality Duty.
Why not just start from the premise that everyone is equal, appropriate measures should be put in place to allow equal opportunity and any discrimination should only be on the person's ability to do the job or in other specific limited circumstances. Then we wouldn't be tying up so much of our parliamentarians' time passing another new law ever few years with the ensuing loopholes and nuances best understood by lawyers. It might put an end to the discrimination of women at golf clubs for instance. Then there's the purely childcare element following a birth that women can enjoy for up to 12 months yet men are lucky if they get 2 weeks (has anyone worked out the implications of this for adoption?). Indeed it might even put an end to male only clubs such as the Masons and Rotarians.
Anyway, as a society over the last 30 years we have steadily moved away from discrimination based on sex, disability, religion and race and focused much more on the abilities of the individual rather than their appearance as a woman, whether they wear a turban, the colour of their skin and so on. Much more on the person and less on what they look like.
The last discrimination is perhaps the example at the nightclub and dress codes. Putting this in the workplace, the issue of dress codes is still a touchy subject with many successful companies (Google, Amazon) going for the "who cares" approach right through to banks and consultancy groups with the full suit and tie and the ensuing issues in offices with poor air conditioning. It isn't about professionalism, since many professional companies have informal dress at work. It's a cultural thing and cultural attitudes are always notoriously difficult to argue against and change. Different offices, companies and indeed countries have different cultures and it's a question of blending in. It certainly wouldn't be appropriate for the police for instance to lose their uniform and visual identity.
What surprises me though is the minefield that many companies create for themselves in the complexity of the dress code regulations and the amount of time spent debating them whilst at the same time allowing people with mohican hair cuts and not saying anything about that. Clearly a measure of common sense is required and we should look at the trend of the last 30 years - it's the person's ability to do the job that really matters. This isn't about jeans and t-shirts in the dot com era, casual dress in the workplace goes back to Digital (DEC) in the 1950s and even before that.
Keep it simple, focus on the ability to do the job. Save time discussing the detail. Things would be simpler if we had a constitution framed that way, and things would be simpler in the workplace too.
Or will we continue to leave Jesus waiting at the door?
Craig
p.s. I'm not telling you what I'm wearing!
You're a bouncer at a nightclub wondering whether to let people in.
Two people wait to get in. One in a nice suit and tie, the other is rather scruffily dressed with long hair and wearing what can best be described as a white sheet with very casual shoes.
Who do you let in? Most nightclubs would of course go for the nice looking gentleman in the suit.
Congratulations, you just let in Hitler and left Jesus standing outside.
An imaginary situation, but one that highlights how much we can discriminate on appearance and how we should be looking at the person rather than the clothes they wear.
Our society is riddled with opportunities for discrimination and the UK is one of the few countries in the world with a wholly uncodified constitution (the others are New Zealand, Bhutan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Israel). If we had a constitution and set out a fundamental principle that all citizens are equal and discrimination is illegal we would be a lot further forward. Instead, we end up with piecemeal legislation with loopholes in it that starts with the premise that discrimination is legal unless the legislation says otherwise. So in 1975 we had the Sex Discrimination Act. In 1976 the Race Relations Act (amended 2000). In 1995 the Disability Discrimination Act. In 2003, Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations outlawed religious discrimination. In 2006, there is The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations. In 2007 the Gender Equality Duty.
Why not just start from the premise that everyone is equal, appropriate measures should be put in place to allow equal opportunity and any discrimination should only be on the person's ability to do the job or in other specific limited circumstances. Then we wouldn't be tying up so much of our parliamentarians' time passing another new law ever few years with the ensuing loopholes and nuances best understood by lawyers. It might put an end to the discrimination of women at golf clubs for instance. Then there's the purely childcare element following a birth that women can enjoy for up to 12 months yet men are lucky if they get 2 weeks (has anyone worked out the implications of this for adoption?). Indeed it might even put an end to male only clubs such as the Masons and Rotarians.
Anyway, as a society over the last 30 years we have steadily moved away from discrimination based on sex, disability, religion and race and focused much more on the abilities of the individual rather than their appearance as a woman, whether they wear a turban, the colour of their skin and so on. Much more on the person and less on what they look like.
The last discrimination is perhaps the example at the nightclub and dress codes. Putting this in the workplace, the issue of dress codes is still a touchy subject with many successful companies (Google, Amazon) going for the "who cares" approach right through to banks and consultancy groups with the full suit and tie and the ensuing issues in offices with poor air conditioning. It isn't about professionalism, since many professional companies have informal dress at work. It's a cultural thing and cultural attitudes are always notoriously difficult to argue against and change. Different offices, companies and indeed countries have different cultures and it's a question of blending in. It certainly wouldn't be appropriate for the police for instance to lose their uniform and visual identity.
What surprises me though is the minefield that many companies create for themselves in the complexity of the dress code regulations and the amount of time spent debating them whilst at the same time allowing people with mohican hair cuts and not saying anything about that. Clearly a measure of common sense is required and we should look at the trend of the last 30 years - it's the person's ability to do the job that really matters. This isn't about jeans and t-shirts in the dot com era, casual dress in the workplace goes back to Digital (DEC) in the 1950s and even before that.
Keep it simple, focus on the ability to do the job. Save time discussing the detail. Things would be simpler if we had a constitution framed that way, and things would be simpler in the workplace too.
Or will we continue to leave Jesus waiting at the door?
Craig
p.s. I'm not telling you what I'm wearing!
26 April 2006
Banish the Post Office queue
Every time I go to the post office there's a queue. No matter how much they try and keep the queue length down, inevitably you get stuck behind someone doing something complicated with a bank account, car tax, recorded delivery and so on. This morning there was at least 10 people in the queue and only 2 people serving.
I've come up with a solution to queuing for those of us with simple things to do such as post a letter or parcel, it's called weigh and pay and it's done by a machine.
So simple, why has no-one thought of this before? It would create an express queue for people wanting to do simple things and the post office needn't even be open - ideal for post offices in supermarkets where the supermarket is open and the post office is closed.
The machine to do this is similar to the one you can use to buy train tickets with - select destination, available fare and payment method except the post office one has a set of scales built in. It isn't much different to the in-house systems available to businesses, so why is the post office so reluctant to make it available to the public and save the public's time?
There you go, I've just saved people worldwide millions of hours of time standing in queues. contact me if you want to send a donation...
Next please!
I've come up with a solution to queuing for those of us with simple things to do such as post a letter or parcel, it's called weigh and pay and it's done by a machine.
- You place your letter or parcel on a set of scales to weigh it.
- You then indicate where you are sending it.
- You are then automatically given a list of postage options and expected delivery dates and choose one.
- You then pay for the postage, via an electronic payment method
- The stamps or postage vouchers are automatically printed
So simple, why has no-one thought of this before? It would create an express queue for people wanting to do simple things and the post office needn't even be open - ideal for post offices in supermarkets where the supermarket is open and the post office is closed.
The machine to do this is similar to the one you can use to buy train tickets with - select destination, available fare and payment method except the post office one has a set of scales built in. It isn't much different to the in-house systems available to businesses, so why is the post office so reluctant to make it available to the public and save the public's time?
There you go, I've just saved people worldwide millions of hours of time standing in queues. contact me if you want to send a donation...
Next please!
25 April 2006
Using CV (resume) style to write more useful reports
Communication is not only the key to a successful relationship but communication is the key to being a great manager and running a business.
However, some management reports from highly paid and qualified people leave me wondering - what was the point?
If a senior manager on a high salary is explaining to the company what they are planning to do this week, I expect more than just a list of things in their diary. After all, for a fraction of the cost of them composing an email they could just set up a public calendar, share their electronic diary and then I'd have pretty much the same detail.
So what's missing?
About 10 years ago, I took voluntary redundancy and went back to University to do an M.Sc. During this time and as part of the redundancy package, I got help from a professional agency in writing my CV (resume) and I certainly learned a lot about writing a CV that I didn't know previously. Of course, many people just copy the format their friends use and maybe some people buy a book, but for me getting independent professional help was more useful than both of those techniques.
A CV has but one purpose and it isn't to get you a job. It's to get you an interview. The interview has one purpose and that is to get you the job. An employer is looking for 3 things.
To do this, you must:
E.g., you might have in a CV:
I have 2 years Java experience. Successfully used this on a project to improve the company website.
However, you could rewrite this using the rules above as:
Using the Java knowledge I learned in my spare time, I led a team of three in the company's first Java project. This project resulted in the website offering new search functionality, positive feedback from customers and maintenance effort going down by 50%.
Certainly has the FAB factor. Now back to those dusty management reports.
Old Style
On Thursday I have a meeting with our main customer.
However, I could find that out via a calendar!
New Style
On Thursday we are having a planning meeting with our main customer to set out our objectives for the following quarter. We expect several key new projects to be approved and commence the following week as a result.
Did you see the FAB factor?
Old Style
John Smith attended a course this week on widgets. Management probably don't need to know this since it was probably them who signed off the purchase order for the course in the first place.
New Style with FAB!
Following the course which John Smith attended last week on widgets, we will set up a meeting for the whole team so that he can pass on key points of the training so that we all have some widget experience. We will commence a project next week using widgets to consolidate this knowledge with John Smith acting as project mentor.
Well, that looked like money well spent on the course!
In the words of Sir David Steel "Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government" (1981), I say to you "Go back to your cubicles, and prepare to communicate!" Go on, make your reports FAB!
However, some management reports from highly paid and qualified people leave me wondering - what was the point?
If a senior manager on a high salary is explaining to the company what they are planning to do this week, I expect more than just a list of things in their diary. After all, for a fraction of the cost of them composing an email they could just set up a public calendar, share their electronic diary and then I'd have pretty much the same detail.
So what's missing?
About 10 years ago, I took voluntary redundancy and went back to University to do an M.Sc. During this time and as part of the redundancy package, I got help from a professional agency in writing my CV (resume) and I certainly learned a lot about writing a CV that I didn't know previously. Of course, many people just copy the format their friends use and maybe some people buy a book, but for me getting independent professional help was more useful than both of those techniques.
A CV has but one purpose and it isn't to get you a job. It's to get you an interview. The interview has one purpose and that is to get you the job. An employer is looking for 3 things.
- Can the person do the job? (i.e. do they have the skills?)
- Will the person do the job? (i.e. are they motivated?)
- Do they fit? (i.e. is the person a good fit skills wise, personality wise and culture wise with the existing company and team?)
To do this, you must:
- Feature: Demonstrate what you did.
- Analysis: Demonstrate the scope of the change.
- Benefit: Demonstrate the outcome.
E.g., you might have in a CV:
I have 2 years Java experience. Successfully used this on a project to improve the company website.
However, you could rewrite this using the rules above as:
Using the Java knowledge I learned in my spare time, I led a team of three in the company's first Java project. This project resulted in the website offering new search functionality, positive feedback from customers and maintenance effort going down by 50%.
Certainly has the FAB factor. Now back to those dusty management reports.
Old Style
On Thursday I have a meeting with our main customer.
However, I could find that out via a calendar!
New Style
On Thursday we are having a planning meeting with our main customer to set out our objectives for the following quarter. We expect several key new projects to be approved and commence the following week as a result.
Did you see the FAB factor?
Old Style
John Smith attended a course this week on widgets. Management probably don't need to know this since it was probably them who signed off the purchase order for the course in the first place.
New Style with FAB!
Following the course which John Smith attended last week on widgets, we will set up a meeting for the whole team so that he can pass on key points of the training so that we all have some widget experience. We will commence a project next week using widgets to consolidate this knowledge with John Smith acting as project mentor.
Well, that looked like money well spent on the course!
In the words of Sir David Steel "Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government" (1981), I say to you "Go back to your cubicles, and prepare to communicate!" Go on, make your reports FAB!
Scottish usability events
Anyone in Scotland interested in usability, the Scottish Usability Professional's Association has an interesting list of forthcoming events.
The Web Accessibility Primer in May looks particularly interesting. Accessibility has of course been a legal requirement for websites since 1999.
The Web Accessibility Primer in May looks particularly interesting. Accessibility has of course been a legal requirement for websites since 1999.
24 April 2006
Training courses and prices. Because you're worth it?
The cost of courses - Over priced or justified?
Back in 1997 I did a Higher via evening classes of about 2 hours each. The cost of about 100 hours training over a year? Around £50.
50p an hour. This was in a language which took the teacher about 6 years to become fluent.
Earlier this year, I signed up for an advanced management diploma. The cost of 4 hours training a week for a year at a college? Around £1500.
Around £7.50 an hour.
I looked into doing an MBA. The cost of this for a year? About £3,500. Around £20 an hour.
I'm looking around at the moment at doing the PRINCE2 practitioner exam. The cost of doing this ?
According to the training index at Underoak, about the cheapest I can find is £1,390 + VAT for 5 days.
Around £50 an hour. More than twice the price of a university education.
The cost of doing a non certified course, say in advanced Java? Around £1,600+VAT for 4 days.
Around £67 an hour
There's quite a difference between £7.50 an hour and £67 an hour.
Assuming a mere 6 people attend a course, the maths works out as
£1,600+VAT * 5 = £9,400
Trainer's actual salary = £40,000
Scale up on the assumption they only work 1 week in 3 to prepare the course = £120,000
Add on a factor for their overheads and training = £150,000
So cost to employ a trainer = £3,000 a week
Cost to hire a conference room £ 110.00/day or about £700 a week including VAT and refreshments.
Total cost rounded up, around £4,000.
Total income = £9,400
Total profit = £5,400 a week, around 57%.
Just for comparison, the gross profit of Learning Tree is around 50%. Not much different to the profit percentage above.
Am I just imagining it or have course prices reached a settling point?
Back to economics. In an unregulated free market, the main beneficiary is usually not the consumer, it is the providers. They are free to set prices, potentially form cartels and importantly there is usually insufficient incentive for them to reduce prices once the market has stabilised (until someone like EasyJet comes along).
In a free market with constraints, the consumer can benefit if cartels are broken, price fixing ends and there is genuine competition.
I'm not suggesting any cartels here but isn't it odd how training courses have all settled around the £1500+VAT mark per week.
Especially when back to the PRINCE2 example you can get a PRINCE2 practitioner and
hire them as a contractor for about £400 a day.
Including their overheads that can't be any more than about £600 a day or £100 a day per course attendee.
Why are courses £1500+VAT a week per attendee when you could hire someone to teach the course for only £100 a day to do a roughly equivalent job?
Am I missing something here or does the prosumer need to speak out and start setting course prices?
That would be an education for all.
Back in 1997 I did a Higher via evening classes of about 2 hours each. The cost of about 100 hours training over a year? Around £50.
50p an hour. This was in a language which took the teacher about 6 years to become fluent.
Earlier this year, I signed up for an advanced management diploma. The cost of 4 hours training a week for a year at a college? Around £1500.
Around £7.50 an hour.
I looked into doing an MBA. The cost of this for a year? About £3,500. Around £20 an hour.
I'm looking around at the moment at doing the PRINCE2 practitioner exam. The cost of doing this ?
According to the training index at Underoak, about the cheapest I can find is £1,390 + VAT for 5 days.
Around £50 an hour. More than twice the price of a university education.
The cost of doing a non certified course, say in advanced Java? Around £1,600+VAT for 4 days.
Around £67 an hour
There's quite a difference between £7.50 an hour and £67 an hour.
Assuming a mere 6 people attend a course, the maths works out as
£1,600+VAT * 5 = £9,400
Trainer's actual salary = £40,000
Scale up on the assumption they only work 1 week in 3 to prepare the course = £120,000
Add on a factor for their overheads and training = £150,000
So cost to employ a trainer = £3,000 a week
Cost to hire a conference room £ 110.00/day or about £700 a week including VAT and refreshments.
Total cost rounded up, around £4,000.
Total income = £9,400
Total profit = £5,400 a week, around 57%.
Just for comparison, the gross profit of Learning Tree is around 50%. Not much different to the profit percentage above.
Am I just imagining it or have course prices reached a settling point?
Back to economics. In an unregulated free market, the main beneficiary is usually not the consumer, it is the providers. They are free to set prices, potentially form cartels and importantly there is usually insufficient incentive for them to reduce prices once the market has stabilised (until someone like EasyJet comes along).
In a free market with constraints, the consumer can benefit if cartels are broken, price fixing ends and there is genuine competition.
I'm not suggesting any cartels here but isn't it odd how training courses have all settled around the £1500+VAT mark per week.
Especially when back to the PRINCE2 example you can get a PRINCE2 practitioner and
hire them as a contractor for about £400 a day.
Including their overheads that can't be any more than about £600 a day or £100 a day per course attendee.
Why are courses £1500+VAT a week per attendee when you could hire someone to teach the course for only £100 a day to do a roughly equivalent job?
Am I missing something here or does the prosumer need to speak out and start setting course prices?
That would be an education for all.
Web 2.0, I prosume?
Web 2.0, the Prosumer has arrived. About time.
Web 2.0, the trendy new web with pastel shades, rounded graphics but above all user interation.
However, why is Web 2.0 taking so long to happen when we could see it coming before the dot com crash?
The rise of the prosumer, the centre of Web 2.0, was first foretold in 1980, about 10 years before the web was invented.
26 years after the seeds of Web 2.0 were sown we begin to see it take off. So much for Internet time then. If that's Internet time in action then maybe Internet time has slowed down to real time in the post crash era.
Perhaps anyone interested in Prosumerism and web 2.0 could help me make some use of prosume.com which I registered 5 years before Web 2.0?
Once web 2.0 begins to move from chat and recommendation into product creation, then the prosumer economy will have arrived and the third wave will be in full force.
About time.
Web 2.0, the trendy new web with pastel shades, rounded graphics but above all user interation.
However, why is Web 2.0 taking so long to happen when we could see it coming before the dot com crash?
The rise of the prosumer, the centre of Web 2.0, was first foretold in 1980, about 10 years before the web was invented.
26 years after the seeds of Web 2.0 were sown we begin to see it take off. So much for Internet time then. If that's Internet time in action then maybe Internet time has slowed down to real time in the post crash era.
Perhaps anyone interested in Prosumerism and web 2.0 could help me make some use of prosume.com which I registered 5 years before Web 2.0?
Once web 2.0 begins to move from chat and recommendation into product creation, then the prosumer economy will have arrived and the third wave will be in full force.
About time.
23 April 2006
The speed of light is defined, you c
E=mc2.
Probably the most famous equation in the world, although perhaps
eiπ + 1 = 0
is the most beautiful.
Anyway, I would recommend derivation of Einstein's equation from the Lorenz factor as a quick introduction as to how the famous equation was derived as a consequence of Special relativity.
Why mention this 101 year old equation now? Well I was interested in going back to first principles. If Einstein's equation is derived from the Lorenz factor, where does the Lorenz factor get it from? Even looking at the very interesting mechanics and special relativity paper from Harvard still begins from the principle that the speed of light is the same in any inertial frame without proving why the speed of light is the value that it is. Mathematical constants such as PI can not only be measured but their value can be derived and proven.
What then for the speed of light - can we do more than just measure it? Can we prove why it has to have the value that it does?
I asked this question over on Questionville and found that the speed of light can be expressed in terms of Planck time and Planck distance.
However that only resulted in unanswered questions over these values and what causes them to be the natural units of the universe.
New Scientist has a special treat this week, Stephen Hawking and Tim Berners Lee in the same edition. I've mentioned Tim indirectly in an earlier post on the semantic web and in the strange new universe that Stephen Hawking writes about, surely it is not so strange if all the building blocks in all the universes are the same size?
We recognise the universal building blocks
do we understand their dimensions yet?
Probably the most famous equation in the world, although perhaps
eiπ + 1 = 0
is the most beautiful.
Anyway, I would recommend derivation of Einstein's equation from the Lorenz factor as a quick introduction as to how the famous equation was derived as a consequence of Special relativity.
Why mention this 101 year old equation now? Well I was interested in going back to first principles. If Einstein's equation is derived from the Lorenz factor, where does the Lorenz factor get it from? Even looking at the very interesting mechanics and special relativity paper from Harvard still begins from the principle that the speed of light is the same in any inertial frame without proving why the speed of light is the value that it is. Mathematical constants such as PI can not only be measured but their value can be derived and proven.
What then for the speed of light - can we do more than just measure it? Can we prove why it has to have the value that it does?
I asked this question over on Questionville and found that the speed of light can be expressed in terms of Planck time and Planck distance.
However that only resulted in unanswered questions over these values and what causes them to be the natural units of the universe.
New Scientist has a special treat this week, Stephen Hawking and Tim Berners Lee in the same edition. I've mentioned Tim indirectly in an earlier post on the semantic web and in the strange new universe that Stephen Hawking writes about, surely it is not so strange if all the building blocks in all the universes are the same size?
We recognise the universal building blocks
do we understand their dimensions yet?
The thinking human's religion
In earlier articles I have tried to use quotes from religion to show that religious teachings have relevance outside of the religions themselves, such as discussing the evolution of the web.
However, we need not be religious to believe these things and indeed religion comes with its own baggage. About 2000 years of it, and that's quite a lot of baggage in anyone's Book (old or new testament!). Particularly when the formation of the canon of works known as the Bible is in itself subject to a significant amount of editing. See this Formation of the Canon of the New Testament. This could in part explain the lost books of the bible or an unholy interest in reading The Da Vinci Code. There is also the controversy of the Letters of Christ and Abgurus which despite being allegedly written by Jesus appear prominently in Anglican religion yet are dismissed by Catholics.
Clearly as a book of legends, the Bible is on one level little different from other legends from other ancient cultures such as the salmon of knowledge from Celtic legend. Yet these tales remained as separate works, rather than forming into a religion or a biblical canon.
With religion there is also the contradiction between cannibalism being considered one of the worst sins, yet isn't mentioned in the 10 commandments. Clearly it might cause a problem with communion - or is cannibalism OK if it's Christ's body?
Anyway for a moral slant on life without the religious baggage, why not drop in on the British Humanist Association. Certainly a very interesting read, particularly from the point of view of highlighting inappropriate and unbalanced religious influence in a modern secular society. Particularly relevant also if you want to fight the Intelligent Design / Creationism school of thought that's been pervading certain schools in the US.
Humanism - religion for those who want the message without the baggage.
The thinking person's faith.
If the theory of natural selection is one of the greatest ideas ever, perhaps we should think about how to mark the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth when it comes around on 12th Feb 2009?
However, we need not be religious to believe these things and indeed religion comes with its own baggage. About 2000 years of it, and that's quite a lot of baggage in anyone's Book (old or new testament!). Particularly when the formation of the canon of works known as the Bible is in itself subject to a significant amount of editing. See this Formation of the Canon of the New Testament. This could in part explain the lost books of the bible or an unholy interest in reading The Da Vinci Code. There is also the controversy of the Letters of Christ and Abgurus which despite being allegedly written by Jesus appear prominently in Anglican religion yet are dismissed by Catholics.
Clearly as a book of legends, the Bible is on one level little different from other legends from other ancient cultures such as the salmon of knowledge from Celtic legend. Yet these tales remained as separate works, rather than forming into a religion or a biblical canon.
With religion there is also the contradiction between cannibalism being considered one of the worst sins, yet isn't mentioned in the 10 commandments. Clearly it might cause a problem with communion - or is cannibalism OK if it's Christ's body?
Anyway for a moral slant on life without the religious baggage, why not drop in on the British Humanist Association. Certainly a very interesting read, particularly from the point of view of highlighting inappropriate and unbalanced religious influence in a modern secular society. Particularly relevant also if you want to fight the Intelligent Design / Creationism school of thought that's been pervading certain schools in the US.
Humanism - religion for those who want the message without the baggage.
The thinking person's faith.
If the theory of natural selection is one of the greatest ideas ever, perhaps we should think about how to mark the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth when it comes around on 12th Feb 2009?
19 April 2006
Optimized eMarketing, making sense of the numbers
A very interesting read on Optimized eMarketing and how to get the most from online marketing campaigns.
From Richard Irwin, the man behind All-hotels.com, which became the world's leading independent hotel site and which had one of the lowest customer acquisition costs in the industry.
From Richard Irwin, the man behind All-hotels.com, which became the world's leading independent hotel site and which had one of the lowest customer acquisition costs in the industry.
18 April 2006
Google, Amazon and the wonder of Scotland
About 18 months ago, e-commerce giant Amazon.com set up a development centre in Scotland in South Queensferry, home to the Forth Bridge which recently won the "Seven Wonders of Scotland" competition.
Included amongst the 30 wonders listed by The Scotsman were several which allude to Scottish engineering, creativity and inventiveness. The Forth Bridge for engineering, Scottish literature and the Scottish enlightenment, and Scots inventiveness is at number 25. There is a full list referring to the motherland of invention and the many things which Scots have given the world. The telephone, the television, penicillin, steam engines, anaesthetics and right through to Dolly the sheep. It isn't just the Forth Bridge, once hailed the 8th wonder of the world, which is the wonder of Scotland; it's the fact that for such a small country we have so much to offer and a well-deserved reputation for talent. This is the wonder that is Scotland.
Of course education is one of the main things Scotland is famous for, Scotland had five universities for a long time when England only had two. Scotland had by far the largest percentage of primary secondary and tertiary educated population in Europe, until Prussia caught up in the 18th Century. excerpt from the Scottish Education part of the Scotland FAQ.
Our reputation for excellent education and universities is one reason why Amazon.com chose Scotland as the place to build its first development centre outside the US.
That being the case, what can we do to build on the Amazon investment and encourage other high intellect companies to come here? Google is the obvious prize to land and I'm wondering why Google hasn't spotted the same opportunity as Amazon. It doesn't take a Stanford Ph.D. to spot the opportunity not only that Silicon Glen in Scotland could offer but also a campus of Google, Amazon and other high power companies in close contact with one another would not only benefit Silicon Glen, but would forge a vibrant and dynamic community. Like an extension of the University campus it could form a community where ideas would be born and developed in a hotbed of inventiveness, ingenuity and creativity.
I'm searching for a reason why Google isn't already here.
Are we feeling lucky and can Google seek out the answer?
Included amongst the 30 wonders listed by The Scotsman were several which allude to Scottish engineering, creativity and inventiveness. The Forth Bridge for engineering, Scottish literature and the Scottish enlightenment, and Scots inventiveness is at number 25. There is a full list referring to the motherland of invention and the many things which Scots have given the world. The telephone, the television, penicillin, steam engines, anaesthetics and right through to Dolly the sheep. It isn't just the Forth Bridge, once hailed the 8th wonder of the world, which is the wonder of Scotland; it's the fact that for such a small country we have so much to offer and a well-deserved reputation for talent. This is the wonder that is Scotland.
Of course education is one of the main things Scotland is famous for, Scotland had five universities for a long time when England only had two. Scotland had by far the largest percentage of primary secondary and tertiary educated population in Europe, until Prussia caught up in the 18th Century. excerpt from the Scottish Education part of the Scotland FAQ.
Our reputation for excellent education and universities is one reason why Amazon.com chose Scotland as the place to build its first development centre outside the US.
That being the case, what can we do to build on the Amazon investment and encourage other high intellect companies to come here? Google is the obvious prize to land and I'm wondering why Google hasn't spotted the same opportunity as Amazon. It doesn't take a Stanford Ph.D. to spot the opportunity not only that Silicon Glen in Scotland could offer but also a campus of Google, Amazon and other high power companies in close contact with one another would not only benefit Silicon Glen, but would forge a vibrant and dynamic community. Like an extension of the University campus it could form a community where ideas would be born and developed in a hotbed of inventiveness, ingenuity and creativity.
I'm searching for a reason why Google isn't already here.
Are we feeling lucky and can Google seek out the answer?
16 April 2006
Rising at Easter, a new dawn and a chance to reflect
Not so much a comment on the gospel of St Mark Chapter 16 and Jesus Christ but another JC who lost his life for a cause he believed in. The other Easter Rising is probably a bit less widely celebrated in the UK but it has made Britain the country that it is and one of the most prominent figures in it was James Connolly of Edinburgh.
Today is 90 years since the Easter Rising of 1916 that ultimately led to the creation of the Irish free state and in doing so, created independence for Eire and changed the shape of Britain, forming the nation we now have.
Having visited the The General Post Office in Dublin and also The Bastille and Concord in the US (celebrating 230 years since the "shot heard around the world" on 19/4/2006) it is interesting to see the varied places associated with the birthplaces of nations.
What have we in Scotland? The foot in the hill at Dunadd? Iona? Bannockburn? Arbroath? The ballot boxes of 11th September 1997 which caused us to say "There shall be a Scottish Parliament"?
Sometimes the symbols of today are not as romantic or as inspiring as the symbols of the past, particularly when you're not even an independent country. Which countries celebrate "devolution day", oh. none of them. right.
Back to Ireland. It is clear that Eámon de Valera, James Connolly and others would have had an easier time of it if the British state has simple allowed a free vote on Irish independence. This is not the way of a democracy however.
Democracy - from Greek (demokratia), the common people + (kratein) to rule seems to be a great stick to beat nations with in the name of progress but a double edged sword when it comes to matters closer at home. It seems people+rule is convenient enough when it's another country on the other side of the world but not when it's your own country and it's single issue politics such as independence. Since when did democracy mean "only within the confines of a western party political system", this seems to be a rather narrow self-serving definition.
So where is democracy, 90 years after the Easter Rising and what have we learned? Not much it seems. Just as the Irish and Americans were denied a free voice to exercise their right to vote for independence in a single issue ballot, so the same situation exists today with Scotland.
It isn't about whether you advocate independence or not or whether you want devolution, independence, a federal UK or something else. It's about having the right to decide in a single issue vote whether democracy (= the people rule) should prevail and allow the people to speak where politicians fear to tread. Is this not the finest hour of the freedom of speech we're so quick to defend when it comes to Moslem cartoons? Would a referendum not be a more productive use of this right than using it to offend others?
Moving on to the situation today. As a signatory to the Independence Convention, I was in a meeting with The Earl of Mar and Kellie recently where the Parliament (Participation of Members of the House of Commons) Bill was discussed. This Private Members Bill introduced by Lord Baker, seeks to resolve the West Lothian question, but has covered wider ranging issues along the way including the mechanism for recognising Scottish independence. This question was put to both the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General by the Earl of Mar and Kellie yet I am not yet aware of an answer. Although a Liberal Democrat, asking the question caused Lord Elder to accuse him of coming "dangerously close to coming out as a nationalist".
It isn't about being a nationalist, it's about freedom of choice and self determination through the ballot box on a single issue.
If it's good enough for the Falklands and Gibraltar, surely it's good enough for Scotland or does the UK government not want to support free speech and true democracy in this country? Have we still not learned the lessons of Ireland and America when it comes to domestic politics?
Do we need to wait for the 2nd coming or will politicians learn to put their faith in what the people, rather than their party think is the best way to govern?
Craig
Today is 90 years since the Easter Rising of 1916 that ultimately led to the creation of the Irish free state and in doing so, created independence for Eire and changed the shape of Britain, forming the nation we now have.
Having visited the The General Post Office in Dublin and also The Bastille and Concord in the US (celebrating 230 years since the "shot heard around the world" on 19/4/2006) it is interesting to see the varied places associated with the birthplaces of nations.
What have we in Scotland? The foot in the hill at Dunadd? Iona? Bannockburn? Arbroath? The ballot boxes of 11th September 1997 which caused us to say "There shall be a Scottish Parliament"?
Sometimes the symbols of today are not as romantic or as inspiring as the symbols of the past, particularly when you're not even an independent country. Which countries celebrate "devolution day", oh. none of them. right.
Back to Ireland. It is clear that Eámon de Valera, James Connolly and others would have had an easier time of it if the British state has simple allowed a free vote on Irish independence. This is not the way of a democracy however.
Democracy - from Greek (demokratia), the common people + (kratein) to rule seems to be a great stick to beat nations with in the name of progress but a double edged sword when it comes to matters closer at home. It seems people+rule is convenient enough when it's another country on the other side of the world but not when it's your own country and it's single issue politics such as independence. Since when did democracy mean "only within the confines of a western party political system", this seems to be a rather narrow self-serving definition.
So where is democracy, 90 years after the Easter Rising and what have we learned? Not much it seems. Just as the Irish and Americans were denied a free voice to exercise their right to vote for independence in a single issue ballot, so the same situation exists today with Scotland.
It isn't about whether you advocate independence or not or whether you want devolution, independence, a federal UK or something else. It's about having the right to decide in a single issue vote whether democracy (= the people rule) should prevail and allow the people to speak where politicians fear to tread. Is this not the finest hour of the freedom of speech we're so quick to defend when it comes to Moslem cartoons? Would a referendum not be a more productive use of this right than using it to offend others?
Moving on to the situation today. As a signatory to the Independence Convention, I was in a meeting with The Earl of Mar and Kellie recently where the Parliament (Participation of Members of the House of Commons) Bill was discussed. This Private Members Bill introduced by Lord Baker, seeks to resolve the West Lothian question, but has covered wider ranging issues along the way including the mechanism for recognising Scottish independence. This question was put to both the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General by the Earl of Mar and Kellie yet I am not yet aware of an answer. Although a Liberal Democrat, asking the question caused Lord Elder to accuse him of coming "dangerously close to coming out as a nationalist".
It isn't about being a nationalist, it's about freedom of choice and self determination through the ballot box on a single issue.
If it's good enough for the Falklands and Gibraltar, surely it's good enough for Scotland or does the UK government not want to support free speech and true democracy in this country? Have we still not learned the lessons of Ireland and America when it comes to domestic politics?
Do we need to wait for the 2nd coming or will politicians learn to put their faith in what the people, rather than their party think is the best way to govern?
Craig
Software development: Quick fix or long term solution?
The most important word you can say to a customer is 'yes'. Yes, we can do it within budget. Yes, we can do it to your specification. Yes, we will deliver on time.
The other, equally important but often forgotten word is 'no'. Don't be afraid to use it. 'No' there is too much scope for us to deliver a quality product in the available time. No, we cannot give an accurate estimate until certain scope is pinned down. No, although you want this functionality, the public at large will not understand it and it will cause the website to confuse them.
There is a balance to be struck. I've worked on a large number of projects over the years for a wide variety of organisations where project managers were a lot keener to say "yes" than they were to say "no". These are symptoms of the industry as a whole where projects are cutting corners for testing, there are over running budgets, and a failure of large scale projects from Taurus (500 million pounds) to the national firearms register and no doubt the national ID register too. The Scottish Parliament Project has become so well known it is now used as a case study in management classes.
However, on a more subtle level there's another balance between the apparently successful project which meets the customer's needs but which is achieved at the expense of longer term goals.
We're all happy to bend over backwards to meet the customer needs on a project by project basis, but I have a saying that seems to be gaining in popularity particularly amongst those who deal with the longer term effects and it is that if you bend over backwards enough, you eventually break your back.
The problem is that many projects are delivered on fairly tight timescales to limited budgets and when the project development costs are quoted, the overhead of long term planning and strategic development can easily be sidelined and this simply stokes up problems for the future. Too many quick projects layered on top of one another adds quick fixes on top of quick fixes and the whole infrastructure starts to snowball in complexity, bugs increase, testing time increases, performance can suffer and team morale declines.
Time to take a time out and say where to we really want to be with this infrastructure and what do we need to get there? This shouldn't be a big bang every 4-5 years where you go through a massive, expensive rework and address all those "quick" fixes, it should be an ongoing process as part of each project so that the problems don't pile up to haunt us down the road.
My concern is that this has been problem has been a recurring theme for more than 20 years. Today, as we move to an increasingly Agile development, quicker development cycles and faster development environments (e.g. Ruby on Rails instead of Enterprise Java) we need to work harder than ever to ensure that the mistakes of the past do not get worse as we adopt these new techniques.
In the new world of agile development, are we doing enough in the strategic corner or are we simply stoking up more problems in the future for the sake of a quick fix?
Craig
The other, equally important but often forgotten word is 'no'. Don't be afraid to use it. 'No' there is too much scope for us to deliver a quality product in the available time. No, we cannot give an accurate estimate until certain scope is pinned down. No, although you want this functionality, the public at large will not understand it and it will cause the website to confuse them.
There is a balance to be struck. I've worked on a large number of projects over the years for a wide variety of organisations where project managers were a lot keener to say "yes" than they were to say "no". These are symptoms of the industry as a whole where projects are cutting corners for testing, there are over running budgets, and a failure of large scale projects from Taurus (500 million pounds) to the national firearms register and no doubt the national ID register too. The Scottish Parliament Project has become so well known it is now used as a case study in management classes.
However, on a more subtle level there's another balance between the apparently successful project which meets the customer's needs but which is achieved at the expense of longer term goals.
We're all happy to bend over backwards to meet the customer needs on a project by project basis, but I have a saying that seems to be gaining in popularity particularly amongst those who deal with the longer term effects and it is that if you bend over backwards enough, you eventually break your back.
The problem is that many projects are delivered on fairly tight timescales to limited budgets and when the project development costs are quoted, the overhead of long term planning and strategic development can easily be sidelined and this simply stokes up problems for the future. Too many quick projects layered on top of one another adds quick fixes on top of quick fixes and the whole infrastructure starts to snowball in complexity, bugs increase, testing time increases, performance can suffer and team morale declines.
Time to take a time out and say where to we really want to be with this infrastructure and what do we need to get there? This shouldn't be a big bang every 4-5 years where you go through a massive, expensive rework and address all those "quick" fixes, it should be an ongoing process as part of each project so that the problems don't pile up to haunt us down the road.
My concern is that this has been problem has been a recurring theme for more than 20 years. Today, as we move to an increasingly Agile development, quicker development cycles and faster development environments (e.g. Ruby on Rails instead of Enterprise Java) we need to work harder than ever to ensure that the mistakes of the past do not get worse as we adopt these new techniques.
In the new world of agile development, are we doing enough in the strategic corner or are we simply stoking up more problems in the future for the sake of a quick fix?
Craig
Keeping the faith at Easter Time
After days of waiting, they woke on Easter Morning, noticed the stone had moved and knew that in the night a joyous change had occured.
No, not John 20:1 telling the story of Mary Magdalene visiting the sepulchre to see it empty at Easter time, but the story of our children waking and noticing that the Easter Bunny had hidden some chocolate under the rocks in the garden.
On a day when many children will be having chocolate for breakfast, I think we will all need a helping of faith to see us through the day with hyper active toddlers running on chocolate power. The duracell rabbit (we have the genuine article, don't ask!) has nothing on chocotoddler.
Is Easter with its chocolate eggs and Easter Rabbit an analogy of Christmas with its presents and Santa Claus?
It isn't just about the commercialism, but what do chocolate eggs and Santa Claus have to do with the bible anyway?
Since Christianity has dressed up many pagan rituals to make them acceptable, how should we dress up Hallowe'en with presents and a happy figure to allow it to be discussed in schools?
Food for thought. Mine's the fourth egg on the right.
No, not John 20:1 telling the story of Mary Magdalene visiting the sepulchre to see it empty at Easter time, but the story of our children waking and noticing that the Easter Bunny had hidden some chocolate under the rocks in the garden.
On a day when many children will be having chocolate for breakfast, I think we will all need a helping of faith to see us through the day with hyper active toddlers running on chocolate power. The duracell rabbit (we have the genuine article, don't ask!) has nothing on chocotoddler.
Is Easter with its chocolate eggs and Easter Rabbit an analogy of Christmas with its presents and Santa Claus?
It isn't just about the commercialism, but what do chocolate eggs and Santa Claus have to do with the bible anyway?
Since Christianity has dressed up many pagan rituals to make them acceptable, how should we dress up Hallowe'en with presents and a happy figure to allow it to be discussed in schools?
Food for thought. Mine's the fourth egg on the right.
Honest businesses and dodgy numbers
For some time now, I've had anonymous call rejection (ACR). This is a subscription service that automatically bars calls from people who intentionally withhold their telephone number or CLI (Caller Line ID). I wouldn't answer the door to someone who hides their face, why should I do the same on the phone with someone who wants to hide something?
This service has worked wonders, where the Telephone Preference Service was less than 100% successful, in stopping unsolicited and unwanted sales calls and means that in nearly all cases I have the person's number and can return the call, even if they don't leave a message on the answering machine.
It also pretty much puts a stop to hoax calls, malicicious calls, potential burglars seeing if your house is empty, and so on.
Great. The only down side is somewhat clueless businesses, banks and NHS 24 who for some unknown reason intentionally withhold their number as well. Since this means from my phone's point of view I can't tell the difference between NHS 24 and a dodgy double glazing salesman or a burglar seeing if my house is empty, I cannot understand why any reputable business would want to carry on in the same way as those nefarious characters. Indeed when my bank called recently for a security check, they withheld their number too. If they do this, how can I tell it's the bank calling and not an identity theft merchant?
I'm not suggesting that doctors on call on NHS24 have to give me their mobile number but how can any legitimate business justify hiding their number? The reasons for this are hard for most reasonable people to understand.
It's £60 to set up and a derisory £7.70 a quarter for a legitimate business to present an alternative number of their chosing.
Thus any doctor on call on NHS24 could elect to present the NHS24 number rather than their mobile.
Why do legitimate businesses, rather than pay less than 9p a day, still withhold their number and make themselves look like criminals, and junk callers and deny the public a chance to be confident in the knowledge that they are talking to who they think they are rather than a hoaxer?
Roll on ACR for mobiles. That'll put an end to those endless "free upgrade" calls.
This service has worked wonders, where the Telephone Preference Service was less than 100% successful, in stopping unsolicited and unwanted sales calls and means that in nearly all cases I have the person's number and can return the call, even if they don't leave a message on the answering machine.
It also pretty much puts a stop to hoax calls, malicicious calls, potential burglars seeing if your house is empty, and so on.
Great. The only down side is somewhat clueless businesses, banks and NHS 24 who for some unknown reason intentionally withhold their number as well. Since this means from my phone's point of view I can't tell the difference between NHS 24 and a dodgy double glazing salesman or a burglar seeing if my house is empty, I cannot understand why any reputable business would want to carry on in the same way as those nefarious characters. Indeed when my bank called recently for a security check, they withheld their number too. If they do this, how can I tell it's the bank calling and not an identity theft merchant?
I'm not suggesting that doctors on call on NHS24 have to give me their mobile number but how can any legitimate business justify hiding their number? The reasons for this are hard for most reasonable people to understand.
It's £60 to set up and a derisory £7.70 a quarter for a legitimate business to present an alternative number of their chosing.
Thus any doctor on call on NHS24 could elect to present the NHS24 number rather than their mobile.
Why do legitimate businesses, rather than pay less than 9p a day, still withhold their number and make themselves look like criminals, and junk callers and deny the public a chance to be confident in the knowledge that they are talking to who they think they are rather than a hoaxer?
Roll on ACR for mobiles. That'll put an end to those endless "free upgrade" calls.
15 April 2006
Chartered status
The letter came through today that on 3rd April I have been elected a Chartered member of the British Computer society. Chartered manager next?
Leonardo da Vinci | Renaissance Man
Happy Birthday, Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Man. Probably one of the brightest people ever. Inventor of many things hundreds of years ahead of their time.
Besides being a brilliant scientist and inventor he is probably the world's most celebrated painter with his works "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" probably being the 2 most famous paintings ever. Read more about this remarkable man on the site above.
Like his younger contemporary by 23 years, Michelangelo, they were both left handed.
Is there any intellectual advantage in being right handed?
Craig
Besides being a brilliant scientist and inventor he is probably the world's most celebrated painter with his works "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" probably being the 2 most famous paintings ever. Read more about this remarkable man on the site above.
Like his younger contemporary by 23 years, Michelangelo, they were both left handed.
Is there any intellectual advantage in being right handed?
Craig
14 April 2006
100 at 100%
Got my new Ebay feedback badge today as I hit 100 transactions, with 100% positive feedback.
13 April 2006
The Entire Monty Python scripts
Dead Parrot. The Viking spam sketch. Argument sketch, all your favourites are here. Hilarious!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Girl with a one track mind: Winner of the 2006 bloggies for best UK weblog
If you can't work it out from the title, you'll soon see what it's about when you visit the weblog. Sex sex, more sex and then even more sex. However, the quality of writing is superb :-). Oh,and there's sex as well.
The wonders of RSS are especially useful for reading the blog discretely in places where you probably shouldn't.
read more | digg story.
The wonders of RSS are especially useful for reading the blog discretely in places where you probably shouldn't.
read more | digg story.
12 April 2006
Best Tech Blogs - we're listed!
This blog is listed on the 16 Resources on Best Tech Blogs - Listible!. If you like this blog, please vote for it, thanks.
As I write, we're only 17% behind the venerable slashdot.
Craig
As I write, we're only 17% behind the venerable slashdot.
Craig
Using Ruby on Rails for Web Development
This guide, Using Ruby on Rails for Web Development on Mac OS X, is a useful step by step guide to using Ruby on Rails, the rapid development environment which is now outsurpassing Python book sales.
You can also view an installation guide here although I'm not convinced it'll allow me to develop a web application in a tenth of the time.
Does that time saving include the endless hours convincing management that switching languages, retraining staff and adopting agile is a Good Thing. Time will tell...
You can also view an installation guide here although I'm not convinced it'll allow me to develop a web application in a tenth of the time.
Does that time saving include the endless hours convincing management that switching languages, retraining staff and adopting agile is a Good Thing. Time will tell...
11 April 2006
The birth of the machine
There is only one time in the history of each planet when its inhabitants first wire up its innumerable parts to make one large Machine. Later that Machine may run faster, but there is only one time when it is born.
From Wired, 10 Years That Changed the World. A review of the 10 years since Netscape IPO'd.
From Wired, 10 Years That Changed the World. A review of the 10 years since Netscape IPO'd.
10 April 2006
Seven wonders of Scotland revealed: Forth Bridges come top
After an extensive poll, The Scotsman newspaper reveals the seven wonders of Scotland as chosen by its readers.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
09 April 2006
The Grand National and Investment strategy
It was the Grand National today (today for me runs from 2am one day to 2am the next incase you were checking the timestamp). The Grand National is the horse race that gets more people to place bets than just about any other event. The equine fence hurdling got me thinking about equity finance hurdles (yes, quite) and the odds of predicting a winner in each.
We all want to win of course but the only winners in the long term are those who can beat the odds. As in the casino, even a small edge when it comes to predicting the next winner in a race or the next card to be drawn will statistically mount up and the probability is that you will end up a winner in the long term.
Thus if the actual probability of a number on a roulette wheel (European odds) is 35 to 1, you'll get back £36 for a £1 bet. However, there are 37 numbers and thus the house has a 2.7% advantage and over time the odds indicate you will lose. However the world of horse racing and equity investment is not as clear cut as an unbiased roulette wheel and the odds vary over time. Thus if you place a bet at 11-1 on a horse that over time has a 1 in 10 chance of winning, the odds are stacked in your favour and ultimately indicate that you will end up in profit. The same is true for investing in businesses, however the potential winnings are much greater.
Take Google as the example. The $100,000 investment which Andy Bechtolsheim made in Google as their initial investment ended up being worth more than half a billion dollars. 100,000 to 500,000,000 is a 5000 fold return on investment. Back to the casino - if someone offered you odds of better than 5000 to 1 that Google would return a 5000 fold ROI then these are odds worth accepting. In reality if you were to look at the Google business plan back in those days even the casual investor would put the odds at probably 10 to 1 or less. Even a mere $200 at the right time with Google would have made you a millionaire. The trick is not the odds, it's having the opportunity to invest. If Google had advertised for investors back then and only asked for $200, I expect they would have got more than $100,000 and there would be at least 500 happy millionaires out there as a result.
So why is it that with reasonably good odds of a business surviving and turning a profit and with very good returns on investment if it does, we do not see the startup business community as one of those places where we can beat the odds in the casino and with long term probability turn in a profit? Indeed, why is it that businesses even in the age of Web 2.0 have to go through so many hurdles to get investment and it is still so hard to find with so much associated red tape? It's easier to put $200 on a horse than it is to have a bet on a business that if it comes home will not only benefit you but the economy as well.
Anyone who finds this an interesting analogy, please get in touch with the amount you are willing to invest and the odds you are prepared to accept and we will see where this ends up.
We all want to win of course but the only winners in the long term are those who can beat the odds. As in the casino, even a small edge when it comes to predicting the next winner in a race or the next card to be drawn will statistically mount up and the probability is that you will end up a winner in the long term.
Thus if the actual probability of a number on a roulette wheel (European odds) is 35 to 1, you'll get back £36 for a £1 bet. However, there are 37 numbers and thus the house has a 2.7% advantage and over time the odds indicate you will lose. However the world of horse racing and equity investment is not as clear cut as an unbiased roulette wheel and the odds vary over time. Thus if you place a bet at 11-1 on a horse that over time has a 1 in 10 chance of winning, the odds are stacked in your favour and ultimately indicate that you will end up in profit. The same is true for investing in businesses, however the potential winnings are much greater.
Take Google as the example. The $100,000 investment which Andy Bechtolsheim made in Google as their initial investment ended up being worth more than half a billion dollars. 100,000 to 500,000,000 is a 5000 fold return on investment. Back to the casino - if someone offered you odds of better than 5000 to 1 that Google would return a 5000 fold ROI then these are odds worth accepting. In reality if you were to look at the Google business plan back in those days even the casual investor would put the odds at probably 10 to 1 or less. Even a mere $200 at the right time with Google would have made you a millionaire. The trick is not the odds, it's having the opportunity to invest. If Google had advertised for investors back then and only asked for $200, I expect they would have got more than $100,000 and there would be at least 500 happy millionaires out there as a result.
So why is it that with reasonably good odds of a business surviving and turning a profit and with very good returns on investment if it does, we do not see the startup business community as one of those places where we can beat the odds in the casino and with long term probability turn in a profit? Indeed, why is it that businesses even in the age of Web 2.0 have to go through so many hurdles to get investment and it is still so hard to find with so much associated red tape? It's easier to put $200 on a horse than it is to have a bet on a business that if it comes home will not only benefit you but the economy as well.
Anyone who finds this an interesting analogy, please get in touch with the amount you are willing to invest and the odds you are prepared to accept and we will see where this ends up.
08 April 2006
Extreme management or extreme lack of interest?
When Extreme Programming (XP) began in the late 1990s, it started a revolution in software engineering which through the Agile manifesto is still evolving today.
That's all very well for writing code, but what about managing companies? Could the same principles of Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage and Respect not be considered universal values that are just as applicable to CEOs as they are to workers at the code face?
This task in hand, I was surprised to compare the results.
Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck, creator of the extreme programming technique has 126 reviews and currently stands #8,517 on Amazon.com's bestseller list.
Extreme Project management moves a little down the Amazon charts with a mere 11 reviews and is #29,139 on the Amazon bestseller list.
Meanwhile bring up the rear we have Extreme Management that claims to tell us What They Teach At Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. Yet, despite the illustrious name, this book trails at a mere 7 reviews and is #625,532 in the best seller list. Moreover it doesn't seem to be about extreme management at all, instead it is an intense management course.
Is this a reflection of the quality of the books? I think not. It seems that whilst programmers are embracing change and adapting to the techniques of Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage and Respect there isn't much happening higher up. Unless someone can point me to a good textbook for lightweight, agile management that is.
"Nothing endures but change" Heraclitus (c.535 - 475 BC) Greek philosopher. Often quoted as "Change is the only constant". That being the case, why does management seem reluctant to embrace it when it is the main driver of running a business?
That's all very well for writing code, but what about managing companies? Could the same principles of Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage and Respect not be considered universal values that are just as applicable to CEOs as they are to workers at the code face?
This task in hand, I was surprised to compare the results.
Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck, creator of the extreme programming technique has 126 reviews and currently stands #8,517 on Amazon.com's bestseller list.
Extreme Project management moves a little down the Amazon charts with a mere 11 reviews and is #29,139 on the Amazon bestseller list.
Meanwhile bring up the rear we have Extreme Management that claims to tell us What They Teach At Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. Yet, despite the illustrious name, this book trails at a mere 7 reviews and is #625,532 in the best seller list. Moreover it doesn't seem to be about extreme management at all, instead it is an intense management course.
Is this a reflection of the quality of the books? I think not. It seems that whilst programmers are embracing change and adapting to the techniques of Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage and Respect there isn't much happening higher up. Unless someone can point me to a good textbook for lightweight, agile management that is.
"Nothing endures but change" Heraclitus (c.535 - 475 BC) Greek philosopher. Often quoted as "Change is the only constant". That being the case, why does management seem reluctant to embrace it when it is the main driver of running a business?
The Anatomy of a Search Engine
The Anatomy of a Search Engine. This is the original paper describing Google, an interesting read for those interested in Internet history. As the article comments "Google is designed to crawl and index the Web efficiently and produce much more satisfying search results than existing systems". I guess they missed out the bit about making its founders fabulously wealthy in the process...
UK turning into a dictatorship - controversial legislation
The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill is on its way through the UK parliament. The gist of it is that it'll give ministers the authority to pass legislation (i.e. to make law) without it having to be passed through the parliament. In effect, it will turn the UK into a dictatorship.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Good Morning Silicon Valley: Off Topic
Good Morning Silicon Valley: Off Topic. Some great amusing stories daily from Silicon Valley.
07 April 2006
Quiz of the day
What's the difference between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown?
One went to school in Scotland, was elected in 1983, moved into No 10 in 1997, strongly advocated the war in Iraq and is happily married with a family.
The other one is Prime Minister.
One went to school in Scotland, was elected in 1983, moved into No 10 in 1997, strongly advocated the war in Iraq and is happily married with a family.
The other one is Prime Minister.
06 April 2006
Bird Flu arrives in the UK
Story submitted to digg.com makes the front page. 3rd attempt at getting the blog facility on digg to point to the correct place :-(
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tartan Day
Happy Tartan Day. For the background on this event, no it didn't start in New York, see the soc.culture.scottish FAQ article on it.
Tartan day marks the signing of the declaration of Arbroath and alongside winning Bannockburn (Scotland 1, England nil incase you need reminded), these are two of the most significant dates in the struggle for Scottish nationhood and independence.
Yet tartan day in particular is commemorated more in North America than it is in Scotland and outside of Arbroath and the Scottish Executive, it passes by in Scotland with not much of a mention.
Given that we are One Scotland, a multicultural nation which embraces traditions from all round the world, why are we so reluctant to embrace traditions about our own country when they are so readily taken up by Scots elsewhere in the world? Can we not embrace the best parts of Scottish American culture and have a parade on Princes Street that ranks alongside the one that will be taking place in New York this week?
Craig
Tartan day marks the signing of the declaration of Arbroath and alongside winning Bannockburn (Scotland 1, England nil incase you need reminded), these are two of the most significant dates in the struggle for Scottish nationhood and independence.
Yet tartan day in particular is commemorated more in North America than it is in Scotland and outside of Arbroath and the Scottish Executive, it passes by in Scotland with not much of a mention.
Given that we are One Scotland, a multicultural nation which embraces traditions from all round the world, why are we so reluctant to embrace traditions about our own country when they are so readily taken up by Scots elsewhere in the world? Can we not embrace the best parts of Scottish American culture and have a parade on Princes Street that ranks alongside the one that will be taking place in New York this week?
Craig
05 April 2006
Old supermarket trolleys can land you in hospital
A little over two years ago when our youngest daughter was 26 days old she was rushed by ambulance and admitted to hospital because of a defective shopping trolley. Had she been in the trolley seat rather than in a car seat in the trolley, the consequences could have been a lot more serious as she would have been a lot less protected. More than two years later, the shop in question still has equally ancient shopping trolleys that could result in a similar accident.
I'm not mentioning the shop in question not because of legal reasons (we have now settled financially with the shop) but because all of the major supermarket chains seem to be just as bad as each other and it would be unfair to draw particular attention to one of them. My aim with this posting is to raise the issue to avoid the problem happening anywhere, not just in the store we visited.
What happened is that we parked the car, carried the baby from the car to the trolley park in the car park and then pushed the baby in the trolley from the car park to the shop, a distance of about 20 metres. The trolley pushed fine and was perfectly stable, even going over a few kerbs.
Once in the shop, however, one of the front legs of the trolley almost completely snapped off. It looked like it had been hacksawed but subsequent investigation simply showed it was stress. The trolley wheel ended up pointing upwards and the leg had a 180 degree bend in it. The fact that the trolley was moving, now only had three legs on the ground and was top heavy with a baby in it resulted in it tipping over and the baby landing with the trolley on top of her in the food display area. She was asleep at the time and did not wake at the time of the accident.
With a bump on her head, and being only 26 days old, the ambulance was called and she was admitted to A&E and subsequently to the children's ward for an X-ray.
Fortunately two years later she is doing fine and there are thankfully no apparant long term effects.
However, had she not been protected by her car seat things would likely have been a lot worse. Similarly with our two older children who were a good bit heavier, had it been them then the trolley would have collapsed with even more impact.
My concern here is that if ancient trolleys can simply snap due to stress, why are so many ancient trolleys still in circulation? Subsequent to the accident we took a much greater interest in shopping trolleys and were shocked to note that actually trying to put the two older children in a safe trolley was a significant challenge as few of the trolleys had two working belts to keep the children in safely.
Shops often post notices about telling them about wonky trolleys with dodgy steering and so on. Yet, many of the major supermarket groups have trolleys that lie around for months with broken safety belts and have trolleys in use for years until they become potential deathtraps and collapse catastrophically with no warning and endangering the life of any children in them. Equally an old person pushing a trolley that collapses could end up in hospital with a broken hip.
With the profits that these shops are making, is it not time that they took more interest in trolley safety, made sure that safety belts actually worked properly and retired trolleys from use before they became deathtraps?
Craig
I'm not mentioning the shop in question not because of legal reasons (we have now settled financially with the shop) but because all of the major supermarket chains seem to be just as bad as each other and it would be unfair to draw particular attention to one of them. My aim with this posting is to raise the issue to avoid the problem happening anywhere, not just in the store we visited.
What happened is that we parked the car, carried the baby from the car to the trolley park in the car park and then pushed the baby in the trolley from the car park to the shop, a distance of about 20 metres. The trolley pushed fine and was perfectly stable, even going over a few kerbs.
Once in the shop, however, one of the front legs of the trolley almost completely snapped off. It looked like it had been hacksawed but subsequent investigation simply showed it was stress. The trolley wheel ended up pointing upwards and the leg had a 180 degree bend in it. The fact that the trolley was moving, now only had three legs on the ground and was top heavy with a baby in it resulted in it tipping over and the baby landing with the trolley on top of her in the food display area. She was asleep at the time and did not wake at the time of the accident.
With a bump on her head, and being only 26 days old, the ambulance was called and she was admitted to A&E and subsequently to the children's ward for an X-ray.
Fortunately two years later she is doing fine and there are thankfully no apparant long term effects.
However, had she not been protected by her car seat things would likely have been a lot worse. Similarly with our two older children who were a good bit heavier, had it been them then the trolley would have collapsed with even more impact.
My concern here is that if ancient trolleys can simply snap due to stress, why are so many ancient trolleys still in circulation? Subsequent to the accident we took a much greater interest in shopping trolleys and were shocked to note that actually trying to put the two older children in a safe trolley was a significant challenge as few of the trolleys had two working belts to keep the children in safely.
Shops often post notices about telling them about wonky trolleys with dodgy steering and so on. Yet, many of the major supermarket groups have trolleys that lie around for months with broken safety belts and have trolleys in use for years until they become potential deathtraps and collapse catastrophically with no warning and endangering the life of any children in them. Equally an old person pushing a trolley that collapses could end up in hospital with a broken hip.
With the profits that these shops are making, is it not time that they took more interest in trolley safety, made sure that safety belts actually worked properly and retired trolleys from use before they became deathtraps?
Craig
02 April 2006
Sabbath ferry service makes waves
Sabbath ferry service makes waves.
CalMac is proposing a Sunday ferry service to Lewis and Harris. Once upon a time there was a campaign Keep Sunday Special which tried to force a particular way of life on everyone. People now accept that keeping Sunday special means being able to do what they want without legislation or other people's religions preventing them. Like last Sunday when I could't buy a bottle of wine for a mother's day lunch because I was shopping before 12:30pm. This religious over dominance needs to change in favour of accepting diversity.
I have no problem with others following a religion if that's their choice, but they need to also accept my point of view too. Religion, despite its "turn the other cheek" ethos is often remarkably intolerant of others' views. However, the practice should be that people should be free to lead their lives as they wish.
If those people who wish to follow the practice of not working on a Sabbath wnat to avoid using the ferries I have no problem with that. But for economic reasons and also even for Gaelic students on Skye returning home for the weekend, a Sunday ferry is surely a good thing.
I have an article on The BBC about this and you can read some of my other posts which mention religion.
Funny how the religious advocates aren't suggesting closing the roads on a Sunday. Why should the ferry be different?
It's Sunday as I post this and we're off to church later today.
CalMac is proposing a Sunday ferry service to Lewis and Harris. Once upon a time there was a campaign Keep Sunday Special which tried to force a particular way of life on everyone. People now accept that keeping Sunday special means being able to do what they want without legislation or other people's religions preventing them. Like last Sunday when I could't buy a bottle of wine for a mother's day lunch because I was shopping before 12:30pm. This religious over dominance needs to change in favour of accepting diversity.
I have no problem with others following a religion if that's their choice, but they need to also accept my point of view too. Religion, despite its "turn the other cheek" ethos is often remarkably intolerant of others' views. However, the practice should be that people should be free to lead their lives as they wish.
If those people who wish to follow the practice of not working on a Sabbath wnat to avoid using the ferries I have no problem with that. But for economic reasons and also even for Gaelic students on Skye returning home for the weekend, a Sunday ferry is surely a good thing.
I have an article on The BBC about this and you can read some of my other posts which mention religion.
Funny how the religious advocates aren't suggesting closing the roads on a Sunday. Why should the ferry be different?
It's Sunday as I post this and we're off to church later today.
01 April 2006
Free NHS eye checks for All
The Scottish Executive has introduced free NHS eye checks for all. A great move, but wasn't this the same executive which was against free prescriptions for all. Why one and not the other? Maybe we also need free political consistency checks in the Scottish Executive?
31 March 2006
Silicon Glen company Bloxx wins champions of business excellence award
Glad to see local company Bloxx picking up an award recently. They develop highly sophisticated web filtering software and have already built up an impressive client base. Check the Bloxx website for more information. They are also a finalist in the Secure Computing Europe awards, definitely a company to watch.
Why ID Cards are pointless
How are we to establish our true identities in order to get an ID card? So if we need to prove who we are to get a card why do we need the card?
So the point of the ID card isn't identity as this can be done via other means, including driving licence or passport. It seems the point of the ID card is to facilitate data sharing between government departments. But many government departments already do this. We also have a central national ID number - the national insurance number. Why can't they share data already. Is it incompetence?
It seems about the only people who can't are the police who 10+ years after Dunblane are still struggling to set up a central firearms register where they can all share information.
"Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands more police officers on the beat in our local communities"
These are the words of Tony Blair, in a passionate speech against Identity Cards to the 1995 Labour party conference in Brighton. Ten years later and he not only wants an ID card himself, but wants us all scanned, fingerprinted and registered on the largest biometric database in the world.
The Identity Card Bill allows for the introduction of compulsory Identity Cards for all. Though it will be compulsory, we will have to pay for the card, and pay every time our details change, such as a change in address. If we dont keep the authorities informed of such changes, we will be fined.
ID Cards wont tackle identity fraud, crime or any of the high-profile problems the Government has claimed they will address. Charles Clarke has said that he doubted that ID cards would have protected London from the terrorist attack of July 7th.
They will be a huge waste of money (both in terms of public tax and straight from our pockets). They will change our society and the way we live, forever.
So the point of the ID card isn't identity as this can be done via other means, including driving licence or passport. It seems the point of the ID card is to facilitate data sharing between government departments. But many government departments already do this. We also have a central national ID number - the national insurance number. Why can't they share data already. Is it incompetence?
It seems about the only people who can't are the police who 10+ years after Dunblane are still struggling to set up a central firearms register where they can all share information.
"Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands more police officers on the beat in our local communities"
These are the words of Tony Blair, in a passionate speech against Identity Cards to the 1995 Labour party conference in Brighton. Ten years later and he not only wants an ID card himself, but wants us all scanned, fingerprinted and registered on the largest biometric database in the world.
The Identity Card Bill allows for the introduction of compulsory Identity Cards for all. Though it will be compulsory, we will have to pay for the card, and pay every time our details change, such as a change in address. If we dont keep the authorities informed of such changes, we will be fined.
ID Cards wont tackle identity fraud, crime or any of the high-profile problems the Government has claimed they will address. Charles Clarke has said that he doubted that ID cards would have protected London from the terrorist attack of July 7th.
They will be a huge waste of money (both in terms of public tax and straight from our pockets). They will change our society and the way we live, forever.
30 March 2006
Car charging
In the recent budget the chancellor placed much more emphasis on the rates of car tax based on the pollution caused by the car. Since the resultant car tax disc is machine readable via a bar code, this introduces all sorts of novel applications, including:
1. Car lanes for the exclusive use of cars that don't guzzle gas (e.g. £100 car tax a year or less)
2. Preference car parking spaces in town centres for more environmentally friendly cars, you get into the preference section via a camera scanning your tax disc to raise a barrier.
3. Different toll rates on bridges. After all the damage to the bridge varies with the weight of the car, so smaller cars with lower tax values should pay a lower rate to use the bridge.
4. Cheaper meter rates for parking in towns for smaller cars to cut down on rush hour pollution. You register your number plate via a mobile, the computer looks up your tax code and the meter prints the ticket accordingly and includes your number plate on the parking ticket.
Any other potential uses?
1. Car lanes for the exclusive use of cars that don't guzzle gas (e.g. £100 car tax a year or less)
2. Preference car parking spaces in town centres for more environmentally friendly cars, you get into the preference section via a camera scanning your tax disc to raise a barrier.
3. Different toll rates on bridges. After all the damage to the bridge varies with the weight of the car, so smaller cars with lower tax values should pay a lower rate to use the bridge.
4. Cheaper meter rates for parking in towns for smaller cars to cut down on rush hour pollution. You register your number plate via a mobile, the computer looks up your tax code and the meter prints the ticket accordingly and includes your number plate on the parking ticket.
Any other potential uses?
Web 2.0 CV and Skills Tracker
Web 2.0 Style CV and Skills Tracker. Potentially interesting, however the unfortunate name and variants such as Go Jobby might end up being the most memorable thing here. Scottish definition.
The Great Mystery of Online Ticket Purchase
How would you like it if you went into your favourite supermarket and then were charged 10% admin fee on top of the shelf price to take your goods home? OK, silly question really. Even if the shelf price said there was a 10% fee. Still just as silly.
So why does noone complain about the same silly practice when you buy tickets online? You go to the SECC site, you see the ticket prices and then when you go to buy them there's a 10% mandatory admin fee. What value is this to the consumer? If the admin fee is mandatory would it not be a lot simpler all round if it was just incorporated into the ticket price to start with? Noone is denying the venue a fair living, but why make it complicated for the consumer?
I found another site (not the SECC) which indulged in this practice of last minute mandatory surcharges on tickets and informed trading standards about it. The response was
I am the officer assigned to investigate your complaint. I have viewed the site and as a result have concerns about the pricing methods used on the site.
The Consumer Protection Act 1987 is quite specific concerning additional charges made once a price has been displayed. Consumers should not be given price indications, which subsequently increase when they try to pay for the goods or services. It is my intention to pass details of this issue to the Trading Standards office based near xxxx's head office. That office should then be able to raise this matter with xxxx on my behalf.
Good. Maybe a few other sites could pay attention? Simple pricing works best.
So why does noone complain about the same silly practice when you buy tickets online? You go to the SECC site, you see the ticket prices and then when you go to buy them there's a 10% mandatory admin fee. What value is this to the consumer? If the admin fee is mandatory would it not be a lot simpler all round if it was just incorporated into the ticket price to start with? Noone is denying the venue a fair living, but why make it complicated for the consumer?
I found another site (not the SECC) which indulged in this practice of last minute mandatory surcharges on tickets and informed trading standards about it. The response was
I am the officer assigned to investigate your complaint. I have viewed the site and as a result have concerns about the pricing methods used on the site.
The Consumer Protection Act 1987 is quite specific concerning additional charges made once a price has been displayed. Consumers should not be given price indications, which subsequently increase when they try to pay for the goods or services. It is my intention to pass details of this issue to the Trading Standards office based near xxxx's head office. That office should then be able to raise this matter with xxxx on my behalf.
Good. Maybe a few other sites could pay attention? Simple pricing works best.
29 March 2006
Car parking spaces
Would whoever the person is who designed the Standard Supermarket Car Parking Space please note. They are not big enough. If you go shopping in America, it is in fact possible for a driver and a passenger to be able to both get out of a car without doing contortions, without bumping the adjacent cars and without doing car park gymnastics to get in and out of your car if you get back from your shopping to find someone has parked badly in the space next to you. If America can do it, we should be able to do it with our smaller cars.
Is there a European Standard for this?
While I'm at it, why are so many business parks built with such woeful public transport and inadequate parking? Maybe someone could do something imaginative like have half the car park allocated for cars with tax discs of £100 or less. That way the gas gusslers can fight it out for the few remaining spaces whilst the greener cars can enjoy being able to park near to where the driver needs to be.
Is there a European Standard for this?
While I'm at it, why are so many business parks built with such woeful public transport and inadequate parking? Maybe someone could do something imaginative like have half the car park allocated for cars with tax discs of £100 or less. That way the gas gusslers can fight it out for the few remaining spaces whilst the greener cars can enjoy being able to park near to where the driver needs to be.
Fake money alert, please take notice
It has come to my attention that there is fake currency in circulation, please see the following story so that you are fully up to date and know how to spot a fake Euro. Ananova - Fake euros being passed off as real.
ID Card sellout
BBC NEWS | Politics | ID card deadlock comes to an end. Well what a load of rubbish that is. You apply for a passport, you have your details entered on the national ID register, but you don't get to enjoy the benefits of having an ID card. All of the disadvantages and none of the advantages. This is progress?
Beyond the spam filter
It seems like the penny has dropped. anti-spam vendors are looking beyond filters and using economics to fight spam. After all there is a lot less motivation to send spam when there is an economic penalty for doing so. Read the article for more info.
Equal rights for male health
BBC NEWS | Scotland | More action needed on male health. Seems perfectly sensible to me if we all want to live in an equal society.
28 March 2006
27 March 2006
Scottish National Anthem
Scotland The Brave has been played at the recent Commonwealth Games when members of the Scottish team win a medal. Flower of Scotland is played at Football and Rugby matches. The First Minister has suggested that we adopt a single national anthem. We've had this debate before though, various newspapers have proposed it particularly when the Scottish parliament was being established in 1999. For some suggestions, see the Scottish FAQ - anthems page. Might be good to get one anthem if the Commonwealth Games come to Glasgow. Anyone for No Gods and Precious few heroes?
What Tim Berners-Lee would do differently
I am in the British Computer Society and this interview with inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee was published by the BCS recently. A good read on what he would do if he had the chance to reinvent the web. Also some interesting insights into where things are going with the Semantic Web.
Want to catch the next wave on the Internet?
From a posting on the Now-Forum ...
I was wondering if there was anyone reading this who is either:
This is a technology that a large search engine might find useful to greatly improve the quality of their searches in certain areas. It also empowers content publishers to achieve more with less time and significantly less expense. If successful, it will greatly improve the usability of many websites.
Particular technologies of interest are:
Design and build of a user friendly community based with site with log in features, up to date knowledge of web application development including Web 2.0/AJAX, Greasemonkey, JavaScript, API design. XML, XSLT, Scalable database design, semantic networks, search engine back end algorithms.
Some experience of building user friendly client side applications, especially C++ is also likely to be of use.
Brownie points for those of you who have submitted a digg frontpage story or know what microformats are or have had code published on userscripts.org
E-mail me if you are interested.
I was wondering if there was anyone reading this who is either:
- Prepared to invest in building a prototype of a novel application/web site or
- Prepared to work for equity in building the same
This is a technology that a large search engine might find useful to greatly improve the quality of their searches in certain areas. It also empowers content publishers to achieve more with less time and significantly less expense. If successful, it will greatly improve the usability of many websites.
Particular technologies of interest are:
Design and build of a user friendly community based with site with log in features, up to date knowledge of web application development including Web 2.0/AJAX, Greasemonkey, JavaScript, API design. XML, XSLT, Scalable database design, semantic networks, search engine back end algorithms.
Some experience of building user friendly client side applications, especially C++ is also likely to be of use.
Brownie points for those of you who have submitted a digg frontpage story or know what microformats are or have had code published on userscripts.org
E-mail me if you are interested.
26 March 2006
Scotland is now smoke free by law
Scotland has become the first part of the UK to be smoke free by law. The law bans smoking in all indoor public places and workplaces, including all bars and restaurants.
Read my submission to parliament on this.
read more | digg story.
Read my submission to parliament on this.
read more | digg story.
25 March 2006
24 March 2006
A small victory for privacy
I have argued for a while that we obsess about age. Especially when I speak to reporters, they inevitably want to open a press release with "... Craig Cockburn, xx, ..." where xx is the number of birthdays that I have had. However, the number of times this is in fact actually relevant to the story is pretty much nil. It's no more relevant than my religion or ethnic background, yet somehow they feel this is mandatory information which must be included in the story.
So I became a bit disturbed by the increasing number of websites which were making this information mandatory. The Third Principle of the Data Protection Act concerning excess data for the purpose seems to have passed by such sites. Forthcoming legislation to outlaw age discrimination seems to be the cause. Rather than recognising that age is irrelevant and not asking it, agencies seem to be going into reverse and making it mandatory to ensure that they aren't discriminating based on age. The contradiction is that if they aren't supposed to be discriminating based on ethnic origins, race or religion why is this information still optional? Clearly any such statistical gathering, to be in line with the 3rd principle of the data protection act, must be relevant and not excessive for the purpose. If it is really necessary to gather info on age, then this must be volunteered and also an approximate age range is sufficient. The main problem with submitting age, name, address and so on via a form is the great majority of sites do not use a secure page to do so. If you wouldn't submit your credit card details on an insecure page, why would you want to do so with the exact info that someone comittting identity theft would love to get their hands on?
I am pleased to say that my lobbying on this matter has caused the Department of Work and Pensions to review their guidance in this area. Whilst not perfect, you can now read the amended guidelines on their website here.
So I became a bit disturbed by the increasing number of websites which were making this information mandatory. The Third Principle of the Data Protection Act concerning excess data for the purpose seems to have passed by such sites. Forthcoming legislation to outlaw age discrimination seems to be the cause. Rather than recognising that age is irrelevant and not asking it, agencies seem to be going into reverse and making it mandatory to ensure that they aren't discriminating based on age. The contradiction is that if they aren't supposed to be discriminating based on ethnic origins, race or religion why is this information still optional? Clearly any such statistical gathering, to be in line with the 3rd principle of the data protection act, must be relevant and not excessive for the purpose. If it is really necessary to gather info on age, then this must be volunteered and also an approximate age range is sufficient. The main problem with submitting age, name, address and so on via a form is the great majority of sites do not use a secure page to do so. If you wouldn't submit your credit card details on an insecure page, why would you want to do so with the exact info that someone comittting identity theft would love to get their hands on?
I am pleased to say that my lobbying on this matter has caused the Department of Work and Pensions to review their guidance in this area. Whilst not perfect, you can now read the amended guidelines on their website here.
22 March 2006
The Budget
So Gordon Brown announced in today's budget that certain cars will no longer have to pay the beaurocratic nightmare that is car tax. I'm still looking forward to the day that my points in July 1998 regarding car tax get taken on board by the government. Car Tax is a nightmare, particularly so when last year I bought a car that had previously been owned by a disabled person. Due to the nightmare of car tax, I couldn't buy the car until someone made a special trip to Glasgow to change the tax rate on the car. How much beaurocracy do you need to just pay the full rate applicable for an able bodied driver?
For goodness sake just get rid of this nonsense and all those irritating TV adverts at the same time. Collect the tax through petrol taxation and have an MOT/insurance disc instead (like Ireland). It's far more effective and safer proving that your car is MOTsd and insured every time your take it on the road than only having to prove it once to go through the car tax beaurocracy.
For goodness sake just get rid of this nonsense and all those irritating TV adverts at the same time. Collect the tax through petrol taxation and have an MOT/insurance disc instead (like Ireland). It's far more effective and safer proving that your car is MOTsd and insured every time your take it on the road than only having to prove it once to go through the car tax beaurocracy.
A new search for Scottish Accommodation
A new search facility for Scottish Accommodation has now gone live here http://www.visitscotland.com/advanced/
The most comprehensive Scottish accommodation search on the Internet.
The most comprehensive Scottish accommodation search on the Internet.
21 March 2006
Freedom of speech contradiction
Historian who denies holocaust goes to jail
and
Press digs in over freedom of speech re Islamic cartoons
Am I the only one who notices the apparant contradiction here or does freedom of speech only apply with regard to some faiths and not others?
and
Press digs in over freedom of speech re Islamic cartoons
Am I the only one who notices the apparant contradiction here or does freedom of speech only apply with regard to some faiths and not others?
A morning teaching Gaelic
Following on from the "Gaelic in English schools" campaign in the West Highland Free Press last year, I contacted one of the primary schools in West Lothian suggesting they include some Gaelic to the children. They felt it would be useful to do this as part of Scots week. So I took a morning out from my day job today and spent it giving a few hundred children an introduction to the languages, some phrases, songs, history and customs etc. The day went very well and one approach I took was to first off highlight Gaelic words they were using every day (placenames, personal names) and didn't realise it and also various words in English of Gaelic origin (e.g. Pet, Trousers), as well as the more usual Ceilidh, Glen etc and what they originally meant. The day went very well with some children coming up to me after school and saying "ciamar a tha thu". Another child said that they had wanted me to stay for longer.
One unexpected mnemonic was "Martian lad" for "mar sin leat". In any case I have put the material online here incase anyone else might find it useful:
http://www.siliconglen.com/craig/gaelicintroduction.doc
It's more aimed at the upper ages of primary school but the songs went down well with the younger ones, especially the puirt a beul.
Something like this could form a useful model for rolling out across more English medium in schools in Scotland, to counter the widespread ignorance of the language.
Craig
One unexpected mnemonic was "Martian lad" for "mar sin leat". In any case I have put the material online here incase anyone else might find it useful:
http://www.siliconglen.com/craig/gaelicintroduction.doc
It's more aimed at the upper ages of primary school but the songs went down well with the younger ones, especially the puirt a beul.
Something like this could form a useful model for rolling out across more English medium in schools in Scotland, to counter the widespread ignorance of the language.
Craig
Prince2
Started a three week Prince2 course today. Being a bit busy at the moment what with that one and also a 7 weeks course in being a better manager at Napier University Business School. Both courses kindly funded indirectly by those nice folks at Google.
20 March 2006
Courtesy title madness
I wrote to National Savings and Investments, querying why the courtesy title field on their website was mandatory when a large number of people elect not to use one. I know this by designing websites and looking at actual data submitted by visitors through webforms. I said to them that I would prefer not to use one.
Their reply back opened with "Dear Mr Cockburn..."
I guess they missed the point. :-)
For a more detailed argument read Courtesy Titles.
Their reply back opened with "Dear Mr Cockburn..."
I guess they missed the point. :-)
For a more detailed argument read Courtesy Titles.
15 years - Scottish events in London
The Guide to Scottish Events in London celebrates its 15th anniversary today. Latest copy available here
16 March 2006
Managment institute
I became a member of the chartered management institute today. This entitles me to put ACMI after my name. I'm looking to do a management diploma later in the year and this will entitle me to become a full member, and have an MBA after 2 years part time study.
14 March 2006
The Last Guide to Smoke Free Scotland
The last guide to Scottish pubs for non smokers was published today. This marks the historic vote in the house of commons today when England votes to go smoke free. The Scottish Parliament has already passed legislation and from 26th March, Scotland will be smoke free, thus making my guide to Scottish pubs for non smokers redundant.
13 March 2006
Dunblane, 10 years, ID cards.
It's been 10 years since I wrote about the Dunblane Primary shootings
http://tinyurl.com/emej3
This Government appears to have little or no ability to carry out major IT projects, as the gun register has shown. The Lords are right to keep knocking back the Identity Cards Bill. It would be a misuse of the Parliament Act to override them, and a misuse of public funds. Will this be Tony Blair's Poll Tax?
http://tinyurl.com/emej3
10 years on, two things strike me. One is that after my father died 2 years ago and who I wrote about above, he is now buried near the garden of remembrance. The tragedy of 10 years ago is a regular reminder to us when we visit his grave. In the 10 years that have passed we have got
married and had a family. Our children, now about the age that the children were that day enjoy playing in the fountain set up in the garden of remembrance. We were told that this was no Diana memorial, it was supposed to be a place where children could play. How could I have
imagined that 10 years on my own family would become connected to this tragedy in such a way.
The other is the ongoing lack of a national gun register. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2070882,00.html. One of the earliest promises by Tony Blair in 1997 after being elected, the Scottish forces set up a central database in 1998, two years after the shootings. 2006 and 10 years on from the tragedy "IT difficulties" in England and Wales have prevented it from being implemented and were as still only talking about having pilots. I can't understand why the Scottish forces can get their act together so quickly, yet despite personal support from the Prime Minister we are still waiting for a UK
wide solution nearly 10 years later. As someone who works as an IT consultant, I know it shouldn't take this long. The UK government is famous for its IT failures and this is just another in a long line (and we still have ID cards to look forward to)
Whilst Tony Blair did good to introduce the legislation banning guns, I think serious questions need to be asked this week about why something which ought to be simple and which could help prevent crime and further loss of innocent life should be taking so long and if it is Tony Blair
that should be asked at Prime Ministers Questions then so be it.
This Government appears to have little or no ability to carry out major IT projects, as the gun register has shown. The Lords are right to keep knocking back the Identity Cards Bill. It would be a misuse of the Parliament Act to override them, and a misuse of public funds. Will this be Tony Blair's Poll Tax?
12 March 2006
08 March 2006
Scottish Enterprise have a business plan?
Scottish enterprise problems. Perhaps someone could take them along to the Business Planning for Beginners course that they seem so keen for the rest of us to attend. Maybe when they are they there they could also go on the Beginners website design type courses that they are also keen for Scottish businesses to attend? The other option is layoffs (because they went so much over budget) a £108 million pound consultants bill and a website that falls a bit short of expectations.
01 March 2006
Sign up to stop spam
Today I joined a group determined to fight spam through legal action. It has already been successful with one high profile victory. I also have my own spam petition campaign. The legal front is just one campaigning tool and I hope it will put a permanent end to those annoying calls I get on my mobile several times a week inviting me to upgrade my contract. My phone number is listed with the Telephone Preference Service but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Either the legal campaign will end these irritating calls, or I'll make a good bit of money claiming back the going rate of £300 per call for breaking "DIRECTIVE 2002/58/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL". Incidentally if anyone calls and pretends to be using the Data Protection Act to hide where they got your details from, a web search for "Norwich Pharmacal orders" will show that they cannot use this as a defence. The legal reference is "Norwich Pharmacal Co. v. Customs and Excise Comm’rs, [1974] A.C. 133"
08 February 2006
Scotland IS
I joined ScotlandIS today. It's the main body for the Scottish Software sector and I attended an excellent day they ran recently on Agile Programming.
27 January 2006
The Scots Magazine
My campaign stand up for Scottish culture in schools gets a mention in the letters page of the January Scots Magazine, the world's most widely-read Scottish interest publication.
www2006
The world's main conference on the web comes to Edinburgh in May. This is the first time it has been held in the UK.
20 January 2006
Anti-spam campaign makes The Times
I made The Times today with my anti-spam campaign. Read the post.
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