Cycling trip to Wicklow

It was a beautiful sunny day last Saturday. I had to go down to Wicklow anyway so I decided to take my bike with me and see how I would get on cycling in the Wicklow mountains. I certainly wasn't the only person with the same idea and I met nearly more cyclists than motorists on the roads. I had a most enjoyable wandering around the area trying to avoid the worst climbs although there are no really flat roads in Wicklow (see the map of my route above or click here to see details of where I went).

At the end of the day I had clocked up 50km and was pleasantly tired.

Weekly report for the week eneding June 27th

Last week I said I would:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing (done but ongoing)
   
2. Collate results of Profiles usage survey (not done yet)
   
3. Communicate decision on the IBM 2.0 book to those involved (done)
   
4. Conclude  2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands (not done yet)
   
5. Write more materials for my blog (done - several articles partly written and saved as draft)
   

Next Week I will do the following actions:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing and resolving proxy issues
2. Get approval confirmed for open positions in Sametime team.
3. Give presentations to 2 groups of lab visitors.
   
4. Collate results of Profiles usage survey
   
5. Conclude  2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands.
6. Complete draft articles on my blog
   

My Involvement in the working group on IT in Irish Schools

in November 2009, the government announced that they were going to invest €150m in IT resources for Irish schools. This was based upon the recommendations contained in the Smart Schools = Smart Economy report, which had been prepared by an advisory board drawn mainly from the Irish ICT industry and people actively working in the sector. The government loves committees, and as a result the Department of Education and Science have convened a "Steering Group" to give them advice on exactly how to spend this newly allocated money and this steering group has convened a number of sub-groups. I have been invited to participate in the sub-group on classroom and student infrastructure. The sub-group is coordinated by Rita Sexton of the ICT Policy Unit in the Department of Education and Science. The members of the sub-group are:

• Vincent McCarvill, ASTI
• James Kelly, TUI
• Tom Lonergan, NCTE
• John Fahey, NAPD
• Adam Grennan, CISCO
• Brian O’Donovan, IBM
• Paul Delaney, Dell
• Graham Byrne, Promethean
• Stephen MacDonald, HP
• William McAuliffe, BT
• Tom Garland, Oracle

This is my first experience of being involved in a government advisory group and I must admit I am surprised at how slowly things move. Although there is quite an interesting discussion when we do meet, we have only met twice since the group was formed in April. The group is not yet anywhere reaching recommendations - we have only just agreed our formal terms of reference. However, based upon the discussion I have heard so far I have reached a few personal opinions - I would love to hear feedback from other people via this blog:

• Visualised desktops provide an interesting technology to allow remote support be provided to schools. This technology has matured in recent years and also network connectivity in schools have advanced to make this an architecture we should give serious consideration to. However, we would need to run a number of smaller pilots before taking a definite decision to roll out any solution country wide.
  
• Governments love to announce major capital investments, however without adequate current spending budget it is often not possible to make fully effective use of the equipment purchased with the capital investment. Some schools are luck to have one or more enthusiastic teachers who maintain the ICT infrastructure as a hobby project. However, not all schools are so lucky and hence schools need a budget to pay professional support because otherwise there is a significant chance that some of the expensive new ICT infrastructure will not be fully utilised.
  
• For historical reasons Irish schools tend to be independently run by autonomous boards of management (often associated with a religious body). While everyone recognises that schools will not get best value if each school acquires their ICT support services independently, the schools are reluctant to compromise on their independence by allowing the Department to centrally manage their ICT assets.
  However, the vocational education committeess (VECs) in each county do control a significant number of schools and in a number of cases they are doing a great job of providing central ICT support services for all of the schools under their control. In some cases other schools in the area are contracting with their local VEC to provide them with ICT support. I believe that this is a model we should encourage because it is a good middle ground between central control by the department and each school going it completely alone.
  

The formal terms of reference we agreed are as follows:

Procurement

1. Taking account of the needs of the particular ICT requirements of schools and the requirements of the Department, examine the current custom and practice for procurement by schools and suggest any improvements which better meets the needs of schools and also addresses the requirements of public procurement.
2. Consider the views of industry in relation to their responses to tenders - any difficulties encountered and industry’s perspectives on meeting the requirements of public sector tendering for ICT equipment.
3. Recommend a list of requirements for schools relating to technical support and maintenance which could be included in Requests for Tender /Frameworks issued by schools, the Department or the NCTE.
   

Technical Support, maintenance & training on use of equipment

1. Review and advise on the technical, equipment-specific training for teachers when equipment is procured (in this regard liaise with the sub-group on Teacher Professional Development)
2. Consider proposals to simplify the technical support and ongoing maintenance requirements of schools.
3. Examine the feasibility of a centralised technical support solution.
   

Architecture and specification

1. Consider and recommend how to achieve a more effective and uniform range of equipment across the school system which meets teaching and learning needs.
2. Consider the suitability of standardisation in equipment specification and the appropriateness of pre-configured specifications and warranties in hardware and software purchasing for schools.
3. Provide advice and recommendations to the NCTE on the feasibility of thin/virtualised client, cloud computing desktop virtualisation.
4. Consider ways in which schools can, from an equipment management in schools perspective, allow and facilitate students to utilise their own digital devices.
5. Develop guidelines on the use of open source technology for schools.
   

Communications and connectivity - including LANs

1. Review specifications for schools LANs which allow for school-wide connectivity, flexibility and greater internet speeds

Integration and innovation

1. Explore and recommend ways in which the ICT industry can support ICT integration and innovation at school level through for example assistance and sponsorship to initiatives such as the Digital Schools Award.

Cycling in Connemara sunshine

Last week was national bike week in Ireland. By pure coincidence I was invited to take part in a charity cycle ride in the west of Ireland by an old school friend with whom I had recently re-established contact. This seemed like the ideal way to celebrate the week.

This was by far the longest distance I had ever attempted to cycle in one go and so I was quite nervous about how my body would hold up to the strain, especially because I have not been cycling much at all recently as I recuperate from a rib injury. I decided to be a little bit chicken and I opted out of day 1 and day 2 of the cycle which were in County Clare. I only attempted day 3 of the cycle which was a tour around Connemara starting and ending in Galway. The route distance was 100km which  might not seem much for an experiences cyclist, but was quite daunting for a novice like me.

When we started the cycle at 8am in Eyre Square, the sun was just beginning to warm up. There was hardly any traffic on the roads at that hour of the morning and the bunch of 40 cyclists got going without any incidents. On the previous day, many of the group had taken a wrong turn and added a lot of unplanned miles to their journey. Since I am from Galway, Stephen had asked me to cycle at the head of the group to ensure that we didn't repeat the mistake and take wrong turns in Connemara. He told me that I was not to push the pace too hard in case the peloton got split up and whenever the pace drifted above 20 Km per hour he came up and reminded me to slow down.

We continued at this leisurely pace until we reached Maam Cross where we stopped for a refreshment break. Shortly after we left Maam Cross a few cyclists decided to take the pace up higher and they went on ahead of the group. I was mindful of Stephen's instructions to keep the pace gentle so that all cyclists could stay with the group, but I realised that there was a left turn coming up that the leading pack might miss if they didn't have a local with them. I caught up with the leading group and advised them of the correct route - unfortunately we then had a big gap to the main peloton who ended up going a few miles astray before the accompanying car advised them of their error.

When we reached Costello we waited for the rest of the group to catch up, but when they didn't turn up after a few minutes wait the leading group decided to head towards Galway at an average pace of about 30 Km per hour. We were on schedule to finish the cycle well ahead of schedule when we came to big obstacle in the form of Paidraicin's pub which looked very inviting with crowds drinking outside in the sunshine. It took us almost 45 minutes to negotiate our way past this obstacle, but it was very enjoyable and allowed us to get the group back together again to finish outside Leisureland with an overall average speed of 25 Km pr hour.

We then travelled back to Dublin where we had a very pleasant celebration dinner in Browns of Sandymount and also had a chance to have our picture taken with the Lord Mayor of Dublin. The cyclists from both Ireland and Wales were all very friendly and we made many promises to get together again for more cycling trips before they boarded their ferry home.

I was wondering which part of my body would be most sore when I woke up on Monday morning. I suspected it would be either my tired legs or my sore bum which has not yet become accustomed to the saddle on my new racing bike. Much to my surprise the only part of my body to be in pain was my arms which were bright red with sunburn!!!

There are pictures from the day saved in a Facebook album.

Weekly report for the week ending 20th of June

Last week I said I would:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing (done but ongoing)
   
2. Help Gabriela draft the paper for the Blogtalk conference (done but paper not yet submitted)
   
3. Communicate decision on the IBM 2.0 book to those involved (not done)
   
4. Do second pass of the salary review plan (done - awaiting approval)
   
5. Continue the 2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands (done - but no formal decision yet)
   

Next Week I will do the following actions:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing and resolving proxy issues
   
2. Collate results of Profiles usage survey
   
3. Communicate decision on the IBM 2.0 book to those involved
   
4. Conclude  2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands.
5. Write more materials for my blog - likely topics include
   
   • Review of IT in education in Irish Schools
   • The story of how I became known as "Mr Smasher"
   • Growth in usage of Linux desktops in IBM
     

A catch-22 in the Facebook friend process

Many people use Facebook only to maintain relationships with people they already know well, but one of the alleged benefits of the system is that it can also be used to make new friendships. Unfortunately there is a subtle but important catch-22 in the Facebook friending process which makes it impossible to decide whether or not I should accept friendship requests from people I don't already know.

Most people have set the security settings on their Facebook profile such that virtually nothing is visible to people who are not already recorded as their friends. As a result when I receive a friendship request from someone I don't already know I have no information on which to judge whether or not this is a person I would like to be friends with. Presumably the person in question doesn't mind me seeing their profile because if I accept their offer of friendship they will be revealed to me, so why doesn't Facebook reveal it to me as soon as the friendship offer is made? I know it would be possible for me to accept the offer of friendship and then reject it immediately afterwards if I didn't like what I read in their profile, but since it is considered very rude to unfriend people I normally play it safe and simply ignore such friendship requests.

Are we nearing the end of "The Windows Age"?

I have been working in the IT industry for many years. As a result I remember a time before Windows or any other graphical  operating system was available. Initially when graphical operating systems became common on personal computers there were several popular alternatives, but after a few years Microsoft Windows became so popular that many people thought that it was the only viable operating system.

In the last few years the popularity of Microsoft Windows has been
slipping due to a number of buggy releases and so people have started to
look for alternatives. My personal experience with speaking to Sametime customers is that many customers in
Europe have begun to ask us for support for Linux client support (mainly Ubuntu
flavour) while customers in USA have begun asking for Mac support.

There was a lot of interest in the recent story in the Financial Times about how Google is strongly discouraging their employees from using Windows for their daily work. In fact the Daily Telegraph reports that Google employees are effectively banned from using Windows and are encouraged to choose either Mac OSX or Linux instead. I am not sure if this story is even true or if it is an indication of a trend that will be replicated at other large companies.

In IBM we have a policy of supporting a wide variety of operating systems and allowing employees to choose which they would like to use on their work laptops based upon their personal preferences. Recently a batch of eight students began summer intern-ships in the Dublin labs and were issued with laptops. Seven of  the eight students in IBM chose to install Ubuntu for their desktop. I wonder is this an indication of what operating system is most popular with the current generation of students!!!

Weekly report for the week ending 13th of June

Last week I said I would:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing (done, but ongoing)
   
2. Blog internally about experiences using Sametime AV technologies for the  All Hands meeting (done)
   
3. Decide next steps with the IBM 2.0 book project (done - will formally communicate this next week)
   
4. Continue the salary review process (first pass done - second pass due next week)
   
5. Continue the 2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands (ongoing)
   

Next Week I will do the following actions:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing
   
2. Help Gabriela draft the paper for the Blogtalk conference
3. Communicate decision on the IBM 2.0 book to those involved
   
4. Do second pass of the salary review plan
   
5. Continuethe 2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands.

My first cycle on my new bike

I recently bought a fancy racing bike using the "bike to work scheme" introduced in the last budget at the behest of the Green Party. Unfortunately I was unable to start using it straight away because I fractured three ribs in a fall from my bike during the time between when I ordered the bike and when it actually was delivered. I think I have now fully recovered from my injuries and so I brought the bike out for a spin around the Phoenix park.

It was much easier to get speed up on this bike than on the usual bike I use for commuting to and from work even though I was very cautious while cycling in case I would fall off for a second time. I think I will find it quite easy to accustomed to the new bike and will probably use it for the Rotary fund raising cycle in Galway next weekend.

Weekly report for the week ending 6th of June

Last week I said I would:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing (done - but ongoing to next week as well)
   
2. Blog internally about experiences using Sametime AV technologies for the All Hands meeting (not done)
   
3. Help Gabriela to revise the sample chapter for the IBM 2.0 book project. (not really done
   
4. Start the salary review process (done)
   
5. Start the 2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands (done but ongoing)
   

Next Week I will do the following actions:

1. Help with the Sametime 8.5.1 project - especially with Linux client testing
   
2. Blog internally about experiences using Sametime AV technologies for the All Hands meeting
   
3. Decide next steps with the IBM 2.0 book project.
4. Continue the salary review process
   
5. Continue the 2010 promotion review process for the more senior bands.

How exact do you need to be when specifying longitude and latitude

If you want to follow the advice of my previous blog post and advertise the position of your home or business via latitude and longitude coordinates, you might wonder how exact you need to be with your measurements. Obviously if you are more precise when you measure the position you lessen the chance that your friends will call to your neighbour's house instead of yours, but on the other hand a long number is harder to remember than a short one.

The level of precision needed depends slightly upon how big is the place is that you are advertising and where exactly on the globe you are, but the short answer is that 4 decimal places are often enough and 5 decimal places is definitely accurate enough.

If you want to learn how to accurately convert lat/long cooridnates into distances you should read this web page (be warned the maths gets complicated) but a rough rule of thumb is that if you need to move one meter north or south to increment the fifth decimal place of your latitude i.e. 0.00001 degrees north is one meter away from the equator. The same rule of thumb can be used when conversing between longitude and distance when you are at the equator, but as you move away from the equator there is a decrease in the distance represented by a given number of degrees. For example, in Ireland if you move 0.00001 degrees east or west this is a distance of only 60cm on the ground. It is hard to imagine a situation where you would need to specify your location with greater accuracy than this and in any case most consumer GPS devices would not even be this accurate.

If you look at the page listing IBM locations in Ireland you will see that some of the GPS co-ordinates are given to an accuracy of 6 decimal places which specifies the location of the facility to a precision of 10cm, which is obviously much to much detail.