You have likely already used them when you visit Google, Yahoo or Microsoft mapping services.
Paul Stanton will be on hand to explain geospatial systems, their key features and how they can be integrated with other key information systems in the enterprise.
For more information please visit the events page.
The University of Southampton School of Mathematics is partnering with BCS, GCHQ, Trinity College Cambridge and IBM to bring you Harry’s Game. This is aimed at school children to challenge them in not only solving puzzles but producing their own!
Take a look at the Challenge Website for more information.
This month marks an important anniversary. It is 25 years since the first mobile phone networks were launched in the UK. It was on 1st January 1985 that Vodafone launched, shortly followed on the 7th January 1985 by Cellnet (now O2). Now, 25 years on, there are more mobile phones in the UK than people.
The Guardian newspaper was one of the few to cover the anniversary:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/01/25-years-phones-transform-communication
So, in 25 years we have gone from mobiles that you could barely carry and that were only capable of making telephone calls to a pocket seized device that is a mobile computer providing full access to the web and multimedia services. Along the way there have been some really iconic designs. But which ones should be in the top ten? Why not take part in our survey and select those mobiles from our long list which you feel deserve to be in the top 10.
Vote now at: www.iconicmobiles.com
Neil Watson, Technical Manager, Digital Living Ltd.
Slides available for download in our download section.
The first talk of our program this year was on a very topical subject; the use of energy and how technology can help us use less.
In a far-reaching talk Neil took us through his view of the size of the problem, what potential directions we should be taking to solve some of the major issues and government initiatives.
He then moved on to his particular specialism aimed at producing the smart energy home. The smart energy home is capable of automatically monitoring and controlling our use of energy with the aim of reducing overall consumption.
Neil had a number of examples of the technology currently available and gave an absorbing description of the implementation behind them. In particular he gave a detailed description of the network issues involved in transmitting the data on energy use from one location to another. He then moved on to future visions as to how the technology is being developed and the overall solutions moved forward.
Slides available for download in our download section.
Iain McKenna of Project Success gave the Oxfordshire Branch of BCS a most informative, interesting and relevant talk on 15 October on Agile Project Management. But it was more than this. It was about the Scrum systems development methodology – and how it addresses the concerns of rigour, reliability and scale in heavyweight (or overweight) SDMs such as PRINCE2.
Agile is now a top business issue, not just a computing issue, because our global village is one of rapidly increasing change, and windows of opportunity are brief.
As for the traditional, heavyweight methodologies, how many projects do you know that have been delivered on-time and on-budget? How many with customers/users satisfied? Can customers really know and articulate up front what they need? Is up-front analysis cost-effective and worthwhile?
As to the key concepts in Agile and Scrum here’s the Do-able Dozen:
So what’s the big challenge in adopting Agile and Scrum? Iain’s answer: People! It’s people who are the key to success. To that we might add the preconceptions and myths about Agile and Scrum, such as it being instant, easy and lightweight.
Not surprisingly, therefore, and since Agile addresses a fundamental need in today’s business environment, the demand for Agile in an organisation needs to come from the Business side rather than the IT side, or at least be fully appreciated, understood and endorsed by the Business side.
But here’s a surprising thing: some organisations are beginning to use Agile and Scrum outside and beyond systems development. It works as a process for rapid product development in other areas. Perhaps not surprising as its roots are in Japanese manufacturing.
Iain McKenna is one of those people who has the experience and ability to articulate and implement Agile. We appreciate his taking the time out to speak to us, and his patience in answering all our questions so well.
When: 3 November
Where: BCS, 1st Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA
Time: 09:30hrs – 15:30hrs
Do you cater to the IT needs of disabled people?
Inclusiv-IT-y 2009 is a one day event providing a comprehensive background on what BCS is doing to enlighten its members on making IT accessible for disabled people.
This event will bring together experts from across Europe who will share their success stories, provide information on the latest developments on accessible applications, whilst ensuring organisations understand the latest legislation.
Inclusiv-IT-y 2009 will especially appeal to BCS members who are involved with web based applications, systems development and anyone involved with ensuring IT accessibility is at the forefront of every employer’s agenda. Enhance your knowledge and book your place NOW, limited places available.
The Oxfordshire Economic Observatory conducted a survey of labour mobility and networks of BCS members in the Oxfordshire and East Anglia branches. From all the participants in the survey one was drawn at random to win a prize.
CATH MOYSE, Business Analyst, CSC, is the winner of the £50 M&S voucher for completing the on-line survey of the highly skilled in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
More information on the Oxfordshire Economic Observatory can be found on their website.
On November 7th 2009, the ACCU will be holding a one day conference at Bletchley Park, home of the legendary World War II ‘Enigma’ code breakers, and the site at which the world’s first digital computer went operational.
Confirmed speakers (alphabetical order) include:
After careers in electronics and computing Tony Sale set up the first Museums in Bletchley Park in 1994, has researched the breaking of German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers in World War II and rebuilt the Colossus Mk2 computer. www.codesandciphers.org.uk
Title: How the Germans gave away their "unbreakable" codes.
Abstract: Tony will describe how human operator errors enabled the code breakers in WW II Bletchley Park to decipher vital German messages both on the battlefield Enigma cipher machine and the German High Command Lorenz cipher machine, literally used by Hitler to his Generals.
Simon Singh is an author, journalist and TV producer specialising in science and mathematics, and author of ‘The Code Book’, a history of codes and code breaking from Ancient Egypt to the Internet. Personal web site at <http://www.simonsingh.net/>
Title: Cracking the Cipher Challenge
Abstract: In "The Code Book", a history of cryptography, the author Simon Singh included ten encrypted messages with a prize of £10,000 for the first person or team to decipher all of them. Thousands of amateur and professional codebreakers took up the Cipher Challenge, but it took over a year before the messages were cracked. Simon Singh will be talking about how he constructed the Cipher Challenge and how the winners eventually cracked it. He will also be using the Cipher Challenge to give an introduction to the history of cryptography and to demonstrate why encryption is more important today than ever before. As part of the talk, Singh will also operate a genuine Second World War Enigma cipher machine.
Phil Zimmermann is the original creator of the PGP e-mail encryption package which, despite three years of government persecution, became the most widely used e-mail encryption software in the world. Personal web site at <http://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/background/index.html>
The Conference will be held in the elegant Victorian Bletchley Park Mansion, at the centre of Bletchley Park itself, allowing conference attendees the opportunity to visit the exhibits on show at the National Museum of Computing and the rest of Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park is home to a number of unique artefacts, including the Colossus, the Bombe (including the mock-up that featured in the film ‘Enigma’), original Enigma machines, and a Lorenz coding machine. The Bletchley Park web site is at <http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/>. The National Museum of Computing web site is at <http://www.tnmoc.org/>
The conference is organised by the ACCU. The ACCU is an organisation of programmers who care about professionalism in programming and are dedicated to raising the standard of programming. The proceeds of the conference will go to the Bletchley Park Trust to help with the upkeep
of Bletchley Park. Conference rates are £85 ACCU members/ £95 non-ACCU members. The ACCU web site is at <http://accu.org/>.
For further information contact:
For tickets: http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/shop/index.rhtm/130872/cat.html
Here are your intrepid committee members hard at work in the bar at the Marston Arms Oxford folding, stuffing & sticking 1300 envelopes!
The BCS Oxfordshire Branch meeting calendar is now online in the events category. There is also a short form list of events on the side menu of every page.
Please make a note in your diaries to keep these dates open. It promises to be a very interesting year! This calendar is going to be updated with further details over the coming months so please check back often.
There is an A4 sized copy of the 2009/10 programme available for download as well.
