Net Traveller

Telecommuting for Education as Australia's Second Export Industry

2012-05-27T11:01:00.003+10:00

A recent discussion in the TeleworkAustralia discussion forum has been on the legal impediments to working online. In response, I did a quick web search and found "Telecommuting: Issues in Public and Private Sector Employment", Nicolee Dixon, Queensland Parliamentary Library Research Brief, 2003:"This Brief will attempt to examine the issues that may explain why the uptake of telecommuting has

Learning to Unravel Complexity

2012-05-26T17:54:00.003+10:00

The Australian National University runs a series of "Vice-Chancellor's Courses", to encourage students to look beyond their own discipline. Courses now open are:Unravelling ComplexityConvener: Dr Shayne Flint This course takes up this challenge by offering latter year students from any part of the ANU the opportunity to explore a series of complex issues. The connections between economic,

Design of RPL Assesment

2012-05-26T15:52:00.006+10:00

Recently I was asked to design some test questions and a guide for the evaluation of experience of people who don't have a degree in IT. This is called "Recognition of Prior Learning" (RPL) and usually applies in the vocational education and training (VET) sector, but is increasingly used in higher education as well.There are some helpful documents available from the WA Department of Education

Senator Bob Brown on Leadership

2012-05-24T15:14:00.021+10:00

Greetings from the Great Hall of University House, Australian National University in Canberra, where the Postgraduate and Research Students' Association (PARSA) is hosting a Leadership Forum. The draw card for the event is Senator Bob Brown (Australian Greens). Also speaking are: Professor Ian Young (ANU Vice Chancellor), Dr. Chris Peters (Canberra Citizen of the Year), Chamonix Terblanche, (

Business Rules Management Software for Clean Energy Regulator

2012-05-24T10:32:00.004+10:00

The Australian Clean Energy Regulator has issued a Request for Tender for a "Business Rule Management System". The description of the system includes mention of a diagram of "the conceptual use of rules engine" but there is no diagram in the tender announcement. A commercial off the shelf system (COTS) is required, with a start date of June 2012. The regulator is tasked with overseeing the new

City Edge Park in Autumn

2012-05-21T10:19:00.004+10:00

Here is a photo of City Edge Park in Autumn. This is a private park (which I own part of) in the center of the City Edge apartment complex in O'Connor, Canberra. The oak trees were previously on the site and were retained with the new apartments and town houses built around them. The small park is similar in atmosphere to private parks in London, but has no fence around it. One oak have grown so

Sydney Writers’ Festival

2012-05-19T20:07:00.006+10:00

The 2012 Sydney Writers’ Festival is being held at Piers 2/3 and 4/5, Walsh Bay, Sydney. The easiest way to get to the festival is to walk from Circular Quay along the foreshore, past The Rocks and under the south pylon of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.The two finger wharfs are joined by a link building with cafes and restaurants (there are more places to eat in the wharfs). The prime spot is a deck

How Science Makes Us

2012-05-18T08:28:00.005+10:00

Yesterday I took part in the ABC News 24 Future Forum on "How will science shape what it means to be human?". This was chaired by Dr Norman Swan, with Peter Singer (Ethicist, Princeton University), Paul Davies (Physicist, Arizona State University), Liesl Capper-Beilby (CEO, MyCyberTwin), Kate Reynolds (Social Psychologist, ANU), Glenn Wightwick (Chief Technologist, IBM Australia), and Julio

NBN Applications in the 2012/2013 Federal Budget

2012-05-17T08:29:00.004+10:00

The ABC has pointed out some projects to use the NBN in the federal budget (NBN facts and fallout from the Budget, David Braue, 16 May 2012). Obviously none of the initiatives labelled as using the NBN are actually dependent on the NBN and will work just as well on existing high speed networks. If the NBN did not exist, the government might well be doing exactly the same projects, just without

Microsoft Introducing Corporate Carbon Tax

2012-05-16T11:14:00.002+10:00

Microsoft has announced that they will introduce an internal "carbon fee" on all business divisions, with the aim to be carbon neutral from 1 July 2013 ("Making Carbon Neutrality Everyone’s Responsibility at Microsoft, 8 May 2012 12:01 am). Microsoft's approach is very similar to the carbon pricing scheme which the Austrlaian Government is introducing.Microsoft also have:Smarter buildings pilot

Guide to Public Sector Environmental Management

2012-05-15T18:06:00.004+10:00

The Australian National Audit Office issued a Better Practice guide to Public Sector Environmental Management, 27 April 2012. This may not have got much attention as did not include the title of the report on the web version. The report has a curiously non-intuitive table of contents: click on "Introduction" and you don't get the introduction, just a picture of the word "Introduction". Here is a

Human Error in the Health System

2012-05-15T15:10:00.008+10:00

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where former Royal Australian Air Force test pilot, Robyn Clay-Williams (UNSW Centre for Clinical Governance Research in Health) is peaking on "Human Error in Complex Systems". Robyn asserted that error is part of human behavior which has to be managed, not just an aberration. Using the "Invisible Gorilla Test", she demonstrated the

Join Online Discussion of ICT Skills at World Summit

2012-05-15T08:50:00.006+10:00

Elearning practitioner Brenda Aynsley, will take part in an online panel at the World Summit on the Information Society, to discuss global professional standards for computer staff. Brenda is chair of the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3), a not for profit organization, which has set a common standard for IT professional education, currently used by eight nations. The event in

Lessons for Planning Canberra from Great Cities

2012-05-14T18:10:00.020+10:00

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where Professor James Weirick (UNSW) is speaking on The Art of City Design: Canberra and the planned capital’s movement. This followed last week's talk on "China’s Canberra: The past and future of Changchun". Professor Weirick started by pointing out it is almost 100 years since the design by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony

Green ICT Obligations for Corporates

2012-05-10T13:26:00.006+10:00

I will be speaking on "Green ICT Obligations for Corporates", at the Australian Computer Society Green ICT Special Interest Group, 5:30pm for 6:00pm, 23 May 2012 (Register online):Green ICT Obligations for CorporatesMeeting the green obligations of your organisation with ICT - Tom Worthington FACS CP, Adjunct Lecturer ANU and Member of the ANU Climate Change Institute.Large organisations in

Designing Visual Notations in IT Practice

2012-05-10T10:29:00.003+10:00

Daniel Moody, Director of OZemantics Pty Ltd, will speak on "The Physics of Notations: A Scientific Approach to Designing Visual Notations in IT Practice" at the Australian National University in Canberra, 4pm, 21 June 2012.The Physics of Notations: A Scientific Approach to Designing Visual Notations in IT Practice Daniel Moody (Director, OZemantics Pty Ltd, Sydney) SOFTWARE ENGINEERING SEMINAR

NZ Ultra-Fast Broadband in Schools

2012-05-10T09:27:00.006+10:00

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has issued a Request for Proposal for a "Network for Learning: Ultra-Fast Broadband in Schools" (9 May 2012). Registered companies can download "Document 2: Network Requirements" (GETS Reference 36203), which has a comprehensive description of the proposed system, including Domain Name Service, Remote Access to School LANs, Peering, Software Update

Fénix 2 rescue capsule

2012-05-09T16:22:00.004+10:00

A replica of the Fénix 2 (Phoenix) capsule used to rescue 33 trapped Chilean miners in 2010 from the Copiapó mine was given to Canberra and erected opposite the Australian National University student offices in 2011.

Rittal Data Centre Container

2012-05-09T14:31:00.006+10:00

Greetings from Brindabella Business Park next to Canberra Airport, where Rittal are showing their "Rittal Data Centre Container" (RDCC). It has room for 12 standard computer racks, a 300mm raised floor and is designed to be used outdoors.The RDCC uses "direct free cooling" to lower energy use. In cold weather the normal air conditioning is turned off and filtered air is circulated. Rittal point

Green ICT for ASEAN ICT Masterplan 2015

2012-05-09T12:46:00.002+10:00

According to "Asean is moving ahead with its ICT master plan" (Bangkok Post, 9/05/2012), Malaysia will lead ASEAN's Green ICT initiative. The "ASEAN ICT Masterplan 2015" (7 January 2011), mentions Green ICT:"... ASEAN will foster a creative, innovative and green ICT sector. ...To enhance innovative and entrepreneurship quality of life green ICT sector. ...Innovation aims to develop a creative

IT matters of interest in the 2012/2013 Federal Budget

2012-05-08T20:07:00.007+10:00

Just about every year since the Australian Federal Budget was first put on the web, I have done a quick search though the documents to find matters of interest in information technology.This year budget web site worked fine at 80:06pm and kept working (in 2010 the system failed at 7:53pm, reporting: "HTTP Error 404 - File or directory not found"). QUALITY OF THE WEB PAGEEach year from

Green IT eLearning Course with eBooks

2012-05-08T15:15:00.004+10:00

The IEEE 7th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE 2011) is being held in Melbourne (Australia), 14 to 17 July 2012. I will be presenting "A green computing professional education course online: designing and delivering a course in ICT Sustainability using Internet and eBooks". This is about the ICT Sustainability course I run over the Internet for the Australian

Human Error in Complex Systems

2012-05-08T14:56:00.003+10:00

Former Royal Australian Air Force test pilot, Robyn Clay-Williams, from the UNSW Centre for Clinical Governance Research in Health, will speak on "Human Error in Complex Systems" at the Australian National University in Canberra, 3pm 15 May 2012. This is a free talk with no need to book:Human Error in Complex SystemsRobyn Clay-Williams (Centre for Clinical Governance Research in Health, UNSW)

Remodeling Canberra on a Chinese City

2012-05-07T18:12:00.019+10:00

The Australian National University in Canberra was the venue for a talk by architects, planners and historians on "China’s Canberra: The past and future of Changchun". They pointed out that the Chinese city of Changchun (长春) was modeled on Canberra's original plan and suggest that Canberra's future can be based on the redevelopment now taking place in Changchun.Cox Architects have provided

Adelaide: The Hi-Tech Arsenal of Australia

2012-05-07T10:26:00.005+10:00

For the last few days I have been in Adelaide for a meeting for the Australian Computer Society Education. I took the opportunity to look at learning spaces and science communication, while I was in town.University of Adelaide Hub CentralWith some time to spare before the meeting started, I visited the new learning space at University of Adelaide's "Hub Central". This was, as one proud local told