The Platform Lab is a unique resource created to give Ohio IT enterprises and departments a competitive advantage - providing access to space, tools and bandwidth for disaster recovery planning, product and process testing and other activities.  Coming up on its fifth anniversary, the Platform Lab continues to attract new clients and grow, along with the continuing adjustment to strategies coming from corporate and government planning for technology expansion in the state.

The interview with Director Steve Gruetter covers everything from the history of the place to the trends emerging in the uses of the facility - along with its expansion in other areas of the state.

More information about the Platform Lab can be obtained here -  More information about Tech Columbus and the Business Technology Center is available here.

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

The itWORKS program and Edison Community College lead the way in addressing a shortage of professionals looming in the IT-related fields.  Students have been discouraged because of negative impressions of the career, fed by news about out-sourcing, declining employment, etc.  And these impressions are wrong.  The need for solid IT professionals is growing by leaps and bounds - at the same time the old guard is beginning to retire. 

Girls have tremendous potential in IT - especially as it evolves from an almost exclusively technical field, to a career that depends heavily on service, communication, teamwork, problem-solving and other people skills at which girls often excel.

This podcast - recorded largely at the site of the first state event - describes a number of key organizations in IT Tech-prep and post-secondary education have come together to provide a series of events especially designed to give girls insights into the exciting nature of an IT career - along with interviews with the organizers, Prof. Patti Ross of Edison  and Sara Mazak of CTAE/ODE.

For more information about the events, visit the Web site of the Ohio IT Business Advisory Network, an auxiliary to the itWORKS program of Ohio's Dept of Education.

More info at the Ohio IT Skills Blog.

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

How can games be evil, when they - and the simulations on which they are based - are so completely integrated in our culture?  That's the question explored in this podcast.  A key resource providing a rational understanding of where value has emerged in the commercial games field is James Gee's book, What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning And Literacy.

Along with some news:
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was in the news as a result of court ruling and some innovative actions of their own.  Given Ohio's focus on investment for hi-tech employment, patents - and the stability of the patent process - are important.  In essence, patents become like the title to a house: you can live in the house without a title, but you can't prove it's yours.  You can use an invention or a process without a patent (or rights to a patent), but the patent provides some protection against someone moving into your business and taking it away from you.

Patent stories:

• Supreme Court buries patent trolls
• U.S. Patent Office re-examines Amazon's 'One Click' patent
• US Patent & Trademark Office to use peer to patent program
• Peer-to-Patent wiki
• US Patent & Trademark Office official site

Apple introduces more models to round out new line of Intel-based Macs

Reminder:  Be sure to re-subscribe to the podcast with the new RSS feed in the right hand column of this blog.  You can now subscribe to the regular blog entries, or just the podcast (so that your podcast engine - iTunes, etc. - can detect the podcasts more easily).

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

Over the past few years, a movement has been growing - primarily in the southeastern quadrant of Ohio - to cultivate educational programs and commercial ventures in gaming - video games and the so-called "serious" games and simulations that support education and training.  One of the latest of these efforts is the Game Research and Immersive Design Lab at Ohio University in Athens - the GRID Lab.  The Lab has been receiving recognition for its potential to serve the region and the state.

This podcast consists of an interview with the Director of the new facility, Karen Riggs.  She explores the mission of the facility - both in terms of education and economic development - as well as a number of specific projects already in place.  The facility has not yet launched its Web site, but it is being covered by the Ohio Valley Interactive Digital Technology Alliance (OVIDTA).

And there is a little mystery - revolving around an Ohio State University professor named William Armstrong - and his support of new media technology for distance education.  Who is he?  And why are his observations important?

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

The Ohio IT Clearinghouse has launched a new initiative - Ohio Computing Unlimited - with the goal of assuring that every Ohioan has access to the fundamental skills necessary to use a computer to be successful at school and on the job.  This podcast explains some of the background of the program, and describes the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) which is the basis for OCU's definition of "basic computing skills," and a clear-cut way to demonstrate those skills.  There will be much more to follow in the weeks to come.

Ohio Computing Unlimited is an initiative of the Ohio Learning Network and sponsored by the Ohio Board of Regents.  The program is also a partnership of the EnterpriseOhio Network and SkillsMAX Centers.

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

This week's podcast addresses two key ways to develop and protect as well as disseminate new technologies.  The balance between dissemination and protection is one of the key issues in motivating inventors to create new technologies, and in getting new products and techniques into the hands of early adopters.

Dr. Scott Siddall, Assistant Provost of Denison University and CEO of the Longsight Group, discusses the nature of open source development - and the new business opportunities that are springing up around it.  All this in light of increasing acceptance in the world of higher education - and in the context of OLN's OSPILOT Project, intended to provide access to open source products for use by OLN members.  (Interview about 11 minutes)

Dr. Scott Siddall
Denison University, Granville OH

OLN's Open Source Pilot Program (OSPILOT)
The Longsight Group
Open Source Initiative
The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric Raymond

Then, we talk with Dr. Lee Hollaar, professor at the University of Utah and an expert in the US patent system, and a student of new approaches intended to improve the system and the flow of technology into open use.  He has worked with the US Congress on developing new legislation to enhance the operation of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 

In the Feb issue of IEEE Spectrum, Dr. Hollaar published a "modest proposal" to establish a new class of patent that might smooth and speed up the process of obtaining protection - and hereby making inventors more comfortable with publishing details of their innovations, so that they and others can continue the process of incremental improvement and enhancement.  (Interview about 13 minutes)

Dr. Lee Hollaar, University of Utah, Salt Lake City UT
Digital Law site
Patents 2.0 (article in IEEE's Spectrum, Feb 2006)

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

Pattern recognition is a major issue in modern computing.  As more sensitive and higher volume data collection techniques accumulate more and more raw data - the problem of sifting true knowledge from it looms ever larger.  Professor Aleix Martinez and his team at the Computational Biology and Cognitive Science Lab of the Ohio State University has been working on the difficult underlying problems for pattern recognition.  For example - how does one know which data represent the "pattern" that leads to new information?  In a sense, Dr. Martinez and his group are focused first on the problem of "pattern detection" - and them with the problem of finding the right technique for recognizing that pattern within a specific data set.

Also, the work has some fascinating implications for researchers studying American Sign Language (ASL), used by and for the hearing impaired.  Turns out that facial expression is an integral part of ASL, and little is known about what contribution it makes.  Efforts to automate translation of ASL video to and from standard English are stymied until we have more understanding of that contribution.  Martinez' work, as it uses facial image data to resolve pattern matching techniques, may make some substantive advances to our understanding of ASL and how it really works.

-- Article: "Where are Linear Feature Extraction Methods Applicable" Aleix M. Martinez and Manil Zhu; IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol 27 N0 12, December 2005

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

With the announcement of Ford's intention to close numerous plants and lay off more Ohio auto workers in the next couple of years, we are reminded that Ohio is in critical need of plans and facilities to re-train its workforce - to make people more flexible and better able to adapt to the ever-shifting industry base and job market.  While statewide policy-makers ponder next steps - some local community organizations are already moving ahead to provide extended experience and education for school children - and proven certification programs - like the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) - for those already in the workforce and needing new options to insure job viability and security.  This audio interview is with Gary Lambert, head of the The Appalachian Center for Collaborative and Engaged Learning (ACCEL) in Zanesville.  Gary has been building creative programs for technology training, and is about to join OITC's project promoting the ICDL.  ACCEL is also a member of the Ohio Community Computing Network, an organization that facilities community-based organizations working with technology training and education.  (This podcast is 12:45 long.)

Large-scale statewide programs, combined with grass-roots efforts reaching into the smallest communities - working together hold the promise for higher skill levels for all Ohio workers, and stronger competitiveness for the state's economic growth.

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)

And be sure to subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or your favorite podcast aggregator - via the "Subscribe to my Podcast" link in the right-hand column. (This edition is 17 minutes long.)

This entry is the first edition of what is expected to be a weekly podcast, covering information of interest to the Ohio IT community.

Items mentioned include:

• Consumer Electronics Show - there is so much coverage of this event it's difficult to choose any handful of sources that could do an adequate job combined.  However, the Engadget people do a great job, and this site at least will whet one's appetite.


• MacWorld - the only event that Apple's Steve Jobs seems willing to attend - because he can control the stage, no doubt - was the site once again this year of a series of announcements that will please music and media lovers of all types (consumers anyway), as well as Mac-0-philes everywhere.  Aside from the news that over 850 million legal tracks of iTunes music have been sold, combined with 14 million iPods in the last quarter alone - is the much sooner-than-expected appearance of Intel-based Macs - the beginning of a complete change-over.  Faster, better, more and more.  In addition to the Apple site itself, don't miss the blow-by-blow description of Jobs' presentation - a master of industrial show business!


• One Ohio-specific item - news from an exciting new start-up in Athens - the Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab, an initiative of the College of Communication at Ohio University.  With funding from local sources plus a contract with the Smithsonian, the new organization promises some new developments for Southeast Ohio.

Lastly, there is an announcement about a pending launch of a new initiative from the Ohio IT Clearinghouses and other organizations concerned with education and IT in the state.  It is the Ohio Computing Unlimited initiative.  It will promote courses that enhance basic computing skills for Ohioans - as well as making available a certificate called the International Computer Driving License - a credential with worldwide recognition.  In addition to the discussion in the podcast, more information will be available online soon.

(-- originally posted by Rich Bowers, Coordinator, Ohio IT Clearinghouse)