tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:16:32 +0000Technology travel reports from high speed trains, hot air balloons and about bicycles. With some thoughts on e-commerce, net business and IT education by Tom Worthington.http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)Blogger2651125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-8964670200626786503Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:16:00 +00002010-04-30T17:16:32.975+10:00 This blog is now located at http://blog.tomw.net.au/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://blog.tomw.net.au/feeds/posts/default. http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/this-blog-has-moved.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-7517655598613396393Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:05:00 +00002010-04-30T11:13:06.852+10:00Green ITdata centersCharles Nolan (Director, IT Infrastructure UNSW) and James Dawson will talk about green data centre design and assessment in Sydney, 5th May 2010.Green ICT Within this Green ICT presentation the two presenters will touch on specific Green ICT issues within the Industry.Charles Nolan will discuss trends in data centre technology such as high density computing and more efficient data centre http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/green-ict-in-sydney.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-921200273203104490Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:08:00 +00002010-04-30T08:21:39.850+10:00USAGovernment 2.0 TaskforceWashingtonSenator Kate Lundy (ACT) will be talking on Lessons from Down Under: How Australia is Leading the World in Gov 2.0 in Washington DC on 25-27 May 2010 at the Gov 2.0 Expo. Other speakers include Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Tim O'Reilly.Title: Gov 2.0 in Australia: Building the foundations for open government Abstract: Senator Kate Lundy will outline her recent “Public Spheres” initiative which http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/australia-leading-world-in-gov-20.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2733747104625321434Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:14:00 +00002010-04-29T20:31:53.956+10:00CSIROInnovation ACTANUInnovationGreeting from the last Innovation Week at ANU event for 2010 at "spacedock" (aka John Curtin School of Medical Research), Australian National University, Canberra.Dr. Thomas Barlow, research strategist, former political advisor and columnist for the Financial Times, and author of "The Australian Miracle". He talked about "Innovation in Australia". Thomas grove a humorous introduction http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/innovation-week-at-anu.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-6550905089671428107Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:24:00 +00002010-04-29T13:36:07.146+10:00Green ITsustainable developmentsmart buildingThe Queen's University, Faculty of Applied Science has set up a "Live Building". The mechanical, electrical and structural systems in their Integrated Learning Centre are monitored in real-time, as are many modern buildings, but in this case the information is provided live on the university web site.As an example, it is possible to monitor if the lights are on, or off, in the rooms of the http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/queens-university-live-building.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-4303881458734672381Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:16:00 +00002010-04-29T12:34:39.655+10:00accessibilitydigital videoWimbaEducation Revolutionandragogye-LearningGreeting from the ANU Menzies Library Flex Lab (which appears to have been designed by a dentist), where I am in a course on how to use Wimba products for online education. At the moment we are learning about "Wimba Classroom" which appears to be an adaptation of a classic video conferencing interface (and similar to DimDim). This provides audio, video, electronic whiteboard, text chat and http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/learning-to-teach-in-virtual-classroom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-6581956710165339463Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:25:00 +00002010-04-29T11:56:42.055+10:00Mobile Internet DeviceDefence ITThe Defence CTO is reported to be interested in thin client computers linked to database applications hosted in data centres, but able to be used offline for mobile users. This would allow expensive, difficult to manage, power hungry desktop computers to be replaced with low cost units. The data could be in remote data centres under careful management, which appeals to Defence's needs for http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/html5-new-desktop-operating-system.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-1092963606898803611Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:51:00 +00002010-04-28T19:46:34.266+10:00Innovation ANUAustralian Innovation FestivalAustralian InnovationInnovationApparently this week is the Australian Innovation Festival. I only know this because it was mentioned at the ACT Innovation event. I don't rally know what it is, having see nothing else about it. This evening there was a large pile of brochures at the door. These appear to be about the festival, judging by the cover, but seem to contain nothing but PR material and advertisements. I had difficultyhttp://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/australian-innovation-festival.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-4124967474902746819Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:41:00 +00002010-04-28T18:50:11.734+10:00Innovation ACTANUCanberraGreetings from ACT Innovation program, at "spacedock" (aka John Curtin School of Medical Research). John Hemphill, CEO of Axxos is talking about "Harnessing the cycle of innovation - Understanding your market". He describes the ACT Innovation program as "viral marketing". John is provided an entertaining presentation with useful graphics, which is being videoed and will be available on-line http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/understanding-market-for-innovation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2628749661395740335Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:34:00 +00002010-04-28T17:41:50.793+10:00disaster managementarchivesThe Australian Society of Archivists have organised a workshop on risk assessment and disaster preparedness, at the National Archives of Australia, Brisbane, 29 May 2010. There may be a follow-up day on salvage of water damaged materials on 24th July.http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/disaster-preparedness-workshop-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2858849944148149993Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:54:00 +00002010-04-28T12:32:22.272+10:00Innovation ACTANUCanberra Jon Stanhope MLA, Chief Minister of the ACT, opened Innovation Week at ANU last night at "spacedock" (aka John Curtin School of Medical Research), Australian National University, Canberra. The Chief Minister gave a disappointing speech on the role of innovation in the Canberra economy. This was followed by a lackluster debate on "Investing in innovation? This house believes that Australia http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/leadership-20-needed-for-canberra.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-5002529742368702112Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:33:00 +00002010-04-27T14:39:42.627+10:00ICT HistoryCSIRACMelbourneThe next Computing History Tours of Melbourne are: 1 May, 15 May and 18 July 2010. The tours take in: CSIRAC: Australia's first computer Melbourne's first Computer Room Melbourne's Babbage connection Site of Australia's first supercomputer Monash's first computer Former Melbourne Computer Centre near Albert Park. http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/computing-history-tours-of-melbourne.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2527846558541609543Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:47:00 +00002010-04-27T12:00:32.980+10:00solar poweralternative energyANUDr Roland Einhaus from Apollon Solar (France) will speak on "Overview of Apollon Solaras R & D Activities" at the ANU in Canberra, 11:30am, 30 April 2010.Overview of Apollon Solaras R & D ActivitiesDr Roland Einhaus (Apollon Solar, France) CECS SEMINAR SERIES DATE: 2010-04-30 TIME: 11:30:00 - 12:30:00 LOCATION: Ian Ross Seminar Room ... ABSTRACT:Presentation of Silicon http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/photovoltaic-energy-from-french-solar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-3481867294445859847Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:57:00 +00002010-04-27T10:20:18.217+10:00defence technologyThin Client ComputingDefence ITAustralian Defence ForceThe Australian Department of Defence is reported to be planning to deploy 500 thin client computers by the end of 2011. Defence CTO Matt Yannopoulous mentioned thin clients in his talk at the ACS Canberra branch conference recently. Thin clients also feature in the "Defence Next Generation Desktop Project" (issued 22 April 2010).It should be noted that thin client computing is not new to http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/defence-thin-client-computers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-422990000880469594Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:52:00 +00002010-04-27T09:34:59.150+10:00Australian Flexible Learning Frameworke-Portfolioe-LearningThe ePortfolios Australia Conference 2010 (Melbourne, 3 to 4 November 2010), has issued a call for papers on the use of electronic portfolios in the vocational education and training (VET), higher education (HE) and adult and community education (ACE) sectors. Abstracts for Full papers, Works in Progress reports, Case Studies and Posters are due 4 June 2010 ePortfolios http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/eportfolios-australia-conference-2010.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-7708261349255736917Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:51:00 +00002010-04-27T09:50:44.465+10:00open sourceeducatione-LearningOpen AccessLast week Cameron Shorter from Sydney Geospatial open source software company Lisasoft contacted me about how to provide "crowd-sourced" training. The idea was to apply the same open source development techniques to he training materials as the software. My suggestion was to use USQ's ICE system and Moodle.We discussed open source and education over lunch on Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont, Sydney, http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/open-access-education-for-open-source.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-5644980098612324185Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:58:00 +00002010-04-25T18:37:19.218+10:00e-Learning Course Designe-LearningLast week I attended the Australian Institute of Training & Development (AITD) National Conference at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney. What I found interesting were the similarities and differences in the technology used for vocational short courses and university courses.Training Materials for Open Source SoftwareWhile at the conference I had a call from an open source software companyhttp://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/how-to-design-tertiary-level-e-learning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-8757231712106296813Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:46:00 +00002010-04-25T13:26:31.079+10:00accessibilityemergency managementAlong with the architecture conference at Darling Harbour in Sydney last week, there were the exhibitions: DesignEx, Form and Function, D4S: Design for Sustainability.One notable products were Smart Glass from iGlass Australia: this is glass which is translucent until a current is applied when it become clear. The glass can be used as a projection screen. The obvious application I can see for ithttp://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/sustainable-building-products.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-5938762538269214725Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:26:00 +00002010-04-25T12:44:40.553+10:00ArchitectureSydneyThe new Surry Hills Library in Sydney was featured in Australian Design Review and other architectural publications, so on Saturday I went to have a look. From the architectural renderings I expected the building to stand out as a big glass box amongst the small inner Sydney terrace houses. But it proved remarkably hard to find. The street front has blond wood panels and the side is a sheer http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/new-surry-hills-library-in-sydney.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2013814095766195396Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:40:00 +00002010-04-23T10:50:12.469+10:00NBNNational Broadband NetworkNew ZealandThe New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development has issued an Expression of Interest for a Rural Broadband Initiative. (Reference: 29498). This appears a more modest project than the Australian Government's National Broadband Network. It concentrates on broadband for rural communities and schools. Companies can download a an Expression of Interest document (MS-Word format 368kb) and ahttp://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/new-zealand-rural-broadband-initiative.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2828220853473313911Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:37:00 +00002010-04-23T10:15:14.785+10:00defence technologytenderDefence ITThe Australian Department of Defence has issued a request for Expression of Interest for the "Defence Next Generation Desktop Project" (CIOG 198/10, 22-Apr-2010). The NGD Project aims to provide a simplified desktop interface for defence users and lower costs. Companies have to respond to the EoI to be considered for the RFT. A briefing on the RFI will be conducted in Canberra 5 May 2010.There http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/defence-next-generation-desktop-project.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-5243601506501677954Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:09:00 +00002010-04-22T12:41:49.330+10:00mobile webatpe-LearningSydneyaitdGreetings from the Australian Institute of Training & Development (AITD) National Conference at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney. Allison Rossett, Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, gave the morning's keynote on "E-learning is what?". Dr. Rossett reported results of research on the use of e-learning and mobile in http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/e-learning-for-defence-industry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-2707589669028329695Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:03:00 +00002010-04-21T12:09:21.291+10:00mobile webatpe-LearningSydneyaitdThe Australian Institute of Training & Development (AITD) National Conference starts today in Sydney. I will be speaking 10:30am tomorrow on "Gadgets and more: Mobile e-Learning Made Easy": Tom Worthington, (aka the Net Traveller) demonstrates some cool gadgets, courseware and software being used in Learning & Development. http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/training-and-development-national.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-169912682516061968Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:20:00 +00002010-04-21T09:49:07.405+10:00Librariesdefence technologyAdelaideDigital CultureSouth AustraliaCultureMy last day in South Australia I spent in the Adelaide North Terrace Cultural Precinct. North Terrace runs east west on the northern edge of the Adelaide central business district, next to the Torrens River. Within a kilometer along the terrace are campuses of the Universities of Adelaide and South Australia, the State Library, Museum and Art Gallery.I stayed in the Hotel Richmond, which is http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/adelaide-north-terrace-cultural.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16502818.post-4740539526323249758Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:58:00 +00002010-04-20T18:06:05.899+10:00Innovation ACTANUCanberraThe Australian Innovation Festival is next week: Australian Innovation ACT Festival Launch: Speaker: Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister of the ACTTuesday 27 April, 5.30pm for 6pmFinkel Lecture Theatre, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANUAustralian Innovation Festival Debate:"http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/04/australian-innovation-festival-at-anu.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tom Worthington)0