Bloody hell! Yet more marking drivel trying to sound like meaningful English

Rebel Virals

Remember: a strong seeding strategy will not only ensure upfront buzz, but will phase activity to sustain momentum over time.

Don’t these people learn to use English properly in between making videos at art college during their multi-media marketing ‘degree’?

Death is too good for them!

The role of psychological testing in recruitment

I was catching up with an school friend over Skype last night and discussed her work on the psychology of workplace recruitment and how effective personality tests are in the recruitment process. I’ve never been happy with such tests for a variety of reasons:

1. The state of the art is not sufficiently advanced to understand the complexities of the human personality
2. The testing I am familiar with attempts to reduce what complexity it can measure to a few simple axis for comprehension by an untrained recruiter (i.e. people like me)
3. There seems to be no published consensus on the quality of testing
4. The tests I have seen are culturally biased as they demand a good understating of the nuance of English language. In the last set of interviews I did I interviewed over 15 candidates, only two of whom had English as a first language
5. The tests are expensive to purchase and administer

So in my next post I’ll look at what I do instead of personality testing to try and create some rigour in my recruitment process.

My new software engineering methodology — BDALAP!

I think I can unite the Agile and Waterfall communities united around a common software engineering approach.

I give you “Big Design As Late As Possible” (BDALAP).

BDALAP recognises that certain design decisions are a) complex and b) have far reaching implications. They therefore require careful consideration and the use of such techniques as modeling and documentation. However we really would like to understand more about the problem and issues we are trying to solve first before we commit ourselves to a significant decision

A good example of this is the design of a database table schema which has implications all over a system and impacts how the system may be extended in the future. Other examples including communication of cooperating processes.

So in the first instance we can dummy them using such things as program data structures (it’s easier to modify the code than a RDBMs database schema). Later on an effective data schema can be created based on a more complete understanding of the system under discussion

I realise there is a bit of hand waving going on here and it’s not exactly original, but that does not need to be a problem or stop me becoming the BDALAP pundit.

I believe the usual way to implement this type of thing:

1. The BDALAP website and blog
2. A few journal articles on BDALAP success stories (must show that BDALAP was the sole reason for success and how it overcame ALL obstacles)
3. A BDALAP conference (I’d like somewhere pleasant — Nice in France?)
4. A BDALAP consultancy that can charge the same rates as an Actuary
5. The BDALAP patterns book
6. The BDALAP anti-patterns book

That should get me on the gravy train — anyone else want to come for the ride?

Look Ma! I’m an (honorary ) Gen Y member

Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web – ReadWriteWeb

There’s some contention over where exactly Gen Y starts and stops – some say those born 1983-1997, others think 1982-1997. In this week’s Entertainment Weekly, Gen Y is defined as “current 13 to 31 year-olds” and BusinessWeek says they can be as young as five. Regardless, we know who they are – they’re the young kids of today, the most digitally active generation yet, having been born plugged in.

When I have a working laptop at home I drive my wife mad as I surf facebook and post on Jaiku whilst watching TV. I always want to put information on Wikis (with open slather for everyone to update it) when my colleagues don’t understand the benefit and I’m posting here when I should be working on something else. I’m a man 25 years before my time!

Or perhaps I can just tell people I’m 22 years old?

Citing out of print books is a bit useless!!

The utility of the SWEBOK is somwhat diluted by the fact that many of the references it cites appear to be out of print!

– Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

Which fuckwit thought this would work?

BBC NEWS | UK | Sex offenders face website bans

Sex offenders’ e-mail addresses are to be passed to social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to prevent them contacting children.

As a parent of two young children and someone who has worked with survivors of childhood sexual assult in the past I am 150% behind measures that will provide protection to the young. However someone needs to educate polititions on what is effective, as opposed to measures designed to chase votes and lull people into a false sense of security.

All measures such as filtering, blocking email addresses etc. can be easily circumnavigated. They only effective protection is to physically ensure the children are safe at the point of delivery (i.e. the child’s computer). In the same way I don’t let my young children wander onto the road or alone into potentially risky situations, I make sure that I know (see) what they are doing online and educate them on safe internet practices.

As you can tell naive ideas as the one outlined above annoy me intensely.

Stephen Fry shows social networking as the same ‘ol, warmed over

Stephen Fry » Blog Archive » Social networking through the ages

For what is this much-trumpeted social networking but an escape back into that world of the closed online service of 15 or 20 years ago?

This was exteremly well timed. I have been thinking over the last 24 hours about shutting down my LinkedIn account. As I can be easily found using Google why do I need to maintain a separate profile?

However how can I keep my address book up to date?

Well I guess it’s back to PostScript for publication

BBC NEWS | Business | Yahoo to put adverts in PDF files

Yahoo to put adverts in PDF files

It’s not clear from this article how it would work, but my first reaction is that I don’t want my documents to have adverts in them and I should consider publishing my documents in PostScript instead of PDF.

Update: A little research on the Yahoo web site reveals that PDF publishers have to opt-in, so that’s cool (as much as targeting advertising can be).

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A big thanks to the Bell Labs team

Dennis Ritchie Home Page

Dennis M. Ritchie

The C programming language and the UNIX operating system both came out of Bell Laps in the 70′s. I and many other owe a big debt to Dennis and the teams that he was part of. I have used UNIX, Linux and OS/X for years; and for a long time earned a living as a C programmer. The influence of the C language is still being felt after more than 30 years.

Dennis’ home page lists a lot of resources for those with a historical interest.

I was lucky enough to meet and chat to Dennis for an extended period when he visited the UKUUG Winter conference in 1997. A very interesting man who never tired of answering my questions.

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Ha! Ha! Young People. There is life in the old folks yet!

Gen Y unreliable, small businesses say – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Gen Y unreliable, small businesses say

As someone who is just young enough to be Gen X this makes me feel so smug… Sorry

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Is it me, or is this really sad?

LinkedIn Web Store

LinkedIn, the social networking site for business wonks, has started a line of branded clothing.

Who would want to wear that?

LinkedIn as never been cool (or has it?)

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A really bad example of commercial blogging

Why Tripwire Really Isn’t Real-Time | Solidcore Blog

Don’t get trapped in a scan (and scan again) cycle with Tripwire – get the authentic real-time technology from Solidcore

As I work for Tripwire the following blog caught my eye the other day. The post is a pretty crude piece of commercial snipping and falls into a couple of major traps.

• The information is out of date. The product does now support real time monotoring
• By using negative and derogatory language it associates the product it seeks to promote with the same image

So what is the lesson for ‘product’ bloggers?

1. Only talk about your own product or facts that will not change
2. Keep your language positive and limit your own comments to your own product. There is no reason why you can’t chose to make comments about product features your competitors are weak on, but you don’t have to mention them.

You also avoid the chance of a law suite of course…

So don’t expect me to mention any competitor products here.

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Class divide in cyberspace: facebook vs. myspace

BBC NEWS | Technology | Social sites reveal class divide

research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college. By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

I have membership of both sites and it’s interesting that in a short space of time I have 14 friends on facebook, most of whom found me and only two on myspace who I sought out.

I also found myspace to be a better user experience (better UI design and more in the default set up).

In both cases I created the accounts to better understand Web 2.0 and how my children might handle it.

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Not just blokes have ego problems

Linux.com | Linuxchix coordinator resigns amidst controversy

top leader of Linuxchix resigned yesterday in the midst of a controversy over her leadership style.

I thought this type of bullshit was the exclusive preserve of male dominated organisations such as Debian!

ScribeFire.

This has to be insane

Travel Advice for United Kingdom – Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

We advise you to exercise caution and monitor developments that might affect your safety in the United Kingdom because of the risk of terrorist attack

I can’t believe this. It is either extreme caution, so that no one can accuse the government of doing nothing, or an attempt to create a climate of fear to allow governments to reduce the amount of oversight they tolerate.

I lived in London during the 1980′s when we had multiple bomb attacks from the IRA and loss of life. However we still went about our business. I used to watch music in the park and that was bombed, fortunately that particular lunchtime we had gone to the pub instead — just proves that drinking in pubs is healthy . (BTW, the article is wrong, it was not the first concert of the year because I had been the week before).

I can’t believe the current risk is higher than the ’80′s and then we were urged to behave as if nothing had happened although we were asked to keep our eyes open.

On the bright side maybe this will reduce the number of airplane flights and their affect on climate change

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Not enough women on computer courses

The New York times is running an article on how few women are taking up computer science in tertiary education:

According to a 2005 report [deletia...], when high school girls think of computer scientists they think of geeks, pocket protectors, isolated cubicles and a lifetime of staring into a screen writing computer code.

The article implies that fields such as engineering and mathematics do not have this problem. Why not? To my mind there is nothing more nerdy (or geeky) than the study of mathematics, which of course is perfectly OK. The question is why don’t women (and many men) want to become geeks? What is wrong with being a geek?

Surely the answer is not have less programming and related geek activities in our computer courses, but to make society respect the geek more.

Let us cast off our chains of social stigma! We have nothing to lose except our future programmers.

I can feel a new slogan coming on: “It’s cool to be a geek”

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With Power comes Responsibllty

Kathy Sierra has had a very unpleasant experience:

Creating Passionate Users: Death threats against bloggers are NOT “protected speech” (why I cancelled my ETech presentations)

Death threats against bloggers are NOT “protected speech”

This post is my small message of support and a plea for this sort of insanity to stop.

We are a privileged generation to have access to the Internet, it is a resource that no one in human history has ever had before. We have new ways of talking, making money and governing ourselves which are still evolving and taking human society in new directions (it will be even better once we can get the rest of the world on the net).

However the type of abuse that Kathy suffered (and other types of abuse) slows down the spread of the net in all sorts of ways:

1. It provides governments and other organisations with the perfect excuse to try and restict and control the network
2. It provides a barrier to entry for a huge pool of talent as abuse makes participation by peopled who are abused much more difficult
3. It makes the Internet more unpleasant and harder for the rest of us as well

I am a passionate believer in free speech. However that does NOT give people an excuse to threaten others. With freedom of speech also comes the freedom to feel safe.

What is so wrong with being civil to each other?

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Sexism in the Geek Community

philosophical geekess » …hear me roar!

I’ve learned to be ‘less feminine’ in my communications

Melissa, a local geek, has an exellent post on some of the issues on being female in the community. However the phrase above set me thinking. How do you communicate in a feminine way when discussing geek stuff? When discussing things other than technology how does it work? If you are caring or thoughtful in your posts does that make you female?

I don’t think I could detect the difference. However I am sure I could detect the difference between a jerk and thoughtful person, so men — don’t be a jerk! From Mellisa’s post it would appear a lot of us still are .

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Do I say anything worthwhile in this blog?

I’m having some ‘issues’ around the idea of publishing my thoughts in this blog. Some of the topics I talk about are complex and would require substantial and detailed exposition to discuss properly. However the constraints of time and space (the blog format really seems to be limited to less than a 1000 words, and usually a lot less than that) means that usually it’s not possible to give a topic full justice.

Will my readers assume that my thinking and knowledge is equally simplistic? Is a blog the correct format to publish such material ?

For many successful blog writers the format seems to work. However with the amount of time at my disposal I think I need to publish less often and present more substantive articles, or a series of posts with much more detailed material.

I have recently been thinking about the issues of successful development management, so I propose to create a series of articles around the topic — just don’t expect them to appear quickly.

How are science and maths perceived by society?

DDJ | DDJ’s Portal Blog

‘…fewer than 6 percent of high-school seniors in the U.S. are planning on engineering degrees. A decade ago it was 36 percent. In 2000, 56 percent of the undergraduate degrees in China were in the hard sciences. In the U.S., 1 percent.

I wonder if the US is starting to gather the harvest from it’s apparent antipathy against hard science? (Possibly fuelled by the conservative, religious, right.)

It would be interesting to know if there is a similar trend in other western countries? Or, at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old fart, are maths and science subjects too hard for the current calibre of student?

Whatever it is, it’s probably not good — although of course at the in individual level it creates great opportunities for the people who choose to study these subjects.

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