Picture thanks to Facebook One of the great pleasures in looking after your grandchildren is trying to keep them entertained during the school holidays. Half term is bad enough and the long summer vacation is just around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with them, they are such fun yet they can … Continue reading Child’s play
Mutually Assured Quantum
My friend Meera, who knows about these things, tells me that quantum computing is real, it has moved from science fiction to science fact. Pictures of IBM’s machine are available online and, so I am told, you can hire processing time on the machine by the minute. Blimey, that doesn’t seem long but then I … Continue reading Mutually Assured Quantum
Gamifying can make things worse
How many times have I started off my blog with ‘According to Wikipedia’? Too many times probably yet according to Wikipedia: ‘Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations (sic), and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users.’ (Hamari, J. (2019). "Gamification". … Continue reading Gamifying can make things worse
I’m Thinking Digital
I’m glad that Thinking Digital is back in May. Moving the conference, one of the highlights of the North East events’ calendar to July just felt odd, like moving Christmas to March. Perhaps this is how those who still prefer the Julian calendar feel. Making my way across the High Level Bridge to the Glasshouse, … Continue reading I’m Thinking Digital
Digital coercion and control
Whenever I see an advert on the television for a well known doorbell with an embedded camera I wince a little at the thought of the opportunity to use this information for malintent. Sure enough, it’s not only me, as the company in my thoughts has been hacked at least once. The temptation is just … Continue reading Digital coercion and control
Those Mayoral elections
Image thanks to Manchester Evening News. Those of you who have been paying attention will have noticed that this time around, the mayoral elections were held under the corrosive first past the post system (FPTP). The government slipped the change into another piece of legislation, moving away from proportional representation, in the vain hope that … Continue reading Those Mayoral elections
A New Mayor
Image thanks to Newcastleworld The North East is getting a new mayor. Following the creation of the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NoTCA) some years ago, the new combined authority will see it expanded to cover all seven local authority areas from Northumberland, Tyneside, Wearside and Durham. The NoTCA will be subsumed into the North … Continue reading A New Mayor
Finally we’re underway
At last, after seven years of trying, the CyberNorth Cyber Security Innovation Centre is underway. OK, it doesn’t quite look like it was originally envisaged, it is a lot smaller, a lot cheaper yet much more portable and flexible. A lot has changed in the last seven years. It is also much more doable and … Continue reading Finally we’re underway
Never go back
They say that you should never go back, at least when it comes to work. It won’t be long before you remember why you left in the first place. Yet I have, in a way, gone back. Six months after I stepped down as a director of UKC3 I have agreed to go back, not … Continue reading Never go back
Choppy waters
Projects run in waves. One minute everything is fine and you feel like you are at the crest of the wave only to find a few minutes later your hurtling into a trough. Sometimes it's the big things that catch you out while at other times it’s the little things, those you perhaps could have … Continue reading Choppy waters
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 