Hacking for our people

I like working with Waterstons.  I would have said I love working with them but my father in law used to say you can only love people not things.  May he rest in peace.  He is still remembered.  I could say I love working with the people of Waterstons.  Vic would be happy with that. … Continue reading Hacking for our people

Socitm revisited

When Roy first asked me to get involved in Socitm I was a little less than enthusiastic.  My attitude has changed however.  After a slow start we have got something good going. The meetings go from strength to strength. There was a time when there was only the single representative from the twelve local authorities … Continue reading Socitm revisited

Describing the amorphous

Our processes support the definite.  They struggle with the more amorphous.  It is difficult to use our processes to conceptualise. This always catches me out.  I am a person who likes to do his thinking in public.  I like to come to meetings with half-baked ideas.  I want to use the discussions to help shape … Continue reading Describing the amorphous

What do we do?

Not many people know what we do as the local authority.  I had known this already through conversations I have but it became very obvious during my guest lecture at Newcastle University.  The students found it very difficult to describe the services that they used in the city. I find this quite surprising as in … Continue reading What do we do?

Far from Home Counties

I can’t remember the last time I ever was in Gerrards Cross.  To be honest I am not sure I have ever been there but I used to live in Oxford which is not more than a stone’s throw away and so I would be surprised if I hadn’t.  Anyway, it didn’t ring a bell … Continue reading Far from Home Counties

People’s differences and evolution

Can everything be explained by evolution?  It is a subject that has fascinated me ever since my formative years as a young and fresh faced zoology undergraduate.  Not that my degree has ever really been put into practice but it is something I think about a lot.  Evolution is something that is widely appreciated yet, … Continue reading People’s differences and evolution

Gold event

How difficult are simulations?  Very!  They never seem to really reflect reality but then I don’t think that is the point.  I know this now having been involved in a cyber-simulation predicated on a sustained and organised attack on the ICT systems of a number of the Local Resilience Forum partners. It was held at the … Continue reading Gold event

TechArt

It is funny where life takes you if you let it.  It is filled with little nooks and crannies down which you can wander.  Inquisitiveness can be a blessing and a curse however.  There is always something interesting to discover but there is never enough time to chase it all. My latest rich seam to … Continue reading TechArt

Guest lecturing

Guest lecturing is a first for me.  It is something that I have been thinking about for some time yet the opportunities don’t always arise.  I thought it was a way of giving back to society by helping more students to think about digital as a career.  It is funny how these things work out.  … Continue reading Guest lecturing

Forget about me

The right to be forgotten, as part of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), is exercising my mind.  It's not really called that, it is actually called ‘The right to erasure’.  The broad principle underpinning this right is to enable an individual to request the deletion or removal of personal data whether there is no … Continue reading Forget about me