This year’s North East Fraud Forum was a great event, it flowed well with excellent speakers and a cohesive theme - the key to preventing fraud is through the sharing of information. Surprisingly though it is an uphill struggle to get companies and victims of fraud to do just that. Let me start by telling … Continue reading North East Fraud Forum Conference 2019
When maps are not good enough
Sometimes seeing is not believing. I am thinking of when maps are presented to show the results of an election. Take the 2017 UK parliamentary election for example. A standard map projection of the UK, the type we are used to seeing in any atlas, shows England almost entirely Conservative blue. Ignoring the other parties … Continue reading When maps are not good enough
Not Equal
Capitalism doesn’t have a conscience. It is a system in which money flows to where it can make the most return. If somebody can make it faster cheaper and easier the system will determine that they are the winners. Thankfully people do have consciences and it is they that can provide the bulwark against the … Continue reading Not Equal
Learn your lessons
If you have come to the end of a project it is always a good idea to have a review. Hold a meeting to see if there are any lessons that can be taken away and applied to other projects either now or in the future. The temptation however is to only do this when … Continue reading Learn your lessons
Taking the pledge
Technology is yin and yang. In most cases it is developed for good yet can give rise to the bad. There is a continuous tension between technology and humanity in that innovation works to cover a need yet, as soon as it leaves the factory gates others have found an alternative use for it. My … Continue reading Taking the pledge
This application is rubbish
If there is one thing I have found out about software it is that all applications are rubbish when you know nothing about them. Companies buy software tools in the hope that they will sort out their business processes yet don’t put the effort in to really understand how they work. Huge swathes of useful … Continue reading This application is rubbish
Why I should go to the Cyber 101 Boot Camp
You thought #CyberFest was all over, didn’t you? Well at least for this year, yet I promised you eleven events and the eagle eyed among you will know that we only had ten events in September. The final event, which was originally supposed to be held during September, is a Cyber 101 Boot Camp. For … Continue reading Why I should go to the Cyber 101 Boot Camp
Noise cancelling
When you see someone wearing headphones and tapping away at a laptop it means that they don’t want to be disturbed. The wearers are trying to ignore the world and grab a bit of peace. Not everyone recognises the signs however and insist on trying to engage the person in conversation. If you are one … Continue reading Noise cancelling
Digital for Growth
Last week’s North East Local Enterprise Partnership launch of the digital strategy was a good event. The meeting space at Proto was packed, with standing room only for many of the great and good in the North East’s digital sector, that is if digital is a sector. As with many of these events there were … Continue reading Digital for Growth
On a bus
Now I don’t often get a bus, not that I have anything against them, they just tend not to be as convenient as other forms of transport. I use the train more. This week though I found myself on one. I had gone in to Newcastle by train only to find that a meeting had … Continue reading On a bus
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 