CIVR2007

Tsinghua University, Bejing, China

Xirong Li

Paris

What Was Where?

Today the Beta version of www.watwaswaar.nl was presented in Utrecht. The site's back-end was built by Toutatis. Wat Was Waar?, meaning "what was where?" is a website for the broad public showing the map of The Netherlands with all places clickable leading to a list of contents linked to that place in a certain period of time. From 1932 'till today. Currently the contents are aerial photo's, old city designs and information about house or land owners. The map viewer shows really clear and detailed maps, based on vectorized maps. Toutatis developed a smart pre-load mechanism, ensuring maps are shown really fast. Lots of ajax is used. Compliments to Toutatis and WatWasWaar.

Staatsieportret

From left to right: Timo Kouwenhoven, Rene Castelein en Jan-Willem Kouwenhoven.

Delphi Summit 1.0

The first corporate summit on the future of IT services was excellent. Plans were made, networks built and knowledge shared. Sitges, near Barcelona gave us a sunny setting.

Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing

As humans we have the capacity to remember ­ and to forget. For millennia remembering was hard, and forgetting easy. By default, we would forget. Digital technology has inverted this. Today, with affordable storage, effortless retrieval and global access remembering has become the default, for us individually and for society as a whole. We store our digital photos irrespective of whether they are good or not - because even choosing which to throw away is too time-consuming, and keep different versions of the documents we work on, just in case we ever need to go back to an earlier one. Google saves every search query, and millions of video surveillance cameras retain our movements. In this article Viktor Mayer-Schönberger analyses this shift and links it to technological innovation and information economics. Then Viktor suggests why we may want to worry about the shift, and call for what he terms data ecology. In contrast to others he does not call for comprehensive new laws or constitutional adjudication. Instead proposes a simple rule that reinstates the default of forgetting our societies have experienced for millennia, and shows how a combination of law and technology can achieve this shift. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government / Harvard University. His work focuses on business, legal, and policy issues of the new economy. He is also an expert on the European Union, especially its regulatory framework and business-government relations.

Corporate summit in Spain

Colleagues reponsible for new business and innovation from Norway, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom and The Netherlands will meet in the Barcelona area for 2 days. Sunny weather will be the scene for sharing ideas.

Little Chef, the British answer to the golden arches

Bring your healthy appetite and they'll make sure you leave ready for your journey - wherever you're going. Their aim is very simple:

to be the motorist's friend, serving up quality food and offering great value for money. Expect freshly prepared food, using the best ingredients we can buy. Enjoy a welcoming, informal setting and watch out for some exciting dishes this Autumn like our hot Ciabatta sandwich and the incredible Double Olympic Burger – helping you beat the rush hour (and the hunger pangs).

Each year they welcome 20 million guests, serving: 10 million cups of tea, 12 million rashers of bacon, 13 million eggs and 13 million sausages!

Whitehaven

Always nice to be in this street (part of the 595 heading to Workington) in Whitehaven. This was the first time it was sunny, normally we drive out here in the evening or in heavy rain. Taken from the car, while driving on the 595, a picture of the Irish Sea from Whitehaven. Just outside of the Waterfront restaurant this picture was taken in the evening.

My colleagues and I discussing while yachting

Technology, no place for whimps!

Hey ho lets go!

For a couple of weeks we've been teaming up implementing and populating a wiki, today we drove up to a lake to go sailing with the practice we work in.

Klipper

2006 was a good year for my colleagues and I. We were granted with a weekend out of the ordinary. So we agreed to go for a bit of sailing. Who on earth decided to rent this enourmous ship I don't know. Instead of laying low sipping chilled Chardonnay we'll be working ropes 'til hands are blistered...