Next Generation Learning in Kent

Common i-Whiteboard Format

Becta have appointed RM to develop an interoperable standard for i-whiteboard content formats following a tender process. This aims to solve the issue of resources being locked into particular brands of whiteboard. The consultation has just started, and will deliver the first phase - the file specification. The second phase is to be a viewer application with supporting documentation to allow software publishers to use the standard in their own applications.

The plan is to publish as Open Source on the SourceForge website by the end of June 2009. I think this is about time, and at last seperates the hardware platform from the software. This in turn will open up a market for open source i-whiteboard applications ... well done Becta!.
 

Track and Field?

Two related press articles concerning the tracking of children recently caught my eye.

The first in the Guardian (23rd Oct 2007) covered the launch by Blade Runner UK of a GPS Tracker Jacket. This little technical gem tracks your child on Google Earth. For added comfort and safety you can add a slash-proof Kevlar lining. Cool and trendy, and no matter how many times your child 'gets lost', you clearly don't have to worry... or do you?

Last year our team tried (from a now defunct company) a kids mobile phone that did the same thing. It used GPS to track your child on a map, with a built-in panic button that rang a pre-arranged sequence of numbers. In reality the satellite must have been low on the horizon, as it didn't work anywhere near buildings and no matter how we tried, it kept mis-reporting the location. I took it to work in Maidstone, and according to the online map, I never strayed further than 200 metres from home, despite being 15 miles away all day! Worse then this, my daughter used it to her advantage ... she visited her friends as arranged and then left it whilst she nipped to town to shop! I have realised that a fake sense of security is no comfort at all.

The second story is related in that it is about tracking children, (perhaps we should now refer to them as 'biological assets'). It uses RFID assett tags, (the type of device used in the new passports and electronic dog tagging). The idea is that the tag is sewn into the clothing and when the biological asset passes a reader, it registers them for the lesson. The fact that they could swap the item of clothing and the same jumper could win awards for attendance is beside the point. The next logical step along this road is of course to chip the children like we do dogs, and embed it under their skin. (I hope this isn't what is meant by embeddiing ICT in schools. If the latter sounds absurd, and it does to me, why is chipping their clothes acceptable. The real question is why we think we have the right to compromise childhood and control our children to this level? Hungerhill School in Doncaster seems to believe its a great idea (Doncaster Free Press 18 Oct 2007). Just because something is technically possible doesn't not mean that it is desirable. I believe this crosses a line ... what do you think?

Global Village? ... meet your neighbours!

You're 'virtually' nicked!

This story cracked me up. Police arrested one 17 year old Dutch teenager and questioned five others for stealing virtual furniture from a room in Habbo Hotel. For those who don't know, Habbo Hotel is a 3D social networking site aimed at children.

The cyber-criminals did it by getting the logins of their victims through various scams. It is theft because the furntiure is paid for, and in this case was worth 4,000 Euros! The crime seems ludicrous to those who don't use virtual worlds, which just amplifies the cultural difference between those living predominantly in 'meat world'* and those in 'virtual worlds'.

*Meat World = The physical world, or the world outside of the internet.

'Cracking' computer ...

We have had some 'cracking' related news items this week. I say cracking because it brings together related technology stories spanning 60 years. The Colossus WW2 code cracking computer has been restored to working condition by the National Museum of Computing and laid down a challenge. A German transmitter would send a coded message, and the clock would start ticking. The challenge was to break the code before Colossus! Joachim Scuth from Bonn did it ... with a suite of software designed for the purpose, and using a modern computer. I think the re-building of this Tommy Flowers masterpiece is an amazing achievement, especially as the parts had been scattered.

Also this week, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel of Moore's Law fame declared that his law (... that the number of transistors it is possible to squeeze on to a chip for a fixed cost doubles every two years - the basis of continued miniaturisation), that it couldn't continue beyond the next decade. We've squished it all we can apparently, ao the rise in computer performance and constant lowering of price is nearly over ... or is it? Because, also this week the future directions of computing were discussed, amongst which is carbon nanotubes and the quantum computer. I'm afraid my brain leaves my head when quantum physics is discussed. 1's and 0's and both at the same time ... ouch. Where did I put that Higgs Boson particle?  ...

 The real point is, this development from nowhere to quantum computers ... is one lifetime. I looked at the Colossus computer and remember working on similar technology as a young apprentice. How can we know what lives our children will be living?