Greetings from the Australian eLearning Congress in Sydney. Chair for the event, Diane Gatto of Performance Leaders of Australia, is giving us a history lesson of e-leaning. She starting with the origins of the computer in WW2 and went through to cloud computing and the iPad. She then related the technology to Bloom's Taxonomy. She pointed out also that telling stories is a useful teaching technique. The notes for my talk "Work-Integrated-Learning with E-books and E-Learning" (and the Slides) tomorrow are available.
Showing posts with label CeBit Sydney 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CeBit Sydney 2010. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Learning Amphibious Operations from Europe
Greetings from the Pacific 2012 Maritime Defence Conference in Sydney, where DSTO is hosting a stream on Technology for Amphibious Operations session. Interestingly the speakers are from Spain and the UK, as new ships have been purchased from these countries. This must be culture shock for the Australian Department of Defence and Australian Navy, who normally look to the US Navy and American industry.
It might seem a ship is just a ship and you can use it however you like. But a particular way of working is built into the design of the ships. Also the relatively small European defense forces are closer in the way they operate to Australia.
There are considerable challenges for Australia to adapt European experience, as the distances involved are much larger and they will need to learn to work with the US 7th Fleet (commanded from the USS Blue Ridge).
The need for bridging different approaches is best illustrated by the Canberra Class Ships. The main structure of the ship is being built in Spain and then will be transported to Australia. The "island" with the bridge of the ship, radars and other electronic systems, is being built in Australia. The island will then be placed on the ship and everyone will hope the two parts work together. In the same way the ship has to work with navy, army, air force and civilian personnel aboard and work with the US Navy.
Looking at some of the screen-shots of ICT systems used for planning amphibious operations on display at Pacific 2012, it struck me that these look very dated. The systems have a lot of text based forms and spreadsheet-like tables. These are typically presented using the X-Windows system on a graphical screen. Such a display can be hard to understand for new personnel, or those under stress (both of which are normal on an amphibious operation). The i-Pad like interface with big bold icons and a touch interface, as used on SAAB's 9LV SAT, might improve usability
It might seem a ship is just a ship and you can use it however you like. But a particular way of working is built into the design of the ships. Also the relatively small European defense forces are closer in the way they operate to Australia.
There are considerable challenges for Australia to adapt European experience, as the distances involved are much larger and they will need to learn to work with the US 7th Fleet (commanded from the USS Blue Ridge).
The need for bridging different approaches is best illustrated by the Canberra Class Ships. The main structure of the ship is being built in Spain and then will be transported to Australia. The "island" with the bridge of the ship, radars and other electronic systems, is being built in Australia. The island will then be placed on the ship and everyone will hope the two parts work together. In the same way the ship has to work with navy, army, air force and civilian personnel aboard and work with the US Navy.
Looking at some of the screen-shots of ICT systems used for planning amphibious operations on display at Pacific 2012, it struck me that these look very dated. The systems have a lot of text based forms and spreadsheet-like tables. These are typically presented using the X-Windows system on a graphical screen. Such a display can be hard to understand for new personnel, or those under stress (both of which are normal on an amphibious operation). The i-Pad like interface with big bold icons and a touch interface, as used on SAAB's 9LV SAT, might improve usability
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Sydney Top Level Domain Name
An interesting discussion at GovCampNSW, was over Sydney top level domain name. This is available, but there are numerous issues around its use: can Sydney Australia have exclusive use? What rules government it? How are commercial and community interests balanced? AUDA set up Community Geographic Domain Names for community domain name use. The Sydney top level domain might be used similarly. In my view the NSW government should purchase the domain name, at least as a defensive measure and perhaps turn administration over to local government. Some sub-domains would be valuable, such as hotels.sydney and others would need to be reserved for the obvious user, such as operahouse.sydney.
See also Carving up the web by Paul Wallbank.
See also Carving up the web by Paul Wallbank.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Universities Australia e-Press
For the Digital Culture Public Sphere in Sydney, 6 October 2011I have suggested support to reinvogorate the Australian book publishing industry. Australian government measures in this area have been ineffective so far as they have equated "publishing" with "printing". The e-book is making printing printing increasingly irrelevant to publishing. So in the Digital Culture Wiki being created as part of a submission to the National Cultural Policy, I have proposed:
- Support for Book Publishing: In the rush to video and digital on-line work the role of the humble book in Australian culture has been forgotten. However, the book is being re-borne as the e-book and Australia can have a viable e-publishing industry. This industry can be supported by Australia's libraries and universities. This will enhance the traditional role of the library as a resource for authors, for allowing them not only to research their work but prepare it for publication, submit it and also offer a not-for-profit service for free open access publishing. This will provide savings, for libraries which currently are required to purchase access to the works written by their clients.
- Reform of university presses: Currently the Australian government subsidizes non-profitable university publishers. These publishers produce works on paper which are not available to most of the Australian population. Under a revised system, universities would merge their presses into "Universities Australia e-Press" with the mission to produce cultural works on-line for free, for community benefit. ANU ePress would be used as the model for the new organization.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Australian Government Cloud Computing Centre
In a presentation on "Potential of cloud computing in government" to the "Cloud Computing Conference and Expo 2010" in Sydney on 9 September 2010, Yusuf J. Mansuri, First Assistant Secretary, ICT Strategic & Corporate Services Division, Department of Human Services discussed the idea of shared services in a whole of government cloud. He suggested that one of the major government agencies could take the lead to set up such a facility, with standards set by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) . Other agencies could then use the services provided. This would be a step beyond the shared data centre facilities already being established by government, n commercial facilities, such as Canberra Data Centres. In my presentation to the conference on "Mobility, Cloud Computing and Green IT", I suggested that data, web and application optimisations could make such facilities 10 to 100 times more efficient.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Motorised Esky at CeBit
Charles Sturt University gave away a motorised drinks cooler (the "CSU Motorised Esky") at the CeBit exhibition last week. John Ridge, Executive Director of the ACS Foundation, rode this diminutive battery electric vehicle around the exhibition floor (see video). The vehicle consists of a large rigid plastic drinks cooler fitted with batteries and an electric motor driving the two rear wheels. There is a single wheel fitted to the front with handlebars similar to a child's scooter. The rider sits on the box and places their feet on motorcycle type pegs at the front. There is a throttle and brakes. I then had a go, finding it remarkably stable and easy to operate. I took a spin through the Australian Government stand, there being a lot of unused space in the middle of this.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tweed Hat at CeBit
Dropped into the CeBit exhibition in Sydney today and left my Harris Tweed fly fisherman's hat. If anyone sees it I would be happy to have it back ( it is similar to the Brown Grouse coloured ones offered by the Spectator). The hat was purchased in Stow-on-the-Wold (near Oxford) on my way to Germany in 1994.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Mobile gaming enterprise
Greetings from the CeBit Sydney Enterprise conference, where I was part of a session of four diverse speakers this afternoon. Stephen Beachman from DB Schenker first talked about the uses for wireless technology for tracking and managing goods distribution. One example he gave was using GPS tracking and temperature sensors on sensitive loads of resin used for building parts for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in Australia. If the resin is not kept at the correct temperature in transit, it will not have the needed strength to hold the aircraft together.
Then I talked about mobile web optimisation.
Tom Crago from game developer Tantalus Media talked about the game development industry in Australia and the effect of the global financial crisis. He then discussed the difficulties of adapting to direct online sales of low coast games, as popularised by the Apple iPhone store. He is on the Department of Industry's IT Innovation body. It occurred to me that educational software was a potential area for growth. Education is a major export industry for Australian but the design of educational software is in its infancy. As online a software based education increases most of the Australian education export industry will be lost. But there is the opportunity for development of some of the software and content in Australia which will be replacing the current face-to-face manual education.
Last was Judith Lammers, from BITKOM lawyers, talking about the copyright laws around the world and various schemes for collecting copyright levies. The laws and processes vary from country to country. One interesting point was that collecting societies were considering levying "The Cloud". The reasoning behind this is that in many countries there is a levy on blank removable media, such as write-able CD-ROMs. As this storage is replaced with online storage the agencies would like to levy the online storage. A question I wanted to ask Judith about use of the Creative Commons licence, to avoid difficulties with copyright in the material. Interestingly, CeBit encouraged speakers at the conference to use CC and there was a CC logo on the bottom of each of her slides: is this something which lawyers and courts are comfortable with?
Then I talked about mobile web optimisation.
Tom Crago from game developer Tantalus Media talked about the game development industry in Australia and the effect of the global financial crisis. He then discussed the difficulties of adapting to direct online sales of low coast games, as popularised by the Apple iPhone store. He is on the Department of Industry's IT Innovation body. It occurred to me that educational software was a potential area for growth. Education is a major export industry for Australian but the design of educational software is in its infancy. As online a software based education increases most of the Australian education export industry will be lost. But there is the opportunity for development of some of the software and content in Australia which will be replacing the current face-to-face manual education.
Last was Judith Lammers, from BITKOM lawyers, talking about the copyright laws around the world and various schemes for collecting copyright levies. The laws and processes vary from country to country. One interesting point was that collecting societies were considering levying "The Cloud". The reasoning behind this is that in many countries there is a levy on blank removable media, such as write-able CD-ROMs. As this storage is replaced with online storage the agencies would like to levy the online storage. A question I wanted to ask Judith about use of the Creative Commons licence, to avoid difficulties with copyright in the material. Interestingly, CeBit encouraged speakers at the conference to use CC and there was a CC logo on the bottom of each of her slides: is this something which lawyers and courts are comfortable with?
Oceans 10
Greetings from CeBit Sydney I took time out to visit the conference next door, which is the IEEE Oceans'10 exhibition. This is on technology for ocean surveillance. Prominently on display are AUVs, the underwater equivalent of the robot aircraft which have come to prominence in the war in Afghanistan. The underwater equivalent is at an earlier stage of development, due to the difficulties of the marine environment and the conservatism of naval decision makers.
The first stand I visited was the US Navy's NAVSEA Undersea Warfare Centre Division. Dr. Thresea A. Baus is Head of Technology Partnership Enterprise Office. The US Navy helped Australia out with problems with the Collins Class submarine. If the Australian Government decides to build an even larger and more ambitious replacement for the Collins class, then it is likely that US Navy assistance will be critical to the venture having a chance of success.
CSIRO were displaying a Long Line Camera System used for recording data on Blue Fin Tuna. This is critical to international negations on the management of fish stocks. The camera is a commercial model housed in a very rugged waterproof housing. This is attached to the fishing line and is triggered by a bated acoustic tag. The tuna takes the bait, activating the camera. The pinger remains active in the fish for up to a year, allowing its migration habits to be tracked. This system has obvious
military applications, as well as its original civilian use.
DSTO were displaying several types of glider UAVs. These have proved popular in the last few years for research, allowing a long range sensor to be deployed which does not require frequent re-charging or refueling. The gliders change the buoyancy to "glide" up and down in the ocean. These units also have military application due to the silent running and long range.
DSTO has developed the Murula glider to be launched from the standard 21" torpedo tube of the Collins class submarine. However, it is likely the Collins replacement will have a tube specifically designed for launching and recovering UAVs as well as crewed midget submarines.
The first stand I visited was the US Navy's NAVSEA Undersea Warfare Centre Division. Dr. Thresea A. Baus is Head of Technology Partnership Enterprise Office. The US Navy helped Australia out with problems with the Collins Class submarine. If the Australian Government decides to build an even larger and more ambitious replacement for the Collins class, then it is likely that US Navy assistance will be critical to the venture having a chance of success.
CSIRO were displaying a Long Line Camera System used for recording data on Blue Fin Tuna. This is critical to international negations on the management of fish stocks. The camera is a commercial model housed in a very rugged waterproof housing. This is attached to the fishing line and is triggered by a bated acoustic tag. The tuna takes the bait, activating the camera. The pinger remains active in the fish for up to a year, allowing its migration habits to be tracked. This system has obvious
military applications, as well as its original civilian use.
DSTO were displaying several types of glider UAVs. These have proved popular in the last few years for research, allowing a long range sensor to be deployed which does not require frequent re-charging or refueling. The gliders change the buoyancy to "glide" up and down in the ocean. These units also have military application due to the silent running and long range.
DSTO has developed the Murula glider to be launched from the standard 21" torpedo tube of the Collins class submarine. However, it is likely the Collins replacement will have a tube specifically designed for launching and recovering UAVs as well as crewed midget submarines.
CeBit at the Art Gallery of NSW
Last night the NSW Government hosted drinks at the Art Gallery of NSW for CeBit delegates. This was a high glitz event with champagne flowing, viewings of the 2010 Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes, and live entertainment. Given that NSW Government recently had a minister resign after visitng an all male club, the night's entertainment of two men dancing a tango was somewhat unfortunate. The highlight of the evening was walking up to the north east corner of the gallery with floor to ceiling glass walls providing a panoramic view of Sydney, while wine and cheese was served.
CeBit Best of the Show
A the CeBit Sydney show some exhibits stood out. The first I noticed was ThinLinx, a small Queensland start-up making Linux thin client computers for the education and retail sector. I visited John Nichols, CEO of ThinLinx, in 2007. Their latest products have hardware to accelerate the display of graphics intensive remote Linux and Microsoft Windows applications.
In addition to their Mobile Office, the Australian Government had a very large, very bare and very perplexing display. This consisted of a large empty space surrounded by little booths. Each boot had a public servant trying to explain something. Most of the public servants were having difficulty explaining what it is they ere showing or how this might be of interest to the IT industry. Most interesting was the Atherton Tablelands GIS, which is using open source software and mapping data for bushfire hazard mapping and services planning.
The Human Services Portfolio were looking to recruit staff for ICT jobs. Unfortunately this was difficult to work out from the brochures and sales pitch, which was about the benefits of "ICT in the Human Services Portfolio". I suggest they need to clearly and explicitly say something like: "We have ICT Jobs".
AGIMO were doing a little better at their booth, promoting the APS ICT Cadetship Program. This seeks to recruit ICT students before they have finished their courses. However, I was not really aware of this program and given I teach ICT students at the Federal Government's own university, using examples from the federal government, the promotion seems to be lacking.
The least successful of the Australian Government booths was the Australian Tax Office, demonstrating their "Analysts Workbench". This is a faculty to help ATO investigators looking for tax evaders. This appears to be excellent software, but demonstrating it to people at a computer show seems pointless. I asked if I could use the software and was told it was only available to staff at the tax office. So I asked why they were showing it to me, the response was that this was what they had been told to demonstrate and so that is what they were demonstrating. It seems to me that it would be better to demonstrate some of the open source software ATO uses, as that is publicly availble. At this point someone from AGIMO came over and explained that the purpose of the demonstration as to recruit IT staff to tax. Unfortunately the people from tax appeared unaware of this.
Also on display were brochures and CD-ROMs for VANguard. This appears to be another in a long series of attempts by the AUstrlaian Government to provide e-authentication services for business. This one is provided by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. There was no one to ask about it and it is not clear what this has to do with similar authentication systems from the Tax office and other federal agencies. In the last decade or so I have been issued with digital credentials from several agencies, none of which worked.
In contrast to the Australian Government display, the NSW Government had a very lively stand, with many small booths showcasing products from small NSW companies. One of these was Nortech Australia, with EDI products (I gave them some quick advice on their web site design).
One trend at the exhibition was the number of companies from China. There was a long row of companies from Shenzhen, selling mostly hardware. Some other regional booths I never managed to find, such as those for the City of Adelaide, Canberra, and the UK West Midlands.
Not all the problems with displays at the show were from government. Richard Fugeisang had an excellent booth promoting his forthcomming new magazne "Government Technology Review". This sounded interestng as the first edition would feature Green ICT. But when I tried the web address for this, I got the "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Test Page", indicating that no web pags had been installed. It seems a shame to go to the trouble to have a trade display at an international conference, but not bother to at least put one page of information on the web about the product.
The last trend I noted at the show were modular data centres. ICS Industries had modular equipment shelters made from sandwich panels. These are two sheets of metal with insulating board between. The result is a lightweight, strong, well insulated, modular computer room.
MBS were displaying their modular buildings for computer rooms and computer classrooms. MBS built one of these at the ANU. Unfortunately this was not styled or positioned to fit well with existing ANU buildings, but it is not the fault of MBS.
In addition to their Mobile Office, the Australian Government had a very large, very bare and very perplexing display. This consisted of a large empty space surrounded by little booths. Each boot had a public servant trying to explain something. Most of the public servants were having difficulty explaining what it is they ere showing or how this might be of interest to the IT industry. Most interesting was the Atherton Tablelands GIS, which is using open source software and mapping data for bushfire hazard mapping and services planning.
The Human Services Portfolio were looking to recruit staff for ICT jobs. Unfortunately this was difficult to work out from the brochures and sales pitch, which was about the benefits of "ICT in the Human Services Portfolio". I suggest they need to clearly and explicitly say something like: "We have ICT Jobs".
AGIMO were doing a little better at their booth, promoting the APS ICT Cadetship Program. This seeks to recruit ICT students before they have finished their courses. However, I was not really aware of this program and given I teach ICT students at the Federal Government's own university, using examples from the federal government, the promotion seems to be lacking.
The least successful of the Australian Government booths was the Australian Tax Office, demonstrating their "Analysts Workbench". This is a faculty to help ATO investigators looking for tax evaders. This appears to be excellent software, but demonstrating it to people at a computer show seems pointless. I asked if I could use the software and was told it was only available to staff at the tax office. So I asked why they were showing it to me, the response was that this was what they had been told to demonstrate and so that is what they were demonstrating. It seems to me that it would be better to demonstrate some of the open source software ATO uses, as that is publicly availble. At this point someone from AGIMO came over and explained that the purpose of the demonstration as to recruit IT staff to tax. Unfortunately the people from tax appeared unaware of this.
Also on display were brochures and CD-ROMs for VANguard. This appears to be another in a long series of attempts by the AUstrlaian Government to provide e-authentication services for business. This one is provided by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. There was no one to ask about it and it is not clear what this has to do with similar authentication systems from the Tax office and other federal agencies. In the last decade or so I have been issued with digital credentials from several agencies, none of which worked.
In contrast to the Australian Government display, the NSW Government had a very lively stand, with many small booths showcasing products from small NSW companies. One of these was Nortech Australia, with EDI products (I gave them some quick advice on their web site design).
One trend at the exhibition was the number of companies from China. There was a long row of companies from Shenzhen, selling mostly hardware. Some other regional booths I never managed to find, such as those for the City of Adelaide, Canberra, and the UK West Midlands.
Not all the problems with displays at the show were from government. Richard Fugeisang had an excellent booth promoting his forthcomming new magazne "Government Technology Review". This sounded interestng as the first edition would feature Green ICT. But when I tried the web address for this, I got the "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Test Page", indicating that no web pags had been installed. It seems a shame to go to the trouble to have a trade display at an international conference, but not bother to at least put one page of information on the web about the product.
The last trend I noted at the show were modular data centres. ICS Industries had modular equipment shelters made from sandwich panels. These are two sheets of metal with insulating board between. The result is a lightweight, strong, well insulated, modular computer room.
MBS were displaying their modular buildings for computer rooms and computer classrooms. MBS built one of these at the ANU. Unfortunately this was not styled or positioned to fit well with existing ANU buildings, but it is not the fault of MBS.
Monday, May 24, 2010
CeBit Sydney Opens with Innovative Thinking
Greetings from the opening of CeBit Sydney. I arrived a little late, towards the end of the opening plenary session. David Gonski, from Investec was answering a question on education for innovation. He was arguing against closed book examinations: it is not about the memorisation of facts, but what you can do with the information. He was also arguing against short term-ism. This stuck a cord with me, as I am have told my colleagues at ANU I will no longer set closed book paper based examinations. and am talking on this nxt month at the Moodle conference in Melbourne: "Using Moodle for Postgraduate Professional Education with eBooks and Smartphones".
Dr. Werner Vogels, from Amazon Web Services was the next speaker and was a disappointment. In his own words Dr. Vogels was doing a self serving sales pitch for Amazon's cloud computing services (he was intending to be ironic, but it was an accurate description of the presentation). He claimed cloud computing is a new and disruptive technology. These claims are, of course, nonsense.
Cloud computing is a reworking of the idea of computer bureaus, which are decades old. This concept is so old than many now in IT and business are not aware of it, as computer bureaus died out long before they were borne. Cloud computing is different in that it provides higher levels of standardisation and has a standard network technology (The Internet). But otherwise cloud computing is just 21st. century computer bureaus. The same business and technical issues apply as were investigated extensively decades ago.
Before accepting any of the claims Dr. Vogels made in his extended sales pitch today it would be useful to look back at the literature and see what experience showed about the benefits and problems of this, one of the oldest concepts in computing. Professor Roger Clarke will be doing that 28 May 2010 at the ANU in Canberra with a seminar on "User Requirements for Cloud Computing Architecture".
CeBit Sydney are running seven parallel conferences over several days as well as a trade exhibition. The plenary session I am in seems to be about half full. I am speaking tomorrow in the enterprise conference on mobile web (at last I think that is what I am speaking in, as it was changed and I find the parallel conference streams bewildering).
My presentation is about how to optimise web sites for mobile devices and search optimisation. As usual, I prepared my presentation as a web page of notes which, via some extra CSS and Javascript turns into a slide show. Ironically for a conference about use of the web, this is something the CeBit organiser have been unable to cope with and keep asking for Powerpoint slides.
In contrast to CeBit, the Moodle Moot in Melbourne in July is a good example of this new approach. The Moot is doing the obvious and using Moodle to help with the organising. Each speaker gets a Moodle "Course" on the conference web site to provide materials about their presentation (mine is: "Using Moodle for Postgraduate Professional Education with eBooks and Smartphones". The course is pre-filled with the abstract for the presentation, but the speaker can add other materials and use Moodle's interactive features to contact the delegates, before, during and after the event.
The CeBit event has partners including the Department of Defence (DSTO), NICTA and CSIRO. It is not clear why these organisations are spending funds on such an event. These organisations are not in the business of selling products and there does not seem to be a good reason to spend public money on such promotion.
However, these are minor quibbles over what is the least important part of a conference. Unless I am speaking, I usually avoid attending the formal presentations of a conference. What is important for me are the informal contacts outside the sessions and the trade exhibition. By these criteria CeBit has already been a success. As I was queuing to get my badge I saw two people I needed to talk to. I have not been to the exhibition floor, but expect it to be as good as usual.
Dr. Werner Vogels, from Amazon Web Services was the next speaker and was a disappointment. In his own words Dr. Vogels was doing a self serving sales pitch for Amazon's cloud computing services (he was intending to be ironic, but it was an accurate description of the presentation). He claimed cloud computing is a new and disruptive technology. These claims are, of course, nonsense.
Cloud computing is a reworking of the idea of computer bureaus, which are decades old. This concept is so old than many now in IT and business are not aware of it, as computer bureaus died out long before they were borne. Cloud computing is different in that it provides higher levels of standardisation and has a standard network technology (The Internet). But otherwise cloud computing is just 21st. century computer bureaus. The same business and technical issues apply as were investigated extensively decades ago.
Before accepting any of the claims Dr. Vogels made in his extended sales pitch today it would be useful to look back at the literature and see what experience showed about the benefits and problems of this, one of the oldest concepts in computing. Professor Roger Clarke will be doing that 28 May 2010 at the ANU in Canberra with a seminar on "User Requirements for Cloud Computing Architecture".
CeBit Sydney are running seven parallel conferences over several days as well as a trade exhibition. The plenary session I am in seems to be about half full. I am speaking tomorrow in the enterprise conference on mobile web (at last I think that is what I am speaking in, as it was changed and I find the parallel conference streams bewildering).
My presentation is about how to optimise web sites for mobile devices and search optimisation. As usual, I prepared my presentation as a web page of notes which, via some extra CSS and Javascript turns into a slide show. Ironically for a conference about use of the web, this is something the CeBit organiser have been unable to cope with and keep asking for Powerpoint slides.
In contrast to CeBit, the Moodle Moot in Melbourne in July is a good example of this new approach. The Moot is doing the obvious and using Moodle to help with the organising. Each speaker gets a Moodle "Course" on the conference web site to provide materials about their presentation (mine is: "Using Moodle for Postgraduate Professional Education with eBooks and Smartphones". The course is pre-filled with the abstract for the presentation, but the speaker can add other materials and use Moodle's interactive features to contact the delegates, before, during and after the event.
The CeBit event has partners including the Department of Defence (DSTO), NICTA and CSIRO. It is not clear why these organisations are spending funds on such an event. These organisations are not in the business of selling products and there does not seem to be a good reason to spend public money on such promotion.
However, these are minor quibbles over what is the least important part of a conference. Unless I am speaking, I usually avoid attending the formal presentations of a conference. What is important for me are the informal contacts outside the sessions and the trade exhibition. By these criteria CeBit has already been a success. As I was queuing to get my badge I saw two people I needed to talk to. I have not been to the exhibition floor, but expect it to be as good as usual.
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