As some of you may know, I’m interested in landscape archaeology – looking at what’s around me in the landscape and tracing features and signs of previous land use. As part of my study, I’m learning to recognise features that might be quite old and to deduce the reasons that they are there. It’s more [...]
No system is going to be successful if the end users reject it, that’s self-evident. But how do you make sure that it’s as much their baby as yours? Part of my analysis process is to test out the TRUTHs, POLICYs, LAWs and WISHes that I discover, by running them past as many interested parties [...]
Listening to Radio 4 this morning (I love Farming Today!), I was listening to the news reporting that Jack Straw has executed a u-turn on the plan to build large prisons. To my amazement, people were mocking him for having changed his mind. Much as I generally dislike Jack Straw, my opinion of him improved [...]
Whilst I don’t want to appear to dismiss the pain of those who have been unfortunate enough to lose jobs or income as a result of the economic downturn, it appears that it’s a really exciting time for those of us who enjoy making things better. Most companies have some form of IT infrastructure: you [...]
I love the Internet, I do, I really do, but it wears me out. I have more RSS feeds in my feedreader than I have time to read, and I come across more every day that interest me. The Internet is absolutely fatal to anyone with wide-ranging interests: it’s so easy to overdo the information [...]
I realised the other day, as I professed ignorance to the whereabouts of Edmonton, that there is seldom an excuse for ignorance these days, if you have any kind of Internet connection. A few moments with the web browser of my choice and not only would I know where it was but I could also [...]
Human beings have always sought to make sense of their environment by labelling things (even if it was just different shades of “ugg” for a while). The modern (don’t make me say Web 2.0) web projects are popular, mainly because they give us a chance to label things for ourselves. Everyone’s understanding is different, and [...]
As a precocious (their words, not mine) 10/11 year old, I used to be given the books of my peers to check spelling tests, and was assigned as mentor to a couple of the less able members of my class. I wonder how Daniel is getting on these days.. I also have some memories of [...]
Obligatory comment on X-UA-Compatible
This strikes me as a continuation of those ‘Best viewed in $browsername $version’ badges, that irritate me beyond all measure. I will use what version and what browser I choose, to consume your content. If I choose to have the text chiselled out onto the back of a passing badger, that is *my* choice. At [...]