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Using Biological Constructs As Metaphors For Developing System Architecture

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Last week I read about a research team at Harvard lead by George Church that encoded Church’s next book in DNA. As the write-up in the Harvard Medical School web page, http://hms.harvard.edu/content/writing-book-dna, said:

“Although George Church’s next book doesn’t hit the shelves until Oct. 2, it has already passed an enviable benchmark: 70 billion copies—roughly triple the sum of the top 100 books of all time.”

A Wall Street Journal write-up by Robert Lee Hotz, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444233104577593291643488120.html?mod=e2tw, quoted Church as pointing out that:

“A device the size of your thumb could store as much information as the whole Internet”

The articles go on to talk about the issues involved with the achievement, for example currently it is only possible to read the information sequentially and both reading and writing is slow, all of which in the end are engineering issues which will be solved over time.

The interesting issue to me is how it is increasingly useful to use biological metaphors to drive thinking about systems design and architecture and in more recent times of course using actual biology itself. And while we use the words, I am not convinced we have thought through all of the implications.

Using Biological Constructs As Metaphors For Developing System Architecture

A Visit to Cornerstone Christian Church

A few weeks ago, early on a Saturday morning, I found myself at the Cornerstone Christian Church in Richmond, VA, sitting in a chair in the Church social hall. Facing me were perhaps 15 young (and not so young) immigrants from various parts of Sudan.

I had wrestled for perhaps two weeks since I was invited to kick off a two-day seminar on volunteer organizing, trying to figure out what I could offer that would be of value. For each of these immigrants were members of the Lost Boys (or Girls) of Sudan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Sudan.A Visit to Cornerstone Christian Church

My GWU Discussion – Part 3 – What to do About Cybersecurity

This is my third (and thankfully to most readers, last) post about a class at I gave at George Washington University earlier this year. The professor, Dr. Robert McCreight, invites me to be a guest lecturer on cyber-security from time to time. I posted a copy of my slides in the previous two posts and do so again here:

George Washington University Slides on Cyber-Security

In the last post I returned as I often do to the question “How to be secure when each component of your solution is itself insecure?”. I find that most practitioners, and in particular their management, are in denial on this issue. While my first suggested step which is to practice security hygiene is useful it does not help against a determined attacker.

While I am not sure if anything short of not connecting to anyone will work all the time, two possible approaches seem promising.

My GWU Discussion – Part 3 – What to do About Cybersecurity

My Guest Lecture at George Washington University on Cybersecurity

Every year or so I am lucky to be invited by Dr. Robert McCreight who teaches a graduate class on National Security and Technology to be a guest lecturer on Cybersecurity.

Since the classes I teach at the University of Maryland and Syracuse University are on-line distance learning, it is always a treat for me to have actual live students in the same classroom as I am to interact with. This year the exchange of information was really great, Dr. McCreight has a wonderful class. For all of these activities, I deal with what I call the “avoidance of appearing like an idiot in front of people syndrome”, which forces me to at least to scan and keep up with the literature before the class is held.

While I am one of those people who learn best by doing, being able to talk to and/or discuss with bright students is still very helpful and fun to do.

I have posted my presentation below and during the next few weeks hope to write a few columns based on the later slides, of course I have still not written my last two posts I promised on cloud computing, as as usual what I plan to do with this blog and what actually happens continues to diverge.

My Guest Lecture at George Washington University on Cybersecurity

My Slides from the University of Maryland University College 2010 Annual Cybersecurity and Homeland Defense Symposium

Last month I was the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland University College 2010 Annual Cybersecurity and Homeland Defense Symposium and Job Fair, http://www.umuc.edu/securitystudies/cybersymposium_agenda.shtml.

A few people asked me to post my presentation, but I have found that my current job as the COO at Powertek Corporation has caused me to miss many of my self-imposed deadlines for doing many things, including updating my blog.My Slides from the University of Maryland University College 2010 Annual Cybersecurity and Homeland Defense Symposium

Cloud Computing Panel at the Cloud Computing Summit

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There was a joke that circulated years ago that if you wanted to get additional budget for IT you just said it was for ‘The Internet’. No one was quite clear as to what they would do, but they knew they wanted to be on, or in, or connected to it.

In the Pentagon that joke morphed. Whenever someone wanted to get additional budget, the reason was to ‘Deal With China’. Well, in fact, maybe that is still true.

In technology today, the current budget justification phrase is ‘Cloud Computing’. Except in this case, exactly what Cloud Computing is or what it can do is even less clear than normal. On the other hand, that lack of clarity means there are lots and lots of meetings, seminars, and conferences that deal with trying to define Cloud Computing and provide advice on what to do about it.

In that context, I was on a panel Monday, May 3, that discussed Cloud Computing and the kinds of new skills that would be needed to support Cloud initiatives, http://events.1105govinfo.com/Events/Cloud-Computing-Summit-2010/Sessions/Monday/CC4.aspx.
Cloud Computing Panel at the Cloud Computing Summit

School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, Upstate CIO Conference

This coming Friday, April 16, the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University is hosting a conference to bring together CIO’s and Academic leaders to discuss some of the current issues facing IT. The conference welcome describes the nature of the conference pretty clearly:

“Welcome to the first Upstate CIO Conference, where CIOs from Upstate New York will connect, discuss industry trends and emerging technologies, and inform course content for information executives.

The Upstate CIO Conference is a one-day conference, held on Friday, April 16, 2010, at the School of Information Studies (iSchool) on the Syracuse University campus. The conference brings together Upstate CIOs and information technology professors to explore how academic research and professional experience come together to create innovative solutions to industry challenges, create industry trends, and educate professionals who can meet the needs of the 21st century global workplace.”School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, Upstate CIO Conference