I am finishing up grading final papers for my Syracuse University class on security policy. Each semester I find I learn a great deal from reading the papers and interacting with the students about them.… Brief Thoughts On Security and Other IT Policies
Apropos of nothing in particular and to take a brief break from grading research papers from my University of Maryland class I teach, I was again reminded of one of the problems I have with… Signature Lines on Email
In my previous entry regarding Cloud Computing, I discussed briefly one of the major reasons why organizations are turning to the cloud, saving costs. I pointed out some of the issues involved in achievable that goal.
While I also consider the possibility of cost savings associated with Cloud Computing important, I believe other implications are more important in the long-term. I discuss a second one today, and will touch on two more in the next few blog entries.
When we start thinking about moving applications to the cloud it leads us to reconsider how we develop applications. This change in thinking has, as a foundation, the move to object oriented design, and has been encouraged by a change in conceptual ownership. I talk about both of these in this post.Cloud Computing Thoughts – Part II
The Cloud Computing freight train roars on, if not with a lot of motion, at least with a lot of noise and tumult.
I have been part of a number of panels over the last few months which focused on the subject of Cloud Computing, the current state of the’art’, and as usual what barriers exist that need to be dealt with to make it easier to utilize. There certainly has been much written about it both pro and con and it remains a high-priority focus for the current Administrator and, in particular, Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO.
For one of the graduate classes I am teaching this semester at the University of Maryland University College, the subject is touched upon as part of a broad look at technology changes and implications. The topic generated much comment by my students.
It seems to me that the subject starts from the wrong side of the discussion, the technology side. When the discussion turns to the impact, it starts at an important but not the most important concern, that of return-on-investment (ROI).
Today and in a number of future blog entries, I will talk about what I think are the current important issues associated with cloud computing. Today I start with what I perceive as a foundational issue, cost, but later in the week will move to what I believe are more important considerations and goals.
Note: I do not plan to rehash what cloud computing is, or is not, there are too many other write-ups that do this. Look at the National Institutes of Standards work on such definitions, I think it is pretty good.Cloud Computing Thoughts – Part I
Two events happened today that are at least in my mind related. First when I woke up I checked my emails for the two classes I am teaching through distance learning, at the University of… Remember to Vote
standing on a steet corner, my wife reads to me from a book she is reading, Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, http://www.amazon.com/Start-up-Nation-Israels-Economic-Miracle/dp/044654146X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288525742&sr=8-1. A reporter comes up and asks “Excuse me, what is your… So there is an American, a Russian, a Chinese, and an Israeli …
I rarely talk directly about political issues here, but I was struck by the NBC evening news tonight; normally I don’t see it but my wife often has NBC local or national news on in… Halloween Versus Campaigns
I have been giving a lot of thought lately about the impact of technology being integrated into everything.
In a separate post, I will talk more about that, but until I get that written, one of my students in my Syracuse University class on CIO on “CIO’s and the Global Enterprise”, wrote an interesting discussion about Ambient Organizations.
As I understand the various phrases that use the word ambient in this context, what is being said is that we come across information all the time; conversations, books we read, news sources, and so on. Over time even when we do not realize it, we tend to process and integrate this information often in unexpected ways. This is becoming even more relevant as the number of information sources and the pervasiveness of them increases.
For a simple example, for those of us who participate in such things as twitter or facebook, it is not infrequent that we when we run into someone for the first time physically that we are connected to on one of these social networks, it is as if we already know them. Even when we didn’t notice it, we pick up on what a person is interested in and what their opinions on a variety of topics are.
Helen Patricia McKenna is one of my students in this semester’s CIO class, the class itself in fact is completely on-line; taught asynchronously – that is, no direct lectures. It is part of the on-line graduate curricula at Syracuse University’s iSchool, http://ischool.syr.edu/. She often posts very interesting comments, this one I thought was of particular interest – I will warn those who go on, that in addition to being interesting it is a bit long.
BTW, in the interests of full-disclosure, I also teach at the University of Maryland University College. I find that the “do not want to appear like an idiot” syndrome forces me to keep relatively up-to-date in the topic areas I teach – which typically range from Cyber-Security Policy to CIO Management to IT Acquisition.Ambient Knowledge
This morning my wife mentioned that she was going out to Target.
“Did I want anything”, she asked. “What do they sell at Target?”, I wondered aloud.
“Well,” she said, “would you like detergent?”
“What?”, I responded in confusion, “Detergent?”
“Yes”, she said, “Would you like some laundry detergent for your clothes?”
“You know,” I said, “In almost 30 years of marriage, I can honestly say you have never asked me that question before. I have no idea as to if or what detergent I would need. I have never figured out which kind works with what kind of clothes or in what circumstances. I just take the container closest to the washing machine and hope that is the one that would work best.”Philosophy of Life
We started our penultimate day on our Nova Scotia adventure by going to the Cows manufacturing plant where they make cheese, most recently butter, and most important what is considered by a number of sources the best ice cream in the world, www.cows.ca.
We took the tour along with a number of other visitors, including four guys who were members of the Harley Davidson club in Idaho Falls, Idaho. They brought along with them their fake snake Chester. It turns out they hold a 50-50 raffle each meeting. The winner not only gets 50% of the money paid into the pot but they also get Chester who (which?) they are obligated to take around with them until the next meeting where they hopefully will not be a repeat winner.Ellen & Dan’s Excellent Adventure in Nova Scotia – Day 7