Category: Random observations

Ben’s rebuttal in our debate on context can be found here. I’ll be following this up offline with Ben, because there are definitely fundamental divergences in our views on this matter. In fact I’ve written a small thesis in response, but I’ll spare the general public from it. The gist of my reply is this:

1. I am aware of Paul Dourish’s work, and I absolutely reject the idea that his so called phenomenological view of context is any different to what most computer scientists understand context to be. I think he’s cleverly narrowed the definitions contained in other works to exclude the concepts of relations between objects and actions, scoping (i.e. deciding what is relevant, which is something that I’ve already agreed is problem to be solved) and dynamic context definitions.
2. Ben’s closing statement takes our debate from being about something very specific (i.e. context) to a more general discussion about UbiComp in general. I completely agree that we need solutions that support people (in fact the opening passages of my thesis state something very similar). But this is very high-level and abstract, and eventually concrete concepts (such a context) must be identified and dealt with if we are to actually solve any problems rather than just talk about them.
3. Ben says that context is subjective because the way the world is interpreted right now is shaped by past experience and action. But that’s just another way of saying that current context is partly constituted by past experiences (i.e. historical contexts). Many people have thought about context histories and the way it affects the current context. (Note that I did not rig the results of Google Scholar: the highest ranked result just happens to be a Pervasive 2002 paper written by some people at ITEE/DSTC.)
4. Just because something exhibits emergence does not mean it cannot be represented. And assuming, for the sake of argument, that something can’t be represented, then how will it ever lead to the betterment of the human-computer interface (because, eventually, if you actually want to progress a concept, it needs to be represented)? James Cole whose Ph.D topic poses the question "What is Information?" can probably shed more light than I can on the fundamental importance of representation.
5. Finally, while it is always possible to find new facts, relations and context types that may be relevant to a specific context, the general definition of context does not change, regardless of whether you look at it from an engineering stand point, a HCI standpoint or any other standpoint.

So, it’s finally happened: Rhys has started a blog, although, in a move likely to put a hex on the whole damn thing before it gets off the ground, it isn’t called Shoes With Zippers, as Ben has already pointed out. So, Rhys, are you going to accept the music meme baton that I passed you a while back? Likely answer: "er, no."

Last night’s State of Origin match was a classic. Queensland won it in extra time on the Golden Point rule. Great match. I thought this morning’s Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan would be hard pressed to top last night in terms of excitement. Boy was I wrong, and I’m glad I made the effort to get up at 4:45am to watch it. At half time, AC Milan were absolutely cruising. They were up three nil at the break. Then the unbelievable happened. Liverpool scored three goals within the space of seven or eight minutes to level the scores. This is unheard of in Champions League history, and to have it occur against an Italian team, who are reknowned for their ability to defend the most slender of leads, is simply miraculous. It stayed that way until penalties, though Andriy Shevchenko had what looked like a certain goal saved by Jerzy Dudek in extra time. Liverpool won the penalty shoot out 3-2, with Jerzy Dudek again the hero, saving two penalties and watching one sail over the bar. Justice be done, in my opinion, because Milan didn’t deserve to progress past PSV Eindhoven at the semi-final stage. I’ll remember this final for a long time to come. "Never say die" has been given new meaning.

An article from ABC news online reports that a BT scientist, Ian Pearson, thinks that by 2050 it will be possible for a person’s mind to be downloaded and stored by a supercomputer, rather like the constructs that William Gibson envisioned in Neuromancer and subsequent novels. The difference is that Gibson’s constructs were recorded personalities (they respond to questions, but they are not conscious), whereas Pearson is talking about downloading somebody’s mind and having that mind continue on in a conscious state. His belief that this may be possible as early as 2050 seems to be premised upon the rapid advances in computing power. However, surely our knowledge of what constitutes intelligence and consciousness is not advancing at the same rapid rate. Until we fully understand how the human brain operates, I don’t see how it is possible to download somebody’s mind and have it do anything constructive. See, this is a substantially different problem to the one of AI, because it is conceivable, even likely, that the human brain is not the only entity capable of exhibiting intelligence. It might therefore be possible to create an entity that exhibits intelligence, which bears no similarity to the human brain. To have somebody’s mind execute, for want of a better word, on a computer, entails understanding the machine it was intended to operate on: the human brain. Figuring out the human brain (i.e. the hardware) is one thing; replicating that machine in hardware or software is another thing altogether.

While holidaying in France, Karen and I tried a few different wines. I’ve put together a gallery showing a sample of wines we drank. Rosé was our primary tipple, and most of the bottles cost less than €2. Even the fancier stuff from the Ackerman – Rémy Pannier cellar in Saumur only cost between €5 and €6. You can see the gallery here.

Yesterday I splurged on two CDs from The Cat Empire: one album is called, The Cat Empire and the other is called Two Shoes. The band hails from Melbourne, and they play sort of Latin influenced Jazz with a hint of reggae, overlaid with Australian style cosmopolitan hip-hop vocals.

I just noticed that Two Shoes is at the top of the Australian charts, so the above introduction to The Cat Empire probably wasn’t necessary. :)

Karen and I have selected 160 photos from our holiday in France, Belgium and Holland. Here’s one to get you started.

Yesterday evening I found out that Jaga and I had a paper accepted to the Ninth International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems (KES 2005), Special (Invited) Session on Complex Adaptive Systems. The paper is essentially a cut down version of half of the analysis chapter of my thesis (the bit that deals with the ant foraging stuff). The conference will be held in Melbourne in mid-September.

Note: holiday photos will be posted by the end of the week.

As previously mentioned, I’ve taken a development job in Toowong. The company I work for is, for the moment, called global-roam. (I’m told the "roam" part is derived from the initials of the co-founders of the company, one of whom is my boss.) Anyway, global-roam develops software for participants in the National Energy Market (NEM), and has been doing so since 2000. Some of global-roam’s products are already used by close to, if not more than, 50 percent of the participants in the supply-side of the market.

I’m attempting to learn the ins and outs of the NEM while I work on deSide (demand-side), an application intended for use by large energy consumers who buy their electricity directly from the spot market rather than buying it from an energy retailer (like Energex). Large energy consumers, like smelters and so forth, are finding they can save lots of money by buying energy directly from the spot market if they are willing to take the risk (the price of electricity on the spot market fluctuates like a yo-yo; and I thought the price of petrol was the worst offender!). deSide is also an excellent tool for any company considering the possibility of purchasing energy directly from the market.

In addition to general development, I’ve also been tasked with looking at ways to improve the distributed systems aspects of global-roam’s applications (none of global-roam’s applications is a standalone piece of software; there are a host of distributed computing and networks problems to stay on top of).

So that’s what I’m doing. It’s very different from research (although the dress code appears to be just as informal), but I’m enjoying it.