One might imagine the idea of letting the fans pick the team could drive the manager crazy, but here’s the reaction from Ebbsfleet United’s manager, former Ireland international Liam Daish:

Everyone has worked wonders to get this club into the top half of the Conference. We all agree the club needs something extra to take it to the next step. As a football fan, I think the MyFootballClub idea is fantastic. And as the coach, I look forward to the challenge of working with thousands of members to produce a winning team. Alan Kimble and myself are 100% committed to making this work.

I think “challenge” is the key word in that quote.

I can relate to the presentation, titled The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Interaction Design, and its authors, Schulze & Webb, on a number of different levels. For starters, they use the example of football, specifically that magical goal Argentina scored against Serbia and Montenegro in the 2006 World Cup, to illustrate the concept that the means or the experience is more important to most people than the end result. In scoring that beautiful goal, Argentina strung together 24 passes before Cambiasso struck the ball into the back of the net. Football fans all over the world appreciate that goal because of the lead up to it, not the goal itself. This is also one of the reasons why football lovers can tolerate nil-all draws, and indeed why it can be truthfully said that some nil-all draws are more enjoyable than games in which five goals are scored: there’s so much more to the game than the goals. But football is only the most obvious example. The same can be said of other sports from cricket (the innings-long battle between batsman and bowler, rather than the fall of the wicket) to tennis (the rallies, rather than the rally-ending shot). Anyway, using football to illustrate a neat concept is a sure way to get me on side!

Their presentation also resonates with my recently written “About” page. They both speak of thresholds, boundaries and tipping points. They both talk about figuring out how to develop new things that harmonise with human experience and the human cognitive model (I love their bumptunes hack for the Powerbook; I wonder if the MacBook Pro has an accelerometer?).

Several months before submitting my Ph.D. thesis, I made the decision that I wanted to refocus my subsequent pervasive computing research more towards the user, or at the very least, to ensure that if I was going to be developing middleware to support pervasive computing applications, I would lobby hard to have some time and resources set aside to build decent, cool applications to exercise that middleware. It turns out I didn’t have to lobby that hard! But the point I’m trying to make here is that the Schulze & Webb presentation has provided a timely reminder of why I made that decision to think more about the user in the work that I do: it’s because in the research space I work in, that’s where the rubber hits the road. You can build middleware, context management systems and so forth, but in the end, it’s all in support of what the user wants to do, and it’s a fun challenge figuring out neat applications that people actually want to use because they’re a joy to use.

The challenge in my particular line of work is this: how do you create applications for emergency and disaster prediction, response and recovery which are “fun” to use? How do you design an application for the emergency services sector which creates an experience as pleasurable as watching Argentina’s second goal against Serbia & Montenegro in the World Cup? Is it even appropriate to create fun applications for an industry that, by definition, regularly deals with human tragedy? I hope the answer to the third question is a resounding “yes” if the applications help to save more lives than would otherwise be the case. Perhaps the word I’m looking for isn’t “fun” but “rewarding”. An application that makes its user feel rewarded for using it is a successful application because, presumably, the user will want to continue using it. An emergency worker feels rewarded if they are saving lives and making snap decisions that turn out to be good ones. Therefore, I think a good reformulation of my goal while I remain part of the SAFE project at NICTA is this: to develop rewarding applications (and supporting infrastructure) for the emergency services sector. This isn’t far off my official job description, but what it does is bring into sharp focus the importance of considering the users’ experiences as they interact with the application and system.

Thank you Ben. Thank you Schulze & Webb.

Italy had the better of the first half, but France completely dominated the second half and extra time with some brilliant moments provided by Malouda, Ribbery, Henry and Zidane. Italy had a goal disallowed for offside in one of their rare attacking moments of the second period. Zidane could have sealed victory in extra time with an unopposed header, but Buffon kept Italy in the game with an excellent save.

Zidane was sent off in extra time for a blatant head-butt to Materazzi’s chest. Why, oh why oh why did you have to end your career like that Zizou? Nobody wants to remember Zinedine Zidane, surely one of the greatest players ever to have graced a football field, for that one moment of sheer stupidity.

The Australian team have done the nation proud. It was a wonderful ride while it lasted. Revenge in four years.

On Wednesday I was told that I’d have to fly to Sydney on Friday to attend a couple of seminars on behalf of NICTA Queensland. If I’d flown down on Friday morning, I’d have missed the TV coverage of the game because I’d have been in a taxi at the time. So I decided, screw it, I’m going a day early so I could watch the coverage. There was no way in the wide world I was going to miss that match. It turns out that if I’d flown down on Friday morning my plane would have been diverted due to fog anyway, and I wouldn’t have been able to attend the seminars anyway. The second seminar was cancelled because the Boeing guy who was giving the seminar got diverted to Melbourne because of the fog. So all-in-all it worked out really well.

The way football has suddenly captured the imagination of this country is absolutely unbelievable. The flight attendants were saying they couldn’t wait for the match against Italy on Tuesday morning. The major free to air channels have had extended coverage of the Australian team. A Current Affair is doing interviews with footballers’ wives. Ken Sutcliffe has said that the Australia v Croatia game was the best moment of his career as a sports presenter. The country has gone football crazy. It feels kind of weird that everyone is suddenly embracing the sport, but I guess that’s what we always wanted. I also get the feeling that this support won’t be fickle. I think the A-League can expect a very good season in terms of attendances. Qualifying for the round of sixteen means that the FFA receives more money than they expected to get from this World Cup. So the game is finally on a strong financial footing in this country. What’s scary is that Australia hasn’t yet won the World Cup, but the celebrations sparked by qualifying for the next round are bigger than anything this country has seen in sport. It’s wonderful!

Brazil were an improved side from the one that played Croatia just under a week ago, but they were still far from their entertaining best. In truth they were more than lucky to walk away with all three points (apparently this bit needs explaining: you get three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss) after scoring two goals and somehow managing to keep Australia scoreless. Though Australia lost the game, I think they played very well and deserved a point from the match. As it is, Australia now needs a result against Croatia to progress to the round of sixteen. Australia should be confident of beating Croatia, although a draw is all that’s needed. Croatia are having a harder time scoring than Australia is, and I think Australia looks stronger and fitter than the Croatian team. Hiddink has got the Australians well organised, so Croatia should find it very difficult to break down the Aussie defence. Still, anything can happen. Let’s hope the Australian’s have a good win.

Just fantastic. Won’t say any more.

I found the opening ceremony as boring as hell, not to put it too bluntly. Good thing the opening match was highly entertaining, which is slightly unusual.

I hope Australia wins tonight. I’m predicting a 2-2 draw, though I’m not sure why. However, there’s a niggling thought that keeps popping into my head telling me the score will be 3-2, and I just hope it’s in Australia’s favour.

1. Brazil
2. Croatia
3. Australia
4. Japan

Australia’s been drawn in a tough group. It’s probably the strongest group after the one containing Argentina and the Netherlands.

For the record my fiancée will be barracking for the Netherlands (because she’s half Dutch, although I secretly think she’s just being difficult) and Harry Kewell (because she thinks he’s cute).

The idea that no sport other than football faces the problem of crowd violence is completely and utterly laughable. Every sport faces the same challenges, from basketball to rugby league. That football is by far and away the most popular team sport in the world is a blessing and a curse to the game. Even cricket is not immune from the phenomenon. If cricket, basketball, rugby or any other sport was more pervasive than football in the world, it would be these sports under the crowd violence spotlight instead of football. Football is a game in which two teams try to kick a round ball into the other team’s goal. There is nothing in it that should make it inherently more susceptible to crowd violence than trying to kick an oval ball into goals of a different shape or bowling a hard red leather ball at somebody’s head. I will not refute, however, that there is something about football that seems to arouse emotions in spectators and create suspense on a level that some other sports fail to emulate. Football is exciting precisely because there’s not a point scored every thirty seconds. Some of the most fantastic matches I’ve had the privilege to watch have been nil-nil draws. However, to say that football, the game, is the cause of violent behaviour amongst some of its fans is a non-sequitur.

As for football’s apparent lack of aesthetic appeal, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well there are billions of people worldwide for whom football is and always will be the beautiful game. It is the sport that brings more joy to more people in the world than any other game. With all this talk of violence in football, it’s easy to forget that there’s probably no other force in the world doing as much as football to overcome discrimination, racism and so forth at street level where it really matters. Football takes the brunt of the criticism in this respect simply because it is out there throwing ordinary people from different cultures and religions together on a scale that other sports can only dream of, so of course there will be the odd crowd brawl. With the number of football matches being played in the world every day, and the number of people watching those matches, it’s quite amazing there’s not more crowd violence.

To address the slur that there is a lack of courage in the game of football, I surely need only to ask my readers to imagine the pressure John Aloisi was under when he stepped up to take that final penalty in the World Cup Qualifier. What about the fact that our Australian football team just beat a twice World Cup winner? Is that not courage? On the other hand, the number one Moment of Madness according to 20 to 1 on TV last night was when two of the Chappell brothers conspired to bowl an underarm delivery to prevent New Zealand from having a chance to tie a one day match in 1981. Greg Chappell’s decision to ask his brother to bowl underarm certainly doesn’t strike me as a courageous one. Admittedly, there’s a bit of dishonesty in football (trying to con the referee and so forth), but to think this doesn’t go on in other sports is completely naive. I never saw Steve Waugh walk. And don’t even get me started on the match fixing scandals of years past. Still, I love my cricket as much as the next Australian. It just totally irks me when people dump crap on football as if it is the only sport whose players exhibit ungentlemanly behaviour. In Australia, where football is considered a game played by Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters, it’s all too easy to hurl abuse at the game, and overlook the very same undesirable traits in those other sports we consider to be Australian. Thankfully, that won’t be the case for much longer.

To end off, I don’t think cricket is threatened by football (which is why I never mentioned it in my post of last week). They’re generally played in different seasons for one thing (although the A-League is being played over the summer). Cricket and football happily co-exist in England, and cricket and AFL already live side-by-side in Australia. Personally I can’t wait for the day when football and cricket dominate the sports shows on Australian television, but that’s just me. :-)

I’d arranged to have dinner at my parents house so that we could all watch the match together on the widescreen TV. I didn’t eat much. My legs were bouncing up and down with nervous energy from the kick-off. This was made worse because Australia had an inauspicious beginning to the match. They took a long time to settle into the match. Uruguay were definitely on top in the opening stages, and my heart began to sink a little. But then Australia found their feet. Hiddink replaced a defender, the excellent Tony Popovic, with an attacker, the talisman Harry Kewell. By then, things had truly started to turn around. Before long, Australia were a goal to the good. Marco Bresciano scored from close range after good work from Kewell and Viduka. Spirits were raised, but in the back of my mind was the knowledge that all it would take is one goal from Uruguay and we’d be back to where we started. Worse, in fact. We’d have had to score another two goals to go through to the World Cup. Uruguay had their chances too. There were several heart stopping moments. The second half was all Australia. The Uruguayan danger man, Recoba, was substituted. Montero pulled a hamstring and was also subbed. Extra-time. Dreaded penalties. Switched between rapid breathing and not breathing at all. Schwarzer saved a penalty. Viduka missed his penalty but Schwarzer unbelievably saved another one! Aloisi’s penalty sent us through to the World Cup.

I can’t believe we’ve finally qualified to play in the greatest sporting tournament on Earth. I still remember Australia being beaten by Scotland in 1985 in the qualifiers for Mexico ’86. Every four years since then has been heartbreak. Now, finally, Australian football will have its day in the sun. More than that, it will compete with AFL and the Rugby codes as the top sport in this country.

Guus Hiddink is a miracle worker. He’s had the job of Socceroos manager for little more than four months, and he’s been able to achieve what no other coach has since 1974. Give the man a medal. Make him an honorary Aussie. Something. Credit should also go to the new Australian football administration. Frank Lowy and John O’Neill, you’re legends. If it weren’t for them, Australia would not have a manager of the calibre of Guus Hiddink. Also thanks to the likes of Johnny Warren, Les Murray, Craig Foster and the entire Australian football fraternity who have pushed so hard for the necessary changes to be made to football in our country, and who never once let go of the dream.

There must be something about World Cups in Germany, because the only other time Australia has played in a World Cup was in 1974 in Germany. But I think it will be a more regular occurrence from now on. No longer does Australia need to face the fifth best South American team to make the World Cup. We’re now in the Asian confederation, which means we get to play group matches just like everybody else. It means we can afford to lose a game or two and still finish top of a group and qualify for the World Cup directly. It also means we’ll be playing the likes of Japan, Korea and China, who, while formidable in their own right these days, are not quite of the same quality as the South Americans.

My thoughts on the match:

• Bloody brilliant, for starters;
• Hiddink made an inspired team selection and then even more inspired substitutions;
• Our defence is still looking too fragile at times. We could so easily have been punished;
• For all our possession and pressure over the two legs, we didn’t make it count. Even in the first leg we had more of the ball than Uruguay, and it would have been nice to kill off the tie in the first leg by scoring an away goal. Not to mention my heart and those of all other football mad Australians would have been spared a substantial amount of torture;
• Our midfield is looking really strong. Grella, Bresciano and the others were awesome;
• Schwarzer was solid during the match and incredible during the penalty shoot-out;
• Winning that match is the single best thing that could have happened for football in this country. It was one of Australia’s greatest sporting moments. The only thing that could top it is actually winning the World Cup itself.

Karen’s thoughts on the match:

• Uruguay’s uniform was spiffier than Australia’s, especially their socks;
• Harry Kewell needs a new hair dresser; he’d be quite cute if he had a different haircut.

It shouldn’t be overlooked that Dwight Yorke’s Trinidad & Tobago also qualified for their first ever World Cup overnight, by beating Bahrain 1-0 in the second leg of their playoff. Next year’s World Cup will feature several teams who have never played in a World Cup previously: Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Ghana. This just goes to show what a truly world game football is. Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Ghana have qualified at the expense of the established African giants Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa. Nigeria and Cameroon were widely considered to be likely winners of the World Cup within the next few tournaments. Ghana are very strong at youth level, and they are one of the strongest African teams, so it’s quite astonishing that Germany 2006 will be their first World Cup.

Right now, it just feels brilliant that Australia has finally qualified. Johnny Warren would be so proud. Can’t wait until June next year! Hey, I’ll be married by then. Cool.

Unfortunately, Karen didn’t get her hotdog (we had chips instead), but she did get some beer. Apparently it wasn’t enough beer to make the game exciting, though. :-) I’m not sure what’s wrong with her; how could it have not been exciting? ;-)

Until November, Hiddink will share his time between the club team PSV Eindhoven and the Australian national team. In last season’s European Champions League, the world’s top club competition, Hiddink was at the helm as PSV made it to the semi-finals of that competition, and so nearly overcame AC Milan to make it to the final.

In Guus Hiddink, the FFA have appointed the best man they could have. But now Hiddink faces a challenge the like of which he has never faced before. Let’s hope he can do what his predecessors could not.

The monthly NWWT meeting took place today. I was able to report my prototype was finished. The researchers and engineers working on the LiveSpaces project seemed very interested in my service discovery protocol. Hopefully they’ll want to use it in their work. I should also look at getting it integrated with the PACE work. But the PACE group is pretty busy at the moment.

I’ve almost finished marking the second COMP4301 assignment. Six assignments left to mark, I think. No more pracs to attend! But the third and final assignment is due on Monday.

I have to start working on the paper I’m supposed to be writing with Steven Livingstone. The paper is based on his honours work, which was about bridging Jini and Twine. There’s only about two weeks left before the submission deadline.

I should also have mentioned that Sasi submitted his thesis on Monday. Good luck to him. Hope everything goes well. We’re having drinks and/or lunch next week.

This blog is boring and needs sprucing up. Hopefully there’ll be some interesting material to report soon. :)