I arrived on time at the venue in Canary Wharf. Nice environment, all very new, recently built. Never before have I attended a similar event, where a future EPSRC sandpit was to be prepared. There were 74 participants from various disciplines who were interested in this theme "Maths of Life". We wrote on the "table cloth" (made out of paper) why we attended and why this topic interested us; then we moved on to define the specific challenges in this area. Overall, eight different challenges were defined, which were then discussed in the afternoon in groups. My interest in "Artificial Creativity/Innovation/Intuition" was shared by not many, but the few participants who joined the table where this topic was to be discussed, were quite enthusiastic about it.
EPSRC collected the output of these discussions and will use them now for setting up the future sandpit - a public call will soon be issued. Unfortunately only one of those challenge topics will probably make it as sandpit topic...
Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workshop. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Sonic Spatial Perspectives
On Friday and Saturday, the conference "Sonic Spatial Perspectives" was held in Gandhi Hall at Leeds Metropolitan University. Our Nikos Stavropoulos had invited Jonti Harrison from University of Birmingham to set up the BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre) here. 72 loudspeakers were distributed across Gandhi Hall, allowing the creation of an incredible sound space. Derek Hales from University Huddersfield opened the conference as the Director of C3KE, who funded this event. Then Jonti Harrison gave the keynote talk to introduce the system. During these two days, there were 3 concerts with acousmatic music, two workshops, and a round table discussion. Basically, the playing of a pre-recorded spatialised piece still requires an performance by someone who is "diffusing" the sound at the mixer console, operating an array of sliders which can be mapped to speakers or speaker groups. One point of the discussions was how that interface could be improved: instead of controlling the speaker output, one might imagine an interface which allows to control the sound sources directly.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
At the Narmada River
We arrive at the Hospital Jalaram Aarogya Dham, Vasantpura, in time for lunch. This is a charity hospital for the local tribes who live in the area. They provide medical care for free. The building is located near the Narmada River, where we how hold our next workshop. After lunch we walk down to the river. It has not very much water, very flat, it looks like one could just walk across it. Some of the group begin writing, others paint. Dr. Yoshi from Sardar Patel University explains to us some of the background, as further upstream there is this large controversial dam. A few km south from here there are mountains raising from the otherwise flat plain. We are told that during the Monsoon season, the tigers and leopards come out. I would like to see that!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Activities in Ahmadabad
On Thursday we take up our original program for our project: we wanted to organise workshops for writing about climate change and the situation of the rivers. So our first workshop takes place at the Sabarmati river in Ahmadabad. We leave early in the morning, as the drive on the motorwaYtakes at least one hour. We will stay for one night at the "Gandhi University" in Ahmadabad, which was founded by Gandhi in 1920.
Our first stop is this university in Ahmadabad. We meet with the Vice Chancellor of this university where we have the usual Indian tea. I really like this tea: it comes with milk already (no choice - too bad if one does not like milk in the tea). In addition, it has all kind of spices: I taste some Ginger, also Cardamom. A distinct taste of Christmas honey cakes. A pity that the amount of this tea (which is very strong) is so small: it is always served in expresso-sized cups. Since it is boiled together with the milk, a skin immediately forms on top of the tea - something which I could live without.... (already as a child I did not like when the milk after heating had that skin). But the taste of the tea is just fantastic - and it helps to sooth my aching throat. My infection seems to get worse. during the drive to Ahmadabad I had headache and did not feel very well.
The VC of the university explains to us the basic principles under which they operate here: modesty, back to the roots, back to rural life. Students are required to work with the spinning wheel, to make their own yarn. Technology is seen somewhat as hostile, threatening. Accommodations are modest and simple, people have to stay in double accommodation. We are asked to do the same, unless we would feel uncomfortable about it... and our spoiled western individualism wins, as we agree that we would be a bit uncomfortable with this.
The beds in the guest rooms are indeed very simple: almost just a wooden board, with some blankets on it.
We drive to the Gandhi Ashram, which is located at the banks of the Sabarmati River. There is Gandhi's house, and the houses of some of his friends. A museum is there, with interesting exhibits. In the bookstore one can buy his works.
We camp behind Gandhi's house for our workshop, from where we have a nice view of the river. There is a lot of construction going on: the whole river banks are being rebuilt. It looks like a dam more downstream will raise the level of the river. Big concrete walls are being put in place on the sides, to keep the water in the river. Supposedly this will lead to a revitalisation of the river banks... but some of the people whom we interview do have doubts. Some remember how the river was many decades ago. Right now it is actually fed not with its own waters, but with the waters of another river: the Narmada river. To some, this is a violation of spirituality of the river gods...
We also meet an ardent supporter of this project, who believes this project will be an improvement for all people. Some details from the official side are here: http://www.sabarmatiriverfront.com/.
The workshop goes well. I record several interviews, other participants write poems and essays, others paint - or take pictures.
Around 3pm in the afternoon we are done, and we visit a local woman poet and comunity "activist" who has been engaged in mitigating the violence between Muslim and Hindu fanatics. A few years ago there had been riots between these two population groups, and just a few months ago there had been a few bombings here in Ahmadabad. The woman leads a street theatre group, which performed in the streets to engage people to think. Very interesting - she also read a poem in Gujarati language, to which our whole group listens intensly - just the song of words is very interesting, without actually understanding the meaning.
It is slowly getting dark. We are done with our program for the day, and we conclude it with a visit in a bazar. This is actually just like a large department store, with several floors where different stuff can be bought. As we leave the car, I am the very first one to buy something from a street vendor: a map of India. I am able to negotiate the price down to half (90 Rupies), but later another member of our group gets the same map for 50 Rupies... so much for my bargaining ability.
At the side of the road, an old lady boils some tea in a bolile cart cooker. The procedure looks slightly unhygenic, but the tea water (with the milk already added) actually boils and bubbles, so that I loose my fear and actually buy one - for 5 Rupies. Tastes delicious!
In the bazar I find a very useful item: a wiper for the floor to remove water. I actually buy it: I see an urgent necessity for the shower in our accommodation back in Vallabh Vidyanagar, as the water just keeps accummulating on the floor and does not flow into the outlet, due to some unevenness in that floor.
We drive back in darkness to our accommodation at the Gandhi University campus. My headache which had disappeared during the day, wsa now back, and I decide to get an early rest, without any dinner. A short update on the work blog, then I have a rest.
Our first stop is this university in Ahmadabad. We meet with the Vice Chancellor of this university where we have the usual Indian tea. I really like this tea: it comes with milk already (no choice - too bad if one does not like milk in the tea). In addition, it has all kind of spices: I taste some Ginger, also Cardamom. A distinct taste of Christmas honey cakes. A pity that the amount of this tea (which is very strong) is so small: it is always served in expresso-sized cups. Since it is boiled together with the milk, a skin immediately forms on top of the tea - something which I could live without.... (already as a child I did not like when the milk after heating had that skin). But the taste of the tea is just fantastic - and it helps to sooth my aching throat. My infection seems to get worse. during the drive to Ahmadabad I had headache and did not feel very well.
The VC of the university explains to us the basic principles under which they operate here: modesty, back to the roots, back to rural life. Students are required to work with the spinning wheel, to make their own yarn. Technology is seen somewhat as hostile, threatening. Accommodations are modest and simple, people have to stay in double accommodation. We are asked to do the same, unless we would feel uncomfortable about it... and our spoiled western individualism wins, as we agree that we would be a bit uncomfortable with this.
The beds in the guest rooms are indeed very simple: almost just a wooden board, with some blankets on it.
We drive to the Gandhi Ashram, which is located at the banks of the Sabarmati River. There is Gandhi's house, and the houses of some of his friends. A museum is there, with interesting exhibits. In the bookstore one can buy his works.
We camp behind Gandhi's house for our workshop, from where we have a nice view of the river. There is a lot of construction going on: the whole river banks are being rebuilt. It looks like a dam more downstream will raise the level of the river. Big concrete walls are being put in place on the sides, to keep the water in the river. Supposedly this will lead to a revitalisation of the river banks... but some of the people whom we interview do have doubts. Some remember how the river was many decades ago. Right now it is actually fed not with its own waters, but with the waters of another river: the Narmada river. To some, this is a violation of spirituality of the river gods...
We also meet an ardent supporter of this project, who believes this project will be an improvement for all people. Some details from the official side are here: http://www.sabarmatiriverfront.com/.
The workshop goes well. I record several interviews, other participants write poems and essays, others paint - or take pictures.
Around 3pm in the afternoon we are done, and we visit a local woman poet and comunity "activist" who has been engaged in mitigating the violence between Muslim and Hindu fanatics. A few years ago there had been riots between these two population groups, and just a few months ago there had been a few bombings here in Ahmadabad. The woman leads a street theatre group, which performed in the streets to engage people to think. Very interesting - she also read a poem in Gujarati language, to which our whole group listens intensly - just the song of words is very interesting, without actually understanding the meaning.
It is slowly getting dark. We are done with our program for the day, and we conclude it with a visit in a bazar. This is actually just like a large department store, with several floors where different stuff can be bought. As we leave the car, I am the very first one to buy something from a street vendor: a map of India. I am able to negotiate the price down to half (90 Rupies), but later another member of our group gets the same map for 50 Rupies... so much for my bargaining ability.
At the side of the road, an old lady boils some tea in a bolile cart cooker. The procedure looks slightly unhygenic, but the tea water (with the milk already added) actually boils and bubbles, so that I loose my fear and actually buy one - for 5 Rupies. Tastes delicious!
In the bazar I find a very useful item: a wiper for the floor to remove water. I actually buy it: I see an urgent necessity for the shower in our accommodation back in Vallabh Vidyanagar, as the water just keeps accummulating on the floor and does not flow into the outlet, due to some unevenness in that floor.
We drive back in darkness to our accommodation at the Gandhi University campus. My headache which had disappeared during the day, wsa now back, and I decide to get an early rest, without any dinner. A short update on the work blog, then I have a rest.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Two presentations at Staff Development Festival
On Thursday there was the "Assessment, Learning, and Teaching" (ALT) Day at the Leeds Met Staff Development Festival. It began and ended with plenary keynote speakers, and in between there were two workshop sessions. Originally I had proposed to hold three workshops, but only two workshops were possible due to the schedule constraints. So I gave the following two workshops: one workshop together with Prof. Roderick King about a software for teaching physiological processes during sports activity, using a game that we and the company Kooji had developed in a joint project; and one workshop about the learning object editing tool CourseLab. Everything went well, except that the room where the CourseLab workshop was held, was completely overheated, due to a problem with the ventilation.
Originally I had offered to hold three workshops, but out of time constraints, I had to withdraw the workshop on the TQEF project about a particular tool my colleague Prof. Claudio Vignali had developed.
Originally I had offered to hold three workshops, but out of time constraints, I had to withdraw the workshop on the TQEF project about a particular tool my colleague Prof. Claudio Vignali had developed.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Marie Curie Workshop - 2nd Day
The next day started with me setting up my poster, as today were the "even poster numbers" to be displayed. After attaching the poster, I picked up my registration for the ESOF conference. It turns out that a metro ticket is included for the nest 5 days - great! However I just had bought a secound T-10 ticket, because I had yesterday just sued up all my 10 rides on the previous ticket... well, I may just gove the remaining 9 rides on that ticket to someone.
The presentation session started with some general talks about FP7 and about successful proposals. I knew most of that already, as I had gone through the material of FP7 already in the last 2 years, and I also had participated in proposal workshops. Interesting, however, was the personal individual view of the panelists, as they gave some insight about their own individual perspective.
After a short coffee break, I go to my poster #58, to explain everybody about the Creative Technology.
The workshop ends with 6 selected presentations from Marie Curei Fellows, who talk about their work. A price is given to the best poster, and also the YouTube video competition is awarded. At 14:20 the workshop is over.
I had met a few people from Leeds University, among them Bogdan whom I had met last year at Falk's grill party.
The presentation session started with some general talks about FP7 and about successful proposals. I knew most of that already, as I had gone through the material of FP7 already in the last 2 years, and I also had participated in proposal workshops. Interesting, however, was the personal individual view of the panelists, as they gave some insight about their own individual perspective.
After a short coffee break, I go to my poster #58, to explain everybody about the Creative Technology.
The workshop ends with 6 selected presentations from Marie Curei Fellows, who talk about their work. A price is given to the best poster, and also the YouTube video competition is awarded. At 14:20 the workshop is over.
I had met a few people from Leeds University, among them Bogdan whom I had met last year at Falk's grill party.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Marie-Curie Workshop
In the morning it actually had begun to rain a little. The sky was gray, and a slight drizzle was in the air. So I had gone up back to my room, to get umbrella and jacket. But is was still warm, and by noon the clouds had gone - it was again sunshine.
The workshop started shortly after 9:00 am. There were 300 participants, mostly Post-Graduate (PG) students, a few postdocs. I seemed to be completely out of place.
A few presentations gave overviews on various subjects. Prof. Winkler, U.Vienna, spoke about the European and the US university system. In EU, universities receive very little funding. UK appears to be exceptionally high, with 0.8% of the GDP from private and the same amount from public funding. The US appears to be leading: 1.4% of the GDP comes from privat funding, 1.3% from public funding. He made the point that Europe has to learn a lot from the US, and he had positiv words for the UK which was somewhat in between. R&D expenditures in EU are 1.9% of the GDP (2007), in the US 3% (in 2003).
Noel Campling, Directpr of the European Patent Office, had swapped his talk with Sean McCarthy, as he would have to leave in the afternoon. He talked about patents and the importance of IP. Currently there are 200,000 patent applications per year.
After the coffee break was the poster session. As already pointed out, it was very cramped - no space to move through.
Sean McCarthy (Hyperion) advocated that scientists need to learn the "language" of business, so that they could sell their ideas and implement them in products and society.
Then was lunch, with everybody reconvening at 15:15. The workshop participant were then divided in three equal groups, split into 3 separate rooms. There, three panels of experts were giving the same talks in each group, rotating around through the rooms. The idea was probably to allow for more interaction; however, time for questioning was relatively short, so that this goal was not really achieved. Instead, the whole sessions were there for 3 hours, without any coffee break. As it was getting quite warm and humid, people (especially me) got thursty. I went out briefly to go to a kiosk, to get some water, as the vending machines in the basement were sold out. What kind of a conference/exposition centre is this where one cannot get anything to drink?
The panels were very interesting. One talked about the work of researchers in industry, another one about disseminating the work, and the third one talked about their own experience and success in research. Is a very good inspiration for graduate students.
In the meantime, the ESOF 2008 rence was being setup in the conference hall. A lot of activity, as it would start the next day. More than 4000 participants were expected to this conference.
In the evening there was a party organised for the Marie Curie Workshop participants near the coast. The directions to the location were slightly unclear; I got the metro station, then walked a bit around along the coast until I found it. 300 people were squeezed onto one patio, with finger food and free drinks, and sufficient opportunities for interaction and discussion.
I chatted briefly with one of the panelists, whose interest is Late Roman Cooking, which he investigates through archaeology and examination of food remains.
The workshop started shortly after 9:00 am. There were 300 participants, mostly Post-Graduate (PG) students, a few postdocs. I seemed to be completely out of place.
A few presentations gave overviews on various subjects. Prof. Winkler, U.Vienna, spoke about the European and the US university system. In EU, universities receive very little funding. UK appears to be exceptionally high, with 0.8% of the GDP from private and the same amount from public funding. The US appears to be leading: 1.4% of the GDP comes from privat funding, 1.3% from public funding. He made the point that Europe has to learn a lot from the US, and he had positiv words for the UK which was somewhat in between. R&D expenditures in EU are 1.9% of the GDP (2007), in the US 3% (in 2003).
Noel Campling, Directpr of the European Patent Office, had swapped his talk with Sean McCarthy, as he would have to leave in the afternoon. He talked about patents and the importance of IP. Currently there are 200,000 patent applications per year.
After the coffee break was the poster session. As already pointed out, it was very cramped - no space to move through.
Sean McCarthy (Hyperion) advocated that scientists need to learn the "language" of business, so that they could sell their ideas and implement them in products and society.
Then was lunch, with everybody reconvening at 15:15. The workshop participant were then divided in three equal groups, split into 3 separate rooms. There, three panels of experts were giving the same talks in each group, rotating around through the rooms. The idea was probably to allow for more interaction; however, time for questioning was relatively short, so that this goal was not really achieved. Instead, the whole sessions were there for 3 hours, without any coffee break. As it was getting quite warm and humid, people (especially me) got thursty. I went out briefly to go to a kiosk, to get some water, as the vending machines in the basement were sold out. What kind of a conference/exposition centre is this where one cannot get anything to drink?
The panels were very interesting. One talked about the work of researchers in industry, another one about disseminating the work, and the third one talked about their own experience and success in research. Is a very good inspiration for graduate students.
In the meantime, the ESOF 2008 rence was being setup in the conference hall. A lot of activity, as it would start the next day. More than 4000 participants were expected to this conference.
In the evening there was a party organised for the Marie Curie Workshop participants near the coast. The directions to the location were slightly unclear; I got the metro station, then walked a bit around along the coast until I found it. 300 people were squeezed onto one patio, with finger food and free drinks, and sufficient opportunities for interaction and discussion.
I chatted briefly with one of the panelists, whose interest is Late Roman Cooking, which he investigates through archaeology and examination of food remains.
Live from Avenida Paral-lel
This is something new: I as sitting right now on the street sidewalk, under an umbrella, eating Calamares and a sandwich with Jamon Serrano - and I am typing this blog entry. Am connected to the accesspoint "BADAR"... no idea who that is.
This morning was the first day of the Marie Curie conference. I actually woke up at 7am, as planned, without an alarm clock. My internal clock appears to work quite well. Have breakfast, then take the subway two stations to the Place Espagna. There are 300 participants at the workshop, all Marie Curie Fellows. There were presentation about research, EU, academia in Europe, and how to link research to industry. Quite interesting. Then there was a poster session. 150 posters in a quite small room, plus a few outside in the foyer. Way too little space, it was very cramped. Tomorrow I will bring my own poster.
But right now I enjoy the lunch break, here on the Avenida Paral-lel (no idea why it is written like that...).
This morning was the first day of the Marie Curie conference. I actually woke up at 7am, as planned, without an alarm clock. My internal clock appears to work quite well. Have breakfast, then take the subway two stations to the Place Espagna. There are 300 participants at the workshop, all Marie Curie Fellows. There were presentation about research, EU, academia in Europe, and how to link research to industry. Quite interesting. Then there was a poster session. 150 posters in a quite small room, plus a few outside in the foyer. Way too little space, it was very cramped. Tomorrow I will bring my own poster.
But right now I enjoy the lunch break, here on the Avenida Paral-lel (no idea why it is written like that...).
Monday, June 23, 2008
Seminar, 2nd Day
The seminar starts again at 9:00 am in the morning, and it is again my turn to begin. The students had the assignment to identify conferences, but due to the time constraints and the lack of internet in the dorm, there had not been much progress. So I give a few pointers, then organise each of them into groups according to their topic, so that they can do a joint search for those "outlets" for their paper which they would produce.
A few students identify clearly suitable conferences, while others still struggle with their topic. This makes it difficult to apply a homogeneous lecture, and I will have to do significant individual tutoring.
In the afternoon there is "self study" for the students. My lack of sleep catches finally up with me, and I have a rest in the dorm and sleep for two hours.
Then at 5pm, I head back to the campus to participate in an interview, which a group of students has prepared for an evaluation of this whole seminar. There is an evening session as well, and at 8pm we meet again for heading to dinner into town.
This time I call the reliable taxi driver Nikos; he organises 2 more taxis, as we are now 10 people. We drive directly to the Ledra Street, walk towards the border, and cross it. Fill out that paper which serves as the "visa" for the illegal part of Cyprus, then move across. Much more empty there on the other side. Bright lights, but few people. I buy a cob of corn from a street vendor. I realise that the Cypriot money which I have with me from the time when Cyprus did not have the Euro, is also not valid here... I must have spent all those bills two years ago.
The Mixed Kebab is good, as always. Afterwards we walk a bit further into the Turkish part. A few guys in T-Shirt stand around, but suddenly there is a commotion, and two of them attack two others, pull out a gun, and put hand cuffs on them. Then they push them into two cars, and speed off. Police action? We are puzzled. I had not dared to take pictures of this, as I was not sure what was actually going on. Later the restaurant owner nearby mentioned that this was a police raid.
He noticed that we are Germans / Austrians, and invites us to come on Wednesday evening to watch the soccer game Germany-Turkey. This would be great and certainly fitting... will see if we actually do this.
A few students identify clearly suitable conferences, while others still struggle with their topic. This makes it difficult to apply a homogeneous lecture, and I will have to do significant individual tutoring.
In the afternoon there is "self study" for the students. My lack of sleep catches finally up with me, and I have a rest in the dorm and sleep for two hours.
Then at 5pm, I head back to the campus to participate in an interview, which a group of students has prepared for an evaluation of this whole seminar. There is an evening session as well, and at 8pm we meet again for heading to dinner into town.
This time I call the reliable taxi driver Nikos; he organises 2 more taxis, as we are now 10 people. We drive directly to the Ledra Street, walk towards the border, and cross it. Fill out that paper which serves as the "visa" for the illegal part of Cyprus, then move across. Much more empty there on the other side. Bright lights, but few people. I buy a cob of corn from a street vendor. I realise that the Cypriot money which I have with me from the time when Cyprus did not have the Euro, is also not valid here... I must have spent all those bills two years ago.
The Mixed Kebab is good, as always. Afterwards we walk a bit further into the Turkish part. A few guys in T-Shirt stand around, but suddenly there is a commotion, and two of them attack two others, pull out a gun, and put hand cuffs on them. Then they push them into two cars, and speed off. Police action? We are puzzled. I had not dared to take pictures of this, as I was not sure what was actually going on. Later the restaurant owner nearby mentioned that this was a police raid.
He noticed that we are Germans / Austrians, and invites us to come on Wednesday evening to watch the soccer game Germany-Turkey. This would be great and certainly fitting... will see if we actually do this.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Intensive PhD Program in Cyprus - 1. Day
The reason why I travelled to Cyprus was to give a workshop within the Intensive PhD Program.
My role in this program was to give a workshop to the PhD students for writing their own paper, to be submitted to a conference, journal, workshop, or other. The seminar started in the morning of Sunday, 22. June, at the campus of the University of Cyprus. Erwin Bratengeyer (Danube University Krems) and Savas Katsikides (University of Cyprus) had organised this seminar and gave an introductory overview on this seminar. Then I started my workshop.
Naturally, when it comes to paper publication in the Computer Science domain, the automatic paper generation tool SciGen comes to mind. While this is a great tool for "testing" conferences, it also has some educational merit as showing the general structure of a paper. And it creates a fun effect for all participants who can get one of those fabulous nonsense papers.
The workshop gave to participants the first assignment: to find suitable outlets for their work.
For lunch we Savvas ordered 8 pizzas, which we ate on the roof of the university building.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
In London at conference/workshop: GCCR 2008
A while ago, my colleague Prof. Colin Pattinson had alerted me to a workshop in London: about a workshop about a "Grand Challenge for Computing Research" with the topic Bringing the history to life for the citizen, organised by Prof. David Arnold from U. Brighton.
So today I got up early in the morning (4:45), then took the 6:05 train to London Kings Cross. Arrived at 8:30 on time. In the train there was free WiFi - for everyone, not just for 1st class! Great - I immediately tried out the GPS on my new mobile phone and used GpsGate to upload the data to a server. Worked excellent: satellites to mobile, mobile to WiFi, WiFi to server, server, back to WiFi, to my laptop computer where my position was then shown on a map. Works really great! I will setup our own CT server soon to have this functionality.
At the workshop there were only 7 participants. I gave a 15 min overview about Colin's and my view of this challenge. Very interesting - I enjoyed this topic and look forward to contribute something to it!
From 17:45-19:30 the main GCCR08 began with a series of short intros about 8 of the Grand Challenges. Very interesting - but I had been up since very early in the morning, and had to fight my head from falling to the sides.
Afterwards there was a posh dinner. The venue for this event was the Royal Society a few blocks away from the venue of the workshop at the British Computing Society (BCS).
Friday, February 08, 2008
Workshop in Manchester
The UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) funds innovative activities that are beneficial to the UK economy. They recently launched a call for Collaborative Research in the area of Creative Industries.
On Friday I attended a workshop in Manchester, in which the TSB introduced the mechanisms for applying and organised networking among potential bidders. At least one business would need to be included in any bidding consortium, and the bid would need to be oriented towards business needs.
The meeting took place at the Midland Hotel, a posh hotel in the centre of Manchester, near station Oxford Street. On the way back home I met again my friend Alan Crispin from Manchester Metropolitan University, and we took the train back together.
On Friday I attended a workshop in Manchester, in which the TSB introduced the mechanisms for applying and organised networking among potential bidders. At least one business would need to be included in any bidding consortium, and the bid would need to be oriented towards business needs.
The meeting took place at the Midland Hotel, a posh hotel in the centre of Manchester, near station Oxford Street. On the way back home I met again my friend Alan Crispin from Manchester Metropolitan University, and we took the train back together.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
RoboEthics Workshop - Last Day
After returning from the soiree in the private home of a Genoese family back to the hotel, I still need to prepare my presentation for the next day. So I have to pay the price for not having completed it earlier… and I have to stay up until 2 am to complete the vugraphs.
After a short sleep, I wake up at 6:30. Decide to use the time to get a view of the city in the morning. Genoa is stretched along the Ligurian coast, facing south. The whole coast line is very hilly, so the city stretches across several valleys and hills. My walk through the still quiet streets takes me down towards the coast, where I finally get a broader view of the city itself. A wild chaotic mixture of modern buildings, renaissance palazzi, and a maze of roads. The sun has not yet risen above the hills in the East, there is still a kind of blue light over everything, like within a large shadow. Some thick clouds hang above, and suddenly a few snow drops fall down, bouncing on the street. These are no flakes, but little droplets, like hail, but made of snow. I have not yet seen snow in Leeds, but here in the Mediterranean Genoa, it snows.
At the conference, I give my talk. Present are also the authors/journalists Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman – we later talk about the interesting issues that were discussed at this workshop.
After a short sleep, I wake up at 6:30. Decide to use the time to get a view of the city in the morning. Genoa is stretched along the Ligurian coast, facing south. The whole coast line is very hilly, so the city stretches across several valleys and hills. My walk through the still quiet streets takes me down towards the coast, where I finally get a broader view of the city itself. A wild chaotic mixture of modern buildings, renaissance palazzi, and a maze of roads. The sun has not yet risen above the hills in the East, there is still a kind of blue light over everything, like within a large shadow. Some thick clouds hang above, and suddenly a few snow drops fall down, bouncing on the street. These are no flakes, but little droplets, like hail, but made of snow. I have not yet seen snow in Leeds, but here in the Mediterranean Genoa, it snows.
At the conference, I give my talk. Present are also the authors/journalists Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman – we later talk about the interesting issues that were discussed at this workshop.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
My first day at the RoboEthics Workshop
First day at the RoboEthics workshop. Actually, the workshop has already been on for two days, but I only could attend from Wednesday.
The meeting takes place in a bibliotheca. Surrounded by shelves of historic books, the participants sit around a large row of tables. One speaker at a time gives a presentation, the others then ask questions, and discussions arise. The schedule soon is no longer valid, as speakers exceed their time, and discussions take longer than anticipated.
A picture-perfect blue sky outside looks very tempting, for a stroll through the city. But I stay, attending all the presentations – afterall, this is why I am here.
In the evening, the whole group is invited to the private home of a Genoese family: a “soiree” takes place, with a chorus singing liturgical music. Then food is served, and the participants can continue informal discussions.
The meeting takes place in a bibliotheca. Surrounded by shelves of historic books, the participants sit around a large row of tables. One speaker at a time gives a presentation, the others then ask questions, and discussions arise. The schedule soon is no longer valid, as speakers exceed their time, and discussions take longer than anticipated.
A picture-perfect blue sky outside looks very tempting, for a stroll through the city. But I stay, attending all the presentations – afterall, this is why I am here.
In the evening, the whole group is invited to the private home of a Genoese family: a “soiree” takes place, with a chorus singing liturgical music. Then food is served, and the participants can continue informal discussions.
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