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09/11/11
The Forecast is Cloudy: the Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing Mike Barnes and Blay Whitby, BCS Sussex branch activists
Moving data, programs, infrastructure, and IT support to the cloud seems to be the current fashion. In this talk we ask 'just what is the cloud anyway?' and give some tentative answers as to how and when it should be used. Essentially cloud computing is another form of outsourcing with many benefits and many risks. With public, private and hybrid clouds there certainly isn't a 'one size fits all' solution. This talk explained the main benefits and risks in order to facilitate a rough guide to making an informed business decision. It seems there's rather more to consider than fashion.
12/10/11
Flight Safety Desmond Bokšan-Cullen MPHIL CITP, Chair of BCS Sussex
We have all done it, sitting on an airliner, the doors have shut and the aircraft is taxiing to the main runway for take off. The captain announces that the cabin crew or, in many cases now, a video will be shown to demonstrate the emergency evacuation procedure. How many of us bother to watch, listen and maybe even read the emergency card? Do we care where the nearest emergency exit is, or when to inflate the life-jacket? This research into airliner safety is from a passenger viewpoint and how the passengers themselves can increase the odds of surviving a plane crashing or making an emergency landing. Testimonies from survivors from 19 aeroplane crashes point to the fact that many of them knew where the nearest emergency exit was before the need actually arose. Time to leave the aircraft is normally measured in seconds not minutes and the lights are normally cut, so one cannot read an emergency sign or card when the worst happens. This talk was about using Information Technology to improve the methodology of delivering this essential information.14/09/11
AGM and Use of Computers or Computer Science? Teaching IT in Schools Jim Norton, BCS President
The Royal Academy of Engineering report ICT for the UK’s Future published
in 2009 expressed significant concerns about the way in which IT is taught
in our schools. In particular Prof Jon Crowcroft of the University of Cambridge
Computer Laboratory was quoted as saying
Programming should be as fundamental as reading, writing, and arithmetic. You should do it as early as possible. It encourages problem solving and will lead people to have more interest in it.Raising the profile of computer science and ‘computational thinking’ in schools and increasing the direct relevance of the Chartered Institute to students at all levels is the theme Jim Norton has chosen for his year as BCS President. Jim described the work in progress via the BCS Academy of Computing to respond to the challenge of making the teaching of Computing both interesting and relevant. A PDF version of this presentation is available. Jim's talk was preceded by our branch AGM. 11/05/11
How to Run a Successful Offshoring Engagement Karim Hyatt FBCS CITP CEng MIoD, Pantheon Management
The word 'offshore' conjures up the promise of affordable development resources, but also of deadlines missed, communication nightmares and low quality software and, as a result, missed budgets and late releases. Based on his 10 years’ experience in running product development in a variety of countries, Karim Hyatt looked at effective and proven strategies to make sure your Indian, Chinese or Far East engagement is successful, and crucially what the correct motivation should be to 'go offshore'. A PDF
version of this presentation is available.09/03/11
Agility and Offshoring: using Scrum on a dispersed project Bob Hughes, Principal Lecturer, University of Brighton
Agile approaches such as Scrum
and XP
are reported to be able to deliver spectacular productivity in software
projects. However, offshored development promises lower cost development
but seems to need more conventional 'waterfall' types of project management.
In this presentation, IT project management specialist Bob Hughes surveyed some of the successful merging of
the two strategies. He discussed in detail the conduct of a
project where developers were in the UK, but the customers - including
the Scrum product owner - were in Australia. There was a brief
overview of Scrum and a discussion of how the use of Scrum (and other
agile approaches) is modified to meet the needs of individual projects.
A Powerpoint
version of this presentation is available.09/02/11
The Advanced Persistent Threat and Social Engineering Peter Wood, Chief of Operations, First Base Technologies
Sometimes it seems like criminals always have the upper hand. No matter
what we do or how much we spend they still steal our data, credit
cards and identities. How does this happen? It’s because criminals
think 'outside the box' - looking for a back door or hidden weakness.
It’s time we learned how to build our defences on the same basis,
by using our imagination as well as technology. We must examine and
test our systems, buildings and people as though we were a criminal,
not a developer or architect. World-renowned security evangelist Peter
Wood showed how criminal hackers think, and offered ideas for
defending against them. A PDF
version of this presentation is available. |
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Time and Place
Unless otherwise stated, we meet at the Fulton A lecture theatre, University
of Sussex. Complimentary refreshments are available from 7:00pm, and our presentations start at 7:30pm.
Free admission. Non-members welcome.Events Diary
Choose a year to see a synopsis of our past or future events. You will also
find handy links to further information for many of our previous presentations.Mailing List
If you are not a member of our branch but want to be notified of our forthcoming
events, you can join our free mailing list. We will not use your email
address for any other purpose or share it with third parties. You
will be able to opt out at any time. |
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