Rating Rats

Image via Wikipedia

At the SFEU conference in June the most provocative presentation by far was by Ron Dillin concerning PIs (performance Indicators) in Computing. In fact, the session was so provocative that we’re having a full day (18th of September) to discuss it.

Researching the topic to get a handle on the types of presenters we would need and the discussions they would generate led me to think of the rating systems itself. Which naturally reminded me of the Rat Experiment.

If you haven’t come across it before have a read – it might be germane to the problem…

The Rat Experiment : Productivity501

Pecha Kucha

Image via Wikipedia

Pecha Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 Slides Then Sit the Hell Down

Like all of you I have sat through my share of interminable PowerPoint presentations wishing, in the words of the late, great Douglas Adams, that the presenter‘s “own major intestine, in a desperate attempt to save life and civilization” would leap “straight up through his neck and throttle his brain”.

That has never happened.

Instead, perhaps we could make sure that presentations follow the rules of Pecha Kucha. These are:

• You have exactly twenty slides
• Each slide is displayed for exactly twenty seconds
• One they’re done you sit down

Be honest, wouldn’t you just love presenters to have done enough ground work to follow those rules instead of rattling on about nothing, nothing, at all? I think I’ll try it for my next presentation.

The revolution starts here…

Related articles by Zemanta

• Geeks Make Public Presentations Fun Again
• Pecha Kucha and the art of liberating constraints
• Pecha Kucha
• Impressions on Pecha Kucha

Victory for Open Source

Image via Wikipedia

US Court rules in favor of “open source” copyright – Download Squad

Being a bit of an old hippy I’m keen on open source. The problem is that, in America, nothing is accepted until they’ve had a load of over-paid lawyers argue about it in court.

Fortunately that has now happened and open source copyright has now passed the Perry Mason test making it as legal as things get in the US.

This might smack of angels on pins but it is really important: it means that those who spend a lot of time and effort on production can expect their rights to be protected – even if the only right they want is to be recognised.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Landmark Case Upholds Open Source Licenses
• Big legal win for free licenses
• Good News for the Creative Commonwealth – Open Source Licences upheld.