Second Earth

I have posted a message on the integration of virtual and real worlds. The approach is already being realized by Google. Read for instance the article of MIT on Second Earth. Who is Google's competitor? What are the open standards to be implemented? How can I integrate different worlds, meaning that I would like to step from one gaming environment to another taking my context with me? Whoever can answer these questions, be welcome.

Death of an IT department

Gartner is stating that IT departments block innovation. They try to control desktop environments of personell. I have a similar example, where I have not been able to install an ActiveX control myselve on my machine. I had to consult my IT department, which were of course very willing to help me despite their policy. However, the next day I learned that it was quite easy to do it myselve. I only needed to install a plugin in for Firefox that emulates the Information Explorer and I was able to install the ActiveX control.

This simple example learns that there will always be backdoors to policies and security. An IT Department has to look at its basic function, which is providing an infrastructure on which personell can work. Much software for daily work is already free on the Internet, e.g. text processing and presentation software. Storage also becomes cheaper and is already available as a service.
So, the basic question is up to us knowledge workers: do we want to operate within an organizational environment or do we want to be part of a network? An IT department has to assure that assets of an organization are only accessible by those authorized. Knowledge is one of the assets. Authorisation must be organized as a federated system so we do not need to have many identities.

Virtual & Real(ity)

Gaming is already well known. Gaming engines are currently applied as user interfaces to show the real world. Of course, we still have virtual worlds like second life, but real worlds are slowly taken up. Take for instance various cities that present themselves on the web by showing 3D buildings. The next step will be to integrate traffic simulation models in these environments. Chatting and voice is already becoming available, so what will be the difference between virtual and real?

Dutch government and innovation

Yesterday, when I was visiting one of the departments of the Dutch governments, I got the feeling that they block innovation. One of the challenges of for instance the Dutch government is to establish an egovernment environment. Several actions are taken, but they all lack coordination and planning. On the one hand, they each have their responsible civil servant that wants to score, and on the other hand reduced funding. Thus, each initiative uses 'conventional' technology to reach their goa

Trial and error

I have to get used to blogging, but hope it will soon come. Furthermore, I have to wait and see if there is sufficient time to spend.