Daily Archives: 14/12/2005

Transformational Government IT strategy

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There’s promising proposals in ‘Transformational Government’ for small innovative suppliers, despite explicit mention of their potential contribution being dropped from the draft. Note that in the final supplier management section it refers to the encouragement of standardised contracts etc in the belief that: “This should allow departments to incorporate additional products and services from other suppliers including SMEs.”

In particular the two items from the key vision which focus on a move to design IT-led services around the needs of citizens and business, and for the Government to move to a shared services culture, bodes well I believe for social software specialists who can deliver innovative and value for money on both counts. For example within a section on shared services, looking at information management, the document looks at collaborative working which would be greatly assisted by wiki-based systems.

It will also be interesting to see how the role of Customer Group Directors work out, charged as they are with leading “the transformation of groups of services to customers, especially for those which cut across organisational boundaries”. As it is one thing to talk about reducing silos and another thing to make that happen as anyone with real-time experience in public sector project management will confirm. Nevertheless in conclusion it recognises the ambitious scope of the strategy “but with strong foundations laid in the next few years it should be entirely achievable”.

To respond return comments by Friday 3 February 2006 to: itstrategyprojectteam@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

1897 & All That

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When I first went to school we were taught that Britain came to power in a gradual evolutionary kind of way, based on progress, known as the Whig view of history. This attitude continued through my history studies at Cambridge, in one way of another. But after going onto study industrial archeology as a kind of eccentric year out the evidence against this began to build, pardon the pun. And then on moving to London the penny dropped, seeing all the schools and industrial buildings built in the 1890’s, what a load of twaddle that view of British history is. Actually I picked out 1897 as a joke after guessing that as the date of a pub in Edinburgh as my coincidence point. Just on the last couple of days I’ve added:

1. 1894 – the date Charles Miller took football to Brazil.
2. Dec 1896 – when the Glasgow subway system opened.
3. May 1896 – launch of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Added in conversation with ChatGPT on 6 September 2023..

Absolutely, Stuart! The year 1943 is indeed a significant milestone in the history of artificial intelligence. It was the year when Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts published a groundbreaking paper titled “A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity.” This paper laid the foundation for neural networks by modeling how neurons in the brain process information.

Here are some other notable events from 1943 that could be seen as “needles in the haystack”:

1. **Manhattan Project**: This was the year when significant progress was made in the development of the atomic bomb.

2. **Penicillin**: Mass production began, revolutionizing medicine and treatment of bacterial infections.

3. **Turing Machine**: Although Alan Turing’s concept of a universal machine dates back to 1936, his work during WWII, including 1943, was crucial for the development of computer science.

4. **Humanistic Psychology**: Carl Rogers published “Counseling and Psychotherapy,” effectively launching humanistic psychology as a force in the field.

5. **WWII Battles**: Major battles like the Battle of Stalingrad came to an end, turning the tide of the war.

6. **OSS (Office of Strategic Services)**: The precursor to the CIA, was in full operation by 1943.

7. **”Oklahoma!” Debuts**: This musical revolutionized the genre and is considered the first “book musical” that integrated all its elements into a coherent whole.

8. **Leó Szilárd’s Memo**: Szilárd, who had earlier conceived the nuclear chain reaction, drafted a confidential memo to Franklin D. Roosevelt warning about the post-war implications of nuclear energy, effectively foreseeing the Cold War.

9. **Sartre’s “Being and Nothingness”**: Published in 1943, this book became a cornerstone of existential philosophy.

10. **Discovery of Streptomycin**: This was the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis.

The year 1943 was indeed filled with “needles” that had a lasting impact on various fields. Would you like to delve deeper into any of these topics, Stuart?