This week, I have an exclusive interview with Adrian Schofield.
Born in the south of England, Adrian began his career in the petroleum industry and later moved into casino administration. Adrian emigrated to Southern Africa in 1981 (acquiring South African citizenship in the new democracy), where he worked in casino management, financial computer systems, payroll processing and software development and sales before moving into recruitment and contracting of IT skills. He then moved on to management of technical training before joining CompTIA in January 2000 as the regional International Sales & Marketing Director.
From 2003 to 2005 he carried out various consulting contracts. He joined ForgeAhead in 2005, where he was Head of Consulting (specialising in the use of ICT in Government) until moving to his current post at the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University in 2008 as Manager: Applied Research Unit.
He occasionally lectures about the Management of Technology and Systems Thinking and is a regular speaker at conferences. Adrian has spent more than 25 years being involved in activities to promote standards and growth in the ICT sector. He received the 2012 Distinguished Service in ICT Award from Computer Society South Africa (now Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa). He currently serves in these voluntary capacities:
In the past, Adrian has also served as President of Computer Society of South Africa (now IITPSA), President of the Information Technology Association of South Africa, Vice-Chairman for Africa of the World Information Technology & Services Alliance and Chairman of the African Federation of ICT Associations. He has represented South Africa at conferences in Taiwan, Australia, Greece, Holland and USA and supported industry development initiatives in East and West Africa. He was a member of the Steering Committee and initial Board Member of the Sector Education & Training Authority, chaired the initial IT Standards Generating Body and was a member of the Task Team for the ICT Black Economic Empowerment Charter Working Group. Adrian was also the business sector representative in the National Economic Development & Labour Council ICT Sector Committee for many years and an Advisory Board member of two academic institutes. He is a Fellow and Professional grade member of IITPSA.
DISCUSSION:
Q: Adrian, thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. A: "Thank you for inviting me."
Q: Can you profile your current roles and the value of your work to business, governments, academia, executives and professionals? A: "My "day job" at the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) at the University of Witwatersrand is to carry out research into trends in the ICT sector, with a particular focus on skills relevant to software development and the effects that technology changes have, following their application in the community. The JCSE develops skills, coaches graduates, hosts software development and promotes enterprise development and is at the core of a project to create a technology hub in the city's CBD. My research adds value to the activities of the JCSE and for its stakeholders and informs decision makers across the ICT sector. Some of the research is commissioned for a specific topic, such as the value of cloud computing or the history of the Internet. Beyond my day job I am active (as a Board and ExCo member) in the affairs of the IITPSA, which serves the interests of IT practitioners in South Africa and in the Africa ICT Alliance, which is a group of business-led associations across the African continent. In 2013, I joined the IP3 Standards & Accreditation Council and became the Vice Chair of IP3, responsible for the SAC in mid-2014."
Q: What did you hope to accomplish? A: "I have a simple philosophy – life gives you "stuff" (rewards, challenges, enjoyment and opportunities), so it is only fair that you give something back. I cannot criticize how others contribute if I am not willing to stand in the front line with them. I have achieved a reputation as a good "source" of informed comment and relevant information, but I regard it as unfinished business as there is still much for the South African ICT sector to accomplish to reach its potential as a contributor to the economy and to society at large."
Q: Let's talk specifically about your role with IP3 in more detail. What are the specifics of your role? A: "IP3 promotes the value of professionalism in the practice of the "arts" of ICT. The Standards & Accreditation Council sets measurable criteria by which member organisations can ensure that their recognition of professional grades of membership is accredited to a global standard. It is the early days yet, but I hope to assist all ICT societies and institutes to reach our collective goals in this important arena. My job is to guide each institution in the preparation for accreditation, lead the assessments, encourage follow-up and spread the word."
Q: How can new societies become engaged with IP3? A: "When IP3 attracts their attention, they should check us out on the website (http://www.ipthree.org) and engage us in conversation about the contribution we can make to their value proposition. All the Board members of IP3 are happy to welcome enquiries and add to the network of connected and interested parties."
Q: What is the path to accreditation? A: "Aspiration, dedication and implementation. Aspire to the highest standards. Dedicate resources to compliance. Implement the processes to sustain performance. It can take two years to achieve all the criteria and the accreditation lasts for five years before being reassessed."
Q: What is the value of accreditation? A: "Global recognition of the value of shared knowledge and shared beliefs. Practitioner members of accredited organisations achieve better individual and collective performance in creating and maintaining the tools that support our communities. That improvement in performance is reflected in better earnings."
Q: Where do you see your work evolving? A: "As more member societies buy into the sustainable contribution that IP3 makes to their relevance, we will support a wider range of certified grades, we will accredit more institutions (such as colleges and universities) and we will refine the Body or Bodies of Knowledge across the globe. This is an essential ingredient for the connected, borderless world of converged technology in the future."
Q: What are your views on the ISO 24773 updates involving conformance? A: "I have to confess to not having taken the time to study this issue in sufficient depth as of yet. The work done so far on software engineering competencies provides a great foundation for the broader range of competencies demonstrated by professional practitioners in the ICT arena. IP3 needs to be engaged with the other global stakeholders to ensure that conformance assessment is successfully implemented in our accreditation and certification programmes. We also need to engage with our colleagues in the more traditional engineering professions to ensure a smooth interface between the converging roles."
Q: Describe five areas of controversy in the areas that you work. A: "I am tempted to say government, government, government. I would add subsets of ignorance, interference and apathy. Ill-advised and ill-informed policies and legislation are holding back the growth of economies and societies in an increasingly digital world. On the other side of the table, there are too many associations claiming a slice of the industry representation, speaking with different voices and drowning out the real messages they should be conveying. Affordable access to networks, security of data and privacy of information are key issues that require combined resources."
Q: Do you feel computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials? [See http://www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council] A: "Short answer, yes. Around the world, we have made some progress towards this in some aspects of what we do as practitioners. Although we have not had the centuries of tradition that doctors, lawyers and accountants can look back on, after the 60 or 70 years we have been around, the computing profession should be able to insist on recognition of the risks that bad practice presents to the world and the need for professionalism to mitigate those risks."
Q: What do you wish to accomplish in the next three years? A: "Accreditation of two societies per year, Seoul Accord signatory and handover of my various roles to younger successors. I also want to visit South America (the only continent I have yet to set foot on)."
Q: What five improvements in policy should happen in the next two years and what would you like to see internationally? A:
Q: Can you share your top ten lessons from your prior roles and how the audience can make use of your shared lessons? A: I don't know if life teaches us as many as ten lessons. Sometimes one light bulb moment is enough to set your life on the right track. However, in no particular order:
Q: Which accomplishments are you most proud of and why? A: "Launching the Dealer Outlet Reporting & Information System for Esso Petroleum in the UK in 1968/69. My first "project" for which I carried full responsibility and the first online end-user system in Esso UK. Converting the Rennies Group accounting systems from ICL to IBM in 1986/87. A major multi-stakeholder project that brought me into the world of associations and alliances that are such an important part of the ICT environment. Bringing South Africa into the World IT & Services Alliance in 1998/2000 (highlighting that this country has achieved much and has much to offer the ICT industry). Leading the rebranding of CSSA as IITPSA in 2013, to move it away from the image of an "old white men's club" into a dynamic contributor to the growth and development of the sector locally and abroad. Turning the Wanderers Club into a sustainable enterprise in 2006-10 (having changed the business model that had suffered ongoing losses for several years prior to my Chairmanship). Receiving the Distinguished Service to ICT Award from CSSA/IITPSA in 2012. A humbling experience that had me lost for words."
Q: From your extensive speaking, travels and work, please share three stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing). A: "Being asked to keynote the CUASA AGM without notice. I was sitting in the audience as a guest, when the chairman announced the keynote speaker had failed to show, but he was sure that Adrian Schofield would be able to take his place and asked me to stand up there and then. Being screwed by an airline that flew me from Athens to Gatwick instead of Heathrow, missing the connection to Johannesburg because their car got caught in traffic and then being denied the limo service that was part of the deal to take me to a place to sleep "because you've already had the service". Eating frog legs in Hanoi - all chillis and no flavour. I enjoy cuisine around the world, but that was a great disappointment, in sharp contrast to the excellent and friendly service from the Vietnamese people. Arriving as a surprise guest at my mother's 90th birthday celebrations in England."
Q: If you were conducting this interview, what 5 questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers? A: "Why did you move to South Africa? To make room in the “nest” for our daughter and her husband, who still live in the house we vacated in England. How do you balance work and the rest of your life?With the skills of a juggler – mainly by getting up very early and having firm dividing lines between work, volunteer time and home life – and not stressing over deadlines. What is your favourite place? I have several, but if I had to pick one, probably Adelaide in South Australia. When will you retire? Retirement is for people who stop enjoying work. I love being engaged with people in achieving results. As long as they don’t mind having this old guy on the team, I want to be there. What do you still want to accomplish? A South African government that understands why they must embrace technology and not use it as a blunt weapon to limit the opportunities for their citizens."
Q: Adrian, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. A: "It has been my honour and pleasure to be with you."
Awesome Windows 10 announcements: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-10/about
Cortana’s got your back
Cortana is your truly personal digital assistant who works across all your devices to help you get things done.
Rule the web
Project Spartan is an all-new browser built to deliver a better web experience. You can write directly on webpages from your PC, read articles distraction-free and save your favorites to read offline later.
Take your gaming further
With Xbox on Windows, play and connect with your games and friends. Everywhere.
Universal Apps, including Office
The Store in Windows 10 is a one-stop shop for hundreds of thousands of apps including games, music, videos, as well as a new version of Office.
Transform your world with holograms.
Microsoft HoloLens, together with Windows 10, brings high-definition holograms to life in your world. As holograms, your digital content will be as real as the physical objects in the room. For the first time, holograms will become practical tools for daily life. The era of holographic computing is here.
Windows 10 for business
Want to know more about Windows 10 for your company? Check out our blog for businessand our blog for IT pros.
Go to this amazing event at Microsoft Store Square One Shopping Centre to help drive your tech startup to success.
During this special networking event, the Microsoft BizSpark startup guys are teaming up to help drive your tech startup to success. Come learn how about the software and services in the cloud that thousands of other Microsoft startups have been using to grow their businesses since 2006.
Included will be case studies from other startups that have benefitted from our BizSpark startup program, the breadth and capabilities of Azure cloud services, including how it supports cross platforms such as iOS, Android, Linux and numerous open source software and development tools.
You’ll also have the opportunity to network with fellow peers and members of our tech evangelist and business communities to discuss your startup needs. Space is limited so sign up today! https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032612252&Culture=en-CA&community=0 Date: Friday, January 30, 2015 Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm Location: Microsoft at Square One Shopping Centre 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L5B2C9
1. Calendar Federation with an Exchange Hybrid
2. PowerPoint and Excel: Perfect Partners for Dynamic Tables and Dashboards
3. Using OneNote with the Surface Pro3
4. Using ObjectDataSource with ASP.NET ListView for Entity Framework 6
5. Better Best Bets with Lists in SharePoint 2013
IT Pro Courses
1. Understanding Active Directory
2. Windows 8.1 Deployment JumpStart
3. Office 365 ProPlus Deployment for IT Pros
4. Moving to Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure
Dev Courses 1. Mobile Dev: Bing Search Engine Optimization Jump Start 2. Mobile Dev: Last Stop: Getting Your Windows App to Market 3. Designing Your XAML UI with Blend Jump Start
Data Platform Technologies are constantly evolving. To help you keep up to date Microsoft Canada introduces a DataPlatform webcast series. Learn about new generation of Microsoft Data Platform solutions: Power BI‚ Analytical PlatformSystem appliance, In-Memory technologies, Azure Cloud Data Services and SQL Server 2014. The first event is January 29th:
English landing page: www.aka.ms/wsen
French landing page: www.aka.ms/wsfr
I just returned from Las Vegas and the international CES with 170,000 delegates, 3600 exhibitors, 6000 press in over 2.2 million square feet—the largest technology showcase ever!
Appreneur Scholars
I judged the CES Appreneur Scholar awards founded by Elim Kay, funded by the Kay Family Foundation and produced by Robin Raskin owner of Living in Digital Times who account for more than 40 percent of the high-value content and events at CES. The winners were iCPooch and SmartTest Pro. The free iCPooch App is designed to let you connect to your pet and provides you with two-way video chat and the ability to deliver them a treat from anywhere in the world. SmartTest Pro Teacher and Student Edition introduces education to a new method of digital testing.
From winner Brooke Martin: "I am honored to be recognized for my contributions in developing iCPooch. To be acknowledged amongst such amazing and talented finalists is as rewarding as it is truly inspiring." Zach Burmeister went on to say: "The Appreneur Scholar Award is a great honor to me because it is a great sign of potential for SmartTest Pro!"
Elim added, “Kay Family Foundation is honored to partner with Living in Digital Times for a second year and recognize two brilliant young entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs like Brooke and Zach are engines to driving innovation relevant to the Information Age. I hope the Appreneur Scholar awards helps Brooke and Zach to further their journeys with their respective ventures.”
Hot trends and technology
Samsung President and CEO of Consumer Electronics Boo-Keun Yoon indicated “The Internet of Things is about people, not things,” and by 2020, all Samsung devices will be connected to the IoT. Dr. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board, Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, stated “Mercedes aims to develop truly superhuman autonomous driving ability” evidenced in the company’s new concept car F 015 which can drive itself, has seats that can swivel to face each other, possesses a computerized brain to watch pedestrian traffic, the interior featuring gesture and eye tracking control with free floating driving instruments. There are legal hurdles ahead such as liability in the case of an unavoidable accidents but self-driving cars will help us to achieve “the dream of freedom and mobility.”
I captured added thoughts in this article for IT World -- According to Consumer Electronic Association (CEA) CEO Gary Shapiro, “Our forecast underscores that consumers’ love affair with technology shows no signs of slowing any time soon. Consumer technology is all about continued innovation. In the blink of an eye, consumer demand has taken off for emerging categories such as wearables, unmanned aerial vehicles and 4K Ultra HD – categories that were too small to track just three years ago. Expect to see these burgeoning categories, as well as innovations across the full spectrum of consumer technology, on display this week at the 2015 International CES.” Other emerging products include 3D printers, connected thermostats, unmanned systems (such as unmanned vehicles and home robots), IP cameras and smart wearables.
Technologies which caught my attention included:
- Toshiba’s talking ChihiraAico robot
- SCiO is the world’s first molecular sensor that fits in the palm of your hand! It is a no-touch optical sensor that provides a seamless user experience. With SCiO, you can begin exploring what physical objects are made of, for example, how much fat is in cheese or salad dressing, how much sugar is in a piece of fruit, checking the freshness or pureness of cooking oil, knowing when an avocado will ripen, understanding the well-being of plants, identifying what medicine one is about to consume and much more. The applications are endless. Each time you scan an item you help build the world’s first database of physical matter. That new database has tremendous implications on food, research, health care and our environment. The data that SCiO collects will be a great leap forward for human knowledge of the physical universe.
- MeccaNoid is a new robotics building system from Meccano. At $399, MeccaNoid is the first of its kind: a four-foot tall humanoid that comes with built-in voice recognition, conversations, and much much more. Most importantly, users can create their own custom robot movements by physically moving the robot while in record mode. These movements and audio are stored in memory and can be recalled at any time with simple voice commands.
- From the creators of the original Guitar Hero®* comes Singtrix®, the next-generation karaoke machine that makes bad singers sound good and good singers sound amazing! Sound like your favorite stars with hundreds of professional vocal effects, live backup harmonies created from your own voice & natural pitch-correction. It works with any music and any audio device.
- 360fly, a wearable camera designed to capture experiences how they happened, as they happened, in 360º. Offering an unrivaled 360×240-degree field of view, 360fly redefines video capture and the way we share life’s unforgettable moments.
- 8K TV, you have to see it to believe the detail
Top CES trends from serial entrepreneurs who are showcased on the CES Wall of Apps for the most innovative apps of the year
Elim Kay, Top Pioneering Innovator, Young Entrepreneur, International Board Director, Notable C-level Executive provided his thoughts on technologies at CES:
1. Wearable Devices: in my opinion, wearable devices present the next level tier of capturing categories of data on humans (e.g. state of the human bodies, external movements) which can be fused with currently captured data from mainstream sources (e.g. mobile devices). This aggregated data, coupled together with relevant learning engines, can provide richer depth and context which translates into increased precision in generating quantitative intelligence. The opportunities that result may produce huge upside to huge industries, not only healthcare but also retail, restaurants, hospitality, etc.
2. Augmented Reality: While augmented reality is still in very early form, the future of augmented reality seems promising given the existing infrastructure of continuous advancement of humans’ digital behavior (and increasing precision of human-profiling by machines) that, in my opinion, is leading digital societies to eventually brace augmented realities in its eventual form(s). And I believe such forms will produce significant impact virtually across all industries.
3. Drones: The future of embraced utility of drones is wide as drones allow humans to extend their physical reaches at lower economical means. This concept of physical extension cuts across all industries. As drones begin to gain in maturity and eventually couple with advancing machines, a question is whether a balance can be achieved in which humans maintain being in control of extending physical reach while not becoming marginalized?
David Cheng, Top–Ranking Pioneering Chairman, Software Developer, and World Innovation Technology Leader and Entrepreneur also shared Elim’s thoughts and along with a couple of additional points:
1. More consumer friendly wearable Devices in how its effects on the healthcare industry. The advancement in the last 12 months in the area is quite impressive. The healthcare industry have gotten pressure to move more toward keeping a population healthcare versus treating them only when they’re sick. The very specific movement toward making the devices more consumer friendly by making it more affordable and fashionable should help drive the adoption of these devices. And with strong adoption, it can actually play a major role is shifting the healthcare industry toward wellness management and more consumer driven.
2. 3D scanning and printing. I believe this literally opens up a new dimension. Not only does this allow us to be more creative in what we design and create but it will probably open up new markets and opportunities. Real Estate developers can now easily build 3D models of their designs and inventors can actually “print” their inventions versus seeing it only on the screen (with simulations). It will be exciting to see when these devices becomes more affordable along with new advancements.
3. Self-driving cars. I believe this CES really is driving home the idea that a fully autonomous vehicle is here today! Which means production vehicles is not too far behind. Now imagine if they network all of these cars and be able to figure out (automatically) how to get everyone from point A to point B with full collaboration from every car! The stuff we’ve seen in sci-fi movies is actually here.
David and Elim’s most recent venture is as co-founders of Zaka a social-based relationship management and referral mobile application and platform where you discover places through the people you trust! Zaka was spotlighted on the CES Wall of Apps as one of the year’s most innovative apps.
Register* TODAY for the next free ACM Learning Webinar, "Stranger than Fiction: Case Studies in Software Engineering Judgment," presented on Wednesday, January 28, 2014 1pm ET (12pm CT/11 am MT/10 am PT/6 pm GMT) by Steve McConnell, CEO and Chief Software Engineer at Construx Software.
The talk will be followed by a live question and answer session moderated by Will Tracz, Lockheed Martin Fellow Emeritus; Chair, ACM SIGSOFT. (If you'd like to attend but can't make it to the virtual event, you still need to register to receive a recording of the webinar when it becomes available.) Note: You can stream this and all ACM Learning Webinars on your mobile device, including smartphones and tablets.
High-profile software project disasters have been commonplace for decades. Failed projects are followed by hand-wringing and cries of, "Where did we go wrong?" The people involved in the failed projects seem unable to determine the root causes of failure. Post mortem analyses typically settle on conspicuously incorrect answers, such as "We didn't test enough," "We should have been more agile," or "We should have motivated our staff better." The topic of judgment is ignored in the software engineering literature, yet development of sound professional judgment is key to correct and useful diagnoses of past failures and essential to creating future successes. In this talk, award-winning author Steve McConnell uses the "Four Core Influences" framework from his upcoming book, Software Engineering Essentials, to dissect published reports of software project outcomes. He demonstrates how to use sound software engineering judgment to vastly improve understanding of software project dynamics, which in turn leads to correct diagnosis of failure, more effective corrective actions for projects already underway, and a significantly improved chance of success on every project. Duration: 60 minutes (including audience Q&A)
Presenter: Steve McConnell, CEO and Chief Software Engineer at Construx Software Steve McConnell is CEO and Chief Software Engineer at Construx Software where he consults to a broad range of industries and oversees Construx's consulting and training offerings. Steve is the best-selling author of the industry classic Code Complete as well as Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art, Rapid Development, and other titles. Steve has served as Editor in Chief of IEEE Software magazine and Chair of the IEEE Computer Society's Professional Activities Board. Readers of Software Development magazine voted Steve one of the three most influential people in the software industry, along with Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds. Steve can be reached at stevemcc@construx.com.
Moderator: Will Tracz, Lockheed Martin Fellow Emeritus; Chair, ACM SIGSOFT When he retired in 2012, Will Tracz was a principal software engineer/application architect for the Global Combat Support System - Air Force program. He is currently the chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering (SIGSOFT) and a member of the ACM Professional Development Committee. He was the editor of the ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes (1994-2012), 2002 chairman of the International Conference on Software Engineering, and 2012 chairman of the ACM Foundations of Software Engineering.
Click here to register* for this free webinar and be sure to share this with friends and colleagues who may be interested in this topic. And check out our past events, all available on demand. *By registering, you agree to receive a one-time email from ACM on behalf of presenter Steve McConnell.
The best and brightest minds will be all in one place to talk cloud infrastructure and management, productivity, big data and the internet of things, unified communications, mobility and more. So welcome, thinkers. And get ready for a glimpse at what’s possible today and in the future.
New year. New conference. It’s finally here—the one conference that’s really every tech event. Hear from CEO Satya Nadella and other top visionaries. Attend incredible sessions and deep dives. Enjoy unprecedented access to hundreds of Microsoft technology and business leaders.
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I’m in Las Vegas at the international CES (Jan 6 to 9) in several roles:
- at the invitation of the US Embassy as an industry board chairman
- as a judge for the Kay Family Foundation Appreneur Scholar Awards
- as a chairman and managing partner working in investments and start-ups
- as a board chairman looking for buying opportunities
- as a writer/blogger for IDG - IT World Canada (pre-show events running from Jan 4)
My predictions for CES and for the enterprise are reported here for IT World:
http://www.itworldcanada.com/author/sibaraki
The judging is reported here:
http://appreneurscholars.com/2015-judges/
International CES is the largest technology show with 6000 press, 160,000 delegates, 3500 exhibitors, 2 million square feet spanning multiple hotels and the convention center. There are pre-events which I will be attending today and I will provide updates for areas that I find particularly cool!
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The application development track has speakers from leading technology companies talking about how they are applying new technologies to the products they deliver. The track covers topics such as reactive programming, singe page application frameworks, UI based on functional programming, and other tools and approaches that will help you build more robust applications and do it more quickly.
The systems track will explore topics that enable systems-level practitioners to build better software for the modern world. The speakers are involved in the design, implementation and support of novel technologies and low-level software supporting some of today's most demanding workloads. Topics range from memory allocation, to multicore synchronization, to time, to distributed systems and more.
Schedule and Speakers
Early registration deadline January 28
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George Neville-Neil works on networking and operating system code for fun and profit. He also teaches courses on various subjects related to programming. His areas of interest are code spelunking, operating systems, and rewriting your bad code (OK, maybe not that last one). He earned his bachelor's degree in computer science at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a member of ACM, the Usenix Association, and IEEE. He is an avid bicyclist and traveler who currently lives in New York City.
Terry Coatta is currently CTO for Marine Learning Systems. Marine Learning Systems is an eLearning software and services provider to the maritime and resource industry. Prior to Marine Learning Systems,Terry was President of AssociCom, a Vancouver-based start-up that builds online communities for professional and trade associations. His expertise lies in the areas of software architecture and software development. As CTO for Vitrium Systems Inc., he led the development organization through the release of three new products, and the customer base expanded from under 10 to over 200. From 2001 to 2005, he was the VP of Development at Silicon Chalk Inc. where he led a team developing a unique real-time collaboration tool for use at universities and colleges. Terry was also a founding partner in Network Software Group Inc. (acquired by Open Text Corporation, 1996) and Director of Software Development at GPS Industries Inc. An active ACM volunteer, Terry serves on the ACM Practitioners Board and Queue Editorial Board, and chairs the Case Study Committee.
Samy Al Bahra is the co-founder of Backtrace I/O, a New York-based company that is building debugging technology to fundamentally improve the quality of today's demanding native applications. Previously, he was a principal engineer at AppNexus, playing a key role in the development of a leading realtime online advertising platform. Prior to his work at AppNexus, he was involved with Message Systems in the development of a high-performance messaging server. Samy was part of the George Washington University High Performance Computing Laboratory working on PGAS languages and reconfigurable computing, where he was team lead of the UPC parallel I/O reference implementation. He is the maintainer of Concurrency Kit (http://concurrencykit.org), a library that provides a plethora of specialized concurrency primitives, lockless data structures, and other technologies to aid the research, design, and implementation of high-performance concurrent systems. Samy serves on the ACM Practitioners Board.
The ACM, the largest non-profit in computing, has much to offer to support you and your organization. I will continue to share ACM news, videos, webinars and resources with you. I use all of them and find them indispensible in ALL of my work. A key part of the resources available can be found in the ACM Learning Center:
http://learning.acm.org/
A notable upcoming conference is Applicative 2015 February 25-27. Applicative is ACM's conference designed for software developers interested in the latest in emerging technologies and techniques. The conference consists of two tracks, one looking at system-level programming and the other at application development.
I am a member of their practitioner board and chairman practitioner board professional development committee (PDC).
Background: This ACM link contains board members and committee members:
http://www.acm.org/about/annual-reports-current-fy/Practitioners-FY14.doc .
The PDC oversees ACM Learning Center products and services such as courses, webinars, podcasts, videos, books, tutorials, techpacks, . etc. The practitioner board and committees consists of notable authorities in computing who have made significant contributions which are discoverable through internet searches. The ACM reach is 3.4 million, with 1.5 million users of the digital library and is the largest organization in computing science (500 events and conferences, 78 newsletters/publications, 36 special interest groups such as SIGGRAPH, the top awards in computing science such as the ACM Turing Award which is now 1 million in prize money and considered the Nobel Prize of computing. Interviews with past winners have appeared here in IT Manager.
Here are a sample of news updates from IFIP:
- Message from the President, Leon Strous
- 2014 World CIO Forum November 2014 held in Xi’an China
- 23rd World Computer Congress Oct 4-7, 2015 Daejeon South Korea
- News from IFIP’s Italian member AICA
- IP3 News
- CIPS BC Victoria luncheon with BC Minister of Technology, Innovation & Citizen’s services
- Link to the IFIP NEWS
http://www.ifip.org/images/stories/ifip/public/Newsletter/2013to2014/news_dec_2014.pdf
I spoke at the IFIP General Assembly in Vienna and was vice-chair international steering committee for the World CIO Forum (WCF). At the WCF, I chaired and spoke at the opening plenary dialogue panel session with CEO and CIOs and was invited to award the top 100 CIOs. I have several interviews from the IFIP World CIO Forum which will appear in IT Manager. The insights shared will be of value to you. The one area requiring your attention is the rapid progress made in Big Data, deep learning, machine learning and using these tools in the enterprise. Microsoft Azure has significantly enhanced their offerings and I would encourage having a trial. I noted trends to watch in these articles:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/cdnitmanagers/archive/2014/12/12/what-are-the-technology-trends-at-the-international-ces.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/cdnitmanagers/archive/2014/10/20/microsoft-azure-with-real-time-analytics-for-hadoop-and-machine-learning.aspx
Who are MVPs?
As noted in partial extracts from a reference letter by Steven Guggenheimer Corporate Vice President Developer Experience & Evangelism: The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with users and Microsoft…With fewer than 4,000 awardees worldwide, Microsoft MVPs represent a highly select group of experts. MVPs share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others. They represent the diversity of today’s technical communities. MVPs are present in over 90 countries, spanning more than 30 languages, and over 70 Microsoft technologies. MVPs share a passion for technology, a willingness to help others, and a commitment to community. These are the qualities that make MVPs exceptional community leaders. MVPs’ efforts enhance people’s lives and contribute to our industry’s success in many ways. By sharing their knowledge and experiences, and providing objective feedback, they help people solve problems and discover new capabilities every day. MVPs are technology’s best and brightest…an exceptional group of individuals from around the world who have demonstrated a willingness to reach out, share their technical expertise with others and help individuals maximize their use of technology.
How do you find them?
There is a dedicated web site for MVPs at https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/default.aspx and the blog. Here are a few sample blogs spotlighting their top expertise:
Want help from an MVP?
This IDG-IT World article delves in details about MVPs and how to contact them:
http://www.itworldcanada.com/blog/looking-for-help-mvps-are-the-answer/84354
From the Office Blogs: Say hello to Sway! Sway is an entirely different way to express yourself and bring your ideas to life. When your ideas are born, you want to explore, visualize and share them—quickly and easily, wherever you happen to be, and on whatever device you have. You want your ideas to be understood. Sway helps you do just that. It’s a new way for you to create a beautiful, interactive, web-based expression of your ideas, from your phone or browser. It is easy to share your creation and it looks great on any screen. Your ideas have no borders, edges, page breaks, cells or slides. Your mind is a continuous canvas, and Sway brings this canvas to life. Sway helps you focus on the human part: your ideas and how they relate to each other. Sway takes care of the design work—a Sway is ready to share with the world as soon as it is born…Sway Preview, we are just starting our journey with Sway and want you to help us shape its future.
Check out this video for a cool look inside a Microsoft Datacenter. As the engine that powers Microsoft's cloud services, the Cloud Infrastructure and Operations group focuses on smart growth, high reliability, operational excellence, cost-effectiveness, environmental sustainability, and a trustworthy online experience for customers and partners worldwide.
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Satya Nadella and the Hour of Code – Your passion makes a different As a part of Code.org’s Hour of Code, more than 20 Million students in 76,000 classrooms around the world learned to code this week, bringing us one big step closer to Code.org’s goal of getting 100 million kids to try coding!
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I am participating and judging at the International CES in January 6-9 2015 experiencing disruptive trends that will profoundly impact enterprises.
You will find the trends here in an article I wrote for IDG-IT World appearing today:
http://www.itworldcanada.com/blog/what-are-the-technology-trends-at-the-international-ces/100471
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Why should you care about CES?
I was invited in 2012 by a top Eurasia-based government to lead their delegation since they saw CES as a key component for their strategic planning impacting businesses and industry. In 2014, I was invited to chair and keynote the opening session of the United Nations Global e-Government Forum Scientific Practical Conference and as an event vice-chair to chair and keynote the opening dialogue session with CIOs and CEOs at the IFIP World CIO Forum. The themes at these events underscore the technologies and keynotes at the international CES. With the impending digital quake where the majority of businesses and jobs will change, it is more vital now than ever to keep abreast of the latest trends.
Why CES?
CES is the largest international technology showcase with the future on interactive display in over 2 million square feet spread over three conference centers.
Imagine the excitement and insights gained with 160,000 pre-vetted delegates, 6000 press and 3500 exhibitors unveiling their latest innovations across the entire spectrum of consumer and business technology.
In addition, I have an invitation from the US Embassy to be in a US Embassy led industry executive delegation (as board chair of various organizations/groups) and I will be evaluating the content from the perspective of value to the enterprise, SMBs, and ICT practitioners.
Added insights will be gained from the list of speakers including:
CBS Corporation President and CEO Leslie Moonves to Keynote Brand Matters Panel
GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman to Keynote Leaders in Technology Dinner
Ford President and CEO Mark Fields to Debut on 2015 International CES Stage
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich to Keynote at 2015 International CES
Daimler Chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche to Deliver Keynote Address at 2015 CES
Samsung President and CEO Boo-Keun Yoon to Deliver Keynote Address at the 2015 International CES
What am I looking for?
What will become the top trends? Will these trends be clearly demonstrated? What will be the impact on business and particularly IT executives? How does this support your enterprise mobile one strategy, BYOD challenges, cloud adoption and the blurring lines between consumer wants and enterprise work?
How closely does this align with major themes I have seen at other conferences such as the Astana-hosted UN Global E-Government Forum Scientific Practical Conference?
The ultimate goal of the Forum was to enhance government capacity through presentations, discussions, and peer-to-peer learning. There were four objectives towards this goal:
· to increase knowledge of e-Government policies, trends, solutions and best practices of countries;
· to enhance global network to exchange ideas and cooperate for e-Government development;
· to make recommendations and suggestions to provide guidance for governments so they could adopt them for realizing Smart Government and Smart Society; and
· to renew the commitment of policy makers to utilize their acquired knowledge and expertise for elaborating innovative e-Government development strategies fit for their countries.
As a part of the Forum, the International Scientific Practical Conference brought together global scientific experts in ICT. The main aim of the Conference was to determine the significance and role of new ICT trends and their adoption in public sector for effective governance.
The conference consisted of three sessions:
1. Data science for Smart Government;
2. Smart convergent technologies;
3. Use of architectural approach in the public sector.
Topics are interest include:
Data Science for Smart Government:
- Open Data;
- Open Government Data;
- Big Data Science and Foundation;
- Big Data Analytics;
- Big Data in e-government;
- Big Data in Smart city;
- Big Data in industry;
- Big data in Healthcare;
- Sensor Data, Streaming Data;
- Metadata and public information;
- Business Intelligence;
- Information retrieval;
- Data Privacy and Security;
- Acquisition, Modeling and Processing of Data;
- Data Structures and Algorithms;
- Data mining and data warehousing etc.
Smart convergent technologies:
- Grid and Cloud Computing;
- Hybrid information technology;
- Mobile computing;
- Digital convergence;
- Convergent technologies for smart government;
- Intelligent communications and network;
- Multimedia convergence;
- Internet of Things;
- Digital citizen cards;
- Smart Card and RFID Technologies;
- Electronic signature;
- Geographical information systems (GIS);
- Cross Domain Interoperability;
- Interactive decision making;
- Knowledge management, intelligent systems;
- Open source solutions for e-government;
- Ubiquitous Computing and Embedded Systems.
Use of architectural approach in the public sector:
- E-government enterprise architectures;
- Information systems architecture;
- Service-oriented architectures, web services;
- E-gov framework;
- Government collaboration patterns;
- Business Process Management in E-government.
This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Professor Tetsuro Kakeshita.
Tetsuro Kakeshita received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Kyushu University in 1989. Currently he is an associate professor at Saga University, Japan.
His major research interests include quantitative analysis of ICT education and ICT certification, and complexity analysis of database and software systems. He developed a systematic education program in computer science in his department in 2002. The program was accredited by JABEE (Japan Accreditation Board in Engineering Education), in 2003, which is the second accredited computing program in Japan. He then collaborated with JABEE from 2004 as a chair/member of several accreditation teams, a criterion committee member, and a member of an accreditation committee in charge of the computing and IT-related domain. He established the Forum for high level human resource development at IPSJ (Information Processing Society of Japan), in 2007. The discussion at the forum led to the creation of the certified IT professional (CITP) system which IPSJ is just starting. He also developed an accreditation organization for IT professional graduate schools with JABEE and IPSJ in 2010. He received an excellent educator award from IPSJ in 2013. He also joined ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG20 from 2013 and currently is a co-editor of the revision project of ISO/IEC 24773 Software and Systems Engineering: Schemes for the Certification of Software and Systems Engineering Professionals. He is a member of IPSJ, IEEE Computer Society and ACM.
Q: Tetsuro, thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. A: "Thank you for providing me an opportunity to share knowledge through this interview. I used to study at the Department of Computer Science, McGill University as a visiting student when I was a Ph.D. candidate. I also had a chance to visit a Canadian university1 for CEAB (Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board) accreditation as an international observer in 2005. I was an editor of the IPSJ Journal of Digital Practices, for their special issue on certification for high level IT professionals in 2011. The special issue also contained an article on the CIPS certification system. So I have experienced various aspects of education, accreditation and certification both in Japan and Canada, so I hope this interview provides a better understanding of these aspects."
Q: Recently your outstanding paper entitled "Requirement Analysis of Computing Curriculum Standard J07 and Japan Information Technology Engineers Examination Using ICT Common Body of Knowledge" was specially selected for JIP (Journal of Information Processing) Vol. 22, No.1.https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ipsjjip/22/1/22_1/_article. Can you outline the domains covered by the paper? A: "Thank you for mentioning our recent research contribution. In this paper, we analyzed the relationship among the various domains of computing curriculum and the most major IT examination in Japan."
Q: What did you hope to accomplish with the paper? A: "The Computing Curriculum Standard J07 was developed by IPSJ mainly based on CC2005, Computing Curricula 2005: The Overview Report, and the related curriculum guidelines. The Computing Curricula is separated into five domains, CS, CE, SE, IS and IT. The guidelines of these domains are developed by different communities so that the relationship among the five domains was not clear for society or for college professors majoring in computing. I think that such situation is not desirable since industry does not understand various educational efforts conducted by academia. As a result, the student’s learning effort tends to be neglected during job hunting activities and after they are employed. The Japan Information Technology Engineer Examination (JITEE) is a large IT examination in Japan with 400,000 examinees each year. Although JITEE is well recognized throughout the industry, not many universities utilize the requirements for their education. This is another mismatch between academia and industry. Taking into consideration the above situation, in this paper I tried to clarify the relationship among J07 domains and JITEE. This makes it possible to reduce mismatches and to promote collaboration among academic communities and industry."
Q: What were the outcomes of the paper? A: "The paper clarifies the relationship among the five J07 domains and eight JITEE examination categories, utilizing mapping to a common ICTBOK which we have developed. We estimated importance level as well as requirement level for knowledge and skill of the domains and examination categories in terms of 23 fields and 155 areas defined by ICTBOK. Such evaluation is carried out through the analysis of the J07 curriculum guidelines and the syllabus of JITEE examination categories."
Q: How are the outcomes of use to government, industry and education? A: "The Japanese Ministry of Education is currently running a revision of the Professional Engineer qualifications. The revision for the IT domain focuses on the clarification of the knowledge and skills demonstrated by the qualifications in order to promote collaboration with JITEE examination. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is currently developing a conference to promote IT-related skill standards. The purpose of the conference includes clarifying knowledge, skills and tasks required by IT professionals working at various domains. Information Technology Promotion Agency (IPA), which is an agency administered by METI, recently published the i-Competency Dictionary as a reference BOK and task model for various skill standards for IT professionals. The concept of our paper is thus going to be reflected in the development of the future skill standards and IT-related BOK. Since the skill standard is widely accepted in the Japanese IT industry, we are expecting that our outcomes will be utilized for IT human resource development for industry. The Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) is planning to develop a new computing curriculum standard (J17), which is expected to be published in 2017. The i-Competency Dictionary also references the current version of IPSJ curriculum standard (J07). I expect that our research concepts will also be utilized during the curriculum standard development. The curriculum standard will be referenced by many Japanese universities for their curriculum development. Since IPSJ takes the major role at the IT-related accreditation in Japan, the new curriculum standard will also be utilized for quality assurance of IT-related college education."
Q: How are the outcomes of value to your country? A: "I think that education at academia, human resource development at industry, and evaluation of person’s ability should be designed consistently. However, actual systems for education, human resource development and certification are designed and operated independently by each authority in Japan. I hope that the outcomes of our research can contribute to the Japanese society in order to increase consistency among the systems in IT-related domains."
Q: How can the outcomes be used internationally by other countries, such as in EU, US, Canada? A: "I think that a similar situation that I explained above can also be found in other countries. In this sense, the same concept can be applied to each country to increase consistency among various systems within the country. I also think that our framework based on mapping to ICTBOK can be extended to clarify relationships amongst various systems for education, human resource development and certification in many countries. Then it will become possible to promote international collaboration among such systems in the IT-related domain."
Q: Can you profile the CITP certification system which IPSJ recently started, and the value to practitioners, government, industry, society and education? A: "CITP certification is designed to provide equivalence among various IT qualifications such as JITEE, private certification at each IT vendor, and Professional Engineer qualifications in terms of the IT-related skill standards in Japan. It also aims at conformity to the related ISO standards. We utilize existing qualifications and certifications as building blocks to develop CITP so that CITP can be considered an “adaptor” of a certification or a qualification scheme for the conformity to ISO standard on certification. Such an approach is considered to be reasonable in order to establish a large scale IT professional certification. IPSJ is planning CITP to be accredited by IFIP IP3 for the conformity to ISO/IEC 24773. The CITP certification can then be internationally used after it is accredited. In general, a certification is utilized as evidence that a person has a certain level of ability. Thus the CITP certification system will be useful for a practitioner or industry to prove their ability. CITP allows clarifying of the ability of each practitioner in terms of the IT-related skill standards developed by the Japanese government. From the viewpoint of the certification users, CITP can be utilized to provide requirements for recruitment and/or job assignment for IT professionals. CITP also provides objectives for human resource development at industry and individual career/skill development planning. The objectives provided by CITP can be utilized to improve college level education as well as the skill development of each student. IPSJ is planning to develop a professional community whose members are CITP certification holders. The community is developed for social contribution as well as skill development of the members. Such social contribution activities, including collaboration among various organizations and/or policy making, will raise the social position of the IT professional in the long run."
Q: The Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) received a national profiles survey inquiry related to IT certification, qualification, e-skill standards, IT curriculum and accreditation scheme from CEPIS in July 2013. What was your role with the survey? A: "There are many activities related to IT certification, qualification, e-skill standards, IT curriculum and accreditation scheme in Japan. I asked for a summary or introduction of each activity to the related organizations. Then I integrated the responses to complete the survey as an editor."
Q: Can you summarize the findings of the survey? A:
Q: What surprised you? A: "I have joined or monitored most of the above activities for ten years. However I noticed couple of activities which are unfamiliar to me during the survey. At the same time, I felt that few organizations understand the entire story."
Q: How will the results influence the future? A: "It was valuable to share the national profiles survey result with the related organizations. I also recognized the importance of sharing information amongst related organizations in order to promote mutual understanding and collaboration."
Q: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG20 is working to revise ISO/IEC 24773. Can you describe your role and what you hope to accomplish? A: "ISO/IEC 24773, Schemes for the Certification of Software and Systems Engineering Professionals, is planned to be developed as a multipart standard. I am a co-editor of the Part 1: General Requirements of the ISO/IEC 24773. I hope to provide a consistent set of requirements that a certification system should keep in order to develop a reliable network of internationally acceptable certifications in this domain. Since software and systems often play crucial roles in the real world, the responsibility of the software and systems engineer is often heavy. I think that a certification is a good (although not the only) means to verify the ability of an engineer. I also hope to provide a better framework to clarify relationships among various certifications and qualifications in software and systems engineering. Here qualifications are done on a one time basis only, while certification implies periodical re-certification and continuing professional development (CPD)."
Q: What was the purpose for ISO/IEC 24773:2008? A: "The old ISO/IEC 24773:2008 was designed as a comparison framework for certifications and qualifications for software engineers. ISO/IEC 24773:2008 is useful to compare various certifications and qualifications in the domain of software engineering; however, the notion of requirements and conformity was not defined."
Q: What is the purpose of the new 24773? A: "ISO/IEC 24773 is designed as a conformity requirement standard for certification schemes for software and systems engineering professionals. The new ISO/IEC 24773 will provide minimum requirements for certifications for software and systems engineers. The standard will also provide a comparison framework which ISO/IEC 24773:2008 provided."
Q: What new requirements will be added to 24773? A: "One extension is the addition of requirements for certifications for systems engineers. Requirements of the new 24773 will be essentially the same as the comparison criteria defined by the current 24773:2008. However, there may be additional requirements based on the discussion at ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG203. For example, the standard will recommend that each certification or qualification map their BOK and the expected set of tasks to a reference BOK such as SWEBOK and an SLCP standard such as ISO/IEC 12207:2008. The recommendation is introduced to clarify the relationship among various certifications and qualifications. The ISO/IEC 24773 is developed as an extension to the generic conformity standard ISO/IEC 17024 for certification of persons. Since the 17024 was revised in 2012, the corresponding requirements are modified accordingly."
Q: Who should manage the global accreditation service for certification of software and systems engineering domain? A: "Third party accreditation is an important means to prove conformity to an international standard. I think that IFIP IP3 is a candidate organization to provide such global accreditation service for new ISO/IEC 24773, since IP3 is the only organization that has the experience to accredit certification schemes based on the current ISO/IEC 24773. Although I do not intend to exclude other candidate of accreditation bodies, I expect that IP3 is willing and prepared to become an accreditation body to assess conformity to 24773. Such activity will also be valuable to raise the international position of IP3 and IFIP."
Q: What is the impact and value of the new changes to: business and industry, governments, practitioners, education, society? A: "I expect that the new standard will facilitate continuous improvement of each certification and qualification. By clarifying the relationship among various certifications or qualifications, each practitioner and the society will be able to select appropriate certification and/or qualification considering their needs and current situation (such as achievement level). I also expect promotion of mutual collaboration among different certification and/or qualification systems."
Q: What should businesses do about the new changes? A: "IT service providers can utilize certification and/or qualification as a tool for IT professional development and evaluation of a person’s ability. At the same time, they can utilize a certification or a qualification as a means to assign jobs and to recruit for software and systems engineers. If they are well prepared to demonstrate the ability of their employees using certification and/or qualification, then the demonstrated evidence can be utilized as a business tool to prove their strength from the viewpoint of human resources. IT service users can utilize a certification and a qualification as a means to evaluate a person or an IT service provider for recruiting or job assignment purposes. However it is important for a user to clarify the required ability for the target job. This implies that an IT user should become smarter."
Q: How should government use the new changes? A: "A government has essentially two roles. The first role is a national policy maker related to IT. The second role is an IT service user. The two roles should be played in close relationship since these two roles strongly affect each other. From the viewpoint of IT policy making or leadership, it is important to clarify the required ability to realize the intended strategy or plan. The government should collaborate with more IT professionals than before in order to become a "smart" IT user."
Q: How should the new changes be reflected in education? A: "More sophisticated IT professionals are required at IT service providers and IT users including government. Thus, a higher level of IT skill will be required for college graduates, regardless of their specialty. Introduction of the new 24773 will clarify the requirements of certifications in more detail. Such requirements can be utilized to design an effective education program to develop high level IT professionals. Although I do not recommend an education program to satisfy all the requirements of 24773, knowledge and major skills should be trained through college level education. Such effort is valuable to increase the level of collaboration between academia and industry and to open up the future of the skill development of their students. I also suggest that faculty members having interest in this matter participate in the development of BOK and the competency model for IT professionals from the viewpoint of academia."
Q: How can practitioners use the new changes? A: "A change will be an opportunity with adequate preparation, while it can be a threat without preparation. I hope that all practitioners reading this article understand the necessity of skill development. The required knowledge, skill and competency are changing depending on the market needs, so that life-long skill development is important. Certifications and qualifications will provide a guide for their career development and evidence of their ability. I think it is important for an IT professional to have enough ability so that they do not solely depend on their employer."
Q: Describe five areas of controversy in the areas that you work. A:
Q: Do you feel computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials? [See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council] A: "Recognized professions such as accounting, medicine and law are protected by corresponding licensures. A licensure is typically composed of an education system, certification and a law. I think that we need to develop such a system in order to develop IT professionals in a systematic manner. We, as IT professionals, also need to clearly define the scope of the tasks which require licensure. I recognize that IT professionals play a crucial role in mission critical tasks of various application domains. In such cases, licensure is useful. On the other side, there are many IT tasks which do not need a high level IT professional. We need to distinguish them and persuade society for the necessity of licensure in computing. The development of such a licensure system will require extensive and long term effort, so that we should learn from the experience of the recognized professions above."
Q: What do you wish to accomplish in the next three years? A: "I am expecting a safe launch of the CITP certification and a community of CITP certification holders. I also wish to work on the development project of ISO/IEC 24773 and Computing Curricula J17. These are big projects, so collaboration with my colleagues will be quite important to accomplish them."
Q: What improvements in policy should happen in the next two years and what would you like to see internationally? A: "I have observed many activities to clarify knowledge, skill and competence in the IT domain through my recent experiences in Japan, ISO standard development and the CEPIS survey on e-Skills. I expect that the relationship of BOKs among various IT certifications and qualifications will be clarified. I also expect that the notion of competence will be clarified so that the relationship of competencies among various certifications and qualifications can be clarified. Then collaboration of certifications and/or qualifications becomes possible. Such collaboration will be valuable for society to develop a network of IT certifications and qualifications in order to develop high level IT professionals."
Q: From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share some stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing). A: "I have joined various accreditation teams and visited many universities. I always meet excellent educators at each university, although teaching effort is less evaluated compared with research contribution. Their enthusiasm towards education can be easily observed from their teaching material and feedback to/from their students. I felt that such educators are quite valuable since they are not motivated by outside incentives such as career development. Their enthusiasm is a source of my effort in this domain. Last year, I went to the Ministry of Education in order to talk about collaboration with other ministries. Since different ministries have different jurisdictions and they are quite sensitive about the invasion from each jurisdiction, it is usually difficult to build a collaboration of multiple ministries. However the officer I met was different. He quickly understood the necessity of collaboration between qualifications run by different ministries, and negotiated with the officer in charge of the other ministries for mutual collaboration."
Q: If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask, and then what would be your answer? A: "Well. I would like to express my thoughts and experiences through this interview. An IT system often carries a crucial role and a heavy responsibility in modern organizations. So we can say that IT treats the life of an organization, while it is well known that a medical doctor treats a human’s life. We should become professionals who can fulfill our responsibilities. Certification and education systems are the means to achieve this goal. At the same time, we should visualize and respect a professional having enough ability and/or outcomes. A seamless system of certification and education is essential to achieve this goal. Although competition among professionals is important to develop high level IT professionals, it is also necessary for such professionals to collaborate with each other to achieve better performances in society. To this end, a clear objective and plan become necessary to motivate the professionals. IPSJ is currently developing an IT professional community in order to discuss these matters. Recently, IPSJ made an agreement with the Institute of Professional Engineers of Japan (IPEJ) in order to promote visualization of high level IT professional and development of professional community in IT domain. This is a part of our effort towards collaboration of different communities."
Q: Tetsuro, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. A: "This interview was a good opportunity also for me to collect and integrate my thoughts. I appreciate Stephen for providing this opportunity."
From their annual report shareholder letter signed by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella indicates: ”Looking forward, we have a rich product road map that positions us to thrive in a mobile-first and cloud-first world. For example, we recently launched Delve, an Office 365 cloud-based service that automatically brings relevant documents, data and other artifacts to workers. And we announced our intention to acquire Mojang the, Stockholm-based game developer of the popular “Minecraft” franchise, a game that spans PCs, consoles, tablets and mobile. We also plan to launch Skype Translator this fiscal year, which has the potential to dramatically break down language barriers in our communications. And, perhaps most important, we recently previewed new features and innovations in the next version of Windows, Windows 10.
All of these new services and experiences will be underpinned by significant investments in our cloud strategy — including building more datacenters and increasing capacity in existing regions; expanding our hybrid cloud offerings with new releases of StorSimple, InMage and other products; and launching new cloud capabilities, such as Azure Machine Learning, an offering that has the potential to be game-changing in helping people mine data for predictions.”
http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar14/index.html
From a post by Immo Landwerth [MSFT]: “At connect(), we announced that .NET Core will be entirely released as open source software. I also promised to follow up with more details on .NET Core. In this post, I’ll provide an overview of .NET Core, how we’re going to release it, how it relates to the .NET Framework, and what this means for cross-platform and open source development.”
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2014/12/04/introducing-net-core.aspx
Register TODAY for the next free ACM Learning Webinar, "Getting Cyber Safety Through to Employees (and anyone else)," presented on Thursday, December 18, 2014 at noon ET (11am CT/10 am MT/9 am PT/5 pm GMT) by Ron Woerner, Director of Cybersecurity Studies, Bellevue University.
The talk will be followed by a live question and answer session moderated by Karla Carter, Associate Professor, College of Science and Technology at Bellevue University; Vice Chair, ACM SIGCAS. (If you'd like to attend but can't make it to the virtual event, you still need to register to receive a recording of the webinar when it becomes available.) Note: You can stream this and all ACM Learning Webinars on your mobile device, including smartphones and tablets.
People are and always will be the weakest link in security. Yet, it's an often overlooked topic. This session discusses people skills, influence, and social engineering in security education. This session will educate attendees on human motivation and interaction, how security controls may be bypassed by a person's intentional or unintentional acts, and methods for reducing the cyber risks associated with people. It concludes with online references that can be immediately used to inform on simple steps for cyber safety. Duration: 60 minutes (including audience Q&A)
Presenter: Ron Woerner, Director of Cybersecurity Studies, Bellevue University Ron Woerner is the Director of Cybersecurity Studies at Bellevue University. He has over 25 years of corporate and military experience in IT and Security and has worked for HDR, TD Ameritrade, ConAgra Foods, Mutual of Omaha, CSG Systems, and the State of Nebraska. Ron earned a B.S. from Michigan State University and a M.S. from Syracuse University. He was awarded the CISSP in 2001, the CISM in 2014, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), and Toastmasters Advanced Communicator and Leader designations. He is the Air Force Association CyberPatriot 2013-2014 Mentor of the Year for his work with High School cybersecurity competitions. He loves to talk to others who are passionate about Security and Privacy.
Moderator: Karla Carter, Associate Professor, College of Science and Technology at Bellevue University; Vice Chair, ACM SIGCAS Karla Carter, Vice Chair for ACM SIGCAS, is an Associate Professor in the College of Science and Technology at Bellevue University, in Bellevue, Nebraska. Drawing on over 20 years of information technology experience, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Information Technology Ethics, Emerging Technologies, Enterprise Data, Social Engineering, E-Commerce, and Web Development, and has been awarded Bellevue University's Excellence in Online Teaching Award. Karla's research interests focus on the intersection of information technology and society, particularly in the areas of social media and privacy. She is curious, intense, and irreverent, and can be found on Twitter at @professorkarla.
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