The VW Generation (Virtual Worlds)

My sixteen year old son is an avid player of World of Warcraft. His character has reached the highest levels and he spends much of his time helping and advising others. That’s interesting. Even more interesting is the cross over between this virtual world and the real world. Tom is arguably a member of the generation after the Facebook generation, and as such he uses World of Warcraft not just as a game, but as a meeting place with his friends. It’s in the virtual world that this new generation (the Virtual World generation) make their real world social arrangements. The cross over is seamless and entirely natural. My guess is that as Second Life and other virtual worlds become more accessible, both through an improvement in the way they are coded and as a result of increased computer power and faster broadband speeds, we’ll see more of this. Now, if only I could remember where I left my avatar……..

Track Days

I’ve booked myself and the Tiger on an evening track day at Brands Hatch on 17^th July. Quite a few things to do before then, although I’ve found out the new lighter wheels are having to be made and may not be ready in time. I also need to get the new Green Stuff brake pads fitted soon as they’ll need at least 100 bedding down miles before going out onto the track. I’ll be using 17^th July as a testing day prior to a full day session in August, by which time hopefully the car will be fully set up. I've also decided not to bother messing with the exhaust to get it within noise limits for tracks day, but to have one custom made to my specification. I've specified a 97db limit, polished stainless and re-packable so that I can make it louder, or quieter, as I need to. Powerspeed will be doing the work and it's being fitted a couple of days before the first track day.

IBF24

I took part in IBF24 over the past couple of days. A 24 hour global (follow the sun) online intranet conference. What a great idea. People joined from all over the world - over 700 people attended the conference, from 16 countries, saving tonnes of CO2. It was highly interactive fun and didn’t involve me sitting in airports for hours. Let’s hope it catches on.

Blending Again

How many social networks should I belong to? Just one with everything mixed in, or should I belong to several depending on which role (or where my head is) at any one time? I think it will depend upon the individual and the way corporate organisations react to the blended lifestyle. Some people are comfortable already with work and personal being mixed, others are less so. I suspect it's all moving in a blended direction though. Interestingly, my emails are not blended, but that's because of my company’s email policy - in particular an Intranet/Internet use policy which implies I can get the sack for time wasting if I over do it. This will need to be challenged at some point, because in a new blended world it may not be reasonable for people to have to maintain two 'connections' (work and private) when work and private has become so blended. For example, do I fall foul of the internet misuse policy if I spend two hours in the evening surfing in my personal capacity, before doing another two hours work prior to going to bed? Or do I only fall foul of the policy if those two hours are between 9 and 5? I certainly think company policies will need to be reviewed in the light of all these changes.

New Toy 3

I’ve been busy assembling parts for a rainy weekend’s work on the car. I’ve also had it rolling road tuned. And noise tested. Jobs to do include installing a pair of shiny chrome wing mirrors, some new exhaust wrap in the engine bay, an exhaust heat shield to prevent me burning my leg when I get out, fabricate a stainless steel heat shield for the alternator in place of the crude aluminium one there at the moment, and fabricate an aeroscreen which can go on in place of the windscreen for track days. I also need to make up supports for the trumpet socks on the carbs. When the car is revved, the carbs are sucking in so much air the socks are also getting sucked in and there is a danger they could work loose and get sucked right into the engine.

Then car is running really sweet since it was tuned. The technician recorded it at 170 bhp at 6,000 rpm, and still rising. That’s pretty powerful in a 650kg car! He has advised me to run it on Super Unleaded fuel though, which I’ll do as soon the tank is empty - and that won’t take long at 18mpg from a 6 gallon tank! The same day it was tuned I took it down to Brands Hatch to be noise tested. It came out at 104.4db at 4,500 rpm. That makes it within limits for day time track days, but not evening ones. However, I have now got an additional baffle that goes in the tail pipe that reduces the noise by up to 10db (at the expense of power) which should make it legal for evening events if I ever decide to do one.

I’m still waiting on a date for the new roll bar fitting though. Come on Tiger!

I made it!

Last Sunday I successfully completed the London to Brighton bike ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. First off, thanks to all those who sponsored me – it’s a great cause and they need every penny they can get. You can find out more about how they use the money here.

The day was great. Perfect weather – very little wind, sunny, but not too hot. A great crowd of people (27,000 of us) and a great atmosphere. Exceptional organisation and great support from local people along the route. I completed the course in 3 hours and 50 minutes. Although the first few miles were quite slow due to stop start progress through traffic, once we hit the country lanes things moved much more freely.

It was great to see people on tandems, Choppers, roller blades and in fancy dress.

The highlight? Reaching the top of Ditchling Beacon – I was one of the few who rode all the way – and taking in the amazing views across the Sussex countryside.

Will I do it again? Definitely. I may even put a team together for next year.

Getting ready for Sunday

The London to Brighton bike ride is fast approaching. Just 2 days to go. I’ve been dithering over which bike to use. Should I go on the road bike, which is faster but which is harder in traffic because the brakes are not so good and I’m still getting used to stopping and starting with cleats on? Or should I go with the hybrid/commuter bike, which is a little slower but much better in traffic as I sit more upright and have better visibility? It also has much better brakes (V-brakes) and toe clips on the pedals which are considerably easier in stop-start traffic.

On balance, not knowing what 27,000 cycles going in the same direction at the same time actually feels like I think I’ll err on the side of caution and go with the hybrid bike. Next decision is what to take. Looks like rain, so my waterproof jacket will be a must, plus a couple of water bottles, phone and roadside repair kit. Maybe also a spare pair of socks and a dry shirt would be a good idea. I think that’s probably all.

If you’re doing the ride, good luck and do look out for me. I’ll be the confused one wearing number 16640, starting from Clapham at 8.00am.

New Toy 2

I've had the car a week now and not had much chance to get it out and play - largely due to the rain. However, I do have a list of jobs to do before it'll be ready for track days. I think the car is fast enough already (almost 168 bhp in a very light car), so I want to make sure it goes round the corners, stops and is safe. First will be a new roll bar - one with four legs and a cross brace to replace the standard Tiger offering which I think might just fold in the event of a heavy accident. Having seen this I think that's the minimum standard. Next will be four new wheels fitted with Toyo R888 road legal race tyres. Then an aeroscreen in place of the standard windscreen which will be reserved for road use only. I'll probably fabricate that myself using perspex and modified screen supports. And some green stuff brake pads to make sure the car stops as quickly as it accelerates. The car already has full harnesses, so once strapped in, you stay in. The Tiger is being rolling road tuned in a few days time, following which it'll be down to Brands Hatch to get the noise level checked to make sure it is within the track maximum. Fingers crossed as if it's not, that'll mean a new exhaust with a larger silencer.

Double Edged Sword

I’ve been a flexible worker for a number of years. I have zero dependency on paper or a physical presence and excellent technology which means I can work from just about anywhere. And it has proved quite liberating. One of the main drivers behind the ‘blending’ I have talked about in previous posts. However, it can be a double edged sword from the enterprise perspective.

When we all worked together in an open plan office, one of the key components of knowledge management – people to people conversations – happened naturally. If you learned something useful you could tell your colleagues. If someone in your team needed help, they could raise their head and ask. Chances are, someone in the same office would know the answer. And you would overhear conversations which might not be relevant at the time but which you could store away for when you needed to ‘know’ something.

With flexible working, you lose much of that. You lose much of the context for a piece of knowledge – “Jane did it this way when she was up against a tight deadline” The latter half of the sentence being the context. Because flexible workers are not usually in the same place at the same time, this can drive an increase in the use of asynchronous tools such as email. In their own way, these tools then spawn a set of behaviours which can dilute decision taking and reduce the agility of a business. Things such as copying everyone to cover your back. Or asking ten other people instead of taking the decision yourself.

So, on the one side there are major benefits from flexible working around increases in productivity and motivation amongst flexible workers, and on the other side the same people can become increasingly isolated, disconnected and out of the knowledge loop.

All this is just one of the reasons social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter should be explored enterprise use. They can re-connect people and begin to restore the context. Because they are open for viewing by everyone in your extended network – not just the people on the email distribution list – they can provide that always on stream of context. What I’m doing. Issues I have. Help I need. It’s all out there again.

New Search Engine

http://beta.searchme.com/ This is an interesting concept. At first sight it gives more context for any particular search, however, I wonder how it would handle searches which return a large volume of results. It’s not immediately clear how you refine your search, and its not easy to quickly scan your first set of results to check if you’re close to a hit. I’ll persevere though and may write about my experiences some more. (As an aside, it crashed my PC the first time I used it at work – XP, locked down build)

Dusty

I don’t know why, but I started listening to Dusty Springfield on the MP3 player at work today. I haven’t listened to her for a while. Wow, she was great. I was listening to a collection of her greatest songs. All the favourites were there. It’s not that she’s got a great voice, but her phrasing is spot on and the emotion that comes through her interpretations is just spine tingling. Well worth another listen if you’ve got Dusty in your collection. If you haven’t you should try it. My favourites today – “I’m Coming Home Again” and “Yesterday, When I Was Young”.

Something Unexpected

On Saturdays I try to go for a long bike ride. Not only do I generally enjoy it, but it also helps in the build up to the London to Brighton bike ride on 15 June. This past weekend I headed up from the Kent/London borders to central London then south through Croydon and into the Surrey hills looping back home via Westerham. It was a round trip of 54 miles and the ride along the top of the hills was just terrific – magnificent views, made more pleasurable knowing that the longest and worst hills were behind me. This week however there were some unexpected pleasures. Firstly, cycling high up the hill above Westerham I passed a dedicated guy standing in a field practising his bagpipes. It hadn’t occurred to me before that finding a suitable place to practice that particular instrument must be tough at times, especially if you’re a beginner. Frankly, I could think of no better place than the middle of a field. There he was, in a field, the mist rising and the stirring sound of the pipes being sent down the hill for all to hear. Shortly afterwards, I was joined by a crow that flew alongside me for at least 2 minutes, almost with arms reach. What a beautiful bird. Amazing. Then I got brought back to earth with a bang – this time by a Currys delivery van that nearly knocked me off the bike because he didn’t look when he turned out of a side street. Idiot! Finally, I’m still getting used to having cleats on the bike – shoes which clip to the pedals. Sometimes you forget when you come to a stop. And when you forget you fall off. I fell off.