The Blog of Harald

10 weeks ago I was wondering what I was going to do to fill the summer. Work was relatively stable, and I had a few weeks of vacation planned with the kids.

I took a week off, and did a bunch of stuff around the house. Then the kids were in summer camp for six weeks. This turned out to be a good thing because my job went insane, as did the spouse’s. A bunch of high-profile customers all wanted relatively large code changes all at once, and my developers (annoyingly) kept going on business trips or vacations :-). Six weeks went past in a flash, and suddenly I was on vacation with two kids (and no spouse), with no idea of what to do!

The first week was hot! We went to the science center, the museum, and other indoor pursuits so that we wouldn’t melt.

The second week was perfect weather for me, with highs in the mid-20s, but slightly cold for the kids. It rained one day so we went to see Stuart Little 2. We went to the CNE, and discovered once again that our kids are roller-coaster and ride maniacs; Charlotte (at three years old) was the first one to stick her hands up in the air. We took a day trip to Wasaga Beach, and built sandcastles and played in the water and generally had a good time. We stayed busy.

And now I’m sitting here on the last day of August, wondering what happened to summer (although I have a better idea now that I’ve composed this journal entry). The kids go back to school in three days! (and they’re very excited about that). Charlotte’s 4th birthday is in five days. We’re starting into the busiest time of the year, with school birthday parties, family birthdays, curling, thanksgiving, hallowe’en, and Christmas; so I’d better get my bearings and get on with it!

Star Trek Does it Again.

It seems that, in the wake of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a bunch of German researchers have (almost :-) invented “transparent aluminum”. (Actually, they’ve invented transparent aluminum oxide, a ceramic not a metal).

Naturally, people are already coming up with applications.

A recent Spin of the Day article says what many have suspected; the CEOs knew exactly how fragile the house of cards was, and while we were all madly investing in the stock market, they were quietly bailing out.

“Executives and directors of the 1,035 corporations that met our criteria took out, by our estimate, roughly $66 billion. Of that amount, a total haul of $23 billion went to 466 insiders at the 25 corporations where the executives cashed out the most.” – Investigative journalist Lowell Bergman.

Cognitive Properties of a Whiteboard: A Case Study in a Trauma Centre

Abstract.

Distributed cognition as an approach to collaborative work holds that a work unit is cognitive system in which cognitive activities are carried out jointly by workers with the use of tools. This approach has several direct implications to the study of collaborative work. In this paper, we analysed staff interactions with a large display board in a Level I trauma centre operating room unit. Coordination needs are exacerbated by the unpredictability of incoming emergency surgery patients admitted to the trauma centre as well as other contingencies (such as changes in scheduled surgery cases or staffing). The public display board has evolved into a key component for supporting collaborative work. The physical and perceptual properties of the board are exploited by the clinicians to support rapid paced, highly dynamic work. The canvas-like appearances of the display board, combined with magnetic objects attached to the board, afford its users to taylor the board as an effective coordinative tool and to invent new ways of representing information. Based on the concept of display-based cognition, our analysis illustrates the role of public displays in facilitating negotiation of scheduling, joint planning, and augmenting inter-personal communication.

(Update from 2024: In 2009 I started working at the University Health Network on an electronic patient display board for clinicians, fully integrated in real-time with the various clinical systems across the hospital. It was initially rolled to the Emergency Department in about 2007, but quickly expanded across the entire hospital. It was especially popular in two busy locations – the Surgery department at Toronto Western, and the outpatient chemotherapy clinic at Princess Margaret, where coordination requirements were especially dynamic. Now in 2024, it is built-in functionality in every commercial health information system.)

I never knew you needed to be a computer scientist to use toilet paper. Good thing I am one!

(via Debbie.)