Category: Information Technology

Communication is at the heart of everything…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital devices and the environment, Information Technology, Internet of Things, Smart & New Technology, Smart City, Space, Technology

Electric lighting has revolutionised our lives by illuminating our homes, streets, and cities. It was only after the end of the First World War that electricity began to find its way into most of our UK homes. Rolling out electricity supply across the country took time. In 1919 only 6% of homes were wired up, and it took until the late 1930s for this number to grow to ~66%. By then all new homes in urban areas were being built with  electric lighting as standard. How things have changed since! Today the flick of a switch, a tap on an app, or a voice command will light up rooms in our home providing instant artificial light for reading, cooking, and hobbies even on the darkest of nights. It’s something we take for granted today, largely oblivious to the fact that light at the flick of a switch was an unthinkable luxury for the vast majority of people a century ago.

Lighting our homes, community, and city streets has become more high-tech today than ever before. Streetlights come on when it gets dark, help to keep road users and pedestrians safe and secure, and help to extend our activities outdoors. However, they have downsides. Light pollution from urban areas is one of them, as we can readily see in images taken by satellites and astronauts. There’s always a glow on the horizon which dilutes the visibility of stars in the night sky when walking through suburbs after dark. Furthermore, street lighting’s energy consumption is a matter of global concern because lighting accounts for ~19% of global electricity usage. With resources limited, climate change, and the world’s population forecast to be largely urban by mid-century, it’s not a surprise that ‘smart street lighting’ has progressed over the last two decades.

‘Smart street lighting’  – a connected, sensor-heavy, lighting system allowing individual or groups of lights to be controlled remotely in real time – enables public areas and thoroughfares to be lit more considerately based on their use. Motion detectors, for example, mean that areas can be lit only when people or moving vehicles are present. It’s energy efficient, climate friendly, sustainable and a component within the broader umbrella of ‘smart cities’. At the heart of ‘smart street lighting’ is a fundamental capability, namely the ability to communicate data between disparate and spatially separate entities – an ability which has been at the heart of technological progress for many, many, many decades.

‘Smart street lighting’ and Voyager 1, currently 15 billion miles from Earth in deep space, thus have something in common – both fundamentally need to communicate information to be useful. They are not only both testament to the talent of the scientists and engineers of their eras, but also to the fact that communication in one form or another has always been at the heart of everything in our lives…

A walk in the woods, swarms of drones embodying AI, and fly spray…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Drones, Information Technology, Life, Public safety, Security, Technology

A walk in the woods is good for body and soul, especially in the Spring when bluebells abound. Every walk is memorable in some way, as a couple of encounters reminded the Badger recently. The first encounter involved wildlife. A vixen with two cubs emerged from the undergrowth and sat in the middle of the path to stare at a stationary Badger drinking from his water bottle. They were ~3 metres away, unfazed by human presence, and nonchalantly disappeared back into the undergrowth after about a minute. The second encounter happened ten minutes later as the path bisected an open expanse of scrubland. It was with a police officer landing a drone which had been used in a successful search for someone who’d failed to return from walking their dog in the area. ‘That’s a useful bit of kit’, the Badger quipped to the officer. ‘Yep, but a drone swarm would be better’, the officer responded adding that whereas people knew that individual drones are routine tools for many, swarms embodying AI warrant greater public awareness.

Drones vary in shape, size, function, and sophistication. Everyone has some awareness of them through their appearance in many movies (see here for example) over decades. The capabilities of drones imagined in such movies are today either a reality, or soon to be so. Drones are a growth area. Indeed, the UK Government has envisaged  that 900,000 commercial drones could be operating in UK skies by 2030.  Drones have long been tools in many commercial sectors (e.g. agriculture, energy supply, and property marketing), in the media/broadcasting, and with hobbyists and the TikTok generation, and so this vision seems possible. Drones are also already key tools in law enforcement where they help in monitoring major incidents, events, suspects, crime scenes, traffic, and in the search for missing persons. Military use of them is common and rapidly expanding for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and lethal force, as readily illustrated in the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts. Military drone use continues to expand (e.g. see here ), and swarms of drones embodying AI will eventually transform  military operations even more dramatically. It thus seems inevitable that drone swarms will eventually become a regular facet of civilian life too.

Personal security and safety advice for when you are away from your home has long centred on being aware of your environment and listening to and observing the behaviour of those around you. With drone swarms on the horizon, we should now be observing and listening to what’s in the sky too! Of course, someone will eventually produce a drone countermeasure for personal use by anyone in the general public. Now that’s an off-the-wall thought to end with, probably triggered by learning that fly spray and insect repellent are essential when walking through woods in the warm Spring sunshine…

Fixing dud pixels on a Smart Meter’s in-home display unit…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital Transformation, Energy and Energy Markets, Information Technology, Obsolescence, Smart Meters

The in-home display unit for the Badger’s energy Smart Meter sits unobtrusively on a shelf where it has reliable wireless connectivity to the meter itself. The unit rarely gets looked at. It doesn’t influence energy use and it should really be switched off and consigned to a cupboard. The reason it gets little attention is because the Badger’s always been a thrifty, sensible, and environmentally conscious energy user. A Smart Meter with its display unit hasn’t changed what was already an embedded discipline.

In recent months, the Badger’s noticed an increasing number of dud pixels appearing on  the in-home display screen. This reminded him of two things, firstly that component, communication, and software obsolescence is as much a factor for Smart Meters and their in-home display unit as it is for any smart device, and secondly that the UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised concerns in October last year about built-in obsolescence in meters already installed. Apparently, out of 32.4 million meters installed by March 2023, 3 million (9%) were not working properly, and ~7 million (21%) will need replacement because 2G and 3G communication networks are being switched off by 2033. Consumers can expect to bear the associated costs in due course. The PAC also highlighted what has been long evident, namely that the UK rollout programme has failed to meet its original targets, repeatedly shifted completion deadlines, has no plan beyond 2025, and has failed to convince the public of the benefit.

The vision for the Smart Meter programme started taking shape way back in 2008 but published rollout statistics (here) make it difficult for the organisations involved to claim it’s a success. Programmes like this are, of course, always difficult, and so to test if the Badger’s objectivity has become distorted, Microsoft’s Copilot was asked ‘Is the UK Smart Meter Programme a success?’  The first line of its answer, ‘The verdict on the UK Smart Meter programme is somewhat mixed’ reassured the Badger that his objectivity is not overly distorted. The last line of Copilot’s response, ‘Whether it’s a complete success remains a matter of perspective’, represents ‘maybe, maybe not’ which is hardly an endorsement for a programme running for the best part of 15 years.

From the consumer’s perspective, this programme is clearly not a success. In fact, the way consumers have been treated throughout borders on the scandalous. With the UK Post Office scandal high in public consciousness, journalists are associating Smart Meters with the word ‘scandal’ more often. This item, a compelling 3-minute read, is a case in point. But let’s get back to the dud pixels on the Badger’s in-home display unit. This week the issue was fixed – by switching the unit off and consigning it to the back of a cupboard! If only that could happen with the Smart Meter programme itself…

When is a service not a service?

Posted on by The Information Badger in Delivery, Health & Social Care, Information Technology, Leadership & Management, Processes and Practices, Public Institutions, Service, Transformation

As companies grow, they reorganise and establish different business units to serve their needs. Often, a number of units must cooperate to deliver contracted services to clients. This cooperation can sometimes prove difficult causing disjoint service delivery and strained relationships with the client. The Badger took many calls during his IT career from frustrated clients who experienced, and were frustrated by, poor cooperation between different units within his company. One call from a client he knew well, however, has long stuck in his memory.

Their call was to complain about constant bickering at service review meetings between two units, one delivering helpdesk, hosting, and support services and the other developing a new business application. They demanded that cooperation between the units improved to provide ‘joined-up’ service coherency, as required by the contract. Action was taken, but what became cemented in the Badger’s memory were the client’s general words about service, namely ‘Service is not a service when it fails to fulfil its intended purpose or meet the needs of users. A service should provide value, convenience, and satisfaction, but if a service provider’s internal problems become visible and are a hinderance then the service has turned into a disservice. The essence of service is not its existence, but its ability to deliver coherently.’

These words, and the context that triggered this client’s call, came to mind when two friends described their recent experiences with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). One received an outpatient appointment letter from Audiology when they were expecting one from Cardiology! Enquiring revealed that the appointment was indeed with a cardiologist, but the wrong letter template had somehow been used to notify the appointment! The other attended a CT scan appointment arranged months ago only to be told when on the scanner with a canular in their arm that the scan could not proceed because they hadn’t had a prior blood test! The radiologist apologised but said it was common for scans to be aborted for this reason, because departments rarely tell each other – or the patient – that a prior blood test is needed! Having travelled some distance for the scan, the patient was understandably livid at having their time wasted and at having to await notification of a new appointment.

Irrespective of strikes, waiting lists, money, and political posturing, all of which are the mainstay of media reporting about the NHS, it’s no wonder that public satisfaction is at a record low (see here and here) when patients routinely experience interactions similar to these! The words of the Badger’s client resonate. The essence of service is not its existence, but it’s ability to deliver. It’s thus frankly shameful that ‘when it’s the NHS’ has become a valid answer to the question ‘when is a service not a service?’  Without redressing this, oblivion beckons for the NHS and its end-users…

History suggests that a future generation will face a ‘Digital Crisis’…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Automation, Digital Transformation, Ethics & Regulation, Information Technology, Internet, Life, Online Services, Risk, social media, Transformation

Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with saying ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’, and Karl Marx remarked that ‘History repeats itself first as a tragedy, and then as a farce’. These came to mind while quietly musing on a future which is in the hands of younger generations who’ve grown up with global communication, the internet, social media, and online services as a norm. It’s sobering to be reminded that in just a few decades, digital technology and IT has transformed life faster than at any time in human history. AI adds to the unabated momentum of tech-driven change. But here’s the thing. History shows that many things that have a transformational impact on society have serious consequences that only become fully apparent decades later, creating a crisis for society that a future generation is forced to address. History thus implies that a future generation will have to deal with a crisis caused by the digital revolution.

Bold thinking? Maybe, but consider this. History shows that motor vehicles revolutionised transportation. It’s only in recent decades, however, that society has realised, and started addressing, the true impact of motor vehicles on public health and the planet. History also shows that the use of fossil fuels (particularly coal) during the Industrial Revolution transformed the world. Our dependence on them since, however, has impacted the climate and sustainability of life forcing society into corrective action, but only in recent decades. Similarly, plastic – a material that’s made the modern world possible – has gone from being a wonder substance a century ago to being reviled as an environmental scourge today. It therefore seems perfectly feasible that history will repeat itself with regard to the digital revolution we are living through.

Falling happiness in younger generations (see here, for example) and a tense interview with Elon Musk , who remarked that ‘moderation is a propaganda word for censorship’, illustrate that history may well repeat itself regarding social media. Social media platforms have revolutionised information sharing over two decades, but amplifying misinformation, disinformation, bullying, mental health issues, and eroding personal privacy in the process. They are commercial enterprises bound by the law, but they set their own rules and guidelines for content and its moderation. When a US Surgeon General says allowing young people to use social media is like giving them medicine not proven to be safe, and that it’s insane that governments have failed to adequately regulate them, then society has a problem regardless of Mr Musk’s dislike of challenging scrutiny. History means that society today is having to face up to a ‘Climate Crisis’. Taking note of history is always wise, which is why it’s not outlandish to think that a future generation will face and need to address some kind of existential ‘Digital Crisis’ …  

Systems failure? keep calm and carry on…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business Continuity, Information Technology, Life, Online Services, Risk, Service

Fred (not his real name), an 80-year-old retired civil servant, walks past every morning on his way to the local supermarket for a newspaper. He does this regardless of the weather. Fred walks slower on his way back because the round trip to the supermarket is the limit of what he can manage in one go. On his return leg, therefore, Fred and the Badger often chat if the opportunity arises. Fred has a passion for modern history, current affairs, financial markets, and public service, and while he may be slowing up physically, his mind remains sharp, informed, and impressively analytical. Our conversations are always enjoyable and enlightening.

On Sunday, we had one such chat. Fred knows the Badger’s background is in IT and so he asked about the previous day’s delivery order and contactless payment problems at a well-known UK supermarket chain. ‘In IT there’s always going to be unexpected failures due to software defects, hardware and system problems, human error,  or any combination of the three’, the Badger answered benignly. ‘Didn’t affect me; a good old-fashioned visit to the supermarket and cash will always be my preference’, Fred responded, adding that it didn’t reflect well on the state of society when shrill hysteria and blame floods social media and the news whenever there’s an outage of online services. Fred thinks people take online services for granted and have lost the ‘keep calm and carry on’ spirit that’s normally a strength of the British character! Whether you agree or not, it’s an understandable point of view.

The conversation moved on when Fred mentioned that he’d been reading books about Mr Putin, cyber security, and artificial intelligence. He reckons humanity’s future is bleak, not because of technology, AI, or cyber warfare, but because younger digital-native generations are already slaves to algorithms, aren’t interested in facts and share comments before thinking, have a first response to everything which is a search for blame, and are too willingly ‘followers of the herd’! Again, it’s an understandable point of view. Fred added that Mr Putin doesn’t really need sophisticated cyber tools or AI. He just needs his supporters in key IT roles in some supermarkets, banks, fulfilment and distribution companies, energy suppliers, and network providers to coordinate a simultaneous ‘human error’ moment when making changes to systems! Fred thinks this would cause national mayhem.

Fred’s an interesting guy whose views are shaped by his eight decades of life and what he sees, hears, and reads on a daily basis. Our conversation reminded the Badger that he learned early in his IT career that systems will fail, often in unexpected ways, at an inconvenient time, and disruptively. When they do, it’s important for everyone to ‘keep calm and carry on’. Sadly, calm, patience, and individual resilience seems to be in increasingly short supply in our digital-dominated world…

A first-time Project Manager and scrutiny…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Delivery, Information Technology, IT Project Management, Leadership & Management, Processes and Practices, Project Management, Risk, Training

In times or yore, a young Badger was appointed to lead a new project developing software for an important client. It was his first time as a Project Manager! After six months, however, the Badger seriously doubted his suitability for the role. The initial enthusiasm, excitement, personal glow and motivation from knowing that your boss believes you have what it takes to be a Project Manager had been replaced by gloomy self-doubt. The project was on track, the team members was working well, and the client was happy, so what was the problem? Put simply, the Badger felt bogged-down with – in his view – unnecessary company bureaucracy and intrusion that encroached more and more on the time to lead the project.

In those days, all company employees had ‘a counsellor’, an experienced person outside the employee’s immediate chain of command, who acted as both a mentor and an independent performance appraiser. Employees met their counsellor formally twice a year, and one such meeting happened to be around six months after the start of the Badger’s project. At this meeting, the Badger shared his bureaucracy and intrusion misgivings and whether he was suited to a Project Management career path. His counsellor chuckled and said ‘Everyone initially struggles with scrutiny in their first leadership role because no one likes to be scrutinised. First-time project managers often underestimate the scrutiny that goes with the job!’ The counsellor was right. What the Badger labelled as unnecessary company bureaucracy and intrusion was largely the scrutiny that‘s part of good corporate governance and operational control.

The counsellor emphasised that embracing scrutiny was important because it builds trust and provides assurance that nothing is being hidden, whereas resisting it creates suspicion, distrust, and even more scrutiny! As an aside, they observed that the level of company scrutiny experienced can be a qualitative indicator of a company’s health, because the absence of it implies anarchy and ultimately company failure. Overbearing scrutiny of everything all of the time, on the other hand, suggests organisational constipation, risk aversion, stifled creativity, and likely underperformance compared with rivals in the market. The counsellor concluded with ‘As a Project Manager, you are actively managing your client and your team, but you must also actively manage your company scrutineers and their agendas’. Over subsequent years as a Project Manager that is exactly what the Badger did!

The Badger’s IT delivery career eventually took him into a senior, company-wide, delivery and business role that included being a scrutineer! Most of the first-time Project Managers he encountered as a scrutineer were better trained and supported and embraced scrutiny positively. Experiencing them trying to influence and manage the Badger was always fun, because when you’ve been in delivery for decades you know all the Project Manager’s angles and how not to be defected from your agenda!

Air Canada and the ‘hallucination’ of a chatbot…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Business, Chatbots, Information Technology, Legal matters, Technology

An email arrived from the Badger’s car insurance provider recently. It advised that a renewal quote was in his online account. Logging in revealed a 25% increase in premium! A check using market comparison sites provided quotes for the same cover within a few pounds of his existing premium. The Badger thus used the provider’s chatbot within his account to signal his intent to take his business elsewhere. The chatbot dialogue, however, ultimately resulted in the Badger staying with his provider with the same cover at the price he currently pays!

This is a commonplace renewal dynamic, but the Badger found himself musing on his experience. Apart from being irritated by his provider’s attempted 25% price rise when they were obviously prepared to retain their customer for a much lower price, using the chatbot was easy, efficient, and quick. However, it  wasn’t obvious at any stage in the chatbot dialogue whether the Badger had really conversed with a human in the provider’s organisation. This meant that both he and the provider were implicitly accepting the validity of the chatbot’s deal. A number of ‘what if’ scenarios regarding customer use of AI chatbots started bubbling in the Badger’s brain. And then he read, here and here, about Air Canada and its AI chatbot!

An AI chatbot on the Air Canada website advised a passenger that they could book a full-fare flight to attend their grandmother’s funeral and claim for a discounted bereavement fare thereafter. Guidance elsewhere on the website was different. The passenger did as the chatbot guided and subsequently claimed for the bereavement discount. Air Canada refused the claim, and the parties ended up at a Tribunal with the airline arguing that the chatbot was ‘responsible for its own actions’. The Tribunal ruled for the passenger and that the airline was liable for negligent misrepresentation. The case not only establishes the principle that companies are liable for what their AI chatbots say and do, but it also highlights – as noted here – broader risks for businesses when adopting AI tools.

The amount of money for the discount claim was small (<CAN$500) but the Tribunal’s findings will reverberate widely. The case also exposes something which is commonplace with many big companies, namely the dominance of a legalistic behavioural culture regardless of common-sense within an organisation. This was a bereaved customer complying with advice given by the company’s AI chatbot on the company’s own website, and yet rather than be empathetic, take responsibility, and apply common-sense, the company chose a legal route and to hide behind ‘the hallucination’ of its chatbot. So, bravo to the passenger for fighting their corner, bravo to the Tribunal for their common-sense judgement, and yes bravo to Air Canada for making sure that we all now know that companies cannot shirk responsibility for the behaviour of their AI chatbots…

It takes more than a job title to be good in a crisis…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business Continuity, Information Technology, Leadership & Management, Risk

Crises can take many forms and happen quickly. They are inevitable at some stage for any organisation. They can be triggered by internal or external factors. Examples of the former are delivery difficulties on a crucial major project, bad decisions by corporate, subsidiary, or business unit leaders, and merger or acquisition integrations that go off the rails. Examples of external factors include a key client organisation collapsing, international turmoil, military conflicts, and disasters involving wind, fire, flood, earthquake, or pestilence. The Badger had some responsibility for crisis management during his IT industry career, which meant he learned a lot about the behaviour of senior people in emergency and crisis situations. In particular, he learned that some in senior leadership positions with impressive job titles, who one would assume are used to high-pressure situations, in fact struggle to be good in a crisis!

The recent volcanic eruption in Iceland reminded the Badger of dealing with the response to the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in April 2010.  The ash created havoc by closing European airspace for five days. Many of his organisation’s key leaders, managers, and technical staff were stranded outside the UK unable to return to work after business trips or Easter breaks with their family. Clients, unsurprisingly,  clamoured for reassurance that the delivery of contracted  IT services and projects would continue normally. The first crisis management meeting was memorable due to the behaviour and attitude of one particular business unit leader. They had their head buried in their hands throughout in full-blown panic mode! They were negative about everything, blamed others for inconsequential things, and functioned in self-preservation mode rather than being collaborative and focused on finding solutions in the best interests of the whole organisation. Their behaviour exposed the fact to all present that they were irrational and unreliable under pressure!

Being good in a crisis takes more than just having a leadership job title! It requires a blend of skills, experience, and mindset. Training helps, but experience and mindset are crucial attributes. Leaders with hands-on crisis management experience handle emergencies better because they instinctively apply their learning from previous situations. They listen, think clearly, analyse information objectively, communicate clearly, adapt to circumstances, make sensible rational decisions, and inspire confidence. They remain calm under pressure, resilient to setbacks, and compartmentalise their feelings and emotions to stay focused on the job in hand. They acknowledge the feelings and emotions of others but keep everyone grounded in reality. Their job title alone is never a good indicator that they are good in a crisis!

Crises tend to reveal latent strengths within individuals, so don’t be fearful if you are asked to manage one. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, and you might even do a much better job of it than someone with a more senior job title than your own!

Describe the internet without refering to technology using a maximum of 10 words…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Internet, Life, Online Services, Web

What do you do after a long ramble through park land with large herds of free-roaming deer when the weather is rainy, chilly, and blustery? Dry off and warm up in a café with a hot drink and something to eat. That’s exactly what the Badger and his wife did at the end of a bracing wander around Petworth Park. The café, in Petworth House  which sits magnificently at one end of the park, was busy but we found a table next to a small group of millennial couples who had hiked cross-country from Midhurst seven miles away. They were refuelling with tea, sandwiches, and hot soup in readiness for the trek back. Their lively conversation wasn’t about their hike or their return journey, but about the internet and AI! Some of the group, the Badger sensed, clearly had a background in IT. As they finished and rose to leave, one commented cheerily to another that ‘There should be a simple way of describing the internet that doesn’t use jargon or refer to technology’. After the group left, the Badger’s wife challenged him to do just that using a maximum of ten words!

Thoughts bubbled in the Badger’s brain for the rest of the day, and later that evening he told his wife that he’d converged on a description for the internet that met the challenge. She merely shrugged her shoulders disinterestedly and continued surfing the internet on her smartphone. Undeterred, the Badger announced that the internet is ‘All human interactions, from good to evil, sped up’. She simply nodded and told the Badger to use it for his blog, and that’s exactly what he’s done!

There are probably many valid and better alternatives, but the Badger thinks these words powerfully describe the internet, that nebulous entity which not only invisibly connects people, places, information, stories, beliefs, knowledge, and ideas globally, but also entertains us, sparks our curiosity, and mirrors our aspirations, flaws, and contradictions. The words also encapsulate the fact that all the good and bad attributes of humanity waltz together on the internet at a speed humankind has never encountered before. The fight between good and evil for domination is thus unrelenting, perpetual, and affected only by human ingenuity. Sometimes good dominates and other times evil does, which is why we should be wary, cautious, and conscious of safety, security, and privacy when engaging in the virtual world where the yin-yang of modern life is played out.

The Badger’s wife has now suggested a new challenge – to describe AI in ‘a simple way that doesn’t use jargon or refer to technology’ using a maximum of ten words. The Badger’s first thought was to describe AI using the same words for the internet. His second thought? To avoid challenges spawned when your spouse overhears something in the conversation of strangers!