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2009 - 2010 Programme
All events unless otherwise stated will be held in the Lord Todd Conference Room,
Strathclyde University. The Lord Todd is entered from Collins Street
(on which parking is readily available);
see the map on the venue page.
Events start at 6.30 p.m. Usually, there will be a light buffet from 6.00 p.m.
Non members are welcome to all meetings. Branch meetings qualify for BCS CPD credit.
Programme Summary |
| Date |
Event |
| 12 Oct 2009 |
The Agile Way - Agility as a way of thinking |
| 26 Oct 2009 |
BCS Glasgow Student/Young Professionals Event |
| 9 Nov 2009 |
Transforming the BCS |
| 14 Dec 2009 |
Augmented Reality |
| 11 Jan 2010 |
LEO - The world's first commercial computer |
| 8 Feb 2010 |
Visit to BBC Scotland |
| 8 Mar 2010 |
Usability and Web Site Optimisation |
| 12 Apr 2010 |
Artificial Intelligence in Computer and Video Games |
| 10 May 2010 |
TBA |
| 14 Jun 2010 |
BCS Glasgow Branch AGM 2010 |
Programme Detail |
The Agile Way - Agility as a way of thinking |
| Date |
Monday 12th October 2009 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
Eddie Gray |
| Speaker |
Clarke Ching |
Bio: Clarke Ching is a New Zealander who has lived in
Scotland for the last decade. Clarke started out working as a programmer, but he has
been successfully managing software development and business projects since 1995. He
specialises in introducing, running and accelerating Agile, Scrum, Lean and Kanban
projects. Clarke runs the AgileScotland group.
Synopsis: Clarke Ching, author of the Agile parable *Rocks into Gold* and the
upcoming Agile business novel *Rolling Rocks Downhill*, takes you on a quick journey
through history, looking at three examples of great "Agile thinking". Clarke’s
journey starts in late-18th-century Glasgow where James Watt is about to make his
greatest discovery (it’s not the steam engine). He then moves to April 15th, 1865,
(the day of Abraham Lincoln’s death) where the model used to deliver modern Agile
software projects emerged, out of the blue, in one of today’s dying industries. He
then leaps forward almost a century to the final destination, Spain, 1975, where the
Zara Clothing company open their first store. On the face of it, none of these events
has anything to do with modern-day software development, but dig a little deeper and
you’ll discover 6 ageless principles for delivering commercially successful technology
projects.
Poster download -
http://www.glasgow.bcs.org/CCHING_BCSposterOCT2009.doc |
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BCS Glasgow Student/Young Professionals Event |
| Date |
Monday 26th October 2009 |
| Time |
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm |
| Location |
Lecture Theatre M001, George Moore Building, Glasgow
Caledonian University, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA -
Map of Location |
| Convenor |
Daniel Livingstone |
| Speaker |
Robert McDowell (Electric Tophat) |
Synopsis: "Developing for the iPhone: Technology and Business"
ElectricTopHat have produced three games for the iPhone and are currently
working on their first 'serious' apps. The first part of this presentation
covers some of the technical issues of interest to budding iPhone developers.
With a brief overview of the iPhone architecture, and an introduction to the
iPhone SDK and development environment the talk shows how anyone can become
an iPhone developer. Having created an app, the next step is to get your app
into the Apple store - and once there, you need to get your app seen and
generate interest for it. This can prove harder than actually creating your
app in the first place, with tens of thousands of apps currently available,
and more appearing every day. The final part of the talk provides an
opportunity to the challenges in progressing from developing apps, to
running a successful business as an app developer.
Map of Location |
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Transforming the BCS |
| Date |
Monday 9th November 2009 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
Richard Trail |
| Speaker |
Elizabeth Sparrow, BCS President-Elect |
Synopsis: "Our Society was created in 1957 to translate
the grand dream of computing into a compelling public benefit. More than
50 years on, the impact of this computing dream is now pervasive. More than
a million people work directly in information technology in the UK alone
and computer science lies behind almost everything we touch, from credit
cards to kettles. At one level, our work is done but at another it has
hardly begun.
BCS now has a clear mission for the next 50 years - to enable the
information society, not just in the UK, but around the world. To bring
this new dream to reality we need concerted and committed action. We must
reject traditional assumptions about what a professional association can
and should be, and instead build a world-class organisation for IT that
addresses all stakeholders' needs. The challenge and opportunity for BCS is
clear. The UK and the world need an IT profession which understands its
social impact and has a long-term strategy to address it. We need
government, industry and academia to get involved, to vocalise and practise
support for our profession. The transformation is now underway to enable
that. The time is right, the industry is ready and BCS is stepping up to the
challenge." |
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Augmented Reality |
| Date |
Monday 14th December 2009 |
| Time |
6:00 for 6:30 pm |
| Location |
University of Strathclyde, Room 13:18 (13th Floor) Livingstone Tower,
26 Richmond Street, Glasgow - Map of Location |
| Convenor |
Daniel Livingstone |
| Speaker |
Yolande Kolstee (AR+RFID Lab, Netherlands) |
Yolande Kolstee is the project leader of the
AR+RFID Lab, a collaborative initiative of the Royal Academy of Art
(KABK) in The Hague and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).
The AR+RFID Lab explores and experiments with Augmented Reality as part
of its work developing innovative applications of emerging ubiquitous
computing technologies in the field of art and design. In this
presentation Yolande will demonstrate and show a range of the AR+RFID
Lab's Augmented Reality projects from recent years. Yolande will be
accompanied by Professor Dr.Ir. Pieter Jonker of the Bio-Robotics Lab
of the Delft University of Technology. More information about the
AR+RFID Labcan be found at:
http://www.arlab.nl
Map of Location |
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LEO - The world's first commercial computer |
| Date |
Monday 11th January 2009 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
James Penn-Dunnett |
| Speaker |
Gordon Foulger |
Synopsis: How and why a bakery company known for its teashops developed
and built the world's first business computer which was based on the Cambridge
University EDSAC.
LEO I remained unique but was used on a bureau basis by other organisations. Further
development produced LEO II. A separate company was formed which built and sold
several of these machines.
The third and final version was the LEO III, with its faster variations the LEO 326
and LEO 360. LEO I was first used for a live application in 1951 and the last LEO 326
was decommissioned in 1981. |
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Visit to BBC Scotland |
| Date |
Monday 8th February 2010 |
| Location |
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| Convenor |
Richard Trail |
| Speaker |
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Usability and Web Site Optimisation |
| Date |
Monday 8th March 2010 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
Martin Blunn |
| Speaker |
Jim Williams (WeeWorld |
Improving Website Usability Using Google Website Optimiser
Synopsis: Design is very subjective, one man's meat is another man's poison.
A website may look ‘pretty' in your opinion, but design is not just about how
something looks, it has a job to do - it needs to be usable. If your design
is not doing the job it's supposed to do, i.e. making you money, it doesn't
matter if it looks nice. Many arguments have been had (and time wasted)
choosing one design over another, "I think that one is better!", "why?",
"erm... I don't know, it looks better?". To borrow a phrase from Harry Hill,
"There's only one way to find out... fight!"
We prefer not to spill blood these days and that's where Google Website
Optimiser comes in; science to the rescue. By measuring which page layout is
more effective at achieving the desired conversion we can quickly determine
which design is best and learn from that to help make design decisions
easier in the future. One image or line of copy may mean the difference
between being profitable or not. We'll be using lots of case studies to show
you how we've started using Google Website Optimizer to run A/B Split and
Multivariate Tests in the development of a social networking/gaming site and
share some of the mistakes and lessons learned. It would then be good to
open the meeting up to discuss how to use optimisation tools to improve
website usability.
Bio: Jim Williams is Director of Customer Analytics at WeeWorld and a
passionate advocate of using analytics to drive website design. Jim has been
working in web analytics since 2002 starting in pharmaceuticals and
e-commerce sectors before moving into consultancy. At WeeWorld Jim has
introduced innovative data based decision making processes to manage product
and marketing strategy. Typically using web analytics and user testing to
identify poorly performing areas of the site before employing tools such as
Google Website Optimizer to experiment with design improvements and improve
website conversions. Jim is also President of the Scottish UPA and an active
member of the Web Analytics Association. |
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Artificial Intelligence in Computer and Video Games |
| Date |
Monday 12th April 2010 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
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| Speaker |
Dr. Darryl Charles |
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TBA |
| Date |
Monday 10th May 2010 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
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| Speaker |
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BCS Glasgow Branch AGM 2010 |
| Date |
Monday 14th June 2009 |
| Location |
Lord Todd, University of Strathclyde |
| Convenor |
Richard Trail |
| Speaker |
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Past Events
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