In 2007 the results of the Scottish General Election were over-shadowed by reports of problems with the new voting system used, based around a electronic count of paper ballots. Reviews after the election concluded that some 140,000 ballots had been rejected.

I coordinated a team of observers during the elections which was present throughout the procurement process, deployment and operation on polling day and overnight. I'll explain the problems we observed and (where possible) some of the causes. I will also talk about events since 2007 and what we can expect for the elections in 2012.

Synopsis: Private, Public or Hybrid clouds are here today. Adoption rates of these depends on many factors from workload types, business drivers, need for security and agility and more. IBM has a complete range of offerings to build and manage cloud environments with some solid benefit case examples. Angus Jamieson, with more than 25 years industry experience in managing complex computing environments, will describe the business issues driving cloud adoption and how companies are getting ahead of the curve using IBM solutions.

Please note that refreshments are available from 6:00 pm with the talk starting at the later time of 7:00 pm.

Synopsis: 'A look at the areas effected by the decisions taken when considering Scale up or Scale out computing. Environment, manpower, utilisation and virtualisation will be some of the areas covered.'

Synopsis: This presentation will provide an overview of some things you need to know in order to make websites that perform well - including how becoming familiar with some of HTTP's lesser-known features can help. A range of tools and techniques that can be useful will also be demonstrated, including software that can help on the server-side alongside languages such as PHP, Python and Ruby, and some things to watch out when using front-end technologies like JavaScript.

Synopsis: What does your mobile phone reveal about you? Investigating data retained on resold mobile phones.

The global information rich society is increasingly dependent on mobile phone technology for daily activities. A substantial secondary market in mobile phones has developed as a result of a relatively short life-cycle and recent regulatory measures on electronics recycling. These developments are, however, a cause for concern regarding privacy, since it is unclear how much information is retained on a device when it is re-sold. The crucial question is: what, despite your best efforts, does your mobile phone reveal about you?. The research described in this talk investigated the extent to which personal information continues to reside on mobile phones even when users have attempted to remove the information; hence, passing the information into the secondary market.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly 'On the 18th of January we all witnessed ‘Black Wednesday’ when Wikipedia shut down for 24 hours in protest at the internet piracy laws namely SOPA & PIPA. A few days later, Kim Dotcom was arrested in New Zealand. Charged with countless breaches of copyright and racketeering. The US desperately want to bring justice to this ‘internet outlaw’ with extradition proceedings that could take up to a year. The internet is reminiscent of the wild west, there are laws, but there are also outlaws. There are frontiers, but these are ambiguous. The US is pushing itself to be the new sheriff in town. With up to 50 years imprisonment the founders of MegaUpload are facing serious charges and spending the rest of their lives in an American prison. In response, Anonymous launched DDoS attacks on the Department of Justice as well as those of the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, and Universal Music.

This talk will look at the developments taken by the legislature to cope with IP infringements, it will also discuss the attempts at practical application and recommendations from the Hargreaves Report on Digital Opportunity : A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth.'

The 55th BCS Glasgow Branch AGM will start at 6.30pm and last about twenty minutes. It will be followed by the talk "Synopsis of Smart Devices - The way forward for Business" from David Coleman of Seric Systems.

2012 AGM Agenda - http://www.glasgow.bcs.org/BCS-glw-agenda-agm2012.pdf

Draft Minutes from the 54rd BCS Glasgow Branch AGM held on the 10th October 2011 - http://www.glasgow.bcs.org/BCS-GLW-agm2011-draft.pdf

Synopsis: Smartphone and Tablet sales are on such an aggressive upward trajectory that some estimates suggest there will be up to 50 billion connected devices (beyond just smartphones) by 2020 and each consumer will have approximately seven devices connected to the Internet. Beyond just making phone calls or sending text messages, people regularly look up directions, research products while in-store, chat and compare with friends and family, search for deals and even pay for their morning coffee with their mobile phone.

These intelligent, always-connected devices and the consumers using them to their full potential are pushing business to react quickly, or die. Businesses that don’t have a mobile commerce strategy are losing out on significant revenue, and that’s only going to continue to accelerate.

2012 will usher in key trends in the context of business mobility that business owners and managers, and IT managers need to prepare for: an increasingly mobile workforce; the tracking of assets, inventory, and associated tsunami of data; and smarter customers.

Mobility will provide businesses with a strategic operational differentiator in 2012. Businesses will increasingly find the need to have a robust B2B, B2E and B2C mobility strategy to empower all levels of an organisation to receive and access information on Demand in any location and at anytime to improve operational efficiency and customer expectation.

Can a business or organisation really survive the New World without a Mobility Strategy?