april 2003 Archives

"Det skapande universitet", the Creative University is a term that was created a couple of years ago. It was created by a group of people within the Luleå University of Technology and many attempts have been undertaken to try to create a common view around the subject. A lot of people became saved ("frälsta"), some got scared away but still the majority of employees and students just don't care today. How can we make progress on this issue?

Let us first talk about, what it is NOT about. It is not a question about if research should belong to arenas or not. It is not a question about if we should have arenas, programs or both. It is not a question about being saved or not. It is not a question about strange names, definitions or terms. The latter is very common in the academic culture where everything have to be analyzed into its smallest components, and have to be redefined over and over again. This is very good for research, but unfortunately it is not very good for the development of an organization and this analyzing skill is the very essence of the university culture. Sometimes, this leads to an aggressive attitude (not intentional I am sure), which in turn can lead to a withdrawal where people get very afraid of saying or doing anything. To make progress, we have to think about when we apply our great analyzing skills, and I want to urge all of you to try to be more open minded and trust the people around you. Give us all some slack, we are all doing the best we can! If you don't agree with what somebody is saying or doing, tell that person that as soon as possible. Remember that it is never too late do it. Don't keep it to yourself or go around and tell everybody else behind the persons back!

There are a number facts in our surroundings that force us to take action. Changes in the society makes fewer students apply to the university and the classical programs and subjects. Changes within research funding agencies pushes research towards more fundamental research and huge projects, increasing the competition. The world is becoming more and more international and in Sweden we have e.g. been very slow in adopting netbased learning on a larger scale. Image what will happen when the large international universities really start to attract students from the whole world and not only specific geographic areas.

So, what is this really about then? It is about the Future of Luleå University of Technology! It is about getting more students. It is about getting more money. It is about getting more visibility in the world.

How can YOU contribute? 1: Convince yourself that this is important (because it is). 2: Go talk to others, convince them as well. 3: Get involved in different activities to make the University more forceful, both within Sweden and in rest of the World. Make yourself heard and don't just sit there and wait for others to take the initiative. Don't be put off by "strange" attitudes from others. Remember that we are all different, and nobody within the University is here to destroy you or your work. Please, do not get stuck of definitions or terms.

At the keyboard, Dr. Peter Parnes, peppar@sm.luth.se. Proud member of the LTU community since 1990.

 

Today I had the first part of a 3 day seminar meeting with 90 of the Universities leaders with the overall goal of defining how the Universities new organization ("Det skapande universitetet") should be implemented. Or at least that was what I thought the goal was before coming there. The Meeting started at 13.00 with lunch and went on until 22.00. It started with some general remarks from the consultants and the president of the University, Ingegerd Palmer. After that we were divided into groups of 5 with one from each leadership course group (I am in group 5) and we discussed for an hour. After that we had 1.5 hours of general assembly of what they called Speakers Corner where everybody that wanted got a chance to say what they wanted about the implementation process and other things. It all felt so washed out. Haven't we already discussed all this? Like 5 times over the last years? Feel like the exact same issues discussed on the very first meeting we had in the 50-group 4-5 years ago. At dinner time, 18.15 I just got tired of it all and left. I was so tired and it felt like such a waste of time, both mine and the others that were there. We were about 90 persons there. Tomorrow we are supposed to start at 0800 and go on until 20.30 when a dinner starts which means that one has to stay until at least 22.00. Friday starts at the "normal" 08.00 and goes on until 15.30. I spent the evening riding my bike instead and that felt much more productive as I got the time to sort out a number of thoughts that were crawling around in my head.

We'll see if I have the energy to join the process tomorrow or if I'll spend it on things that I feel are more valuable.

On a side note, tomorrow it is 3 weeks since I asked Jerker what he thought about me becoming Associate Professor and I still haven't received any answer (yes I have reminded him several times). Feels rather strange.

I guess I am falling back to just giving the finger to it all. Perhaps, I should join the great team at Nestle and become a pea counter? Or on a more serious note, perhaps it is time to move on and look for another job?

I am so tired, so tired of it all. What is the point. Oh well, perhaps I feel better tomorrow. :-/

 

What a wonderful weekend! The real pre-summer is here. We have been eating outside on the porch and I have cycled 25 Km (10 yesterday and 15 today).

Yesterday evening we had to change a roof tile which had broken and almost fallen down from the roof, leaving a big hole. Johanna had to stand on a high ladder standing on the roof of the front porch.

I also finally solved my problems of transcoding Divx3 to Divx5 using Virtual Dub. Previously, most of the movies had failed to transcode due to errors in the frames leaving VirtualDub with an uncompleted transcoding. Yesterday I found a new setting though where it first checked the whole movie for errors and then did the transcoding. Why it doesn't do this during the transcoding I don't understand though.

Yesterday, I we saw Ice Age for the second time this week. It is so funny!!!

Today we also took a walk to Björsbyn and looked at the horses. For dinner we had tons of sushi. My favorite :-)

 

It has been a bit quiet here and the reason is work work work. I just finished a paper yesterday.

Secure Inclusion of Phones into Online E-Meetings by Peter Parnes
and Marcus Nilsson submitted a paper as well.
In the Borderland Between Wearable Computers and Pervasive Computing by Marcus Nilsson, Mikael Drugge, and Peter Parnes

Besides that it has been a week of a lot of cycling. The spring is here so it is at least 5 degrees even late at night. The SUN doesn't really set until 21.00 which is nice! My knee hurts a bit though unfortunately, but shouldn't stop me, right?

My mother is coming today around 15.00 and staying until Wednesday morning, meaning I am forced not to work ;-)

A lot has happened in the last week, Concorde will be grounded, Intel withdrew all new P4 processors, I rediscovered Latex (I had forgotten how much fun it is ;-), the JainSIP1.1 spec is now final in stone, I found a new marvellous Blog, the Science Blog, I made a short visit into LuddKom again plus much much more!!!

 

Three more publications submitted from my group:

Supporting Emeetings on Java capable Mobile Phones by Roland Parviainen, and Peter Parnes

Experiences of Conveying Knowledge in Borderland by Mikael Drugge, Marcus Nilsson, Johan Kristiansson, and Peter Parnes

Applying User behavior to Bandwidth Adaptations in Collaborative Workspace Applications and Video Conferencing by Stefan Elf, Jeremiah Scholl, and Peter Parnes

Also Christer Åhlund got a paper accepted today:
Multihoming with Mobile IP by Christer Åhlund and Arkady Zaslavsky
Published at the 6th IEEE International Conference on High Speed Networks and Multimedia Communications HSNMC'03, July 23-25, 2003, Estoril, Portugal

 

SUn, lot of sun today! I like the sun :-)

 

DrDad and DrTovah :-) More from this series...

 

Found new great blog, The Science Blog.

 

Just found out that my father was robbed last week. Two youngsters kicked him in the head and took his wallet and cellphone. They got 1200 SEK and my father got a hurt shoulder, a constant headache and a pair of broken glasses.

What a fucking world this is :-(

 

Looking for a new boat? Here is a tip on how you can build your own :-)

 

Just tried out the new Windows Messenger 5.0 beta and the cool thing is that it supports Ink, i.e. the writing with your pen on a TabletPC and then sending it as an image. He draw back is that the receiving end must have Windows Messenger 5.0 as well. If you want to receive ink messages from the contact me for a copy of the program. I guess they are going to work more on the beta as the ink part is rather limited still. You cannot change pen or color.

 

Google is a real Internet success. Read this article bout how they do it and what they actually make their money on.

Some technical stats about Google: 800 employees, 200 million searches per day, 54000 servers, 100000 processors, 261000 hard drives.

 

Here I was getting ready to go and cycle a bit (just waiting for Tovah to eat her lunch) and it starts raining :-( I hate rain.

 

Just got back from another 10Km cycle round, with Tovah in the trailer, i.e. 25 KG extra load. Puuuh, I am tired.

 

I just noticed that tomorrow evening SVT1 (TV channel ;-) is showing Four Weddings and a Funeral. This is one of my all time favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, see it. I you have seen it, see it again!

 

It is now 03:14 (in the morning) and I guess I better get back to bed (I have already tried to sleep for a couple of hours but got up around 0:30). BUT I am not tired:-/ Hmm. Well good night cruel world and don't let the bed bugs bite.

 

I was just about to start reverse engineering the DP-500 PC-LINK protocol when I found this, the OpenDP-500 project. It seems like the protocol is totally http based and open-dp500 has already done the job for me in figuring out which commands are used.

My next project is then to write a real-time Divx3->Divx5 converter.

 

The real trailer for Matrix Reloaded has just been released. It actually shows some details about the story! Grab it while it's hot!

 

I have had the KISS DP-500 for a day now and here are some initial thoughts.

The machine looks rather nice but the CD sledge is gray plastic and looks very cheap when opened.

• The Divx3 support comes first in June (they announced yesterday)
  
• You cannot stream any other movies than mpeg4 avi. I.e. MPEG1/2 cannot be streamed.
  
• The webradio feature is rather nice, where you select radio channels at their site and design radio menu. The player "hanged" after playing radio for about 20 minutes though. Not so good.
  
• You cannot fast forward in MPEG4 movies but they claim to have a time search function instead. On some movies this alternative comes up but after doing a seek the video is all choppy, and in other movies it doesn't come up at all (i.e. nothing happens when you press the button on the remote).
  
• The remote has way more buttons than are used. Rather confusing.
  
• The menu system should be looked over by someone that knows UI design.
  
• You can zoom in the video which is nice.
  
• I added my whole MP3 collection (several thousand of MP3s) to the KISS PC-LINK software and now I have a very good MP3 jukebox.
  
• They state that DVD+R/RW aren't supported but at least DVD+RW works fine for me.
  
• The photo album part needs more work. It scales the images to way less than PAL resolution and you cannot zoom into the pictures.
  
• Support hasn't still answered my email I sent them 4 days ago. Big minus!
  

All in all, I think it is a very good machine and if they could release the Divx3 support then it would be perfect.

 

Tovah learning how to use chopsticks! It is never to early to do that. Photo taken in September 2002. More from this series...

 

During the last weekend I set up a new forum at www.marratech.com. I used the PHPBB software which is very powerful! If you are a Marratech user, check it out! I looks rather good :-)

 

I had a long and intensive evening with Tovah. First we went to the library and borrowed and number of story and animal books. Then we went on to MAX a got some fries and a hamburger, which we ate at home. Followed by BolliBompa and some ice cream. Now I am really tired, good night. CU tomorrow and don't let the bed bugs bite.

 

Got a KISS DP-500 today. I can see the box in my office (I am at home right now). It is a networked MPEG player (audio, video) designed by B&O.

 

Grand mother Siv ("mormor") and Tovah, December 2002. More from this series.

 

Just got back from Ida's birthday pre-party and we had a marvelous strawberry cake (yummy)!! Congratulations Ida and hipp hipp Hurray! :-)

The real party is tomorrow evening for anybody interested. Just invite yourselves :-)

 

Summer in Riksgränsen. Tovah contemplating over a rock at 1200 meters above the sea level. Her carrier is in the back.The photo was taken in July 2001. More from this series.... We go here every summer as the University has an apartment here in a prefect place for hikes into both Norway and Sweden.

 

Finis Origine Pendet, loosely translated means "The end depends upon the beginning." The quotation is taken out of context from the Astronomica of Manilius. This is the great academic motto of the Phillips Exeter Academy (real) as well as the St. Benedict's Academy for Boys (Hollywood fiction) in the movie The Emperor's Club. It is a great story about a teachers that strongly believes in good and right and put his strongest hopes onto a young son of a senator whom unfortunately disappoints his teacher by cheating. Being a university teacher myself, I feel strong sympathies for the situation presented in the movie and it really go to me. 10 stars to the movie The Emperor's Club.

 

SPring is back and I honored it by taking out my bike again and riding 9.74 Km in high pace (which means in my untrained condition a mean speed of 18.5 Km/h). Wooohooo. I feel good! :-)

 

Got this fun movie from Serge! Enjoy!

 

Swedish Newspaper Aftonbladet has made a nice collection of useful links (in Swedish). Thanks for the tip Jalle.

 

This is the splendid dessert table at our hotel (Ocean Park on Madeira). We were here in March 2002. More images from this series as well as a travel report is available. I highly recommend Madeira to anybody that want a peaceful and green vacation.

 

To celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary we went out and ate a large dinner at Waldorf today. Waldorf Roll (sushi roll), vegetable tempura, garlic bread, a children pizza, and yakitori chicken. That was a lot of food and when we got home we topped it of with some "Marräng Swiss" :-) I feel like a blimp!

 

The third Animatrix episode was released yesterday. This is an animated series based on the Matrix movie.

 

Just finished a very interesting book to read during the current Iraq war, Tom Clancy's Executive Orders.

SPOILER
This is the book that inspired the 9/11 events as well as the following anthrax attack. In the book a 747 is flown into the US Congress building and most members of government are killed including the president. Jack Ryan then becomes president and the attack is shortly followed by an Ebola attack on the US and a "fun" detail in the book is that a US general says "This is exactly how we planned it might happened but we used Anthrax instead of Ebola". This all leads to the attack on the United Islamic Republic, UIR (Iran and Iraq is now one country after Saddam has been assassinated by Iran) by US troops and the killing of the UIR leader on live TV. They bomb his house in Teheran.

It was a rather strange feeling reading about US troop movements (very detailed) in Saudi Arabia while at the same the current Iraq war is going on.

Here are all books I have read since 2001.

Want to know more about Tom Clancy's books? Take a look at the Clancy FAQ.

 

I got my first free issue of Time Magazine today and they always have splendid photos of what is happening in the world. This issue obviously only covered one one subject, the current war in media attention (all the other 20 or so wars going on right now aren't important enough to get any media coverage), the Iraq conflict. There were many photos from the war that showed many different parts, but one really caught my attention. A photo taken at a demonstration were someone had changed the hair on Bush and put a small mustache on him. This made him look very much Hitler.

If anybody local want to read it please let me know.

 

My throat hurts. It hurt when I wrote research applications. It hurt while answering emails. It has been hurting me all day. I have a cold. Blääää. Good night.

 

Spring cleaning in my old office!! I just got so tired of that old book shelf. One more image here. Image taken June 2000 at Luleå University of Technology.

 

Earlier this week my hard working graduate students submitted three new papers for review.

Experiences from Mobile e-Meetings with the Borderland Wearable Computer by Mikael Drugge, Marcus Nilsson, Johan Kristiansson, and Peter Parnes

Mobility support for Collaborative Real-time Applications by Johan Kristiansson, and Peter Parnes

User-interest Driven Video Adaptation for Collaborative Workspace Applications by Jeremiah Scholl, Stefan Elf, and Peter Parnes

It was also decided that Jeremiah Scholl and Stefan Elf will present their licentiate theses on June 6, 2003! Woohoo! I'll see if I can approve them (being the examiner :-).

I am proud of you all!

 

This morning one of Luleå's oldest buildings burned down to the ground. At 07.30 the firemen gave up on saving the building and rumours say that our local pyromaniac has hit again. More images can be found here and they were all taken by my friend Göran Öberg who happened to be down town this morning. The images are taken between 08:58 and 09.24 this morning.

 

After a week of really nice weather (sun +5 - +10) we are now back to winter again. A couple cm of snow came today and I can no longer bike (without risking getting killed). It is supposed to snow for another week according to weather.com.

 

Today's image is Johanna making sushi rolls. Note her big stomach (no she is not fat), it is a small small Tovah in there. The image was taken May 2000. More in this series here.  

At 18.07 this evening it will be 7 years since me and Johanna got married! Woohoo!

Time flies then you die!

 

Today's random picture is the family shopping green stuff. It is Johanna on the picture with Tovah in a sling on the stomach and Timbo (RIP) the overly scared soft coated wheaten terrier (i.e. dog). The image was taken during June-July 2000 at Björsbyn garden. As usual click the image for a larger view and more images from this series can be found here.  

It is a bit windy tonight, and according to weather.com it is "Wind: From the South at 47 gusting to 66 km/h". I am rather worried about the roof over my new patio that I built last summer. It sounds like it is no longer attached to the wall!

 

Do you know what the worst part of giving blood is? It is not all the questions, it not seeing your blood flow out, it is even the large needle they stick into you. No, it is all the disgusting iron pills you have to take for 6 weeks afterwords!

I started giving blood on February 26 2003 and I only have one pill left.

 

Last Friday it was down for 50 minutes, now it is down again. It always seems to happen when I am about to have an online meeting ;-/ It went down 08:30 and now (8.45) I have to get out in the cold and move to Marratech.

I feel so sorry for myself! :-)