Notes for 12/13/2009

Here are my weekly notes:

Edmonton Notes for 12/12/2009

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

A local technology gem: 3D Interactive (3DI)

Like many in the local technology community, I was introduced to 3D Interactive Inc. (3DI) at the last DemoCamp. Founded in 2005, 3DI creates “advanced interactive simulation software for design visualization and training systems”. Or put another way, they take the powerful technology behind today’s video games, and apply it to business uses. At DemoCamp, Andrew Czarnietzki showed us 3DI’s training simulation for a Caterpillar Wheel Loader, which is used by the U.S. Army, among others. While he used a mouse and keyboard that night, he said that 3DI had a more realistic simulator back at the office. I knew I had to check it out, and when he heard I was interested, 3DI’s Dave Chan offered to give me a tour of 3DI. I happily accepted, and spent an hour and half there last week.

3D Interactive

The Wheel Loader simulator is pretty cool, and yes I was lucky enough to get to sit in the driver’s seat! The simulator has three pedals, a steering wheel, a joystick, and even a key ignition. I drove the loader around and as I did, Dave explained some of the features, and it became clear that 3DI is pretty passionate about realism. Dave pointed out that when you turn the Wheel Loader on, the gauges on the dashboard all light up and move just as they would in a real machine – most other simulation software just uses a static image for the dashboard. Another cool feature was that static objects become dynamic as you move closer to them. There was a tire on the ground ahead of me that I drove towards. When I was close enough to interact with it, the simulation software turned the tire into something I could pick up – Dave said the change from static to dynamic is important for performance reasons, but it’s done in such a way that you don’t even notice it. The simulator, which took about 5 months to complete, features a number of “missions” such as backfilling, truck loading, etc. And to make it more realistic, you can do them at night or during the day!

Another simulation Dave showed was for a Wheel Tractor-Scraper. Operators are supposed to do a complete inspection of the machine before using it, and the software enables this for training. You can move around the machine, and as you do you check off the items you’re meant to inspect. The simulator will randomly insert problems or issues. The entire simulator was completed in about 7 months, whereas the competition’s timelines were longer than 18 months.

3D Interactive

I also got to see a snubbing unit simulator, built for Nisku-based Snubco, a world-leader in rig assist snubbing units. It’s a first in the world, and will have a significant impact on the market. Snubbing is controlling the pressure to allow the insertion or removal of pipe or tools into an active natural gas or steam well, which is an extremely difficult process. The training for a snubbing unit operator is easily about 3 years, and conventional training methods don’t let you explore the “what if” scenarios. With 3DI’s simulator, which took about 4 months to complete, the training time is greatly reduced, and trainees can go through a number of scenarios with the exact controls they’d have available in the field so that if they encounter an issue, they know what to do. Actually the controls themselves were rather interesting – the panel can be easily localized (apparently China is a big market for this). And in case you’re wondering, yes, there’s a lot of math involved to ensure everything is modeled accurately!

3D Interactive

The training simulators all use the Epic Unreal 3 engine, augmented by 3DI’s other technologies. 3DI also creates design visualizations however, which use their own systems, such as pureLIGHT, a global lighting system. Dave showed me three such visualizations. The first was something they created for the City of Edmonton’s Fire Rescue Services. It’s an interactive model of a house to help train firefighters. With a couple of clicks you can see a completely finished house or just the frame (to learn about how the walls are constructed, etc). You can also simulate a garage with a vehicle in it, or a messy garage, or an empty one! The second visualization was for a new building for BP Energy, designed by Gensler. It was designed to help BP and Gensler see what the interior spaces might look like, with floor plans, furniture, and lighting all simulated. One of the floors in the building is for oil futures trading, and it featured an insane number of desks and computers! The third visualization I saw was very quick – 3DI created an interactive model of the new Art Gallery of Alberta building, which was apparently used for fundraising and other promotional purposes.

BP Trade Floor ModelArt Gallery of Alberta Model

I met around five developers while I was there, all of them busy working on new projects. One developer told me he was working on “Dirt 2.0”. See 3DI doesn’t just model a Wheel Loader, they model entire environments. The new dirt system will enable 3DI simulations to have more realistic dirt, sand, and gravel, that leaves tire tracks as you drive through it or that falls realistically as you start to dump it out. The dirt system is just one of many that 3DI is working on to bring a new level of realism to simulations.

Thanks for the tour Dave! I was really impressed with 3D Interactive after DemoCamp, and the tour only reinforced that feeling. They’re an Edmonton tech company doing amazing things that have an impact around the world.

What’s happening at your local library?

Ever wonder what’s happening at your local Edmonton Public Library branch? Today, finding out becomes easier than ever! I’m excited to announce that ShareEdmonton now contains all EPL events, with new events being continuously added. The events will show up in all the usual spots, but there are a few sections of the website I wanted to highlight:

The EPL has had event listings on its website for a long time now, and while they are quite detailed, they aren’t necessarily the easiest to find or browse. The ability to subscribe to events is also somewhat limited – you can choose the next 2 weeks of all EPL events via RSS, or events at your branch via email. Still, the EPL is ahead of most organizations in that they’ve been able to aggregate all events into a single place.

Shortly after ShareEdmonton launched, Peter Schoenberg, Director of eServices at EPL, got in touch with me to see if we could work together. I explained the idea behind ShareEdmonton, and he outlined some of the digital initiatives the EPL is undertaking. We identified a couple of actions. The first was for EPL to get started with Open Data, by releasing a data file of library locations. The second was for ShareEdmonton to import those locations and all the events taking place at them.

Importing events required a little bit of custom work on both ends – thanks to Peter and his team for working so efficiently and for their patience! Having the EPL events in ShareEdmonton helps us both. For the EPL, it helps users find out about their local libraries, and exposes EPL events to a different and potentially wider audience. It also makes it possible for users to subscribe to events in Outlook, Google Calendar, or any other calendar application supporting iCal. For ShareEdmonton, it’s another important step toward becoming Edmonton’s de facto calendar.

Check out the EPL branches and events on ShareEdmonton!

Leveraging Technical Expertise Locally (LTEL) Application Deadline: December 15

Just a reminder that if you’re planning to participate in the Leveraging Technical Expertise Locally (LTEL) initiative, you have until next Tuesday to declare your interest! If this is the first you’ve heard of LTEL, check out my recap of last month’s open house. Expressing interest is easy – just fill out this online form. You’ll need to provide your personal and business contact details, as well as:

  • A description of your solution in 100 words or less
  • An overview of your solution in 200 words or less (no I don’t know how the description and overview are different)
  • The top 10 features of your solution
  • The technical specifications of your solution
  • Direct & indirect benefits and costs of your solution
  • An explanation of how your solution will address the technical and operational needs of the customer and end-user
  • A preliminary timeline for your solution

Interestingly, there’s also room for three team member profiles, and comments on product differentiation, commercialization potential, and financial considerations. So if you have sales projections or plans to look for investment, you can mention that up front.

The website has a number of useful documents that might be of interest, including a scan of the current Lost & Found form and tag (pictured above). You can also download the City’s IT standards, which have been clarified:

The City does not wish to dictate the technologies proposed by the applicant, however, the solution must run in the City’s technical environment, as City staff are expected to use the application on a daily basis. In addition, the City is open to considering proposals that include hosting of the proposed application.

Emphasis mine – that’s great to hear!

If you’re chosen to continue, the next step in the process is to present your solution to the selection panel on January 28, 2010. Your solution doesn’t need to be complete by that date – mockups, prototypes, or whatever you’re comfortable presenting is fine. The selection will be announced on February 3, 2010.

For more information, check out the LTEL site. If you have questions or other concerns, email LTEL@edmonton.ca. Have a great idea for a new Lost & Found system? Apply now!

Alumni outreach at the University of Alberta

A little over a month ago, Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2009 was announced and I was fortunate enough to make the list. So many people have said “congrats” in tweets, wall posts, emails, and other messages, and I really appreciate all of them, thank you! I was somewhat surprised, however, to receive a letter and a follow-up email from the University of Alberta’s Office of External Relations.

The letter itself was fairly standard, and basically said that as I am a graduate of the University they wanted to offer congratulations. The email was from Jen Panteluk, a Development Officer at the Office of External Relations. She invited me to meet for coffee, and I happily accepted. We met at Credo Coffee yesterday afternoon and had a great chat about what I do, what she does, and about social media and the University of Alberta.

I learned that Jen is meeting with as many U of A grads on the list as she can, and that the idea to do so was hers. Alumni Affairs rightly or wrongly has a reputation of only reaching out to alumni when they are able to contribute back to the University financially. Jen decided to do something about that perception, and that’s why she pitched the idea of meeting with the Top 40 Under 40 grads. I think it’s fantastic!

Jen and I talked about social media quite a bit, and how effectively local schools are using it. Slowly but surely the various U of A departments are starting to embrace social media. For instance, you can keep up with Alumni Affairs on Twitter and on Facebook. There’s a long way to go, however!

If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #ualberta for U of A related stuff. SU President Kory Mathewson and his colleagues are hoping it becomes the standard, because it’s less ambiguous than the rival #uofa. Makes sense to me!

We need to preserve our local, digital, cultural artifacts

As Edmonton continues its climb toward global status, I think it’s important that we consider the digital cultural artifacts that we create along the way. It’s rare that something big happens in Edmonton (or anywhere in the world for that matter) without a website or other online presence of some kind being created. That online presence is important in the weeks and months leading up to an event, but it’s just as important after the fact too. We need to start considering that from the beginning.

Think about big events that Edmonton has hosted in recent years. The 2001 World Championships in Athletics should come to mind. If you do a search for Edmonton 2001, you’ll find:

And linked from the official IAAF website and many other pages that show up in the results, is the the Edmonton 2001 website, at http://www.2001.edmonton.com/. The problem is, that site no longer exists.

What would happen if the IAAF took down the page they are hosting? It doesn’t have to happen on purpose, it could be an unfortunate side effect of a redesign, server relocation, etc. The article at Wikipedia is pretty sparse, containing mainly result information. And the mention on the EEDC site is insignificant. It’s almost as if the event didn’t happen.

Additionally, I’d argue that none of the links that still exist tell the story of Edmonton 2001. The effort that went into it, the many volunteers and organizations that made it happen, the effect it had on the city, etc. I think it’s important that we capture that information, and that we do so online, where it is easily accessible by all.

Another more recent example would be the ICLEI World Congress, held in June 2009. The City of Edmonton has a brief page devoted to the event, but most of the information exists at the ICLEI site. That’s fine, but again we’re relying on someone else for the information, and we’re missing an opportunity to tell our story. The advantage that the ICLEI had over Edmonton 2001 is that many bloggers wrote about the event and many photographers posted photos, and their content will likely continue to exist for quite some time. The new Transforming Edmonton blog will help too, I think.

The idea of digital preservation applies to smaller-scale events too. Try to find an online presence for the 2005 K-Days (now Capital EX), the year the event’s attendance record was set. Or try to find out about the 2008 Fringe festival.

I recognize that there’s costs associated with preserving our online cultural artifacts. Someone has to pay for them, and someone has to maintain them. And if we go that extra step and treat some online presences as legacy projects with updates and other information to tell our story, there’s obviously costs associated with that too. I think the costs would be quite minimal, however, and definitely worth it.

Perhaps this is something for the Edmonton Heritage Council to tackle? Or the Edmonton Historical Board? Or maybe just you and me. Either way, we need to start taking digital preservation more seriously.

Notes for 12/6/2009

Here are my weekly notes:

Edmonton Notes for 12/5/2009

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Edmonton’s improved online City Council meeting agendas & minutes

A little over a week ago a new online system for Edmonton City Council’s meeting agendas and minutes went live. The long overdue update brings a number of improvements for public access, notably an integrated view of all information on the same screen. As someone who frequently accesses the agendas and minutes, I’m really happy the old system is gone, and at least so far, I think the new one is great!

The previous system for managing agendas and minutes, built in-house about 15 years ago, was called OCCTOPUS (Official Council and Committee Tracking Output Publishing and Updating Services). If you’ve never used it, consider yourself lucky! Based on Microsoft Word documents, OCCTOPUS was clunky and awkward to use. To get at the details for an agenda item, you often had to click through four connected Word documents. It always reminded me of the ETS Trip Planner, which loves to spawn dozens of new windows.

If you want to see the old system, check out the minutes for the November 10th Council meeting. Then compare that to the new system, by looking at the minutes for the November 24th Council meeting. I think you’ll agree that the new one is much better!

Some of the improvements & features of the new system include:

  • No more Word documents! Agendas and minutes now appear in HTML.
  • You can access the agenda, minutes, supporting materials, and archived video for a meeting from within the same screen.
  • Archived video and supporting materials (often PDF reports) appear in column on the right side and open with a single click.
  • If you really want to, you can get a print view of the agenda or minutes with a single click.

Aileen Giesbrecht, Director of Governance and Legislative Services in the Office of the City Clerk, told me that the project to replace OCCTOPUS started in the summer of 2007, and in the fall of 2008 SIRE Technologies was awarded the contract. SIRE provides “legislative management technology” for county and local governments, and offers a number of off-the-shelf solutions or modules. According to Sarah Ellington of SIRE Technologies, the City of Edmonton is using three such modules: Agenda Plus, Minutes Plus, and Workflow. Each of the modules have been configured to meet the City’s requirements for formatting, business processes, etc. The City of Edmonton’s implementation is the first major SIRE project in Canada.

The biggest challenge in getting the new system in place, according to Aileen, was simply “finding the time to make it happen.” The work isn’t finished yet, either! The project currently improves access primarily for the public, and Aileen and her team are now working on improving access internally too. She said the related internal systems being implemented will help with ease of use and will support the City’s paperless strategy.

The proposed 2010 budget for Corporate Services (PDF), which mentions $164,000 for operational maintenance and support of SIRE, offers some additional insight into what’s next:

Operational funding of SIRE will allow for: Maintenance of SIRE software, including ‘Agenda and Minutes Plus’ and web integration between SIRE and our current ‘Thunderstone’ web-based search function; licences associated with SIRE software, including access for Councillors (‘Agenda To Go’), as well as access for City Clerks and other Administrators, Bi-annual updates to the SIRE software suite; and one staff position to coordinate and maintain the entire SIRE system.

The new system isn’t perfect – it still uses Windows Media for video, and it would be nice to be able to click directly from an item on the agenda to the corresponding item in the minutes – but it’s much better than what we had previously. I think it’s great that the City is working to improve access to information for citizens, and I hope this is just the beginning (think: open data).