TNC2005 in Poznan - wednesday 8/6-2005

Wednesday morning. The evil forces of darkness are upon us since the big projector in the auditorium has blown a bulb.

But that does not disturb Kees Neggers, director of SURFnet. Dimly lit by the bluish glow of his screen, he concentrates on getting some work done.

Robert Kvavik from University of Minnesota tells us about the state of the union, in terms of how widely IT and network technology is adopted by american universities. The surprising message is that a lot of these technologies are not even "on the radar" of more than half of these institutions. The presentation is given using a small projector, and the lights are dimmed, which makes the whole thing somewhat spooky.

But Kees works on.

The next item is about ad hoc networking using small and inexpensive units, and for the first time on the conference, we get to see some photos of these tiny devices. Nice.

And Kees is still busy.

Even when everybody else has left the room for the coffee break, Kees is still working.

Dane-spotting: Our contribution to the TNC2006 programme committee, Dan Mønster from UNI-C.

Kees is not the only one working.

Wherever there is a wall power socket, there is a conference participant.

Also another Dane, Gitte Kudsk from UNI-C is struggling to get the work done.

Here we have Karel Vietsch who is also busy working, while he has just come to a temporary stand-still in the middle of everything.

The term "hand-held computer" usually signifies a smaller device, but apparently this is the exception that confirms the rule.

Even during the lunch, a lot of meetings are going on.

Let us never forget the local staff that downloads the presentations for each session and prepares everything. They are doing a very enthusiastic and professional piece of work.

Pekka Linna from CSC/Funet. He is one of the guys you can only say nice things about. And he is not even Danish.

Another pleasant addition to the research network community is Dale Robertson from Dante.
 

She puts all the users into a rectangular set of segments, ...

... and transforms these segments into a circle. This is not a geometry exercise, however. It is all done in order to illustrate that we need to communicate to each separate group in a specifically targeted way.

Heather Boyles from Internet2 is talking about how the same thing is done over there.


And Elise Roders tells us how SURFnet is trying to reach the end user directly.


In the next session, another "SURF'er", Walter van Dijk, presents the lifecycle and portfolio management model, of which he has been the main inventor.



A very transparent view into the transformation process that CSC has gone through, is given by Pekka Linna. Seeing the users more as customers is definitely requiring more than new glasses!


Pekka has a model of lifecycle and portfolio management which for a layman is difficult to compare to that of Walter van Dijk. But when it comes to the graphics, I vote for Walter.

Finally, on this wednesday, Ann Harding from HEAnet, tells us how they are tackling the same challenges in Ireland.

Either this is a rowing stadium or lanes for VERY large swimmers.

My guess is that a traffic accident occurred here, and this is instead of flowers.

A charming way of compensating for what must have been a very dull façade.

The cathedral

and the crypt below it with remains of olders versions of the church.

It is butifully situated on an island in the Warta river.

The University Congress Centre where all the sessions of the conference are taking place. Behind it are some older university buildings. Note also the segment of a bridge to the right - it is remarkable by not being connected to anyting in either end!

Downtown Poznan a shop selling chocolate. Just chocolate. Nothing but chocolate.

The gala evening at Stary Browar (the old brewery). There is an orchestra.

Jan Weglarz talks to us.

And Jan Weglarz continues to talk to us. Dorte is there, too.

Then it is time to enjoy some of the Polish specialities. Good food.



At a place like this, it is a good to have memorized the symbols, because there is not much help to get. In response to my previous pictures of these symbols, a member of the PSNC staff, Pawel Wolniewicz, who did not even get to go to the conference, but had to stay at work to take care of operations, wrote to me with a possible explanation:

In the XIX century (definitely before the World War II) there was a 
fair-exhibition in one of the Polish cities (Bielsko). One of the 
companies put a public toilets on its stand. The logo of the company was a 
triangle inside circle. So, the public relation specialist decided to have 
elements of the logo on the toilet doors. At those time public toilets on 
such kinds of event were not popular, so this public toilets were 
discussed more than the company offer itself (probably it was something 
from textile brand) and long after the event.
 
I am not sure if it is true, but sound reasonable.
Thank you, Pawel.
 

The basement of the brewery has a night-club look...

...and a cash register that is running Linux. We like it!

Outside, it is a beautiful evening in Poznan.

The brewery is a splendid frame for this gala evening.

Martin Bech