Author Archives: donturn

About donturn

Don Turnbull, Ph.D. is a consultant specializing in software research and development focusing on search systems, information analytics, user experience design, semantic and knowledge management technologies as well as intellectual property analysis.

What I've learned in 36 Hours in Glasgow

  • Make sure you’re not coming to town on the day of the Scottish National Football Cup (which has got to be similar to the SuperBowl or at least a league championship playoff final), not to mention arriving at the train station EXACTLY when a train arrives full of hundreds of already drunk and boisterous Heart of Midlothian Football Club fans all decked out in maroon and white (I had an OU Sooners flashback for a second there) yelling and honking air horns. (I take that back, I can’t be sure that all of them were boisterous.) Lovely. (No wonder I had a hard time finding a hotel.)
  • They only have 7 channels here and the movie Braveheart is on one of them this evening while on another channel is something with Billy Connolly talking about a famous fiddle player.
  • BBC News is much better than anything I’ve seen in a while for international news without sensationalism or egregious bias.
  • People (5) in Italian restaurants (1) eat pizza with a fork and (dull) knife. So let’s generalize for all of Scotland!
  • Be on the lookout for fights. I have seen two fist fights already. One in front of a pub on Saturday night (natch) and one right on a main city street between two motorists who were stopped at a light and had some time for the free exchange of ideas. One guy actually got out of his car and was trying to pull the other guy out all the while both were shouting something indecipherable at each other (were they drunk or just with a thick brogue? both? I kid the Scottish.). Not to worry though, as you’d expect, the fights weren’t very dangerous, if these guys could fight they wouldn’t be part of Great Britain… (Again, I kid the Scottish. Try the veal and tip your waitresses!)
  • Scottish Tourism Centre people are kind and knowledgeable. My agent was originally from St. Petersburg, but still managed to have a Glaswegian accent. Moreover, they (she) used Google more than any other reference material when we were plotting out some potential travel routes. Interestingly, she would type things like “victorian heritage trail images” to look for pictures instead of clicking on the Images tab/link on the Google results page. Also, they must have browser history set to 0 or turned off which made it hard to her to re-find things she must recommend a lot.
  • Hotel “broadband” isn’t. And it’s 17.99 GBP per day.
  • Time shifting means I got up at 5:30am this morning. (Read that again if you like, because that’s the only time you’re going to associate that with me.)
  • Bus drivers have a good sense of humor.
  • Cab drivers are remarkably efficient, intelligent drivers and have spacious, clean cabs. (Just like in London.)
  • I already miss iced tea.

Check out some more pictures.

I'll be in Scotland

in the next few weeks, primarily to attend the 15th International World Wide Web Conference where I’m co-chairing a workshop on Logging Traces of Web Activity: The Mechanics of Data Collection with Melanie Kellar, Kirstie Hawkey and Andy Edmonds. If you won’t be attending, you can check out the excellent program schedule, including links to the submissions that will be presented at the workshop.

Fortunately, before the conference I will be doing some touring throughout Scotland including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. If you have some recommendations, on “must see” experiences, I’m happy to hear about it. I’ve already added a few events to my trip from excellent suggestions including the Isle of Skye and a whisky distillery or two. Feel free to comment on this post or send me an email.

Two Jokes about Context and Classification from European Movies

From Kontroll (2004)

“A guy goes into a bar and orders ten shots of brandy.
The barman asks him ‘Ten, sir?’
‘Give them to me,’ the guy says.
The barman pours the ten shots and lines them up on the counter.
The guy takes the first and the tenth one, picks them up and pours them out
on the floor. He drinks the remaining eight, one after the other.
The barman asks with surprise, ‘Why did you pour those two shots out on the floor?’
The guy says ‘Look, sonny, the first one always tastes horrible and the last
one always makes me sick.’

From 101 Reykjavík (2000) (also a novel):

Why do Marlboro cigarettes have white filters in America, and yellow filters in Europe?
So Keith Richards can tell which continent he’s on.

Open Source Workshop at UT Austin, May 2, 2006

On May 2, in conjunction with the World Congress on IT 2006, The University of Texas at Austin will host panel discussions on “open source”, peer-based information sharing that was once only found in the software world. The free (yes free) workshop will cover the challenges and growing impact of open source.

I am both a (partial) organizer and speaker at this workshop. If you’re there, do stop by and say hello or introduce yourself.
For more information including directions and registration, please see the Open Source Workshop Web site

I have the two best jobs in America

According to this week’s MONEY Magazine’s Best Jobs listing, I have the two best jobs in America. I work as a (1) Software Engineer and (2) College Professor . Granted, I don’t do these two in that order of frequency, but as a professor (graduate students only) and software consultant (technical architecture, data mining and analysis, intellectual property development, information architecture and interface design) I’ve got it pretty good, certainly much better than those who have the dirtiest jobs.

Thanks to Tolva for pointing this out and making me feel so lucky because I don’t punch a clock, get to work (mostly) on only what is interesting to me and can wear shorts + Hawaiian shirts on days when the weather permits. Plus I’m in Austin!

You can start hating me now.

Unofficial Geek Guide to SxSW-Interactive 2006

It looks like Austin’s own David Nunez is up to it again, he’s updated his guide to getting the most out of SXSW for 2006 to motivate us all to be more friendly, less clique-ish and generally open to getting more out of SXSW. Heck, he’s even put his personal, mobile phone number up so you can call him for directions, a dinner invite or to get together and chat (but not for bail money I assume). (How about your instant message IDs too David?)Check it out and be sure and leave him a comment on his blog.

Let a thousand orange smileys bloom!

The Power to Predict

This looks like an interesting book from the Harvard Press: The Power to Predict.

What I hope to find upon reading it is that a business can be more competitive by being more data driven than their competitors, be it from extending Knowledge Management ideas to fully forming a company around leveraging knowledge or from using data to help establish a conversation with customers about expectations and higher levels of service.

pre-SXSW Happy Hour this Thursday 6-8 at The Cedar Door

OK, this is the big one.

Come one, come all to the Annual pre-SXSW get together for anyone doing Web design, development, Information Architecture, and anything else SXSW “Interactive-y”.

Whether you live in Austin or are in town early for SXSW, do join us on this Thursday, March 9th from 6-8 at the Cedar Door at 201 Brazos Street in downtown Austin.

As always, this event is sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin School of Information, the UTASIS&T Student Chapter and the Information Architecture Institute.