collaboration, exchanging documents, ... recall the 1980s and 90s where you had to take care about in which format you saved your document, if you wanted to share it? well, the problem is back as vendors lock you in and more proprietary tools are developed. despite free software and open source ideology.

revisted surfnet project "coin".

observing the "market place of ideas". the pressure to get hold of a budget stops the possibility to use the space for exchanging and challenging ideas. - or as one can always argue: have been at the wrong place for content. who knows.

hierarchy: those who still search and try to figure out versus those who have their budget in the pocket. the game of information: "the difference that makes a difference" (bateson) apply here as well as somewhere else. the question is just what difference one is searching for.

getting dizzy by listening to € but less to facts and new ideas.

the skill in place is the good old "elevator talk". but be aware even if you find the right tune for one second, you can loose it in the second easily if you are not trained to think in phrases and are still considered as underdog and new to the scene.

to be considered:

• how to make a difference
• reality versus selling proposals

more interesting would be:

• about what european industry are we talking here and about what data centres?

digging: what is bull up to? does france have another plan calcul in place? at least bull has a supercomputer named genci since 2007 and europe has the prace.

learned: even if you think you are prepared you are not prepared if you don't find a way to keep your head out of the mud.

be prepared to be offline yet that everyone expects you know all names and faces and acronyms and that you can remember them.

if you don't want to be found use acronyms as EIN, ROSE, etc.pp.

in the 1970s scientists believed in EIN. well, it was a civilian research project while to be connected to the arpanet you needed to have the right contract with arpa/darpa in hand to be accepted and to go on-line.

yoshifumi masunaga, "the local computer network in tohoku district japan", august 1975, wp-75-202, iiasa: LocalNetworkDesign (application/pdf, 517 KB)

iiasa: conference 1974 on computer networks. hint: take a look at the discussion at the end