Tuesday 20 December 2011

Ali gets a mention

In a recent posting about computer forensics the paper presented by Dr Ali Al-Sherbaz was discussed. A recent blog reviewing the workshop provides an interesting overview of the workshop and discuss some of the presentation including Ali's.

"One of the last presentations of the day was by Ali Al-Sherbaz from Northampton University.    Ali directed us to an interesting web page which is entitled, The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook which has a really nice graphic.  (Digital privacy is one of those issues that is addressed on an Open University module called TU100, My Digital Life). Ali also introduced us to a pedagogic tool called Dale's cone of experience." Christopher Douce

The blog also provides an informative summary and reflections on the links between this workshop and others by the Higher Education Academy.

The posting can be found by clicking on this link.

Monday 19 December 2011

GreenFoot and robots in problem solving

One of the criticism of the using robots for teaching problem solving is they are finite resources, there is a risk that some students will dominate the programming in group work. To address this a new feature has been added to the teaching of problem-solving activities. There are now two parallel activities  as well as programming a robot; there is a separate programming exercise carried out at the same time which replicates some of the same actions of the robot but this time on screen.
Figure: Robot pushing a barrel

These exercises are based around the increasingly popular Greenfoot software (http://www.greenfoot.org/download/) which is free to download and use. This can be put on as many machines as are need enabling more people to have a go at programming.

The exercises initially gets participants to set-up the world, place a robot within it and get the robot to move across the screen. Building on the each previous exercise, the complexity increases and includes challenges (such as in the figure) where the robot pushes a piece of rubbish (in this case a barrel) off the screen.


A series of other activities based around controlling a robot or robots in an environment has been developed. 


The nice feature of both the robot and Greenfoot exercises, all the activities are Java based, not a specifically written language- a 'real programming language'. The extra feature that Greenfoot provides is flexibility. The students can download this at home and work on it on their own machines, whereas the robots can't be taken home.

Anecdotally, initial student feedback has been positive, with some students creating solutions to some of their own problems.

Greenfoot Exercise 2 
Greenfoot Exercise 3

Friday 16 December 2011

State of the Blog

Just for interest really I am presenting some of the statistical information about this blog.
Fig1. Overview of the blog

In fig 1 there seems to be a slow positive trend in the number of views of the blog per month, with the most popular postings being about BSc or MSc student work.

Fig 2 Audience data


In fig 2 the top ten countries where the site is being view includes some surprises (well to me anyway) such as Russia and Thailand being number 3 and 4 in the list.

Thursday 8 December 2011

BCS Bedford: IT Security for SMEs - Who wants your information, why and what you can do to keep it secure

Not exactly Northamptonshire but nearly...

Date:: Thursday, 15 December 2011
Theme:: IT Security for SMEs - Who wants your information, why and what you can do to keep it secure
Speaker:: David Pybus, Head of Security Governance, Risk and Compliance, Diageo
Time:: 6.00pm for 6.30-8.00pm
Location:: Studio Theatre, Bedford College, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AH
Rationale:
A short talk that will answer some key information security questions including:
  • Who is really after your information? Has the stereotypical hacker changed?
  • What sort of information do they want?
  • Why do they want your information and your computer?
  • What might it mean to you and your customers if they do steal your information?
  • What can you do to secure your systems against information theft?
  • How else might someone steal your information?




Tuesday 6 December 2011

New PhD student joins Northampton

Ahmed Al-Khali has started as a new PhD student in Computing. He will working with Dr Ali Al-Sherbaz and Dr Yinghui Zhang on mobile wireless networking for vehicles. Especially concerned with ad-hoc networks that the emergency services can use and investigating issues such as "how do have we have an ad-hoc network when the nodes are moving quickly in the opposite direction?"


Friday 2 December 2011

IET & BCS Christmas Lecture Neural Interfaces: An Experimental Tour

Not strictly Northamptonshire but might be of interest. Taken from: http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/westmids/warks/xmas-neural.cfm

Lecture


In this presentation a practical look is taken at how the use of implant and electrode technology can be employed to diminish the effects of certain neural illnesses by opening up a new path between the brain and technology. However as a result this also results in biological brains for robots and enables human enhancement. In all cases the end result is to increase the range of abilities of the recipients.

Speaker(s)

Professor Kevin Warwick, Reading University

Date & Time

  • 07 December 2011
  • 18:30 for 19:00
  • Alan Berry Building
    Coventry University
    Coventry CV1 5FB

Organiser

  • IET Coventry & Warwickshire Network

About this event


In this presentation a practical look is taken at how the use of implant and electrode technology can be employed to diminish the effects of certain neural illnesses by opening up a new path between the brain and technology. However as a result this also results in biological brains for robots and enables human enhancement. In all cases the end result is to increase the range of abilities of the recipients. An indication is given of a number of areas in which such technology has already had a profound effect, a key element being the need for a clear interface linking a biological brain directly with computer technology.
The emphasis is clearly placed on experimental scientific studies that have been and are being undertaken and reported on. The area of focus is notably the need for a biological/technological connection, where a link is made directly with the cerebral cortex and/or nervous system. The presentation will also consider the future: in which robots have biological, or part-biological, brains and in which neural implants link the human nervous system bi-directionally with technology and the internet.


From more information: http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/westmids/warks/xmas-neural.cfm

Friday 25 November 2011

Embedding Computer Forensics within an Undergraduate Programme

An paper on teaching computer forensics was recent published at 7th Annual Teaching Computer Forensics Workshop University of Sunderland on the 10th Nov 2011.


An Embedded Pedagogic Model for Computer Forensics within an
Undergraduate Programme
Authors: Ali Al-Sherbaz , Amir Minai, James Xue, Rashmi Dravid , The University of Northampton


Abstract
The discipline of computer forensics which has a strong mutli-disciplinary background derives from the computing subjects in networking, programming, security and mathematics. Increasing awareness of cybersecurity and emphasising the need for a common vision among students addresses the challenges. The proposed pedagogic model is to embed the computer forensics materials within the undergraduate modules to extend students’ knowledge and skills in a practical context. However, it is also recognised that the depth of knowledge required learning such topics as cyber security should be offered from the underlying principles to their abstraction.


Cyber crimes are on the rise however, Cyber security professionals are in a depressingly low numbers. The lack of focus on this area has certainly resulted in a limited number of experts. Today, there is a demanding need to create new cyber security jobs, which should hopefully bring leverage to the uncontrollable rise of cyber crimes. It is, therefore, necessary to develop the analytical skills which create challenges in building a constructive approach to learning. Also, reflecting the technological fluctuations, it is seen as essential for students to be continuously updated.


The proposed model focuses on the delivery and assessment of certain computing modules, with an evaluation of its efficiency on the use of time and effort in order to satisfy the minimum requirements of the curriculum. The study has also discovered that some of the modules already cover part of computer forensics implicitly. Therefore, highlighting these topics to the students and making them more visible as computer forensics is one of the main objectives. Another objective is to enhance the existing computing modules by dedicating certain amount of lecture time on computer forensic related concepts. The model can then be adopted by Universities when considering developing new modules.


Over  the  last  few  years  there  have  been  large  increases  in  cyber-crimes  which  have  threatened individuals and organisations. To reduce the threat it is imperative that the computing courses within universities increase the level of student awareness by providing them with professional education in computer forensics and cyber-security without the need to create a separate specialised pathway.


For more information contact: Dr Ali Al-Sherbaz (ali.al-sherbaz@northampton.ac.uk)


Computing Courses

BSc and HND Computing Provision (click on the links below for more details of the courses)


    The University of Northampton's, Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies offers five courses within the MSc Computing postgraduate provision (shown below) all available either part-time or full-time. 

    The contents are the opinion of the author(s) and not necessarily the view of the University of Northampton.








    Wednesday 23 November 2011

    The award for digital excellence goes to...Northamptonshire


    The winner of the 2011  Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Local Public Services Award for Digital Excellence went to Northamptonshire County Council's My County Council . . .anywhere


    CIPR said "...This customer focused project set clear and ambitious objectives, using creative marketing and implementation strategies to encourage uptake of newly developed mobile web browser and phone apps. With a relatively modest budget, targeted marketing and a carefully staged approach, the council has exceeded its initial targets, demonstrating cost savings and generating positive feedback from its customers." http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/events-awards/local-public-services/local-public-services-awards/results




    The phone apps for the project (both Android and iPhone apps) were developed within the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton as part of a strategic partnership between the university and Northamptonshire County Council.

    More details on these free to download apps can be found at:

    Android: http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2011/07/northamptonshire-android-app-launched.html

    iPhone: http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2011/05/northamptonshire-iphone-app-exceeds.html




    Monday 7 November 2011

    Security risks in a "nothing to hide society - BCS Northampton event

    Thursday, 24th November 2011 - Security risks in a "nothing to hide society"
    Speaker : Tom Schneider - Senior Security Consultant - Open Systems AG Zurich

    Time: 19:00 start
    Location: Room NW205 in The Newton Building, Avenue Campus, University Of Northampton, NN2 6JD. Parking is available at the rear of the building.

    This event is open to Members and non-Members, just arrive on the night.

    A look at the privacy and security risks associated with the use of Social Media (i.e. Facebook), Wikileaks & Cloud based services
    - How does it affect you ?
    - How does it affect business/companies ?

    How can these risks be mitigated and how do these challenges in IT security develop into interesting careers ?

    Introducing Open Systems a Zurich based high security business and examples of their work with one of their high profile clients the International Red Cross. .

    Biography: Tom Schneider is currently Open Systems Senior Key Account Manager for NGO's (UNICEF, UNDP, WHO and ICRC)

    He studied at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, where he gained an engineer's degree in Communications and Informatics.

    During his studies, Tom Schneider worked for Bank Leu and Credit Suisse in the global network operations team in Zurich.
    He joined Open Systems in 2005. Before his role as a Senior Key Account Manager he was head of a professional service unit, in charge of engineering and customer project implementations.
    ·         Open Systems (Zurich)

    For more information about BCS Northampton Events follow this link.

    Wednesday 2 November 2011

    Introduction to the world of Cryptography - BCS Northampton


    Presenter: Sarith Chandra MBCS CISSP Security+ MSc(Info Sec) MSc(Eng) BEng(IT)

    26th January 2012

    Time: Evening session for 2 hrs - 18:30 registration, 19:00 start, 20:30 end, 20:30 - 21:00 Q&A + Networking session
    Location: Room NW205 in The Newton Building, Avenue Campus, University Of Northampton, NN2 6JD

    Objectives:
    - Introduce Cryptography for Beginners
    - Refresh some Crypto concepts for Experts
    - Learn some Best practices
    - Interactive session with "Crack some code" examples

    Target Audience: Students, Fresh graduates, IT professionals, Developers/DBAs and anyone with general interest in Cryptography. All welcome.

    Detail:
    - Cryptology
    - Cipher Exercise
    - Cryptography
    - Cryptanalysis
    - Some Best Practices
    - Database Encryption
    - Crypto Challenge (competition)

    Pre-requisites:
    - You need to only have general awareness of IT and Computer Security concepts
    - Willingness to learn about this field and its concepts
    - This session does not delve into the mathematics of cryptography and is suitable for absolute beginners
    - If you like solving puzzles then you might enjoy some of the exercises during the interactive session


    For further queries please contact - csarith@bcs.org

    Monday 31 October 2011

    Robot workshop

    Work within the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton was presented at a recent workshop,  Robotics Workshop: Bot Shop! 28th October 2011 at the University of Derby.


    The work presented discussed using Lego Robots to support the learning of Neural Networks on an artificial intelligence module.The aim being to use the advantages of using robots, their visual and physical nature, as a way of making the slightly abstract nature of the neurons and multi-layer perceptrons more concrete by examples.








    For more details on the Workshop go to: http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/events/displayevent.php?id=260



    Saturday 29 October 2011

    Is it visual?


    Done by: Kumuditha Achini Kariyawasam (Email: kakariyawasam@gmail.com) and Scott Turner as part of an URB@N project


    1.Introduction
    The school of Science and Technology has been investigating over the last few years problem-solving within the Computing division. Looking at whether a more visual approach has benefits and this project built on the work have been done within the school to increase recent publications in this area



    2. Aims and Objective
    qTo capture the students’ view about the effectiveness of the visual nature of the Lego robots approach within the problem-solving module
    qTo evaluate the work done within the school on problem-solving
    qTo expect to publish this work with the student as a co-author
    qTo develop and looking at the effectiveness of the module.

    3. Results

    üThe majority students of the research sample outlined that the visual impact helps to develop their skills and when the author analyses the feedback, the majority sample has increased with the year group. This situation explains when the academic level is getting higher the students realise the importance of the problem solving skills with its’ visual nature.
    üThere is a significant impact of the visual nature to the other modules of the division.













    Monday 10 October 2011

    End of the Web Sustainability Project


    With Google Sites as each page essentially needs to be produced individually (producing templates of portions of the site helps, but each page does need to be produced individually), for  a site with a large number of pages this is extremely time consuming. A further problem with Google Sites for this project is CSS can't easily be transferred, though to a large extent HTML can, the formatting of the site has to be redone. For this site with around 500 pages Google Sites, with the site needing to look as close as possible to the original is not the most appropriate solution, but other techniques investigated are more suitable. Google Sites is an appropriate solution if the number of pages is small, the formatting of the pages is not too complicated and it is a new web site.

    A quick option is to use the public folder of a DropBox account a URL can be created and if the content is not going to change and yet you want it still publicly accessible,; this is a reasonable option. It is free (if you have a free account) and publicly accessible but it does have some drawbacks:
    • The URL produced is a little cryptic - it doesn't really bear a direct relationship with the site's name or content. So is a poor option in terms of Search Engine Optimisation point of view.
    • It is difficult to add some common web analysis tools. Google Analytics is easy you, but tools such as Google Webmaster tools are much more difficult to work with.
    • It is only really useful for static content.
    • As with all the free options there is the concern that it is only an option will the service running is available.
    Overall though this is a reasonable quick route for hosting content that is unlikely to change and if the DropBox account and a new email address to set up the account are specifically set up for the project, then transferring ownership or sharing access is uncomplicated it just means giving the email and password to the other person.
    Amazon cloud route is an alternative, there are still some of the drawbacks common to the Dropbox route, namely:
    • The URL produced is a still a little cryptic - it doesn't really bear a direct relationship with the site's name or content. So is a poor option in terms of Search Engine Optimisation. Saying that it is a little better than the Dropbox option as you can include a site name within the URL.
    • As with all the free options there is the concern that it is only an option will the service running
    • You also can though add to the site  tools not available to the DropBox options such as Google and Bing Webmaster tools.
    Overall though this is a good hosting option that is unlikely to be lost due to the backing of Amazon. Directly transferring the site is problematic not from technical stand-point but administratively. A credit card is need when setting the initial account, those details would need to be changed early in the transfer process. Amazon is appropriate for both new and previously developed material is being migrated. More details on setting this up can be found at either http://websitesustainability.blogspot.com/2011/07/initial-work-with-amazons-web-service.html or in Dan Frost’s article in .Net magazine (Frost, 2011a, Frost, 2011b).
    Both Amazon and DropBox are appropriate for new and old sites.
    An alternative that was investigated was adding the content on to another site such as www.sustainabilty.net  but this is reliant on the person owning the site being willing to add it to their site. There are other problems with approach it is not easy to transfer control of the site through this route. The advantages though can included the site being more accessible to mobile devices which is a service being offered by a lot of the paid-hosting services.

    For this type of activity, it is unlikely to come as little surprise that static website are easier to transfer, especially if you don't have direct access to the files on the original sites server. Tools such as WinHTTrack Website Copier (http://www.httrack.com/) extract the HTML returned from the server which could be a problem for PHP based sites, the copying tools would extract it as HTML and for some the hosting sites option using more dynamic technologies is a little problematic without a re-building of the site, the case in point being Google Sites.
    Feedback from users was collected using http://www.esurveyspro.com/ but was distributed using emails extract from email address on the site but also through LinkedIn contacts. Though the email address and IP address were not collected, the email route was investigated first, but when the call went out on LinkedIn, the response rate increased, suggesting using social networking sites can be an effective dissemination method.

    The questionnaire included questions about the navigation of the site in general and the Tube Map carried out to see overall do the users like the site and what changes would they look for. The aim being to provide some information for later developments of the site, but refining the site is not the focus of this work. For the sustainability of the site questions about are people actually interested in the site? There is some evidence that they are.


    In the survey for the site http://www.web-sustainablity.net/emkn/ 78% of the responders (N=15) said they would use the site.

    Quotes from responders
    I do use the Tube Map, as it has some excellent information, links and contacts etc Would be open to seeing this retained and or further updated and developed so that it can be a really interactive tool.
    Site contains lots of useful info that I was not aware was available

    One responder said “Perhaps a search box on this page that users could use to quickly locate the item on the map would complement the site” Search boxes were added  to the sites in response to this comment in a sustainable way (see  http://websitesustainability.blogspot.com/2011/07/adding-search-to-site.html for more details).


    1.2    Immediate Impact


    The main benefit is to the wider community is that options for the making sites mores sustainable have been considered.

    For the stakeholders an ‘at-risk’ site has been protect and available for when the site has to be removed from the current paid hosting option.

     

    1.3    Future Impact


    Some of this has been disseminated on a posting on a University of Northampton blog of ‘expert opinion’ (http://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/expertsatnorthampton/2011/09/27/web-sustainability-its-gone/) aimed at disseminating ideas from the university to the wider community.
    Tracking of the sites usage through and the blogs usage will continue, through Google Analytics in all case but where possible though appropriate web tools.

    2       Conclusions

    Google Sites based solution are appropriate if there are a small number of pages within the site, where you have some flexibility of the design of the site (especially if the site it is not reliant on CSS) and the pages are essentially static pages. If your site does match any one of these, it is best to look at alternatives, such as dropbox and amazon S3. Otherwise Google Sites is a good option, especially as it has the backing of major company.

    As with all sites (or perhaps even more so due to these sites not necessarily having support, but still useful), following good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) principles are important. The site, we hope, is going to be use by others but the resources behind the site are likely to minimal. Following good SEO principles at least gives the site an improved chance of being picked up by the search engines. One possible advantage of the Google Sites approach is URL produced as standard is a little easier to interpret than some of the other techniques, which could have some benefits from a Search engine optimisation perspective. 


    3       Recommendations


    The area of sustainability of websites should be an important consideration for any funding that involves public money, both during the life-time of the project and after it. Especially when government funded agencies are being rationalised finding ways to keep the sites going even if they are not updated further, they still provide a ‘snap-shot’ of the resources at a particular point in time. This project looked at possible sustainability options and has the following recommendations:
    ·         A sustainable web solution should be considered for funded projects. There are a number of free options.
    ·         Google Sites is an appropriate solution if the number of pages is small, the formatting of the pages is not too complicated and it is a new web site.
    ·         Amazon is appropriate for both new and previously developed material is being migrated.
    ·         Dropbox is as in the Amazon solution appropriate for new and previously developed sites and is appropriate if only basic tracking tools such as Google analytics are needed.
    ·         Sustainable web solutions proposed are good as a back-up or archiving solution; but also can be used as the main site if the domain name is redirected to the new site.

    4       Implications for the future

    • First another site (or more accurately part of a site) whose contents are likely to lost in a restructuring of an organisation might possibly be 'rescued' using one of the methods discussed.
    • Amazon S3 approach is under investigation.
    • A paper based on this work is under-development.
    The blog will be maintained by the project manager as long-term personal project, it is hosted on Blogger so is free. The site www. web-sustainablity.net will be maintained as a personal site.

    5       References

    Frost D (2011a) “The web dev’s intro to the cloud (part 1) “ .Net summer 2011 pp 100-102
    Frost D (2011b) “The web dev’s intro to the cloud (part 1) “ .[online] URL: http://www.netmagazine.com/features/web-dev-s-intro-cloud-part-1   [Accessed on: 29/9/2011]