Aggregating Directory Information

A recent project has been aggregating directory information from a variety of organisations supporting General Medical Practitioners (Family Doctors). The Primary Health Care worker needs access to current, accurate information regarding health service providers. The project is based on Open Source Infrastructure. We have created a set of video introductions to the Health Services Provider Directory that talk about the design isdsues and show some of the user interface. We thought they might be of inteest. These are links to YouTube. If they do not play correctly, please check that your network administrator allows YouTube.

Directory Introduction
Health Services Directory Part 1 - Introduction



Everyday Usage
Health Services Directory Part 2 - the User View



Administrative Issues
Health Services Directory Part 3 - Updates



The Administrator UI
Health Services Directory Part 4 - Administering Data

How does Google Manage Mac desktops

Redmonk has published an interview on how Google manages Mac desktops. Later in the interview it mentions that Linux desktops will be managed through the same tool.

People Over Process » Puppet at Google - RedMonk Radio Episode 48

Nigel has been using Puppet to manage “many, many thousands” of Mac desktops used at Google by developers and others. He tells us how he got involved in using Puppet last year during WWDC last year and quickly applied its use to managing Google Mac desktops.

Open and Transparent vs Setting Limits

I've been on both sides of the negotiation. The need to keep Government acquisition open, and yet how do we reward organisations that come up with new approaches that may provide a better solution if we just take their good ideas, and then go to the market with them.

Risking Another Frontline Disaster | ZDNet Government | ZDNet.com

The Wall Street Journal says in an editorial that FCC chair Kevin Martin is about to screw things up again on the public wireless Internet front. The first time around Martin tried to rig the D block auction to hand 700MHz spectrum over to Frontline Wireless, formed by former commissioner Reed Hunt. No private party wanted to play with Frontline under the restrictions the FCC put in place, the Journal says, and the auction crashed and burned.

Now its time for a new auction and this time the FCC wants to require the winner to offer free wireless Internet that filters out porn. Apparently the Journal wants these auctions to happen with no regulations, continuing the lack of public Internet infrastructure, but they do have a point on the question of whether Martin is rigging this auction for another favored player.

It just so happens that Mr. Martin’s proposed auction seems tailor-made for the business plan put forward by M2Z, another politically connected Silicon Valley start-up looking to enter the wireless broadband telecom market.

M2Z is backed by the venture capital outfits Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint Ventures and Charles River Ventures. It’s also backed by Democratic Representatives Anna Eshoo of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who’ve introduced legislation that would require the FCC to auction this spectrum to a company with a business plan that looks a lot like . . . M2Z’s. Ms. Eshoo’s district is home to Kleiner Perkins and Redpoint; Mr. Markey’s is home to Charles River.

IM Improves Office Efficiency

Science Daily has published research showing that Instant Messaging (IM) actually reduces interruptions and improves efficiency in office environments. The security team won't be pleased though.

Instant Messaging Proves Useful In Reducing Workplace Interruption

Employers seeking to decrease interruptions may want to have their workers use instant messaging software, a new study suggests. A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not.