Thursday 8th & Friday 9th May

Thursday was the second full day of conference. In the first session a lawyer did an amusing analysis of the state of digital signatures in Sweden. I know it was amusing because the audience was in stitches for much of the time. However, the translation unfortunately did not work for me – in fact, I abandoned my head 'phones as I was getting a headache! I later learned that the presenter was fairly difficult to follow, even in Swedish, as he spoke quickly, with frequent asides and subject changes.

Next the International delegates gave short presentations of issues being addressed in their countries. All were well-received. I went last, mainly covering the Socitm reorganisation.
Anna-Karin Jönbrisk, who ran a research project on the subject for the European Union, spoke on "Green IT", which she defineds as "achieving maximum benefit with the least negative environmental impact".

Her slides referred to eutrophication, which she didn't explain, and I hadn't heard of so I looked it up in Wikipedia…

Eutrophication, strictly speaking, means an increase in
chemical nutrients -- typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus --
in an ecosystem. It may occur on land or in water. The term is however often
used to mean the resultant increase in the ecosystem's primary productivity
(excessive plant growth and decay), and further effects including lack of oxygen
and severe reductions in water quality, fish, and other animal populations. Eutrophication, strictly speaking, means an increase in
chemical nutrients -- typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus --
in an ecosystem. It may occur on land or in water. The term is however often
used to mean the resultant increase in the ecosystem's primary productivity
(excessive plant growth and decay), and further effects including lack of oxygen
and severe reductions in water quality, fish, and other animal populations.

The other notable points from her presentation, for me, concerned recommendations to use computers' sleep function as much as possible. Figures were presented that showed that the difference in power consumption between computers switched-off and in a sleep state were negligible. I always thought the savings from the sleep function were negligible, and that we should turn equipment off.

More information is at an associated web-site… http://www.ecocomputer.org/

There were presentations on Government priorities for ICT from SKL – the Swedish County Council and Local Authorities Federation – and what, in the programme, was listed as "International T.B.A.". Apparently, this turned-out to be an excellent session, which is a pity, as I missed it. Claes-Olof Olsson travelled up from Malmo to meet we International delegates – a four or five hour drive in each direction. He had been commissioned by the Swedish Government to make recommendations on Shared Services, and was anxious to hear our experiences. Finally, there was a "Talk Show", with representatives from various interest groups, on "Long-term and Sustainable IT".

In the evening we went to dinner with our hosts in town.

Christian gave me a lift back to Landvetter Airport, with a small diversion to see the beautiful sea-side town of Marstrand, where he spent much of his childhood, and where his family still have a summer home. I had several hours' wait at the Airport, which was useful to catch-up with e-mail and 'phone calls. Someone wrote to say I had missed the best UK weather for 18 months byt, no, the weather in Sweden was also fantastic.


On the 'plane home I read, in the International Herald Tribune, that Professor Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, says that "gadgets (such as the iPhone) stymie innovation". Unlike home computers, new Internet-enabled gadgets do not lend themselves to the sort of tinkering and collaboration that leads to technological advances, he says. The latest must-have devices are "sterile" boxes that stifle creativity and turn consumers into passive users of technology. "I don't want to see a two-tier world where only the experts can survive, and the non-experts are stuck between something they don't understand and something that limits them," Zittrain said Thursday. Hmmm.

Wednesday 7th May

There are 336 delegates to the KommITS Conference, of whom 156 are Members of the Society, which is a record.

I am seated at a table, bedecked with our flags, with the other international delegates, where head-sets for the translation are provided.

Before the conference start, commercials (many very amusing) play in the auditorium, arranged, I learn, by Apple, which is producing a pod-cast of the whole event. Following a welcome from Strömstad's Mayor (and introduction of the international delegates) the keynote speech is given by Tina Thörner (Turner) - a world-class Rally Co-Driver ("Map Reader" – one of only 40 in the world) who was Colin McCrae's co-driver until he was killed, last year, in a helicopter crash. I enjoy Tina's presentation more as a motor-sport fan than for its inspirational content; although this is excellent, I have seen many such presentations before.

The keynote presentation is followed by a "Partner Parade" in which sponsors are introduced to the audience. Bronze partners (16 of them) get a 1 minute interview by the Compere; 4 Silver Partners get to give 5 minute presentations, and 2 Gold partners have 10 minutes each.
I note that Novell has a local arrangement with Microsoft, which resells its version of Suse Linux to enable Linux exploitation on a Windows platform!

At breaks, bell-ringers walk among the audience to encourage them to return to their conference sessions.

Sweden seems generally advanced in its exploitation of ICT, compared to the UK, but in broadband penetration it is well behind. Maybe unsurprising in a largely rural, and much less populous than the UK, state. Some of the lessons are familiar; "operators invested a lot less than expected" and "the market doesn't build everywhere for commercial reasons".

Other presentations analyse the development and maturity of ICT in Sweden ("The Present Day Dragon") and "The School environment of the Future", in which the approach to the development of digital competence is described. Nine hundred examiners of student digital competence, working with Local Authorities, support 45,000 teachers, awarding qualifications at 5 levels in practical IT and media production competencies.


In the evening there is an excellent dinner and show with comedy and music. The "star" is Nadje, who is 16, but seems younger. I feel a little uncomfortable at seeing a juvenile singing rock music on-stage, but wow – what a voice – my tip for future international stardom!

Monday 5th & Tuesday 6th May

On Monday, I made an early start to drive to Heathrow for a flight to Gothenburg for the Kommits Annual Conference. There, together with Hans and Roel who had flown in from Holland, I was met by Thorbjörn Larsson, the President of Kommits, who would drive us 200 kilometres north to the Quality Spa & Resort at Strömstad, near the Norwegian border, where the conference was to be held. First we had to collect Rick Bareuther, who arrived in Sweden from Reno on Saturday, from his hotel at the Central Station.

Meanwhile, Christian Bonfire, who I met at the Dutch Conference, last year, was meeting Mike Manson and his wife and daughter who flew from New Zealand.

Following a very pleasant drive and time to freshen-up, we met some of our other Swedish hosts - Antoinette van Leeuwen and Marianne Olofsson – for a cruise to South Koster Island, where we had dinner. Cars are banned on the Koster Islands so, after our boat had moored in the fjord between the north and south islands, we took to pedal power to cycle to the restaurant. Following a lovely meal we cruised back to the mainland in the dusk, about 10.30 pm, passing a couple of fishing boats surrounded by clouds of seagulls.


Socitm and Kommits are members of an international association called "LOLA". This week's conference actually takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, but it has become the practice for each member country's annual conference to include a programme of activities for its international guests.

On Tuesday our hosts took their international guests on a tour that took us to Halden, in Norway, and around the Swedish region of Tanums Kommun. I heard that in the spring there is always an issue of paying for the clear-up of Strömstad's 300 kilometres of beaches. Very disappointingly (and embarrassing for me, as the only British guest) we were told that analysis of the rubbish showed that 80% of it came from Great Britain. I wish I could believe that this was just because of the prevailing tidal currents! We visited fishing villages, a world heritage site with bronze-age stone drawings/ inscriptions, lunched on the coast and walked among magnificent scenery.

In the evening, having been joined by the majority of conference delegates, we cruised the archipelago, with entertainment and a shrimp supper sponsored by HP and AVEA. Unfortunately, a few years ago, I became violently allergic to some shell-fish, so have learned to be extremely cautious of such food, but I was able to dine well fine on cheese and beer!
I learned a lot from my Swedish hosts of how their national society is run; its problems and ambitions that I believe will be of value in planning Socitm's future development with members and colleagues.


The Power of Blogging? Richard Steel, of CRC, got in contact with me to put my mind at rest after a client found my Blog, and read my concerns about someone apparently having ordered goods in my name. My namesake has, indeed, purchased goods from Truprint, and has a personal e-mail address that's similar to my own. Thanks again for getting in-touch, Richard!

Friday 2nd May

I chaired a Newham Sickness/ Absence Hearing in the Morning, and attended Newham's ICT Team Talk in the afternoon.


An interview by Mark Say for "Government Computing", and an hour's Teleconference with Socitm colleagues on business planning finished the week.


Continued catching-up with correspondence between times.


It was good to see a major local government shared service success reported today. The NLPG (National Land & Property Gazetteer) is the first complete list of property addresses since the Domesday Book. http://www.ukauthority.com/articles/story2154.asp

Thursday 1st May

My mail box is as full as ever, even 'though Geoff has now picked-up Newham's work. I spent this morning in 'phone calls and ploughing through the backlog, but still haven't cleared it.

A Socitm London Branch meeting was help in Committee Room 4 at the House of Lords, in the afternoon. I arrived at the same time as two other members, at Black Rod's Garden Entrance to the Palace of Westminster, as directed in the meeting joining instruction, and a Policeman was in the process of redirecting us to St. Stephen's Gate, when a chap turned-up and said it was OK, he'd show us the way. He introduced himself as (Lord) Anthony St. John (of Bletso) – our host, so when, later I was asked why I had a different visitor badge to most of the members (who entered via St. Stephen's Gate) I explained that Lord St. John had met me personally!

The meeting, sponsored by 2e2 , covered the eGov Register , Havering and Barking & Dagenham's shared Business Rates service, Government developments in Security and Information Assurance and what 2e2 described as the "Generation Y" – New Ways of Working with Web 2.0 technologies. Afterwards we were enjoying drinks on the House of Lords Terrace, when I thought I ought to 'phone home to warn Chris that I'd be a bit late. She didn't answer, so a left a message and she called back within a few minutes to "remind me" that we had promised to take my Mum and little sister out for a meal to celebrate her birthday – so I made a hasty exit.