NLY a year ago, before ODF became the ISO standard, I had to engage in lengthy and complex arguments over formats. I was doing fine by my own, but the issue of exchange arises in wider public arenas. Not anymore though. The crowning of ODF gives all the protection that I require. Here is an anonymised E-mail that I have just sent.

>Dear Roy
>>
>> Please can you email a sample of your presentation file so
>> that the IT guys here can find the relevant software and
>> load it onto the equipment in the lecture room.
>>
>> Please send it by return

Hi [anonimised],

This file is in OpenDocument Presentation format, which
is the international standard for presentations (ODF). One
common applications that handles it is OpenOffice 2. I
understand that Microsoft intends to catch up with the standards
in Office 2007, essentially by supporting ODF through a plugin.

Many thanks in advance,

Roy

I will be presetning at Oxford University later this week.

The Public Wiki section on this domain

Some good news with regards to collaboration with tomorrow’s technology (pardon the pun).

“The collaborative editorial process of wikis often results in a stunning degree of accuracy. A study by the science journal Nature found Wikipedia nearly as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica. In fact, for summaries on niche issues and emerging interests, the biggest wiki of them all — Wikipedia — is often the best available source of information.”

It’s about time. I have been doing this for over a year, but people whom I work with refuse to embrace the concept of collaborative editing. They just toss 2 MB E-mail attachments back and fourth, bloating/clogging each other’s inboxes, still unable to spot the actual changes made.

Here is one example . The page is currently locked for editing because it’s a year and a half old, which expires its ‘shelf life’ and justifies guarading against Wiki SPAM.

Some photos I took in Oxford last year

ATER this month I will present my work at Oxford University. I still have many photos from my last visit (sample above) and I also wrote some notes. The absurd thing is that, for the first time, the college where we’ll be staying does not permit jeans and T-shirts. It doesn’t sound so liberal to me.

As was the case before, another concern for me would be whether the projection facilities can handle OpenDocument format. Even if I choose to present in HTML with JavaScript, there’s no guarantee that a proper Web browser (one that supports Web standards) will be installed. In that case, I need to bring a laptop and, oddly enough, people are assumed to have the same ‘flavour’ of software. Therefore, it has become common to share the same computer in a session, passing files using USB sticks. Use of laptops is frowned upon, so ignorance in computing and standards evidently leads to inconveniences. That aside, I have little desire to travel anymore, but I am left without much choice. I’ll probably write more on this topic, nearer to the actual date of the event.

Come Monday, I should have the content of my thesis in a fairly complete state. Then, the text should be ripe for serious improvements, proofreading, and further work on layout. The deadline for a first draft is August 31^st and final submission is due by September 30th.

Frankly, I have had some serious issues coping with temptation to procrastinate. I never had these issues before, so it’s rather odd and worrisome. It was never worth letting laziness take over as I lost some sleep over this. It also gives me less control of my schedule as I continue to pace myself rather than just get it done with. I could truly need a motivational boost, rather than pressure and fear. Judging by some resources I have read, what I am going through is common. I am definitely past the stage of doubt, but I just wish I could spend more than an hour per day writing. I just dread the thought of going through the same text over and over again. I suspect that pressure will ultimately take its toll and wake me up so that I can comfortably comply with some preset deadlines. I am worried and optimistic at the same time.

will be in London all day today, which is why I am up so early in the morning/night. A Structure and Function meeting will take place and encourage discussion about some recent research among our inter-site collaboration (Manchester, Imperial College, University College London, Oxford).

The journey to London will be roughly as long as the stay, which is somewhat disappointing, if not a real pain. It is also quite disruptive to the normal daytime activities, so I will go to sleep late at night. It is definitely going to be a heck of a long day!

The annual conference Medical Image Understanding and Analysis 2006 is due to begin tomorrow. I will be presenting on the second day (HTML version). This means that I am not very likely to be active on the Web. Certain habitual chores will be unaffected: exercise and posting of GNU/Linux advocacy items. I have begun taking the latter more seriously and, as of several months ago, the return has been tremendous.

The months to proceed are likely to have me occupied with thesis writing. It appears as though I’ll have to make various submissions concurrently. These events often seem to distract, but I am positive that I can stay on track nevertheless and submit in September.

O it’s official. I have submitted the Notice of Submission form, which currently indicates that I should submit my thesis strictly on schedule, i.e. at the end of September. A final draft is due by the end of August, so I will bury myself to comply with the schedule. I have no clear plans for the period that extends beyond September, but I will definitely take a vacation. I probably need one, but I always have my doubts, based on experience.

On the down side of things, my submission to the British Machine Vision Conference was rejected yesterday. Ho hum. The paper outlined a method for evaluating model such as the one shown below.

Appearance model of the brain, ±2.5 standards deviations shown