Major changes are afoot in the world of TVs and computer displays and we are likely to see big developments next year. First off will be the introduction of Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) devices. These displays have been used in smaller devices such as digital cameras for a while now, but manufacturers have recently … Read more
There is a great deal of interest in the idea of software as a service at the moment. JISC has been leading the way in the education sector with its e-Framework and Enterprise Architecture work, some of which has been published through TechWatch, and for a general introduction, see UKOLN’s materials prepared for the CETIS … Read more
Four years ago TechWatch published a report on Semantic Web technologies written by Brian Matthews, from the UK office of the W3C. He argued that semantic technologies have great potential in education, and new work published by JISC fleshes out some of the bones of this earlier report. Semantic Technologies for Teaching and Learning is … Read more
The European Commission has issued an action plan concerning the use, and possible abuse, of RFID, smart chips and other aspects of what is becoming known as the Internet of Things. The report, “Internet of Things – an action plan for Europe”, proposes 14 action points, including work on the policy governance of RFID, continuous … Read more
In August 2007, TechWatch published a report on XML-based office document standards and there are a couple of reasons why this has come to the fore this last week. First of all, at JISC’s strategy meeting this week there was much talk of the need to support institutions dealing with antiquated administration systems that are … Read more
Yesterday’s Guardian featured 100 top sites for the year ahead, and it was interesting to note how many of these were connected to location-based services. For those in HE who are interested in the educational issues surrounding these technologies, you might be interested in the TechWatch report on Future Location-based Experiences, published in January 2005. … Read more
At the end of day one there was a panel debate on the successes and failures of EU-funded research. It was generally agreed that the EU research environment is fragmented – there is no equivalent of MIT, no EU-wide centres of excellence. Along with that came the statement, from Martin Sadler of Hewlett Packard, that … Read more
The opening plenary debate of the ICT 2008 conference focused on trends and directions for the ICT agenda over the next ten years. It was chaired by Viviane Redding, the EU commissioner responsible for ICT and involved a panel including Ben Verwaayen, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent; Harold Goddijn, the founder of Tom Tom and Esko Aho, … Read more
Back in September 2001 TechWatch published a report on Content Management Systems, written by Paul Browning and Mike Lowndes. At the time it very quickly became one of the most popular TechWatch reports ever published, and is still a steady favourite, even today. I can’t take any of the credit for the report as it … Read more
In 2005, TechWatch published a report on Semantic Web Technologies written by Brian Matthews who, at that time, was deputy manager of W3C’s UK office. As JISC has recently announced an open call of funding for a study on Semantic Web technologies in teaching and learning we thought we’d use this opportunity to provide a … Read more