January | 2014 | Steve Woods

Wikipedia community votes on MP4

17/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Data, Open Source, Open Standards, Tech

Content on Wikipedia should not only be made available under a free licence, but also in free formats. As this is associated with limitations the Wikimedia multimedia team has launched a request for comment to integrate the H.264 MP4 codec, Heise reports.

Such proprietary codecs have so far not been allowed in Wikipedia and its sister projects; even MP3 files are not allowed. Videos can only be uploaded in Ogg Theora format and the open WebM format developed by Google.

In the opinion of the multimedia team, this limitation is significantly preventing the use of videos. Although the Chrome and Firefox browsers can play WebM, other browsers have still not implemented the format. It looks even worse as regards mobile devices: according to an analysis, two-thirds of mobile calls to Wikimedia servers originate from devices which cannot play the video formats made available on Wikipedia. Even the uploading of videos is made more difficult since contributors must first convert their videos before they can upload them. The result is that only 38,000 videos can be found on the Wikimedia Commons multimedia platform, whereas YouTube makes 6.5 million videos available in the education category.

The proposal is not meeting with much approval in the community. On the first day of the discussion which started a month ago, must users spoke out against any support for MP4; however, supporters are not occupying too inferior a position. In particular, the secret licence agreements and any licensing payment due for commercial use of videos are being criticised. A compromise in which the Wikimedia Foundation will convert all uploaded MP4 videos into open formats is only supported by very few contributors.

The multimedia team must now put more effort into convincing people if it wants to convert its plans into reality. Heise says the Wikimedia Foundation is adopting a neutral official position.
How to write user help

16/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Linux, Open Source, Tech

A product’s user guide or help is an essential element of most items of software or consumer products today.

Well-written help can save hours of confusion and frustration as new users get to grips with tools. It should be concisely written but cover all aspects of the use of the software or product.

The wavemon program for Linux is a monitor for wireless devices. It allows users to watch the signal and noise levels, packet statistics, device configuration and network parameters of their wireless network hardware.

Here’s wavemon’s help file.

Concise isn’t it?
UK’s CESG finds Ubuntu most secure OS

14/01/2014 Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS proved to be the most secure product in a client operating system investigation by British security body Communications Electronics Security Group (CESG), which is part of GCHQ and provides assistance to government departments on their own communications security, according to a report today in Germany’s Linux-Magazin.

The test field consisted of 11 desktop and mobile operating systems, including Windows 7 and 8, Windows RT, Android 4.2, Apple’s iOS 6 and Mac OS X 10.8, as well as Google Chrome OS 26. CESG investigated the security of the systems in various categories, e.g. VPN, hard drive encryption, secure boot, sandboxing, implementation of security policy and update policy.

No system was able to meet all demands for use by the British authorities, but Ubuntu 12.04 LTS was shown to be the most secure system of those tested. Windows Phone 8 has the most critical vulnerabilities.

Ubuntu supplier Canonical has summarised the results as it sees them in a PDF. The company is hoping to do even better with the forthcoming Ubuntu 14.0 LTS version of its operating system, particularly by supporting secure boot.

More detailed information about the test is available on the CESG website, including CESG’s Ubuntu-specific report.

First published by Bristol Wireless.
Italy puts free software first in public sector

14/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Politics, Tech

The Italian government has made free software the default choice for public sector organisations, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) reports. In a document (PDF, Italian) published last Wednesday, the Italian Digital Agency (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale) issued rules saying that all the country’s government organisations must consider using free software before buying licences for proprietary programs.

Logo of Italian Digital Agency

The document, “Guidelines on comparative evaluation [of software]”, sets out a detailed method which public bodies must follow when deciding which software to use. They are required to look for suitable free software programs or choose software developed by the public sector. They may only consider procuring proprietary software no suitable programs of these types are available.

“There is no excuse. All public administrations must opt for free software or re-use whenever possible”, says FSFE General Counsel Carlo Piana, who was part of the committee that advised on the guideline. “Now free software and re-use are the norm, proprietary software the exception. This is the most advanced affirmative action in Europe so far. I’m so proud that Italy leads the way, for once”.

The document was authored by the Italian Digital Agency, which for the first time consulted representatives from the public sector, the free software community, and proprietary software makers.

Importantly, the new rules come with a mechanism to ensure they are followed. Both public bodies and members of the public can ask the Italian Digital Agency to check if a given organisation is following the correct procedure. Administrative courts can annul decisions that contravene these rules and, in the event of negligence, individual public servants may be held personally liable.
Bristol Post Balls – headlining

14/01/2014 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

According to Collins English Dictionary, headline has the following definition as a noun:

a phrase at the top of a newspaper or magazine article indicating the subject of the article, usually in larger and heavier type

Here’s a headline from a piece in today’s Bristol Post (since corrected after being ridiculed by a sharp-eyed reader. Ed.).

When it comes to how to use a headline, dictionaries unfortunately do not give guidance regarding their making sense. 🙂
EU also recommends ODF as a standard format

13/01/2014 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Open Standards, Politics, Tech

As an answer to a question from a Swedish politician the EU Commission has also confirmed ODF as a standard document format, Germany’s Linux Magazin writes. However, free software advocates are criticising the step as “not far-reaching enough”.

Amelia Andersdotter MEP
At the end of November 2013 Amelia Andersdotter MEP, a member of the Swedish Pirate Party, submitted a written question to the EU Commission in which she dug deeper in two points into what was happening with file formats recommended by the EU. In 2011 Inter-Institutional Committee for Informatics had instructed all departments to support the OOXML standard developed and controlled by Microsoft. Andersdotter inquired what sense this still made when only one manufacturer is implementing the standard and how communication could take place with public sector organisations who are using other standards.

The Commission’s answer was given a few days ago. According to a report on Joinup, the EU’s public sector open source news site, EU Commission Vice-president Maroš Šefčovič himself responded to the written question and mentioned OOXML and ODF as minimum requirements for document exchange. Šefčovič maintains that this ensures no vendor lock-in exists or can occur. In addition, public sector organisations should support other file formats in accordance with the best effort principle, i.e. if this is practically possible.

Open source activists, such as the Open Forum Europe are describing the decision as overdue, but are criticising the EU for missing an opportunity for the EU to lead by example for not daring to stipulate ODF as a single open standard. Switzerland’s Open Systems Group welcomes this first step, Joinup states. Mathias Stürmer is even hoping that the Swiss government will follow suit, even though it is not within the EU; although it would definitely help to prompt other public sector organisations to make the change to ODF.
Kremlin to step up monitoring of its online detractors

12/01/2014 Steve WoodsPolitics, Social Media, Tech

Friday’s Le Monde reports that Russian State security agency the FSO is going to step up its surveillance of bloggers and others who are critical of the Russian government.

While Russian state security agencies already have surveillance systems in use, the administration has decided “to entrust this part of the work to professional computer specialists“.

Quoting Izvestia, Le Monde states that an invitation to tender with a maximum budget of 31.8 mn. roubles (€700,000) has been issued for the procurement of a centralised data collection system for data published on the internet.

The subject of the invitation to tender is the creation of a system comprising a database of citizens who have a “negative” opinion of the government and the provision of a daily summary of publications concerning the president, his administration, the prime minister or even the opposition. The procurement of this system is reportedly not a case of “turning up the heat” by the authorities, but more enabling them to anticipate some events by the early detection of protests being organised (a likely story. Ed.)
Can you find Vietnam on a map? Become a Vietnamese interpreter!

11/01/2014 Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

Hardly a week goes by without concern being expressed about the quality of the interpreters provided to the police, courts and tribunals by Capita T&I. Interpreters working for the company are allegedly classified by ability in 3 tiers, from 1 to 3, with Tier 1 as the highest and 3 as the lowest.

On 9th January RPSI Linguist Lounge published the following post outlining solicitor Richard Lacey’s experience with the need for a Vietnamese interpreter at St Anne Street Police Station in Liverpool.

I attended St Annes [sic] Street Police Station in Liverpool today for an interview requiring a Vietnamese interpreter having confirmed at 8.10 that said interpreter was attending at 9.30. When I arrived I was told by the custody officer that ALS/Crapita had called at 9.20 to say the interpreter was no longer available and they wouldn’t be able to supply one until 7 this evening.

The custody officer was no more happy than I was and had instituted some sort of escalation procedure. He then explained to me that there are differing grades of interpreter available and they might have to go for someone less qualified. I now understand that the top level can interpret both written and spoken versions of the language. The next level down can only translate orally. I am unsure what the lowest level can do – point out Vietnam on a map?? Possible grounds for appeal if interpreter assistance in police interview was inadequate? Savings in the system? – ho ho ho!

Incidentally, prior to qualifying as a solicitor, I was a police custody officer and we rarely had difficulties using NRPSI system!

When will the Ministry of Justice admit failure, do the decent thing and terminate the contract with Capita T&I? Probably never, given the government’s failure to acknowledge its mistakes, leaving a government of a different colour to do the decent thing after the 2015 general election.

In the meantime the waste of money and time continues, as does the delay and denial of justice.
Bristol Post Balls – irritable vowel syndrome

11/01/2014 Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media

If you either travel into or out of Bristol from the south or sail into or out of the city docks, you’ll be familiar with the Plimsoll Bridge, a swing bridge built over the Cumberland Basin in 1965.

Bristol’s Plimsoll Bridge in action. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately, there’s been some trouble with the bridge recently: during one recent rush hour swing some vital part broke and the bridge remained open – and closed to motor traffic – until the next day when it was cranked closed by hand.

The various repairs that need to be carried out will require several weeks and vessels with high masts will therefore not be able to get into and out of the docks for that period.

Yesterday the Bristol Post’s Michael Ribbeck reported on the latest stage of repairs.

His first sentence reads as follows:

A carriageway of a swing bridge in the centre of Bristol had to be closed overnight while repairs were carried out to lose joints.

Poor Michael! Not only does he have trouble with his vowels, as with the old Stork margarine advertisement, he can’t tell verbs from adjectives! 🙂
Remembering WW1: fraternisation in the Dardanelles

10/01/2014 Steve WoodsPolitics

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916.

The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war and is considered a major Allied failure and the casualties and losses on both sides amounted to some 250,000 each on both the Allied and Turkish sides.

My paternal grandfather, Ted Woods, was shipped out there as a member of the Norfolk Regiment and was thus part of the PBI – the poor bloody infantry – the cannon fodder for the mechanised slaughter that characterised the erroneously styled Great War. The only photograph I’ve seen of him depicted him in his uniform just before being shipped out there.

Conditions for the Allied troops during the campaign could hardly be described as luxurious, as the picture below shows.

A trench in the Gallipoli campaign, 1915. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In some parts of the peninsula, the front line trenches between the Allied and Turkish forces were only a handful of metres apart and in spite of the ferocity of the fighting, there were times when fraternisation took place.

Gallipoli by Robert Rhodes James, originally published in 1965 by BT Batsford Ltd., and republished in 1974 as Part of Illustrated Grand Strategy series by Pan Books Ltd. gives one instance of fraternisation between Anzac (Australian and New Zealand) forces and their Turkish opponents on p. 187 of the Pan edition:

The Anzacs sometimes threw tins of bully-beef into the Turk trenches, and once received the reply: “Envoyez milk. Bully-beef, non”; on one occasion a tin of cigarettes came flying over from the Turkish trenches, on which was written, “Prenez avec plesir a notre heros ennemis*”.

*To our heroic enemies, take these with pleasure.

This year marks the centenary of the start of the First World War and already at least one government minister, Education Secretary Michael Gove, is banging the jingoistic drum (warning: link to Daily Mail article. Ed.). Unfortunately, Gove later received support for his attack on ‘left wing academics’ from those experts on the First World War – Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson (warning: link to yet another Daily Mail article. Ed.).

People as ignorant as Mr Gove et al. should heed the words of the late Harry Patch (17th June 1898 – 25th July 2009), who was dubbed “the Last Fighting Tommy” in his later years and who very wisely said the following:

[The] politicians who took us to war should have been given the guns and told to settle their differences themselves, instead of organising nothing better than legalised mass murder.

Harry never spoke a word in public about WW1 until he was over 100 years old. Mr. Gove on the contrary approaches every subject with an open mouth and a closed mind.

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