BCS Third Faculty of Health and Care Conference 2026 - London 30th June

Overview

Join us for an exciting and informative day with a mix of keynotes, debates, panels, and practical workshops.

Speakers

Please visit the Faculty of Health and Care Conference 2026 web page for a list of our speakers and speaker biographies.

Synopsis

Please join our third annual conference featuring keynote addresses, panel sessions, scientific abstracts and posters, and practical workshops.

Our theme this year is 'Collaborate, Learn and Professionalise'.

Hear from national and international speakers in a CPD awarded programme.

Join us after the event for networking in an informal drinks reception.

Further details are available here:

Faculty of Health and Care: Conferences | BCS and Faculty of Health and Care Conference 2026 | BCS.

Ticket costs

(Prices stated are inclusive of VAT and fees)

• Venue Attendance - BCS Members - £25
• Venue Attendance - Non-BCS Members - £35
• Online Attendance - BCS Members - £12
• Online Attendance - Non-BCS Members - £15

Refunds/cancellations

A refund, excluding fees, will be issued if a cancellation request is received within 14 days of the booking date or by noon on Tuesday 16th June 2026, otherwise, name substitutions will be allowed after this date.

Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.

This meeting is conducted in accordance with the BCS Code of Conduct for Meetings.

Join BCS today

If you are attending in person, please familiarise yourself with the Visitor Instructions for the BCS London Office.

Please note, if you have any accessibility needs, please let us know via 
groups AT bcs.uk and we’ll work with you to make suitable arrangements.

This event is brought to you by:

Faculty of Health and Care | BCS

n.b. Attending in-person. PJ

Submit your pitch for Black History Month 2025

London Arts and Health
and The Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance

To celebrate Black History Month this year, London Arts and Health and The Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance will commission six artists to explore and showcase their creative practices. This initiative is rooted in the belief that the arts can be a powerful force for health, climate justice, and cultural empowerment.

More details ...

BCS - AI Health 2025 - Artificial Intelligence SG (reminder)

Date and time: Friday 7 November, 9:30am - 4:30pm

Location: BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP

Price: 42 - 108 GBP

Synopsis

BCS-SGAI, the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT's Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence, was founded in June 1980. Its mission is: "To foster achievement, capability and awareness in both business and research in Artificial Intelligence, and to promote the interests of the related community". It is one of Europe's longest-established groups working to support the community of artificial intelligence developers and users and is the organiser of one of the longest-running annual series of AI conferences in Europe: the AI-20xx series.

In England, 189 out of 208 (91%) hospital trusts are using electronic health records (EHRs) bringing opportunities and challenges and for Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the morning, there will be a session about EHRs with speakers from UK (animal health records), France (European Health Data Space infrastructure for the use and exchange of EHRs), and Spain (personal health records). Before lunch break, there will be a brief 101 hands-on tutorial about Neuro-Symbolic AI with short exercises. In the afternoon, there will be a session about clinical decision, exemplifying the use of AI-based healthcare technologies. Come along if you are interested in AI and its potential in healthcare.

• A comparison between open-source biomedical LLMs and general-domain LLMs (e.g. DeepSeek, Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT-4)
• How to lower the technical skills overhead (understanding of AI and programming code) needed to use open-source LLMs for content generation and content analysis of text, images and audio
• Exploring the plausible benefits of neuro-symbolic AI, combining neural AI (to process and extract patterns for health issues from unstructured data) with symbolic AI (explicit representations of background knowledge)

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

We hope that you will come and join us, and that you enjoy this new offering from the BCS SGAI.

Speakers

Programme

More details and registration ...

(I look forward to attending.)

My source: BCS SGAI mail list.

AI Health 2025 Friday November 7th 2025

AI Health 2025

Friday November 7th 2025

At the BCS London Office
Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP (near Moorgate underground)

Organised by BCS-SGAI

BCS-SGAI, the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence was founded in June 1980. Its mission is: "To foster achievement, capability and awareness in both business and research in Artificial Intelligence, and to promote the interests of the related community". It is one of Europe's longest established groups working to support the community of artificial intelligence developers and users and is the organiser of one of the longest running annual series of AI conferences in Europe: the AI-20xx series.

In England, 189 out of 208 (91%) hospital trusts are using electronic health records (EHRs) bringing opportunities and challenges and for Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the morning, there will be a session about EHRs with speakers from UK (animal health records), France (European Health Data Space infrastructure for the use and exchange of EHRs), and Spain (personal health records). Before lunch break, there will be a brief 101 hands-on tutorial about Neuro-Symbolic AI with short exercises. In the afternoon, there will be a session about clinical decision support, exemplifying the use of AI-based healthcare technologies. Come along if you are interested in AI and its potential in healthcare.

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

We hope that you will come and join us, and that you enjoy this new offering from the BCS SGAI.

Dr. Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro (BCS SGAI)*

https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2025/

Please see link above for programme and speaker details.

*.. And my source - BCS SGAI.

Register for Free! AI for One Health and Planetary Health: Where Are We?

Friday 8 November, 9:30am GMT – onwards

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London EC2R 7BP

Join BCS SGAI in London for an engaging full-day event featuring a line up of exciting talks. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a hands-on tutorial on low-code/no-code AI and Certificates of Attendance will be provided.

* Speakers & Agenda
https://www.bcs.org/events-calendar/2024/november/ai-for-one-health-and-planetary-health-where-are-we-artificial-intelligence-sg/

* Invitation for Free Registration
https://ArtificialIntelligence081124.eventbrite.co.uk

100% Discount Code: AIHealth24Committee

--------------------------------

Hope to see you there - in London 6th-9th November.

"Jason and the adventure of 254" c/o Wellcome Collection

"A work by artist Jason Wilsher-Mills is displayed at the Wellcome Collection ahead of the opening of a solo exhibition at the London museum. "Jason and the adventure of 254" reimagines the gallery space as a hospital ward and features huge sculptures, illustrations and interactive dioramas that draw on the artist's experience of becoming disabled at the age of 11.

The exhibition's title alludes to 2.54pm at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, on August 1 1980, when Wilsher-Mills watched from his hospital bed as his parents were told he was suffering from an autoimmune condition brought on by a bout of chicken pox.

The free exhibition opens tomorrow (21st March) and runs until January." p.2.

INDIVIDUAL
|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

	'Figure in the bed', 2024, part of Jason and the Adventure of 254, an exhibition by Jason Wilsher-Mills at Wellcome Collection. Gallery Photo: Benjamin Gilbert. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Body of work, Artist relives diagnosis, Financial Times, 20 March 2024, p.2. 

Previously - 'beds'

"Public Domain" - The Vaudeville Theatre

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Public Domain is a dark, funny, verbatim musical about the internet: Those who own it; those who live in it; and YOU! Following an acclaimed digital debut at Southwark Playhouse this thrilling, new British musical, composed entirely from the real-life words of YouTube vloggers, Instagram influencers, Facebook’s tech giants, and everyday internet users now has its live world premiere in the West End. Written and performed by the hugely talented Francesca Forristal (Oddball) and Jordan Paul Clarke (Showstopper! The Improvised Musical), this blackly comic musical follows two teenage influencers; Millie (sporty spice, health guru, buddha bowls – millennial) and Z (GCSEs existential dread, swag – generation Z), as well as featuring exclusive ‘footage’ of inside Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan’s family home… You’re gonna get their honest, true selves… with some serious bass, obvs. Authentic, right? Remember, it’s like ‘Black Mirror’ but real and set to music. The Vaudeville Theatre operates strictly under the government COVID-19 guidelines. For further information check our COVID-19 secure information page. All bookings in a party must only be from the same household or the legally defined support bubble.

Ecovisionaries: The Royal Academy - Nov 23 - Feb 23 2020

Late autumn I received news of an exhibition that sounded right-up my street - down in London.

Eco-Visionaries at The Royal Academy.

Without wishing to sound grandiose, I see myself as an 'eco-visionary' in several respects:

• yes, as a white, middle-class male and would-be environmental do-gooder;
• yes, as this is the perspective that Hodges' model fosters;
• yes, because now we all need to be eco-visionaries.

As this post's title shows, the exhibition had a short run. Probably a norm in London, but from the NW of England not straightforward but then there was great news and a golden opportunity.

The RA was organising a symposium:

Confronting a Planet in a State of Emergency: Eco-Visionaries Symposium

Sat 22 Feb, 10am-6pm

From futuristic visualisations of a world without humans, to innovative ways of measuring toxicity in cities, creative research into the climate crisis is proving essential for imagining solutions. Join us for a full day of presentations and discussions looking at how we can protect and understand our environment now and in the future. 

And! There was a call for abstracts. Just the thought of a symposium makes me go wobbly, so could I imagine this: actually being an eco-visionary and presenting at the RA! Goodness me.


On twitter I read of many people's efforts to present and publish. I've tried for the Planetary Health event and been unsuccessful but will try again. To those people who try, I say: If you've a message, a resource - keep trying.

Previously on W2tQ [ Waste not, want not ... ], I recycled an 'Item for discussion' that was not accepted last year for RCN Congress, so once again:

Abstract:

In healthcare we are and must be in permanent readiness for emergency situations. Education, continuing professional development, theory and practice are all predicated on lifelong learning and safety. Triage is applied in a practised, reflex manner. This paper will explain how we can better critique the climate emergency and debate solutions using a resource created in healthcare. Healthcare must not only respond to extreme levels of demand, but it is itself demanding. Practitioners and learners must provide safe, high quality care; which must be holistic to achieve a person-centred focus, a positive lived-experienced and integrated outcome. Health is a dedicated Social Development Goal (3), this paper reveals a map of all seventeen.

Despite the proclamations of technophiles, technology alone cannot deliver solutions, a socio-technical perspective is essential. Health and health care systems achieve this by being situated. The climate change emergency highlights not just the interdependency of people to the-ir environment, but the biosphere as a whole. We take health for granted until something goes 'wrong' and now the weather is 'wrong'. This paper addresses: “Creative approaches to conveying information on climate change, air pollution or other environmental issues” but can potentially represent all the symposium's themes. Does this matter? It does in terms of finding not only solutions, but reconciling socio-economic, political groups, global dependencies, issues and vested interests.

The environment needs nursing now.

Health professions will not take kindly to the 'system' placing the climate crisis at their feet and proclaiming “triage this!” Ironically, (bar mass-extinction events) since life emerged the 'system' that really matters is self-regulating. The first example of self-care is vested in Gaia. Eco-vision calls for vision of scale. This paper will share a care architecture worthy of eco-vision and the visionaries we must all aspire to be ...

Title:

A Unique Space: a Care Architecture for Person, Population and a Planet

I'm sure the above can be re-purposed, since alas, it was also unsuccessful. I knew the chances were slim. Hearing the speakers and panel discussions, this is clearly their forte and all very well qualified as Eco-Visionaries. The organisers were very gracious and encouraging, which helped to temper the disappointment. I was offered a complimentary place at the symposium and and was informed there would be Q&A, so I would have chance to highlight the model behind the abstract.

I arrived in London on the Thursday before and visited the exhibition Friday 21st - the last day. It was stimulating, challenging, thought-provoking and upsetting - a video of a giraffe being shot. If shock was the intention: it worked.

With a white rhino in the exhibition and an elephant in the lecture theatre called 'COVID' the symposium appeared full the day after.

I will defer to The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright's review of the exhibition:

Eco-Visionaries review – the salt flats will die and the jellyfish shall rise

I asked several questions / raised points at the symposium, but I suspect for many of us the weeks and months of disruption since disrupted the positive momentum that I at least left with - which is a pity.

I hope the RA Architecture team re-visit this theme. Not so much that I can try to submit again, but more to perfect the technique of framing Hodges' model within a question.

The exhibition and symposium were very good for learning and I really appreciate the opportunity to attend.

Eco-Visionaries: Royal Academy of Arts

INDIVIDUAL

|

INTER-PERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC -------------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

GROUP

Confronting a planet in a state of emergency	Eco-Visionaries
Eco-Visionaries	Confronting a planet in a state of emergency

My source:
Royal Academy of Arts  Email - Call for Papers
Symposium in February, abstract not accepted but plan to attend.

TC2020: 8th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference 2020

Bentham House, University College London

London, UK, July 8-10, 2020

After almost two decades of research on threshold concepts that stemmed from Meyer and Land’s seminal publication in 2003 it is time to reflect and take stock. As an idea it has generated significant interest and has become a world-wide phenomenon that has captured the interest of researchers and practitioners across the globe.

The promise it offers as a lens to consider curriculum design, approaches  to pedagogy and a way of reimagining learners has already had significant impact  as the Flanagan website attests… But its full potential remains as yet unrealised. Is it time for an honest appraisal of where we are and where we want to go? If we want to continue to develop the ideas then we need to ask ourselves some potentially troublesome questions:

• Has threshold concepts become synonymous with learner difficulty?
• Have we become entrenched in a slavish adoption of the framework? Or do we apply the framework too loosely?
• How do we avoid thresholds becoming seen as a panacea that can explain all learner difficulty?

In considering these and other questions the conference offers an opportunity to reflect on the achievements thus far and encourages us to consider where we think work in the area needs to go next. There will never be a single solution to support all learners master the same threshold but an awareness of threshold concepts and their associated complexities allows us to become more informed practitioners.

Conference Sub-themes

• Disciplinary retrospectives: transforming the disciplines;
• Practice based thresholds: embedding thresholds within professional practices;
• Liminality: knock knock knocking on transformation’s door;
• Thresholds and curriculum design: new horizons;
• Troublesome not tricky: not all that challenges is a threshold;
• Avoiding swampy ground: acknowledging the pitfalls and planning for the future.

Submission Guidelines

We are inviting the following submissions:

• Full paper: 20 minutes presentation, 10 minutes Q&A (max 300 word submission);
• Lightning Talk: 5 minutes presentation, grouped questions (max 150 word submission);
• Roundtable: 1 or 2 to lead a discussion, perhaps outlining a planned project or exploring an interdisciplinary collaboration (max 300 word submission).

The deadline for submissions is 6pm GMT 16 December (was originally end of Friday 6th December) 2019.

Conference sub-themes

• Disciplinary retrospectives: transforming the disciplines;
• Practice based thresholds: embedding thresholds within professional practices;
• Liminality: knock knock knocking on transformation’s door;
• Thresholds and curriculum design: new horizons;
• Troublesome not tricky: not all that challenges is a threshold;
• Avoiding swampy ground: acknowledging the pitfalls and planning for the future.

Organising Committee

• Jason Davies (UCL)
• Julie Rattray (Durham)
• Anne Tierney (Heriot-Watt)
• Susannah McGowan (Georgetown, USA)
• Abel Nyamapfene (UCL)
• Elia Gironacci (Warwick)

See also:

https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=TCS

8th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference 2020

Threshold Concepts in the Moment

The 8th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference, 2020 is taking place at University College London from July 8-10, 2020 and we are inviting submissions from across all academic disciplines. The closing deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 6th December, 2019.

"After almost two decades of research on threshold concepts that stemmed from Myer and Land’s seminal publication in 2003 it is time to reflect and take stock. As an idea it has generated significant interest and has become a world-wide phenomenon that has captured the interest of researchers and practitioners across the globe. 

The promise it offers as a lens to consider curriculum design, approaches to pedagogy and a way of reimagining learners has already had significant impact as the Flanagan website attests… But its full potential remains as yet unrealised. Is it time for an honest appraisal of where we are and where we want to go? If we want to continue to develop the ideas then we need to ask ourselves some potentially troublesome questions:

• Has threshold concepts become synonymous with learner difficulty?
• Have we become entrenched in a slavish adoption of the framework? Or do we apply the framework too loosely?
• How do we avoid thresholds becoming seen as a panacea that can explain all learner difficulty? 

In considering these and other questions the conference offers an opportunity to reflect on the achievements thus far and encourages us to consider where we think work in the area needs to go next. There will never be a single solution to support all learners master the same threshold but an awareness of threshold concepts and their associated complexities allows us to become more informed practitioners." ...

For more details please visit the conference website:

https://thresholdconcepts.home.blog/biennial-threshold-concepts-2020/biennial-conference-2020-threshold-concepts-in-the-moment/

... and see the discussion list:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/TCS

Best wishes
Julie

Dr Julie Rattray SFHEA
Associate Professor of higher Education and Director of Education
School of Education
Durham University
Leazes Road
DURHAM
DH1 1TA

Email: julie.rattray AT durham.ac.uk
Twitter @joolsled
Web: https://www.dur.ac.uk/education/staff/profile/?id=1964

(The original message from Julie has been modified above with text from the conference site and mention of the discussion list.)

Joaquín Sorolla ~ "Another Marguerite!" [ Prison Health ?]

SELF - individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - POPULATION

	Sorolla: Another Marguerite! 1892. 129 x 198cm

My source: National Gallery, Exhibitions: Sorolla - Spanish Master of Light

See also:
https://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collection/explore/artwork/1351

Image: Wikimedia Commons: Joaquín Sorolla [Public domain]

Yes, Nursing is both an Art and Science but ...

... we don't want facsimile care


individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -- NURSING AS ART & SCIENCE -- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

	iterate, iterate process, process repeat, repeat recurse
Pedro Paricio - 'The Duel' Halcyon Gallery, 1 July 2018

See also:

Pedro Paricio
[Dear Sir, Thank you for your amazing work and to Halcyon Gallery for the opportunity to view and photograph the above. Just a suggestion - the text on your site e.g. 'biography' is small and not very readable against the background.]

BBC News: NHS still reliant on 'archaic' fax machines

Drupalcamp London: And all that jazz

Drupalcamp London was a bootcamp literally in light of the weather. This affected the schedule a bit but it was well worth attending.

The first session on my list was not the intended module development but:

Flexible content editing with paragraphs and Drupal 8 - with Baddý Sonja Breidert who stepped in at short notice. We were encouraged to look at Open Doors as an example of Paragraphs being deployed. The fact that there were 25 types of paragraphs prompts the thought - not so much how many would I would need but the users? Apparently, paragraphs are not that user friendly to edit. Navigation was indicated 'Manage Display' - 'Preview' - 'Paragraph'. The 'environment indicator' flagged whether the site in use was live or dev: a reminder. A future tip included not using entities, but media for anything reusable. Reusable paragraphs were applied to banner and images, using simple entities. There were some special functions (and specific modules) in the table of contents, entity embed, entity browser, insert view and add map.

In considering when to use paragraphs this connects with choosing content types - another key question for me. There was a lot more in what was a 'changed session'. I'll check the slides / videos were available and for those below. The three keynotes were excellent too:

Let’s take the best route - Exploring Drupal 8 Routing System

Drupal in the era of microservices

"Hi user, I am Drupal. How can I help you?"

Accelerating Drupal projects with Thunder: a case study

In 'Make your site findable' dutchyoda Dick Rensema pulled me up short. So, I will check out the metatags module and use this from the outset. As for being findable - it's also best to have separate text and images not have both within a WYSIWYG editor. Another point is to 'make it long'. That sits well for the archive pages for Hodges' model.

Lunchtime on Sunday was preceded with gambry on Plugin API, a key idea being:

ENTITY - Same model different data
PLUGIN - Same "thing" type different ways

This was a captivating, dense, rich session and one to revisit.

Finally, the 0930 start in London helped as I'd been up late. Ronnie Scott's is an amazing experience, the second house from 1030 doors open through to 0300: I left at 3 thanks also to Resolution 88.

The Divided Laing by Patrick Marmion

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

Divided Laing: Arcola Theatre

Image: Arcola Theatre
My source: The Sunday Times, Culture, 01.11.15

BCS SGAI: Real AI Day October 9th: What can AI do for you?

THIRD INVITATION TO REGISTER

The BCS AI Specialist Group (SGAI) is pleased to announce a day on Artificial Intelligence in Action at the BCS London office on Friday October 9th, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., which we think will be an eye-opener for those who are not up to date with recent practical developments in this important field.

Organiser Dr Gilbert Owusu, Head of Resource Management Technologies Research at BT Research & Technology, says:

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are in use in many business applications including fraud detection, speech recognition, fault diagnosis, game planning and resource management. Their applicability stems from the flexibility they provide in modelling and solving real world problems. 

Real AI 2015 will provide delegates with insights (case studies) into using AI to solve business problems. The case studies will outline the business problem and the steps taken to develop business applications of AI. Real AI is aimed at those using AI or who may be interested in understanding what AI can offer, and what it is doing right now."

Real AI 2015 includes presentations on

• Designing large scale distributed participatory systems 
• How To Survive An AI Winter 
• Improving the efficiency of the construction industry by means of innovative GNSS-based AI approaches 
• Ants, Mutants and beyond: combining formal and stochastic techniques to improve software 
• Cognitive Analytics Tools

Real AI costs £90 + VAT for BCS members, £100 + VAT for non-members and only £50 + VAT for students. Group discounts are available.

Full details are at http://www.bcs-sgai.org/realai2015/

There is an online registration form at https://events.bcs.org/book/1620/

Max Bramer
Chair, BCS Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence

A Bigger Picture: David Hockney RA

The same year [2007], he continues, "the RA offered me this whole space, all 10 rooms, for 2011. I took a couple of days to say yes but I said it had to be 2012 - because I needed four springs: first to observe and prepare, then to paint. ..."



My source: Wullschlager, J. Blue-sky painting. FTWeekend, Life & Arts, January 14-15, 2012.  pp. 1-2.

Image (original copyright acknowledged):
c/o http://www.theartnewspaper.com

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/david-hockney-ra-bigger-picture

Drupalcon London - Day 3 Weds. Tom Standage keynote, sessions, + BoF ...

Wednesday was a funny day at Drupalcon - literally. The cuppa tea at break was truly divine and delivered with that quintessential British style - very traditional.

At the morning's keynote Tom Standage of The Economist gave us an insightful and historical perspective on social media. This took in the Romans and their scribes (photo below and video), Martin Luther and English Civil War and America's fight for independence. There's  a book to follow. Given the emphasis on ethnography and anthropology in successful informatics - IT we should always be open to the lessons of history, but not constrained by it.

(Videos are appearing online now). My session pick started with Multilingual Drupal Solutions: Use Cases and Modules. This isn't the first session on this topic I've attended, but it was a helpful update - especially the use cases and modules. After dinner Jeff Noyes is clearly clued in on Creating and Measuring the User Experience. This is a must do, with a real potential dividend, but for hobbyists like me it was encouraging to hear Jeff describe a range of resources that included DIY testing.

Early on Jeff noted  the benefit of having a project charter - so last evening I started  one. Basically, what are my projects aims. Actually a things other things emerged from doing this.

I slipped up with node.js and Drupal, great stuff I'm sure but rather beyond me in terms of need and understanding. The principles were a good take home. For the final session the meeting on theming was packed out, so I headed to a BoF pivotal for the Drupal documentation team:

Doing Multiformat publishing & single source content with DITA in Drupal - status and roadmap

It's been a bit more than a year now that we started working on a DITA module for Drupal. In this session we'll review the current status, talk about the good & the bad and look forward to what we are going to be doing in Drupal 7.

DITA (Darwin Information Type Architecture) is an Oasis XML standard started at IBM that has become a major standard in enterprise technical communication. It's used in industries with modular products to publish documentation in a range of formats in minutes in stead of days while saving up to 60% of translation costs.

My new site requires new data items and on Tuesday after Entities - Emerging Patterns of Usage this was given as a key use case for entities. Of course 'entities' have been around ages in RDBSes (1969), but in Drupal they have a specific status now (a dialogue that also seems to bring in nodes, fields and taxonomy). The DITA BoF proved very relevant to me and h2cm as a health and social care -

• website;
• learning experience;
• application (!) 

- demands documentation. Not only that but standards based documentation (and classification system(s)). There's another BoF this dinner time - I'll try and get there.

Drupal's documentation is a recognised mess, hence the investment in DITA and seeking a solution. Back in Szeged 2008 I remember sitting down on that final code sprint day. I had it in mind to read some stuff and try and contribute. I do have an eye for docs. Well, I've been Editor here since April 2006. Previously (1995 - 2007) I read through and reviewed data definitions and information standards (and not just proof reading). In 2008 though I couldn't focus (really as I found out a year later). Maybe it wasn't just me! One thing: the next monitor I purchase will be optimised for text and portrait, or is that old hat these days? 


With RDF, translation, and modules like Features, Panels, Entities, DITA, Organic Groups, Context ... there are so many lucky dice to play; but there is no single roll that proves a winner: there are several!


My photo: c/o the keynote speaker Tom Standage who stated the image has not been altered in what it represents.

Drupalcon London - Day 2 Tues. Dries's keynote & HTML5

The first day of Drupalcon London 'proper' is done and there is still so much to take in (but I am staying in the kitchen!). Dries' keynote reflected the current state of Drupal in contrast to the previous European gatherings which have really focussed on the next version. Last year that was only five months away. Dries did attend to Drupal 8, but maybe two years or so till release is a helpful breathing space.

In Drupal 8 attention is being given to specific scorecards and other strategies to manage core (gates) to assure quality and co-ordination. I'm pleased to see HTML5/CSS3 up there as a priority. Last week in .net magazine I read an article (p.104-108) by Jen Simmons on HTML5 in Drupal and some of the challenges in fully updating a Drupal 7 site to this latest standard.

There were many other great sessions. Already I've strayed from 'my' schedule posted previously. After speaking to people I must check Display Suite, and Entities - the latter which I attended. While there is still lots happening re. job and 'home' after four (European) Drupalcons it's high time for me to find some cheap yet cheerful hosting to experiment more meaningfully. I've a (very) basic Drupal 7 brochure and enquiry site, trying to finish and host that will finally bring HD to this experience for me. Anyway must go - another keynote 0900...

Public 2.0: Culture, Creativity and Audience in an Era of Information Openness, University of Westminster 21 July 2011

I have just registered for this event - see you there perhaps!

21 July 2011 10.30am - 6.00pm
Location: University of Westminster, Regent Campus, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2UW

FREE but register here: ...

In recent years significant changes in the technological, social and media landscapes have redrawn relationships between cultural producers of all stripes and the people previously called readers, audiences and users. In parallel with this, unprecedented amounts of information have entered the public domain as a result of both top-down policy pressures and ‘bottom-up’ social activism. This process in turn has given birth to new cultural movements, opportunities for creativity, forms of information visualisation, and modes of content production.

This free one-day conference brings together journalists, academics, developers, artists, activists and business people to reflect upon these phenomena, show work, exchange experiences and signpost future trends.

The conference will be followed by an exhibition opening of work produced as part of /Data Art/, an AHRC funded research project exploring how broadcast and news data can be reformatted, explored and navigated using information visualisations. The project is the result of collaboration between: the Centre for Research in Education Art and Media (CREAM), the University of Westminster; BBC Learning and BBC Future Media and Technology.

Invited speakers include:

Tom Corby, conference convener, artist, academic and writer working at the University of Westminster.
Simon Rogers, editor of the Guardian Datablog and Datastore.
Ian Forrester, Senior Producer at BBC R&D and emergent technology expert.
Roland Harwood, co-founder of 100%Open an innovation agency.
David Gauntlett, writes and teaches on how digital media gives people new opportunities to create and connect.
Rob Myers, artist, writer, hacker and Chief Technology Officer for Philter Phactory.
Drew Hemment, associate Director of ImaginationLancaster, Lancaster University, and Director of the FutureEverything Festival. (TBC)
Julian Tate, lead developer on the Manchester Open Data Cities project for FutureEverything.
Ruth Catlow, media artist and co-founder and co-director of Furtherfield.org media arts organization.
Santiago Ortiz, Co-founder and research director at Bestiario.

In addition a ‘show and tell’ session will feature art and design works by independent companies and developers including the Bestiario design company, Andy Littledale, Gavin Baily and Harry Robbins.