Construction

Now, I work in construction. This gives me the confidence to construct some buildings as the one in the image below, made out of 3 cardboard boxes, some letters, and a couple of metres of parcel tape.

But, it's one thing working in a sector, it's very different when you try to apply your skills at home.

This, for example, is the wall above the window in my son's bedroom.

You may notice that there is only one hook to the left of the window for a curtain pole, and not one on the right. That's because it's come out of the wall (albeit due to a heavy tug on a curtain)

It might not stand out very well in the picture, but there's actually quite a few places where the wall has been plastered or holes filled.

In short, those curtains have fallen down a good half dozen times since I've lived in this house.

I can't work it out - I use rawlplugs (aka wall anchors), the biggest screws I can find that will fit the hooks, sweat and tears. I'll get those curtains up... and several months later my son will roll against them or something, and they'll tumble down like Jack and Jill with a pail of water.

In other news, I found this the other day

I bought this mainly because one of the fruits in the box apparently is "chokeberry". I'd never heard of them but apparently chokeberries are actually a thing, I just thought it was a poor translation of some other fruit. I am yet to choke on any of them, but I'll keep you updated.

My sons D&B house construction

The other day my son declared that he wanted a house.  We pointed out that he already had a house, but apparently that's our house, and not his.

He proceeded to produce a page of instructions.

To further explain the instructions, they are:

• 1 - Get a House
• 2 - Get a Roof
• 3 - Put the Roof on the House
• 4 - Put a hose on the back of the House
• 5 - Put up some curtains.

He must be a fan of modular off site construction.

When questioned on fit out, he insisted on the provision of a refrigerator and an oven, but not a toilet.  Apparently toilet-related activities can be done outside the house, which saves on the foul drainage connection.

He also provided an elevation drawing.

Then came the build.  We struggled with what materials to use, but in the end I managed to build something satisfactory:

For clarification, we've got cushions for windows and doors, a tape measure as a garden hose, wooden superstructure and a foam number template roof secured by Blu-tac.  Between you and me, I'm pleased with the build cost.

Construction work is waiting for me

I have a project to undertake.

A project that will challenge all of my construction skills.

The kitchen drawer has finally failed.

The rear wall of the drawer has been falling off for some months.  Since it first showed signs of weakness, I've tried repairing it using a variety of materials, including:

• Sellotape
• Glue
• Thick tough tape
• Some funky metal bonding stuff in a tube that you have to cut, massage until its soft (a bit like blu tack), and then work into the gap

All of this has, in the end, failed.

My other half pointed out her displeasure with the current state of affairs by putting things into the drawer, and the items promptly sliding out of the back of the drawer and falling into the cupboard below.  I explained that if you:

a) Opened the drawer extremely slowly and carefully, and;
b) Didn't put anything in it

Then the drawer was fine, but apparently regardless of these perfectly reasonable facts it is time to go buy a new drawer, and fit it (gulp)

In other news, I've recorded tonight the first three episodes of my new web show.  It's called Maneating and it'll be on my YouTube Channel... sometime.  Not tonight because I have to do editing and do music, and all that kind of thing.  So maybe tomorrow night.

Unless I play Card Hunter.

The other thing is, have you got your tickets to Platform 2013 yet?  If not, this massive gaming expo is taking place on November 15th and 16th in Hull.  There's speakers from Google and Microsoft, video game exhibitors, a PC showcase, cosplay, all kinds of cool stuff.  I'm going down with my camera kit to hopefully do some filming.

3D Printing is coming...

I do strongly believe that 3D printing is going to make an absolutely massive impact on our every day lives over the next five to ten years, as printers get cheaper, quicker and more capable we're going to see them shift from being used for specific tasks and being viewed as scientific curiosities to being an essential tool around the home.

Nokia recently blogged about their Lumia 820 and how they've made the 3D printing plans for it available online for people to modify and use.  From these plans (and with a 3D printer) you'll be able to print your own case, with whatever design you can draw on the thing.  Very exciting.

Looking at my field, construction, Janjaap Ruijssenaars of  Universe Architecture, whose other work including designs such as a floating bed, is designing and printing a house, due to be ready in 2014.  More information on the Landscape House can be found here.

(As an aside I'd recommend you check out the Universe Architecture website anyway because it's really cool)

Meanwhile over at MIT, they're busy creating a Spiderbot that will print a house.

Plus CityHome, a home that can reconfigure itself.  Having a party?  Reconfigure your house to give you a big room for people to mingle.  Want an office away day?  Create a couple of office spaces and a meeting room.

Don't get me wrong, it's going to be years before these are commonly used in day-to-day construction, but the ideas that are out there are startling.

We are truly on the edge of a new phase of scientific discovery and implementation.  There are so many new possibilities out there with new technologies and systems, and those of us that can recognise the potential in these new systems, and turn that potential into reality, can revolutionise the world.

Gamification and the use of "Achievements" in work plus the need for BIM

Anyone who has played computer games in the last two years will have become aware of "Achievements".  Basically, you receive Achievements for doing certain things in games.  Completing a level might give an achievement. Completing it on a harder difficulty setting might give another.  Completing it quickly might be another one.  Or finding a hidden item within the level.  Falling from a height that almost (but not quite) kills you.

Anything pretty much can be an Achievement.

And they're addictive.  I'm currently playing World of Warcraft and getting really in pet battles - for those not aware of what I'm talking about, basically you can train pets to fight other pets, to make them stronger.  And you can capture other pets (generally after your pet has kicked the stuffing out of them) to give you more choice.

And there's achievements for defeating certain people with your pets.  It's driving me on to get an Achievement, and basically makes me stay online playing the games for many hours more than I would do otherwise, playing what is basically a simple turn based fight sim.

There has been some thought into how this Achievement system could be brought into the world of work.  Certainly targets are nothing new (the acronym SMART is synonymous with target setting) but whether it can be reconfigured into an Achievements system is an intriguing one.

Would you stay longer at your desk working if it meant you getting more "points" than your colleagues?  It's certainly a way of differentiating between workers.  I think there's a danger that potentially people come to rely on it as a method of assessing quality of work, which in my view it is too much of a blunt implement to do successfully.  However, it could indeed form part of performance management, apart from its main role as a motivational tool.

Construction, my particular work sector, has long been viewed as in need of a revolution to produce efficiency.  In other sectors it would be unthinkable for managers based on site to be without email or internet facilities, in far too many situations it is still the case in construction that site managers are working without basic IT facilities to support them.

BIM, or Building Information Management, is not a solution by itself, but is still a potentially fantastic tool.  being able to identify clashes on designs prior to construction starting will reduce problems on site - simply equate the cost of changing a design against the cost of changing a design while a construction site is delayed waiting for the change to be made.  The use of web conferencing facilities to allow design meetings to take place virtually, with the design team sat in their offices watching as the building design is walked through virtually rather than everyone sat around poring over drawings, trying to imagine the finished facility.  And the benefits for users, who aren't necessarily skilled at deciphering drawings, now able to look at a virtual 3D model of their completed building.

The elimination of change post-tender is an important goal to aim for.

Social Media in Construction - the revolution begins...

I attended the first meeting of the new Constructing Excellence Social Media Task Group today in London, at CE's offices on Buckingham Palace Road.  The group was co-ordinated by Paul Wilkinson, a veritable guru on all things social media, and had a good representation from construction professionals at different levels in all types of different organisations.

Paul ran through a presentation of his (I think I've found the right one on the net - you can view it here) giving us all a good session on social media, running through examples of good usage of the new technology, and new ideas.

What if instead of using email we used Twitter or instant messaging to get information out?  I use Twitter, but I never considered it as a replacement for email, merely as an alternate communication channel.  What if instead of having meetings we had video conferences, which can be set up easily and for free with software such as Google Hangout, and we could even record the conference for future reference.  No more problems six months after a meeting trying to work out if a certain point was mentioned from the minutes taken, simply play back the recorded conference.

For G4C in the Yorkshire & Humber region I'm very interested in social media because of the distributed nature of the population.  I'm well aware that I need to run events in Leeds to attract the majority of the Yorkshire population.  I'm also aware that this automatically reduces the chance of people attending from Sheffield, York and Hull (not to mention the many other towns and settlements in the county).

Paul also recommended that organisations set up Google Alerts so that they can be informed of when new content about their organisation is put up on the Internet.  This can be done here.  And again, it's free to do.

There was a lot of concern in the room about control of social media, which is a fair point.  Social media for work has to be focussed, and some control available.  It's all too easy for social media use to become people going on Facebook and playing games all morning.  But provided that it is controlled, there are some huge benefits.  And people should be able to take responsibility for what they post with social media - if people are trusted to send letters, telephone clients, and email out information, is social media that much different?

One point that was made was about how social media can allow a persons personality to come through, helping relationships to be built.  If every tweet from a person is purely another sales pitch or press release, I tend to switch off.  But if I see something of that person, what they are like, it allows them to become a real person in my view.  And then I'm more likely to read their press release when they do send it.

New technology has massive benefits that over the next few years people will think of ways to use.  We're currently able to use GPS to position people and items on the world.  What if some kind of positioning system was made so that it could be installed on utilities pipes and cables?  Rather than relying on statutory undertakers drawings, we could have some kind of RFID tag that when you dig close to it the tag is activated, and the excavator can tell that there is a pipe there and that they have to swap to hand digging.  Rather than using GPR kit and cable detectors, we could do it by walking over the site with a mobile phone or tablet.

Another example of the use of technology was one organisation who was able to take a BIM model of a building out on site on their mobile phone, hold the phone up to where the building was due to be built, and the software showed the built structure on the screen, allowing the viewer to see how it would interact with the adjacent buildings, how sunlight would shine once the building was constructed.  An excellent way to show clients a representation of the completed building prior to construction.

I'm very much looking forward to the next social media task group (despite it being in London!).  If anyone else is interested in getting involved, let me know and I can pass your details on.

Paul's site, including his blog, is at http://pwcom.co.uk/ and he also has a huge amount of presentations viewable at http://www.slideshare.net/EEPaul

Work Related For Once... and then not

Got home about an hour ago as this evening I've been on G4C duty.

It's actually been really good - this evening I met with the Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Branch of the Association for Project Management to discuss G4C and how we can work more with the APM.  The meeting was really positive, but also I was very impressed with the branch meeting and how much emphasis was placed on students and getting them involved.  As G4C is all about the future of the construction industry I really do see students as being part of our key audience.

Just straying onto the topic of construction best practice, the 2012 Yorkshire & Humber Construction Best Practice Awards are open for submissions.  There's a few new categories this year so do check out the categories, if you have not applied before it might be that there's something for you this year.  Details are on the website at http://www.constructionsectornetwork.org/best-practice/best-practice-awards-2012/ - do be aware that although the website says the submission deadline is Friday 24th August, I've had email notification (as well as some tweets) saying that the deadline is now 5pm on Friday September 14th, so you've got plenty of time to think about your submissions and get them in.  The awards dinner is due to be held on October 12th and promises to be a good night.

I'm starting to relax now as I'm not back in the office until next Wednesday now - I've got a teleconference in the morning to talk about some work around intelligent clients that G4C is involved in, that should be interesting and I'm hoping to be able to provide some good input.

Moving away from work I'm aware that right now something like 3,000 gamers are thinking about (if not already done) packing up tents, sleeping bags, snacks, drinks, and their PC, to head down to Telford for insomnia46, the massive gaming festival that kicks off this weekend.

For those that don't know what a gaming festival is, essentially it consists of two elements.  Firstly, many many stands from various manufacturers of gaming-related stuff, be it computer builders, component suppliers, snack providers, game retailers, you want it (and it relates to computer gaming) it'll be there.  Lots of competitions and fun activities.

Secondly, a huge room (or rooms) of rows and rows and rows of tables and chairs populated by gamers hooked up to the Internet for a long weekend session of gaming.  There is various tournaments as well, with the best gamers competing for various cash prizes with somewhere in the region of £30,000 up for grabs.

It's really hard to explain to non-gamers because they say "But can't you just play at home?  I mean it's the Internet, why go somewhere to go in the Internet?".  But firstly, there's a lot of LAN gaming done (a local network as opposed to going on the Internet) which you can't necessarily do at home - unless you have several PCs hooked up to a home network.  Secondly, the whole festival vibe is unreal.  Everyone there is a gamer.  Everyone.  You become part of a mass of geeky, fun loving, gaming people who have the freedom to wear crazy stuff and live life.  Last time I was there one of our PCs wasn't working, so I put a message on the forum asking for advice - within ten minutes a guy in a leopard suit wandered up and fixed it (the leopard suit was really handy for tracking him down to deliver beer as thanks too).  It's just that random vibe that anything can (and does) happen.  Social barriers break down because although you might not know anyone, you're all gamers.  You can all admire someone's flashy case with UV lights and watercooling.  You can get pizza delivered to your desk (oh yeah).  And then you make friends because you can't finish your pizza, so you shout out "who wants pizza?" and someone turns round to you and starts chatting.  You can, for a weekend, not feel guilty about gaming because that's what you're there for.

I love i-series.  Last time I went was last August, as you can imagine it's trickier to disappear for a long weekend when childcare is an issue so I can't see us making it there this year (it's too late for August and I can't see me getting the cash together for the November one) but hopefully next year I'll escape for a few days.

For more info check the website - http://www.multiplay.co.uk/

Windows is downloading updates...

Little tired this evening - have been for a few evenings, in fact.  GP rang up today and told me to go in for an extra blood test next week as my iron level is a little low, so I've got that to look forward to.

Apart from that, it's been a good day.  I really enjoyed reading up about the Mars Rover and what it's up to at the moment after making its successful landing on the red planet and blasting a little rock with a laser (I'm now imagining it featuring in a Wh40K story about the Mechanicum...)

I particularly liked the press release at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120811.html - although the article is about the pretty cool colour pictures of the Martian surface, it does mention the rover "undergoing a brain transplant" which I translate as being the Nasa term for updating your motherboard drivers.  I wonder if it's Intel or AMD?

To stay on geeky subjects I've started watching The Guild again.  Last time I got halfway through series three and then stopped for some reason, but this evening I've just got through series one and reminded myself just how cool it is.  For the uninitiated, The Guild is a internet TV show about a group of people that play games together in the same guild.  While the show does take things to extremes, WoW players (and players of other MMOs) will recognise something of MMO life in the show, especially the characters.  I want to be Bladezz (but I'm probably Vork!)

If you've no idea what I'm talking about go to http://www.watchtheguild.com/ - each episode is only 4-5 minutes long so you don't have to worry about spending your evening watching something you might or might not like.  It'd be interesting to know what do non-gamers think of The Guild?

For construction folk, remember the Yorkshire & Humber Construction Best Practice Awards are currently open for submitting entries.  There's a ton of categories so there's something for everyone.  Go check it out at http://www.constructionsectornetwork.org/best-practice/best-practice-awards-2012/ - the website says that the closing date is Friday 24th August but I've got a tweet saying that the date has been pushed back to September 14th so if you thought it was too late to enter think again.

Okay - I've got a long day tomorrow promoting G4C in the Yorkshire region (get in touch if you want to get involved by the way, more info about this construction best practice initiative for newcomers to the industry in my last post) so I'm going to do some chores and get some sleep.  Night!

Keeping it real

Good evening,

Just thought I'd post a bit of a piece before bedtime.  I've been busy tracking down my old blog articles and getting them on here so that they're all in one place.  They're mainly about World of Warcraft and Guild Ravenswing (which I was a senior officer of, whether I am or not I'm not sure bearing in mind that I haven't logged in for a number of months!)

I've got quite an interesting week up ahead of me which I'm looking forward to.  I've got three days at work (mostly in the office no less - it is something of a standing joke that even when I'm "at work" I'm not in the office!) which includes Wednesday afternoon meeting the Construction Sector Network and the Association for Project Management to discuss an initiative that I'm involved with called G4C.

G4C (Generation For Change) is an initiative to gear up the future leaders of the construction industry with the skills and knowledge that they need to revolutionise the industry.  I'm particularly involved with the Yorkshire & Humber region, where I've been trying to do stuff for about 2 years now, with varying levels of success.  Short story is that I've been far too focused on organising and doing everything myself (plus making some defendable but ultimately questionable decisions) and the other regions seem to be taking off better than mine.  So to address this I'm setting up a committee of people that will work together to organise things, and basically do bigger and better stuff than I could achieve myself.  I'm really looking forward to getting the committee going and seeing how things go - plus I'm aware (as the name of this whole blog indicates) that it is getting harder for me to declare myself as a "newcomer" to the industry and one day I will need to hand this thing onto someone else, and the committee should be an ideal vehicle to keep the initiative going.  Obviously if you are in the construction industry and based in Yorkshire / Humber do drop me a line if you'd like to get involved.  We've also got a LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4075124

Apart from work on Friday myself and my dad (Ravanna/Oshune to WoW folk) are heading off to Robin Hoods Bay for the day.  Bay is a little fishing village just south of Whitby in North Yorkshire, about 2 hours drive from my home.  It is really nice and lovely to relax there and since I was 13 we've probably been almost every year to Bay for a break of some sort, be it a week or just a day.  The thing that differentiates Bay from other places is that it has a really nice community feel to the village, you really do feel as though you're coming home when you come to Bay.

© Copyright Rob Newman and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Above is a pic of the bay itself, missing from this picture is the usual ice cream van!  The main issue I've got is where do I want to go for lunch - the normal choice is the Dolphin, an excellent pub on King Street which delivers a fantastic menu of food and a good choice of ales as well.  However, I have been for a few days in the mood for fish and chips, so on this occasion I may vote for the chip shop instead. Hard to decide! (But a nice problem to have)

Wherever we eat we'll have to include a visit to the Laurel before we leave.  The Laurel is a tiny pub halfway down the big hill (the only bad thing about Bay really, walking up the hill!) which holds special memories for me, spending afternoons on holiday in there, talking nonsense over a few pints.  One of the things that I never used to be particularly good at was going into pubs by myself, generally I'd only go if I was going to meet up with some people or going with someone.  But the Laurel is so welcoming (as to be fair is one or two other pubs in Bay - perhaps it's the location) that I could happily wander in, have a drink and a chat and be on my way.

Typically, when I'm in the mood to write, reality breaks in.  I've got to be up for work in about 8 hours so time to get some sleep!  Stay tuned for more...um...words!