Yule Heibel’s Post Studio © 2003-2008

Friday colloquium at UVic, Computer Science Dept.

I’m definitely going to this.  Brick & mortar metropolises aren’t the only kind that interest me…!

D E P A R T M E N T   O F   C O M P U T E R    S C I E N C E    C O L L O Q U I U M

Topic: The Metropolis Model: A New Logic for Software Development

Presented By: Dr. Rick Kazman, Professor
From: Department of Information Technology Management , University of Hawaii
Biography: Rick Kazman is a Professor at the University of Hawaii and a visiting Scientist (and former Senior Member of the Technical Staff) at the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. His primary research interests are software architecture, design and analysis tools, software visualization, and software engineering economics. He also has interests in human-computer interaction and information retrieval. Kazman has created several highly influential methods and tools for architecture analysis, including the SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method), the ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) and the Dali architecture reverse engineering tool. He is the author of over 100 papers, and co-author of several books, including “Software Architecture in Practice, and Evaluating Software Architectures: Methods and Case Studies”.

Kazman received a B.A. (English/Music) and M.Math (Computer Science) from the University of Waterloo, an M.A. (English) from York University, and a Ph.D. (Computational Linguistics) from Carnegie Mellon University. How he ever became a software engineering researcher is anybody guess. When not working in architecture or writing about architecture, Kazman may be found cycling, playing the piano, gardening, or (more often) flying back and forth between Hawaii and Pittsburgh.

Sponsored By: Dr. Hausi Muller, Professor
From: Department of Computer Science

Date: Friday, July 25, 2008
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: Engineering and Computer Science Building (ECS ) Room # 660

ABSTRACT:
We are in the midst of a radical transformation in how we create our information environment. This change, the rise of large-scale cooperative efforts, peer production of information is at the heart of the open-source movement but open source is only one example of how society is restructuring around new models of production and consumption. This change is affecting not only our core software platforms, but every domain of information and cultural production. The networked information environment has dramatically transformed the marketplace, creating new modes and opportunities for how we make and exchange information. “Crowdsourcing” is now used for creation in the arts, in basic research, and in retail business. These changes have been society-transforming. So how can we prepare for, analyze, and manage projects in a crowdsourcing world? Existing software development models are of little help here. These older models all contain a “closed world” assumption: projects have dedicated finite resources, management can “manage” these resources, requirements can be known, software is developed, tested, and released in planned increments. However, these assumptions break in a crowdsourced world. In this talk, I will present principles on which a new system development model must be based. I call these principles the Metropolis Model.

Douglas Magazine in Victoria: letter to the editor

I bought a copy of Douglas Magazine yesterday — it’s a slim publication, but full of interesting articles relating to Victoria’s economy.  Too bad it’s not online, but maybe one day?

The current July/August issue includes a useful article by Dan Gunn, “Growing the tech talent pool,” which made me want to write a letter to the editor in response.  I wrote:

I enjoyed Dan Gunn’s article, “Growing the tech talent pool,” (July/August ‘08), and found it a good complement to Ken Stratford’s “Owning your own business,” which deftly busted some Victoria economy myths.

Gunn observed that our technology sector has to grow and expand, and suggested several ways we can plan for its future growth.  He also noted that “Greater Victoria has a very tight-knit technology community.”  Let’s not forget that “tight-knit” often also means “insular” or “locked in silos,” a condition that’s anathema to innovation.

Hence I feel prompted to suggest another way to plan for tech’s future growth: encourage synergistic cross-pollination between the various industries.  Propagate the knowledge that technology is part of the “creative cities industry,” which includes not just artists, marketers, or creative urbanists, but also technologists, coders, entrepreneurs — in a word: innovators.  Spread the word that innovation and entrepreneurship add value to a city’s economy, and good ideas emerge when folks rub up against one another rather than staying within a tightly-knit tribe.

Douglas Magazine helps get those ideas out there, as do specific events.

For an additional example of how events play a role in connecting people and ideas, recall last April’s first-ever DemoCamp Victoria (and we’re planning a second one for Autumn), or take a look at events like Pecha Kucha (started in Japan, now world-wide, including Vancouver).

We have so much potential here — and if we can work to break down the silos and get more interactive (literally, with one another), we’ll be hopping.  Everyone I talk to in the arts and in tech wants to see this happen, and wants additional platforms for connecting with other people.  Geographically, we might be an island, but with technology and talented people, we don’t have to be on islands creatively.

FOCUS Magazine articles now up-to-date

Yay me, and Scribd to the rescue…

The remaining three FOCUS Magazine articles are up. They are, in order:

• Overdue: rethinking the library (May 2008) The February to March lockout exposed library board dysfunction. But perhaps it’s about time we thought about a new building, as well.
• Let’s demo co-development (June 2008) The synergistic power of providing physical space for the airing of new ideas helps nurture the type of economic development advocated by Jane Jacobs.
• Why a bowling green makes sense (July 2008) One of the key downtown blocks is being re-envisioned — unfortunately without a unique and quirky landmark.

The April 2008 FOCUS Magazine article is up

Scribd works like a charm — it’s just I who am slow in getting these print articles scanned and then formatted into a single document for uploading!

Without further ado (but a bow to Richard Florida for title inspiration), here’s my April 2008 FOCUS Magazine article, Who’s your heritage?, which argues that even for heritage architecture, buildings need to earn their keep, not just look pretty.

Trying out Scribd.com, and getting my print articles online

Ok, one down — or “up(loaded),” actually — and four to go…

Via the fabulous and easy-to-use Scribd, here’s an online PDF of my March 2008 article, published in FOCUS Magazine, Victorian Fables: Does Victoria have an urban planning blindspot?

I’m going to take another day or two to get the others up, alas.  First I have figure out how merge two separatly scanned pages into one document before uploading to Scribd.

Sometimes the simplest challenges manage to knock me sideways…

My comment to “Welcome to Underachiever Island”

Welcome to Underachiever Island is the name of an article by Carolyn Heiman, in today’s local paper.  Although I swore I’d abstain from the paper’s “sound off” functionality, I couldn’t resist leaving a comment after looking up the backstory behind Heiman’s piece.  I’m especially intrigued by Michael Ross, who sparked Roy Weston’s letter, and wonder if he is the same Ross who worked in Israeli counter-intelligence?  Fascinating story.  Anyway, here’s my comment, which I’m blogging as a mnemonic for myself (the paper’s sound-offs disappear very quickly):

Was it a bit of an underachievement (editor’s cut?) to leave out what prompted Mr. Weston’s letter?  Weston wrote in response to a letter by Michael Ross (see http://tinyurl.com/5w2ba6), which in turn objected to a thoughtful article by Dave Burwick, an American living in Canada (but preparing to return Stateside) (see http://tinyurl.com/64ajde).
…
Anyway, point is this: that Ross’s letter objected to Burwick’s defining Canada’s western terminus at Vancouver, and leaving out Vancouver Island (leading Ross to ask, rhetorically, what are we, chopped liver?).  Ross listed all the talent that Vancouver Island has produced (and a subsequent writer to Roy Weston pointed out the our talent leaves because we don’t have the facilities and infrastructure to support it — he wrote that Weston should ask himself why Michael Fox is no longer his neighbour in Burnaby).
…
I’m actually really more intrigued by Michael Ross, who prompted Roy Weston’s letter: is he the author of The Volunteer? (see http://www.speakers.ca/ross_michael.aspx)  If so, Wow!, that’s another high-achiever right here in Victoria.
…
Anyway, fun article — I’m sure this will rile some people, especially Vancouver Island’s misunderstood geniuses, of which we have an overachievement, er, I mean overabundance!

I was tempted to add that the long long list of overachievers who left Vancouver Island should also have included Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield, but I decided not to get into that Victoria-Vancouver rivalry again (the latter seem to believe that he is “theirs”).  Decided to abstain. Not.  <haha>

PS/edit: can I just add that Dave Burwick’s article (the one that led to the letters by Michael Ross and Roy Weston), called Goodbye, Canada, is one of the nicest things I’ve read by an American writing about Canada?  And that, ironically, it answers (before the question was even asked!) the debate raging around the “sound off” on our local paper here?  (Incidentally, they censored or deleted or blipped my comment — it hasn’t appeared, even all these hours after I posted it.)  So, thank you Dave Burwick for writing this, on the differences between Canadians and Americans:

Our differences are embedded in our genetic codes. While the U. S. Declaration of Independence promotes “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the British North America Act talks about “Peace, order and good government.” One led directly to “manifest destiny” and aggressive individualism, the other to “manifest tolerance” and one of the most accepting societies the world has known.

It’s easy to be open when you live in a homogeneous society like Denmark (no offence to the Danes). It’s far tougher in immigrant-rich, multicultural Canada, where diverse cultures must learn to live harmoniously. And Canada’s successful cultural connectiveness has produced many wonderful things: A global perspective, a willingness to compromise and social benefits like universal health care (yes, even though it’s not perfect).

Some Americans would say, “That’s all very nice, but the result is that Canada is a bland society with little edge.” I say they are wrong. There’s plenty of edge here — just look to the ice. It took me a while to figure this out, but one day, as I watched my 8-year-old, skating with his Leaside Flames teammates, I had an epiphany: Hockey is not just the national pastime and passion, it’s the embodiment of Canadian values. It’s about work ethic, team play, physical conditioning and mental toughness. It’s also about knowing when to leave all of that on the ice and move on.

Which leads me to the most important thing Americans can learn from Canadians: How to know when enough is enough, when it’s time to just be content with your life. Family and personal passions are more important to Canadians than work. People seem to know when the balance of life is just right. Their moral compass seems to always point to “true north.” (full article)

Additional PS/update: I love the discussion on this topic over at Vibrant Victoria’s forum.  As usual, aastra makes all the right points, very similar to Michael Ross’s, too.

Midsummer night fantasy for Victoria BC’s Janion Building

Scanning through my RSS feeds this afternoon, I came across Regine Debatty’s 6/30/08 blog post, Interactivos? workshop: Augment(o)scope, which included a photo of Madrid’s CaixaForum, as redone by Herzog & de Meuron.

I had come across the image months ago, but today it clicked with the problem of the Janion Hotel (or Janion Building), an old (heritage) building in downtown Victoria.

What if, I thought, we had the resources to do something like this with the Janion?

As it stands, the building underutilizes its site.  It’s only 3 stories tall and sited on its parcel in such a way as to make additions tricky.

What Herzog & de Meuron did with Madrid’s former converted 1899 power station, “one of the city’s few remaining examples of historically significant industrial architecture,” is an inspiration.  The ground floor was practically dug out — and in the case of the Janion, a significantly smaller building, I’m thinking lift the building up an entire floor to create a similar ground floor space.  An expanded basement, plus a deliberately modern (yet somehow traditional-looking) addition, give the new hybrid structure in Madrid the square footage it needs to be a useful participant in a modern city’s economy.

Of course it is a total pipe dream — a midsummer night’s dream — to think that something like this could happen for Victoria’s Janion Building, because there isn’t anyone here with pockets deep enough to pay for such a project.

But just imagine…

For more words (and some pictures) on the Janion, see Robert Randall’s blog entries here.   For pictures, see flickreeno Professional Recreationalist’s set here (really click through to his photos, which are powerful, and quirkily staged — he uses plastic dolls and photographs them against their backdrops to make them appear life-sized).

Here’s one of his photos, showing the Janion’s north-west (back) sides:

If you’re thinking, “what a hunk of junk,” take a look at the front of the building, which is a bit more interesting, as seen on Triviaqueen’s blog, and a great front facade detail on one-eyed man’s site.

The reason I find this particular photo of the Janion by Professional Recreationalist of interest is because it shows the drop in grade, from the front of the building to its back.  Removed, as in Madrid’s CaixaForum, that fieldstone foundation would open up a grand, useful space, especially if that removal included lifting the building up a few feet.

The grade changes here are not dissimilar to CaixaForum’s grade changes, which Herzog & de Meuron exploited to create an open, airy ground floor.

Here’s a photo of the Madrid building before Herzog & de Meuron transformed it — it was as similarly deficient in allure as the Janion now appears to be:

Note the stolid foundation/ basement stones, now entirely removed.

For an idea of what you might be able to create in a newly “lightened” ground floor, see this photo of CaixaForum’s cafeteria:

The addition built on top of CaixaForum is daring — it would probably freak people here out.  But it gave the building the additional space it needed, and a completely new lease on life.

Hugeasscity has me thinking about Victoria’s Centennial Square (again)

(Note: might add some links/ photos later, but no time now — written on the fly…)

Dan Bertolet of Hugeasscity hits all the right points in his discussion of what makes a good urban plaza.  He includes a “wow!” photo of Seattle’s Garden of Remembrance, which, with its relatively steep grade, allows for steps oriented in such a way that they provide “natural” seating for people who want to “watch the action on 2nd Ave.”

This got me thinking about Victoria’s own piece of urban misery, Centennial Square: it’s very rarely used, and it’s really badly designed.  There’s no reason to be in Centennial Square, which was built by deleting a street, but didn’t replace the street with any reasons for people actually to cross the square.

What follows are my ruminations on Centennial Square, which won’t be of much interest to anyone not familiar with Victoria or the Square, but here goes.

If you’ve ever put on an event at the Square, you’ll know that a big chunk of it lies in the shadow of the old 3-story City Hall, a protected heritage building.  This is the “south-east” part of the Square.  Shadowing from City Hall makes being in that section of the square really uncomfortable, particularly since dank shade isn’t especially welcome anyway in a climate which never gets very hot, even in summer.  What this suggests to me is that this particular plot would be ideal for another building — although I can hear the howls of outrage should any section of City Hall’s north facade be covered up by a new building.  But there might be ways to work that problem, perhaps by incorporating the facade into the interior of an open-to-the-public glassy building.  At any rate, my hypothetical structure would have to be really low-rise, so that the sun could penetrate to the north of it.  A structure built on the edge of Douglas Street would, however, be able to draw more pedestrian traffic, and therefore bring people into the Square itself.

The Square’s north-east section gets full sun (when it’s out), but that section is taken up by one privately-owned lot, plus a string of ugly (and mostly empty) “arcaded” venues (offices, dead shops, dead restaurants) facing into the Square, which are also part of an increasingly decrepit city-owned parkade from the sixties.  The parkade is on the list of structures slated for removal/ replacement.  Douglas Street to the Square’s east is for the most part a thoroughfare, with lots of bus stops, but few reasons for pedestrians to linger on that strip of the block.  To the west, there’s the Royal McPherson Theatre, and the north-west has the new CRD Headquarters building, which isn’t set snug to the north-west corner, but unfortunately is set back quite a ways, with yet another large-ish and hugely underused “plaza” at the corner of Fisgard and Government Streets.

Thinking of Bertolet’s observation, that the Garden of Remembrance provides a vantage point for people- and action-watching, I started to wonder where you could sit in Centennial Square to do anything similar.  The answer?  You can’t.

The Square is resolutely and stubbornly inward-turning: it presents a slightly walled and therefore slightly elevated patch of truly useless lawn with one big tree in the middle on the east edge (Douglas Street).  (For a great aerial shot, see this flickr photo by thebugs.  South is at the top of the photo, north at bottom, east on the left, west on the right. The pink building near the center is City Hall; to the right you can make out the Square’s fountain; directly to the north of City Hall, you can recognize the grassy patch with its lone tree.)

There’s nothing to see from the open grass patch, as it opens up on a part of the block that people hurry along since there’s absolutely nothing to stop for except the bus stop.  And I don’t know about you, but watching people wait for the bus is really seriously depressing.  Vistas to every other street are blocked off, with only two small “enticements” to glimpse some street action on the south-west and the north-west sections.  They’re not bad, but neither are they enough.
Consider, however, that the parkade on the north edge is supposed to come down (in the bottom part of thebugs’s photo), and that perhaps the city could acquire the privately-owned lot on the north-east corner.  There has been talk of replacing those buildings with some kind of new central library and civic auditorium, but let’s think about how that corner might also be worked to create a view cone on to the Hudson project now under renovation (not visible in thebugs’s photo; it would be in the lower left hand portion: part of the roof is visible).  Once it’s fully built out (a conversion of the Hudson Bay department store into condos, plus 2 high-rise towers also for condos and shops), this project, which is a truly large undertaking, should inject a tremendous amount of life into this northern edge of downtown.

It’s just a thought, but:

• if a glassy “civic” structure were built next to City Hall on its north (because no one wants to be in that dank spot anyway, so you may as well put a building there instead),
• and the parkade on the Square’s north were replaced with something much better (a library, a civic auditorium),
• and the private lot on its north-east were acquired, too, then:

It might be an opportunity to reconfigure the Square so that the Douglas Street frontage finally gets some “built interest,” while a clever view cone is opened toward the north-east, which opens onto the Hudson.  The Hudson is in itself a magnificent structure from The Bay’s grand old department store days that literally deserves a view point.  And furthermore, the Hudson will be a potential river of interest-producing activity worth watching once it’s finished and its ground-floor shops are open.  Plus, seen from Centennial Square, the new view would be of a corner, not of a stretch of interest-bereft Douglas Street.  Where things come together (corners) one  usually finds more interesting to see.

An Appetite for Change

If you live in Victoria and are concerned about finding solutions to our city’s homelessness crisis, please consider coming to what looks to be a fabulous event at the Canoe Brew Pub on Sunday June 8, from 6 to 8:30 pm. It’s a fundraiser for the Youth Hospitality Training Centre, an innovative program that needs to secure just a bit more money to become reality.

What’s the Youth Hospitality Training Centre? It’s a facility that will provide eight homeless street youth a roof and a bed, and classroom and hands-on training for a career in the hospitality industry. Once the youths are trained and working, they move on into their own independent housing, making room for other at-risk street youth.

The Centre will be housed in a former restaurant downtown, the Taj Mahal, which comes with an attached bed & breakfast facility. It will be operated by the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society, which is an umbrella agency that provides programs for youth in the city. The Centre is quite unique: kids who are currently living on the street will have an opportunity to live in dormitory-style rooms at the Centre, and receive classroom as well as hands-on training programs in the restaurant and food services industry. The bed & breakfast facility consists of 11 rooms, and will serve as housing for the youth, plus live-in, round the clock staff, as well as counselling rooms. There will also be a “mock hotel room” so that the youth in training can learn about room maintenance and service in situ. By the time they’re finished with their program, they’ll be desirable new-hires in the staff-starved local tourism industry. See this forum thread for more info.

Ok, so where’s the party, you’re asking? If you haven’t clicked through to the first link in this post, I’ll paste below the text in full, which should give you enough info to convince you that this will be $50 well spent — on yourself and on the future of youth in the city. And, ok, even on the future of the tourism & hospitality industry, which is badly understaffed here. (Ever wonder why those cafes close at 6 or 7pm? It’s because the owners can’t find anyone to work in them, true! And you thought it was because we roll up the sidewalks after the government workers go home for the day, didn’t you? Not at all — we have an affordable housing shortage plus a worker shortage…)

Here’s the event description:

An Appetite For Change
A benefit for the Youth Hospitality Training Centre

You and your friends are invited for an evening of food, libation and entertainment
Sunday, June 8th, 2008, from 6:00-8:30pm

The best kitchens in the city have generously donated fabulous dinner party packages, featuring fully catered in-home service as well as Chef’s tables for silent auction.
Every bid is also a chance to win an exciting prize!

The event will be held in the Canoe Brewpub’s 1894 landmark heritage building on Victoria’s Inner Harbour.
The reception will be fully hosted by Canoe Brewpub and Chef Alain Léger.

Victoria’s culinary teams have come together in support of making our community a better place. Will you join us?

Ticket price is $50.
All revenue from the event will go to providing opportunities for disadvantaged youth in Victoria.

Tickets can be purchased by email reply to spc@vyes.ca, by phone at 383-3514, at Canoe online or in person at the following locations:
Victoria City Hall, Canoe Brewpub or The Bay Centre Customer Service.

Free validated parking is available at Canoe and Chintz & Co.