And the winner is ... at the Defence Hackerthon

Greetings from the last day of the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon at UNSW Canberra. The wining teams were Crowdshield, a crowd-sourced defence to identify, classify and neutralize unauthorized drone activities, Circinus Corp,with a Low cost integrated standalone platform for remote threat detection and categorisation and HPM Shielding Solutions refining the process for designing EM shielded systems that can be manufactured in small distributed labs. After we had a group photo in the UNSW Canberra indoor drone range (aka basketball court). Appropriately the photo was taken by a drone, when then, appropriately, crashed into the wall. ;-) 

Ambassador of Ukraine on Deterrence Through Innovation

Ambassador of Ukraine
addressing the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon, 
photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 8 February 2026

Greetings from the last day of the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon at UNSW Canberra. The Ambassador of Ukraine is arguing that deterrence through innovation is needed. He discussed recent development with drones and communing integration of AI with them. Being an island nation, the specific equipment Australia needs, I suggest, will be different, but the concepts apply. Australia will need long range smart weapons, an example being the use of smart sea mines, deployed from Australia's Ghost Shark robot submarines. 

The ambassador pointed to the use of a digital ID application. This not only allows displaced population be identified to receive government benefits, but also report the location of enemy forces. 

Next we are going to hear pitches from 21 teams ...

Civil Defence Apps

Rhys Kissell, at hackathon start

Greetings from UNSW Canberra, where the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon just started. There is a room full of people ready to build defence related inventions. It was a unique and sobering experience to have a minute silence in memory of those lost in the Ukraine war. It was also useful to be reminded that defence tech is not all about drones dropping bombs, this can include civil defence. This is in conjunction with the European Defense Tech Hub. One interesting aspect is the emphasis on industry implementation and deployment, rather than just invent something. This is also a very hands on experience with UNSW's marker space with electronics equipment and 3d printers. I am presenting "How to Pitch to a General: Presenting to a Military Audience" 11am tomorrow for the hackerthon participants.

How to Pitch to a General: Presenting to a Military Audience

I am presenting "How to Pitch to a General: Presenting to a Military Audience" at the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon, 11 am 7  February 2026, UNSW Canberra. This is intended to be a short informal session, with plenty of participation from the members of hackerthon teams. Here is a preview, and some notes to start the discussion:

You can learn to pitch at a local innovation center. These are located within many universities, with others in cities and towns. An example are the Canberra Innovation Network's pitching courses.  No special presentation techniques are needed for a military audience. Use the usual pitch techniques. It is important to keep to time and don’t be surprised if the time provided is shortened over that promised. Expect interruptions and blunt questions. As always, have a call to action: what do you want the audience to do?

If you have the time and the talent, consider an interview approach, where you, as the promoter of the product, talk to a military user of the product. 

Offer something new, but not too new: Say this is what our allies are doing. Entrepreneurs often make the mistake of claiming their invention is completely radically new. But military operations, particularly Australian ones, are about cooperating with other countries. If you can say the military of a respected ally is using your product, or another product using your approach, that will be appreciated. 

Like all of us, generals are subject to FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. If you can show that their counterparts in other countries are embracing your product, then they will want it as well.

In 1997 I wanted to convince the Australian Defence Force that Internet technology was usable. So I visited the flag ship of the US 7th Fleet on exercise off Queensland. On my return I was able to say how I saw US military personnel using the Internet and the web for planning. 

Major defence companies have former senior military personnel and government officials on staff to help get to senior decision makers. Startups do not have those resources, but can approach the decision makers via their staff. These staff are exposed to new concepts and products at the usual trade shows and during training. 

The military train staff at their own facilities and universities. The educators are always keen to expose their students to new concepts and techniques. You can have the students try your product, or even help develop it.

For several years students of the Australian National University assisted with test software for the CEA Phased Array Radar. The Australian Government liked the product so much that in 2023, they purchased the company.

ps: I asked an actual general, and their advice was to think at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. How will what you have help win a battle, campaign and ultimately a war? How does your technology contribute to a capability? Include options, as generals operate by choosing from those presented by their staff.

TIME Magazine's Ranking of the World's Top Universities

Time Magazine has produced a ranking of the World's Top Universities. Note that this is from a different publisher and is a different ranking scheme to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Time claim their rankings are more relevant to students, but produce much the same results as Times & other ranking schemes. The Time & Times rankings have the same 8 universities in their top 10 for Australia. Also Time only rank 500 universities, compared to more than 5,000 by Webometrics. As with most such ranking schemes this seems more about selling advertising than helping students.

Time moves Curtin & James Cook Universities to the top 10, dropping University of Technology Sydney, and Macquarie University.

1. University of Queensland (6)
2. University of Melbourne (1)
3. University of Sydney (2)
4. University of Western Australia (8)
5. University of New South Wales (5)
6. Australian National University (4)
7. University of Adelaide (7)
8. Monash University (3)
9. Curtin University (13)
10. James Cook University (24)

Time's ranking is based on a shortlist of one highly cited researcher in Clarivate, "among the most renowned and frequently mentioned institutions", or they applied to be on the list. The detailed ranking appears similar to other such schemes. These tend to emphasize research output, rather than education. Time appears to have tried to emphasize education more, with measures such as resource expenditure per student, faculty-to-student and staff-to-student ratios. There is no measure of what proportion of staff are qualified to teach. Essentially, these are measures of input, rather than output. 

Who Hacks Wins: Australian Defense Tech Hackathon

I am delighted to be mentoring teams in the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon, 6 to 8  February 2026, at UNSW Canberra. This is being held in association with the European Defense Tech Hub. The usual hackathon format is used, with teams spending a few days working on an idea & competing for prizes. But the point with a hackerthon is that you are not there to invent something, but to learn.

This will be my fourth time mentoring at defence hackerthon. 

Event canvas from NWIW 2020
by Paul Telling

Two were hosed by the Australian Computer Society for the DoD and one by Navy. 

Also I have volunteered to to run a workshop on how to present tech to senior people. This semester I will be also helping out with ANU's Software Construction course, which uses hackerthons for learning.

Focus areas include the expected topics of electronic warfare & drones, but also includes "Battlefield Economics & Scaling Production". While the headlines are usually grabbed by exotic high tech weapons, if you can't afford to buy them or can't build them, they are no use.

Also I have offered to run a workshop on how to talk to your client when they are a general. This is not that different to talking to senior executives in industry or government, but there are some unusual conventions.

ps: Yes, as one of my eagle eyed colleagues pointed out this is the "Australian Defense Tech Hackathon", spelled with an American style "S" US, not the "C" of Australian English. This is in association with a European organisation, so it is not like it is a US thing. NATO use a "C" for English documents and "S" for French.  When I worked in HQ ADF I had a complaint from a US journalist that we had misspelled "Defense" in a policy document. A short time later we received a groveling apology. ;-)

"Goals

​​1) Solve urgent defense and security challenges ...

​​2) Launch new careers and companies...

​​3) Strengthen Australia through defense innovation... 

Focus Areas ...

1. ​SIGINT & OSINT
2. ​Computer Vision & Edge AI
3. ​Unmanned & Autonomous Systems (UxS)
4. ​Electronic Warfare (EW)
5. ​Modular Sensors
6. ​Drone & Counter-Drone Tech
7. ​Battlefield Economics & Scaling Production
8. ​Hypersonics and Missile Defence ...

Agenda

​
Friday, February 6, 2026

​​12:00 - Doors open, Networking

​13:00 - Welcome and Opening Program

​14:00 - Workshops

​17:00 - Introduction to Mentors & Challenges, Last-Minute Team Formation

​18:00 - Start of Hacking

​Saturday, February 7, 2026

​Hacking continues all day

​Sunday, February 8, 2026

​12:00 - End of Hacking, Lunch Break

​Demo Day (Open to Visitors)

​13:00 - Pitches of the winning teams

​15:00 - Award Ceremony

​15:30 - After-party & Networking"

Learning Language with Manisha Khetarpal

Manisha Khetarpal at EO26

Greetings from the end of Everything Open 2026 at University of Canberra. The conference traditionally ends with short light heated talks. Manisha Khetarpal gave us a short dynamic lesson in learning words in another language. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I volunteered to talk in Manisha's Microlearning Series. on "Keep Calm and Carry Online".  

Open Source Volunteers Are Like the Allen Key in a Flat-pack Bookcase: Vital But Unappreciated

Emma Davidson at EO26

Greetings from day three of Everything Open 2026 at University of Canberra. Emma is Program Director of IDEATE & started with a plea for industry to support their open source workers, describing them as like the allen keys in a flat-pack bookcase, pointing out that IKEA depends on open source software: She went onto propose 0.3% of the AUKUS funding be put into open source internships. Emma described AUKUS as a project for "imaginary nuclear submarines". She went on to praise the work of the Open Source Institute at University of Canberra, before outlining ANU Techlauncher program. Emma then moved on to the main theme of her talk about how to get a more diverse technology workforce and IDEATE's role in creating a more diverse university student body.

This being a Linux conference, apart from geopolitics,  Emma was asked which font she used for her slides. ;-)

My picks for the rest of the day:10:45AM  RepRapMicron - The Next Small Thing In 3D Printing, Vik Olliver

11:40AM So You've Decided to Build It Yourself, Leesa Ward

1:30PM Abstracting FPGAs in Python for fun and radio astronomy, Andrew Bolin

2:25PM Open Australia: Who we are, what we do, and what's in it for you., Donna Benjamin

3:45PM Everything Open Everywhere All At Once, Steven De Costa
4:45PM Lightning Talks

We do not want truth to become a luxury good in a sea of slop

Greetings from day two of Everything Open 2026 at University of Canberra. Keir Winesmith, Chief Digital Officer of the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia is arguing we are at the end of a golden age for creative arts online and the beginning of another using AI. The Archives will be sharing more. He used as an example of technology sparking creative the first filming of the Melbourne Cup: filmed in Melbourne, developed in the air on its way to Sydney and shown shortly after.

In a sobering conclusion he argued those working for open access to cultural knowledge had provided the raw material for creating false narratives via AI. He ended by saying "We do not want truth to become a luxury good in a sea of slop". This is particularity relevant on the National Day of Mourning for the victims of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack​. 

My pick of day 2 of EO:

10:45AM I accidentally became a FOSS maintainer and all I got was this lousy insight into librarianship, Hugh Rundle

11:40AM A University Library's journey in making technology training resources FAIR, Stéphane Guillou

1:30PM Reclaiming the open web: a story about big tech, platforms and millennial dreams of a connected web, Milly Schmidt

2:25PM By Design: CAUL’s Vision for an Open Future in Australasian Higher Education, Ash Barber, Rebecca Barber

3:45PM Effective Coaching, Nicola Nye

4:40PM When something has gone wrong in your neighbourhood, and they're calling you... whatcha gonna do?, Rachel Bunder

Government of India's National Institutional Ranking Framework

The Indian Ministry of Education has a National Institutional Ranking Framework, ranking universities. All but one of the top ten institutions for 2025 in the Indian government's ranking also appear in the top ten by Webometrics:

1. Indian Institute of Technology Madras (3)
2. Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (7)
3. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (2)
4. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (4)
5. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (8)
6. Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (1)
7. Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (10)
8. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (9)
9. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (17)
10. Banaras Hindu University,Varanasi (6)

Encouraging Democratic Participation with Software

Greetings from "Encouraging Democratic Participation with Software" by Vanessa Teague from Democracy Developers. They make open-source software to support democracy. However, this seems to be about explaining how the electoral system works and contacting MPs. However, this is a very narrow view of the democratic process and leaves out policy development. Policy is developed in a complex messy process involving political parties, lobbyists and others.

As a member of a professional body, I am occasionally asked for input to policy documents to be presented to MPs. Occasionally this works very well. In one case a senior Public Servant accused me of plagiarizing the name of a government initiative. But I pointed out the name was in the title of the submission I helped write, long before the policy was announced.

But not everyone is part of an organisation with lobbying skills. I asked Vanessa if we could provide open online forums for those who are not a member of a party, or a lobby group, where they could find like minded individuals and develop what they want.

Everything Too Open?

Greetings from Everything Open 2026 at University of Canberra. This is Linux Australia's annual conference. The opening keynote presentation is by Kylie McDevitt, former Technical Director at the Australian Signals Directorate. Kylie is discussing security analysis of internet connected devices. This is very topical, with the ACT Government checking if their electric busses can be remotely sabotaged. 

Comping up today, my picks are:

10:45AM Encouraging democratic participation with software, Vanessa Teague

11:40AM Using open source strategies to enable medical data exchange at scale, Christopher Skene

12:25PM Lunch 

1:30PM The unreasonable cost of open source contribution, Rob Norris

2:25PM I hope this email talk finds you well., Jemma Bradshaw

3:10PM Afternoon Tea

3:45PM The nineteenth century smartwatch, Kit Biggs

4:40PM The next generation Big Data Radio Telescope for Astronomy, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, Juan Carlos Guzman

2025 in Review

 Here are some highlights from my 2025, from my blog:

Friday, April 4, 2025

Assessing Student Team Project Work

 Greetings from the ANU Techlauncher "Sprint 1" assessment review. There are 12 tutors (mostly in person, a couple online) plus two convenors reviewing grades from assessment of the first assessed task for project students. There list a list of teams on the wall, with each tutor going trough their proposed graduate and comments for each team over the last few weeks. Issues with the nature of the project, problems with the client are addressed as we go along. The meeting has been going for two hours. This is a slow, often tedious, occasionally exciting, process as those involved argue over grades and techniques. Students, and the public, may not realize how much effort goes into grading, and how much this is an art, rather than a science. With projects for real clients, which are all different, there is no easy way to do this. 

Friday, June 27, 2025

Wine Culture & Psychological Health for College Students

In processing international student's applications for credit I realise how limited the choices the average Australian university student has. Can they study "Wine Culture & Appreciation", scuba diving, poetry, or flower arranging, as part of their degree? Another course which might be applicable more widely is "Psychological Health Education for College Students".

Friday, April 11, 2025

Canvas for WIL and Accreditation

This week I have been on training to use the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS). I have been using Moodle for 17 years, but Canvas doesn't look that different. At the same time I have been asked to contribute to a local event at ANU College of ANU College of Systems & Society on how to improve Work Integrated Learning (WIL). As I happened to be learning Canvas I have volunteered to lead a session on how it can be used for WIL. As I have been involved with accreditation for the Australian Computer Society (ACS) I also volunteer to contribute to a session on that. Here I am collecting my thoughts on the topic.  ...

Monday, April 14, 2025

My Last Review

I have decided to stop reviewing papers for academic journals (I will still do for conferences I am involved with). The reason is that the academic publishing system is exploitative. Reviewers don't get paid, or any other form of compensation, for reviewing. In theory this is something you do, as you will then have your papers reviewed. But in practice there are many free riders. My gesture is a tiny one, but then I remember when I decided to stop giving lectures and that gained traction.

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Australian Cyber Resilience in a High Threat World Learning from Estonia

 

Greetings from Australian Computer Society's TechUplift 2025. At the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. Next to me is the first speaker, Ms Kersti Eesmaa, former Estonian ambassador. She is now working for Vertical Scope Group, a Canberra security company. I first met Kersti, as the ambassador in 2021, speaking on digital Estonia. As she pointed out today, by building a new nation based on digital technology they were able to create efficiency, but create a target for attack by nation states. ...

Friday, August 22, 2025

New Canberra Institute of Technology Building

One of Canberra Institute of Technology's new TV studios.
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY, 21 August 2025

Yesterday I had a tour of Canberra Institute of Technology's (CIT) new building in Canberra.  I studied Audio-Visual Video (for training) at what was then the ACT TAFE in 1989 (my last assignment was "Bicycles"). I enrolled again in 2013, at what was then called CIT, for a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. When I studied video, we used magnetic tape and monochrome studio cameras, so It was a revelation to see the new building. CIT will be showcasing the building and its courses, Thursday 11 September (book online). 

Monday, October 20, 2025

Live Hackerthon Pitches to Combat AI Cheating

Greetings from the Copeland Lecture Theatre at the Australian National University. The theatre has been repurposed as a pitch arena. Teams of students are making three minute presentations on an app they developed as part of the Software Construction course. There are only a few seconds for changeover between presentations. This form of experiential learning is one way to combat AI cheating. This allows the whole class to present in one hour long lecture slot. As well as being graded, students can win a prize and may be talent spotted by entrepreneurs, such as Ken Kroeger. While the presentations are digital, I noted that Professor Gretton used an pen and paper for notes on the work. 

EduTech Asia in Singapore Expo and Silent Disco Conference

Greetings from EduTech Asia in Singapore. The trade show is about the same size as last year. I was surprised there was not more mention of AI on vendors stands, although there is in the title of conference talks. The conference venus takes some getting used to for those familiar with academic events. Rather than have to go upstairs to the conference rooms above the exhibition floor, some of the floor has been curtained off around the periphery. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Networking the Old Way

Greetings from Tasa Cafe at the Australian National University. After dealing with the morning's mail, I wandered over for a coffee. On the way one staff member explained the "Quiet Hour" at student services, for those who can't cope with noise. Then I offered a colleague a coffee, but they are off to talk at consulting company about an initiative to recruit and support a more diverse student population. Then I met someone talking at tomorrow's training, on dealing with cheating in the age of AI. After coffee, I am planning to make a training video, then attended a seminar on AI warfare tactics. The teaching year may be over, but there is still much to do.