During the late 80s and early 90s, George worked with Mary McAleese, then the Director of the Institute of Professional Studies and others to develop two computer based packages to teach Criminal Procedure. The HyperCard system on Apple Macintosh computers was used. The first package had been in use for two years with barrister students. This research paper published by the British & Irish Legal Education Technology Association offers observations based on their experience of the issues involved in a computer based approach to training.
History ...this is for historical reference only
Some of the things we've done along the way (for history buffs only)
Please note that some of the references in these papers and presentations may no longer exist. Also the qub.ac.uk and unite.net email addresses are no longer valid. Please email us to get in touch with us. Thank you.
1992 Using computer based learning to instruct the legal profession
1993 A blueprint for a new user network interface
It is hard to invisage the world without the web now, but at one stage there were only, such things as Gopher and WAIS servers. In 1993 a new task force was set up by RARE (which eventually became TERENA, Trans European Research and Education Network Association and since 2014, it is now known as GÉANT) within the working group WG-ISUS (Information Services and User Support) called UNITE which stood for 'User Network Interface To Everything'. This report summarises the email exchanges between current members on a 'total solution user interface' during November 1992-January 1993. The purpose of the task force was to identify and agree elements of an ideal user network interface. Comments were then invited from a wider audience on both the description of a desirable interface and a forward plan for the UNITE group.
1993 UNITE presentation at Network Services Conference at Warsaw
By May 1993 there were 350 members in the UNITE task force. At the Network Services Conference (NSC) in Warsaw in October 1993, the findings of the UNITE task force were reported. The NSC presentation reflected the three main stages of investigation UNITE were involved. These were: to describe the ideal network interface; provide an evaluation of existing systems; and an analysis of how well existing systems measured up to the ideal specification.
1996 Building the web at Queen's University, Belfast
There was an explosion of activity throughout the world as more and more people became aware of the 'WWW' in the early 90s. At Queen's it was noticeable that departments who had technical expertise were setting up their own web servers. At the time George and Christine were working at Queen's in the Computer Centre as part of the Information Services Group (ISG). This was headed by George, who recognised the need for co-operation and consolidation to help bring together this collection and all the other departments in the University. In 1996, this report How to grow Gossamer and keep it untangled was presented describing ISG's work so far and important lessons learned.
1997 JENC8 presentation on ETINU
In 1996, a new TERENA task force was formed to attempt to build a user support toolkit which all organisations could use. It was called Environment To Inspire Network Users, ETINU. This task force worked with both TERENA and the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to promote awareness of how network services could be applied to provide more effective and scalable user support. In 1997 at JENC8 conference held in Edinburgh, George presented the ETINU paper. In his presentation he: recounted a conventional user support strategy; suggested what was actually needed in the changing world; described the prototype based on the new startegy and how it could be further developed; and what was being done to establish new standards for user support.
In 1998, the work of the TERENA ETINU task force was described in a paper titled Evaluations and recommendations towards a generic user support toolkit, interim report. It provides clear guidelines for building scaleable, effective, cost efficient, 'connectable', widely accessible, easily managed, online support systems. Final recommendations were based on: the results of an international survey; members of the ETINU task force mailing list (representing input from over 35 different countries); and an evaluation panel of experts.
1999 Final ETINU report at CarNET User conference
In 1999, George was invited to 1st CARNet Users Conference in Croatia to report on the final work of the ETINU task force. The focus of the presentation was to encourage those in 'user support' to provide a networked support environment that consists of a number of small and simple effective measures, rather than an expensive turnkey 'system' that is ill-equipped to meet changing and diverse needs.
1996-2000 Developing countries workshops
In the period 1996 to 2000 George was privileged to be an instructor with the Internet Society, Developing Countries Workshops. He was an instructor for Track 3, Internet Information Services, working alongside Cindy Hao Xin, Bert Stals, Ruvan Weerasinghe, Jill Foster and Dave Hartland. The workshops were held in:
- 1996, Montreal, Canada;
- 1997, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
- 1998, Geneva, Switzerland;
- 1999, San Jose State University, Calfornia, USA;
- 2000, Keio University outside Yokohama, Japan.
Their goal was to bring those in the early stages of the internet 'up-to-speed' giving them the ability to:
- design and set up quality web-based information services;
- understand how these services can advance your organisation's mission;
- how to support and train users and providers of information.
The details of 'T3: Internet Information Services' at the last Network Training workshop in Yokohama, Japan is still available today.
In 1996 and 2000, George Sadowsky who served on the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society in 1996-2004 published two articles on The Internet Society and Developing Countries and Paving the Way for Internet-Rich Environments in Developing Nations emphasising how the workshops empowered participants to facilitate introduction and growth of the Internet back in their own countries and how this contributed to the major acceleration of the introduction of the Internet throughout the world.
1999 Enabling better land use in East Africa: The Story
In 1999, George worked on the African Highlands Initiative (AHI), a collaborative research network on natural resources management involving several scientists in eastern and central Africa. Networked scientists at remote locations, with access to the Internet, were able to access and update database resources stored centrally. Results of research were published by each site so that farmers in central and east Africa could benefit from recommendations using direct or indirect (via an intermediate party) internet access. This paper describes AHI website features with an emphasis on how Cold Fusion software that was used to provide a generic interface to any Microsoft Access database, and also records the initial feedback from those working in the larger AHI project.
In 1994, George founded UNITE Solutions Limited, an independent company specialising in internet service provision (such as dialup, ISDN, broadband, leased line, web hosting etc.) and software development. We both started working full-time in the company in 1998. Among the day-to-day management of running a company, we also:
- developed the enterprise information management product (sKELTER, 1998-2003)
- set up the first independent ISP services (including hosting, dialup and broadband, leased lines, global VPNs, and related services) within a BT resource in UK (2002-2003)
- undertook a COMPETE project for development of semantic web elements (2002-2004).
After leaving UNITE, we set up Platypus Consultancy, initially assisting other technology companies both in software development and internet services. Eventually we:
- set up our own cloud-based services within Amazon Web Services that enable us to provide a range of internet-related services (such as domain registration and hosting, web hosting)
- compile and deliver web-related workshops across the UK
- and continue to develop the web content and user management software, ETINU.