Students in the wild

Today I sent off my last comments on this years thesis project ideas. I've been teaching the course Industrial Best Practice this semester, which is in some ways a preparatory course that prepares the students for what is to come when they write the bachelor thesis. It gives them some additional time to develop their ideas so that they are well prepared by the time they start with their project.

This year, I've seen quite a few different and interesting ideas and I hope that we will have some very good results from this towards the summer. Some of the students started working with their ideas already before christmas, which is quite ambitious and will hopefully turn out to be very good theses. Others have started this side of the new year, with most of the activity actually starting in the weeks to come. So beware; there be students on the lose!

I'll be supervising two student groups myself. One of the topics is rather familiar and ties in with what Henrik and I have been doing before; assisting in, or evaluating, migrations from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. The other project is different, but nontheless touches upon a similar topic: interoperability and standardisation, though here in the context of social networks and platforms.

The weather in Göteborg has taken a turn for the worse, and as it was described in the news today, it will undoubtedly be followed by the traditional Göteborg sleet, as spring fights for control with winter. Happily enough, the balcony at home is still cozy and warm thanks to the Swedish nuclear power plants which are happily humming along and producing well needed electricity for our frozen limbs. Yes, it's a luxury, and yes, it goes along with the Swedish saying "elda för kråkorna" (heating for the crows), but I will happily be a little bit politically incorrect if it means being warm. Happily enough though, the days when it is actually sunny here, the temperature rises significantly without the needed of additional heating, so the amount of electricity needed decreases every week.

Talking about the weather, this weeks indicator of the change of the seasons will surely be the gaggle of geese seen some days ago flying in a V-formation due north. Surely, that is an indication of the spring to come?