Sabbatical Diary: Week 32

Some progress this week, as I enter the last third of the sabbatical so the end is really starting to feel imminent.

Reviewed a second UKRI research proposal—I dunno, one in ten years then two in a couple of months.

Negotiated some updates to the MPhil/Part III module I run (“Advanced Topics in Computer Systems”), a paper-reading-and-discussion based class, in light of policy changes by the University.[^assessment] In short, the small mark allocation for active participation in class discussions is now allocated for the role played in a dynamically-developed collaborative group presentation,¹ plus I added a small extra part to the written component in support of this. We’ll see how it goes next year but it feels like a neat solution.

Theo and Rupen have started to get some nice results in support of the work we’re doing about AIRAN and scheduling AI workloads onto OpenRAN nodes. Summary: there appears to be more low-hanging fruit than it would be safe to shake a stick at.

And I finally got round to writing the title and abstract for the keynote talk I’ve been invited to give at WOWMOM’26² So without further ado, here it is:

Title: Personalizing the PC

Abstract:

Computation and networking are ubiquitous. Many of us carry multiple networked computation devices almost constantly. Most of those devices spend much of their time exchanging data with external services via the Internet. But we still have to operate and manage them as independent devices, at best using cloud services to support limited integration within a closed ecosystem. So I believe it’s time we thought more fundamentally about what a modern “personal computer” should be, and how the operating system can shape modern hardware to make one.

In particular, a core operating system design decision that dates back to the early days of digital computing was to focus on keeping the once expensive CPU busy by enabling it to be used by multiple concurrent users. However, in a personal computer comprising multiple devices I believe we should instead focus on helping individuals and groups to manage their data effectively. This means giving some thought to questions such as: Just what is an application? How should data be made available at the right times on the right devices? How should interactions among and between devices and the outside world be managed?

In this (very much work-in-progress!) talk I will try to articulate some of these questions, and give some thought to how they might be answered.

Finally, for some light relief, I wandered along to Christ’s College First Court for the Ascension Day choir moment, where they all go to the top of the Great Gate and there’s a short service involving singing. This was the first time I’ve participated actually at the Great Gate—I went along last year but due to scaffolding being up it had to take place in front of the Fellows’ Building in Second Court. All very pleasant.