A toolbar which will enhance accessibility of the World Wide Web has been developed by researchers at the University of Southampton.

Sebastian Skuse, Technical Project Assistant Learning Societies Lab of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, worked with Dr Mike Wald and E.A. Draffan to develop the new JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) TechDis Toolbar, which can be easily installed and is compatible with any platform.

The project is funded by JISC Techdis which "aims to be the leading educational advisory service, working across the UK, in the fields of accessibility and inclusion."

A key feature of the toolbar is that it reads text aloud, spell checks, and offers a dictionary, text enlargement, colour and font changes. It can also be used with Web services such as wikis, blogs, social networks and Twitter, which has not been possible before without specially-installed (and often expensive) assistive technologies. "The toolbar, which is quick and easy to install, will make websites a lot easier for people to use," said Sebastian. "For example, a visually impaired user can switch any webpage into a high contrast mode, increase the text size, or have the page read to them." The toolbar is ready for further beta testing and is available to download free. It is also possible to add the toolbar as a ‘bookmark’ or ‘favourite’ and website owners may also embed the toolbar within their pages, so visitors can load the toolbar instantly.

The researchers are now considering the viability of making the facility available on mobile devices.

Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt have played a key role in the development of the new data.gov.uk web site launched today by the Government.

data.gov.uk contains more than 2500 sets of data from across government about all aspects of our lives, ranging from information about education and traffic, to tax and crime. All of the data is non-personal and has been released in a format that can be reused by any individual or business to create innovative new software tools, such as applications that provide information on house prices, local schools, amenities and services, or access to local hospitals.

The site has been developed in just six months, after the two Professors from the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton were given a special role by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to help transform public access to Government information. The initiative was intended to drive cultural change in Whitehall towards the publication of all non-personal data held by Government departments and agencies.

Commenting in June 2009, Professor Shadbolt said: "The vision is that citizens, consumers and government can create, re-use and distribute public information in ways that add value, support transparency, facilitate new services and increase efficiency. We believe we can achieve this with the emergence of a new generation of Web techniques and standards."

Over the last six months Professor Berners-Lee and Professor Shadbolt have worked closely with a panel of technical and delivery experts to oversee the development and implementation of data.gov.uk, in conjunction with the Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms, who will be launching the new single access-point web site today (21 January).

The beta version of the site was released in September and since then developers have been testing it and using the data to create applications that bring together information from different sources. According to Professor Shadbolt, this is only the beginning: “It is a job that is never going to be entirely finished," he told the BBC today. “Government is always collecting data.â€?

He added: "Making more public sector information and data available is crucial if we are to exploit the innovative talent available to us in this country to produce really outstanding applications that have social and economic value."

Sir Tim Berners-Lee has long been an advocate of the release of raw data from public sources that can then be linked in imaginative ways for re-use by citizens. He commented: “Making public data available for re-use is about increasing accountability and transparency and letting people create new, innovative ways of using it. Government data should be a public resource. By releasing it, we can unlock new ideas for delivering public services, help communities and society work better, and let talented entrepreneurs and engineers create new businesses and services.â€?

The significance of today’s launch was highlighted by Professor Shadbolt: “Today marks an important step forward in the work the Prime Minister asked us to lead. It gives data to the public and sets the groundwork for further progress. Over the next few weeks and months we will build on this by adding more functions. We are already working with departments, agencies and local authorities to release even more data all the time, and we want the release of public data to be ‘business as usual’ across public bodies as outlined in Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government.â€?

In December 2009 Professor Shadbolt was asked by the Prime Minister to lead a panel of experts who will oversee the release of local public data, ensuring that it is linked effectively across relevant agencies, authorities and government departments.

See also: Datablog by Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt in The Guardian and BBC Online.

Round-up of news coverage

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

Professor Jan Sykulski of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton has been named a Fellow of the IEEE. He is honoured for his contributions to methods and applications of computational electromagnetics.

As an IEEE Fellow Professor Sykulski joins an elite group of engineers and researchers from around the world who are recognized by the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) for their unusual distinction and outstanding contributions to the electrical and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession. Elevation to Fellowship of the IEEE follows a rigorous evaluation procedure.

Professor Sykulski has been a member of staff in the University since 1980 and was appointed Professor of Applied Electromagnetics in 1995. He led the Electrical Power Engineering research group from 2000 to 2009. He has received numerous honours from universities and learned societies in many parts of the world, and in 2004 he received the title of Professor from the President of the Polish Republic, after nomination from the Universities of Lodz, Poznan, and Szczecin.

His research interests and contributions have been focused on the application of high temperature superconductivity to power devices; the development of fundamental methods of computational electromagnetics (including software development); and advances in design and optimization methods which involve electromagnetic aspects but are aimed at developing real devices.

He has also played a very prominent role in a number of professional communities and societies. This has included running the International Compumag Society and chairing the Electromagnetics Professional Network of the IEE, both of which work towards coordination of the worldwide effort in this field. As Editor of COMPEL: The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, he has been able to promote research activities around the world.

‘I am obviously thrilled’ – says Jan – ‘especially since computational electromagnetics tends to frighten people off, so it is good to see the field recognised and my efforts noticed. I have found simulating fields and designing electromagnetic devices enormously gratifying over the years and have been privileged to work with many distinguished colleagues around the world. Teaching the subject to students is stimulating and a continuous challenge, while working in ECS inspirational.’

The IEEE is the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology. Through its global membership, IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics.

The Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science, Professor Harvey Rutt, commented: ‘Not only is this a notable individual recognition of the research contributions of one of the School’s most distinguished professors, but it is an excellent endorsement of the strength of the School’s research and its international reputation in a fundamental area of technology.’

Described by reviewers as ‘2010's First Must-Have iPhone Game’ and released this week by Rockstar Games in an iPhone edition, Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest-selling games of all time.

The latest game in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, incorporates a different presentation and a range of new high-tech features. It also includes an ‘homage’ to MailScanner, the world-leading email security and anti-spam system, developed in the School of Electronics and Computer Science by Julian Field.

‘I’m used to seeing MailScanner break records,’ says Julian, ‘but with this appearance in Grand Theft Auto I can truly say that the software has now gone where no other similar package has gone before.’

In the game play, players have an in-game PDA (electronic personal organiser) and can receive emails from characters in the game to help their play. As the game begins, the in-game ‘Email Inbox’ already contains some messages - one of which is spam, tagged with MailScanner's familiar "(SPAM?)" tag in its subject-line.

‘These subject tags are unique to MailScanner,’ says Julian. ‘They first appeared as a feature of MailScanner in 2000 and since then have appeared in emails around the world in every country and in many billions of mailboxes.’

Julian began developing MailScanner in 2000 and Version 4.78 was launched in October 2009. It has been downloaded over 1.3 million times. Its success can be judged from the fact that it is used in some of the world’s leading organizations in 226 countries, for example: the US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge universities, Vodafone Europe, Amnesty International, Friends Of The Earth and the British Antarctic Survey. The technology is fast becoming the standard email solution at many ISP sites for virus protection and spam filtering.

Julian commented: 'MailScanner's appearance in Grand Theft Auto: China Wars is the latest sign of MailScanner's acceptance into the general world of email, demonstrating that even game authors are aware of its widespread use, and can rely on the fact that game players will recognise the tags added by MailScanner to email recognised as spam.’

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

The National Microelectronics Institute (NMI)has announced the creation of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) to address the threat of diminishing skills in the UK electronics sector. The Foundation, of which the University of Southampton is a founder partner, aims to increase and sustain the supply of industry-ready graduate engineers and boost the number of graduates who take up careers in the sector.

NMI CEO Derek Boyd said: "The dramatic decline in the numbers of Electronic Engineering graduates will present the country with a long-term issue if left unchecked. We’ve identified the underlying problems in the existing skills pipeline which undermine the future prospects of the industry and UKESF has been created to tackle the major issues. Its goal is to ensure that the sector is supplied with the quality of talent to enable it to continue to be innovative, competitive and able to provide high-value jobs to support the wider economy."

UKESF is a collaboration of public bodies, private companies and leading UK universities, and has been launched with initial start-up funding from founder partners NMI, BIS (Department for Business Innovation and Skills), SEMTA (The Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies), ARM, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Dialog Semiconductor and Imagination Technologies. Founder university partners are Bristol, Edinburgh, Imperial College, Southampton and Surrey.

Indro Mukerjee, Chairman and CEO of C-MAC MicroTechnology and Chair of SEMTA’s Electronics Sector Strategy Group, said: "It has taken a lot of hard work and collaboration to get UKESF off the ground and I now look forward to it becoming an integral part of the UK electronics scene. The foundation has set itself realistic goals yet to achieve them more private enterprises need to support it. Forward-looking electronics companies need to sign-up to the UKESF programme and help address what is a national concern of strategic importance."

UKESF will initially focus on: • Encouraging electronics employers to engage with schools in order to raise awareness of the sector and the variety of career opportunities it offers. • Electronics summer schools to attract school students towards studying for electronics engineering degrees and careers in Electronic Engineering. • A scholarship scheme, accessible to small and large companies, to link undergraduate students with electronics companies for work experience and to encourage progression into careers within the sector.

Minister for Higher Education David Lammy said, "It is essential that we raise awareness of the rewarding careers available to young people in our growth industries, such as those in the electronics sector and this new foundation will help provide the high quality industry-ready graduates we need for economic success."

The UKESF operational plan aims to have achieved the following levels of engagement with school and undergraduate students, companies and universities within 5 years: • 80 participants p.a. (16-17 year olds) on summer schools. • 1600 pupils p.a. (all ages) reached through employers engaging with schools. • 160 new undergraduate scholarships p.a. • Over 100 sponsoring companies. • Over 50 companies engaging with schools. • 10 partner universities across England, Scotland and Wales.

Professor Alun Vaughan, Deputy Head of School (Enterprise) in Electronics and Computer Science, commented: "We very much welcome this initiative, particularly the broad partnership of organizations we will be working with to encourage increased numbers of students to enter courses in electronic engineering. Our degree courses here in ECS cover a whole range of disciplines which affect us all, every day of our lives. It's essential that we produce graduates with the skills and understanding to play an effective role in developing these important technologies in the future, and in order to do that we need a really good flow of applicants to study electronics at university."

A team of three researchers from the School of Electronics and Computer Science defeated agents designed by researchers from Princeton University, Brown University, Rutgers University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan to win the inaugural Lemonade Game Tournament, contested on the Web earlier this month and run by Yahoo! researcher Martin Zinkevich.

The ECS researchers, Enrique Munoz de Cote, Archie Chapman and Adam Sykulski, are based in the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia research group. The game is set on Lemonade Island, and the aim is to set up your lemonade stall as far from the other players as possible. But the island is circular ... The task is to design an agent that could recognise a collaborator in a repeated three-player zero-sum game (the Lemonade Game). In the rules of the game, the agent must cooperate with the collaborator in order to defeat the unlucky third player. However, the agents are not able to communicate directly with one another, so they must indicate their willingness to collaborate by signalling, using the actions that they play in the game.

The approach taken by the ECS researchers was to classify the style of behaviour that other agents in the game are playing, and to use this to rank their potential as collaborators. Then, using game—theoretic reasoning, the agent would play a combination of actions that would hopefully indicate to the highest ranked agent that it would like to cooperate with it. The technique proved successful, and the researchers are improving their agent for the next running of the tournament.

Enrique, Archie and Adam all investigate problems arising at the intersection between multiagent systems, game theory, optimization and machine learning. Enrique has developed algorithms for solving stochasitc and extensive form games, Archie has investigated game-theoretic models of optimization problems and algorithms for solving them, while Adam has examined policies for learning in finite multi-armed bandits and noisy games.

A new series beginning on BBC2 on Saturday 30 January features ECS Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee in an exploration of how the Web has reshaped our lives over the last 20 years.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt, who has been working with Sir Tim Berners-Lee over the last seven months advising the UK Government on the release of public data, has been a consultant to the new four-part series, Virtual Revolution.

The series charts two decades of profound change since the invention of the World Wide Web, weighing up the huge benefits and the unforeseen downsides, and is presented by Aleks Krotoski. The first episode ‘The Great Levelling’ is shown on Saturday 30 January at 8.30 pm on BBC2 and then repeated at 11.20 pm on Monday 1 February, again on BBC2.

Virtual Revolution was an open and collaborative production, which encouraged the Web audience and developers to get involved in helping shape the series. In the early production stage, the BBC team attended a WebFest in ECS which involved a large number of researchers in a day of exploration and innovation on the Web.

The series covers the rise of social media, the effects of the Web on state power and influence, new business models arising from the opportunities on the Web, and the impact of the Web on the way we think, behave and relate to each other.

Speaking today (2 February), the Prime Minster, Gordon Brown hailed the work of ECS Professors Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt for the transformation they have brought to government processes.

In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research outlining plans for reform of the voting system, the Prime Minister referred to the work on freeing up access to public data led since June 2009 by Professor Berners-Lee and Professor Shadbolt. This has already resulted in the launch of the official data.gov.uk site, which the Prime Minster said 'is just the start of creating new, more transparent public services and public sector bodies'.

Referring to the achievement of data.gov.uk, the Prime Minister said: 'Already as a result of the Berners Lee /Shadbolt initiative a transformation is at work. A myriad of applications are being developed on the web by citizens for citizens - new websites on health, education, crime and local communities - that inform, enrich and enliven our democracy. It is truly direct democracy in action.'

The Government plans to release more information over coming months, making it easier to link datasets that will enable greater information about public services. In a parallel initiative Professor Shadbolt has also been asked to work with local government to ensure greater access to data held by councils and local government agencies. This work will continue over the next year.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

Rashik Parmar, IBM Chief Technology Officer for North-East Europe, will be visiting ECS on Friday 12 February to present a lecture on 'Global Technology Outlook: IBM Research’s Vision of the Future for IT'.

The IBM Global Technology Outlook is IBM Research’s vision of the future for IT and its impact on industries that use IT. It highlights emerging software, hardware, and services technology trends that are expected to significantly impact the IT sector in the next 3-7 years, enabling new uses and capabilities for IT. In particular, it identifies technologies that may be disruptive to an existing business, have the potential to create new opportunity and can provide new business value to customers. In the presentation, Rashik will provide an overview of the themes from the GTO and provide some insights into how IBM creates and uses this information.

During 35 years at IBM, Rashik has worked for financial, retail and manufacturing clients on projects of all sizes. Overall, he specializes in ensuring the technical success of complex IT projects.

ALL WELCOME

This lecture takes place at 3 pm on Friday 12 February, in the Nightingale Lecture Theatre, and is part of the Pervasive Systems Centre programme; there will be refreshments after the lecture.

Forty-one companies and organizations attended this year's ECS Careers Fair, offering a wide range of graduate jobs and internship opportunities.

Over 900 students visited the Fair, which took place in the University's Garden Court exhibition area on the Highfield Campus. The companies exhibiting ranged from multinational household names to small hi-tech start-ups, but they all shared a common interest in recruiting students from the School of Electronics and Computer Science. This was the third Fair to have been held by the School and it forms an integral part of our collaboration with employers. Companies have many opportunities to work with the School; these are detailed in the Business Collaboration information, linked from our Business pages. For further information about working with ECS, contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.