The Fox Report
Barry Fox’s technology column
From virtual reality to virtue signalling
I
AAPA , the self-styled ‘Global
Association for the Attractions
Industry’ (don’t ask me how the
acronym derives), recently came to the
ExCel Conference Centre in Docklands
near London City Airport. (See: www.
iaapa.org/expos/iaapa-expo-europe
for more details.)
Founded in 1918, IAAPA is – in
plainer English – the trade body for
companies involved in the big business
behind the world’s amusement parks,
theme parks, attractions, water parks,
resorts, family entertainment centres,
zoos, aquariums, science centres, museums, cruise lines, manufacturers and
their suppliers.
ExCel is a huge cluster of giant,
utilitarian exhibition halls, now nicely
accessible by the new Elizabeth tube
line as well as the driverless Docklands
Light Railway.
If you’ve ever watched the movie,
The Long Good Friday, the transformed
ex-docks area round ExCel is what Bob
Hoskins cleverly foresaw before he was
scarily disappeared in the back of a cab.
I went along looking for new electronic technology that might make a day
at a ‘park’ more fun… or more scary.
What I came away with was an overriding impression, best summed up
by a bunch of pictures. In a nutshell,
the Attractions industry sees the next
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big thing as virtual reality (VR) and
augmented reality (AR). Although
only a few couch potatoes will don
headsets to watch movies (which is
what so absolutely predictably kills
3DTV and cinema 3D every time it is
re-invented) people who go to theme
parks may well be up for wearing one.
Put simply, the theme park industry is over-layering VR/AR tech on
conventional park rides, games and
experiences – see the pictures below.
Most speak for themselves, except the
one which shows the tribute to the
Queen – who had just died – electronically plastered all over ExCel’s
front entrance. What a pity no-one
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Practical Electronics | December | 2022
on ExCel’s tech staff seemed to have
noticed that the Windows PC used
to source the image had downloaded
itself an operating system update and
was begging for a re-start.
Online ‘safety’
The UK will be one of the first countries
in the world to pass laws aimed at making online users safer, while preserving
freedom of expression. The Online
Safety Bill – due 2023 – will introduce
rules for sites and apps such as social
media, search engines and messaging
platforms, along with pretty much every
service used to share content online.
Few people will argue with the basic
idea and good intention, providing it is
handled well. So, who will handle it?
A safe pair of hands?
Ofcom has the gig, and says it will,
‘within the first 100 days,’ have a draft
Code of Practice for the industry and
then ‘consult publicly’ ahead of going
live in 2024. Ofcom will have ‘a range
of investigation and enforcement powers’, ‘build on the expertise we have
already brought in from the technology
industry’, ‘work with other regulators…
to ensure a joined-up approach’ and
‘ensure the tech companies are more
transparent and can be held to account
for their actions.’
Says Ofcom: ‘The Bill does not give
Ofcom powers to moderate or respond
to individual’s complaints about individual pieces of content…the sheer
volume of online content would make
that impractical.’
Fair enough, but it means Ofcom
will have to rely on unspecified other
bodies to steer enforcement. This is
exactly the way it works for controlling
telecoms service providers; or, frankly,
doesn’t work.
As I put on record in Practical
Electronics in October 2022, Ofcom’s
Practical Electronics | December | 2022
consumer complaints process is a pantomime farce which can trap anyone
daring to complain about a telecoms service provider in a circular loop – with
Ofcom refusing to accept individual
complaints and referring people to the
Telecoms Ombudsman and Information Commissioner (ICO), while the
Ombudsman refers complaints back to
Ofcom and to the ICO, while the ICO
refers people back to the Ombudsman;
and all the while Ofcom boasts that
the number of complaints is falling, as
people doubtless just get weary of life
and give up on complaining.
Just for the heck of it, I sent Dame
Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, a personally addressed letter,
suggesting that if she were interested in
the way Ofcom’s own guide literature is
muddled and how real-world complaints
can get loop-locked, I would show her
some carefully documented examples.
My letter mysteriously failed to reach
her office. Ofcom then asked for a
resend but failed to provide a direct
email address for her office or personal
assistant. So, fool that I am, I travelled
to London and hand-delivered a copy
to Ofcom’s HQ in Southwark, along
with hard copy of the PE article.
I’ve heard nothing from Dame Dawes,
but a member of the Ofcom’s Consumer
Contact Team has been delegated to
recommend seeking independent legal
advice and using Ofcom’s complaints
system to complain about Ofcom.
They just don’t get it, do they? And
it surely hangs a question mark over
how Ofcom will now handle the extra
task of controlling Online Safety.
…and finally
I collect examples of how official bodies
are often run by officials who clearly
do not use the IT they are expecting
consumers to use – or have utter contempt for consumers.
The latest, and one of the best yet
examples, is to be found on Camden Council’s Planning Search site. I
suggest you look quickly before they
finally wake up to the absurdity of
the search process, which has so far
obstructed anyone trying to trace a
planning application for a building,
by not unreasonably expecting it to
show up under its street address, see:
https://bit.ly/pe-dec22-daft
Note the instruction that to search
by site address, ‘you can enter a house
number and street name or post code’.
So far, so good. But you also need to
know that the ‘Site address is sensitive
to punctuation and spaces. Do not use
commas or the word London.’
Hmmm. Not very user-friendly. But
let it pass. But here’s the killer-driller:
if you want to get a result from your
search you must, ‘use % when typing
addresses; eg, %1%Camden%Road%.’
Discovering this Boolean obstacle to
essential everyday planning business
makes yet another of those ‘couldn’t
make it up’ moments.
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