January 2012

As always we have several things to do starting in January, and it appears I have some more time since I organized my work somewhat more efficiently. Currently I am working with five students on projects on camera identification with PRNU, detection of image manipulation, heart beat detection in video and quantization tables in JPEG. It works often very efficient to have validation studies on several topics, since often journal articles do not directly translate in forensic solutions which have been validated.

Also working on some casework on forensic multimedia, doing some review work and participating in project proposals. Of course since budget cuts are near, it is time to look for new solutions which make work more efficiently. Most often in my experience with some pressure on budgets the nicest solutions are developed, as long as there remains some time for doing research, which is often not easy since forensic casework is of course the most important.

As you might have seen, I also have sometimes guest posts for this blog, which also helps with seeing the contents. The latest is of Melanie Slaugh on mobile forensics. New developments in this field are very rapidly making old methods less useful, so it is important to do very much development in this field, and know forensic properties of new devices that are handled. 

December was a month for planning, and January we have to do the real work, also in private life, to make more balance. The good thing it started right with many days that I could take my bicycle to my work, as is usual in the Netherlands. Since I live near the beach, I can go with my bicycle through the dunes without any traffic jams, and it always helps to make new plans, and evaluate the day.