Well, our group made a discovery about the home page. Apparently it doesn't want to be renamed. Sadly, we learned this the hard way. We discussed changing the name of the home page to something more descriptive, and Wikispaces acted like it was OK with changing the name of the home page. However, much our surprise, it renamed the page and then set up a redirect for the home page. The bad thing about that is that it also put a nice message at the top of the screen stating that the page was a redirect. It was quite an annoying message, and it was large, too. So, that had to go.
The difficulty is that once set up, it took some doing to get the deed undone. This made for an interesting day earlier this week. I had twenty-five messages waiting for me when I got home from school that day.
The good news was that it was fixable.
The strange part was that I was needing to start my classes that day with a disclaimer. I did this because I could only see the emails stating that there was a problem, but I couldn't get a the wiki page to fix anything. So, I would start my classes with the comment, "If I laugh hysterically or manically, here's why..." My students had mixed reactions to my troubles. Mostly they reacted better than I expected actually.
But now its all better, and I am going to get kicked off the computer. So bye.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Dreaded Upgrade
There are times that technology intrudes on our lives. I say this as a computer geek and just as a normal person. It isn't that the computer geeks try to make computers intrude. They just do it seems.
This is the reason that when I was teaching computer science, there were days that I couldn't bring myself to turn on my computer -- not even to play a video game. It was work. I wanted to leave the computer alone, and I wanted to leave the computer alone.
I say all this because my sister has been having a strange weekend this weekend. Generally, she is a chemist. Indeed, her degree and job title say that she is. Some of her co-workers do wonder, however.
She has been working with the IT folks at the, um, local pharmaceutical company, doing a rollout of a new version of some software. The software runs on some critical (and pricey) pieces of equipment. The other thing that makes the rollout unusual is that the data stored in the systems involved is mission critical data. Well, I suppose that's not unusal. Most company's data is mission critical to the company -- otherwise, why are they bothering? Well, anyway. She has been playing IT person this weekend. So, I've been hearing stories of how things have been. I must say that the problems (all too familiar) do sound different when they are someone else's problem (even my sister's). The good news is that she (and the rest of the IT folks) were done and that she was home.
This is a good thing. This was attempt number 2, and this weekend is Mom's birthday, and attempt number 1 was during our brother's birthday. So, as I said, the silly computer were intruding. The computer thought that it would be best to be upgraded during Mom's birthday. What a silly computer, but of course, it still got its way.
This is the reason that when I was teaching computer science, there were days that I couldn't bring myself to turn on my computer -- not even to play a video game. It was work. I wanted to leave the computer alone, and I wanted to leave the computer alone.
I say all this because my sister has been having a strange weekend this weekend. Generally, she is a chemist. Indeed, her degree and job title say that she is. Some of her co-workers do wonder, however.
She has been working with the IT folks at the, um, local pharmaceutical company, doing a rollout of a new version of some software. The software runs on some critical (and pricey) pieces of equipment. The other thing that makes the rollout unusual is that the data stored in the systems involved is mission critical data. Well, I suppose that's not unusal. Most company's data is mission critical to the company -- otherwise, why are they bothering? Well, anyway. She has been playing IT person this weekend. So, I've been hearing stories of how things have been. I must say that the problems (all too familiar) do sound different when they are someone else's problem (even my sister's). The good news is that she (and the rest of the IT folks) were done and that she was home.
This is a good thing. This was attempt number 2, and this weekend is Mom's birthday, and attempt number 1 was during our brother's birthday. So, as I said, the silly computer were intruding. The computer thought that it would be best to be upgraded during Mom's birthday. What a silly computer, but of course, it still got its way.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Camtasia and Screencasting
Camtasia was an interesting program. It seemed to work in a very intuitive fashion (which is rare) and the tutorials that they provide are actually helpful. That much impressed me.
The process of doing the screen casting was about what I expected, but it did take time. The first thing that took a while was looking through the five or six tutorials that seemed interesting. I'm glad I did, but it still took time.
The process of setting up the training and having everything ready wasn't too bad, but I did end up needing to re-do a little bit. That is a bit tricky. I must say that I didn't attempt to narrate while working through the tutorial. I can see how that would be possible, but you'd really have to be able to multi-task your brain to be able to pull it off.
My part was the recording of the original video, and I put a few callout (arrows) in the one video also. I started putting titles into the same video, and I split the video where the titles would go, but after seeing the result, I'm not sure if the final project will have titles or not. Oh well.
The one surprise was that moving the project from my computer to one of my team member's was actually pretty tricky. It wasn't the program's fault, either. The program has a mechanism for saving the files as a zip, and it seemed to work just as advertised. The problem was that sending a 20, 30 or 40 meg file was making my computer (or something) unhappy. I'm pretty sure that my school (FC not IUPUI) email would have rejected or eaten files of that size, and it probably would have turned up its nose at a zip attachment (with good reason). However, the OnCourse messages seemed to be perfectly happy sending the zipped attachments. I suppose that is because some class work might need that capability, this one for example. Who knew?
Well, at any rate, my portion of the tutorial process has been handed off, and the process is moving on to the next phase. I suppose it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
The process of doing the screen casting was about what I expected, but it did take time. The first thing that took a while was looking through the five or six tutorials that seemed interesting. I'm glad I did, but it still took time.
The process of setting up the training and having everything ready wasn't too bad, but I did end up needing to re-do a little bit. That is a bit tricky. I must say that I didn't attempt to narrate while working through the tutorial. I can see how that would be possible, but you'd really have to be able to multi-task your brain to be able to pull it off.
My part was the recording of the original video, and I put a few callout (arrows) in the one video also. I started putting titles into the same video, and I split the video where the titles would go, but after seeing the result, I'm not sure if the final project will have titles or not. Oh well.
The one surprise was that moving the project from my computer to one of my team member's was actually pretty tricky. It wasn't the program's fault, either. The program has a mechanism for saving the files as a zip, and it seemed to work just as advertised. The problem was that sending a 20, 30 or 40 meg file was making my computer (or something) unhappy. I'm pretty sure that my school (FC not IUPUI) email would have rejected or eaten files of that size, and it probably would have turned up its nose at a zip attachment (with good reason). However, the OnCourse messages seemed to be perfectly happy sending the zipped attachments. I suppose that is because some class work might need that capability, this one for example. Who knew?
Well, at any rate, my portion of the tutorial process has been handed off, and the process is moving on to the next phase. I suppose it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Monday, March 31, 2008
E-books and Internet Cafes
As I sit here contemplating technology, I'm looking at a book shelf full of books. I do wonder what the information sources will look like in a few years.
Don't get me wrong. I believe that books (paper books) will persist through my life time. I'm not saying anything about the upcoming technologies by saying this. This is a comment on the people involved -- the people age 25 and up will continue to want to hold a book in their hands for a long time. That period of time will probably be for the rest of their lives. Professionally, for me, that means that books will be sitting in libraries for a while.
Now, for the other side of that problem. The books will continue to exist, but they might not continue to exist with the same prominence that they currently enjoy. I don't think this is too much of a stretch, really. Black and white movies and silent movies are still available, but they aren't the main thing. So the paper books will eventually work their way into the "literature" section of the library with the other old stuff.
The interesting piece though is what happens next. Let's say that someone were to make a nice interface for an electronic book (or really, an electronic library) with all the things that go along with it. The purchasing, lending, leasing, reading, printing, and searching have all been worked out. Let's then say that this trinket actually catches on. Apple could do this, for example. Let's just say that they decide they want to and do it.
Then in a period of five years, all the paper books would be relegated to a different category in the library... and most libraries would be configured incorrectly. In fact, in that case, libraries would be in big trouble. An Apple computer-like site that provided books for download for purchase or rent would make a library a very difficult sell.
I suppose this gets a the question of what a library is. In one sense I think that a libary is like a Blockbuster or Family Video version of Borders. The main difference is that the library generally has better meeting facilities and the computer facilities are free. If Borders opened an Internet cafe and had a "party room" the differences would be even smaller. Consider that a public library is a government subsidized book and media rental place, with the fees charged only (or mainly) on overdue items.
Having said that, if someone does start offering e-books, Borders and all those sorts of stores will be worse off than the libraries, so that is something. In fact, that might be one of the reasons that all of the books stores sell music and DVDs also. They want to be able to sell media when the time comes -- or else they will cease to exist.
The reason that this sort of change will be difficult for librarians is that the change will mark a further change in the design of libraries. If the books are not current -- not in the main stream anymore -- but the content is available through other means, then something strange happens. Take away all the sections of the building that are dedicated to storing, moving and finding books (specfically) and huge chunks of existing library buildings just go away.
The library will become something more like an Internet Cafe than it is now. The good news is that I like coffee. In that sort of environment, the library staff will be largely the sort of staff that you'd find at an internet cafe. That would be techie types and quite possibly people serving up beverages. There will be ample opportunity for assistance, but it will be a different kind. It will look a lot like technology training, I think. The reason I think this is that Apple (or whoever else pulls off a "nice" ebook) will surely have a quality interface, with training and tutorials and references and whatever, built into their service. That is a necessary component for the ebook to be "nice."
Well, anyway, I was just trying to contemplate what a good ebook would do to a library. I think it's coming, and when it comes it will happen fast. By fast, I mean Apple iTunes fast. Well, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Don't get me wrong. I believe that books (paper books) will persist through my life time. I'm not saying anything about the upcoming technologies by saying this. This is a comment on the people involved -- the people age 25 and up will continue to want to hold a book in their hands for a long time. That period of time will probably be for the rest of their lives. Professionally, for me, that means that books will be sitting in libraries for a while.
Now, for the other side of that problem. The books will continue to exist, but they might not continue to exist with the same prominence that they currently enjoy. I don't think this is too much of a stretch, really. Black and white movies and silent movies are still available, but they aren't the main thing. So the paper books will eventually work their way into the "literature" section of the library with the other old stuff.
The interesting piece though is what happens next. Let's say that someone were to make a nice interface for an electronic book (or really, an electronic library) with all the things that go along with it. The purchasing, lending, leasing, reading, printing, and searching have all been worked out. Let's then say that this trinket actually catches on. Apple could do this, for example. Let's just say that they decide they want to and do it.
Then in a period of five years, all the paper books would be relegated to a different category in the library... and most libraries would be configured incorrectly. In fact, in that case, libraries would be in big trouble. An Apple computer-like site that provided books for download for purchase or rent would make a library a very difficult sell.
I suppose this gets a the question of what a library is. In one sense I think that a libary is like a Blockbuster or Family Video version of Borders. The main difference is that the library generally has better meeting facilities and the computer facilities are free. If Borders opened an Internet cafe and had a "party room" the differences would be even smaller. Consider that a public library is a government subsidized book and media rental place, with the fees charged only (or mainly) on overdue items.
Having said that, if someone does start offering e-books, Borders and all those sorts of stores will be worse off than the libraries, so that is something. In fact, that might be one of the reasons that all of the books stores sell music and DVDs also. They want to be able to sell media when the time comes -- or else they will cease to exist.
The reason that this sort of change will be difficult for librarians is that the change will mark a further change in the design of libraries. If the books are not current -- not in the main stream anymore -- but the content is available through other means, then something strange happens. Take away all the sections of the building that are dedicated to storing, moving and finding books (specfically) and huge chunks of existing library buildings just go away.
The library will become something more like an Internet Cafe than it is now. The good news is that I like coffee. In that sort of environment, the library staff will be largely the sort of staff that you'd find at an internet cafe. That would be techie types and quite possibly people serving up beverages. There will be ample opportunity for assistance, but it will be a different kind. It will look a lot like technology training, I think. The reason I think this is that Apple (or whoever else pulls off a "nice" ebook) will surely have a quality interface, with training and tutorials and references and whatever, built into their service. That is a necessary component for the ebook to be "nice."
Well, anyway, I was just trying to contemplate what a good ebook would do to a library. I think it's coming, and when it comes it will happen fast. By fast, I mean Apple iTunes fast. Well, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Slugging it out
Today I learned something with the computer at the school. The ICP teacher and I worked on a test today. The first part is something that I had done before. The first part is the part where you make the test. That I've done before. However, today I got to experience the joy of bubble sheets.
I don't think I'd used the bubble sheets as a teacher before, mostly because I generally didn't make multiple choice tests before this year. This is partly because when teaching computers (which I have tended to teach) I normally had a "hands-on" portion, and when creating code, I normally had a part of the test where students wrote code.
Also, multiple choice questions are sort of hard to write. They are wonderful to use, but they are hard to write (well, comparatively, I suppose).
So, back to the bubble sheets. I've used the "fake" bubble sheets before, but for this coming test we are using the really, real scantron sheets. The reason for this is that we are going to analyze how well students do on the test. Hopefully, they do well. It will make the analysis (and grades) much more fun. Anyway, to to do the analysis, some computer somewhere (through the web) gets copies of all sorts of stuff along with a list of state standards.
The thing that I did today was "pre-slug" the answer sheets. One of the steps is to send the answer sheets through the printer and get names and so forth printed on them. That is known as pre-slugging apparently. Who knew.
And, I might add, as I have mentioned before, printers are basically evil. The report (with ten dozen pages) went to the wrong (color laser) printer instead of the printer that the tests were in. The program assumed that I wanted to use the other one. Probably the printer tricked it. Printers are sneaky. Always keep an eye on your printer.
I don't think I'd used the bubble sheets as a teacher before, mostly because I generally didn't make multiple choice tests before this year. This is partly because when teaching computers (which I have tended to teach) I normally had a "hands-on" portion, and when creating code, I normally had a part of the test where students wrote code.
Also, multiple choice questions are sort of hard to write. They are wonderful to use, but they are hard to write (well, comparatively, I suppose).
So, back to the bubble sheets. I've used the "fake" bubble sheets before, but for this coming test we are using the really, real scantron sheets. The reason for this is that we are going to analyze how well students do on the test. Hopefully, they do well. It will make the analysis (and grades) much more fun. Anyway, to to do the analysis, some computer somewhere (through the web) gets copies of all sorts of stuff along with a list of state standards.
The thing that I did today was "pre-slug" the answer sheets. One of the steps is to send the answer sheets through the printer and get names and so forth printed on them. That is known as pre-slugging apparently. Who knew.
And, I might add, as I have mentioned before, printers are basically evil. The report (with ten dozen pages) went to the wrong (color laser) printer instead of the printer that the tests were in. The program assumed that I wanted to use the other one. Probably the printer tricked it. Printers are sneaky. Always keep an eye on your printer.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Google was down
Well, I have actually had two sorts of difficulties trying to post to the blog so far. The first problem is one that is persistent, and won't go away. The problem is that all blogs (personal sites) are blocked by the firewall at the school that I work for. This means that I can't post anything during the day, sadly. It would be handy, because that would provide for a little break in the day. It would at least be a change from grading papers.
The second problem I had was that Google's server was down on Saturday for a period of time. It had completed a post, and blogspot ate it. I don't know what the deal was, but that was kind of a sad thing.
However, the one thing for me to consider is that for me, as a teacher, the fact of firewalls means that there are certain things that a school librarian (and perhaps a librarian for youth even in a public library) shouldn't put on a blog exclusively. If the purpose of the blog is to serve students and teachers in a K-12 setting, and if those people do not have continuous access to a blog, it wouldn't make sense to post things to a blog to serve them.
Having said that, it might still help them after hours or when they are in a public library.
Also, since I've been the one to set up a school's firewall (not this school, but a different one), I understand why the blogs are blocked, and I don't have a problem with them being blocked. In fact, I'm rather happy they are. However, for this particular project it does make things a little more interesting. Oh well.
Oh, and hopefully this one will go through.
The second problem I had was that Google's server was down on Saturday for a period of time. It had completed a post, and blogspot ate it. I don't know what the deal was, but that was kind of a sad thing.
However, the one thing for me to consider is that for me, as a teacher, the fact of firewalls means that there are certain things that a school librarian (and perhaps a librarian for youth even in a public library) shouldn't put on a blog exclusively. If the purpose of the blog is to serve students and teachers in a K-12 setting, and if those people do not have continuous access to a blog, it wouldn't make sense to post things to a blog to serve them.
Having said that, it might still help them after hours or when they are in a public library.
Also, since I've been the one to set up a school's firewall (not this school, but a different one), I understand why the blogs are blocked, and I don't have a problem with them being blocked. In fact, I'm rather happy they are. However, for this particular project it does make things a little more interesting. Oh well.
Oh, and hopefully this one will go through.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The other technology thing...
What technology will be pervasive in a generation?
I've pondered that question on occasion. The answers you get are pretty strange. The computer and the other communications devices will continue to grow in power, connectivity and speed. At the same time, they will get smaller and the price for what they currently do will go down. I say that last carefully because with technology, they sell you what you can't do now. That part stays on the spendy end, but even the cost of a high-end computer has gone down over time.
I suppose a person might look at an iPhone or a laptop keyboard and ask, "How can this possibly get much smaller?" Well, just wait. It will. Did you know that the chip manufactures are coming up on a physical limitation in the speed of chips? There will shortly need to be a major breakthrough in the design of computer chips to allow the speed of techonological devices to continue unabated. I'm pretty sure that breakthrough will happen in due course, and it is possible most people won't even know that it happened.
I suppose it might be some other way of getting around the problem. It could be that in a few years it will be common to have 64 processors burned onto a chip and to stick all of them into a computer at one go. You might even have 80 or so, and be guartanteed that 64 of them will work. (It will be iffy at first.) But, however it happens, the speed and power of the computer will continue to climb, and the size will continue to shrink. You might wonder how this could be. Well, I don't know exactly.
However, I do think that when my students are out teaching, they'll have a dilly of time trying separate their students from their technology during a test. And, for that matter, they'll have dilly of time separating their students from each other during a test.
Sometimes it's hard now, actually. It's hard to know the difference between a thinking student and a txting student. It will only get trickier as time goes on.
I've pondered that question on occasion. The answers you get are pretty strange. The computer and the other communications devices will continue to grow in power, connectivity and speed. At the same time, they will get smaller and the price for what they currently do will go down. I say that last carefully because with technology, they sell you what you can't do now. That part stays on the spendy end, but even the cost of a high-end computer has gone down over time.
I suppose a person might look at an iPhone or a laptop keyboard and ask, "How can this possibly get much smaller?" Well, just wait. It will. Did you know that the chip manufactures are coming up on a physical limitation in the speed of chips? There will shortly need to be a major breakthrough in the design of computer chips to allow the speed of techonological devices to continue unabated. I'm pretty sure that breakthrough will happen in due course, and it is possible most people won't even know that it happened.
I suppose it might be some other way of getting around the problem. It could be that in a few years it will be common to have 64 processors burned onto a chip and to stick all of them into a computer at one go. You might even have 80 or so, and be guartanteed that 64 of them will work. (It will be iffy at first.) But, however it happens, the speed and power of the computer will continue to climb, and the size will continue to shrink. You might wonder how this could be. Well, I don't know exactly.
However, I do think that when my students are out teaching, they'll have a dilly of time trying separate their students from their technology during a test. And, for that matter, they'll have dilly of time separating their students from each other during a test.
Sometimes it's hard now, actually. It's hard to know the difference between a thinking student and a txting student. It will only get trickier as time goes on.
Children of the Masterchief
Do you like the title? I think that would be a great title for the coming generation: "Children of the Masterchief." The Masterchief is a character in the video game "Halo" in its various forms and versions. Some of the guys I have in class have spent more time with the masterchief than than they will have with me, I think. I suppose that would only (only, he says) five hours a week during the school year to do that. That would equate (using forty weeks as a guide) to 200 hours for a full year. I'd say some of the guys I know have had that amount of time in in a year easily.
I haven't, mostly because I know that if I bought an xbox I'd need to give up little things like food and sleep, and that wouldn't be a good thing.
Basically what I'm saying the folks at xbox have the attention of some of my students for more time in a year than I have them in class. In some cases, I think than several teachers together have them in class. That might not be entirely healthy.
I suppose the same thing was said about the Atari and Pong ever so long ago. The one glaring difference is that Pong didn't have a warning on it for violence and gore. I suppose that means I'm getting old. Perhaps. In fairness, I wasn't much of a fan of Wolfenstein in the eighties.
I am somewhat concerned that the masterchief may be a good teacher. What if my students listen to what he says to them while traipsing through alien battle fields? What if he can motivate them in ways that I can't? What if that silly, glowing green box speaks to my students in some primal way? Frankly, it concerns me that it probably does. I suppose we'll see.
And as I age, I'm not looking forward to the one who will come after the masterchief. He'll be even harder to ignore.
I haven't, mostly because I know that if I bought an xbox I'd need to give up little things like food and sleep, and that wouldn't be a good thing.
Basically what I'm saying the folks at xbox have the attention of some of my students for more time in a year than I have them in class. In some cases, I think than several teachers together have them in class. That might not be entirely healthy.
I suppose the same thing was said about the Atari and Pong ever so long ago. The one glaring difference is that Pong didn't have a warning on it for violence and gore. I suppose that means I'm getting old. Perhaps. In fairness, I wasn't much of a fan of Wolfenstein in the eighties.
I am somewhat concerned that the masterchief may be a good teacher. What if my students listen to what he says to them while traipsing through alien battle fields? What if he can motivate them in ways that I can't? What if that silly, glowing green box speaks to my students in some primal way? Frankly, it concerns me that it probably does. I suppose we'll see.
And as I age, I'm not looking forward to the one who will come after the masterchief. He'll be even harder to ignore.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Bit Rusty
I just made a theme for our project site, and now I'm waiting for the site itself.
This has been quite a day. It took a bit longer than I was hoping, but I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with.
However, I'm stopping work on it for now for fear that I might find something wrong with it. There probably are some things that need fixing, but ignoring them for now would be difficult if I know about them. So, for my own sanity I'm going to stop looking. That might sound weird, but it really is best.
Anyway, back to being a little rusty. I'm a little out of practice with the HTML and the CSS. I must say it was good to work through a project like this to get back into things a bit. Working with the wiki themes has been a bit of a trick because wikispace tries to make things nice and easy. This means that doing something out of the ordinary can be quite complicated. Oh well.
Hopefully what I've done today will work.
As for the project itself, it is going to be dicey trying to get blocks of time to work on the project. Today I had the time, and I took it. Hopefully most of what I did is correct... finding another full day will be difficult. The good news is that I think it might be close to correct.
This has been quite a day. It took a bit longer than I was hoping, but I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with.
However, I'm stopping work on it for now for fear that I might find something wrong with it. There probably are some things that need fixing, but ignoring them for now would be difficult if I know about them. So, for my own sanity I'm going to stop looking. That might sound weird, but it really is best.
Anyway, back to being a little rusty. I'm a little out of practice with the HTML and the CSS. I must say it was good to work through a project like this to get back into things a bit. Working with the wiki themes has been a bit of a trick because wikispace tries to make things nice and easy. This means that doing something out of the ordinary can be quite complicated. Oh well.
Hopefully what I've done today will work.
As for the project itself, it is going to be dicey trying to get blocks of time to work on the project. Today I had the time, and I took it. Hopefully most of what I did is correct... finding another full day will be difficult. The good news is that I think it might be close to correct.
Monday, February 18, 2008
A Measure of Success
You need to take pleasure in the small successes, I suppose.
I had one of those this week, I think. I made a worksheet for a lab write-up, and I was able to do it in a short period of time. This was a success because it had to be done in a short period of time. Sometimes the time crunch complicates things, but it was ok.
The lab was to make little boats out of aluminum foil and then to sink them with pennies. As it turned out, two of the students said they had done the lab before. One had done it the semester before at Manual (where they do the last chapters first), and one had done the lab in middle school. Either way, they hadn't done that version of the lab, since it didn't exist until the day before. This is another case where if it weren't for the last minute, some things would never get done.
The one not so great thing was the other project I did. It was a bonus project that had a couple of puzzles on it. The problem is that I introduced some typos into the project, and some typos are just hard to catch. I had the code wrong for a secret code (which all showed as typos) and I had two extra boxes in a crossword puzzle. Again, hard to catch.
As for computer problems in general, the one that I'm facing presently is a rather strange one. The other teacher for my class had a computer that got hit with viruses. So, he gave his computer to one of his students to kill the viruses. He's hoping to get it back soon, but for the present he is computer-less. Computer viruses are evil, wicked things -- and that is my professional opinion.
As for the library systems part of life, I have looked at a page making wiki templates, and it was not entirely clear. I'll need to go through some templates to see what to make of some of the codes. The page that I'm supposed to use as a model is worse: it is clearly ugly. The front part is fine, it's the stuff in the background that's not nice to look at. I suspect that a graphical interface was used to generate the code, and that will make slicing and dicing the code even more fun. So, I might slice and dice something I've used before to make it look like that page that is the model. The twist is that I've not used that template for a wiki page, but it is worth a try.
I had one of those this week, I think. I made a worksheet for a lab write-up, and I was able to do it in a short period of time. This was a success because it had to be done in a short period of time. Sometimes the time crunch complicates things, but it was ok.
The lab was to make little boats out of aluminum foil and then to sink them with pennies. As it turned out, two of the students said they had done the lab before. One had done it the semester before at Manual (where they do the last chapters first), and one had done the lab in middle school. Either way, they hadn't done that version of the lab, since it didn't exist until the day before. This is another case where if it weren't for the last minute, some things would never get done.
The one not so great thing was the other project I did. It was a bonus project that had a couple of puzzles on it. The problem is that I introduced some typos into the project, and some typos are just hard to catch. I had the code wrong for a secret code (which all showed as typos) and I had two extra boxes in a crossword puzzle. Again, hard to catch.
As for computer problems in general, the one that I'm facing presently is a rather strange one. The other teacher for my class had a computer that got hit with viruses. So, he gave his computer to one of his students to kill the viruses. He's hoping to get it back soon, but for the present he is computer-less. Computer viruses are evil, wicked things -- and that is my professional opinion.
As for the library systems part of life, I have looked at a page making wiki templates, and it was not entirely clear. I'll need to go through some templates to see what to make of some of the codes. The page that I'm supposed to use as a model is worse: it is clearly ugly. The front part is fine, it's the stuff in the background that's not nice to look at. I suspect that a graphical interface was used to generate the code, and that will make slicing and dicing the code even more fun. So, I might slice and dice something I've used before to make it look like that page that is the model. The twist is that I've not used that template for a wiki page, but it is worth a try.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Case Studies
The case studies have been an interesting experience for me. I say this because I am one for whom the case studies were not necessarily a new thing. I have thought about what goes on in a library during a conversion, and I have done data analysis, and I have process analysis.
For here things get a little strange.
It has been a while since I've done data analysis in quite this way. My most recent programming job had me doing web programming, and I did need to explain the data model to another person. However, generally the data model I used was close to the SQL code, and the one I explained to the other person was the data as it would appear on the screen (in a form). Since I needed to think about the form anyway, this was actually a useful prototype.
The last classes that I taught were VB and C++. These are rapid prototyping languages, and they are object oriented languages. This sort of made the data models tilt in a particular direction. The rapid prototyping part meant that the models tended to start as sketches of the screen, if I could get students to think about what they were doing. The objects we created tended to have lists of properties, and the other things they had going on were not easily graphed.
There were times that diagrams came into play, for lists, trees and so forth.
The process diagrams, flowcharts, are something I've done also. However, I haven't done flowcharts as such for some time. When I did FORTRAN, we did flowcharts. I even had one of the little plastic flowchart template thingies. I don't have one currently.
When I taught VB and C++ I normally didn't teach the flowcharting. Particularly with the VB, the nature of the language tends to make any one piece of code rather short. A flowchart and psuedocode wouldn't look that different for most sections of code. So, it was just simpler to look at psuedocode as a good option. The other thing is that to complete either, you have to be able to see the end from the beginning. Generally, my students needed to get to a certain point to see the problems. That's when the discussion happened about how to do something.
Sometimes, the students would be able to see farther and farther into the process. When they could look and see problems before they happen, that was a real success. When they could look all the way to the end of the project, that was something else again.
As for my experience making the case studies, I found that openoffice worked well for making the flowcharts, and I used an org chart (in Power Point) to make the data model. I don't know if either was the easiest, but they were at least manageable.
I'm thinking that I could have made either flowchart about twice as detailed, but nothing huge comes to mind that I left out. If I actually had to code it, I'd be looking through things with a fine toothed comb looking for what wasn't there. Mostly this would be details that the librarian doesn't see. But they're there.
For here things get a little strange.
It has been a while since I've done data analysis in quite this way. My most recent programming job had me doing web programming, and I did need to explain the data model to another person. However, generally the data model I used was close to the SQL code, and the one I explained to the other person was the data as it would appear on the screen (in a form). Since I needed to think about the form anyway, this was actually a useful prototype.
The last classes that I taught were VB and C++. These are rapid prototyping languages, and they are object oriented languages. This sort of made the data models tilt in a particular direction. The rapid prototyping part meant that the models tended to start as sketches of the screen, if I could get students to think about what they were doing. The objects we created tended to have lists of properties, and the other things they had going on were not easily graphed.
There were times that diagrams came into play, for lists, trees and so forth.
The process diagrams, flowcharts, are something I've done also. However, I haven't done flowcharts as such for some time. When I did FORTRAN, we did flowcharts. I even had one of the little plastic flowchart template thingies. I don't have one currently.
When I taught VB and C++ I normally didn't teach the flowcharting. Particularly with the VB, the nature of the language tends to make any one piece of code rather short. A flowchart and psuedocode wouldn't look that different for most sections of code. So, it was just simpler to look at psuedocode as a good option. The other thing is that to complete either, you have to be able to see the end from the beginning. Generally, my students needed to get to a certain point to see the problems. That's when the discussion happened about how to do something.
Sometimes, the students would be able to see farther and farther into the process. When they could look and see problems before they happen, that was a real success. When they could look all the way to the end of the project, that was something else again.
As for my experience making the case studies, I found that openoffice worked well for making the flowcharts, and I used an org chart (in Power Point) to make the data model. I don't know if either was the easiest, but they were at least manageable.
I'm thinking that I could have made either flowchart about twice as detailed, but nothing huge comes to mind that I left out. If I actually had to code it, I'd be looking through things with a fine toothed comb looking for what wasn't there. Mostly this would be details that the librarian doesn't see. But they're there.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Thoughts on Technology
I've been thinking about the technology discussed in class. There were a few things that came to mind.
First, I don't use RSS at present. The reason for this is that I don't follow any blogs regularly. This isn't to say that I wouldn't, but I don't. For me to start following a blog it would need to meet some fairly rigid criteria, I think. First, it would need to be informative, and probably technical. It would need to be interesting. It would need to be useful to me -- probably useful in a professional sense.
This last bit would be tricky. While I am a librarian in training, I am also a teacher at present. Today I am a teacher. As such, a blog would need to be teaching me how to be a good physics teacher to be spectacularly useful right now. They exist, I know this. However, I don't know of any right now. I might by the time that the year is out.
The personal blogs really don't hold much interest for me. There are several blogs and social sites I could follow (and probably should) as they belong to friends from church, friends from former places of employ, and my students (past and present). However, one thing keeping me from starting is that there are many of them and only one of me.
The other thing is that I would have to act on any information that I found on a student site, if you know what I mean. I don't want to appear to be hunting down students. I've needed to, and it's not fun. That is one "computer guy" job that isn't fun.
As for using technology, I use a computer almost daily, but at present I'm not doing anything revolutionary with it. I'm tracking grades and attendance and emails. That really is about it. The one thing that I did discover is that there are some weird things about the grade program. I say this because I've used (and trained other teachers) on a few others. This one is just weird. You have to create a new page of grades every tenth assignment. The "final" grade on the page is the grade to that point, and you have to flip to the last page to get a really, real final grade. I suppose that this would allow me to get grades through a certain point in the class, and maybe that's a good thing. I'll have to think about it. It is weird though.
As for the VIC classroom, there is a quote that applies:
First, I don't use RSS at present. The reason for this is that I don't follow any blogs regularly. This isn't to say that I wouldn't, but I don't. For me to start following a blog it would need to meet some fairly rigid criteria, I think. First, it would need to be informative, and probably technical. It would need to be interesting. It would need to be useful to me -- probably useful in a professional sense.
This last bit would be tricky. While I am a librarian in training, I am also a teacher at present. Today I am a teacher. As such, a blog would need to be teaching me how to be a good physics teacher to be spectacularly useful right now. They exist, I know this. However, I don't know of any right now. I might by the time that the year is out.
The personal blogs really don't hold much interest for me. There are several blogs and social sites I could follow (and probably should) as they belong to friends from church, friends from former places of employ, and my students (past and present). However, one thing keeping me from starting is that there are many of them and only one of me.
The other thing is that I would have to act on any information that I found on a student site, if you know what I mean. I don't want to appear to be hunting down students. I've needed to, and it's not fun. That is one "computer guy" job that isn't fun.
As for using technology, I use a computer almost daily, but at present I'm not doing anything revolutionary with it. I'm tracking grades and attendance and emails. That really is about it. The one thing that I did discover is that there are some weird things about the grade program. I say this because I've used (and trained other teachers) on a few others. This one is just weird. You have to create a new page of grades every tenth assignment. The "final" grade on the page is the grade to that point, and you have to flip to the last page to get a really, real final grade. I suppose that this would allow me to get grades through a certain point in the class, and maybe that's a good thing. I'll have to think about it. It is weird though.
As for the VIC classroom, there is a quote that applies:
"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the
drain!" -- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
and coming up next...
Well, I saw an interesting news article last night. It was on a new format for a band of online stores. It was three (I think) stores that joined forces to create an online virtual mall. The patron walks into the store and wanders around to shop. Whatever you look at is described, but when you look at it, you can see the actual packaging. When you check out, you go to more "normal" web pages.
One of the participants is Amazon, so I'd expect the thing to go. There was another store that I'd heard of, but I didn't quite know what they sold. (It just seemed like a store when they were wandering through on the news article.)
I mention all this because this could be the shape of things to come for libraries. It would take a while, but the first library of Runescape might be coming. The good news is that there would be the option of putting librarians in that sort of setting. It would feel odd, but you could do it.
That was the one thing that wasn't mentioned in the new article, incidentally. There were no virtual salesmen trying to get (I assume) real, actual commissions. Neither were there other guests in the store. That also will probably need to change.
My guess is that there is a huge number of people who would love to see everyone in the store with them. There would be another huge number of people who would love to be able to browse the store with just their friends. Then there would be people who would want to browse the store with no one around. Then there are the people (of course) who wouldn't want a virtual store at all.
Anyway, I saw the article and decided that in a few years libraries will be trying to figure out how to do that, too. I guess we'll see.
One of the participants is Amazon, so I'd expect the thing to go. There was another store that I'd heard of, but I didn't quite know what they sold. (It just seemed like a store when they were wandering through on the news article.)
I mention all this because this could be the shape of things to come for libraries. It would take a while, but the first library of Runescape might be coming. The good news is that there would be the option of putting librarians in that sort of setting. It would feel odd, but you could do it.
That was the one thing that wasn't mentioned in the new article, incidentally. There were no virtual salesmen trying to get (I assume) real, actual commissions. Neither were there other guests in the store. That also will probably need to change.
My guess is that there is a huge number of people who would love to see everyone in the store with them. There would be another huge number of people who would love to be able to browse the store with just their friends. Then there would be people who would want to browse the store with no one around. Then there are the people (of course) who wouldn't want a virtual store at all.
Anyway, I saw the article and decided that in a few years libraries will be trying to figure out how to do that, too. I guess we'll see.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Mention of a blog
Oh, there is another thing.
Kevin commented on a blog posting that someone showed him this morning during his sermon. I figure that was a milestone of sorts. I don't remember that happening often, if ever.
I suppose that means something about the changing nature of communication in this day and age, but I'm not sure what it might mean.
Kevin commented on a blog posting that someone showed him this morning during his sermon. I figure that was a milestone of sorts. I don't remember that happening often, if ever.
I suppose that means something about the changing nature of communication in this day and age, but I'm not sure what it might mean.
A Really Cool Panacea
Sometimes things work exactly right without any particular reason that they should. When this happens, I try not to complain, but instead to be happy with it and go on to the next thing. However, on the other hand, counting on this happening is a tricky thing. Computers, and technology in general, have a capricious nature, and it seems they pleasure in making things go wrong. In fact, most of my job as a computer guy was fixing or preventing problems. When things went well, I mostly spent time preventing problems -- when they went well.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
There are two opinions about technology which can occasionally cause difficulty with planning. Both answer the question "And why should we do this?" The two answers are
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
There are two opinions about technology which can occasionally cause difficulty with planning. Both answer the question "And why should we do this?" The two answers are
- "Because it's really cool." This occasionally combined with the comment that everyone is doing it. As a reason this is weak. It is also not helpful from a computer person's perspective. Occasionally the "coolness" is from an exceptionally well done thing, but generally not. Lots of Internet technologies (each in turn, I think) have had their day in the sun being the next cool thing. This doesn't mean that you avoid the cool stuff. What it means is that you need to be careful to do what is useful and reasonable, and it needs to be something that you'll enjoy and keep up with.
- "Because it will solve all of our ___ problems." New technologies do occasionally solve problems. Generally that is how new technologies come about. However, generally the problems they solve are the ones they were designed to solve. I'm leary of cure-all solutions, especially ones that require no work. I'm also not one that believes in deus ex machina. I've looked inside a computer. I know better.
So anyway, my opinion is generally the minority opinion in these matters, but I'm in favor of planning. Design a system to do something intentional, and preferably something important. If you do it well, it will solve the problem that you set out to solve. If you do the job particularly well, it might even be cool. If not, oh well.
With a web site of any size, shape or description the key is to have something to say. Start there. If you don't have anything to say, write, inform, tell, preach or otherwise communicate, a web site isn't the solution that you're looking for. In that you're looking for a message or a purpose. That is an entirely different process. (It is a process which I would liken to pulling one's heart out and setting it on the table before you that you might watch it work. But that's a different story.)
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A ridiculous thing
I'm facing a technology problem of sorts this morning.
I'm trying to find something round to use in a demonstration for class. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Apparently, this is also covered by some sort of technology effect.
For starters I don't have any of the playground balls around the house, or a basketball for that matter. (Yes, I grew up in Indiana. I never really caught the basketball bug.)
However, I discovered that the jars and cans in my cabinet were not uniformly round. They rolled funny. A container of caulk that I found was a nice tube (with the pointy tip) but the caulk itself was not uniform inside the container. I know this because it rolled like it was drunk.
So, I think I needed to decide on a roll of blue painter's masking tape. What a silly thing. Today might not be the day to work on a server.
Either way, I hope the lesson works. Today is "Newton's first law" and "Newton's second law." Good stuff, really.
I'm trying to find something round to use in a demonstration for class. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Apparently, this is also covered by some sort of technology effect.
For starters I don't have any of the playground balls around the house, or a basketball for that matter. (Yes, I grew up in Indiana. I never really caught the basketball bug.)
However, I discovered that the jars and cans in my cabinet were not uniformly round. They rolled funny. A container of caulk that I found was a nice tube (with the pointy tip) but the caulk itself was not uniform inside the container. I know this because it rolled like it was drunk.
So, I think I needed to decide on a roll of blue painter's masking tape. What a silly thing. Today might not be the day to work on a server.
Either way, I hope the lesson works. Today is "Newton's first law" and "Newton's second law." Good stuff, really.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Change Management
Change is sometimes a hard thing. Professionally, I've tended to be an agent of change. Many people say this, perhaps. I don't know to what extent this is true for others, but I know that I have brought change into some people's work places.
Part of the difficulty is to realize that when you are introducing something new, something profound, change needs to occur. It's the needing that is the hard part. Something needs to go. This sounds like it is an OK thing. However, I have come to understand that part of my role as a computer person is to occasionally rewrite people's job description. If I understand that going into a project and if the other folks understand that going into it, then everyone is happier.
In fact, there are times that I have had conversations about how the job will be different before bringing the computer changes about. That may sound like the cart before the horse, but it isn't. In fact, it is generally the right order.
When the conversation is centered around questions like:
However, back to change management. Occasionally changing a process took years. Printing transcripts and printing report cards took years and years.
The first step was discovering that (once upon a time) the middle school secretaries hand wrote all the grades onto all of the the (hundreds) of student transcripts. When I discovered this I asked about how we could do the same process with a computer. Printing the transcripts (which is what the software wanted to do) wasn't really seen as a good option. However, I was able to print labels that would have the needed information. One label for the biographical data, and one for the year's worth of grades. This took a long time (for me). I also had to start it early in the year (relatively). It needed to be ready for the end of the year well before the end of the year. However, once that got going, it saved two people an entire week of work. That was a welcome change.
Moving from that to printed transcripts for the high school was levels more complicated. However, once it worked, I was pretty happy that it did.
The thing of it was that the printed transcripts could have been printed several years before the high school chose to do so. It didn't choose wrongly, it just took a while.
I suppose talking about change brings up the notion of progress. Change isn't always progress. However, if you set out to make progress steadily and not give up and ground, change happens.
-----
And, on that note here is a quip from Narnia (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) when King Caspian forbids the Governor of the Lone Lands to continue the slave trade:
Part of the difficulty is to realize that when you are introducing something new, something profound, change needs to occur. It's the needing that is the hard part. Something needs to go. This sounds like it is an OK thing. However, I have come to understand that part of my role as a computer person is to occasionally rewrite people's job description. If I understand that going into a project and if the other folks understand that going into it, then everyone is happier.
In fact, there are times that I have had conversations about how the job will be different before bringing the computer changes about. That may sound like the cart before the horse, but it isn't. In fact, it is generally the right order.
When the conversation is centered around questions like:
- What are you doing now?
- How do you do what you do?
- What does this office do well (that we need to continue to do well)?
- Can I see a sample of what you do and how you do it?
- What is the weirdest thing in the computer that you can think of?
- If you had two extra hours in the week, what would you do first?
- If you could cut two hours of work out of your week, what would eliminate? Why?
- What is the most tedious job you do?
- What is the hardest thing you do? Why?
- Where would you like to see your job improve?
- What paper runs through this office?
- Why are these papers important?
- What is the most important part of the week for you?
- What is the most important part of the year for your department?
However, back to change management. Occasionally changing a process took years. Printing transcripts and printing report cards took years and years.
The first step was discovering that (once upon a time) the middle school secretaries hand wrote all the grades onto all of the the (hundreds) of student transcripts. When I discovered this I asked about how we could do the same process with a computer. Printing the transcripts (which is what the software wanted to do) wasn't really seen as a good option. However, I was able to print labels that would have the needed information. One label for the biographical data, and one for the year's worth of grades. This took a long time (for me). I also had to start it early in the year (relatively). It needed to be ready for the end of the year well before the end of the year. However, once that got going, it saved two people an entire week of work. That was a welcome change.
Moving from that to printed transcripts for the high school was levels more complicated. However, once it worked, I was pretty happy that it did.
The thing of it was that the printed transcripts could have been printed several years before the high school chose to do so. It didn't choose wrongly, it just took a while.
I suppose talking about change brings up the notion of progress. Change isn't always progress. However, if you set out to make progress steadily and not give up and ground, change happens.
-----
And, on that note here is a quip from Narnia (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) when King Caspian forbids the Governor of the Lone Lands to continue the slave trade:
"But that would be putting the clock back," gasped the Governor. "Have you no idea of progress, of development?"
"I have seen them both in an egg," said Caspian. "We call it Going bad in Narnia. This trade must stop." (47-48)
Project Management and Change Management
I've been trying to get caught up and ahead on the reading. I read a few of the articles on change management and project management.
The PMBOK articles seemed a little over the top really. Most projects I've worked on have been one man teams. I've worked computer jobs, and have worked on computer programming projects. As such, the project life cycle is something that I've encountered before. What I've run into in the work world is both fancier and less fancy than what is normally in the book.
For starters, part of this depends upon the sales department.
You see, if the sales folks are drumming up projects, you get requirements from the sales department folks. Hopefully, they haven't attached dollars and resource committments to the requirements before asking someone technical if the thing was possible short of half a billion dollars. Don't get me wrong, the sales folks generally are the ones bringing money into the company (which is a good thing), but if they promise something undeliverable you'll have unhappy clients (which is a bad thing). Generally good sales folks strike a reasonable balance on this one.
The next step is to work out enough detail that once agreed to neither side will feel cheated. That isn't how its stated in the book, I suppose. But that is the idea. The project folks need to know how big the project will be, and what their committments are. The client folks need to know how much it will cost and whether it will do what it needs to.
Assuming that the project goes forward, the next step is to figure out what will happen. Generally, this entails someone understanding the project, working out a schedule, breaking the project out into pieces (if it big enough to worry with this) and so forth. Generally, it is a good idea to talk to the client and confirm all the known facts of the project. This is particularly true if time has lapsed since things were written down the first time.
When I was programmer, I generally tried to read through the requirements (they were generally two paragraphs on a one page fax). I then tried to read through the project notes created by the person who wrote the requirements document. This was normally a technical person. I then tried to track down all of the documentation and data files associated with the project. Then I worked through it. I would then perhaps take a tiny step toward solving the project, enough that I could see what the hard, tricky bits would be. I looked for all the areas that I would need client opinions or approval. This might be how to use a client code, what do to do with weird data (names that are two long or have some weird character or phone numbers that are obviously fake or prices that are negative... weird).
Then I called the client. This was a change from when I first started at the firm. Generally I called right when I got the project. This was, in fact, the recommended method. However, as some of the projects had been in the queue for weeks, I decided that a couple of hours wouldn't make that much difference. In fact, it did. It meant that I didn't make the "other" phone call -- the one that normally came one day later with all the questions about the project. Since I normally had to call and leave a message with the client both times, this meant that it could take days to get running.
Having done all that, the next thing was to program the project. Generally, the projects were sort of all of the same type, just different flavors. For me, I tried to get enough info to finish the project without needing to call the client. The reason for this is that client contacts were much slower than normal work. When I called a client, I would either get the client and continue working or I wouldn't get the client. When that happened I would ask the client to call me back. If there was nothing else I could do on that project, it would move to the bottom of the stack. (The projects had file folders. I actually moved it to the bottom of the stack. My stacky tray held projects on hold, my desk held the project that was current.)
This actually meant that "good" clients got better service. Good clients were responsive, and good clients had opinions. Also, good clients cared about doing their jobs well. That may sound silly, but not all of our clients were good clients.
Oh, and good clients don't yell at programmers when they have a bad day. This is very important.
The next step was to show everything to someone else and have them see if it was correct. This involved highliting each character (including spaces) that we changed in any document or program. This also entailed having sample data and instructions (which have been used somewhere) which were also checked. Assuming that everything checked out, then it was time to deliver the project.
The next step was to inform the client that the project was ready for delivery. Generally I tried to log onto their system and get to the point where I could deliver the button with one more keystroke. Then I called the client. Assuming that they said that delivery was ok (it was possible that there was something else to consider), I would then deliver the project. The next thing to ask was when they would next be ready to use it. Occasionally, this would be immediately. If so, I'd check what I had done and walk the client through.
Then you wait. I had to support my stuff for a period of one month (or longer, depending) -- no questions asked. Obviously, part of the goal here was to not get calls about bad software. A bug that a client finds in one month is probably big, glaring and obvious. Leaving a big bug in a project is bad. Spelling the company's name wrong would fall into this catagory. After a month, the questions were from other people in my company (generally high up people), so small bugs were also bad. Also, you don't get paid to fix bugs. Really. We got paid hourly (as a company) to write the software. We got paid to fix the bugs early, we didn't get paid to fix the bugs we found late. The little bugs were the nasty ones. Oh, and generally the little ones have been around long enough to mess up everything else, which then needs fixing. Really, this is something to be avoided.
So, that is some of my experience with the project life cycle.
Later I may talk about "change." I decided this was getting crazy long.
The PMBOK articles seemed a little over the top really. Most projects I've worked on have been one man teams. I've worked computer jobs, and have worked on computer programming projects. As such, the project life cycle is something that I've encountered before. What I've run into in the work world is both fancier and less fancy than what is normally in the book.
For starters, part of this depends upon the sales department.
You see, if the sales folks are drumming up projects, you get requirements from the sales department folks. Hopefully, they haven't attached dollars and resource committments to the requirements before asking someone technical if the thing was possible short of half a billion dollars. Don't get me wrong, the sales folks generally are the ones bringing money into the company (which is a good thing), but if they promise something undeliverable you'll have unhappy clients (which is a bad thing). Generally good sales folks strike a reasonable balance on this one.
The next step is to work out enough detail that once agreed to neither side will feel cheated. That isn't how its stated in the book, I suppose. But that is the idea. The project folks need to know how big the project will be, and what their committments are. The client folks need to know how much it will cost and whether it will do what it needs to.
Assuming that the project goes forward, the next step is to figure out what will happen. Generally, this entails someone understanding the project, working out a schedule, breaking the project out into pieces (if it big enough to worry with this) and so forth. Generally, it is a good idea to talk to the client and confirm all the known facts of the project. This is particularly true if time has lapsed since things were written down the first time.
When I was programmer, I generally tried to read through the requirements (they were generally two paragraphs on a one page fax). I then tried to read through the project notes created by the person who wrote the requirements document. This was normally a technical person. I then tried to track down all of the documentation and data files associated with the project. Then I worked through it. I would then perhaps take a tiny step toward solving the project, enough that I could see what the hard, tricky bits would be. I looked for all the areas that I would need client opinions or approval. This might be how to use a client code, what do to do with weird data (names that are two long or have some weird character or phone numbers that are obviously fake or prices that are negative... weird).
Then I called the client. This was a change from when I first started at the firm. Generally I called right when I got the project. This was, in fact, the recommended method. However, as some of the projects had been in the queue for weeks, I decided that a couple of hours wouldn't make that much difference. In fact, it did. It meant that I didn't make the "other" phone call -- the one that normally came one day later with all the questions about the project. Since I normally had to call and leave a message with the client both times, this meant that it could take days to get running.
Having done all that, the next thing was to program the project. Generally, the projects were sort of all of the same type, just different flavors. For me, I tried to get enough info to finish the project without needing to call the client. The reason for this is that client contacts were much slower than normal work. When I called a client, I would either get the client and continue working or I wouldn't get the client. When that happened I would ask the client to call me back. If there was nothing else I could do on that project, it would move to the bottom of the stack. (The projects had file folders. I actually moved it to the bottom of the stack. My stacky tray held projects on hold, my desk held the project that was current.)
This actually meant that "good" clients got better service. Good clients were responsive, and good clients had opinions. Also, good clients cared about doing their jobs well. That may sound silly, but not all of our clients were good clients.
Oh, and good clients don't yell at programmers when they have a bad day. This is very important.
The next step was to show everything to someone else and have them see if it was correct. This involved highliting each character (including spaces) that we changed in any document or program. This also entailed having sample data and instructions (which have been used somewhere) which were also checked. Assuming that everything checked out, then it was time to deliver the project.
The next step was to inform the client that the project was ready for delivery. Generally I tried to log onto their system and get to the point where I could deliver the button with one more keystroke. Then I called the client. Assuming that they said that delivery was ok (it was possible that there was something else to consider), I would then deliver the project. The next thing to ask was when they would next be ready to use it. Occasionally, this would be immediately. If so, I'd check what I had done and walk the client through.
Then you wait. I had to support my stuff for a period of one month (or longer, depending) -- no questions asked. Obviously, part of the goal here was to not get calls about bad software. A bug that a client finds in one month is probably big, glaring and obvious. Leaving a big bug in a project is bad. Spelling the company's name wrong would fall into this catagory. After a month, the questions were from other people in my company (generally high up people), so small bugs were also bad. Also, you don't get paid to fix bugs. Really. We got paid hourly (as a company) to write the software. We got paid to fix the bugs early, we didn't get paid to fix the bugs we found late. The little bugs were the nasty ones. Oh, and generally the little ones have been around long enough to mess up everything else, which then needs fixing. Really, this is something to be avoided.
So, that is some of my experience with the project life cycle.
Later I may talk about "change." I decided this was getting crazy long.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thoughts on Technology
If this blog is meant to be about technology, it would seem that perhaps a comment on the VIC itself might be in order. This is my first VIC class, and I'm not sure exactly what my thoughts are yet.
It did take a while to get things going. When the Indy group arrived at the last class period, there was some other class going on through the machinery. The class was about emergency plans or firefighting or some such.
The one surprise I had was the projector. Using paper copies with a document camera and a video camera pointed at the screen wasn't what I was expecting somehow. It seems that a paper backup is a good policy, even in a video conference. That was a wrinkle that I hadn't considered.
As for the rest of the VIC experience, I didn't get the full effect since I'm at Indy. I'd be interested to know what the "full effect" is like.
One of the little weird things about the VIC: I didn't know exactly whether the Indy class would be the instructor site for the class. At first, I did think that. However, when I saw that the contact cell phone number was a Chicago one, I wasn't so sure.
I'm intested in the technology, and how it plays out. There was an entire class of high schoolers using distance learning to take some college classes, and I was there when it was set up. In a way I'm wondering what I did (or helped do) to them.
It did take a while to get things going. When the Indy group arrived at the last class period, there was some other class going on through the machinery. The class was about emergency plans or firefighting or some such.
The one surprise I had was the projector. Using paper copies with a document camera and a video camera pointed at the screen wasn't what I was expecting somehow. It seems that a paper backup is a good policy, even in a video conference. That was a wrinkle that I hadn't considered.
As for the rest of the VIC experience, I didn't get the full effect since I'm at Indy. I'd be interested to know what the "full effect" is like.
One of the little weird things about the VIC: I didn't know exactly whether the Indy class would be the instructor site for the class. At first, I did think that. However, when I saw that the contact cell phone number was a Chicago one, I wasn't so sure.
I'm intested in the technology, and how it plays out. There was an entire class of high schoolers using distance learning to take some college classes, and I was there when it was set up. In a way I'm wondering what I did (or helped do) to them.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
RSS readings
I've been subbing at FCHS, and I did some of the readings while I could. This means that I'm doing the readings slightly out of order, and as time permits (during lunch and prep periods).
I've read the RSS section, and there are some things about it that were interesting.
I've read the RSS section, and there are some things about it that were interesting.
I've seen the "feed" button on blogs before, and this includes on sites I've managed. Strangely, I've not really used the feed before. I had clicked on the feed, and I've taken a look at the XML, but I've not really used it. Partly, this is because I don't follow any blogs on a regular basis.
The sites that I've used before were corporate sites. In one case the organization was actually a not-for-profit that was international in nature. It would have been a good candidate for using blogs on an on-going basis, but it didn't (and still doesn't). The tool that was used to create the web site is one called Drupal. The Drupal tool allows for blogs and other interesting things.
The Drupal tool allows for most any number of people to cooperatively add and edit a site, and it allows for each user to maintain a blog. Each blog and several other sections of the site have an automatic feed that the tool provides.
As for the blogroll, I suppose there are some sites that I looked at occasionally, but I never really was concerned about whether I might miss a posting. There was one site that I looked at occasionally, and it was even mentioned in the book: "A List Apart." I browsed the site during lunch or after work on days that I had a meeting. In those cases, I wasn't necessarily concerned with what was "new." And in some cases I intentionally looked for articles on a particular topic. It just depended.
I'll need to think about the blogroll for future reference.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
This is my first post on blogger. I've worked with other web sites, but generally they've been business sites.
This looks like it will be an interesting change. The key on this site will be content, or so it appears. Generally my contribution to a web site has been more heavily tilted toward the technical side. It will be interesting to see how well this site works from a user and administration point of view. So far it looks like the user side will be pretty good. The administration side might be a bit limited, but I might not be seeing it all.
As for the blogging, it will be interesting to see how that goes. In both of my classes last semeseter I had to participate in online discussions. I found that strangely compelling. One of the classes also had a journal component. I kept the journal on my computer in a web form. The tool I used was a different one, and again it will be interesting to compare the two.
The book seemed to have an unusual format in that it contained several (a surprising large number) of printed out web pages. I would have cut the number down to about one third of what is there. I would have cut the personal interviews down also. Having set up sites, the book seemed to be at a pretty simple level. I was hoping for something more -- something that would tell how to set up a blog site for an entire system (for example). This is at least a start.
The other thing that will be interesting about this class is the VIC (video classroom) piece. This is something that I've heard about from other students and even from other teachers. It seemed that for them it played out differently than a normal classroom. Having worked at a school that installed such a system (it was a high school), I'm interested in seeing how it feels. Hopefully it works well.
This looks like it will be an interesting change. The key on this site will be content, or so it appears. Generally my contribution to a web site has been more heavily tilted toward the technical side. It will be interesting to see how well this site works from a user and administration point of view. So far it looks like the user side will be pretty good. The administration side might be a bit limited, but I might not be seeing it all.
As for the blogging, it will be interesting to see how that goes. In both of my classes last semeseter I had to participate in online discussions. I found that strangely compelling. One of the classes also had a journal component. I kept the journal on my computer in a web form. The tool I used was a different one, and again it will be interesting to compare the two.
The book seemed to have an unusual format in that it contained several (a surprising large number) of printed out web pages. I would have cut the number down to about one third of what is there. I would have cut the personal interviews down also. Having set up sites, the book seemed to be at a pretty simple level. I was hoping for something more -- something that would tell how to set up a blog site for an entire system (for example). This is at least a start.
The other thing that will be interesting about this class is the VIC (video classroom) piece. This is something that I've heard about from other students and even from other teachers. It seemed that for them it played out differently than a normal classroom. Having worked at a school that installed such a system (it was a high school), I'm interested in seeing how it feels. Hopefully it works well.
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