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Watercolor Series: 3 of 12 (March)
Being true to myself and my artistic ambitions, I have produced my March watercolor. The first few were me following examples in lessons books. Attempting to leverage those lessons, I went my own way with this one and used a photo of Old Mission peninsula grape vines in a vineyard. My first try was too much, my second attempt lacked some manner of “pop-out.” I’ll keep at it.
This weekend was a blur of highways, computers, friends, dogs, walk in the woods, dogs, and then a short Sunday. It was a good weekend but went by so fast. Now school and the reality of work stand before me, hard to read, ever present. So I’ll keep at it.
A bear is waltzing in the keys and the indexer has proximity. So I push on, reviewing papers, thinking about projects. Slapping watercolor on poorly stretched paper with a mind not so much like a still quiet pond. I keep at it too.
Just about 3 weeks and this semester will be over. That will be my half-way point. I’ll be a legitimate 2nd year student. Woot.
Image: The watercolors I did were portrait (trying something new) and I wasn’t sure how they’d look as a header image. So I tried my fixed lens to see if it would look different as an “in process” image. I’m finding that taking good pictures isn’t easy.
School, work, cartoons, and cats
I think my presentation on observing reader activity relative to blogs went well. I didn’t receive any feedback from the professor, but I did receive feedback from some of my classmates … which was generally positive1. I enjoyed sharing what I’ve learned but felt that 10 minutes was not enough time to cover the subject. I need at least a semester2.
Had dinner and a beer with Pearls yesterday and very much enjoyed the conversation. I look forward to hanging with the necklace and his clasp3.
Even though I’ve spent a few hours on homework tonight, I still found the time to chill with W. in front of the mesmerizing feed that is cable television. We both fell into a trance-like snooze for about 30 minutes then decided to escape its hypnotizing effect. She worked on preparation for our journey this weekend and I did a second review of a report due tomorrow. Then this post of course. Those Edison naps do me wonders!
I’ve been cultivating an interest in photography. To feed this flame, I purchased a camera that affords me greater opportunity to take stellar shots. I received my Canon Rebel XTi this week. The pictures in this post are all from this new camera. This is my cat Bailey, and my other cat Ozzie. We love our ghatos and take way to many pictures of them. They don’t seem to mind.
The reaction to my presentation and the internal analysis that came of it left me wondering, is this all self-indulgent? Am I just vying for attention? To some degree perhaps. But then, aren’t we all? There is the mystery of the unknown, of wondering what could happen “if.” And it continues. The curiosity is deep.
Image: Pearls loaned me a book about Anime and this is a shot of it with my new camera. Based on his recommendations, I bought the first season of Ghost in the Shell and will be watching the fifth episode as soon as I finish this post. Cartoons are great and I’ve discovered (with the help of others) this vast world I knew so little about: Japanese cyber-punk anime. Saweeet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Any type of feedback is beneficial. The positive kind even better. [↩]
- I would totally love giving a talk on blogging, blog analysis, and log analysis of web sites. Really, any talk about tech stuff would be fun for me. [↩]
- Mark your calendar Pearlmaster…we’re going to kick your axx at Euchre! Be afraid! [↩]
Observing user behavior
This week I have to give a short presentation on an information system in a class on “Fundamentals of Human Behavior.” To be honest, I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. Continuing with the honesty…I’ve been stressing about it for days. Isn’t that how it goes though?
I have this crazy idea of blogging and reputation systems that was inspired (in part) from the book by Charles Stross called, “Accelerando!”1 At one point in this sci-fi collage, a main character arrives in a city and takes a digital picture (using his glasses) of his whereabouts that is immediately posted to his personal blog so interested persons following his life would know, up to the minute, what he was doing.2 This has stuck with me. Building on the notions of reputation systems outlined in this book3, I was inspired to blog with such disclosure.
Not that I thought I needed motivation to blog…
But then, wait a second. Everyone needs motivation to blog.
Ever since I started this blog I’ve found it interesting reading what I write. After the fact of course…which is when it is most interesting. But over time I found that I was curious about who was visiting my blog and have since wondered what peoples impressions were. But hoping people leave comments isn’t the main reason I blog. When it does happen though, it is like delicious icing on a cake … smashed up with some ice cream and microwaved until melty.
The system sends me an email when someone leaves a comment. And yes, there is a certain thrill to reading comments. Except for when they’re spam. Which is quite often. But I’ve configured the system to be pretty smart about things.
So tomorrow (today actually…since I’m writing this post so I can display it on the big overhead in class) I’ll be giving a presentation on this most fascinating and interesting of information systems, “the blog.”
Thanks for reading. I hope you stop by again and share your thoughts, ideas, opinions, perspectives, experiences, and knowledge. Write on.
Image: Oh this is fun…I took this in the middle of class last week in anticipation of this post and the presentation that I’ll be giving on the information system that is blogging. A couple of my classmates noticed me taking this picture and were like, “what are you doing…??” Well…now you know. 
- You can read this book for free online here. Thanks Mr. Stross. [↩]
- Talk about full disclosure! [↩]
- Which was “just okay for me”, Dog. Some of the ideas stuck with me, obviously, but the mood…overall…of this book was…well…read it and see what you think. [↩]
Usability work and the Cooper’s Hawk
As I move toward the end of this semester, I’m working hard on the last milestones for group projects. Over the last week I’ve taken part in three usability tests and was a participant in one. I have to say, it is much easier to be a participant than a test conductor, moderator, or data logger.
This weekend was all about school work. Once again, the beautiful and patience W. took the brunt of the house chores while I worked diligently in my cave pounding away on my keyboard pumping out report material. The final project in my class on the fundamentals of human behavior is shaping up nicely. We found more academic research material than we can fit into the 1500 word report we are expected to produce.1 What we are finding isn’t that surprising but having numbers and evidence to support what motivates a person to blog and how blogging affects social interaction is very interesting.
Yesterday, after working on a report for a couple hours, I got up to stretch my legs and wandered into our downstairs living room. Our blinds were open and to my surprise I saw this Cooper’s hawk right outside the window.2 Our cat Bailey saw it at the same time and dropped into a super low crouch and practically slide on his belly up to the window. I sprinted back into my office to grab my trusty camera and managed to get that one shot before it flew off gripping a bird in its talons. Shucks howdy, that was something to see.
Today was Easter. A day of religious celebration for the millions of Christians. I listened to some of the story and intellectual analysis about the resurrection on NPR while driving to campus and learned it changed from apostle to apostle … and especially after Constantine made Christianity law. Interesting perspective to say the least. What to believe though, eh?
Image: One of my infamous self portraits taken today. I was just starting a usability test that involved a Blackberry Pearl, GoogleMaps, a phone mounted video recorder, a headset microphone, and a laptop in a bag slung over my shoulder. During the test we walked across campus toward a New York Pizza Depot I’d located and mapped directions to based on my location as established via GPS. GoogleMaps is the shix!
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yeah, 1500 words is nothing! Some of my blogs posts come close to that…for which I’ll just apologize now for boring you to tears. [↩]
- Thanks JC for helping identify this giant bird. [↩]
13.7 billion years and giant ants
I was watching a nerd show tonight on my DVR about the Hubble space telescope and how it enabled scientists to calculate the age of the cosmos1. Apparently it has been 13.7 billion years since the “big bang.”2 What a bunch of shix I say. What was before then? When was 13.8 billion years ago? Nowhere? I don’t buy the big-bang theory to be honest. The whole notion that there has to be a beginning to things just strikes me as so…limited. Embrace the infinite people!
Today I found myself marveling, yet again, at what I’m being exposed to at the School of Information. The people I meet, the groups I’m part of, the classes I attend. The difference between that and my day job is significant and jarring at times3. The academic world is so hungry for knowledge, newness, and to find and explore the unknown. While the corporate world seems so scared, so paranoid, so reluctant to recognize that research and innovation at the academic level has a significant influence on where the capitalistic interests orient. But then, maybe I don’t know shix. All I have are my evolving instincts.
To be honest, this is just a crazy hypothesis I’ve concocted. To question the influence between academic research and the business sector is something I’m very curious about. They seem so disconnected sometimes.
My TASK group finished the last two of our usability tests this evening. The 5 usability tests we conducted were very interesting and the patterns that emerged most revealing. Over the next week we’ll be processing what we gathered and concentrating it into a report that we can submit for this milestone.
I wonder how the Waltzing Bear is doing. It has been radio silence since the weekend and I’m feeling the drought. Hopefully he’s dealing with his shix in a quality way. I have to think he is. If I’m any judge of character, I’d guess he’s doing what he needs to do. But what do I know. I’m just a programmer (wink wink).
The world of computing, social computing, information architecture, usability, and interaction design is rife with potential and possibility. What will it take to survive in this domain? Awareness? (Yes.) Openness? (Yes.) Curiosity? (Yes.) A willingness to learn? (Yes.) A recognition that maybe you don’t know all you think you know? (Yes of course.)
I don’t know what I think I know. So I’ll just sit back and watch for evidence to guide me and maintain a recalcitrant sense of what I know. Evidence and behavior speak volumes. Our usability tests are supporting this at least.
Image: Walking back to my Jeep tonight I took a different route. I rode in the elevator from the roof of the parking garage to the ground level today with a stranger. When we exited the garage, he went right, I went left. Crossing the street a couple blocks later, I saw him in front of me. Curious, I sought his route on my way back to my Jeep and found it down this alley. The walls were painted with giant ants and I took a number of photos (in the dying light) with my trusty Sony. This is one of them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ W. was at a business dinner or this wouldn’t have happened. [↩]
- I made a point to memorize this number because it seemed like such bunk. [↩]
- I’m beginning to let go of the notion that work actually wants me to learn. While I hold out hope, evidence to the contrary is tough to ignore. [↩]