You can't tell by the photo but there were around 50-60 people at the event -- all levels from programmers to newbies. There was free beer and pizza -- so you know I had a good time. To sum up, it's just plain interesting to see what's happening in the 'community'. Different perspectives are great -- invigorating even.
Got a call from a student wanting to research a topic in marketing. I coached her through finding the right database for her subject and only after we had found a number of promising articles did she mention that some of the pdf files were giving her problems -- using her screen-reader. I can imagine what a mess some of these pdf files are for someone with a screen-reader. I showed her how to look for other versions (i.e. text versions). Also, the Disability Office will convert the PDFs to MS Word which is a big help.
It's bad enough you see these things all over the place -- usually without any indication of what they're going to do. Here, not only do you have the usual enigma but you're required to choose your operating system before taking the plunge.
Midterms -- computer labs are full, plenty of students needing help finding articles. Subjects ranging from Biology to Original Sin.
I came upon of slew of emails I had written while at NYU in the mid-to-late 90's. I hadn't seen them for years. Here's one from 1997. In it, I'm telling the Grad Adviser from NYU's History Dept. that I'm dumping him in favor of the far more attractive "Multimedia" Program at NYU's 'Interactive Telecommunications Program" (ITP):
Dear Mr. W*:
You were assigned as my adviser, so I guess you're the one to whom I should address this message.
The gist of it is that I am a new grad student in the History department. Over the summer however I had a moment of epiphany while taking an intense course in multimedia. It was something I found intensely rewarding and when the course ended (a week ago, by the way) I felt like a kid at the amusement park when a really good ride is over. In other words, I wanted it to continue or at least for me to pursue something similar. Since then, I heard that Tisch offered a program in this area called the Interactive Telecommunications Program. So I ran over there and spoke with a Mr. G* who told me to come back on Friday, Aug. 29.
I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen on Friday except I think he may be able to sign me up for two courses. I won't be an official student there of course since I've succeeded in missing every deadline for application possible and will have to wait till next year to be officially entered into the program.
I know this is rather pathetic--much like being engaged to be married and then falling in love with another woman. It's particularly awkward since I don't know exactly what I am supposed to do or how to go about doing it other than I want to somehow be involved with that program at Tisch. After I meet with Mr. G* again on Friday, I'm sure I'll have a clearer idea.
Sincerely, LEO
Okay, so here are the slides from my presentation on Responsive Web Design that I gave today at the UIC Webmasters Brownbag. It's not the longest thing in the world -- I was only supposed to talk for 30 minutes but ended up going the whole hour. The group was great -- very engaged and asking a whole lot of good questions.
