Music for interstices
- Shadowtech’s Oxygenetic EP @ Internet Archive
- Imtech’s Glitter Paint Evenings @ Internet Archive
- MA:46’s misc. tracks @ artist site
{ Monthly archives }
September 2006
People, information, and technology (PIT)
If you’ve been around the School of Information, you’ll have encountered the slogan “Connecting people, information, and technology in more valuable ways” or some other form of the people, information and technology (henceforth PIT) triad. You’ll find PIT frequently situated in Borromean rings infesting crapola PowerPoint slides something like this:
Think about the relationships between the elements of PIT implied by this arrangement. Are they three independent, yet interlocked, things? Or doesn’t it seem likely that one of them might arise only out of an interaction between the others? What’s the most important element? So why do people put up with this PIT folderol? You tell me.
2006-09-27
SI.opml refreshed [1]
Just made a few additions and adjustments to SI.opml, my directory of School of Information feeds.
Since I haven’t met many of this term’s new students, and am not keeping up with my cohort, there are surely a bulky heap of inaccuracies and omissions, for which you will please accept my insincere apology.
2006-09-25
George gets a medal [1]
George won the first annual Pizzigati Prize. That’s a cash prize, but more importantly, recognition of his work in public-interest open-source software. Congratulations, again!
See George’s acceptance blog post. I’d discussed this prize before, when both George and Lewis+Ethan were finalists.
2006-09-25
Cool weblog: Left Behind at the Fishbowl
Left Behind at the Fishbowl is a new blog of particular interest to friends and enemies of the University of Michigan:
People leave a lot of stuff behind at the fishbowl printers. This blog is a compliation of the more interesting things I find: my comments written in pen. All pages that you see on this site are ones that no one claimed.
The fishbowl is a huge computer lab on U-M’s Central Campus.
2006-09-21
One-off work sessions [1]
Yesterday, Ed Vielmetti, David Erdody, and I had a two-hour work session to get through some small refinements to the Assistive Media site and publication process.
I’m increasingly turning towards the pattern of these small, one-off work sessions for tackling volunteer or spare-time projects. For several of the things I’m working on, two hours is about the right amount of time to show up unprepared, quickly generate and prioritize a task list, make some real progress with whomever is in the room, and then move on with your day.
2006-09-20
Your group needs to meet — elsewhere [3]
Wow, the School of Information really knows how to make students feel appreciated. A snippet from today’s e-mail epistle to the huddled, shivering masses:
You have a group project, and your group needs to meet.
Where can you meet? …
Potential Meeting Space Options (not listed in any particular order, some options will work better than others for some groups and/or for some meetings:
1) Private residences of students within your group
To be fair, one of the seven meeting options listed is a space provisioned by the School of Information which students could hypothetically access on a first-come first-serve basis and close the door to (e.g. use for real group work). Unfortunately, it’s heavily used by faculty and staff during the day, and the reservation schedule isn’t available for students to look at.
Maybe once this particular School of Information implodes back into its component pieces, HCI coursework will wind up on North Campus, where exclusive space is no less difficult to come by — but there’s plentiful space for group work nevertheless.
