Opengender

• Lots and lots of meetings, which are exhausting, but which, believe it or not, I’m enjoying.
• I enjoy the meetings because the tone of them is awesome.  Positive, grateful for everyone’s hard work, honest, open.  I haven’t been to a meeting like that in ages.
• Some of the same complications exist at my new place as existed at the old.  They’re minor.  They’re knowable, and they’re easily avoided or fixed.
• So far, I like the people I’ll be working with most closely.  They’re smart, insightful and pleasant to be around.
• I am struggling with names, but I’ve freely asked people who they are.  I’m starting to remember some of them.
• I am looking forward to working on curriculum for next year
• I have in my mind that I need to distinguish between computing and technology (something I know I’ve harped on here before).  So far, people seem to get that I’m not an expert in your day-to-day applications, that my specialty is finding appropriate technology for pedagogy and that what I teach to the kids veers more toward computing than technology.

Once the kids actually show up, I’ll have more, but that’s what’s in my head for now.

Related posts:

1. RBOC: Incomplete thoughts edition
2. Educause 2007: Some first thoughts
3. Random thoughts about learning and literacy

This post isn't just about me, but about the royal "me" as in us. Plus it rhymed. But it is about free, and what free for companies costs those of us doing the free contributing.

What inspired this post was two things: yesterday's association Twitter chat (#assnchat) and a tweet by SmartBrief. The topic of #assnchat yesterday was annual meetings, and as part of that we were discussing speakers, speaker fees, and speaking for free. Maddie Grant said:

@maggielmcg we're trying hard not to speak for free anymore. provide tons of free content in other ways. #assnchatless than a minute ago via TweetChatMaddie Grant
maddiegrant

Her point was in the context of a conversation about highly-paid general session speakers who are horrible and the fact that the most valuable speakers at ASAE are volunteers who still have to pay (reduced) registration as well as travel expenses. ASAE has members who are association staff (like me) and who are vendors or consultants (like Maddie). If you're a vendor or consultant, the presumed "what's in it for me?" (WIIFM) for speaking at their events is potential new business leads. If you're association staff, the WIIFM is reduced registration, resume fodder, potential future job leads, and, of course, the ego stroke.

On to the Smartbrief post:

Team @SmartBrief wants you: http://ow.ly/2xP4aless than a minute ago via HootSuiteSmartBrief on SocMed
SBoSM

Cool, I thought, when I saw the post: they're hiring. Well, not exactly: they're looking for someone to pen a weekly column and become a member of their advisory board. I was all set to reply--because who wouldn't want to be on their advisory board--when it dawned on me: a WEEKLY column? That's a ton of work. Or it is if you already have a full-time job, have your own blog (or two), already volunteer in various capacities (as I do; I recently became a proud member of the Social Media Club--DC's Leadership Team, in addition to various other volunteer activities and guest blogging gigs)--then have the rest of your life to swing--which in my case includes 2 kids, a husband, some attempt at an IRL social life, a house to take care of, dinner every night...you know--stuff. Life.

Now obviously I'm not the only one with a life--we all have one. And to some of us writing a weekly post would be no big deal, and well worth it in exchange for a coveted spot on a highly visible advisory committee. But the thing is that it's not just Smart Brief looking for contributors: user-generated content is a huge part of so many companies' weekly and even daily offerings. Look at Social Media Today: all their content is written by unpaid bloggers. Even newspapers now are capitalizing on the hyperlocal trend by including citizen journalists as part of their daily offerings. Webinars--there are tons of them out there, and most content is provided by uncompensated volunteers. Blogs--tons of them rely on guest bloggers for content. And so on.

Content provided by uncompensated volunteers is a great model for businesses: they don't have to pay someone to write/provide it and it's what people want to read/watch/hear: the equivalent of reality TV (sort of). I'm talking about what Chris Brogan called "Everyman": average Joe who will tell it to you straight (presumably) and who we all trust more than we trust ad guys or paid copywriters.

But what happens when "Everman" decides he/she wants to get paid? Or that he/she's tired of companies making a buck off his/her free efforts? Hopefully that's starting to happen more in the mom blogging world, where expecting mom bloggers to blog, tweet and promote for a pack of diapers or a link is starting to get really old.

Is this making any sense at all? Am I the only one who's feeling stretched too thin and wondering whether, in the end, ego strokes are worth tipping the work/life balance cart? At some point will people start deciding they don't want to write or do webinars or speak for free anymore? Or is this nothing new and there's always someone willing to do it?

Steve Jobs took to the stage in San Francisco today to take the wraps off a long list of Apple launches, from a new iPod lineup, to Apple TV that comes with a new tiny box and pay-per-view TV shows and movies.

In announcements ranging from a Game Centre in Apple's new iOS update with multi-player games on mobile Apple devices, to a set top box that delivers Netflix and movie and TV show rentals, Apple's CEO delivered a range of entertainment options.

Taking heavy aim at the TV market, the new Apple TV comes with a price drop from $229 US to $99 with pre-orders starting today and shipping slated within four weeks.

 

Jobs lauded the new Apple TV as "a phenomenal way to watch Hollywood movies and TV shows wherever you want as well as being able to stream content from Netflix and many other places including your own computer to your TV."

However, Canadians aren't able to access a lot of the entertainment content, including many US TV shows and the popular Pandora online music service that was part of today's Apple demonstration.

 

Jobs said pre-orders are also starting today for the new iPod lineup that includes the much-anticipated iPod touch with a front-facing camera and the FaceTime feature of the new iPhone 4 as well as a rear-facing camera and new iPhone retina display.

"It is going to be the strongest lineup of iPods we have ever had going into the holiday season," said Jobs in the event that was live streamed, but only on Apple computers and devices.

Also announced was iTunes 10, with a new logo that dispenses with the CD of the old logo, with Jobs pointing out that iTunes sales are expected to surpass sales of CDs in the United States next spring.

Ping, a new social network for music was described by Jobs as Twitter and Facebook meet iTunes, giving users the same follow and sharing capabilities of social networks.
"I think it's going to be a real winner," said Jobs of the new music social network.

 

 

 

Working and watching the Apple Announcement on my iPad. :) Lots of new iPod models, iOS 4.2, iTunes 10 with PING, and iTV so far…

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Women In Engineering organization hosted a webinar last week featuring the Women in Engineering ProActive Network. The two organizations are similar in scope - both want to increase the number of women in technical fields - but IEEE WIE is clearly focused on engineers while WEPAN and its Knowledge Center have a broader reach touching many STEM-related disciplines in addition to engineering.

WEPAN started in 1990 and is a national (U.S.) not-for-profit organization with over  600 members across various industries and academia. Its stated goal is to “help members develop a more prepared and diverse engineering workforce,” which more clearly worded means that they’re working to facilitate the development of programs and activities that promote the entry and retention of women in engineering programs.

During the webinar, Diane Matt (WEPAN’s Executive Director) and Jenna Carpenter (IEEE Senior Member, Associate Dean at Louisiana Tech University and WEPAN’s Director of Professional Development) walked attendees through a tour of the WEPAN site and its associated Knowledge Center. Nearly forty percent of the webinar’s participants were academics.

The WEPAN Knowledge Center is an online resource for “research, best practices and professional communities dedicated to advancing all women in engineering.” It began with five hundred resources in June of 2009, and has since doubled its listings. Want statistics on the number of American college graduates with STEM-degrees who happen to be women? Curious about gender gaps and bias in various fields? Looking for organizations or institutions with diversity, outreach and research programs? All of that - and much, much more - can be found in the WEPAN Knowledge Center, and the information is completely open to the public; membership is not required for viewing, a deliberate action to make this information accessible to anyone. (Email registration is required if you want to add resource or access online community content.)

WEPAN also has a large professional community for members, which features a global calendar of events, as well as a the usual selection of social networking options – discussion groups, people and skills search, blogs, in-group email, etc. as well as the ability to track specific groups of professional interest. If you’re interested in mentoring or professional development, this community seems a great place to build your resources. Be sure to visit their main website as well as the Knowledge Center, and check out the FAQ.

Note that membership in the professional community and membership in WEPAN are different animals: only email registration is required to participate in the professional community, but individual membership in the organization is $100 (reduced rates available for student, etc.). WEPAN membership appears to be specifically aimed at academics of various levels, though it’s open to “anyone interested in promoting and achieving improved representation of women in engineering.” WEPAN also has an online store that boasts its own conference proceedings and presentation guides.

The WEPAN Annual Conference, aimed at addressing “recurring and emerging issues”, will be heald in June 2011 in Seattle, Washington. (This year’s conference included tracks on Diversity, Policy, How to Get Funding, Cultivating Tomorrow’s Talent and Effective Messaging.)

Look for announcements of future IEEE and IEEE WIE webinars on their website, or here on dotFiveOne.

The new Blackberry Torch 9800 will be available on the Rogers network September 24, selling for $200 with a three-year contract.

Rogers announced the availability and pricing today with more details on its corporate blog. It's an announcement likely to be lost in the frenzy over Apple's news today that comes with a 10 a.m. event in San Francisco that will be live streamed by Apple.

Rogers announced pricing 'as low as $199.99"  with a three-year voice and data plan with a minimum monthly service fee of $45. I didn't see any mention in Rogers' email to me or on the company blog of the full price list but I'll update this when I get that. Right now it's almost time to tune in to Apple's announcement.

The Torch is Research in Motion's latest challenge to Apple's popular iPhone. It has a QWERTY slide-out keyboard with a 3.2-inch (8.1 cm) touch screen. The new BlackBerry 6 operating system and browser promising improved Internet browsing, which has been my pet peeve on my (admittedly outdated) BlackBerry. It has a five-megapixel camera and built-in GPS and Wi-Fi with four gigabytes of built-in memory with a microSD slot that lets you add up to 32 GB with a memory card. 

 

Brilliant. Just brilliant. A necklace that is made up of the first 100 digits of Pi.

Pure geeky awesomeness.

It's from some company in Japan, and there doesn't seem to be any shipping info which totally sucks because this would make the Best. Xmas gift. Evar. (for me)

I sent them an email inquiring about it. Will let you know if I find anything out.

(Source: CraziestGadgets.com)

By Ben Watson

In the second installment of his music column, Ben Watson wages a war of social being against the hip priests of consensus reality

 

 

read more

As you've probably already heard, Rails 3.0 is done, no longer just a beta, it's out there and beginning to be used. Go look at all the goodies we've got lined up!

Wibe Networks have been caught supplying "7 Days Media", "Golden Bird Network" and "Zamma Media" as credit references – all of those domains have been featured on this blog in recent days.

wibenetworks.com
ICANN Registrar: BIZCN
Created 23 August 2010

IP: 72.9.236.188 - Global Net

Registrant: Domain Admin, info@wibenetworks.com

Shares IP with coastia.com and hubbon.com

*****

coastia.com
ICANN Registrar: BIZCN
Created 19 July 2010

Registrant: Coastia, Dorothy Oldson, domains@coastia.com

*****

hubbon.com
ICAN Registrar: BIZCN
Created 15 July 2010

Registrant: Hubbon, David Lambert, it@hubbon.com

Tune in at 10 a.m. Pacific time for a live video stream of Apple's latest announcement.

The highly anticipated September 1 event, in which Apple is expected to announce a new iPod and other entertainment plans - including the latest rumour from Bloomberg that has the company releasing a new set-top box that will include programming from Netflix -- will be available through the Apple web site.

The catch with the live broadcast coming from San Francisco is that you already have to be an Apple customer, since the event can only be viewed with a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher or an iPad.

If you don't have an Apple computer or device, check out MacWorld's live coverage of the event here.

 

 

There are mysterious symbols popping up on Vancouver lamp posts. It’s a secret code that only initiates of QR can unravel. And unravelling they are — pointing their smartphones at the signs, which read the two-dimensional code and deliver a message.

While QR, standing for quick response, is a technology that’s commonplace in Japan, it’s only starting to reach Main Street, North America. Perhaps the most visible example of recent times is a giant Calvin Klein billboard in New York City that displayed — not lithesome underwear-clad models — but a cryptic code viewers had to scan with their smartphones to reveal a Calvin Klein ad.

In Canada, The Big Wild has become the first environmental organization to tap into the QR craze. The organization is hoping to build an online and offline buzz that will prompt people to sign a mobile-friendly petition aimed at saving British Columbia’s Flathead River Valley.

While QR codes may only be understood by the more technologically inclined here, their use is growing and you’ll find them anywhere from advertising flyers to posters to restaurant bills.

“It’s huge in Japan,” said Darren Barefoot, a partner at Capulet Communications, which created the QR campaign for The Big Wild, a conservation movement founded by Mountain Equipment Co-op and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “My favourite example in Japan are the QR codes on burger wrappers, which you can scan to get nutritional information.”

Darren Barefoot scans QR code. Bill Keay/PNG photo

The codes can draw a link for users between their online and offline experience.

“We’re always looking for new angles, new strategies and new approaches to get people’s attention,” Barefoot said of the decision to poster Vancouver and other Canadian cities with The Big Wild’s cryptic message.

“We wanted to try out a campaign with these QR codes and add an element of mystery,” said Barefoot. “They are unbranded posters.

“The idea was that we would entice people; the people who might scan the codes are technologically minded so they would know about the code and know what to do with it.”

It’s an inexpensive way to deliver a message.

A QR code could link to a phone number, a web address or a short text message. Among QR services are ones that let you put a code on your contact information, so people could scan the code with their smartphone and automatically add you to their contacts.

In The Big Wild campaign, the posters are being rolled out in seven cities across Canada.

The codes are also used in Japan for commerce, letting you carry out such transactions as scanning at a vending machine and having the charge go straight to your phone bill. And it’s now possible to pay some bills here simply by using your smartphone as a scanner.

In Vancouver, Mobio Identity Systems is using the technology to deliver everything from snacks to football fans to payments for pizzas.

“If you download a scanner to your phone and scan a bar code it is going to take you to a website,” said Mobio founder and chief executive Clovis Najm. “Ours go on to managing the interaction for the user.

“For example, Habitat for Humanity uses our bar codes on T-shirts that people working on their restoration sites wear. When you scan the bar code you can donate money immediately.”

Mobio also counts National Football League and National Basketball Association teams among its clients. Fans of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars will be able to order food to their seats, simply by scanning in the code on their program. Scanning the code will produce a menu, let the buyers choose an order, then the items will be delivered to their seats.

“The QR bar code is great for basically signifying to somebody they are going to go to the Internet on one level, but when people see the Mobio sign, they know there is some sort of interaction or transaction that will occur,” said Najm.

Several Vancouver stores, restaurants and businesses use Mobio, either as part of a promotion or for such transactions as paying for a meal.

Here is a Google map list of businesses  that use the Mobio application. The Mobio iPhone app is available in Apple's app store.

 

 

On Monday, Excel MVP Kirill Lapin (aka KL) shared his macro to create a standard pivot table from multiple workbooks (as opposed to worksheets in the same workbook). I promised you a second pivot table macro, and here it is -- in today's example, Kirill combines data from a sales list and price list, stored in separate workbooks. The macro combines the data and calculates the selling price for each item, then creates a pivot table from the results.

Thanks, Kirill, for providing these two pivot table macros, and the powerful techniques they demonstrate for creating pivot tables from data in different locations.

The Report Workbook

Like the previous example, in this sample there is a main file named Report.xls, that contains Kirill's pivot table code, and a button that runs the macro. When you open the file, enable the macros, then click the Create Pivot button.

In the example, the orders are in the DB-Sales.xls file, and the price list is in the DB-Items.xls file.

After you click the button, the macro creates a pivot table from the two data files, stored in the same folder. You can refresh the pivot table, to show the latest data in the source files, as long as all the files stay in their original location.

 

The Union Query

Kirill's macro creates a Union query to combine the data from all the selected files and calculate the sales price. In the Connection Properties dialog box, you can see the SQL string for the Union query, with the Units * Unit Price calculation.

Download the Sample File

To see Kirill's pivot table code, you can download the Pivot Table Union Calculation example. The zipped folder that contains the Report.xls file, and the two data files. Unzip the folder, and keep all the files in the same folder. When you open the Report.xls file, enable macros to run the code.

Excel Tweet of the Day

Have you ever had a project like this one?

This extensive Excel spreadsheet and four days of research has led me to a surprising conclusion: I really don't care.

For more entertaining and enlightening Excel tweets, culled from the thousands posted every day, see Excel Theatre Blog.

______________

Pursuitist did a nice feature on my Zelle 1337 line.

We’re a bit taken with Liz McLean Knight’s Zelle Jewelry. It’s a mixture of all things beautiful, techie and geeky — and highly original. That integration between technology and fashion is truly an embodiment of Liz and her Zelle creations. The jewelry is hand crafted in Chicago — watch the vid above to see the wine intoxicating process

Liz McLean Knight’s Zelle Jewelry

Share with the interwebs!

Related posts:

1. Zelle launches the 1337 collection of sophisticated jewelry made from electronic components Check out some new jewelry pieces I’ve designed for...
2. CDM:Happy Halloween: Exclusive Free Liz Revision Mix, Party in Chicago with Bitshifter Happy Halloween: Exclusive Free Liz Revision Mix, Party in...

Once again, Catherine Eibner organized a WIT Lunch at TechEd. The focus of the lunch was to recognize and award women that are supporting other women in their community.

The award was called Women in IT Community Contributor of the Year 2010 and we had some great finalists, many of them involved in mentoring, Girl Geek Dinners or supporting young women. Read more about them and the winner at Catherine’s blog

 

Malvertizing featuring “Gilt Man” has been seen coming from facilitatedigital.net – note that facilitatedigital.net was mentioned in my earlier blog post.

 

facilitatedigital.net
ICANN Registrar: TODAYNIC.COM, Inc
Created 29 July 2010

IP: 72.9.236.172 - Global Net Access Llc

Shares IP with trueffects.net

Registrant: Harold A Mcconville (haroldamcconville@gmail.com)

*****

trueffects.net
ICANN Registrar: TODAYNIC.COM, Inc
Created 29 July 2010

Registrant: Edward L Hill (edwardlhill@gmail.com)

Currently priced at only $2,500 per organisation MapData Sciences has just released the most current online road data map for Australia and New Zealand ready for you to use. Supplied as a hosted tile set the product is amazing value, you can simply plug this into your current generation GIS software or web application with ease, get 4 updates per year and a SLA to top it off. Find all the details here on MDS’ website.

The tile set is supplied in the now de facto web standard EPSG:3857, 256px square “Quad Tree” tiles. This format is used by Bing, Google, Yahoo, OSM and ESRI meaning that the most recent version of most GIS software will allow you to add this as a layer. MDS provides instructions on how to integrate with ESRI’s products as part of your welcome email.

Apart from the good value the impressive news is around Australia and New Zealand getting a first class current road map with an actual schedule of updates:

MapData Science shows the new tunnel in Brisbane.

Google still hasn’t refreshed their map, even though their data is supplied from MDS!

One of the project we run here is our Open Source Silverlight Map project called DeepEarth. This control gives you a powerful, smooth Silverlight control to build your custom application on. We’re currently in the build process of our new Silverlight 4 control which is GPU hardware accelerated, no longer restricts you to integer zoom levels and offers a platform for developers to build and share tools and controls. Within a few minutes we added support for MDS Foundation Map in the latest build, check it out here:

http://deepearth.soulsolutions.com.au/mds/

Zoom to Australia or New Zealand and let us know what you think of both MDS’ new map and our new fluid Silverlight control. We’re keen to support innovation in the Australian geospatial industry and it is great to see MDS launch such a useful product.

Technorati Tags: Map,MDS,DeepEarth,Silverlight

One thing I love about Feminism today is that it feels so inclusive; The modern feminism umbrella is so wide that all kinds of feminists are provided shelter. The problem for me, however, comes when I realise that I foster several little feminists within my own brain – all huddling out of the downpour – [...] 0 http://www.upliftmagazine.com/uplift/2010/09/should-we-care-what-women-wear/

Let's say you read the entry about data structure visualizers and in addition to all the STL humour you got excited about being able to control the way the debugger shows your objects as you work at understanding your application at runtime. And then you were sad because you don't do native C++ work and you don't know how you could get the same behaviour in a managed application. Well, have I got a keyword for you - DebuggerDisplay. Don't like that MSDN page about it? Here's another. Quick and easy, at least for simple types with only a few member variables. Give it a whirl. There's a nice example with screen shots at Dev102.

Kate

Not long ago I had the opportunity to chat with Stuart McLean, the founder of Osmosis, a company that delivers customized multi-touch systems of hardware and software that support human-centered...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]