One of the largest parts of my job (and by largest I mean "Thing That Sucks Up Huge Amounts of Time") is teaching the new students how to use the equipment that we have in the program, and how to use the software that goes with it.
Last week's lesson was about the Olympus LS-10 audio recorders that we check out, and Garageband. The general plan was that I was going to provide some examples of radio interviews (a la "This American Life"), everyone would "interview" each other on any topic that they wanted, and then they would create something that was inspired by the examples in Garageband. Each finished project should be 3-5 minutes long, have audio, music, ambient noises and maybe some sound effects.
In preparation for the teaching session, I found a recorded copy of a talk that Ira Glass gave at Yale two years ago. He was specifically speaking about the role of radio in modern journalism, but a lot of what he talked about - and did during the talk - was highly relevant to the lesson that I wanted them to learn. I worked with the Yale Broadcasting department to get a copy of the talk, and then watched it a few times to pick out what I wanted to use.
I chose to just have them watch the first 20 minutes, with occasional pauses at specific points to talk about what Glass was doing in the presentation, as he used sound bites from previous programs to illustrate his points. I had them watch his body language, pay attention to his mannerisms - everything he did was deliberate and specific. We talked about the points that he was making, about journalism and storytelling. I finished that part of the program by asking them to talk about why storytelling is important in media projects, and to think about the art of it as they put together their own mini-interviews.
For the rest of the time, the students recorded short interviews with each other, loaded things up into Garageband, and answered questions about how Garageband works. Some of the answers I knew off of the top of my head, but I did a lot of Googling on the projector so that everyone could see what was going on. We then collected the interviews at the end, and the went on their merry way. They seemed to enjoy the idea of technology and creativity, and there were a lot of interesting questions that came up.
And then I listened to the interviews. Some were just OK. And some where AMAZING. But most importantly, they all GOT it. They GOT what I wanted, they appeared to be having fun when we were doing it, and they learned something in the projected amount of time that I set up.
So what was different about this lesson than others?
First, I went into it with a storytelling theme/attitude. I told them that part of good media projects includes the concept of storytelling. A good presentation includes a story. A good movie sucks you in. An article that includes a touch of human is no longer boring. Storytelling is essential. And storytelling is art. And they got excited about art and technology. Specifically, art and technology that related to their job.
Secondly, we tried something new in the examples part. We watched. We paused. I pointed out things. We discussed. We watched more. Rinse and repeat. There was a certain level of interaction that we hadn't done before, and I think that really, really helped get the ideas and points across. I took the time to speak to them as artists. We connected. It was sort of awesome.
And so, I began a dialogue with my supervisors. I asked if I could go to a conference/workshop at the end of April, on storytelling. I talked about what happened, and how I think that next year, we should have a storytelling theme. That it should be incorporated into how I teach, how they learn and think about media. That storytelling could better improve presentation skills, and liven up boring PowerPoint slides. Both my direct supervisor and her boss thought that it was a very interesting approach. And said yes.
HOLY COW. How often do we, as IT managers of students, get to try something so out of the box? It's not as often as most would like, I think. I am very, very fortunate that I work with a team of people who are usually ready to try new things and hear my ideas out, and especially lucky that my supervisors are very open-minded. I wish this was something that more higher ed institutions would do on the business end of things: try something new. You don't have to devote huge amounts of resources to a new idea to test it; the conference is only $150 or so. In the yearly budget, that's pocket change. Far too often, I think, do we fall into the category of attempting to be innovative but lacking the actual drive to try something so alien. "Let's try something new" is not the same as "Let me turn my entire teaching method on its head." It's related, like mangoes are related to poison ivy (they both carry urushiol). Some parts are sort of the same, but really there isn't that much to compare.
I'm really happy that I get to try something new and crazy at work. This is what I love: pushing boundaries, creating bridges and connections out of thin air. I just wish that I could get everyone on board the Do Crazy Things at Work Train.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
o rly?
Apparently le ex has jumped on the blog band wagon. And in one of his posts I am described as a "pompous, self-centered woman."
Hurray, I'm not a girl any longer! Too bad I describe him as "that idiot." Doesn't even get a sex or gender identity.
OK, so why am I reading his blog? I have no fucking clue. I must be a glutton for punishment or something.
I did refrain from posting a comment because I'm mature or something like that. But it pisses me off that he gets to say things like that. Were we not part of the same relationship and break up? Because I'm pretty sure that I'm not a pompous, self-centered bitch. I have my moments, yes. But I'm not the one who decided to make a choice that only had one result: a break up. I'm trying to be really "grown up" here and not blather ALL of the messy details to the world, but right now it's really tempting.
Don't call me names if you aren't willing to back up your ideas with facts. Don't accuse me of being something without giving the whole story. Because I have a feeling that anyone who knew ALL of the facts would tell him he's an idiot (and those that do know, tend think along those lines). Someone related to me died because someone else made a similar choice to his. And THAT is what pisses me off and makes me so angry that clench my teeth as my throat swells shut.
It was a choice. He chose to hurt me.
He made a choice, and continues to make choices, apparently, that are hurtful and shameful. But I'm making choices, too. Some are big and some are small, but all of them are weighed with my friends and family in mind. The world is so much bigger than me, and my life is not just mine. Ignoring that fact, making me feel like I don't matter is the worse thing you can do to me. And he did it. I wasn't important to him. My family wasn't important to him. We as a couple were not important to him.
But I am important to so many other people, and I know that. I have friends and family who love me and are helping me get through every dark day and are laughing right along with me during the lighter ones. I have a dog that adores me (CUDDLES!). And their choices are ones that are inclusive and loving, and I'm grateful for that every day. I'm making the choice to move on, and some days it's really, really hard. Not the "oh god I want him back" type of hard (dear sweet heavens no), but the "must release anger and pain to get back to the good vibes" type of hard.
But get there, I will. I must. Or I'll go insane. And that would totally mess up my plans for world domination.
Hurray, I'm not a girl any longer! Too bad I describe him as "that idiot." Doesn't even get a sex or gender identity.
OK, so why am I reading his blog? I have no fucking clue. I must be a glutton for punishment or something.
I did refrain from posting a comment because I'm mature or something like that. But it pisses me off that he gets to say things like that. Were we not part of the same relationship and break up? Because I'm pretty sure that I'm not a pompous, self-centered bitch. I have my moments, yes. But I'm not the one who decided to make a choice that only had one result: a break up. I'm trying to be really "grown up" here and not blather ALL of the messy details to the world, but right now it's really tempting.
Don't call me names if you aren't willing to back up your ideas with facts. Don't accuse me of being something without giving the whole story. Because I have a feeling that anyone who knew ALL of the facts would tell him he's an idiot (and those that do know, tend think along those lines). Someone related to me died because someone else made a similar choice to his. And THAT is what pisses me off and makes me so angry that clench my teeth as my throat swells shut.
It was a choice. He chose to hurt me.
He made a choice, and continues to make choices, apparently, that are hurtful and shameful. But I'm making choices, too. Some are big and some are small, but all of them are weighed with my friends and family in mind. The world is so much bigger than me, and my life is not just mine. Ignoring that fact, making me feel like I don't matter is the worse thing you can do to me. And he did it. I wasn't important to him. My family wasn't important to him. We as a couple were not important to him.
But I am important to so many other people, and I know that. I have friends and family who love me and are helping me get through every dark day and are laughing right along with me during the lighter ones. I have a dog that adores me (CUDDLES!). And their choices are ones that are inclusive and loving, and I'm grateful for that every day. I'm making the choice to move on, and some days it's really, really hard. Not the "oh god I want him back" type of hard (dear sweet heavens no), but the "must release anger and pain to get back to the good vibes" type of hard.
But get there, I will. I must. Or I'll go insane. And that would totally mess up my plans for world domination.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Learning to Be A Giving Geek
There was a brief period in time in my childhood where I was obsessed by pink (Yes, really, truly. You can ask my mother.). I had a pink room, and wore pink dresses and played with pink Barbies and everything was pink pink pink. I'm not sure why, but one day I woke up and decided that I hated pink and dresses and everything that was super frilly (I still liked Barbie though).
For a long time I was anti-pink. My mother tried to get me into a pink shirt for a choir thing (we all had to wear solid colored tees) and I was not. having. it. I was "into" black for a while, as much as my parents would like me (which wasn't a whole lot), and I've had blue and green clothing phases, too. Nowadays there's a lot of color, dominated by black, white, black and white, jewel tones, and definitely still a lot of green. I wear what I call Professional Geek Chic most of the time.
But it wasn't just a color shift back when I was 10 or so. It was personality shift. I became really bookish. I was the smarty pants. The know-it-all. I was fairly shy and reserved, though in high school I did finally get a group of close friends. My nickname in high school was "Hermione" (and a lot of my handles online reflect that with "BiblioHermione"). I was a nerd. Maybe even *gasp!*... a dweeb.*
In college, though, I managed to morph into the illustrious and highly sought after title of geek. I got a better grasp of how to socialize, found some of the most amazing young women to exist on the planet to be my friends**, lucked out by finding a job that introduced me to the awesomeness of computers and helping people while simultaneously providing me with a mentor and a chance for upward mobility (student manager: achievement unlocked). I found my niche. I found my footing as a confident and capable young woman, and started learning how I could be a Woman and a Geek at the same time.
One of the hardest things to learn, though, was to love and accept former self-nerd-dweeb-Erin. Acknowledging that I had things to learn to be a better person, a better RCC was sometimes hard. But with a close-knit set of friends that I met through work and my classes, I did it. (We pulled friends from work into classes. And friends from classes into work. And it all culminated in the Magical Year of 2008. That's another story, though.) Though a lot of love and support, we all learned that we had formidable skills and were Women To Be Reckoned With (Don't cross us. We will kill you with our minds. Just like River.).
One of the most valuable skills I learned, through college and continually through my job even now, is that part of being a Geek is striving to Be Awesome. (Barney Stinson fully agrees with me.) Having a very strong, self-confident personality is crucial to my Geekness. I don't take crap from people, though I've been learning lately about how to not take crap in a more polite and constructive manner. (Being belligerent doesn't work so well with people. HUH.) Learning to say "I don't know; let's find out" and being open about my knowledge levels has been important, too. Open to learning and brainstorming is equally part of the skill set that I've acquired, as has been "how to have open lines of communication" and "teaching/training people how to use things." While these skills aren't necessarily part of the standard Geek repertoire, they DO make me a very efficient, competent and capable Geeky Manager.
I've been blessed by good friends and role models, and part of me being a geek is giving that back. I'm pretty heavily involved in ResNet, Inc. I volunteer at a natural science museum, specifically working with the 5-10 age range using themed kits about anthropology and natural science (as well as photographer when they need one). I pay special attention to my student workers, making sure that they have the support and tools to grow and learn. I network like crazy for my friends. And I pay special attention to the girls, always. Women in science and tech need strong, supportive role models, and I fully intend to be one.
I am proud to be a Girl Geek. And I am proud to help make more Girl Geeks who are self-confident and strong. Because we're awesome.
*For the purposes of this post, I will be using the Great White Snark Venn Diagram of Nerd-Dork-Geek-Dweebness as my schema.
**For those of you living under rocks, I went to an all women's college. No, we did not have lesbian make out parties. We did throw awesome parties, though.
For a long time I was anti-pink. My mother tried to get me into a pink shirt for a choir thing (we all had to wear solid colored tees) and I was not. having. it. I was "into" black for a while, as much as my parents would like me (which wasn't a whole lot), and I've had blue and green clothing phases, too. Nowadays there's a lot of color, dominated by black, white, black and white, jewel tones, and definitely still a lot of green. I wear what I call Professional Geek Chic most of the time.
But it wasn't just a color shift back when I was 10 or so. It was personality shift. I became really bookish. I was the smarty pants. The know-it-all. I was fairly shy and reserved, though in high school I did finally get a group of close friends. My nickname in high school was "Hermione" (and a lot of my handles online reflect that with "BiblioHermione"). I was a nerd. Maybe even *gasp!*... a dweeb.*
In college, though, I managed to morph into the illustrious and highly sought after title of geek. I got a better grasp of how to socialize, found some of the most amazing young women to exist on the planet to be my friends**, lucked out by finding a job that introduced me to the awesomeness of computers and helping people while simultaneously providing me with a mentor and a chance for upward mobility (student manager: achievement unlocked). I found my niche. I found my footing as a confident and capable young woman, and started learning how I could be a Woman and a Geek at the same time.
One of the hardest things to learn, though, was to love and accept former self-nerd-dweeb-Erin. Acknowledging that I had things to learn to be a better person, a better RCC was sometimes hard. But with a close-knit set of friends that I met through work and my classes, I did it. (We pulled friends from work into classes. And friends from classes into work. And it all culminated in the Magical Year of 2008. That's another story, though.) Though a lot of love and support, we all learned that we had formidable skills and were Women To Be Reckoned With (Don't cross us. We will kill you with our minds. Just like River.).
One of the most valuable skills I learned, through college and continually through my job even now, is that part of being a Geek is striving to Be Awesome. (Barney Stinson fully agrees with me.) Having a very strong, self-confident personality is crucial to my Geekness. I don't take crap from people, though I've been learning lately about how to not take crap in a more polite and constructive manner. (Being belligerent doesn't work so well with people. HUH.) Learning to say "I don't know; let's find out" and being open about my knowledge levels has been important, too. Open to learning and brainstorming is equally part of the skill set that I've acquired, as has been "how to have open lines of communication" and "teaching/training people how to use things." While these skills aren't necessarily part of the standard Geek repertoire, they DO make me a very efficient, competent and capable Geeky Manager.
I've been blessed by good friends and role models, and part of me being a geek is giving that back. I'm pretty heavily involved in ResNet, Inc. I volunteer at a natural science museum, specifically working with the 5-10 age range using themed kits about anthropology and natural science (as well as photographer when they need one). I pay special attention to my student workers, making sure that they have the support and tools to grow and learn. I network like crazy for my friends. And I pay special attention to the girls, always. Women in science and tech need strong, supportive role models, and I fully intend to be one.
I am proud to be a Girl Geek. And I am proud to help make more Girl Geeks who are self-confident and strong. Because we're awesome.
*For the purposes of this post, I will be using the Great White Snark Venn Diagram of Nerd-Dork-Geek-Dweebness as my schema.
**For those of you living under rocks, I went to an all women's college. No, we did not have lesbian make out parties. We did throw awesome parties, though.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
"Here we are now, entertain us!"
One of the greatest things that I love about the Internet is that I can usually get access to media pretty fast. I want a movie? I can rent it on iTunes or Amazon, or sometimes watch it on instant view on Netflix. Or I can buy it from iTunes or Amazon. I can order DVDs to get in my mail box online, I can watch my favorite shows on Hulu, and older shows on Netflix. I can stream music from last.fm, Pandora and a million other places, as well as buy music from Amazon or iTunes.
But what happens when I can't find what I want? Specifically, let's consider the case of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.
I don't watch TV on a normal schedule. There are some weeks where I watch 0 hours. And then there are other weeks where I watch TONS. So things like Hulu and Netflix are great: I can watch what I want, when I want. Sometimes things will expire, but I get alerts and it's usually up online for a month or longer.
Now, HIMYM and BBT aren't on Hulu. They are only on CBS' website. And they only keep a single episode up for a week-ish. So when I don't have time to keep up, I'm screwed. I love both shows, but I've only seen the first two episodes of each this TV season because I have a pretty active life and don't have time to sit there and argue with CBS about being a stupid head (like they'd listen to me, anyways). So what am I to do?
Well, I can buy the season on iTunes. But I don't want to keep it. I just want to watch it once to keep current. Maybe I'll buy it on DVDs later, but I don't want to invest $60 right now on digital content. I can't rent the shows from iTunes, nor Amazon.
So let's get this straight. There isn't a free streaming service available. There isn't a renting service available. And the only way I can catch up is to pay $60 on iTunes.
Well, CBS, I am not spending 60 goddamned dollars on TV. I don't have cable because it's not necessary and I'm not going to pay through the nose for your content. I typically have a problem with people illegally downloading things, but when you make it nigh impossible for me to get reasonably priced access to content and materials, I really feel like I have very little choice in the matter. I can wait for it to come out on Netflix and get it in the mail, or I can torrent it with very few actual repercussions (statistically speaking).
Given that this is all part of a service that aims at delivering instant access to anything I want, they are failing me. I'm being told, on one hand, that I should expect to get just about anything I want with the click of a button. On the other hand, there are two rather popular shows that I can't get like that, and so I'm forced to make a decision: illegally download something or be patient with content even though I can get other, similar content in a legal manner. I'm faced with a decision that really isn't that hard.
I don't have a problem paying for content. What I do have a problem with is a system that sets me up with two choices that are both against the norm of other services offered and services advertised. When renting content becomes too difficult (and by difficult, I mean I'm LOOKING at iTunes, Hulu, Amazon and Netflix for solutions; I have accounts on each and regularly buy and watch other things from all of them), I'm going to say "Screw the system" and just download stuff.
[I won't do it on the Yale network. My current roommate works for InfoSec, I work for ITS and it would just look really bad for her to have to yell at her roommate for a DMCA violation. I don't download as a guest on other people's networks, because if something bad happens, it's not their fault and I don't want to cause problems for them. It will happen at home, on my Mac Mini, through Transmission and a throttled download/upload rate so as not to hog the bandwidth.]
I'm not a terrible, unethical person for doing this. I'm someone who's frustrated by the system. I see a workaround, and though it's not my first choice, it will get the job done and I will get what I want in the end. I understand that some people might have issues with my choices, but as I've explained, I've looked for reasonable, legal means to get what I want. They don't exist. And I'm not the only person with this issue, either. Until CBS gets its head on straight, I'm going to download and watch content at my leisure.
But what happens when I can't find what I want? Specifically, let's consider the case of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.
I don't watch TV on a normal schedule. There are some weeks where I watch 0 hours. And then there are other weeks where I watch TONS. So things like Hulu and Netflix are great: I can watch what I want, when I want. Sometimes things will expire, but I get alerts and it's usually up online for a month or longer.
Now, HIMYM and BBT aren't on Hulu. They are only on CBS' website. And they only keep a single episode up for a week-ish. So when I don't have time to keep up, I'm screwed. I love both shows, but I've only seen the first two episodes of each this TV season because I have a pretty active life and don't have time to sit there and argue with CBS about being a stupid head (like they'd listen to me, anyways). So what am I to do?
Well, I can buy the season on iTunes. But I don't want to keep it. I just want to watch it once to keep current. Maybe I'll buy it on DVDs later, but I don't want to invest $60 right now on digital content. I can't rent the shows from iTunes, nor Amazon.
So let's get this straight. There isn't a free streaming service available. There isn't a renting service available. And the only way I can catch up is to pay $60 on iTunes.
Well, CBS, I am not spending 60 goddamned dollars on TV. I don't have cable because it's not necessary and I'm not going to pay through the nose for your content. I typically have a problem with people illegally downloading things, but when you make it nigh impossible for me to get reasonably priced access to content and materials, I really feel like I have very little choice in the matter. I can wait for it to come out on Netflix and get it in the mail, or I can torrent it with very few actual repercussions (statistically speaking).
Given that this is all part of a service that aims at delivering instant access to anything I want, they are failing me. I'm being told, on one hand, that I should expect to get just about anything I want with the click of a button. On the other hand, there are two rather popular shows that I can't get like that, and so I'm forced to make a decision: illegally download something or be patient with content even though I can get other, similar content in a legal manner. I'm faced with a decision that really isn't that hard.
I don't have a problem paying for content. What I do have a problem with is a system that sets me up with two choices that are both against the norm of other services offered and services advertised. When renting content becomes too difficult (and by difficult, I mean I'm LOOKING at iTunes, Hulu, Amazon and Netflix for solutions; I have accounts on each and regularly buy and watch other things from all of them), I'm going to say "Screw the system" and just download stuff.
[I won't do it on the Yale network. My current roommate works for InfoSec, I work for ITS and it would just look really bad for her to have to yell at her roommate for a DMCA violation. I don't download as a guest on other people's networks, because if something bad happens, it's not their fault and I don't want to cause problems for them. It will happen at home, on my Mac Mini, through Transmission and a throttled download/upload rate so as not to hog the bandwidth.]
I'm not a terrible, unethical person for doing this. I'm someone who's frustrated by the system. I see a workaround, and though it's not my first choice, it will get the job done and I will get what I want in the end. I understand that some people might have issues with my choices, but as I've explained, I've looked for reasonable, legal means to get what I want. They don't exist. And I'm not the only person with this issue, either. Until CBS gets its head on straight, I'm going to download and watch content at my leisure.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Things overheard in the office: Thursday Edition
"You never know, you might want the goat." - coworker Jim to coworker Bryan
I'm not sure I can really even try to successfully put it into context.
I'm not sure I can really even try to successfully put it into context.
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