Jasmine Jones' Blog

Aug 1

Final Blog

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The bells doth toll on our final day

Fond memories our minds do replay

As we bid farewell and hug goodbye

And even the stolid struggle not to cry

We hand in our keys and turn our backs

For ne'er again this summer shall we see ol' VRAC

As we depart, I say to all "adieu!"

Goodbye good people of the HCI REU!

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July 31

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The mighty keyboard

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9am- There is something to be said about typing. I've actually never typed an entire paper from scratch before. I usually write it out bits of it to focus my thoughts, and then start typing. So, that's another one for my list of firsts. (boring I know but I have nothing else to write!) Also, I got draft comments back from Brandon on draft3, and suprisingly, there aren't that many! He did send it to me around midnight though so he might have been too sleepy to catch the bad parts, but I'm happy. Now just bracing for SG and Ken's comments to come...

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8:55pm- In Recent News...

Well...SG gave me at another evening's work worth of comments and revisions. But, while I got no paper comments from Ken, there appeared to be covert action by the rumored Saruman Alliance to get this authenticated quote from Mr. Kopecky regarding the team that refers to themselves as "Gandalf":

"Awesomeness requires sound...and the Magic Table team did not deliver." -K.K., July 31, 2008- 8:50PM, VRAC

Neither the Magic Table team nor the theoretical members of the alleged Alliance were available to comment at this time.

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DesireeVelazquez - 01 Aug 2008 - 00:20

Huge LOL! In reality, I can't do it that loud since the guys are still working. Yeah! Take that team Gandalf! Huge props to Ken.

JennaLanger - 31 Jul 2008 - 16:33

The first revisions are the hardest, but it makes you feel so much better when you get that last draft with only a few marks!

July 30

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Editing, Revising

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I sent Brandon and ken the next draft of the paper. Now I have to rewrite the entire thing all over again. The rewrite is not as stark as the SG inspired paper frenzy, but it comes close in terms of sheer volume of writing. I'm thankful that I like writing at least. I don't mind researching and writing the paper, it's just taking an incredibly long time. For anything else I can churn out 5 pages in <3 hours, but this actually needs to have substantial content. And it's not double spaced...

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July 29

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Writing

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Ok so yesterday I sent SG a draft of the paper and he said "ok", not in so few words of course, but at least I'm in the right direction. Maybe we'll even finish in time to submit the paper to a conference paper call on July 31?

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July 28

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From one language to another

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So I've shifted from endless writing in Objective-C to endless writing in English. Last week, StephenGilbert told our team (in his characteristic uplifting and encouraging way) that our almost-paper was trash and we needed to approach in another way so that's I'm doing. I think I have a pretty good idea to run with so I'm just writing furiously hoping and praying that in somehow my ramblings about various things iPhone-related will build itself into a passable paper. Nizar and Paul are working on the networking (bonjour, obj-c) and Turret Wars (openGL, obj-c) so I figure I'll be most useful sloggin' away on the paper (english, techie gibberish).

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July 25

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So...its the end of the week

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I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry. I haven't done a lot of things in a while: 1) Sleep, 2) Eat a balanced meal, 3) Relax, etc..... Our game keeps running into snags. It's like trying to draw a straight line on paper without a straight edge, while you have the hiccups. Just when you think you've got it, *HIC* and you've got wiggle.

But I think the following unbelievably true story pretty much sums up my week:

Possibly the most life changing event ever...

Maybe this is a normal part of life in Kenworld, but never in their imaginations would those REU interns have expected to be suddenly interrupted during a late night paper-writing/coding session in a giant high-tech computer lab by a wild-eyed man desperately requesting help to find an imperiled lost skunk. Escaped an indeterminate amount of time prior that evening and its whereabouts utterly unknown, the skunk "without a stinker" and "completely captive-raised" was in imminent danger of death should it remain unfound. The dark night loomed ominously as tiny, backlit LCD screens accompanied by hushed, plaintive calls of "Ruuufuuuuss!!" echoed throughout the slumbering neighborhood around Rufus' home. A mishmash brigade of searchers- undergrad interns, grad students, and a few random drunkies- peered under bushes and through overgrown hedges searching for Ashley's skunk. The scene reminded one of the revered adage, "What greater friends hath a man than those who sacrifice sleep for a skunk." Though the odds for finding poor Rufus were slim, with slight hope the searchers notified the police and Animal Services to be alert for calls of a rabid skunk (but Rufus is not rabid, just a skunk). The undergrad searchers returned to their lab after a short time, certain the skunk has been overcome by the Call of the Wild. Finally, as time marched on and the demarcation between last night and next day blurred, a text bubble appeared on an unexpecting computer. "We found a skunk." Rufus had been found! He had cleverly hid himself underneath a car nearby to his house to avoid the dangers that roam the dark, and staunchly ignored that seductive wild call. Relief filled the hearts of the remaining searchers as Rufus was returned to his home, Ashley vowing to make the exits of her home more skunk proof. And so ended a chapter of the saga in Kenworld.

• Rufus comes to visit:
  

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DavidOluwatimi - 29 Jul 2008 - 09:08

Wap it!! WAP IT REAL GOOD!!!

BrianRussell - 25 Jul 2008 - 23:18

If only Rufus knew how much trouble he caused.

JennaLanger - 25 Jul 2008 - 17:14

I'm so glad they found it and we got to play with it! And by the way, your program hates me. Apparently I don't know how to wap or swipe!

MatthewScheinerman - 25 Jul 2008 - 16:35

Wow, that is an epic story. I had no idea.

July 21

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oh, Grad School

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We had a luncheon lecture with Thelma Harding, who works in the graduate office; she talked about all the necessary step to getting into grad school like GRE's, recommendations letters, personal statements, etc.

I wonder if they ever had grad students look over applications for people coming into their labs/research teams? Maybe not officially, but it would make sense; after all, these are the people you spend the next 5-8 years of your life with.

On a totally-unrelated-but-not-really note: Touch works with the views! So you can see and play WapIt ! you just can't hear or win! Woo!

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SamanthaLevine - 25 Jul 2008 - 15:00

I heard you tore it up at the PWSE thing! Oh wait...I know you tore it up. And WapIt is still the coolest thing ever!

NizarKhalife - 21 Jul 2008 - 22:43

Who needs victory when you have a $300 dollar device giving you orders?

BrianRussell - 21 Jul 2008 - 21:31

Applying graduate school sounds very similar to applying to undergraduate programs.

ThomasNiedzielski - 21 Jul 2008 - 17:16

I honestly can't wait to play that game. I liked Bop-It a lot back in middle school. Nice to know that your weekend project was a success!

July 18

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almost...there...

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tried to get the touch gestures integrated with my views. going slower than I anticipated but hopefully I'll be able to finish that over the weekend. our goal is to have this game done!!!! by the weekend. I wonder how this type of thing works in the corporate world. They impose deadlines and restrictions on programmers, but what happens it there is a problem the coder just can't fix (or fixing it is a lot more resource intensive than anticipated). How do they deal with that? In the videogame industry they just push back the release date until its apparent that customers might start to lose interest if forced to wait any longer, but what about companies like Microsoft or even Apple? do they just release with bugs?

btw, while I was doing research for our paper, I found this nice video done by the pioneer (Jeff Han) of the current multitouch device a lot of our groups are using. The technology he shows is something we've all seen (obviously) but some of the ideas he throws out that MultiTouch could be used for are rather cool and interesting. link to video

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July 17

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Why code...oh why?

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So..my code betrayeth me. I spend all night streamlining it and making it more objectiveC-ish. and it works!...sometimes. now it displays a blank screen sometimes when it should be showing animation.

we also had journal club, where we talked about social robots. We talked about more than just the technology and what we thought of it, but also how it might impact society. Some ppl thought it was boring, but I thought it was a welcome change.

i wish my code was affective(understand emotion). then I could run it, then press "esc" real quick and it would be disappointed and now know how I feel. >:|

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NizarKhalife - 17 Jul 2008 - 23:38

"Does your code work?"

"Only till it stops working."

p.s. Genetically Engineered Dinosaurs

~ BKC

JennaLanger - 17 Jul 2008 - 16:06

I like when we go off on a tangent. It's still an interesting discussion when we're not talking about robots or big brother... who knew!

SamanthaLevine - 17 Jul 2008 - 14:06

Yeah- Journal Club was pretty sweet today. I'm sad that your code is being lame. See Travis' comment.

TravisChristian - 17 Jul 2008 - 13:53

That sounds like the Magic Table code. I've been messing with one function all week and just now rolled part of it back to last Friday's so it would work again. It works just fine, except when it BSODs.

July16

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no singing, just code

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still coding. goal: finish by tomorrow

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July15

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LaDeDaDeDoo

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yes I'm still codin' codin' codin', codin' til the break o' dawn/ I'm still codin' codin' codin', too tired to even yawn/ oh I'm codin' codin' codin', cause codin' is what I do/and I can't think of what else to say, so I'm writin' this song to yooooouuuuuuu!!!

ps: loved the luncheon lecture. it was a bit more interactive than the others, especially when she tied in Jenna's work to it. Very cool. It really is a small world. Eve Wurtele knows the bio professor at my school that mentors a lot of my friends.

pps: my code is not boring. we get along famously. but it can be rather stubborn and annoying sometimes.

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July 14

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LaDeDaDe

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oh I'm still codin' codin' codin', but the views are finally changin' / now I'm addin' pizzazz that'll give our game some jazz / oh I'm codin' codin' codin', i really didn't do much else todayyyyyyy-eeeeeee!!!/but I did a little work in audio, hey!

ps: shout out to ken and the kopecky ferrets! (and turtles)

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SamanthaLevine - 15 Jul 2008 - 13:26

Oh ferrets! Aren't they a joy??? I'm sorry you have boring code. But audio is an awesome feature. Just keep it down over there Waldorf

DavidOluwatimi - 15 Jul 2008 - 09:33

whats pizzazz? sorry for my ignorance. BTW, get used to coding because if that is your major then you are gonna hate the rest of your life

July 12

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Principal Usability Lab

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We had a field trip to Principal today, which is this huge financial/insurance company. We went to visit their usability lab where they used a lot of HCI words and did a user test for their website with David as the user. They also showed us an art installation (they had quite a few art pieces around the building in addition to the very nice architecture) that was a dark room with a red wall...or was it? It was pretty cool. I think it would be a nice meditation room except staying in there very long would either make you angry or hungry if you go by color psychology. But a blue deep enough would be disturbing too...like drowning. Anyyyhoo. It was cool and calming and dark and pretty neat to have in a professional office. After our tour, we went to the state museum, and it had some really nice exhibits about Iowa history and politics. They had a draw full of mocassins from the different Native American tribes that lived around the area, so I admired the beadwork for a good ten minutes. After about 45 min browsing the museum we went up to lunch in Cafe Barrata's (never take a large group to a cafe) and enjoyed some wonderful confersation and riddle-telling and Italian soda. The only thing I don't like about riddles is that I feel really stupid when I don't get them. And I usually don't. And I've heard that riddle about the knight and the dragon before. I prefer good ol' jigsaw puzzles.

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EvaTao - 15 Jul 2008 - 22:35

Don't worry, you are not the only one. I still have no idea what that is about. The red room is cool to put in the office building. Maybe make it green in our C6 and adding some river sound, so all of us can have a meditation hour

July 11

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**

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Ya know, researchers look to nature and such for ideas for algorithms on how to solve problems relating to swarm intelligence, but I wonder why they don't look at humans? We're not that unpredictable. I'm sure some of our biggest problems could be solved if we just stopped to look at ourselves. btw, I visited a lab last summer (sorry forgot where it was...somewhere in MD) where they are doing research on dynamic 3D sound, like the kind the speaker swarm would do. basically they had these headphones and a little box, and wherever you moved the box around you head, a sound would play in the headphones that would make it seems like the box was making the noise. So it sounded like noise was coming from behind you, or above you, or right beside your ear, or far away. It was pretty cool.

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July 9

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LaDeDa

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* to the tune of whatever peppy country song you know * I'm justa codin' codin' codin', codin' on this here Mac, I don't rightly know what I am doin' but I'ma jus' pull on through. Oh I'm codin' codin' codin', this puzzle I will crack, I will make iPhone animate the changin' of the view. Hua!

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July 8

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So this is what it's like to be in grad school

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Today was an interesting day, not just for us PodWorld citizens, but for the rest of the VRAC universe too. Eric and Vijay defended their dissertations, iPhone team had a meeting, we had a luncheon lecture, and then there was just general work to do.

On dissertations: I went to Vijay's dissertation defense. I have to say it was a lot like those Research Review (aka teacher revenge day) sessions in high school. Except we presented in teams, our presentations definitely were not an hour and 45 min long, and the FUTURE of OUR ENTIRE LIVES wasn't hanging in the balance. Other than that it was pretty much the same. Good job Vijay.

on team mtgs: We saw Ken before 10am. 'nuff said

on Luncheon Lectures: I have to say, one of the best parts was when Pam designated Paul to be the lunch escort because he was "one of you art people" Also, its amazing how much a good PowerPoint slide presentation (ie lotsa pictures and colors) can enhance a lecture. Our speaker was a graphic designer/researcher, which I definitely would be if I had known that existed before I chose international field, and she talked about the actual Human Interface part of a design process. Not really HCI but definitely related. I wish I could take her class.

on general work: Isn't it infuriating when you know a bug in your code can be solved with a one line function call...if only you knew what it was. I guess that's what teammates are for. Thanks Nizar!

on other things maybe but not really related: FYI, waking up at 4am to get some coding done typically doesn't work if you try to work from bed (somehow that computer becomes the comfiest pillow you can imagine and you wake up 15min later with a hundred lines of "s" in the middle of your code) and you end up dead tired for the rest of the day anyway.

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EvaTao - 10 Jul 2008 - 18:28

Do not forget to blog!!

PaulClay - 10 Jul 2008 - 14:37

Why on earth are you waking up at 4am to finish code??? that sounds dreadful, but I admire your dedication.

DavidOluwatimi - 10 Jul 2008 - 08:57

I was planning on getting a Ph.D, but after seeing Eric dissertation defense, I dont know any more because the committee hounded him with questions that I will probably freeze up on.

NizarKhalife - 08 Jul 2008 - 22:59

!!! 4 AM? And you let Ken complain about 10 AM?

BrianRussell - 08 Jul 2008 - 20:42

I agree, the luncheon lecture was interesting. I'd like to hear more of her thoughts on good interface design.

ThomasNiedzielski - 08 Jul 2008 - 17:27

I felt bad for not being able to see Vijay's defense, but I'm glad I got to talk to the speaker. I got to ask her about Icons vs. Text, and she told me the only icons people consistently could figure out were "mail" (probably an envelope) and "help" (a question mark). That means I'm redesigning some of my menu system.

SamanthaLevine - 08 Jul 2008 - 15:18

Yeah the powerpoint slides really enhanced her lecture. And I love the early morning coding stories-Get some sleep Roomie!! <3

DesireeVelazquez - 08 Jul 2008 - 14:39

Wow, you got a lot in this blog today. Yeah, managing to find Ken during the morning is amazing, good for your team. I didn't get to see Vijay's defense, but it sounds like it would've been something good to hear.

JennaLanger - 08 Jul 2008 - 14:36

It's not too late to learn about design! It's a great combo with CS as we have seen.

July 7

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Factory Visit

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We went to the John Deere factory today. It was interesting. Lots of sparks flying and heavy equipment. It was interesting to see how up close and interactive everything was. I thought most stuff was made by robots already and people were basically just quality checkers and maybe doing a little fine tuning. But there were people doing the big heavy-duty welding and everything. So I guess whenever a John Deere cotton baler rolls by 5 years from now, and proud pa can nudge his son and say "I made that there tractor with my bare hands" and then display his gnarled, sooty hands as evidence. Pretty cool. I wonder if the "hands-on-ness" is present in car plants too.

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* ethicstatement.rtf: My Ethics Statement (extremely condensed version)

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July 3

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Eureka!

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I got my views to transition!! Correctly this time! And we fleshed out the game architecture for our game some more, so we'll definitely be working through the weekend.

We also had a discussion in Journal club about using computers for automated drug discovery. I guess you could consider that Human Computer Interaction since the products of a computer program are being put on the market...but it seemed a tad of a stretch and the article wasn't very interesting either, lots of chemistry yabberage. But I suppose some responsible soul should consider the role of computing in pharmaceutical research...it just won't be me.

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JohnMorales - 03 Jul 2008 - 18:12

I wonder who got the idea to pic such article for journal club...(whistling),hahaha. I like molecular dynamics but I not very passionate for chemistry (That was my major, 1yr ago lol).

July 2

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Oops...Did I Do That?

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Last night, at around 8p, at the behest of Ken, I started changing my ViewChanger code to work with 2 images instead of an image and a viewController-managed view. Last night, at around 11p, I concluded that I had well and truly broken the code. Instead of output that at least looked like it was doing something vaguely similar to what I intended, the debugger spit out a stream of numbers and quit.

So this morning I got up early and started over with a old copy of my code. Took a break to go to the PWSE session on balancing work and family. It was interesting to hear their perspectives, and all the panelists had some useful tips should I decide to get married and start a family upon my graduation from college.

And then I got back to work on my code and... just before 5pm, I got it to work!! not perfectly, but the views change! satisfaction

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JohnMorales - 03 Jul 2008 - 18:09

Haha some girls there sound like desperate to get married ( don't blame them they were cute), but it was funny.

July 1

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_GASP_ It's Already July!

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1) In a way that's a good thing. Because it rather feels like we've been here forever, but we still have half the summer to go. No need to practice the teary farewells yet ^_^ 2) I think our workload shall escalate exponentially from this point forward. Somehow, 24 hours just doesn't seem like enough time when you have a deadline 3) We had one of the most interesting conversations regarding HCI/Technology Ethics. If the cover of the book our discussion material came from didn't look so bland, I might buy it. 4) Still ploughing away at code trying to get views to change. This UI stuff is harder than it looks...

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June 30

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And the Crunch Begins

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Today we continued working on our big projects. During our "how to make a poster" class, we all realized how little time we have left, especially to finish the poster. I feel like our poster will look like the target team's poster from last year, all about the problem, and maybe the process and hedging due to no actual conclusion. We need an actual problem for that matter. I did get the code to change views to compile and run. Unfortunately it doesn't work Hopefully I can figure out how to get a viewcontroller.view and a regular view to switch back and forth, or else I'll have to rewrite the code to work with two regular views, which would be counter intuitive b/c we need to know how to use view controllers! And there's so much work to do relating to the research aspect of our project. gah this is going to be a fun week.

On the bright side, I loved the brain food on Engineering and Social Justice. It talked about all about the issues that I'll be studying in my majors (ComSci /Internat'l studies). A lot of my friends back at school are "hippie engineers", ppl like the book talked about who want to use their "high falutin'" tech degrees to help out in developing societies or to conserve resources and take down corporate giants and such. I know we definitely could take up the whole morning talking about all the topics discussed in a mere three chapters of the book. I'm looking forward to tomorrow

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DavidOluwatimi - 01 Jul 2008 - 16:49

I forgot that we had to make a poster at one point, and even so I still think that we have enough time. So don't stress out.

KenKopecky - 01 Jul 2008 - 01:08

Brandon's the man for that. Trap him in his cube and don't let him leave till your views work.

JennaLanger - 30 Jun 2008 - 23:07

At least you're keeping busy, but hopefully not too busy! That's cool that your friends are the "hippie engineers." we need more of those. I'm sure you'll be helping people out as well with your international relation skills!

June 27

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A Good End to the Week

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The particles move! And bounce! Whoopee! I was sitting outside by the fountain today, wondering how to modify my new particle system so that it spews particles that behave like a water fountain. I figure it would have to be a lot of particles, and I'd have to use collision detection and somehow tell particles to stick together when they hit each other or break apart when they get a certain distant up? But thats a question for another time. this weekend my task is to 1) figure out how to change screens and link that to events in Obj-C; 2) relax; 3) read 3 chapters of a book on ethics. Stephen said we only have to read 2 chapters and a section of the third, but they all seems so interesting that I'll probably end up reading all the sections.

HCI class was interesting today. We got to view movies about different aspects of HCI and emerging technologies. Here's a good HCI issue that I heard on CNN the other day: John McCain identifies himself as computer "illiterate" and depends on his wife and aides for tech support, even simple things like using a cellphone. Obama, on the other hand, is very computer savvy, some even say "addicted to his Blackberry" and will probably have no problem staying up to date on whatever new tech stuff comes out. So what do you think, next generation? Does it matter whether our next president is tech savvy or not? Can the nation's future head of state lead effectively without being able to use most modern technology?

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how can anyone not like Eeyore?

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June 26

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Life is just a video game

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Ken fixed my OpenGL code! so now it compiles and runs! But the particle(s) don't move. But they do die! so I'll have to spend the next 5 days figuring that out. On the bright side, despite how long it takes me to code every little thing, I'm not pulling my hair out with frustration or boredom. Yet.

We also had Journal Club where we talked about video games and education. I don't really have a concrete opinion of "yes we should put game in the curriculum" or "no we shouldn't" because I really don't think adding/substituting videogames as teaching material would really work in areas where the biggest issues are. The students that I work with (from inner city Baltimore) when forced to play an educational game, would either figure out how to beat the game without actually learning the material, or be bored to death by the material and somehow break the game. Somehow I just don't see NumberMunchers making a comeback.

On a side note, I managed to use my iPod to make notes on what I was researching for our project today. But I have no pockets so I didn't take it everywhere like Nizar and his iBuddy.

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ThomasNiedzielski - 27 Jun 2008 - 10:09

How did they get Eeyore to smile in that picture? Anyway, people can only use educational software if they're willing to. In that way it's just like any other source of learning.

SamanthaLevine - 26 Jun 2008 - 16:49

Hooray for Ken!! Besides- who needs movement?

BrianRussell - 26 Jun 2008 - 13:46

I wish you'd said something about your work with inner city students during the discussion.

June 25

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Wensday

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Today I went to the PWSE brown bag lunch with the other PWSE ladies, and we learned that the best time to start saving for retirement is before you've even been born. Then you'll be a millionare by the time you finish college and never have to work in the first place. We also did more work on our respective projects. I finally got my OpenGL code for particles to compile, but now it won't run *sigh *

Since I now have an iPod touch, at least for the summer, I shall attempt to become a more tech savvy person. My CS classmates back at school would always tease me and say I was sorry excuse for a ComSci major b/c I don't play videogames, MMORGs, have a cellphone or iPod, facebook, watch TV, cook exclusively with a microwave, or anything else that distinguishes "normal" people from the Amish. Except I do use email..I live by email, however troglodytic that might be. So maybe this "iTouch" will be the the bucket that rescues me from my well of backwardness. I will still cook with real fire though.

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June 24

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MiniGolf Tuesday...among other things

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Today I worked some more on the particle system to the point where I decided it would be easier to stop and start over! We also had a luncheon lecture about the effects of video games on a person, and I wondered if maybe its a good thing that so many soldiers play Halo during their downtime in the field? Then we went to play minigolf the right way. It was fun in a small-town sort of way. I played the TouchFighter game Brandon installed on the iPods...are the fighters a particle system? particles on the brain...must...figure..it..out

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PaulClay - 26 Jun 2008 - 13:26

I don't think they are particles. They are objects that are dynamically called into the scene. Though, they aren't that different from particles in some respects.

MatthewScheinerman - 25 Jun 2008 - 16:38

Darn right minigolf was fun. It's the most fun you can have standing up.

NizarKhalife - 25 Jun 2008 - 09:33

I have no idea anymore. It would kind of make sense since they are a swarm of fighters.

June 23

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Yet Another Monday

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The start of another week. Today we discussed our big project a little more within our team, and I think it sounds a little better than just what we had on Friday. I think we're all itching to get started because our ideas are really cool. Also, we are discussing our background research material with Catherine in Craft of Research, as well as doing a little quiz for HCI class. We (the iPhone team) are working on getting a particle system to work. Ken gave us source code for various apps he use particle systems in (including SkyPaint !) so we can pore over them and absorb the genius...at least thats the plan

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JohnMorales - 25 Jun 2008 - 07:49

where he get the source from or he made it? Anyway, go crazy with particle system because I know that is fun.

NizarKhalife - 25 Jun 2008 - 01:21

The particle systems are just a generally useful concept for graphics programming. That means that we could pretty much use it for anything. I think.

DesireeVelazquez - 24 Jun 2008 - 13:48

lol, good luck with that

DavidOluwatimi - 24 Jun 2008 - 09:00

I wonder what you are going to with the particle systems? I guess you changed your idea for the spanish game.

NizarKhalife - 23 Jun 2008 - 23:41

At the very least we will absorb Ken's excess nuttiness.

June 20

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- _ - (zzzz)

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So...I haven't blogged in 3 days. Those days have been fun. No really. On Wednesday, we got to spend all day coding and working on our OpenGL projects. I made a tornado but it took about 2 days and as many grad students to figure out how to get textures onto it. Then we got to spend all night in VRAC! It was so great, we didn't ever have to leave our wonderful lab. Just staring at Xcode allll night. Then Ken, having also joined in our letsnotsleep-over, brought us the ultimate grad student breakfast at 5am: EasyMac and chocolate chip cookies. Ah the life of a grad student.

Then on Thursday, that oft-told adage that our parents warned us about came to life: "If you stay up all night, you'll be extra sleepy in the morning." But after we presented TORNADO!!! our lovely REU mother hen Pam swooped to our rescue and ushered us off to bed until... We went to a baseball game in Des Moines. I'm not a huge fan of baseball; the only other game I've ever watched was at a program similar to this last summer. But the iCubs won and it was a good time the way sitting with a bunch of college research interns watching men swing sticks and run in polygons can be. After we got back we hastily prepared for our presentation the next day (today) but we weren't too coherent due to lack of sleep.

Then today (TGIF) was field trip today! We went to the library for Craft of Research and were treated to a dynamic presentation of how to to use ISU's Library research database and an awesome tour of the facility. Then we had Journal Club where we talked about using electrodes to measure brain impulses to move a cursor across the screen. Then we had our presentations, and everybody's went well, and HCI class which seemed like it went well too. And now over the weekend, the iPhone team has been tasked to learn how to do particle systems in OpenGL . Yay for weekend projects! Time to get to it!

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EvaTao - 24 Jun 2008 - 05:07

Nice week, wasn't it?!

NizarKhalife - 22 Jun 2008 - 23:34

I'm a bit confused with my particles. =(

June 17

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Eat and Learn

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We had an interesting Luncheon Lecture by Stephen Gilbert today. He showed us how the AI math tutoring software from Carnegie Learning works and I thought that was really cool. I wonder if a student could use that as a homeschool aid? It seems like it would be perfect for the type of student who wants to take algebra in middle school but doesn't have the opportunity to. Coming from an area with horrendous schools I applaud any effort to improve student's learning and classroom engaging, especially if it works. Since the iPhone team is going to do something educational I think taking a look at the studies that Carnegie conducted with this software would be beneficial in helping us design effective and engaging software. We also were able to go out to dinner with a lot of our grad students and Dr. Stephen and Mrs. Pam and just talk about this summer's experience so far and past REU's and grad schools; it was really nice, I hope we can do it again before the end of the summer.

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EvaTao - 24 Jun 2008 - 05:11

Good idea! Let check the possibility. Maybe not the fine dining but a nice place that can eat and talk.

CatherinePeloquin - 19 Jun 2008 - 10:17

I'm glad you enjoyed the dinner. Weren't those deserts killer?

June 16

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Hobey Ho Let's Go

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The start of another week at HCI. We learned some more about openGL and also started learning about Usability in HCI class. We have a lot of things scheduled to do this week; hopefully we'll be able to finish it. Go iPhone team!

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June 13

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Weekend fun?

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I've been doing a lot of programming and modeling this week. A lot. 9-5 everyday. I guess this is what its like to be a grad student? Not that I mind the programming, quite the opposite. I love this kind of stuff, I just wish I was better at it so it wouldn't be so frustrating and time consuming to do simple things. But the only way to get better is to muddle through the annoying stage. But I feel like I'm at the stage a toddler is at when they're just getting the hang of walking, and they try to run...but they always go too fast, overbalance, and fall. But hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be able to get a little canter goin'. We had a really good discussion about Biometrics today in Journal Club (good article sam and paul!). It was an article about the possible future directions of biometrics, but it was written in 2000...so this is the future. I just liked listening to all the different perspectives about biometrics. When I went to visit the NSA once last summer they gave us a tour of their past security technology area (like a little museum) and demonstrated how a lot of the biometric stuff we were talking about today, like face scanners and voice detection, works. It was really interesting. Did you know that you can identify someone by their ears too? I guess since I didn't say anything in discussion today I'll put my 2cents in here: I think biometrics will definitely move forward into an area beyond the standard DNA, fingerprint, facial identification methods. There is a percentage of the population (less than .2% but still important) that DNA and facial recognition methods won't work with and even fingerprints are iffy sometimes. So I think the biometrics shift in security is not really a question of "if" anymore, but when. (if you're wondering what the <.2% of the population is, guess ^_^ it was mentioned in the article a few times). I guess that's it for now

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CatherinePeloquin - 17 Jun 2008 - 08:45

Good points and interesting blog post. You should talk more during the next journal club both so we can hear you thoughts and so I can stop hassling you to join in (har har).

EvaTao - 17 Jun 2008 - 05:11

We are going to watch V for Vendetta this Friday. You may find some ideas of the movie came from the overwhelming surveillant system in UK. Facial recognition became part of their life nowadays. Most of citizen rather sacrifise they privacy to gain the safety for real. Do not forget to blog for 6/16.

NizarKhalife - 14 Jun 2008 - 20:20

We are a team, JJ. If one of us struggles in programming, so do we all! I'm here to help with anything code-related!

JennaLanger - 14 Jun 2008 - 17:39

Wow, an ear?? I guess they are pretty unique. I could image someone going up to a machine like they were going to listen to someone whispering, and before you know it... POW! The computer knows everything about you. Crazy...

TravisChristian - 13 Jun 2008 - 23:40

When you went to NSA, you asked them if they have broken RSA and they said no, right? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I probably just read xkcd too much.

June 12

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Mas Gráfico

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More graphics programming today. I must say, I enjoy this more than ObjC coding. Even though both have graphical outputs, I can see immediately every little change I make in the code, which is better for me. Since I'm so detail-oriented, I like to know what each piece of code does exactly, like why a minus sign does this and why I need to include a "%" here. I can't do that in Obj-C because so much of the code is wrapped up in pre-defined classes. But maybe getting a better understanding of how openGL works in C++, I can better reason out Obj-C. My Maya project is going ok too. I had to start over because my shape was too complex to modify anymore, but at least now its a gray blob that at least resembles Howe Hall.

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June 11 2008

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Graphics Galore!

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We did even more graphics programming today! Still very interesting. I'm glad I'm having these classes now where its pretty much self directed. That way I can basically work on what I find interesting without having to worry about homework and grades. Tomorrow is our Research team meeting. Hopefully we get a lot donte and are able to brainstorm some more / narrow down what we have to get an idea of what we want to do. Since the new iPhone is coming out, we have more technology capabilities to take into account (more possibilities = good) but now we also have to deal with another SDK (more bugs = bad). Ah well, such is the price of the cutting edge.

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ThomasNiedzielski - 12 Jun 2008 - 22:38

Another bit of good news is that the new iPhone will probably force the old one to go down in price!

June 10th 2008

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More Graphics

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Today was another "take it easy" day. The iPhone team got together in the morning to brainstorm ideas and get an idea for what we want to do with our project. We also had an incredible presentation by one the HCI grad students for our luncheon lecture. He talked about and demonstrated how artificial evolution works and its applications in the real world. Artificial evolution is basically using the Darwinian theory of evolution to design algorithms (genetic algorithms) for a computer to learn. He showed us really funny videos of the different "generations" different programs went through to evolve efficient forms or methods for things like walking, jumping, or hording a ball. I had never even heard of this field before, which is surprising because its so cool! He also showed us some of the genetic algorithms implemented in a ragdoll physics setting, which I thought was funny. I used to have a copy of the "Ragdoll Masters" free for all slapmatch, where the players control little dolls that bounce around slapping each other until one's head falls off. My nephew had a blast with it. We also did more modelling today. I decided to do Howe Hall, but then later I actually walked around Howe. Whew! It's bigger than it looks and full of different little angles and overhangs and rounded walls. I know if I do a model it definitely will not be totally accurate but I think maybe I can pull it off.

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EvaTao - 11 Jun 2008 - 06:23

You are on 9th twice! Could you post your HCI video on the team blog? Why don't you show us what you have done on Maya so far.

NizarKhalife - 11 Jun 2008 - 00:36

We should make an iPhone game where you smack stuff with the phone.

June 9th 2008

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EUREKA!

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We finally finished our Programming project! I think our presentation went very well and MouthIt ! was a hit! Kudos to Nizar and Paul for all their hard work! We also had our very first modelling class! I was a little disappointed though. I was looking forward to learning Maya but the students who were teaching it didn't seem like they had put much effort into preparing for the class. They seemed very pessimistic about our ability to gain any type of competence in Maya in just a week. But that's ok, whatever I can learn I most certainly will. Hopefully there are good tutorials online that I can reference so I can work outside of class. I'm looking forward to putting our models in the C4. That should be fun.

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EvaTao - 11 Jun 2008 - 06:19

Why?

ThomasNiedzielski - 09 Jun 2008 - 21:03

I thought your team's project today was very creative. I'm glad I now know why Paul was putting numbers on peoples' chins.

June 6th 2008

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TGIF

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We talked a little bit more about how to do research in Craft of Research, but we mostly surfed the Web fer stuff--er ahem conducted organized scholarly inquiry using verified online databases. I didn't expect to find much about the iPhone. Google-ing "iPhone research" returned the boatload of user demographic studies Apple did before releasing the iPhone. Still, maybe we can squeeze a drop of usefulness out of those. I did find an interesting study done by SIGGRAPH (ACM's Graphics Organization) on Simulator Sickness. I remember Mrs. Pam talking about how some ppl tend to get sick or dizzy in the C6, and apparently that a problem with anything simulator/VR based. Since we want to develop an application using the C6 we'd have to take this into account as far as usability, especially if we want it to have education value or just be feasible for general users. It's interesting though. I haven't really thought much about the medical side-effects of using computers. Of course there are those maybe-maybenot claims, like the EM radiation causes all sorts of maladies, but there are also legitimate proven side effects to using hardware and even some kinds of software. I guess it's up to us (as HCI researchers) to decide whether the social benefits and scientific advancement opportunities of future technologies are worth the side-effects. ... Which reminds me about the CarCoach article we're discussing in Journal Club. I suppose it might be useful for new drivers to have something like this. Kind of like a mechanical driving conscience. But...it also be like having your parents in the car while you're driving....ALL THE TIME. o Even though the study participants didn't mind it much...they did control for a lot of factors in the initial study, particularly rush hour and driving late at night which is when most mistakes are made. Not to mention that the CC would totally kill conversation if you had friends in the car with you. But that's it for now.

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DavidOluwatimi - 09 Jun 2008 - 09:49

lol, i like the first to second line. Really funny. How come you do not say funny things out loud?

EvaTao - 07 Jun 2008 - 00:49

Your mood is still on Thursday day? (I know you put the wrong # on the title) Could you post your HCI video on the team blog?

SamanthaLevine - 06 Jun 2008 - 14:57

I didn't even think about the disturbance to car chatting. How sad would that be??

June 5th 2008

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* Another Day in the Life *

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Our first intensive week is winding down. We're working on finishing up projects and presentations for the HCI class and the programming class. I hope our iPhone project works well. It promises to be really nice once we get it up and running. I'm glad we decided to do our programming project in Obj-C instead of C++. Even though I could have used the practice in either, I feel like I'm learning Obj-C a lot faster than I would have without the fire of a deadline under me. We had a luncheon lecture by Dr. Chris Harding, an HCI professor here. He gave us a demonstration of how to program a simulated object for a haptics device. It was interesting, but I'm more interested in the uses of haptics and how we can integrate it into existing technology rather than the coding behind it. Still it was cool to see the framework behind it. Well, back to work on our projects!

AllisonWhite - 06 Jun 2008 - 13:22

I agree with you more than with David. Knowing how it works is important for figuring out how to make it better, but figuring out new functions for haptics, besides being useful in and of itself, will show the people making it work where they need to make improvements

DavidOluwatimi - 05 Jun 2008 - 20:22

Your my superwoman, you saved my life today!!! Thanks, but yeah I kinda disagree with you. I am more interested in how it works, but that is just me.

CodyGlover - 05 Jun 2008 - 13:47

I have to agree that the ways in which we could use haptics is interesting. A combination of Augmented Reality and Haptics could make for zero space, mobile interfaces.

June 4th 2008

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* The Dawn of Enlightenment *

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This is the 5th day I've been slogging through the iPhone tutorials trying to figure Objective-C, Xcode, and object oriented programming in general. And you know what? I think I'm starting to understand it! I looked back at the HelloWorld program I've been trying to figure out for days and (:'-D) it makes a little bit of sense! Now I'm not saying I'm a pro or anything, far from it. I still haven't actually finished the HelloWorld program (its sad I know). But now I think it's possible that I just might get the hang of this in less than a year!

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ThomasNiedzielski - 04 Jun 2008 - 17:06

Heck, I still don't understand everything. It's comforting to know that once you understand the basics of a language, explanations of more complicated ideas are just a couple of clicks away.

BrianRussell - 04 Jun 2008 - 13:52

HelloWorld is the first and often hardest step for learning a new language. It sounds like you're good making progress.

June 3rd 2008

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* Majoring in Basket Weaving is Looking Pretty Good Right Now*

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I am so busy. Learning 2 languages is not fun. I want to learn them and I've spent hours reading the tutorials but I still feel like I know nothing about how to code in Obj-C or use object implementation in C++. Catherine said the learning curve for the programming is pretty steep so maybe tomorrow I'll wake up (if I go to bed that is...) and magically understand why I need 6 files full of esoteric "smalltalk" code to pull up a white screen on the iPhone. sigh

We did have a very interesting talk about SecondLife and its uses for the future. I'd been wondering if anyone actually used SL and if it had any type of future beyond its current "3d Sims" feel. Walking around and meeting ppl and shopping and visiting places in a realistic virtual world sound really cool, but at the same time I wonder if we're becoming too dependent on technology. Sure, its nice to have the world and its inhabitants at our fingertips, but (the big HCI question) where's the line? One can argue the pros and cons of online personas and VR, but have we really considered how it will impact society? I think so many people (especially us techies) get so excited about how far technology can take us and the incredible opportunities even the smallest advancements open up, that we haven't really given much thought to where we're going. If we look at the progression of cultures and societies as each was introduced to industrial methods and advancing technology, has the change been for the better or for the worse? Is it even possible to extrapolate our path? Can we as researchers and scientists do anything to influence the use of a technology, or is it really just up to the users? Just a couple questions to chew on. I get very philosophical when I'm tired.

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EvaTao - 04 Jun 2008 - 03:25

Just like in the business world, it will not work if there was only one phone in the world. Society helps building up the business as well being built by business. Good thought! Guess you need more works so you can get tired all the time BTW, could you vote the movies you like when you get a chance?

June 2nd 2008

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Pronto!

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"I'm ready ta go! I'm ready ta go!" That's what my mother sings with funny little offbeat dance whenever she's ready to do something and me and my sister are taking a long time to get ready. Which is always. But today I really am ready ta go! The other HCI/PWSE girls and I went to the Orientation Breakfast for PWSE today and met the other girls participating. Most of them are various types of engineering or medical/biology fields. Some of them have been here for weeks already. I was still in school two weeks ago. Then after that we had our first programming class! Woohoo! While everyone was learning C++, the iPhone team was whisked away by Brandon (one of our grad mentors) for a crash course in Xcode and Objective-C, the programming language and environment we'll be using to program the iPhone. So now we have homework and projects and reading assignments! * giggly girl sigh * I'm so happy. I don't know, maybe its because I didn't really have any break in between the end of school and the start of the program, so I'm still in workworkworkwork mode. Now I finally have some work! ( shh...don't tell the staff. But I've figured out their plan. They bring us to campus on the absolute worst week possible--rainy, cold, nothing at all to do--so that we get so bored with being bored that we actually want to work! then they have us, signing away our summer frivolity to hunker down in front of our tiny laptop screens giggling with programmer's glee as we finally! find that misplaced semicolon. ;-P ) Time to get back to it.

• we're geniuses at everything
  

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EvaTao - 03 Jun 2008 - 00:50

Hey Jasmine, could you vote the movies you like when you get a chance?

EvaTao - 03 Jun 2008 - 00:03

I heard that

CatherinePeloquin - 02 Jun 2008 - 16:38

Darn. I was hoping no one would catch onto our devious plan to trick you folks into working. I suppose I need to do some more plotting now...

May 30th 2008

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Day Three

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~10:30am Today and yesterday are rather lazy days. Not much work. A lot of free time. Saw the C6 yesterday. Wish I could live here. Then I could just walk by it everyday and know the most awesome crazy cool technology is sitting demurely within a nice flashy cyclone waiting for some poor soul to black-market a kidney so we can turn it on. but onto today. Today we had a short seminar on "The Art of Research" This is really useful to me even beyond this particular REU. I am definitely going to do more research/internships in the following summers, and hopefully even during the academic year. When I do my Master and Ph.D I want to be have the research process down pat so I can focus on the actual research part rather than the figuring out how part. We basically talked about what is considered research and what is not and analyzed different articles in our groups to determine whether it counted a genuine scholarly writing. Later we're going to have a luncheon lecture by Dr. Eliot Winer, a MechE /HCI professor here. And then we get to spend the entire afternoon with our groups!

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JohnMorales - 30 May 2008 - 16:56

Nice writing! Your right the research seminars are going to be of great help, because the last paper that I did (which happens to be my 1rst) wasn't that great, but i needed to do it asap, so you'll see everything is going to be cool with the research.

JennaLanger - 30 May 2008 - 16:31

I can tell your blog is going to be fun to read! I like your writing style. I agree with you about the research class. It's definitely going to be helpful for any classes we take in the future or research we conduct on any topic.

TravisChristian - 30 May 2008 - 16:28

haha, I like the kidney comment. Unfortunately it makes me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus Someday not far off things like the C6 are going to be everyday devices and we will be looking back to this and laughing at ourselves for thinking that 4K 3D was such cool technology.

May 29th 2008

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Hiya, this my first blog entry!

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Hiya, This is my blog. Read all about what I'm doing at the ISU HCI SPIRE-IT NSF REU in VRAC. ^_^ (love the acronym overload)

Ok so this is my first blog here. We're still in orientation week so we haven't started any of the gritty work. We've met our teams (the undergrad part) and checked out our little "Pod World" in the VRAC lab. The program admins showed us around the building and the labs where we will be working and told us all about the barrage of acronyms associated with this program. I'm really excited to learn about what each group will be doing over the summer; the "Parade" of projects later this afternoon should be interesting. I wonder what programming languages my team will be working on though. We're are learning C++ as a general group for the REU, but since I'm on the Iphone team, will we be working in one of Apple's languages? I guess I'll find out soon. Yesterday we saw a presentation in the newly renovated stereo (that means 3D plus!) auditorium beside VRAC and today we'll visit the C4 and C6 <-(best in the world!!!)

hmm...I guess I should add some reflective commentary too. We did a little game in our teams yesterday. We were supposed to build a tower as high as we could make it using spaghetti and gumdrops. I think my team works pretty well together. We figured out how we wanted to design the tower and a system to get it done. We didn't win though because we worked pretty slow. I think all of us are really detail-oriented (we were snapping little crumbs off the tips of spaghetti!) but hey, slow and steady right? Our tower wasn't that tall but it was definitely sturdy. Can't fault the engineering. So I'm looking forward to working with them this summer.

why are you still reading? I'm done!

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EvaTao - 29 May 2008 - 22:34

Great, Jasmine. I like your positive thinking and I believe you will get what you want!! BTW, If you want to make the topic bold, remember not to have space after the 1st * and before the last * like this BOLD (please click on edit to see the code). I know you can fix it

Future

• Rufus comes to visit: