Spring 2009 Digitising Hampshire Individual Work Section

These are the individual work sections for students in the Spring 2009 Digitising Hampshire group independent study EPEC course.

Adam Krellenstein
Note: I'm not taking this as an Independent Study


 * Project Apricot - Created and maintained
 * Courses - Fall 2009 - Improved creation scripts and uploaded data for next semester.
 * Photography - See my media contributions

02-04

 * Will meet with Dean of CS on Friday to convince him to hire a student worker devoted to updating CS-related pages, intend to meet with deans from other schools as well. Have already convinced dean of SS to hire student worker!
 * Working on plan for outreach to students. Any ideas?
 * Looking at Main Page 2, and working with Ian on announcement system.
 * Drafting Alum Tutorial.

02-11

 * CS Dean is hiring student worker! Announcement system is live and awesome. I've revised and updated all of the Tutorials, and created a Simple Hampedia Tutorial for Alumni.

02-18

 * Will meet with Jose to look over Main Page 2.


 * Contact Tim Shary about putting up his history of Hampshire College on Hampedia


 * Have scheduled a tutorial with the CS Hampedia workstudy student, on March 5


 * Am helping SS recruit a Hampedia workstudy student


 * Will continue last semester's discussions on how portal pages will look for each constituency


 * Need to contact more offices about doing Hampedia tutorials


 * Outreach to students will be big after finishing the new portal pages

02-27

 * SS has a workstudy student, and she is excited to be working on the project?


 * Have met with Jose to look over Main Page 2, want to open up the discussions to all of Digitising Hampshire


 * Am contacting HACU, IA, and NS about hiring a student worker


 * In process of developing tutorial on how to post office hours to Hampedia

03-11

 * IA, HACU, and NS all have agreed to hire student workers! I need to recruit student workers for HACU and NS.


 * Still working on tutorial


 * Will be meeting with Ian to give input on Pre-Lottery Supermarket


 * Scheduling meetings with Admissions and Communications to follow up on President's desire to publicize Hampedia to admitted students


 * Presenting at the IA school meeting tomorrow about Hampedia, making handout

04-01

 * I have mono, and have thus put this independent study on hold. However, I did a search for and hired two HACU workstudy students and one NS workstudy student, and gave them all tutorials and directions on how to work with professors

TODO

 * Rework my python code so that the next person in my shoes will actually be able to do something without reading through 284 files full of Italian crazyland.
 * Further Wikify the Technology Portal pages

02-04

 * Poking around at the bot code.

02-18

 * Got the code from last semester from Ian.

02-25

 * Think I was absent.

03-04

 * Partially absent, working on the bot.

03-11

 * Still working on the bot. I'm up to speed on the regexes and the web scraping code, now I just need to figure out how the wikipedia interface stuff works.
 * Tentatively scheduled an interview with Bob Crowley on Hampshire's networking infrastructure, sometime in early April.

03-12--4-08

 * Done with the bot. Requires minor testing.
 * Interview with Bob Crowley in the process of being scheduled.

4-08

 * Bot deployed; successful. There was much rejoicing.
 * Wrote tutorial on uploading non-compliant files to Hampedia.
 * Delivered encoded Community Council Minutes.

4-15

 * Still waiting on interviews and suchlike.

4-22

 * Bob Crowley's interview is up as Our Network, Dan Parker's is soon to be added as well.

4-29

 * Dan Parker's interview is up as Our Servers.

02-04

 * Absent. I have begun to prepare models by importing satellite images from Google Earth into Sketchup. I need to find out the dimensions of buildings either by measuring them or looking at blueprints (not sure where to find these). Next week I will ask about how 3d elements could be integrated into Hampedia, ideally in conjunction with/connected to the mapping system. In the mean time, I will keep the models in a collection in 3d Warehouse.

02-18

 * Various additions including pages for Symbols of Hampshire and the Hampshire tree.
 * Posted a preliminary model of Cole Science Center on 3d Warehouse.

02-25

 * Posted a preliminary model of Dakin House on 3d Warehouse.
 * Google now has an API and plugin that allow you to view google earth in a browser. I know we won't be using this since we're working with openlayers, but something similar to it would be ideal for viewing the models on Hampedia.

03-04

 * Absent. (sick)

03-11

 * Starting working on FPH
 * Continued looking for some way to display models. Found a wiki called Proteopedia that incorporates 3d but unfortunately the applet it uses is built specifically for molecules.

03-25

 * At this point the simplest option for displaying models seems to sketchup web exporter, a plugin that spits out a bunch of images of a model from different angles, along with an html file that lets you rotate it using these images. I've uploaded an example ( [[Image:Cole3dtest.zip|File:Cole3dtest.zip]] ) of these files in a zipped folder.
 * The next step is to figure out exactly how to integrate this into hampedia

05-05

 * Put a buildingbox and picture on the FPH page.
 * Uploaded a model of FPH
 * I added links to 3d Warehouse to all the pages I have made models for in lieu of an interactive display. There is a link on each model page to display them in 3d using the google earth plugin.
 * For next semester, I am considering working on this project independently of Hampedia. Its not that I don't want to contribute, I just would rather focus on modeling buildings rather than trying to figure out how to display the models in a way that fits with Hampedia's goals.

02-04

 * Absent. What are you working on?

03-04

 * Absent. What are you working on? Could you please update past weeks?

Self-Eval
What was I supposed to do? -- I was supposed to: --- work on calendar functionality

What did I actually do? How much did I finish? -- I actually:

--- became system administrator for hampedia.

--- installed extensions

--- participated in advocating the platform

--- helped other students figure out viable solutions to promote their work and increase their productivity.

--- installed the backup server

--- made backups of hampedia

--- set up test wiki

--- got test wiki running for hampedia

--- got subdomain for test wiki

--- increased security of wiki by exposing security vulnerabilities of server.

How well did I do it?

-- Pretty well, but I could always do better.

What did I learn from all this? Especially what did I learn that might make a difference in my life, understanding, career, and/or education?

-- Seeing as I am a free and open source software advocate, this type of work is totally synchronous with my lifestyle and the future I have chosen to pursue.

02-04

 * looked at openlayers, geoserver, and tilecache.


 * By next week, will contact GIS class about getting base data possibly, also test out creating data with geoserver.

02-11

 * Installed geoserver on pc and played with it, looked at possible opendata layers to use for world map (USGS). looked at semantic wiki, and how to build custom maps on the wiki

03-04

 * the map project is at a standstill until root access is limited, also I'm not good at the computer part so waiting on paul / semanticwiki tutorial to do more work
 * added and fixed up advanced media pages such as intran and the yurt
 * working on adding pages hampedia should have- health services, duplications center, etc. Added some redirects.
 * in the future: add photographs for buildings without, added pages that should exist: Bookstore, Post office, OPRA, etc. my goal is to get the hours of different offices and buildings on hampedia as much as possible also.

04-09

 * the semanticwiki tutorial didn't really happen so I've been toying around with it, figuring out whats possible with semantic layers.

04-22
It has been a long time since i've updated. updated pages for Casa, Central records, and added hours and external links to a few others. Wrote a page for Commencement, 2009. I've been working on Semantic Layers, and have written/prepared ways for buildings and students pages to easily have maps with locations on them, as well as easy forms for adding locations to those pages.... waiting to figure out how to install the extension....

04-30
The mapping project really took off towards the end of the semester. To see what I've done, and am planning to do check out Jakebrooks mapplan

02-04
Learning about what other are going for the class and explaining what class will be about

02-11
Working on the new main page and all the new pages that will come with Hampedia 2.0 I want to come with a team of students that I can work with to develop all the material for the new pages. I am also starting a conversation with the office of student development to send all new students information related to Hampedia. Finally I am working with the people from MoHopedia to have them join our class!

02-18
Continue working on the new main page. In consultation with Andrea, I have decided to eliminate the Hampedia for... all!, and only focus on Hampedia for students and Hampdia for faculty. I will start working on advancing the Pre-Lottery SuperMarket Platform. I spoke with Linda, and she agreed to eliminate the paper form being presently used to announce the lottery rules ans points if Hampedia develops a comprehensive replacement that will improve the process. I have until Monday morning to have a proposal.

Projects for the Semester

 * Redesign the main page with a new graphical elements and reallocation of information.
 * Convinced the Housing to use Hampedia to publish all the information related to the housing lottery process.
 * Updated the Pre-Lottery SuperMarket with a new design and the introduction of new technical elements to make the process easier. The Pre-Lottery SuperMarket was once again used by Housing Office.
 * Design a postcard and coordinated with the Office of Student Development to send the postcard to all new students.
 * Working on a major update of the Hampedia layout with web designers.
 * Working on the development of HampBook Exchange

02-04
I enjoyed a roast beef sandwich and got some ideas for what to do.

02-11
Yo. I plan on working with Jose on Main Page updates / customization, and I'm really excited for the calendar's capabilities. I also plan on writing pages / tutorials for a bunch of Hampshire Music entities this week; Music Building / studio policies, the Yurt, the Alternative Music Collective, the Frankie Patts Practice Space, etc.

For the future: I think Hampshire could use a link repository... we all browse the internet but rarely share that aspect of our Hampshire lives with other Hampshire students. I also think ornia could become a lot more user-friendly in terms of allowing "guides" to a share: i.e. this is my ornia name, these are cool things you should download. Not sure Hampedia is the best venue for these projects though.

03-11

 * Added schedule for Frankie Patts Practice Space and added Music Studio Policies to MDB page, did some redirects and redid some linking on a few Faculty pages like Laura Sizer's... also coding HTML for a blog-like site on my Stout page (kind of counts as digitizing Hampshire right?)

04-08

 * Dining Commons
 * Working on getting SAGA menu up weekly, taking pictures of secret back spaces at Hampshire that no one knows about, digitising parts of the Climax for collaborative use. Lots of other ideas now that I know how to do basic templates...

04-17

 * Converted COCA PDF and Climax articles into Hampedia articles for Spring Jam and KRS-One.
 * Looking into the possibility of ornia "user pages"... would perhaps require another level of anonymity.

05-07

 * Actually showed Douglas Sudnick, the head of Sodexho (shudder), how to use Hampedia to publish menus and stuff. Will work on getting a list of "normal" SAGA food up next week.
 * Met with Admissions and Archives, poked around their photo libraries... some serious data mining to do. Will come in handy when "mapping" buildings and offices with Mr. Brooks.
 * I think we should have a portal devoted to pictures of the Hampshire sky. When it's pretty.

02-04
Today I worked mainly on my own page, and discussed with Ananda the feasibility of having either audio or video of Community Council Meetings on Hampedia. My project for next week will be making this happen before the Tuesday Council Meeting and then putting it online during next Wednesdays class.

02-11
Over the course of the last full week I have been working on multiple projects. First I have the audio recordings of both previous Community Council Meetings available on my computer. I need to figure out the best way to format them and at them to Hampedia. Next I have begun adding information on a number of first years pages (with their permission) to make Hampedia more accessible and helpful. To start I have made Yehonatan Turkienicz's page, although I do not yet have a list of his semester classes. Next I plan to work on adding everyone on my hall. I began to edit more students pages, Thomas Ciaburri, Skye Landgraf, and Kelsey Rumley. I also edited the Chameleon Club page. I have also begun to add classes to Hampedia, under a specific easy to follow format, Course Name. This will allow for multiple students to link to specific pages.

02-18
This week I worked on editing 7 more of my first-year friends pages to help get them involved in Hampedia. I have also been teaching students how to use Wikitext.

02-25
Basically I have simply been working on perfecting COCA meeting minute formats because as of right now there is no structure.

03-25
I spent the entire week trying to upload files of the audio from the meetings. As of right now the files are much to big. After converting them to Flac I was able to get one up on Hampedia but nothing else would go up. Right now I am working on converting them to Wav files, or at the very least recording the next set of minutes in a Wav file format and seeing if that can in any way be compatible for Hampedia. Thus far project transparency seems a total failure but it is absolutely teaching me lessons about making people accountable. I have also increased my note taking abilities for minutes for COCA meetings for which I am the Co-Chair and Secretary.

04-01
Today I started to set up Council Know How. I broke it down into groups thus far including: General Information About Community Council, What Should A Member of Community Council Expect?, Knowing The Community Council Agenda, Knowing The Community Council 'Minutes' Policy, Community Council in the College Archives?, Task Forces, Focus Groups, Parliamentary Procedure, Governance at Hampshire College Hampshire College Board of Trustees, The President, The Faculty, and The Administration of Hampshire College, Governance Committees at Hampshire College, The Schools of Hampshire College, Student Involvement in the Reappointment of Faculty, Community Council, Community Council Standing Committees, Officer Positions of Community Council and its Standing Committees, All Community Meetings, Student Affairs, Community Council Elections Procedures, and Elections Procedures For Officership. My goal is to use the next four classes to adequately fill these sections with all the information a new council member could need, and the final day to link the entire section and its contents to the Council and Standing Committee Pages. I also want to make one concrete easy to find link off page of all the standing committees policies and bylaws. I think having it all in one place is essential to having a better student governance body for Hampshire College.

02-04

 * Worked with Sam and discussed reaching Div III students to put their work on Hampedia. Will start by connecting with students in the same areas of interest/under the same advisor, and then will move on to others (via Central Records, flyers, etc.)
 * Discussed ideas on how to make Hampedia pages more uniform. Creating more of a template on each page with pre-existing headings would promote uniformity (cleanliness) and make the task of creating a page a little less daunting. Plus, students who don't like the headings can always change or remove them.
 * Proposed some additional uses for the semantic mediawiki and other automated things (automatically generated redirects; auto-categorization; connectivity among students, courses and advisors/instructors; etc.) Will continue to create redirects in the meantime, in the interest of accessibility and cleanliness.
 * Discussed working with Jose on developing the links on the main page, like the FAQ section.
 * Hopes to take care of some of the bullet points on What Does Hampedia Need Next?
 * For next week: start writing articles on the other four colleges.

02-11

 * Still waiting on a list of Lemelson Div IIIs... will also email other professors. Perhaps start a form email asking for exceptional Div IIIs?
 * Will work with Jose on developing the new main page candidate.

02-18

 * Made hundreds (no, really) of redirects this week -- most of the remaining "wanted pages" are now course pages, which I have offered to create.
 * Still drafting the letter. Will have it for final revisions next week.

02-25

 * The letter is drafted and can be found here.

03-04

 * The letter has been edited and approved and will go out to the chairs pending access to the Hampedia email account.
 * Too many office pages have red links! Starting to remedy this. Mercilessly stealing content from Hampshire's website will significantly speed up the process.
 * I wikified my own page -- it's really easy to emulate a real wikipedia article, supplemented by wikipedia articles, without having that obnoxious external link icon after each link. (I went ahead and shared that knowledge here -- lucky you!)

03-11

 * The Division III letter has been sent off to all of the professors.
 * Fixed links, including a very bizarre error with the USELESS Hampshire page -- any insight on why that error occurred would be welcome.

03-17 (not a class)

 * I have received about half a dozen responses from faculty, giving names of students both past and present. I haven't made an actual count but I estimate that I now have 30-40 names.
 * A fact that I did not know and could potentially get in the way of progress: Hampshire students are not required to publish their Division IIIs anywhere. Having a comprehensive database, therefore, could be a lot more difficult to attain.
 * Along those same lines, one of the professors voiced a concern that it is difficult as is to convince students to give their projects to the library. She worries that Hampedia's efforts will overpower those of the library, and this poses a problem for these two reasons: "First, DIII archives [are] not just for students; faculty need access to them as well. I don't use Hampedia - and I really don't know faculty who do. It would not occur to me to look there or send students there. Second, Hampedia may not exist in the future, despite your good intentions. Many great student-initiated things come and go after students graduate, such as the student-run course evaluations. These were suppose to be passed on to future students who would continue the work but that did not happen." I have not yet responded to this email but I feel that some reply is necessary.
 * One response I got was from Steve Weisler, who requested a meeting with me. Thanks to a grant Hampshire received a few years ago, there is a server for Division III projects that exists and is ready to go, but it's currently sitting empty. Part of the problem is a concern from the administration that making Division III projects publicly available will allow less-than-stellar projects to come forth and negatively affect the campus. Steve is willing to work with us, should we desire the collaboration from the administration, and has even offered the server to help our project should we choose to use it. He is still in contact with the Hampshire alum who developed it but recommends that one of Hampedia's "tech people" take a look at it and see what we like and what should be changed to better suit our needs, or even simply use the code that exists to create our own.
 * Steve also gave me Susan Dayall's name. She works in the library and has been working on a system to tag projects that have already been digitised within the library. She also has access to this Division III server and will be a valuable resource.
 * Therefore, as a group we need to decide where we want to go with this project. How much control do we want? How much is realistic? Can/should we somehow get the administration on board to ensure that this is not just another student project that dies out? Steve has expressed an interest in helping us out should we choose to branch out and take advantage of the college's resources.

03-25

 * Feel better soon, Ananda!
 * The letter for the 28 Div III students is drafted, approved and will go out tomorrow morning (3/26).
 * Started working on a list of categories for the Main Page Candidate with Jose. Most already exist but we thought of a few that should be created. Hopefully this will be done-ish for next week?
 * Also wrote a quick, unformatted welcome template for the Housing Lottery. Jose wants photos -- I assume for all of the lottery as well as the welcome template. I need to figure out how to get my videocamera to take stills (since my digital camera is sans battery).
 * At Ananda's request I blanked the Lottery Points Holders Looking for a Group and Groups Looking for Lottery Points Holders pages, in anticipation of the new form that will (hopefully) be out (very) soon (as well as the forms for mods and halls). People are already looking for them.
 * In discussion today: perhaps we should include a converter when uploading files? Adding filetypes such as .doc and .mp3 may futz with our license, but we can allow people to upload them, and then have a built-in converter that automatically converts these files to the corresponding open-source filetype (.odt; .ogg). An additional thought (not discussed in class): are OpenOffice files compatible or readable to those who don't have OpenOffice? (I believe the answer to this is "no" but I'm not certain. If that's not the case then the next bit isn't really relevant.) Is there a way we can get some other converter to convert the file back, if the user so desires? Or maybe, for every file that's converted, also include an archive file that contains the original and have that show up on the file page. ("This file has been converted from a .doc file. To download the original in a .zip file, click here [link to .zip file].
 * There is a built-in way to view files such as .pdf online, right? We don't need users to download tons of files, especially if those files are lengthy Div IIIs. Users won't want that either. Or is that something that rests in the hands of the user?
 * What brought this on? Maybe Leanne and I did this wrong, but we tried uploading a .flac and putting it in a player but the player would not show. She's trying again with an .ogg file, but she shouldn't have to.
 * The nowiki command and I are fast becoming best friends. It almost feels contradictory to the cause... (but it will never replace my love for parentheses.)

04-01

 * Wrote a few search parameters for the housing lottery forms. It would be awesome to know what type of a search mechanism Ian is envisioning so I can write parameters that match that.
 * To date, I have received one email from a Hampshire alum about posting her Div III on Hampedia. She seemed enthusiastic and I replied to her email almost instantaneously, but have not heard back from her since. None of the other students or alums have responded at this point. (This would be a lot easier if Hampshire required their students to publish their projects -- then at least there would be some added incentive.)
 * Over the next month (last four weeks of class), I want to get things ready for the next semester: add classes, change the five college pages to reflect the new semester, etc. etc. Apparently Adam did this last time? I'll talk with him and Jose next week and see what we want to do specifically (devising a system to name course pages, etc.).
 * What else does Jose want with the main page candidate? I made a few minor edits to the categories section (separating faculty by division seems like a lot of needless extra divisions) but other than that no work was done this week.

04-08

 * Changed the mod pages on the Housing Lottery to reflect the way the lottery is actually run (or so I'm told, since I have yet to actually experience the lottery) -- rather than dividing bids by mod, put all of the offers in one category and make "preferred mod" an option on the template. Also made the template for those mod pages, and modified the instruction templates for all three types of bid (person, group and mod).
 * Wrote the Hampshire TV Guide page at Adam's request.
 * The course page is up, but there are a TON of red links! I'll start writing those pages this week using information from TheHub.

04-15

 * So when I said that I was going to start taking care of those course links this week, I meant today. I got through all of CS and HACU and stupidly forgot to get a copy of the other course descriptions before TheHub went offline for backups (it's now 4 in the morning, don't you know?). So I'll keep working on that... later today. Maybe even finish tonight.
 * Modified the coursebox template and created coursebox2 and coursebox3 for courses with 2 and 3 professors, respectively. I'm considering doing something similar for courses with multiple meeting places/times, but that designation won't be as smooth.
 * Connectivity among pages would be GREAT. Putting in the professor's name and having his/her info show up automatically in the template, email and site links automatically linked, course links automatically added to the proper section of the respective professor's pages... stuff like that. I have faith that semantic will take care of some of this, whenever semantic goes up.
 * I also uploaded the mod layout pages and put them up as a gallery on each respective neighborhood page. Missing Greenwich donut 5. I'm also planning on dividing them further (by building, perhaps), but that's pretty low on my to-do list. Even lower and longer-term: go into each mod and draw out each of the floorplans. Maybe there's a way to get in over the summer?
 * The halls of Dakin are now graced with Jose's lovely SuperMarket posters. Overheard one girl say to her friend, "that's what we're about to talk about!" when she saw what I was putting up. Smells like the sweet smell of success to me.
 * Did I do anything else? I think so, but I don't remember what it was. Still kicking myself for not getting those course descriptions. Whatever. Heading bedwards for lack of anything better to do at the moment.

04-22

 * All courses for fall 2009, except for non-crosslisted SS courses, are online. I will finish these at the last class (which is the first free chunk of time I'll have to dedicate).
 * Created Labbox, a template for courses that have more than one meeting place/time. (For Jose: it's called Labbox because it was created with NS courses in mind. Course time, lab time. Clever.) So I'll have to go in and update those courses as necessary, adding in the right template.
 * Future project, lower priority: create course lists for past semesters, and update course pages as necessary. This is more for posterity's sake than anything else (and to remove a bunch of those damn red links).

04-29
(actually, 5-02, but bear with me)


 * The course list is DONE. Finally.
 * Need to catch up with Fred to see what can be done this summer.
 * Will help out at orientation, pending approval to move in early.
 * High hopes for next semester! :)

06-24 (summer)

 * I have a job this summer with Phys. Plant, so getting into the mods for those individual floorplans is a distinct possibility. I have preliminary approval and once I get the green light I'll start working on them (hoping to start next week).
 * At Jose's request, working on getting the Hampedia postcard sent to first-year students. The original design did not meet postal regulations, so I had to modify it. The copies of the new version have been made and I will pass them off to Josiah when he returns tomorrow. Perhaps we can still use the old ones?

02-04
Very bare bones demo:

www.paulsawaya.com/hamptest/

03-04

 * Absent. What are you working on? Could you please update past weeks?

02-04
Plans to meet with at least three professors and get their syllabi up for next week.

02-25
Able to log in again! Have met with deans of two schools who will make an announcement at next school meeting. Today, will create the actual page for the compendium, put up a few syllabi.

03-04

 * Absent. My filesystem is corrupted, so did not attend the meeting (would not have been able to do work). Have been in contact with a number of professors, all of whom have promised syllabusses.  Most have not followed through yet (will start nagging soon).  I have more than ten syllabusses that I will put up when I manage to un-corrupt my filesystem.  In the coming week, intend to speak with at least two more school deans and/or attend school meetings to pressure people into submitting syllabusses.

03-11
I can't really remember what I did.... Forgot to update this then. Was on a conference call for an hour during the class, so I didn't do work then...

03-25
Did the FAQ page for the new main page.