Carter started second grade two weeks ago. It’s been quite a ride, ending with a very emotional Thursday evening and a “mental health day” on Friday, consisting of Carter staying home with me and Archie to decompress.
Hey, (new) Docs
Orientation Week for the Indiana University School of Informatics involves full days of interaction with faculty, mingling and bonding with classmates, and information overload from every administrator who stands up and speaks. This orientation is a bit special for two reasons. First, we have a new dean meeting students for the first time. Second, we continue to grow in size as a community through the addition of a new crop of Ph.D. students. I got a sampler of both on Wednesday when Bobby Schnabel had an informal Q&A with the incoming class of doctoral students.
Google takes over the Universe
For the past several years, Google has moved well beyond their core expertise—web search—into other areas of data management, including a desktop application that provides satellite images of places around the globe. A new Google tool is now available that attempts to map the rest of the universe, by turning the cameras in the other direction.
The Solution for Sibling Rivalry
Ever since Henry went back to Germany, there’s been lots of requests for a younger sibling from both boys. Archie’s won out as Reason Most Missing the Point:
Archie: Oh, I wish there were a baby in your belly.
Me: Why?
Archie: Because then a baby would come out. Hopefully a girl.
Me: You’re wanting a little brother or [...]
My other life as a Fantasy Guru
Fans of comics understand the concept of a metaverse, but I understand it best as a metaphor for my relationship to Fantasy Sports. Academic types now researching the billion-dollar industry, and new innovations are showing up on the web as more and more people play the game. ESPN released a new owner primer, Fantasy Football 101, that is full of useful information … even for veterans.
ClickTale
ClickTale, a free-to-pay statistical service for bloggers, moves beyond simple counting of clicks and page views to give a better understanding of what readers do while visiting the site. ClickTale has provided me with some useful insights as we head into a site upgrade for BlogSchmog. I have a much clearer idea of the kinds of browser experiences people have and how they go about reading the articles, and that should help inform what we do next.
I’ll CHI if I want to
Over three months ago, I went to the CHI conference in San Jose as a Student Volunteer. That meant, among other things, all the food I can eat and the task of writing up some synopsis of the event. I dutifully submitted the story, but haven’t heard anything about it since mid-May. As I’m cleaning up some of my drafts in anticipation of a BlogSchmog update at the end of the month, I decided to hit ‘publish’ on this one … if only because it took me a long time to write.