As a student in the Indiana University School of Informatics, I have something of a unique academic perspective from most other IUPUI students, in that it is a relatively new school within the university. Having been started little over a decade ago, the School of Informatics is a brand new program, not just within IU, but within American academia in general. Being a part of such a new area of study, the Informatics faculty and staff are still in the process of figuring out what a relevant and useful degree in the area of information technology means, giving them much more leeway and better able to provide a quality education experience than other, more established schools.
I am not suggesting in any way that other schools within Indiana University are stagnant or incapable of reinvention, but their areas of study have long since been determined and defined. The School of Medecine has its own defined area of expertise and curricula, as do the Schools of Nursing, Art, Business, et cetera.
Whenever I am asked “What is informatics?”, I never have an answer without first giving it some thought. I suspect the people coming up with the School of Informatics curriculum is having the same difficulty in pigeonholing the program. Maybe in twenty years or so, it will be just as easily understood as computer science has become in the past thirty years.
This is even further enhanced by the openness of the professors and staff within the program to student input. I committed some of my grievances against the School to this blog a while ago and my academic advisor found it somehow and invited me to speak with her about it.
A newer school may not mean a better or more relevant education for students now, but it has the potential to become very powerful and relevant in a few years making IU a destination for those trying to enter the information technology field.
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and Indiana University in general, had a record number of students, both graduate and undergraduate enroll during the Fall 2009 semester. Since IUPUI is a commuter campus, however, it relies heavily on students, instructors, and other staff to commute to campus daily and be able to find parking in short order. Because of the record enrollment, parking has been scarce on IUPUI’s urban campus, with students parking on grass, sidewalks, and any other surface they can roll their ’93 Buick LeSabres and Chevettes onto.
In response to growing complaints from the student body about being late to classes, IUPUI Parking Services has decided to only sell six permits per space on campus, as opposed to their customary nine. As a result, IUPUI simply cannot tell as many people that there is enough room for them.
Rather than giving 30,000 students the notion they can be accommodated, IUPUI can only give that same vague, implied assurance to a mere 27,000 students. This marks a serious blow to the time-honored tradition of people milling the parking lots and cussing out that fucking monster truck-driving prick who is taking up a space and a half. Seriously, who the fuck needs three feet of ground clearance in downtown Indianapolis?
Now the muffled screams of rage and frustration coming from dozens of idling vehicles will be much fainter. Said undergraduate student Steve Miller, “I think it’s a shame. Wandering aimlessly at 10 miles an hour through lot after lot is really part of the reason I came to [IUPUI] in the first place.”
IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz could not be reached for comment. However, with the addition of a new parking garage, which will be able to accommodate an additional 1,300 vehicles, it is safe to say that the decades-old tradition of searching for on-campus parking will be diminished for some time to come.
I have been using Echofon, originally Twitterfon, since February 2009. I have the free version, not the pro version. I appreciated the application’s clean layout. It has five tabs along the bottom, which cover the basic five functions in Twitter: Friends timeline, Mentions of your user name, Direct Messages, Favorites, and Search.
When I first downloaded this client, it only supported one Twitter account at a time. Multiple accounts, push notifications, Flickr upload, and a landscape keyboard are supported in the pro version. There are other features, but they are not that interesting. There is not support for lists, like you would find on Twitter’s site or in a client like TweetDeck. You can upload content to TwitPic and TwidVid with relative ease. The content is uploaded, the URL for it is automatically inserted, and the tweet is sent out.
I have to say that I am not pleased or impressed by the fact that the Echofon team decided to clutter up the top of the “All Friends timeline” window with my user name, which functions as a button to reveal all of my Twitter accounts. However, since I can only have one Twitter account at a time, it makes no sense to have a button that would ultimately display only one item. I already know what my Twitter handle is, there is no reason to display it. This can become a problem if you try to tap the top bar to scroll quickly to the top of the Twitter feed.
If you are a person with one Twitter account and following relatively few people, then the free version of Echofon might be for you. However, if you do follow a large number of people then you may want to move to a client that can handle lists, like TweetDeck. If you have multiple accounts TweetDeck or the pro version of Echofon might be better choices for you. Echofon is a neat little Twitter client that will satisfy the needs of relatively light Twitter users.
I am in the in the process of developing my first App Store-ready iPhone application. One of the most critical things that anyone can do in the development process (on any platform) is to do thorough paper prototypes. However, paper prototyping carries with it a renewed importance on mobile devices due to the small screen sizes.
The iPhone and iPod touch screens are 320 x 480 pixels. Having an life-size sketch of what each interface in your application is going to look like will help you avoid designing an application whose interface is too large for its display.
There are many iPhone stencils and other design tools available. There is the Mobile Sketchbook , originally produced by Dean Kaplan of Kapsoft. The new version of the sketch book includes 1.5x life size blank iPhone screens to draw the interface on. It also includes a plastic stencil with various interface elements, set at the same 1.5x scale.
There is a metal stencil available. It has a 1.2x scale, relative to the actual screen size.
In my opinion, these are good tools for doing quick sketches, but it is important to do a paper prototype that is the exact size of the screen. Since I could not find any life-size iPhone templates, I made my own. It was inspired by the one shown in a promotional video for Cultured Code.
Theirs
Mine
Paper prototyping is a critical part of any development process. Any inconvenience it might provide you in the short term will ultimately save you time and help you to create a well-planned and easily used application.
I realize that Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala was released two months ago. However, this is my first experience with Linux. So far, I have to say I am impressed with the Ubuntu experience.
Getting Ubuntu
Since it is so outwardly open source and free, getting a copy of Ubuntu is exceedingly easy, especially when compared to obtaining copies of Mac OS X or Windows. Simply go to the Ubuntu website and click on the big “Download” button. It is a 630+ megabyte file, so beware if you are on a limited internet connection and do not have much time on your hands. Once the disk image (a .iso file) has been downloaded to your computer, simply burn the disk image to a 700MB CD and just like that, you have a fully functional install and boot disk, ready to go.
Trying out Ubuntu
Something that I really appreciated in the Ubuntu Live CD was the option to boot off the CD and try the operating system before installing it. As someone who had never touched Linux before, this is an excellent way to check out the OS, use some of the bundled software, and get a feel for it to decide if it is really for you. This is something that one cannot do with Mac OS X or Windows without going to a retail store and trying it out there.
The experience was a little pokey, due mainly to the fact that running a computer off an optical disc is going to be slow, even on the fastest computers. The interface is clean and bright. OpenOffice, Firefox, and all the utilities are easy to find and ready to use.
Installing Ubuntu
I have not had the opportunity to install Ubuntu on a computer yet. I do have plans to install it on my mom’s crappy old Dell, with 256MB RAM (the minimum for 9.10) and a 2.4 GHz Intel Celeron processor. The hard drive in that computer is in dire need of repair, so it remains to be seen if it will be suitable for a new operating system. I have plans to buy a small FireWire 400/800 drive and use it as an alternative boot disk for my Macs.
Overall impressions
I have to say that, from initial impressions, Ubuntu is an impressive and mature alternative to proprietary desktop operating systems like Apple’s Mac OS X and Microsoft’s Windows. I look forward to using it and providing more details of my experience with it to you, my loyal reader.
The developer who produced the live video streaming iPhone application “Knocking™ live video” wrote an impassioned letter to Steve Jobs after the Pointy Heads, LLC-produced application was rejected. It was rejected for a very valid reason: it used a private API. This is a faux pas in most programming circles.
A private API in the iPhone SDK is an API that was included by Apple but is not supported officially in any way. The API was written and included mainly to assist Apple’s own internal development efforts, not those of third-party developers. Essentially, the Pointy Heads developers have built a tripod and one of the legs could disappear at any moment.
When one finds the “Knocking live video” application in the App Store, the ratings are less than confidence-inspiring. The average rating barely musters above one out of five stars. Many of the reviews simply state that the application did not work as advertised.
This only serves to emphasize the need for App Store reform. Excellent, experienced developers can have their applications rejected for arbitrary ridiculous reasons. However, if you are a mediocre developer but a good speech writer, then you stand a better chance of getting your app into the store right away.
When I or any of my friends work in the computer labs at IUPUI, we are there to assist you with the technology in the lab, not help you with your homework. I realize that this may seem like a fine line sometimes, but please try to recognize and respect the limitations placed on the people who work there and help you out. Do not leave garbage all over the place. It’s disgusting and immature.
I am not your teacher.
This may seem mean. I am in the lab to help you, right? Sure, but to a point. I will try to help you understand some fine point of Microsoft Office or help you deal with technical issues. However, I am probably not in any of your classes. I do not know the subject material as well as you should. If you are having difficulty understanding some part of your homework, that is between you and your instructor. Do not try to drag me or any of the other consultants into your academic or intellectual deficiencies.
I am not your bank.
As much as I would love to be an entity with billions of dollars of liquid capital at my disposal, I am not. You may not use my JagTag under any circumstances. I rarely use this word, but I will NEVER lend you money, ever. I am sorry that you were careless enough to send your JagTag through the wash or just plain leave it at home. It’s not my problem, you may not have my money.
I am not your mom.
I can understand that you are a busy person with a life of your own. However, as a user of the public computer labs on a public university campus, you should try to help keep the space clean for the other people who use it. I am fine with straightening the chairs, monitors, keyboards, and mice. I will happily sanitize every surface that is touched by human hands. Just don’t leave trash or crumbs all over the place. Don’t leave used tissues next to the computer. By doing these things, you are making me face my disgust with human bodily fluids (without any resolution) and deepening my resentment of all human beings. This general misanthropy will most likely lead to deteriorated service next time you visit.
Please respect the people who are in the labs, willing to help you out in any way we can. We do try hard to be patient and understanding but it would really make our lives easier if you just picked up your trash and didn’t ask us to teach you statistics.
Patrick Proctor was here 
