I know this is the very definition of #firstworldproblems but I would like to vent, and this is my blog. So… Back in the dark ages when OS9 was the new hotness, I sat down with a computer science nerd friend of mine, and we talked about file organization. In particular, he excoriated me for … Read morePlease string the world’s smallest violin
Pictures are worth a thousand words Also: tl;dr Also also: videos I’m all for a good read, but let’s be honest: pretty often, you just need to learn a skill or follow steps or something. And then, the instructions being written isn’t actually a good thing. It’s boring, and doesn’t necessarily emphasize the important parts. … Read moreSome ‘splaining tools explained
Almost twenty years ago, I saw my first Sanborn map. In the years since, I’ve used these maps for work in all sorts of contexts, and I keep coming back to how beautiful they are. They show the information they were meant for – assessing risk for fire insurance – but also so much more. … Read moreI ♥ Maps
Playing for work, it turns out, is both rewarding and completely exhausting. I found this out first-hand after a double dose of games workshops this week. First, I attended the “level up” workshop which focused on Aris, an open-source iOS game generator. I got to develop a game in a team with other profs. Our … Read moreGames Games Games
I wanted to bring together the stuff I learned from the infographics course I taught this semester and the workshop I led earlier this week. But then I realized trying to bring it all together in a blog post would make it way too meander-y, aside-packed, and also likely perpetually unfinished. So instead I’m going … Read moreInfographics ad nauseam
When I have the time, I’ll be making a more detailed post about infographics here. Bur for right now, if you’re in the infographics workshop, resources are below: The Minard Infographic HISP469 Student Work Dataset 1 (sav format) Dataset 2 (xls format – percentages etc. pre-calculated) Dataset 3 (xls format – percentages etc. pre-calculated)
I have been grading for what feels like an eternity, and I've got another eternity of grading ahead of me. It's tough to stay positive, so for your enjoyment and mine, a treat: How about that French 80s music video awesomeness? Génial, non? Ok, back to grading. See you on the other side.
Walking paid for my dissertation. It’s a centerpiece of my research. I teach walkability regularly in class. I figured it was about time I talked about it on my blog. When I was working on my dissertation, which really wasn’t that long ago, study participants had to wear an accelerometer/pedometer for a week. Those things … Read morePromenade
So I finally watched Urbanized. I often mock people who haven’t seen movies I think are seminal, so this was partially a self-protective move on my part. I’m pretty sure this documentary is the most famous planning documentary out there. I have to say I came away a tiny bit disappointed. Not that the movie … Read moreMovie Review: Urbanized
Gamification is not universally accepted or respected. However, LEGO and architecture go together like peanut butter and chocolate. There’s no need to convince architects. They’ve been on board for a while. Though I wasn’t exactly toy deprived as a child, LEGOs will forever hold the place of honor among the playmobil, action figures, pirate and … Read moreLEGO for work, or my idea of heaven