.
I'm listening to Maps and the Geospatial Revolution (I took it for real last summer), because Anthony said he was going to make it different.
This video is mindbending.................
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Showing posts with label Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. Show all posts
Friday, May 09, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
update on my Coursera classes
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I have been "just listening" to all the classes I've signed up for so far this year.
How Things Work 1 ended a couple of months ago. I feel bad about this one. I was so thrown for a loop at learning that A) pounds and kilos do not measure the same thing, along with B) no one ever told me!, that I had to just stop dead and work on taking it in. By the time I'd revised my world view sufficiently to proceed, I was so far behind that I never caught up. I surely hope he offers this class again soon. I would like to give it another shot. I believe I can still listen to the lectures. I should find out, and do that, if I can......
The Music of the Beatles is over (will be offered again in July 2014). I listened to all the lectures, and listened to a significant amount of music related to the class on youtube.
Marine Megafauna: An Introduction to Marine Science and Conservation is over. I listened to all the lectures but the last week. That was when we got to the heavy-duty "conservation" part of the class, and I really don't think I want to listen to "Whales and the Age of Sail".............. I have a general idea of the atrocities we perpetrated on whales, and I really don't want to know the details...........
Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets ended last week. I took Secrets last summer, and loved it, so I took it again to enjoy the new bits and savor the old. No notes/exercises/exams for me, this time around.
Roman Architecture ends this week (I have one lecture worth of videos to watch and take notes on). I've listened to all the lectures, and have taken reasonable notes, for my own possible future reference (should I go somewhere where the works she described still exist), but have not written any papers nor taken any quizzes/exams.
Music's Big Bang: The Genesis of Rock 'n' Roll ends next week (and I'm caught up for this week). Just listening. No notes, no homework, no quizzes/exams. Greater familiarity with some of the pre-rock music he is talking about has not helped me to enjoy it more. Some of those styles just do not float my boat. Unlike the other rock classes I've taken, he has played us a significant amount of music. No whole pieces, but healthy chunks of many pieces. I haven't felt compelled to search out more of it on youtube.
It's good that my plate is almost cleared -- in addition to Maps and the Geospatial Revolution and Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression, I'm signed up for Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life. (all of these start next week)
Our neuro bio teacher is totally geeked about teaching the class. She has a blog and a twitter feed....... Gotta love her level of enthusiasm, and her conviction that the world would be a better place if everyone knew more about brains.
I'm not making decisions ahead of time about whether I will or won't do more than "just listen" in neuro bio or epigenetics. I will do the labs for maps, because I learned so much from them last time, but I don't know if I'll take any quizzes/exams........
And -- I'm working at NOT looking at what other offerings might be available just now........... Which is hard, because you can't count on these classes being offered in the future, and what if I missed the one offering of a totally dynamite class???
.
I have been "just listening" to all the classes I've signed up for so far this year.
How Things Work 1 ended a couple of months ago. I feel bad about this one. I was so thrown for a loop at learning that A) pounds and kilos do not measure the same thing, along with B) no one ever told me!, that I had to just stop dead and work on taking it in. By the time I'd revised my world view sufficiently to proceed, I was so far behind that I never caught up. I surely hope he offers this class again soon. I would like to give it another shot. I believe I can still listen to the lectures. I should find out, and do that, if I can......
The Music of the Beatles is over (will be offered again in July 2014). I listened to all the lectures, and listened to a significant amount of music related to the class on youtube.
Marine Megafauna: An Introduction to Marine Science and Conservation is over. I listened to all the lectures but the last week. That was when we got to the heavy-duty "conservation" part of the class, and I really don't think I want to listen to "Whales and the Age of Sail".............. I have a general idea of the atrocities we perpetrated on whales, and I really don't want to know the details...........
Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets ended last week. I took Secrets last summer, and loved it, so I took it again to enjoy the new bits and savor the old. No notes/exercises/exams for me, this time around.
Roman Architecture ends this week (I have one lecture worth of videos to watch and take notes on). I've listened to all the lectures, and have taken reasonable notes, for my own possible future reference (should I go somewhere where the works she described still exist), but have not written any papers nor taken any quizzes/exams.
Music's Big Bang: The Genesis of Rock 'n' Roll ends next week (and I'm caught up for this week). Just listening. No notes, no homework, no quizzes/exams. Greater familiarity with some of the pre-rock music he is talking about has not helped me to enjoy it more. Some of those styles just do not float my boat. Unlike the other rock classes I've taken, he has played us a significant amount of music. No whole pieces, but healthy chunks of many pieces. I haven't felt compelled to search out more of it on youtube.
It's good that my plate is almost cleared -- in addition to Maps and the Geospatial Revolution and Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression, I'm signed up for Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life. (all of these start next week)
Our neuro bio teacher is totally geeked about teaching the class. She has a blog and a twitter feed....... Gotta love her level of enthusiasm, and her conviction that the world would be a better place if everyone knew more about brains.
I'm not making decisions ahead of time about whether I will or won't do more than "just listen" in neuro bio or epigenetics. I will do the labs for maps, because I learned so much from them last time, but I don't know if I'll take any quizzes/exams........
And -- I'm working at NOT looking at what other offerings might be available just now........... Which is hard, because you can't count on these classes being offered in the future, and what if I missed the one offering of a totally dynamite class???
.
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution
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I have signed up for the same maps class I took last year -- Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. He said he likes to tinker and expected to make lots of changes to the class. I know the labs will be at least somewhat different, as the platform on which they are built is constantly changing.
The labs were really interesting, for learning about current map-making technology (available to all of us, not just to people who work for huge agencies or corporations!).
It's a pretty light-weight class, work wise. I think it's a one-credit course, when he teaches it face-to-face.
Thirteen minutes after he sent out an introductory email inviting us to participate in the class map, the map looked like this:
Highly recommended to anyone who loves maps, and to anyone who is curious about the many ways geospatial data is being used nowadays.
.
I have signed up for the same maps class I took last year -- Maps and the Geospatial Revolution. He said he likes to tinker and expected to make lots of changes to the class. I know the labs will be at least somewhat different, as the platform on which they are built is constantly changing.
The labs were really interesting, for learning about current map-making technology (available to all of us, not just to people who work for huge agencies or corporations!).
It's a pretty light-weight class, work wise. I think it's a one-credit course, when he teaches it face-to-face.
Thirteen minutes after he sent out an introductory email inviting us to participate in the class map, the map looked like this:
Highly recommended to anyone who loves maps, and to anyone who is curious about the many ways geospatial data is being used nowadays.
.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Anne Kelly Knowles uses GIS to look at historical data
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I mentioned that my Maps teacher was going to offer a new version of Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
Here's a video that talks about some of the ways another geographer is using GIS to look at historical data.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/video/Anne-Kelly-Knowles-Uses-GIS-Tools-to-Re-Write-History.html
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I mentioned that my Maps teacher was going to offer a new version of Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
Here's a video that talks about some of the ways another geographer is using GIS to look at historical data.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/video/Anne-Kelly-Knowles-Uses-GIS-Tools-to-Re-Write-History.html
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Maps and the Geospatial Revolution
.
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution is the excellent maps class I took earlier this year. He's offering it again soon. I will probably sign up again; he told us at the end of the last session that he "likes to tinker" and that he would rework the class before offering it again.....
I agree with Anthony -- if you love maps, or if you are curious about what is going on with maps and geolocated data -- you should totally sign up for this class. Lots of interesting content, and not too terribly labor-intensive. Recommended!
.
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution is the excellent maps class I took earlier this year. He's offering it again soon. I will probably sign up again; he told us at the end of the last session that he "likes to tinker" and that he would rework the class before offering it again.....
I agree with Anthony -- if you love maps, or if you are curious about what is going on with maps and geolocated data -- you should totally sign up for this class. Lots of interesting content, and not too terribly labor-intensive. Recommended!
.
Monday, October 14, 2013
maps in the early 21st century
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This article quotes Anthony Robinson (and mentions that he taught "the map MOOC" -- Maps and the Geospatial Revolution).
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This article quotes Anthony Robinson (and mentions that he taught "the map MOOC" -- Maps and the Geospatial Revolution).
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Thursday, September 26, 2013
my Maps teacher talks about making Maps and the Geospatial Revolution
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My Maps teacher talked about making Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
The talk is almost an hour, but it's really informative. Lots of info about designing and presenting a MOOC, and lots of info about what he learned, what he was surprised by, all the ways he thought it was a valuable experience (for us, for him, for Penn State....)....
Very interesting, I think.
.
My Maps teacher talked about making Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
The talk is almost an hour, but it's really informative. Lots of info about designing and presenting a MOOC, and lots of info about what he learned, what he was surprised by, all the ways he thought it was a valuable experience (for us, for him, for Penn State....)....
Very interesting, I think.
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Sunday, September 01, 2013
Chinese ghost towns -- a "tour map" made by one of my classmates
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Maps and the Geospatial Revolution assigned a mapping project in the last week of class. There were several templates we could use, which would allow us to make really cool maps with relatively little effort on our part (IF our pics were geotagged!). One of the templates is for "tour maps." I thought of lots of cool tour maps I could have made, like "Where I went in Italy" or "Where I slept in Italy" or "What I ate in Venice"..........
But as we were not given the assignment until the last week of class, and we also had a final exam that week, I decided not to do the project. (Next time I hope he gives that assignment in the first week of class, so people have time to think about what they want to do, and choose their pics (and get geotags for them)......................
One of my classmates made a tour map of brand-new, never-occupied, housing and other construction in China. This is the descriptive info on the page:
“Build and they will come” is the urban development strategy of China, multiplying new projects. But a lack of planning, a frenetic growth and the artificially expansive prices consequently to a housing bubble resulting from massive real estate investments are creating "Ghost Towns", cities or districts meant for millions but remaining empty for many years after their construction (64 million vacant apartments). This story map proposes to have a tour of those.
"64 million vacant apartments"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't begin to get my mind around that number!
Have a look at this tour -- it's creepy! Perfectly maintained, lovely plantings, totally empty...... I think it gives a very good taste of the magnitude of the problem.
.
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution assigned a mapping project in the last week of class. There were several templates we could use, which would allow us to make really cool maps with relatively little effort on our part (IF our pics were geotagged!). One of the templates is for "tour maps." I thought of lots of cool tour maps I could have made, like "Where I went in Italy" or "Where I slept in Italy" or "What I ate in Venice"..........
But as we were not given the assignment until the last week of class, and we also had a final exam that week, I decided not to do the project. (Next time I hope he gives that assignment in the first week of class, so people have time to think about what they want to do, and choose their pics (and get geotags for them)......................
One of my classmates made a tour map of brand-new, never-occupied, housing and other construction in China. This is the descriptive info on the page:
“Build and they will come” is the urban development strategy of China, multiplying new projects. But a lack of planning, a frenetic growth and the artificially expansive prices consequently to a housing bubble resulting from massive real estate investments are creating "Ghost Towns", cities or districts meant for millions but remaining empty for many years after their construction (64 million vacant apartments). This story map proposes to have a tour of those.
"64 million vacant apartments"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't begin to get my mind around that number!
Have a look at this tour -- it's creepy! Perfectly maintained, lovely plantings, totally empty...... I think it gives a very good taste of the magnitude of the problem.
.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Maps wrap up
.
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution is over (it was a five-week class).
The end-of-course survey for Maps asked if we'd reached our personal goals for the class.
Hmmm. While I'm not sure what I expected from the class, it wasn't what I expected. I guess I expected more map-making....
What we got was a taste of the tools that are available for map-making. The software that is available (to random people!) is mind-blowing. You, too, can go to the ArcGIS site, and make maps. I think you have to register with them (for free) if you want to save your maps so others can see them.
I was talking to someone about the class this week, and was talking about the difference between interactive maps and paper maps. I am a huge fan of paper maps -- but -- as our Maps prof said in the first week of the class, paper maps are static. If you want to see something that is off the edge of your paper map, you need to find another paper map. If you want to see something that is off the edge of the map on your computer, you can just grab the map and slide it over so you can see what's over there. (Pretty mind-blowing, all by itself!)
Suppose you open your paper atlas, to find out where Sienna, Italy is. You can do that. Suppose, though, that you also want to see where Sienna's main square and cathedral are. Some paper atlases have city-level maps, but Sienna isn't a very big place. You would probably have to find another atlas, or some other paper map, to see Sienna's streets.
If you look at Google maps, say, you can see a whole bunch of different scales, right there on your screen, right now. You can see where Europe is, on the planet. You can see where Italy is, in Europe. You can see all of Italy. You can see northern Italy. You can see all of Tuscany. You can see all of Sienna. You can see a few blocks of Sienna. (And you can see satellite images of all of the above, in addition to, or instead of, road maps.....)
You can get directions from Sienna's main square to its cathedral. You can see where restaurants (and monuments and hotels and shops) are located. You can have your smart phone give you verbal directions from one place to another.
All of that is just the beginning, for computerized maps (also known as "live maps").
Using ArcGIS, you can add all sorts of data to your map. There is a ton of data on the ArcGIS site that you can use. (Change in the landscape over time, as seen by satellites, for example). There is tons of data, publicly available on the web, which been geotagged (latitude/longitude associated with every data point). There is info gathered about the incidence of diabetes in different places, and census data showing education level or household income, just to name a couple of examples.
You can upload your own data, and, providing that your data is geotagged, ArcGIS will automagically add your own data to your map. Mind-blowing......
The data is there, as you scale up and down (and sometimes the data is displayed differently, depending on how the data are described for the mapping software's use)....
The guy who helped our prof with management of the Maps class blogged about a story map that he made in 15 minutes. The conference he had attended was over, and he decided to walk to the airport (something that you can reasonably do, in San Diego). He turned on an app on his phone that keeps track of your run (when you are exercising). As he walked, he took a few pics with his phone (so they were geotagged) and emailed those pics to an online photo-sharing site. When he got to the airport, he uploaded the map of of his route to ArcGIS, added the pics to the map the run-mapping app made (with descriptions of what he was looking at), and, hey presto, a map that showed his route from beginning to end, with clickable pushpins, each showing one of his pics and descriptive info he'd added. Here's a link to the live map. Extremely cool, no? And to be able to do all that in 15 min? !!!
This also brings me to the other big category of things I learned in the class. I got a much better look at some of the possibilities a smart phone opens up for a person than I had understood before. It's not just about being able to look up anything, any time, anywhere. You can keep track of and upload all sorts of interesting stuff that you might be glad to have later.
While I think it's distinctly creepy that anyone knows where I am at all times, I can see how I might think it was really cool to know exactly where I *was*.... Suppose I wanted to make a map of everywhere I ate in Italy. If we'd been running software that would keep track of our location, and if I'd been taking geotagged pictures, making a map of everywhere we ate (or everywhere we went!) would be a snap. As it is, I could reconstruct some of where we went, and then could go to a live map and get the lat/long info for my pics, and then I could do the geotagging by hand....... I could do it, but it would be a lot of tedious labor.......
I am sold that twitter is useful to get advice about pretty much anything, right now, and am clear that it can be extremely useful if you need help in an emergency. People talked about using it to avoid a huge traffic jam on the expressway in an unfamiliar city.....
I am still not happy about paying to feed a smart phone, but I have a much better understanding, now, since taking Maps and the Geospatial Revolution, of why I might want to have one anyway. Just like being annoyed when I realize how much I'm paying for cable or for internet service, I suppose -- I am annoyed, but I do it anyway.............
Did I "reach my personal goals" in Maps? Not exactly, but I learned A LOT about things I wasn't even thinking about wanting to learn. Definitely worthwhile!
Recommended!
.
Maps and the Geospatial Revolution is over (it was a five-week class).
The end-of-course survey for Maps asked if we'd reached our personal goals for the class.
Hmmm. While I'm not sure what I expected from the class, it wasn't what I expected. I guess I expected more map-making....
What we got was a taste of the tools that are available for map-making. The software that is available (to random people!) is mind-blowing. You, too, can go to the ArcGIS site, and make maps. I think you have to register with them (for free) if you want to save your maps so others can see them.
I was talking to someone about the class this week, and was talking about the difference between interactive maps and paper maps. I am a huge fan of paper maps -- but -- as our Maps prof said in the first week of the class, paper maps are static. If you want to see something that is off the edge of your paper map, you need to find another paper map. If you want to see something that is off the edge of the map on your computer, you can just grab the map and slide it over so you can see what's over there. (Pretty mind-blowing, all by itself!)
Suppose you open your paper atlas, to find out where Sienna, Italy is. You can do that. Suppose, though, that you also want to see where Sienna's main square and cathedral are. Some paper atlases have city-level maps, but Sienna isn't a very big place. You would probably have to find another atlas, or some other paper map, to see Sienna's streets.
If you look at Google maps, say, you can see a whole bunch of different scales, right there on your screen, right now. You can see where Europe is, on the planet. You can see where Italy is, in Europe. You can see all of Italy. You can see northern Italy. You can see all of Tuscany. You can see all of Sienna. You can see a few blocks of Sienna. (And you can see satellite images of all of the above, in addition to, or instead of, road maps.....)
You can get directions from Sienna's main square to its cathedral. You can see where restaurants (and monuments and hotels and shops) are located. You can have your smart phone give you verbal directions from one place to another.
All of that is just the beginning, for computerized maps (also known as "live maps").
Using ArcGIS, you can add all sorts of data to your map. There is a ton of data on the ArcGIS site that you can use. (Change in the landscape over time, as seen by satellites, for example). There is tons of data, publicly available on the web, which been geotagged (latitude/longitude associated with every data point). There is info gathered about the incidence of diabetes in different places, and census data showing education level or household income, just to name a couple of examples.
You can upload your own data, and, providing that your data is geotagged, ArcGIS will automagically add your own data to your map. Mind-blowing......
The data is there, as you scale up and down (and sometimes the data is displayed differently, depending on how the data are described for the mapping software's use)....
The guy who helped our prof with management of the Maps class blogged about a story map that he made in 15 minutes. The conference he had attended was over, and he decided to walk to the airport (something that you can reasonably do, in San Diego). He turned on an app on his phone that keeps track of your run (when you are exercising). As he walked, he took a few pics with his phone (so they were geotagged) and emailed those pics to an online photo-sharing site. When he got to the airport, he uploaded the map of of his route to ArcGIS, added the pics to the map the run-mapping app made (with descriptions of what he was looking at), and, hey presto, a map that showed his route from beginning to end, with clickable pushpins, each showing one of his pics and descriptive info he'd added. Here's a link to the live map. Extremely cool, no? And to be able to do all that in 15 min? !!!
This also brings me to the other big category of things I learned in the class. I got a much better look at some of the possibilities a smart phone opens up for a person than I had understood before. It's not just about being able to look up anything, any time, anywhere. You can keep track of and upload all sorts of interesting stuff that you might be glad to have later.
While I think it's distinctly creepy that anyone knows where I am at all times, I can see how I might think it was really cool to know exactly where I *was*.... Suppose I wanted to make a map of everywhere I ate in Italy. If we'd been running software that would keep track of our location, and if I'd been taking geotagged pictures, making a map of everywhere we ate (or everywhere we went!) would be a snap. As it is, I could reconstruct some of where we went, and then could go to a live map and get the lat/long info for my pics, and then I could do the geotagging by hand....... I could do it, but it would be a lot of tedious labor.......
I am sold that twitter is useful to get advice about pretty much anything, right now, and am clear that it can be extremely useful if you need help in an emergency. People talked about using it to avoid a huge traffic jam on the expressway in an unfamiliar city.....
I am still not happy about paying to feed a smart phone, but I have a much better understanding, now, since taking Maps and the Geospatial Revolution, of why I might want to have one anyway. Just like being annoyed when I realize how much I'm paying for cable or for internet service, I suppose -- I am annoyed, but I do it anyway.............
Did I "reach my personal goals" in Maps? Not exactly, but I learned A LOT about things I wasn't even thinking about wanting to learn. Definitely worthwhile!
Recommended!
.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Maps
.
I took the final exam in Maps and the Geospatial Revolution today. That was the first timed, only-one-attempt-allowed exam I've taken since the 1970s. I am happy to report that I did well enough that I have enough points to pass the class. Hooray.
Just so I don't leave you with no images at all, here's another interesting and thought-provoking map.....
.
I took the final exam in Maps and the Geospatial Revolution today. That was the first timed, only-one-attempt-allowed exam I've taken since the 1970s. I am happy to report that I did well enough that I have enough points to pass the class. Hooray.
Just so I don't leave you with no images at all, here's another interesting and thought-provoking map.....
.
August 14
.
We've admired this hibiscus near the farmers' market before.
We buy Harnois eggs.
I don't know that I've spoken to Nic, but John is a character, and fun to talk to. What do you want to bet their eggs are gluten-free, too??
More humor in the farmers' market neighborhood.
My daughter dropped me at the University's Graduate Library, so I could get a book I wanted for Maps and the Geospatial Revolution -- Designing Better Maps.
A person by the rear entrance/exit, who was trying to be helpful, sent me up to the sixth floor, where lots of other GA (Library of Congress cataloging system) books are supposed to be.
Ooooh. I always forget how much I love the Graduate Library.
Look! Hundreds (thousands?) of shelves. Really tall, really long shelves. With millions and billions of books!
This is less than half of one floor, and I think there are 8 floors. In this part of the library. And more, in the older part.......
All along the outsides of this part of the building are study carrels.
At this time of year, the carrels are (almost) empty. I saw one (1) other person on this floor, during the 15 minutes or so I was up here.
Here's the inside of a carrel. I may need to bring a novel up here and just spend some time.
Soon, very soon, before all the students come back.............
Looking north from another carrel, farther east than that first one. I would go out to the end of the building, with my novel............
Ok, enough messing around. Let's find the book. I'd looked it up on-line the day before, and was told it was on the shelf.....
Hmmm. It would have been on the top shelf. I didn't see anything up there (WAY up there!) that looked promising, given the pic of the book in the catalog, but I hunted up a wheely step-ladder thing, brought it here, and climbed up. Nope, not up there. HUMPH.
Ok, before we leave the sixth floor, let's look out the south-facing windows.
This is southeast.
I don't know if there's anyone in the audience who went to college here, 30 or 40 years ago..... The UGLI (Undergraduate Library) has been gentrified, there's a new Ed School, and there are ***LOTS*** of new apartment buildings.
You still don't have to be too high, in Ann Arbor, to have an excellent view. (Though the mayor and his cronies are working as hard as they can to change that.....)
Looking southwest. The olde-fashioned buildings are the law school (built to resemble something Oxbridge-ian). If you click on the next pic to see a bigger version, you can see a block M on the horizon, near the right side of the image. That's the stadium.
I tore myself away from the windows, and went downstairs to attempt to complete my next task -- getting myself set up to be able to put books on reserve. As retired staff, I am entitled to check books out of the U's library system, and, having signed up, I should be able to put them on hold, too. Yet another excellent benefit of having worked for the U....................
I found a helpful person who could get me set up to be able to reserve stuff, and I asked her about Designing Better Maps. She told me it was on the second floor (not the sixth!), in a special maps collection. I thanked her profusely, and went back up to the second floor.
Oooooh! I am charmed by the collection of globes!
Love maps. Love globes!
Look! Many, many, many drawers, full of maps!
Designing Better Maps was on the shelf in this room, just like it was supposed to be. Hooray! I took it back downstairs, and checked it out.
How totally excellent. The University of Michigan Graduate Library has open stacks. Anyone can walk in and use the resources. Anyone. And I can check stuff out ("Due December 1st"). How cool is that. Happy sigh.
The next part of my agenda was to try to lay eyes on the guy who taught my first Coursera class. His office (or, I guess, ONE of his officeS) is very near the Grad.
Coursera recently opened up a shop (something I suggested to them months ago!). I bought a tshirt, only to discover that it was 65% plastic rather than 100% cotton as advertised. I complained, and when they discovered that all of the shirts they were selling were 65/35, they offered me one of the cotton samples they had received from a different manufacturer when they began to contemplate selling logo merchandise.
I said, "yes, please, send me a cotton tshirt." I did NOT say "which is what you should have sent me in the first place, you twits!"
With the second tshirt, they sent some pens, some post-it-type notes, a frisbee-type object, and a teeny weeny flashlight. Yay.
I thought the guy who taught my first Coursera class might be amused to have a pen, so I brought one with me, on the 14th, to offer him if I managed to track him down. I wore my Coursera tshirt, too!
I did find his office, but the lights were off and no one was home.
Oh well.
Next on the schedule was lunch with my work buddies.
Walking across the Diag toward State Street, looking north toward Rackham.
I enjoyed lunch with my buddies, as always. The last time I ate with them, I went to the U's archaeology museum after lunch, and then got SOAKED on my way home.
This time the weather stayed beautiful and blue. After lunch, my buddies wanted gelato, so we went into a gelato place. The young woman scooping the gelato said she'd heard of Coursera! She made my day -- she was the only person who reacted to the tshirt. She said one of her friends took the guitar class.
Walking home, looking east over West Park.
Hibiscus.
The 14th was a busy day.
Walking to yoga.
I think these are waterlily leaves, pining for the fjords. I was surprised that they were orange.
Love the shapes (green stuff, too, esp. upper right curvy leaf) and shadows, as well as the orange triangles.
.
We've admired this hibiscus near the farmers' market before.
We buy Harnois eggs.
I don't know that I've spoken to Nic, but John is a character, and fun to talk to. What do you want to bet their eggs are gluten-free, too??
More humor in the farmers' market neighborhood.
My daughter dropped me at the University's Graduate Library, so I could get a book I wanted for Maps and the Geospatial Revolution -- Designing Better Maps.
A person by the rear entrance/exit, who was trying to be helpful, sent me up to the sixth floor, where lots of other GA (Library of Congress cataloging system) books are supposed to be.
Ooooh. I always forget how much I love the Graduate Library.
Look! Hundreds (thousands?) of shelves. Really tall, really long shelves. With millions and billions of books!
This is less than half of one floor, and I think there are 8 floors. In this part of the library. And more, in the older part.......
All along the outsides of this part of the building are study carrels.
At this time of year, the carrels are (almost) empty. I saw one (1) other person on this floor, during the 15 minutes or so I was up here.
Here's the inside of a carrel. I may need to bring a novel up here and just spend some time.
Soon, very soon, before all the students come back.............
Looking north from another carrel, farther east than that first one. I would go out to the end of the building, with my novel............
Ok, enough messing around. Let's find the book. I'd looked it up on-line the day before, and was told it was on the shelf.....
Hmmm. It would have been on the top shelf. I didn't see anything up there (WAY up there!) that looked promising, given the pic of the book in the catalog, but I hunted up a wheely step-ladder thing, brought it here, and climbed up. Nope, not up there. HUMPH.
Ok, before we leave the sixth floor, let's look out the south-facing windows.
This is southeast.
I don't know if there's anyone in the audience who went to college here, 30 or 40 years ago..... The UGLI (Undergraduate Library) has been gentrified, there's a new Ed School, and there are ***LOTS*** of new apartment buildings.
You still don't have to be too high, in Ann Arbor, to have an excellent view. (Though the mayor and his cronies are working as hard as they can to change that.....)
Looking southwest. The olde-fashioned buildings are the law school (built to resemble something Oxbridge-ian). If you click on the next pic to see a bigger version, you can see a block M on the horizon, near the right side of the image. That's the stadium.
I tore myself away from the windows, and went downstairs to attempt to complete my next task -- getting myself set up to be able to put books on reserve. As retired staff, I am entitled to check books out of the U's library system, and, having signed up, I should be able to put them on hold, too. Yet another excellent benefit of having worked for the U....................
I found a helpful person who could get me set up to be able to reserve stuff, and I asked her about Designing Better Maps. She told me it was on the second floor (not the sixth!), in a special maps collection. I thanked her profusely, and went back up to the second floor.
Oooooh! I am charmed by the collection of globes!
Love maps. Love globes!
Look! Many, many, many drawers, full of maps!
Designing Better Maps was on the shelf in this room, just like it was supposed to be. Hooray! I took it back downstairs, and checked it out.
How totally excellent. The University of Michigan Graduate Library has open stacks. Anyone can walk in and use the resources. Anyone. And I can check stuff out ("Due December 1st"). How cool is that. Happy sigh.
The next part of my agenda was to try to lay eyes on the guy who taught my first Coursera class. His office (or, I guess, ONE of his officeS) is very near the Grad.
Coursera recently opened up a shop (something I suggested to them months ago!). I bought a tshirt, only to discover that it was 65% plastic rather than 100% cotton as advertised. I complained, and when they discovered that all of the shirts they were selling were 65/35, they offered me one of the cotton samples they had received from a different manufacturer when they began to contemplate selling logo merchandise.
I said, "yes, please, send me a cotton tshirt." I did NOT say "which is what you should have sent me in the first place, you twits!"
With the second tshirt, they sent some pens, some post-it-type notes, a frisbee-type object, and a teeny weeny flashlight. Yay.
I thought the guy who taught my first Coursera class might be amused to have a pen, so I brought one with me, on the 14th, to offer him if I managed to track him down. I wore my Coursera tshirt, too!
I did find his office, but the lights were off and no one was home.
Oh well.
Next on the schedule was lunch with my work buddies.
Walking across the Diag toward State Street, looking north toward Rackham.
I enjoyed lunch with my buddies, as always. The last time I ate with them, I went to the U's archaeology museum after lunch, and then got SOAKED on my way home.
This time the weather stayed beautiful and blue. After lunch, my buddies wanted gelato, so we went into a gelato place. The young woman scooping the gelato said she'd heard of Coursera! She made my day -- she was the only person who reacted to the tshirt. She said one of her friends took the guitar class.
Walking home, looking east over West Park.
Hibiscus.
The 14th was a busy day.
Walking to yoga.
I think these are waterlily leaves, pining for the fjords. I was surprised that they were orange.
Love the shapes (green stuff, too, esp. upper right curvy leaf) and shadows, as well as the orange triangles.
.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
more from Maps
.
More interesting stuff from Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.....
I am learning as much about social media (I do not use FB or Twitter) as I am learning about maps........ There is a bunch of discussion about how/when info gathered from social media is or is not reliable or useful.
Twitter, and the confirmation or debunking of rumors about the 2011 London riots. Click on one of the pictures of rumored events, and see a timeline of agree/disagree/query tweets (slide the arrow-thingie from left to right to see what happens over time).
More (and more) maps...........
World map, with overlays of population by latitude and by longitude.....
American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins
This one is pretty. Submarine Cable Map 2013
I'd seen this one before -- "Pop" vs "Soda"
US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs
"Pain au chocolat" ou "Chocolatine" (scroll down to see the excellent orange/blue map)
40 interesting world maps
.
More interesting stuff from Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.....
I am learning as much about social media (I do not use FB or Twitter) as I am learning about maps........ There is a bunch of discussion about how/when info gathered from social media is or is not reliable or useful.
Twitter, and the confirmation or debunking of rumors about the 2011 London riots. Click on one of the pictures of rumored events, and see a timeline of agree/disagree/query tweets (slide the arrow-thingie from left to right to see what happens over time).
More (and more) maps...........
World map, with overlays of population by latitude and by longitude.....
American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins
This one is pretty. Submarine Cable Map 2013
I'd seen this one before -- "Pop" vs "Soda"
US States Renamed For Countries With Similar GDPs
"Pain au chocolat" ou "Chocolatine" (scroll down to see the excellent orange/blue map)
40 interesting world maps
.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
ISCRAM
.
ISCRAM. Best. Acronym. Evar.
I learned of its existence in Maps and the Geospatial Revolution (our prof is a regular attendee).
More cool stuff from Maps:
Here's an interesting article about popularity/herd-pressure-toward-positive-response.
Here's a cool map. It shows where "friend" connections on Facebook are. Click on a country's dot to show its "friends".............
Another interesting map -- US ancestry by county.
.
ISCRAM. Best. Acronym. Evar.
I learned of its existence in Maps and the Geospatial Revolution (our prof is a regular attendee).
More cool stuff from Maps:
Here's an interesting article about popularity/herd-pressure-toward-positive-response.
Here's a cool map. It shows where "friend" connections on Facebook are. Click on a country's dot to show its "friends".............
Another interesting map -- US ancestry by county.
.
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
maps -- plate boundaries and 8/6/13 earthquake data
.
Did you know that the US government acquires and publishes an up-to-date, comma-separated file of data on earthquakes? (If you click through, your computer will probably ask you if you wan to see it in Excel or something similar. That makes it a bit easier to look at, but the data is the same either way.)
Would you have guessed that there have already been 145 earthquakes (around the globe) today (8/6/13) at 11:36 am?
Wow.
Who knew, and ... how cool that we can all see this data!!!
Here's what happens in ARCGis when you start with the plate boundaries, and then ask it to apply the data in that csv file mentioned above.
View Larger Map
How cool is this!?! And *I* made it! (with other people's data..............)
.
Did you know that the US government acquires and publishes an up-to-date, comma-separated file of data on earthquakes? (If you click through, your computer will probably ask you if you wan to see it in Excel or something similar. That makes it a bit easier to look at, but the data is the same either way.)
Would you have guessed that there have already been 145 earthquakes (around the globe) today (8/6/13) at 11:36 am?
Wow.
Who knew, and ... how cool that we can all see this data!!!
Here's what happens in ARCGis when you start with the plate boundaries, and then ask it to apply the data in that csv file mentioned above.
View Larger Map
How cool is this!?! And *I* made it! (with other people's data..............)
.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Maps
.
Working on this week's lab for Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
Have a look at this cool tool available from ESRI -- you can see change-over-time at locations all over the world. Here are natural-color maps of Overland Park, Kansas, from 1990 and 2010, and a composite of vegetation change (infrared) between 1990 and 2010.
One thing I wonder about is if those images were taken at the same time of year. The level of dryness/vegetation would vary noticeably at different times of year, and one year may be wetter/dryer than another, too, regardless of the passage of decades.....
But the change in human activity on the land is huge and unmistakeable, time of year aside.
If you type in the "location" box, you can see other locations............
Isn't it cool that any random person can see this stuff?
.
Working on this week's lab for Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
Have a look at this cool tool available from ESRI -- you can see change-over-time at locations all over the world. Here are natural-color maps of Overland Park, Kansas, from 1990 and 2010, and a composite of vegetation change (infrared) between 1990 and 2010.
One thing I wonder about is if those images were taken at the same time of year. The level of dryness/vegetation would vary noticeably at different times of year, and one year may be wetter/dryer than another, too, regardless of the passage of decades.....
But the change in human activity on the land is huge and unmistakeable, time of year aside.
If you type in the "location" box, you can see other locations............
Isn't it cool that any random person can see this stuff?
.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
July 21
.
Our Lesson 1 lab for Maps had us at ArcGIS.com, exploring ArcGis and what it can do -- layers, measuring capability, etc, etc.
This layer is population density (with boundaries and place names).
We were told to find the distance between the greatest population density in India, and the lowest density in Nepal. The colors showing density fade into each other.... I *think* I have found a place along the Indian/Nepali border that is part of India's most dense population, and have measured the distance from there to some of the sparsest population in Nepal.
Cool tools!
.
Our Lesson 1 lab for Maps had us at ArcGIS.com, exploring ArcGis and what it can do -- layers, measuring capability, etc, etc.
This layer is population density (with boundaries and place names).
We were told to find the distance between the greatest population density in India, and the lowest density in Nepal. The colors showing density fade into each other.... I *think* I have found a place along the Indian/Nepali border that is part of India's most dense population, and have measured the distance from there to some of the sparsest population in Nepal.
Cool tools!
.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
class update
.
Working along on my classes, as Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets overlaps Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
Monday (22nd) I took a quiz for each class. I believe that's the first time I've taken two quizzes in one day, in two different subjects, since 1974!
I just turned in my last assignment for Archaeology. We have to do 6 of 8 assignments to have "completed" the class. I have found interesting options in 6 of 8 weeks, so that was perfect for me. One choice for week 7 is visiting an archaeological site or monument or museum. The University has a museum handy for me to visit, so I did that yesterday, and wrote it up today.
For every assignment we turn in, we have to review the assignments of five of our classmates, so I still have that to do, and then I'll have finished the class.
It was a great class. Extremely well thought out, and extremely well executed. I urge anyone with any interest in archaeology to take it the next time it is offered!
Remember that Coursera classes are free, and know that all the profs I've had have specifically encouraged anyone who has any interest in their topics to do as much -- or as little -- of the classwork as they want and/or are able to do. If you only have time to watch one video a week, they would love to have you do that...........
(At least) one of my Archaeology classmates is 85 -- she thinks everyone should take advantage of Coursera. :-)
Professor Sue Alcock does an absolutely fabulous job with Dirty Little Secrets. I would totally take classes from her, if I went to Brown! I'm sorry the class has ended.
As for Maps, I was caught up until this morning, when Lesson 2 began. I have some work to do for my volunteer gig, so I should probably do that before I start on the Maps Lesson 2 material.
I'm sorry Archaeology is over, but I'll be glad to only have one class to keep up with.
I seriously love being able to dabble like this, in such a wide variety of classes! Use of mathematical models for thinking about problems, thinking/reasoning and analyzing arguments, archaeology, geography/maps.............. What fun! No worries about requirements or cognates or any of that, just following my fancy.........
Excellent!
.
Working along on my classes, as Archaeology's Dirty Little Secrets overlaps Maps and the Geospatial Revolution.
Monday (22nd) I took a quiz for each class. I believe that's the first time I've taken two quizzes in one day, in two different subjects, since 1974!
I just turned in my last assignment for Archaeology. We have to do 6 of 8 assignments to have "completed" the class. I have found interesting options in 6 of 8 weeks, so that was perfect for me. One choice for week 7 is visiting an archaeological site or monument or museum. The University has a museum handy for me to visit, so I did that yesterday, and wrote it up today.
For every assignment we turn in, we have to review the assignments of five of our classmates, so I still have that to do, and then I'll have finished the class.
It was a great class. Extremely well thought out, and extremely well executed. I urge anyone with any interest in archaeology to take it the next time it is offered!
Remember that Coursera classes are free, and know that all the profs I've had have specifically encouraged anyone who has any interest in their topics to do as much -- or as little -- of the classwork as they want and/or are able to do. If you only have time to watch one video a week, they would love to have you do that...........
(At least) one of my Archaeology classmates is 85 -- she thinks everyone should take advantage of Coursera. :-)
Professor Sue Alcock does an absolutely fabulous job with Dirty Little Secrets. I would totally take classes from her, if I went to Brown! I'm sorry the class has ended.
As for Maps, I was caught up until this morning, when Lesson 2 began. I have some work to do for my volunteer gig, so I should probably do that before I start on the Maps Lesson 2 material.
I'm sorry Archaeology is over, but I'll be glad to only have one class to keep up with.
I seriously love being able to dabble like this, in such a wide variety of classes! Use of mathematical models for thinking about problems, thinking/reasoning and analyzing arguments, archaeology, geography/maps.............. What fun! No worries about requirements or cognates or any of that, just following my fancy.........
Excellent!
.
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