Brianna Butterfield – 91̽��News

A new space with infinite resources for students: The Research Commons

Brianna Butterfield — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Step into Allen Library South’s ground floor and you’ll see a colorful room with furniture not typical in a library. That would be the brand new Research Commons, which officially debuts Nov. 9, although it’s already been in use by eager students who asked for what it offers.

With the growth of data-driven research and the need for collaboration, a new kind of space was needed, said Research Commons Librarian Lauren Ray. The commons is designed to provide technology and furniture that encourage people to gather and consult with each other about their research projects.

Ray has been a part of the project since April, when she was handed the vision created for the space. The space renovation was funded by the Office of the Provost with additional funding for technology provided through the Student Technology Fee and UWIT. The vision for the space focuses on collaboration among peers and across disciplines. The staff of the commons partners with different departments and writing centers in an effort to foster interdisciplinary conversations.

“This was especially important for graduate students. From research done in planning for the space, we learned that [students in] graduate schools wanted to learn more about research being done outside of their own department,” Ray said. “Through cross-disciplinary workshops, events and space design we hope to foster conversations between research communities at UW.”

The Research Commons space is very colorful. This design choice was in response to feedback gathered from the Research Commons Planning Committee last year and the recent 91̽��Learning and Scholarly Technologies report, . DLR, the architectural firm chosen for this project, conducted a design charette earlier in the year to gather feedback on furniture, color and layout from staff, faculty and students. Students wanted lounge chairs for laptops, which have also been integrated into the commons.

Booths for collaboration on projects are seen throughout the space. Ray hopes they will be used for collaborative work, teaching assistant consultations and librarian office hours. The space also includes residual PCs from Mary Gates, standing height tables, whiteboards on tables, screens for teaching, consulting, and plugging into four laptops at once, and conference rooms for students, faculty and staff to reserve.

Whiteboards are seen everywhere for collaborative projects and visual learning. In fact, there are rooms with white boards covering every wall. A large presentation area can be used for bigger workshops and events. The Research Commons has already hosted several well-attended workshops, including a Professional Development workshop sponsored by the Graduate School on writing successful academic job applications. This session, which was held on the opening day, attracted close to 80 students. Last week a Grants and Funding Information Service (GFIS) workshop, provided by the GFIS assistant working in the Research Commons, attracted close to 50 students.

“The activity is different each day. Yesterday it was buzzing, but at other times it has been quieter. The whiteboard walls seem to be the biggest draw right now for collaborative work.” Ray explains.

To continue to foster this scholarly interaction, Ray plans to create more events to draw people together. In fact the Grand Opening event will be on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. with remarks by Interim President Phyllis Wise, Dean of University Libraries Betsy Wilson, Research Commons Librarian Ray, and Professor Albert Folch, Department of Bioengineering. Professor Folch’s Bringing Art IntoTechnology exhibit will be unveiled during the Grand Opening (See our story on the exhibit .)

More information can be found on the .

Pac-10 Fitness Challenge seeing more interest this year

Brianna Butterfield — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

More indoor exercise, the start of fall, all signs point to the fourth annual Pac-10 Fitness Challenge.

The Pac-10 Fitness Challenge began in 2007. The idea originated from a health summit held in that year, attended by directors of the Pac-10 sports and fitness. They wanted to promote fit lifestyles, and this is what came from their discussion.

The challenge is essentially an intercollegiate, recreational event coordinated between the 91̽��and all other Pac-10 universities. This year the event began on Monday October 25th and will end this Saturday. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to log their activity on a site that records the activity of all colleges. The most active University wins.

This year registration is up from last year by over 20 participants, but 91̽��success in the competition will be determined by logging hours. Even more important to Carrie Wigton, the fitness director of Recreational Sports and director of the Fitness Challenge at UW, is promoting the importance of exercise on UW’s campus.

“You have a lot going on in your life, but any type of exercise helps balance out the rest of your life,” Wigton explained.

This year the competition added a new event to the challenge, Fit Fest. This served as the kick-off event for the challenge. T-Shirts were handed out to those who came by to pre-register. Wigton said that the 500 T-Shirts were passed out in two short hours. In the past, this process has taken two full days.

Karlyn Kurokawa, a graduate student in accounting has been a participant since the challenge began in 2007. In addition to taking a kickboxing class at the IMA, Kurokawa runs, weight lifts, climbs stairs, and runs on the Burke Gilman trail when the weather is nice.

“Its just a way to keep you accountable, and the fact that it’s against other schools also keeps you accountable,” Kurokawa said.

Kurokawa had logged over two hours by Tuesday of the competition. Look for UW’s success in the competition .

‘A Cleaner YouTube’: Pretty good for two hours’ work

Brianna Butterfield — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

First there was MySpace. Then Facebook came along, offering a simplified alternative. The UW’s Jody Tate had a similar idea regarding YouTube. Finding it cluttered and unattractive, he developed a Safari extension, a straightforward version of the wildly successful video site.

“YouTube is not pretty to me,” said Tate, 91̽��information technology interface designer. “I thought just for myself, could I turn off everything else and just see the video?” Tate talked about his project on a recent Friday afternoon at the Burke Cafe on campus.

He developed the extension, which he called , in July.

“The YouTube link was done in my spare time; it took me like two hours to do. I was surprised at how easy it was,” said Tate, as he sipped his coffee.

His YouTube extension essentially makes the site look like the Google search- engine home page. A Cleaner YouTube removes the favorites, advertisements and related videos. The big surprise was having Apple interested; Tate had no idea this would happen.

“My friend recommended I send it in to Apple,” he said. “I didn’t think it would get on their radar. About a month later, I got an e-mail, and a week after, a phone call. And I was pretty surprised by that.”

In late July, A Cleaner YouTube was featured in Apple’s extension gallery. It has also been mentioned in Wired magazine and online publications including Digital Trends, Macworld and The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

“Since then it’s had a little over 250,000 installations. Again, for two hours of work it has surprised me,” said Tate.

While the simplified YouTube extension is popular, some features of the original site were missed.

“I was surprised that I had lots of people ask me to add a comment link and favorites. Figuring out a way to insert the comments — again, that took about 30 minutes,” said Tate.

What is next for him?

“What I want to do now is create a Cleaner Amazon extension. Amazon is sort of the Wal-Mart of web pages, but I know why they’re doing it, they want to put a lot of stuff in your face,” said Tate.

Tate is developing A Cleaner Amazon extension, but will need to make sure it won’t interfere with the money transaction process before he releases it.

“It’s not as hard to do as I thought, and it’s also fun to see if I can pull it off,” said Tate.

In addition to A Cleaner YouTube, Tate has a few projects going.

“I’ve designed one website for a friend and for a nonprofit. That’s why I have a consulting website for people to contact me. But I really hardly do any outside consulting,” he said.

Essentially, Tate enjoys challenging himself. All of his independent endeavors are not for profit and are for his own enrichment. But it just so happens that his hobbies benefit a multitude of people.