Book Changes
I made a mistake in the book order sent to the bookstore, and forgot to remove Steve Krug Don’t Make Me Think! and replace it with Christina Wodtke’s Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web.
I’ve notified the bookstore, and while they may not get the new book right away, you won’t need it until the third week of class.
Readings Posted for Weeks One and Two
The readings for the first two weeks of class are now available. Click on a class meeting date in the calendar on the left, or select the class topic from the class outline to see the list of readings—all of which are online. You won’t need your books until after the third week of class.
I’ve also put an “Introductions” item up in the Discussions section of the site. Feel free to post your introduction there before class starts.
Files Uploaded to myCourses
Since I keep getting email asking me if I received uploaded files, here’s a screen shot of my inbox in myCourses. If your name isn’t here, your upload didn’t work. (Click on the image for a larger version…)
If you emailed it to me, please also upload it to myCourses so that I have them in one place.
If you don’t have access to myCourses yet, please contact the ITS Help Desk (helpdesk[at]rit[dot]edu or 475-HELP) ASAP to get that fixed.
unavailable
My sister’s husband was killed in a car accident yesterday; as a result, I will not be available on campus or via email until Monday.
Discussion Items
A few people have asked where they can ask questions about the project so that others can see the answers. One option is to post the questions directly to the assignment. But I’ll start putting discussion items (like this one) up for each assignment as well.
In terms of finding and sharing resources related to class topics, I’d suggest posting those as comments to the class topic entry for that date.
group assignments
Here are the group assignments:
Group 1 (sake)
Kenichiro Araki
Joseph Carino
Matthew Copeland
Robert Kostin
Aaron Sanders
Group 2 (sushi)
Namgyal Dolker
Vince Falbo
Cher Stanley
Wennie Tao
Chandra Wilson
Keisuke Yamamoto
Group 3 (sashimi)
Christian Crews
Stephanie Chester
Neil Davis
Bakhtiar Dossul
Fuyuko Takegawa
Christopher Lister
Group 4 (sukiyaki)
Anne Buck
David Chelus
Yusuke Kuwahara
Curtiss Markham
Robert Mullen
Matthew Penna
trip details
A couple of the groups have interviewed me about the requirements for the trip site. Rather than responding to additional individual emails, I’m going to post some general information here.
We leave for Tokyo on February 21st, and will be there until March 3rd, when we leave for Shanghai. We leave Shanghai for Rochester on March 6th.
The trip is almost exclusively for pleasure/touring, and I’m particularly interested in fun and interesting (and not too expensive!) things for my son to do while we’re there—as well as background material for him to read before we go. I’ll be doing some professional work while I’m there, but it’s not the focus of this site, and I’ll have a colleague there taking care of the details.
While in Tokyo, we’ll be staying with friends. They live in Kawasaki, walking distance (a hilly mile) from the Yomiuri Landomae stop on the Odakuu subway line. That goes straight in to Shinjuku.
I have never been to Japan, and speak no Japanese. My son, age 9, has also not been to Japan, but he speaks and reads a bit. My mother has visited Japan many times (and lived there for 3 months at one point in the ‘90s), and speaks and reads basic Japanese (though not fluently).
We’re particularly interested in finding good deals while we’re there—for example, are there reasonably-priced restaurants to eat at in the Shibuya area?
Here are some general thoughts from my mom:
Health: can you find any good advice on how to avoid catching some nasty cold or flu during that long flight?I’ve never taken a tour of Tokyo, though I’ve visited there five times, once for three months. I’ve never seen the emperor’s palace or garden. Will it be open? Is it worth the time? Is there some kind of river tour? Is it supposed to be good? I’ve heard about some new tower in Roppongi — what’s the story on that?
We’ll want to go to Kamakura, where Liz has a former student who offered to act as a guide. Is there some relatively easy material you’d recommend for my grandson to read as preparation? He’ll see the big Buddha and he’ll ask what Buddhism is. And Shintoism.
What shrines will be the most spectacular and dramatic in Tokyo? ( don’t think we can afford the time or money for a trip to Kyoto this time around.)
English language used book bookstores? (Something in Kanda?) New books are good, too, but English language books can be very expensive in Japan.
When we get off the plane at Narita around 5 PM, we’ll be exhausted — especially Lane. Can you help us locate a good and not too expensive hotel near the airport where we can spend the first night?
Oh…and for those of you curious about why I mentioned Inba, my friend and colleague Joi Ito, a Japanese venture capitalist, just bought a new house in Inbamura, and I’m hoping to go out and visit it.
group accounts
I have created accounts for each group on our polaris server. The user ID is your group name, and the default password will be given out in class (I strongly encourage you to change the password as soon as possible).
The default web directory on polaris is public_html, rather than www. You’ll need to create the public_html directory in your home directory, and set the permissions (for it and anything you put in it) to allow reading (there’s no “ofw” script on polaris!).
Polaris now supports secure shell (ssh) connections, so I strongly encourage you to use ssh instead of telnet when connecting to the server (you should do this on grace, as well).
Interesting Links
Many of the links that I discuss in class can be found on my del.icio.us page. It’s a freeform bookmark maintenance system that allows you to share links with others, and subscribe to other people’s lists of links.
Don't Post Midterm URLs Here!
There’s no need to post your midterm URLs to this site—but you should place a link to your midterm project on your personal page (the one you turned in for your first assignment).
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Update, 4:15pm
I guess I was unclear above. Let me try again…
Do not post a comment to the class weblog with your midterm project URL.
Just make sure that there’s a link from the page you created last month (the one you just got a gradesheet for) to the midterm. I already have a list of links to your personal pages…I’ll use that to get to your midterms.