A while back, I promised myself and my fellow students in my NLM501 class why they should know about Google Docs and why they should use it, even if just for a few things and not as their main office suite. The biggest drawback to Google Docs or any software-as-a-service (read: online) office suite is that you must always be connected to the Internet to access your data. In this day and age when it seems like society cannot escape the presence of the Internet, it might not be a big issue. But for those few times, it might.
So, why should you know about Google Docs? First, what is Google Docs? Here’s a quick video from Google outlining their service:
The video outlines the big feature: real-time collaboration. In the case above, authors collaborated on a newsletter. In the academic setting, one can be working on one part of a document while another works on a different part. The changes are seen by all in real time. For a class, it works wonders. For research projects, you’ll wonder how you existed before it. In the Fall 2008 semester, I co-authored a research paper with someone in Canada. Between Google Docs and Skype (more on this in a later post), we collaborated as though we were sitting next to each other.
But there are other reasons to use Google Docs as well. Your documents are available from any computer in the world that’s connected to the Internet. This is big. You don’t have to worry about bringing the correct flash disk. Upload your document to Google Docs and it’s saved there in the cloud. If you’re working on something that isn’t a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, you can upload files as PDFs and the same principle applies. Over the summer, I was in the Camerata Singers, and our practice scores were shared over Google Docs in PDF form. Instead of a lot of attachments floating around,
This leads me to some unusual uses of Google Docs. Users can create forms where the data populates onto a spreadsheet. For a Statistics class project, I created a three-question form that asked age, length of time in Arizona, and affiliation at ASU (student, faculty/staff). The link to the form was sent out to a few students and ASU departments, and within an hour, our group had more data than we could imagine. I then exported that spreadsheet to SPSS and our team ran a lot of statistical analyses.
One of the cool things about Google Docs is that it can convert scanned images of text (e.g. from books) into editable text. This feature is very much in beta at the moment and it’s not even fully-supported, but this is worth keeping one’s eyes opened. The problems with OCR software are twofold: the software is expensive and it takes a lot of system resources to run. With Google’s extensive server network in the cloud coupled with free access, this is wonderful. [Full disclaimer: I haven't tried it out yet but a few have. For more info, check out this post on the Digital Inspiration blog.]
A sad end to one of Phoenix’s architecturally significant buildings happened yesterday when the former Qwest/Mountain Bell Building, at 3rd St and Earll, was demolished. The building had sat as a steel frame for many years as it was supposed to be turned into a new development. But the economy went into the toilet and, well, need I say more?
So, it’s sad to see this building go, but it had become quickly vandalized and blighted. I guess this was for the best.
Here’s a great article from the State Press Magazine (an offshoot of the State Press, ASU’s student-produced daily newspaper) on why Downtown Phoenix isn’t scary:
When Andres Cano decided to attend the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism he knew he would be required to live on the Downtown Campus – a move he was excited about making.
“I didn’t fear living or being downtown because it’s such a lively atmosphere,” says Cano, a freshman from Tucson. “Safety should not be a concern … I think a huge part is the amount of activity going on downtown because of sports and concerts.”
The shift in tone among the freshmen student body is one of anticipation rather than apprehension about what Downtown Phoenix has to offer. The biggest obstacle the city faces in its second year of full-scale operation is promoting an urban atmosphere, not security concern, a feeling that resonates with both students and ASU Downtown Campus police.
By way of preface, this post is sort of a semantical rant on the state of online learning (or e-learning). I have the unique perspective of working on both ends of the spectrum: having taken courses that are partially (or fully) online to helping faculty and staff in the ASU College of Public Programs develop online learning courses. What’s more, I work with Dr. Colleen Carmean, who knows a thing or two about e-learning best practices.
What really inspired me to write this post was the discovery that the assessments (read: quiz) feature of Blackboard (ASU’s course management system) is incompatible with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. And then I got to thinking about the big questions of the Internet: the whys and the hows. Over the summer, I was enrolled in a non-ASU online course (the institution shall remain nameless for its sake) that required the use of Internet Explorer and whose accompanying e-textbook was solely for Windows environments.
I understand that I’m in the minority of home computer users: I solely run Ubuntu (a Debian-basedLinux distribution) on my machines. A few programs I use still require Windows, and so I have a virtualized installation of Windows XP on two of my machines that I can call up whenever I need (but if and only if they don’t work in WINE). But in the end, I’d like not to use Windows or have my computer masquerade around as Windows. If the world is moving more toward the Internet, shared knowledge, and cloud computing, then shouldn’t the operating system be irrelevant?
But here’s the big question: Isn’t the point of the Internet (let alone distributed learning and shared knowledge) that it transcends operating systems and Internet browsers? Isn’t that why we have standards like HTML (hypertext markup language)?
Forget Internet Explorer and its slow adoption of Internet standards. Forget the fact that some instructors and institutions mandate certain computing requirements for their courses. As I see it, if an instructor is going to have an online course or if an institution is going to mandate an online course management system, then it shouldn’t just support 90% of computers (read: those that use Windows). It shouldn’t just support the big two operating systems (read: Windows or Macintosh). It should support the entire realm of computing, so the Windows-based instructor can talk to their Ubuntu-based student who can in turn talk to others in class who run Macintosh or Windows.
At the macro level, the Internet, it seems, is a standard. All browsers should support 100% of that standard. Enabling “compatibility modes” in an Internet browser seems silly and stupid, as IE8 users in Blackboard must do.
It’s the start of the week, so here’s a joke to lighten things up a bit.
One of my favorite TV shows is the British comedy The Vicar of Dibley. The show is sadly off the air, and each show ended with the vicar, Geraldine Granger (played by Dawn French) telling the parish’s verger, Alice Springs Horton (played by Emma Chambers) a joke over a cup of tea. This is from the show’s finale:
Join the Cathedral Center for the Arts on Saturday, September 19, 2009, at 7:30 PM, in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for a spectacular concert featuring music for organ and trumpet by Tromba Mundi: William Byrd, Joe Price, Erik Morales, and others.
Tromba Mundi was founded in January of 2008 for the sole purpose of the exploration of trumpet ensemble repertoire and the promotion of new works.
Each member of the ensemble is a professional pedagogue and performer from the Universities of: Capital (OH), South Carolina, West Chester (PA), Indiana, Rowan & the North Carolina School of the Arts. Also, all members perform frequently with other ensembles such as the Cincinnati Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Augusta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Brevard Orchestra, as well as various jazz ensembles, chamber ensembles, freelancing, and commercial recording work. Several members have solo recordings under various record labels.
In this amazing septet are: James Ackley, Scott Belck, Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski, Leonard Foy, and Judith Saxton. Joining them at the Great Cathedral Organ (IV.71) is guest organist Gary Quamme.
Tickets are available at the door for $10.
For more information, please contact Gary Quamme at 480-319-0080.
The Phoenix Symphony’s College Club Card gives Phoenix-area college students the opportunity to attend unlimited Symphony Classics concerts for only $30. Tickets can be picked up – one per cardholder, student ID required – at the Symphony Hall Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or online using the preset promotional code COLLEGE. There is a limit of one ticket per cardholder and a maximum of 100 tickets available per concert; therefore, availability is not guaranteed to all Classics concerts. Tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.
For the complete list of eligible concerts, click here. And for more information, call the PSO’s box office, (602) 495-1999, or drop by (they’re open 10a-4p, and they’re quite lovely people!).
On the repertory for the evening’s performance was John Adams‘ On the Transmigration of Souls, a piece written in memory of the 11 September 2001 attacks (and how apropos it was played on the eighth anniversary of that terrible day), Mozart‘s Ave verum corpus and Beethoven‘s Symphony no. 9 in d minor. In those three pieces, the PSO under the ever-capable baton of Maestro Michael Christie reminded us all that they are a tour de force symphony orchestra in the American Southwest.
The evening’s performance of the Adams work was the first time I had heard anything from his pen. I went in armed with a little bit of knowledge of what to expect, and the piece met those expectations. The piece is scored for orchestra, chorus, and audio tape with people reading missing person signs, quotes from those inside the two hijacked aircraft, and other 9/11-related texts. Adams’ work is rather dissonant and atonal, but the PSO and the four choirs (more on this later) handled it with ease. I did find that the tape and choir covered each other up to the point where I couldn’t discern both. All the same, four choirs joined in the fun: the Phoenix Symphony Chorus, the Arizona State University Symphonic Chorale, the Phoenix Boys’ Choir, and the Western Illinois Singers – over 400 personnel on the stage!
Segued on to the end of the Adams was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s moving motet, Ave verum corpus (KV 618). Mozart’s work is only four minutes long, and it balanced out the dissonance of the Adams rather nicely.
The main highlight of the season-opening concert came after intermission. Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in d minor is one of those pieces that’s sadly almost become cliché in American mainstream culture because of the finale movement. But the other three movements explore the gamut of emotions en route to the finale movement wherein Joy is discovered.
For whatever reason, the usually lush strings sounded rather hollow during the Beethoven. In the first movement – Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso – Beethoven’s lush string orchestration didn’t carry through by the PSO. The orchestra didn’t seem to perform this work with reduced personnel, so I can’t quite figure out why. Still, key passages came through loud and clear and the orchestra was on top of its expression. Each movement built on the previous, and all were delights to hear in their own ways. The second movement – Scherzo (Molto vivace – Presto) – is frenetic and hurried but accentuated by tympani tuned at an octave. The third movement – Adagio molto e cantabile – is a sublime serenade with sensuous orchestration for wind instruments that (maybe by Beethoven’s design) lulls the listener into a false sense of calm before the finale movement.
And then we get to the fourth movement (Presto, etc.). For those not familiar with Beethoven’s score, the first several minutes of this movement explore themes from the previous three movements in the work’s persistent search for joy. The familiar theme (what many know as the Ode to Joy) is introduced by the basses and celli and is built upon. Christie kept the orchestra under control here, which is notable because this area has great potential to fall apart. Then comes the highlight and the reason why Beethoven 9 is called the “Choral” Symphony: enter the choir and soloists. The baritone soloist did a fantastic job on the piece’s opening récitative (O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!) and the choir was magnificent in its diction of the German text. My common complaint of listening to recordings of this piece is that the German text is difficult to understand. This changed with the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2006 release of Beethoven 9, when the Minnesota Chorale sang the words with phenomenal diction that non-German speakers could transcribe it. And so too did the Phoenix Symphony Chorus.
My persistent observation (bordering on complaint) about Maestro Christie and the PSO is that they have a tendency to rush their tempi. Last season, I noted this in my reviews of Haydn’s Creation and Orff’s Carmina Burana. It has mixed results, but when the orchestra can’t play 110% at that rushed tempo, then why even bother? A couple of sections in the Beethoven come to mind – the Presto in the second movement and the faster sections of the final movement – where the orchestra was clearly scrambling to keep up with Mr. Christie’s conducting.
Finally, as an alumnus of the Phoenix Symphony Youth Orchestra and self-confessed concert-going snob, I was rather dismayed when the audience clapped in between each of the Beethoven’s four movements. This threw off Christie’s pace but the orchestra recovered quickly. To the audience: you do not clap in between movements of any symphonic work! EVER!
Audience distractions aside, the PSO performed three works fantastically well and only reaffirmed that they are a cultural gem in this desert. Let’s hope that the economy rebounds quickly so that the PSO can keep performing symphonic masterworks for years and decades to come.
In its third year of existence, ASU’s Academic Bowl finally gets a team from the College of Public Programs (CoPP).
I hope the first few weeks of classes are going well and that you are all enjoying the energy and excitement of a new school year! Anyway, CoPP student leaders are interested in pulling together a CoPP student team for the 2009 ASU Academic Bowl. For 2009, the academic event will feature 16 teams of undergraduate students competing for college pride and scholarship money in a fast-pace, question-and-answer format. The questions will cover a wide range of subjects, including current events, history, science, sports and culture. The majority of the even takes place in October with students preparing later this month.
If you are interested in joining the CoPP team, please join us for an overview and info session this Monday, 9/14 in UCENT 580A from 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Join the Cathedral Center for the Arts on Saturday, September 19, 2009, at 7:30 PM, in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for a spectacular concert featuring music for organ and trumpet by Tromba Mundi: William Byrd, Joe Price, Erik Morales, and others.