25 of 365 - there's a little Carlton Banks in all of us by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
25 of 365 – there’s a little Carlton Banks in all of us by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
So, I decided to break with the design principles and do something kind of fun today. My friend Justin Hoenke, a fabulous librarian and one of my favorite humans ever, posted the selfie you see in the first quadrant. I recently saw a meme using Carlton Banks (of Fresh Prince fame), and decided to use Justin’s fun pic to do my own Carlton meme. I missed my post yesterday, so another will be coming soon today.
In the GIMP, I opened Justin’s picture, and sized it down to a quarter of the original image size. I brought it in again as a layer, sized it down less, moved it into place, and added a layer mask by selection for the second quadrant so that the rest of the picture was not overlapping any of the other quadrants. The same for the third and fourth, except that I started to munge his iris together to prepare you for the appearance of Carlton in the last quadrant. For Carlton, I added an elliptical selection the size of Justin’s iris, and made it into a layer mask, then played with layer styles and transparency until it looked like Carlton was inside Justin’s eye. Without the stamp tool to munge the iris, Justin’s pupil would have obfuscated parts of Carlton’s face.
23 of 365 - Constraint design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
23 of 365 – Constraint design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Constraint is built into systems to allow limits to negative actions a user might otherwise take in that system. In mechanical systems where too much power, volume, or other resources could be over-applied, constraints prevent the user from doing so. We also can be psychologically or physically constrained from entering dangerous areas by a do not enter sign, or areas where our presence might cause alarm or discomfort, such as a bathroom intended for the opposite sex.
In this illustration, I made a constrained variable slider control going from low to high, which does not allow for setting too low or too high.
20 of 365 - Confirmation design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
20 of 365 – Confirmation design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Confirmation is necessary when you want to remind, warn, or make a user especially aware of the importance of a change or choice that they are about to make. Confirmation can happen in industrial design, such as when you have to confirm your intention to arm a device by lifting a protective flap over a trigger, but we meet it far more often in software, where we are asked if we really want to perform an action. A very simple implementation of confirmation occurs on websites with the JavaScript alert function.
In this illustration, I thought it would be a wonderful thing to have a tool that would simply remove you from all social media presence in an instant. Given all the potential cascading changes to your online identity as a result, you would almost certainly want to have your decision confirmed.
Libraries, the original co-working space by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
“Codecademy for Adults: Learn How to Write Code for Free
English: Python logo Deutsch: Python Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia
LOCATION: Technology Center Session 1: Wednesday, October 9, 7-8:30 Session 2: Wednesday, October 16, 7-8:30 Session 3: Wednesday, October 23, 7-8:30
Have you ever wanted to know how to write code, build websites, and develop applications, but did not know where to start? Codecademy is a free, hands-on, cloud based learning community focused squarely on helping people to learn languages like HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, and Python. Come learn how this fantastic free resource can help you to master coding. Skill Level: Intermediate” ~ Codecademy for Adults: Learn How to Write Code for Free (Session 1 of 3) | Princeton Public Library –
There are a few phrases, rules, really, that I say to my boys more than once. I have thought about what they all mean, and wanted to share.
Stay to the right.
30 07 11 Road rules (Photo credit: Kikishua)
As you might imagine, my boys and I spend a lot of time walking. Sometimes on a sidewalk, often in the mall, from time to time in a store. I spend a great deal of time reminding the boys to step to the right, in this culture recognized as the key rule of the road. Recently, my oldest said that when you walk on the road, you walk against traffic, and I agreed. I reminded him that that the rest of the time, we walk to the right. It seems to relate to my belief that politeness is mostly nonverbal. When we walk to the right, we show a certain kind of respect for others.
Not a contest.
My boys want me to be impressed by, proud of, and delighted with them. They know very well that I am enthralled with their behavior. Their want to impress me is always present. Very often this comes in the form of being the first to open the door for others, which I love and reward. Sometimes, though, it comes in the form of the statement “I can drink milk the fastest.” I say “not a contest” to remind them that some things are not worth mastering.
No unnecessary arguments.
The Argument Sketch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My 5-year-old will often cite corrections to my 9-year-old because his beliefs, now, do not always align with reality. My 9 yo is a born teacher, and always moves to correct. Sometimes the back and forth goes on for some time. I find myself letting the conversation go until the point of simple correction, and try to shut down longer arguments of philosophy and ideology when they concern whether, for instance, trees or flowers are more alive than one another, or whether a clock says 4:15 or 4:16. I feel like this is one of my key lessons from my boys to me: Sometimes we are inexplicably dedicated to one idea or another, and sometimes they just don’t matter.
Please eat with your mouth closed.
My boys have the best table manners. I really adore the way they eat, sit, and thank servers, myself included. Every once in a while, a chewing sound emerges, and I squash it. I once worked in a cubicle where the guy next door would eat all day. Candy, noodles, coffee, or licorice, all of it came with a snap, crackle, gurgle, slurp. I wanted to quit. It was so rude, so overwhelmingly invasive, that I was ready to leave. I don’t want my boys to ever be the source of that kind of inconvenience.
Please sit in your seat.
Sit down, please. (Photo credit: Natalia Romay)
Sometimes, as we drive, the boys get kind of restless. As you might imagine, they start to move from their designated space in the car, straining the limits of their seat-belts. I think for a moment what might happen in the event of a sudden stop, and ask them to sit in their seats. There are certain rules, borne of the infinite impossible intrusion of fate, and I’ll do my best to prepare them for it.
Why are we screaming?/Can we have some quiet time?
I believe that there is a need for quiet in one’s life. I am addicted to a certain quiet. Sometimes, especially when my oldest is excited, he’ll raise his voice as he talks. I can always tell when he’s excited about something, because his voice increases in volume, and he begins to present, like he’s seen me do so many times. I love that he is adopting a skill of presentation, but I always they to remind him that there is a time for volume, and a time for quiet. He’s just as good as describing what he’s excited about in a normal voice.
I think that my fathering can be described as preparatory, safety-oriented, and kindness-heavy. I think that these rules give my boys the opportunity to be prepared, safe, polite and human. I don’t know that I can do any better than this.
This afternoon, I taught some young, bright people how to get started with Scratch, MIT’s block programming application, at Princeton Public Library. Scratch training is a regular offering there. Block programming is a ‘lego-style’ approach to programming where you drag and drop functions from a predetermined set to develop a program. For example, you can have a character, called a sprite, dance back and forth on a canvas, jump when you hit a key on your keyboard, and flip when it touches another character.
Scratch Training (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Over a few weeks, I’m going to introduce the basics of Scratch, using their own great tutorial resources. My focus was their Scratch Cards, simple tutorials that allow beginners to quickly gain an understanding of things that you can do. http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Support/Scratch_Cards
Cover of Richard Stallma
I was particularly excited to share the easy way in which you can look at other Scratch projects that other scratchers have shared. You can visit those projects and play them as they were programmed, but you can also open them up in the editor, save a local copy to your own projects (called remixing) and begin making improvements of your own. I do this all the time in order to build upon the work of others, perhaps the key benefit of open source software, a key idea celebrated by Scratch. It makes sense that MIT manages this project, as Free Software and the idea of openness and transparency in software was born with MIT’s own Richard Stallman.
Next week, we’ll be coming back to share the projects that we came up with to explore how we can each use Scratch to scratch our own itch. Can’t wait!
Related articles
MIT technology trailblazer is a critic of computerized learning
Telephone
Totally Awesome Halloween Costumes for Boys #WishCraft
MIT technology trailblazer is a critic of computerized learning
