Socially Relevant Computing REU 2017@ UNCC

[vureno]

Friday, July 28th

My time here is done! Today was our poster presentation session, and I gotta say, I did waaay better than I thought I would! This past week was the crunch time to get everything submitted and ready for today, so I’ve been pretty stressed out; but it all worked out! It was really great to see everyone present their projects, you can tell everyone worked really hard to get here. 

To anyone who may be interested in research, grad school, or just want to try the experience--I highly recommend doing an REU, whether it be one here at UNCC or at another institution. This is something every student should try. You get to try so many new things, both socially and academically, and its been an amazing experience. I’ve learned so much here that I wouldn’t have been able to learn back in Georgia, and for that I’m incredibly grateful. If you’re a 2nd year student or higher, you should definitely try more than one. Unfortunately, for a senior like me, this will be my first and last REU. I wish I had known about these earlier. I really would have tried more than one!

This summer has been amazing, and I thank everyone, both faculty, staff, and my fellow students for making it so fun! 

Signing off,

Veronica

[vureno]

Friday, July 21st

My favorite thing I’ve done this summer is definitely that trip to Carowinds! I can’t help but admit that. I’m a complete roller coaster junkie and had an utter blast. 

As for the hardest thing I’ve done this summer? Probably getting out of my social comfort zone. I probably could have done better, but at least I didn’t completely hole myself up in my dorm. 

Going into our final week, I can tell I’ll be getting pretty nervous soon enough. I’m pretty terrible at doing poster session and I only had a few weeks to familiarize myself with my project, so I don’t know how confident I truly about at talking about it. Honestly, that’ll probably end up being the hardest part of this summer. Not looking forward to it, haha.

On the brightside, I’m looking forward to this next week, seeing how everyone’s projects and research had concluded. It’ll be interesting. I’m pretty excited about next Wednesday’s symposium for the CRS people. I think it’ll be fun to see what they do over there!

Tonight is our last dinner party, no particular theme. I always look forward to this every Friday cause its nice to just chill with everyone after a week of work!

[vureno]

Friday, July 14th

For the past week I’ve been sketching different interface design for the VC. After each batch of sketches, I make sure to get feedback from my mentor just to make sure I’m heading in the right direction with the designs. My task is to design an interface that would help encourage lightweight teams in a classroom environments. Hopefully all next week I can start prototyping on Basalmiq, which is a site that really good for that sort of thing. 

Today I’m also starting to getting my information together to start on my extended abstract, after which I’ll do my poster. It’s a little tricky since my research has shifted, but I don’t think it’ll be too hard to do. 

-

As I mentioned in my last entry, last Friday we went to Carowinds, which was an utter BLAST! We had such an awesome time. The rest of the weekend had been nice too, we went to the international market and out to shops that Saturday. Sunday was a nice relaxing day. 

Tonight is our Friday dinner! The theme is a dish that you’ve never made before. It was hard to pick something since I don’t actually cook much, haha! Anyways, I decided on lasagna, so hopefully it goes well...

[vureno]

Friday, July 7th

I feel like more has happened today than this entire week! This past week I’ve been continuing my research on user study design. Nothing really new until today when I had a meeting with my mentor and another faculty adviser. Our meeting was incredibly enlightening for what my final three weeks will be. Rather than continue on with a user study (which would take longer than the time we have in the REU), I’ve been redirected to prototyping user interface designs for the Video Collaboratory. I’ll be able to use what I’ve learned about user study design to help develop new interfaces for the VC, so all is not lost! 

To be honest, I’m a lot more excited to do this work. Not because I thought a user study would be boring or anything, quite the opposite, but rather that this interface design is more down the alley of what my degree is back home! I’d have loved to do a user study for the experience, but this new direction is also veryvery welcomed. 

Since last Friday, there have been several outings thanks to the 4th of July holiday. Last Saturday, Jane and I went out to the shops near the little “boardwalk” they have here. It rained, but that didn’t stop us from walking around and later feeding the ducks. The day of the 4th was really fun! We had a really nice picnic at a local park, and then went to see the fireworks show in Uptown. I’ve never seen so many fireworks in one place, it was so awesome! The only downside was that there was just so many people, it was crazy! After the show, we went and had pizza by campus, so we didn’t get back to Belk until around 1am. No surprise I was a little late for work the next day.

As I said before, today has been very eventful. Aside from my important meeting, they’ve been testing the new Pancake Printer in the MakerSpace! I design one, but alas, it looked more like a blob than Darth Vader. 

I’m really looking forward to the rest of the day though! A few of us in the REU were able to snag some tickets to Carowinds! We’ll be heading of very soon, and since I’m a huge fan of coasters, I’m super excited!

[vureno]

Friday, June 30th

Today marks the last day of the month and our half way point here in Charlotte! All things considered, time has been moving pretty fast! July is gonna be busy, especially the last week. I’m looking forward to moving forward with my work though.

I feel like any mistakes I’ve made with my research here have mostly been due to... my lack of action I suppose. The first few weeks had been slow and I feel like maybe if I had spoken up to my mentor a little more, I’d have been able to get the ball rolling a lot sooner. Since my mentor’s been away for a conference this past week, I feel it would be in my best interest to, again, get across any sort of concerns I may have the next time we speak. I actually felt ridiculously bad yesterday because I missed a Google Hangout call from my mentor! I almost had a heart attack when I saw that I missed it. Hopefully he doesn’t hold it against me, since I’m not actually sure how Google Hangout even works? I’m never worked with it or anything. 

That aside, I feel I’ve made good progress this week. I now know the methods behind completing a user study and was able to begin outlining what would be necessary for conducting one for my project. I’ve quite the list of possible questions to ask on either a survey or interview. A big concern I have though, is if I’ll have enough time to conduct this study due to getting IRB approval first. My mentor briefly spoke of it before leaving, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to submit something by the end of next week.

On the social side of things! This past week was pretty nice. Last Friday, our weekly dinner party was Chinese themed, so I attempted to make lo mein noodles. Safe to say I won’t be trying that again any time soon.... I also got to try mochi for the first time and absolutely loved it. Looking forward to trying it back home!

Monday we went to Uptown Charlotte for Mellow Mushroom and a Charlotte Knights game! It was a blast hanging out with everyone while watching the game. It also just so happened to be bring your dog to the game day and I was in HEAVEN! I love dogs and it was so fun to see all the dogs around. It made me miss my own dogs back home! 

This weekend is still a mystery, but I’m look forward to tonight’s dinner party! 

[vureno]

Friday, June 23rd

I know what I’m doing! Yay! Haha, earlier this week my mentor finally explained to me what the rest of the summer will look like for me. I’ll definitely be busy this coming month! That said, I’ve got all of next week to prepare to conduct a user study for my project. I’ve been given plenty of sources to study so that I may understand what I’ll be doing and how to do it. 

This coming week, I’ll also have to begin to decide what to make this user study about. Obviously the main focus is getting feedback about the VC, but its the exact questions and feedback that I have to decide on. 

Now that I have a visible objective, I feel so much more comfortable here. I don’t feel like I’m lost at sea any more! 

Work aside, it’s been a good week! My roommates and I now use video games as a sort of bonding time, and its really great! I try to spend time with everyone else when I can, and hope to do so more often.

[vureno]

Friday, June 16th

I feel I’m finally getting comfortable with everything! I’m enjoying my time in the HCI lab with everyone. The grad students are incredibly nice and helpful. 

Work-wise, this week has been a slow. My work has been lots and lots of academic article research, as well as looking for website that may match to what I’m looking for. By this, I mean I’m looking for sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, that host videos. Not just these sorts, but also sites that may host similar attributes as the Video Collaboratory here at UNCC. I’m finding it a bit challenging to just sit still and read these articles or take note of these sites. It’s something I’ll have to overcome and just do. Luckily, to help myself, I plan on printing out all the articles I feel will help; I find it much easier to read academic articles when I have them on hand. I’m hoping next week will be a little better than this one in regards to my work.

-

This past Sunday was the Tony’s. My roommate thought it would be fun to have an impromptu viewing party in one of the lounges at our dorm and I agreed. We brought snacks and pizza and invited anyone who was interested. Some from the Chemistry REU and even a few from Engineering stopped by! It was ridiculously fun that evening. I’ll never forget the screams of anguish and anger when Bette Midler won Best Actress in a Musical.

This past week I also got training with the 3D printer in the MakerSpace! Hopefully I’ll be able to go back soon and print a few things I made in tinkercad. My first object was a bit...disappointing, haha! Paul said the printer will occasionally just mess up. I still kept it though, since it was my first try and first failure. I look forward to redeeming myself one day soon!

I’ve begun to look forward to Wednesdays because they offer a break from the usual work week, and I get to see everyone from our REU and not just the people in the HCI lab.

I hear tonight a lot of us are gonna have a dinner party, burrito themed. Unfortunately, I’ll be off campus visiting my family and won’t be able to join. Though in my place, my roommate will take the ingredients I had for the evening. I’m hoping everyone has a good time!

[vureno]

Friday, June 9th

This week was a less of a flurry than the last. Things are just starting to get settled here, and I think I’ll soon get the hang of things. 

As of now though, I’m still adjusting. 

This past week has been interesting. I was given a lot to think about by my mentor for our project. I’ve got plenty of articles to keep myself busy with. I also was tasked with looking for website and platforms similar to that of YouTube or Vimeo. I’ve still got more to do with that!

Project and work aside, the seminars this week enlightening. I always enjoy workshops that have to do with boosting my confidence. Plus, the following one about grad school was helpful too! It reminded my that I have to sign up for the GRE as soon as humanly possible... And that no matter how impossible it may sign to be accepted, that I should apply to that school regardless (I’m looking at us USC, SCAD, and GATech....)! 

Today’s team building stuff with Venture here at UNCC was a ton of fun. It was a nice break from work and gave us a chance to hang out with the Chemistry students who are all super awesome. We had a great time and I hope we get to do more stuff with them and any other REU on campus.

Here’s to hoping for a better next week!

[vureno]

Friday, June 2nd

This first week has been pretty hectic! Moving in, finding my way around, and getting used to how things run around here; its all been exciting if a bit nerve wracking. 

But I remain optimistic about what is to come! 

As far as what I hope to learn or accomplish this summer, there’s a couple: 

It sounds like I’ll be programming, so I’d really like to become more comfortable with it, since I feel I’m lacking in programming skills

I’d love to learn more about not just my video documentation project, but others as well! Several of the projects other students are working on sounds fascinating.

Research! Obviously! I’ve done very basic academic research for short papers and videos, but never anything as BIG or official as this summer.

I’d like to also learn more about what its like in grad school, since its veryvery likely that’s where I’ll be headed after I graduate next year.

Lastly, and this is a bit more personal, but I’d like to have gain more confidence by the end of this summer. I’ve always lacked it, but recently have been on a steady stream of sloooow improvement. I feel like this is a perfect opportunity to strengthen my confidence and give it a good push!

I feel these are pretty doable! At least I hope so, haha! Hopefully next week I’ll start to get the hang of this whole thing!