West Portal Reflections #9, September 21 and 28 combined, 1997
West Portal Director of the MSU Communication Technology Laboratory
West Portal Reflections document my experiences as I try to open a portal to Northern California for Michigan State University. They are targeted to my teams in the Comm Tech Lab and Virtual University, to my close colleagues and bosses throughout Michigan State University, and to close friends and family. These pages serve as ethnographic documentation of my participant-observation research on TeleRelating ("using technology to sustain and enhance close personal relationships"). The contents mix professional and personal life because I am reaching out 2500 miles to people I care about and work with. I hope my reflections help you to keep me in your hearts and make San Francisco a place that is yours. Thanks for journeying with me as I think, learn and experiment.
Last week was my first time back in East Lansing since I moved to San Francisco 8 weeks ago. I was eager to see (and needed to meet with) everyone I had been working with remotely. I foolishly but I think necessarily scheduled 35 meetings and social events between 2pm Monday and noon Friday, leaving me booked solid from 8am to 11:30pm.
In San Francisco I have huge blocks of time alone, tons of email, lots of phone meetings, and occasional in person meetings with people I do not know at all or do not know very well. My time in East Lansing was a complete reversal. The joy of dear long time friends and colleagues, in person, in 3D for a solid week. No time to think, do anything except meet -- I did not have time to answer email all week.
I wondered as I met with everyone, what face to face time together was all about. Whether telerelating with people was working for me and for them so far. Why I was so excited to know that unlike meeting onscreen over CUSeeMe, I could walk to the other side of the room and see the back of the person I was talking with's head. Smell them. Give them a hug. I did not walk to the other side of anyone to look. But I knew I could. I felt more confident that I knew how people were really doing because I could read nonverbal cues and sense tension, happiness, furrowed brows. Mostly there was no time for personal conversation. I rushed from one commitment to another always feeling regret about leaving so soon. (Just like when I lived and worked in EL!)
I met two people in person who I had begun collaborating with via conference call: Norm Lowds of the children's garden and David Skole and his group in Geography. I also met Howard Gobstein who runs the Washington DC portal for MSU. And I met new people who began working for the CTL and VU while I was in SF.
The visit was important to reassure employers, employees and coworkers that I and they exist and we care, that I am still committed to MSU and to my people there. I would be interested in the perspectives of those I met with. My guess is that most of you felt like you did not get as much time/attention as you wanted. But that my coming back under the circumstances was better than not coming back.
When I asked how my virtual attendance at weekly CTL potlucks was going, people mentioned that my presence as a telephone in the middle of the food table inhibited normal conversation patterns and resulted in folks gathering around the phone to talk to it as a group rather than spinning off into small group conversations. We agreed to move me to a computer on a side table where I could speak to individuals or small groups who came up to me. However, at least last Friday, busy people decided it was too much trouble so I dominated the food table again on Friday.
I got to see my physical representation by the VU CarriePhone:
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(Thanks, Jeff! But do they have other versions not smiling that I did not get to see?) |
During the visit I learned about and tried to clarify and solve problems processing employment for some students and full time people. I do not know whether this is the hardest thing to do remotely, or whether situations are so complicated across projects and budgets that it would be messy even if I was in EL. Probably a combination of both. Determining the status of transdepartmental, transbudgetary appointments across MSU of more than 30 temporary and part time people whose circumstance changes.
Going back to EL was disorienting because I get dizzy when I travel and whether traveling or not I am not by nature social/pleasant for more than a few hours at a time. I flew all night Sunday and got up at the 4am Pacific time, 7am Eastern time, every day after that. Sleep at the end of each day of nonstop meetings was elusive on sweaty Michigan nights -- I had grown accustomed to cool fog and someone to sleep with. Life in San Francisco was so new, and life in EL had gone on for 23 years. It was hard to believe SF was real and not a dream. Being back for a week was long enough to feel connected again. Leaving on Friday was hard! I miss working closely with such good people. The contrasts are extreme. Throw me in a closet and leave me all alone for 8 weeks. (OK, the closet is very exciting with worlds to explore and Sheldon lives there too) but the daily isolation is extreme. When I get used to it, immerse me back in EL to be maulled for a week. Then back to the closet. Where is everybody? It will be easier next time. The week of November 3rd.
I appreciate the opportunity to create a west portal. The adventure of a lifetime. Thanks to all of you for your tolerance and patience with me as we invent it.
My former housemate/landlord Bob Matson kindly kicked his current renter out of the room I used to stay in for the week of my visit. Bob draped glow in the dark snakes around the room (like I had before, though less than the 650 glow in the dark objects that inhabited the room with me before) so I would feel at home. It was welcoming but disconcerting to be back in East Lansing, back in my long skinny room at 510 Cowley, sleeping in someone else's bed surrounded by someone else's family photos. My bike was waiting in the livingroom, but when I went to ride it to my first meeting, I discovered the brakes came one when I tried to pedal forward. (Not useful!)
Jesse Barajas kindly loaned me his mountain bike on Wednesday, enhancing my mobility. I could not figure out how to shift gears for the first day. When riding down Grand River Avenue to Coral Gables (twice in one week!) stuck in first gear, my legs spinning as fast as they could go, a car slowed down, rolled down its window, and a guy yelled out at me "SHIFT! SHIFT!" I yelled back "I don't know how." Since then back in SF, two strangers on bicycle in addition to Sheldon rode up to me and explained to me that I should shift so I could go faster. (This time shifting to a lower gear.) Why is it that people (men?) feel compelled to insist on choice of gear for someone else, even a stranger? Perhaps when (if) I get the rhythm right, I too will advise others on the joy of proper shifting...
A revised proposal needs to go to Cathleen describing the proposed CD to an audience of reviewers unfamiliar with our Immigration CD. The proposal needs to clarify what is unique about our approach -- how it is not modular, not linear and not an encylopedia. Chris has agreed to draft the proposal and will attempt to do so in the next month, with help from Ken and Kitty.
Brian is completing revisions of the Immigration CD for an October 1 ship date to submit the product McGraw Hill will market beyond MSU. Kitty and Ken are preparing a learner/users' guide to accompany the commercial version.
Ken Waltzer reports positive feedback from a conference where he exhibited the CDs:
>The conference went very well. There was enormous interest in the CD-ROM. In a workshop session where all WEB and CD-ROM efforts nationally were on display, we ran two CD-ROMS on side-by-side PC and MC, and we had steady traffic and explorers of the CD-ROM for nearly four hours. I have about a half-dozen pages of names of historians and American studies types who want to examine the CD-ROM for class use. Immigration historian who teaches in EL PASO went bananas over the CD-ROM. Roy Rosenzweig who is most prominent writer on CD-ROMs, head of Center for New Media review operation, member of American Social History Project, spent half hour on it, testing search tool, exploring the collections. Lots of positive feedback. BIG CONCERN was how much it will be marketed for -- price. We said we didn't know but expected that it would be comparable to a paperback $15-$20. Our sense was that if the price is right, it could do volume sales.
VRML 2.0 Notes -- based on the book Java for 3D and VRML Worlds by Lea, Matsuda and Miyashita, 1996.
Paragraph Virtual Home Space Builder notes -- based on the software
PhotoVista Notes -- based on the software
First night in town included dinner at Emil's with Brian Winn to catch up on CTL and Brian goings on. We ran into Kristi and Dave there. Then on to the Biocca's (shown in family portrait with dogs) for a late night chat.
Breakfast with Brad Greenberg.
CHILDREN'S GARDEN MEETING WITH NORM LOWNDS
We met for the first time in person, in the Children's Garden. Norm talked about his immediate need for a online and CD-ROM Donor's Garden. Within the Children's Garden an outdoor theater area has half circle rows of seats surrounding a brick stage area, with a small colorful house behind it. Plain bricks and "donor" bricks make up the stage. Closeup examples of donor bricks appear below.
Donors want to see where their brick is located. The bricks get moved around as more donors contribute money and qualify for bricks. They are moved so that families can be contiguous, or for other reasons. What matters to us as designers is that we need to create in a way that can easily still work if bricks have to move. Looking at the bricks suggests that photorealism matters, down to the level of closeups of each brick to texture map onto brick objects in a scene.
The time capsule contains seeds to be opened and planted I think in ten years.
Norm would like a budget estimate and small proposal from the Comm Tech Lab for how to construct a small donors garden that allows donors to locate their brick and see a closeup shot of their brick in context, preferably over the web and also on CD-ROM. It would be nice to tie in to the QTVRs Matt MacQueen created for his thesis but not necessary.
I need advice from Kurt and Jeff D and King David and others regarding what software you would recommend for the task.
Norm and I also discussed larger scale fund-seeking for projects. He intends to approach national 4H for funding. President Dick Saver is a former MSU person and lover of gardens. Other names mentioned include Don Yost from Michigan 4H, NSF, Kellogg Foundation, and MSU Foundation. Don plans to apply for a $10,000 AURIG grant due December 1.
He asked me for recommendations on which digital camera he should purchase.... Any advice?
lunch with Darcy.
We talked about beginning a Media Assetts Library of graphical elements as we begin our work with them. Want to start right away with a prototype, then text the prototype and budget the rest.
One week later they returned to the CTL to present an overview of their lab and their need for multimedia. My notes from the meeting are attached. Next week the CTL presents "how we create something from nothing" for them.
Sanna pretending to look stressed
(for all but this one moment, she really did look stressed, like
everyone else in the lab working on the Prevention or Pain projects
due this month).
Rachel coffee
Cindy
Dean Jim (sorry I did not take your photo! Next time, beware.)
Barb Haslem
Bob and Tory both baked sinful pie for Bob's birthday. Tory won a recipe contest for it years ago. A VU birthday tradition I was unaware of, not condusive to telerelating but well worth flying to East Lansing to enjoy.
TC Chairperson Tom Muth
Posing with his
TV test pattern -- a perfect fit.
LCT Senior Staff
CTL Sr Staff lunch
Marsh
Howard Gobstein
Washington DC
Portal Director for MSU. Paul Hunt met with Howard 15 minutes before
I did, and proposed that Howard approach the army about purchasing
Breast Cancer Lighthouse. I brought a copy of the CD with me to give
him, and told him Darcy is a wonderful speaker and advocate of the
software, and couild present to them in DC.
Paul Hunt and Marsh
Frank Biocca dinner
Star Trek
Cindy-Barb-Tom Muth on employement issues.
Kyle Tait on thesis.
CTL Potluck
When I got back, received email with helpful insights from computer science PhD student Karissa Miller about her experiences at Xerox in Rochester. Her comments encourage me to contact them about Telerelating research.
father's wedding
