Worksite Design: Facebook (temporary) HQ

from Reuters:

...... The old HP research facility was refurbished for comfort, not for luxury. Facebook tore out a sea of cubicles to reveal wide open spaces for desks and oversized terminals. Nearly everyone sits there, including all company executives.

The result is something like a dream college dorm, with good food available throughout the day in a cafeteria. .......

Privacy is afforded in meeting rooms, some with names that are mashups of video games and condiments, like Donkey Kong Chutney and Guitartar Hero.......

Facebook has 700 employees in the building and another 200 in other cities. It will stay in its new home for a few years, until Stanford — which owns the land — wants it back.

Photo: David Lawsky

twitter feeds for campus organizations

Here is a list of University of Oregon school/college/department twitter feeds (as of today, June 3 2009). I have not attempted to gather up all of the feeds from individuals associated with the UO. If you know of others, send a tweet to andrewbonamici or comment on this post. Thanks!

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http://twitter.com/Univ_Of_Oregon

http://twitter.com/BeAnOregonDuck

http://twitter.com/UOParentFamily

http://twitter.com/DucksAtOregon

http://twitter.com/UOregonNews

http://twitter.com/InsideOregon

http://twitter.com/UOBusiness

http://twitter.com/UOAAA

http://twitter.com/Oregon_Law

http://twitter.com/UOCareerCenter

http://twitter.com/UOCareerPDX

http://twitter.com/ASUO

http://twitter.com/dailyemerald

http://twitter.com/odenews

http://twitter.com/odesports

Publicly funded research for a price (Open Access story on NPR's "Marketplace")

This is a good story about open access (OA) to publicly-funded research, including a poignant human interest angle. OA advocates and publishers offer their points of view, with specific mention of the NIH Open Access policy and the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act. Don't miss the comment thread, with special props to Frye Institute Fellows Joanne A. Schneider (Colgate University) and JQ Johnson (University of Oregon).

test post to new server

test post to uoregon server (sftp rather than shell)

is this a copyright violation? Y/N

Shepard Fairey, "Obama Hope," 2008.
This image is linked directly from the ICA Boston exhibit website.

Open Courseware: downloadable lectures & the Peer-To-Peer University

From the Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus Blog:

YouTube began testing a new feature that lets users download videos posted to the site from partner institutions — including colleges — rather than just watching the videos in a streaming format. That means people can grab lectures from Duke and Stanford Universities and several institutions in the University of California system to watch any time, with or without an Internet connection.

YouTube partners have the option of charging users for such downloads, but all the universities have offered to make their lecture videos free instead, using Creative Commons licenses that restrict usage to non-commercial purposes and prohibit derivative work. more>>

Here's an idea for a Peer-To-Peer University that uses open courseware lectures and similar open content for the curriculum. The "P2PU" adds value by facilitating formation of small student cohorts, lining up tutors with subject knowledge ("sense makers," not necessarily professors) to provide guidance as needed, and assessing student learning based on an e-portfolio. Here's a P2PU video (also from Chronicle).

Question: at what point will someone want to declare use of a campus lecture in the P2PU "commercial" or "derivative?"

Google Time Zone Tip

Are your google services(Gmail, Calendar, etc.) operating in the wrong time zone? This can be fixed but it is a hard setting to find. Here's what to do:

1. Go to the main google page and select "My Account" in upper right. Log in if you haven't done so already.
(click image to enlarge)





2. select "e-mail addresses" in the personal settings column, then select "edit"
(click image to enlarge)

3. select the correct time zone pull-down menu, and save settings.
(click image to enlarge)


Et voila -- no more jet lag!