Distributed Mentor Project: Mentoring Undergraduate Women in Computing Research Katherine Lau
Main Page Me and My Mentor Typical Week Research Project Weekly Journal Final Report Seattle
Week 4: July 2 - July 8 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >
=REVIEW=
SUCCESSES failures/setbacks FrUsTrAtIoNs
~ basic interface design for text-mining ~ getting side-tracked by finding more articles to read
~taking too long to design interfaces using Macromedia flash		 ~ feeling tired because not sleeping well
~HIGHLIGHTS~
WednesdayThursdayFridayMondayTuesday
4th iMed meeting: I presented interface ideas and suggested readings. I went to scenic Kirkland park/marina for a delicious dinner with Meliha and her husband on a beautiful day. I found the articles whose ideas I cited in my presentation and saved them in the iMed group folder. I finished all but one item on today's goal list! July 4th. Independence Day. No work. I ate lunch with Aunt J, Erica and Si, and then went to Myrtle Edwards Park for 4th of Jul-Ivar's for food and fireworks!! Prof. Pratt returned! iMed Meeting #5. Meredith, Andrea, Kris and I presented our interface ideas for the A and C terms of LitLinker. 3rd DMP lunch. Read Twidale articles. I found an online demo of Ariadne.

This week has been alright. I definitely enjoyed Independence Day, the festivities, and the day off from work! Progress on my reading is coming along, but at a slower pace than I would like. I need to wrap up reading, so I can focus on interface design. I have plenty of information that I have culled from this "reading" research to work with.

I still haven't coded anything, but that is okay. I need to have a paper prototype before I can create an interactive interface in Java, VB, Flash, or HTML. It took me much longer to draw up my interface ideas for Monday's meeting than I anticipated, since I forgot to include various ways of displaying information in my pencil and paper drawings. I did spend the 5 hours on interface design that Meliha suggested that I should do.

I can't believe that I've been in Seattle for a month already. I'm almost halfway done...which is kind of scary to think about because I feel that I've barely started. I have read A LOT and have gained some general knowledge in interface design, cooperative work, and types of groupware including InformationLens, DEBORA and Ariadne. I also realize I am most productive with reading when I am away from the computer, so I try to read in the conference room for chunks of time. I realize that setting appropriate daily and weekly goals are helpful in keeping me on track.

I'm glad Prof. Pratt has returned. Now I have a better understanding of what the goals for the summer are, and what my part is likely to be. She says that it may be possible for us to write a paper or prepare a presentation for conferences and publication. However, we've got to get going with the development and testing of the interfaces. This means that we have 3 or 4 weeks to come up with something more tangible than brainstorming ideas.

My goals for the coming week:
~ Finish reading Grudin and Twidale articles.
~ Think creatively and critically about the interface ideas that I have read about and propose issues and solutions for a collaborative addition to the DynaCat interface.
~ Figure out what I need to do in order to study and register for the GRE's.
~ Explore more of Seattle.