diff --git a/2013-09-07.md b/2013-09-07.md deleted file mode 100644 index e69de29..0000000 diff --git a/Reflections b/Reflections new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4018158 --- /dev/null +++ b/Reflections @@ -0,0 +1,379 @@ +# Reflections compilations + +# Reflections 131124-131130 + +Updated last week's reflections. + +Class presentations: +This week is Thanksgiving weekend! In class, we were given two presentations. I was +very impressed with the iPython creator's presentation - he was engaging and informative, +and I learned a lot about the brief history of computation, as well as the problems with +scientific publication and access. This was one of the highlights of this class for me, +so I am thankful that he was able to speak. + +I enjoyed the presenter's quip about publication -- that publication can be any form of +sharing your interpretation of data with the community, whether it be via Powerpoint, a +website, a published article. While we may not be able to submit our results into a journal +by the end of the semester, I believe as a class we will definitely be able to publish +something! + + + + + +# Reflections 131117-131123 + +Group Oragnization and dynamics: +The group evaluation forms has helped our group see what role has not been fulfilled yet. +In addition, we added a couple of members to our group. This has helped a lot in terms of +organization. + +We decided to have our group improve other group's graphs, and each member in our group +had roles to fulfill. This worked well until Thursday, until we spoke to Carl in Quakers +who said his group was also improving graphs. We decided to schedule office hours with +Aaron to work through what our role as a group should be, since the Quaker group seems to +also be trying to polish up their own work. Our goal is to be a proofreader and polisher of +other people's final graphs. + +We decided to schedule office hours 3-4 Aaron on Saturday (this was set in the beginning +of the week). However, he hasn't showed up yet :( This is the second time Aaron hasn't +showed up to office hours (The first time being Monday Nov 4 :( ). We realize Aaron is very +busy, but I hope next time we can find a time that he will be free! We planned on giving a +brief presentation about our role as a group to the class on Tuesday, showing some graphs +that we've seen and improvements to be made, etc, but since we still haven't completely +sorted + + + +# Reflections 131110-131116 + +Evaluations: +Because I have been getting a huge list of github emails that I have been sorting with +the Stats 157 bspace emails, I did not see the email sent out Tuesday night annoucing that the +individual responses were due Thursday morning. I sent out the evaluation out today. +To avoid this problem in the future, I have reorganized my filterig system in my emails, +so now the bspace announcements will stand out and have a tag associated with it. + + +Part 1: CONFUSION + RANT +I did not completely finish last week's reflection, so I have updated it. +I think a good suggstion would be to ask each of the groups to keep a group +notebook, so that we can track what the other groups have done, are currently +doing, and what they are planning on doing. After last week's lecture, our group's +SMART goals got forcibly reassigned. Right now, I am personally confused if our +group should be working on visualizing ETAS, because right now the other group working +on understanding the ETAS model has already visualized for it. The other portion of our +SMART goal was to create visualizations for the Alarm Data, which I believe another +group is doing as well. I was hoping to ask our presenter about the details, but I have +not been able to get in contact with him. + +This week, it has been a bit difficult to recoordinate a meeting time with my group. We were +finally able to meet this Saturday 11/16/13, but not all the group members have arrived +yet, but I was able to meet with Jinsoo Lee and Sung Hoon Choi. +By the end of the day, I expect to at least contact some other groups to +see what still needs to be done, because currently it seems that our job is overlapping +with other ones. I planned on having our group meet with Aaron today, but someone +mentioned that Aaron was not having office hours today, so we decided to meet elsewhere. +My goal for the end of the day is to meet or at least have contacted +all of my own group members, and then ask my group members to contact some of the other +visualizers about +1. What they have done, and +2. What they think needs to be done still + +I'm starting to come to the conclusion that my group would probably be best served if we +all split up and join other groups. Evidently, the main issue we are dealing with in my group +is understanding what we need to do and what other people are doing. We feel pretty dead +in the water. It doesn't help that I'm not usually the Operational Lead in my groups +outside of Stats class, and I'm afraid I'm unsure of how to coordinate things better. + +PART 2: SOME CLARITY! At last! +The curaters (Alisha A + Jie Zhang) from another group showed up to our meeting, +and it has been helpful! Now we realized that part of the problem is that the visualizers +(us!) are supposed to be getting our data from the analyzers. But it seems that some analyzer +groups have been visualizing the data without the visualizers? Which basically leaves the +groups that are only visualizers useless. But in light of this, part of our goal will be +trying to understand the transition from curator to analyzer to visualizers. It would be our +hope to have the presenter coordinate across the horizontals. + +I created a list of useful links in both the public Facebook visuazliers group and our +specific <3 Facebook group to help members find useful links more quickly. + + +# Reflections 131103-131110 +Last week was an interesting week. While my groupmmates assembled fairly late +into the week, we were still able to be productive by coordinating with other +groups to understand where the project was leading. Sunday and Monday was spent +getting to know some of those in my horizontals, and coordinating with my +own group members to see if they knew what was going on in their own horizontals. +Eventually we were able to crank out some SMART goals, and more importantly, +get on the same page with the rest of the class. One of the most helpful things +to our group was having our presenter meet with the other presenters in the class. + +This was reflected in Tuesday's class, in which the presenters did a nice job +summarizing what had went on in the past week, and what our future goals were. + +Early last weekend, I was able to help organize all the visualizers on a +Stats 157 Visualizers facebook page. We were able to better coordinate and +contact each other. After realizing that we had many overlapping goals and that +we did not know what other groups were doing, I posted a summary of what our group +goals were on the page. I also asked one girl, Ashley Sia, to create a repo of all the +visualizers groups on the the github page, which she did. This helped us gain some +more coordination. + +Honestly speaking though, I was less productive this week due to a heavier workload +from my other classes. However, I look forward to picking up the pace next week! + + + +# Reflections 131027-131102 +Last week I have forgotten to submit my reflections, so I'm posting both last +weeks and this weeks reflections today. + +This week, the horizontal groups met together to talk about roadblocks, as well +as intermediate goals. We were able to brainstorm some good ideas, and I +appreciated this exercise because it gave us a more tangible goal to aim for. +I was also able to create a Facebook group to organize all of the visualizers +together, since all of us use and check Facebook. + +Groups: I was going to be in my original group with the presenter, anazlyer, and +curator, but plans fell through and I was left groupless. I had posted in the +visualizer group about needing a group, and though people saw my message, no +one had responded. Today, I posted in github about needing a group, but I don't +think people check the github website very often unless they are submitting +something in for class. Although it is Saturday and I still have time to find +a group, this is leaving me a little stressed out. Hopefully someone will +respond and I will be able to join a group by Sunday. + +Suggestions: +Again, it would be useful if a list of all the useful links were posted onto +one page. I find myself unable to find the link to the earthquake papers easily +because to me, github is messy. + + +# Reflections 131020-131026 +On Saturday, my group was able to finish our project relatively smoothly. +However, on Tuesday, we discussed reproducibility on other people's code and some +people found an error in our code. I was able to reproduce the error, though my +teammate was not. This was surprising to me, because I thought the code had +worked on Saturday. The difficulty of reproducibility became clearer to me +through these exercises. +In class on Tuesday, we also talked about clock skew, and how different +computers have different local times stored. I had not even thought of this +being an issue. In Tuesday, attendance was fairly poor, and Aaron mentioned this +being an issue. I agreed, because I was unable to meet up with half of my +groupmates during class. + +Ironically however, on Thursday, I had overslept but I spoke to my groupmates about +what we had done in class. We had talked about ideas for the final project. + +Questions and Suggestions: +I have been unable to see the google documents where people have been posting +their notes on Professor Stark's lectures. It would be helpful if there was either +a github page just for this, or if it was linked in bspace. It's difficult to sort +through all the github issue pages -- the layout is fairly messy and disorganized. + + + +# Reflections 131012-131019 + +Tuesday we talked about a bunch of tools we could use for our next project, such +as HTML5 presentations, dexy it, bibserver, JSON, and basemap. Thursday we had +Professor Stark come in and give a lecture. To be honest, I was rather lost with +the lecture. It would have been more clear if at the beginning, he would have +concisely explain the purpose of the lecture, so that we would have something to +focus on when he lectured. Instead, I felt as if I was bombarded with all these +facts and data, and was unable to focus on any given thing. + +Most of my notes consisted of what was just written on the lecture slides, which +is not really useful, but I didnt realize that we would have the lecture notes +posted online. Next time I'll try to focus more on what he is saying. + +Set up for the homework assignment went more smoothly than last week. We were +all able to meet on time, everything installed seamlessly. I look forward to +working with my group members and learning JSON. + + + +##### + + +#Reflections 131005-131011 + +--Group Improvements-- +After looking over all the presentations, I made a list of some things +that both our group and other groups could do better in future projects: +- explain why we did certain things (ie eliminate data) +- make sure to mention how many points we took out + (either in code or in visuals) +- make captions for visuals +- keep a log of problems, and the steps + tools used to fix it +- keep a log of resources used +- keep a log of skills we learned + +--Group Comments-- +I also made a short commentary on some of the group projects. Here were +the groups that stood out to me: +Group 5: I liked seeing how their graphs evolved, and it was interesting +to see that people who were kinesthetic learners tended to know more programs. +Group 10: I liked the word cloud because it was immediately understandable. +A suggestion I had would be better axes labels, and that their learning +style graphs should have a 3rd dimension to the points (density), so we +could see how many people answered for each point. + +--Other Thoughts-- +I enjoyed working with my group. Everyone is supportive, and when things +failed, we all worked together to help each other. It's an encouraging +environment, which is helped by the encouraging atmosphere of the class +in general. + + +--Aaron's questions/comments to groups that I will keep in mind-- +1. Reasoning for decisions + - WHY did you remove certain data? +2. Clarity + - What does this plot mean? (should add captions for their visuals) +3. Roadblocks + - I liked how you focused on your roadblocks + - Can you focus on the PROBLEMS you encountered and the STEPS you took to fix that? +4. Tools + - What TOOLS worked well for getting over roadblocks? + - What RESOURCES helped you the most? + - How much did you rely on horizontal groups, github trackers, etc + - What were the CS skills that you LEANED ON OTHERS for + - troubleshooting + - what did you pick up BY YOURSELF? +5. Collaboration/Reproducibility + - BEFORE you started, what were your ideas on collab/reproducibility? + - NOW, what are your thoughts? + + + +##### + + +#Reflections 130926-131004 + +--Issues-- +This week we began our first homework assignment, and our first role +assignments. The biggest issue that immediately cropped up in our group +was finding a suitable meeting date that worked for everyone. +Unfortunately, none of us were able to meet in person until Saturday, +and then someone changed their plans and now we have to meet up last minute +on Sunday night. This has caused me some degree of anxiety +because I cannot do my work as the Visualizer until the curator has completed his. + +Perhaps for our next group assignments, we can assign groups based on +another survey of when people are most free to meet up with each other, +and those that overlap can be assigned to the same group. + + +--Suggestions-- +It would be useful if the powerpoint slides of the guest lectures could +become available, as well as our previous in-class lecture notes. +While I have been taking notes during the guest lectures, I find it +distracting trying to copy down all the lecture slides verbatim while also +trying to take real notes (which for me include commentary that I have about +the lecture itself, as well as specific phrases the lecturer uses that +helps clarify the images at hand). It's also virtually impossible to understand +some of what the lecturer is saying without seeing the graphs the lecturer +was using at the time. + + +--Positives-- +It's great that we finally started the ball rolling with our first project! + + +###### + + +#Reflections 130922-130925 + +I was gone for my sister's wedding starting from Sept 120925, so my +reflections will cover mostly just Tuesday's class. We were able to get +resources for python learning (the safari textbooks in the UC lib system) +which I thought was helpful because I did not know about it before. + +In class, I learned a useful command for quitting a program while in the Virtual +Box terminal (control z), and then you can still run the program in +the backgroun (bg)! I thank my tech lead for this useful tidbit. + +I agree that having feedback about reflections would be nice. I am still +not 100% if my reflections have been submitted, so having a quick confirmation +either via bspace or github would be nice. + +I agree that having a google calendar would be a good idea. + +This week involved guest lecturer speakers, and did wnot involve new +installations. I did struggle some more this week dealing with ipython +in the Virtual Machine, but after talking to some classmates about it, +I believe everything has been sorted out. + + +###### + + +#Reflections 13/09/14 - 13/09/21 + +This week involved guest lecturer speakers, and did not involve new +installations. I did struggle some more this week dealing with ipython +in the Virtual Machine, but after talking to some classmates about it, +I believe everything has been sorted out. + +All the other installations I had completed last week. I look forward to +using our installed programs this upcoming week! + + +##### + + +#Reflections 13/09/08 - 13/09/13 +--Improvement Suggestions-- +The class this week seemed more disorganized than last week because the lack of + homework posts and in-class summaries. The professor did explain in class that + it was because he was busier this week, but it would have been nice to have sent + a quick announcement via space telling us about the delay. + +--Classroom praises-- +This week we discussed how to improve the classroom dynamics as well as seeing +what the strengths of the class were. I liked this because it established +further than the instructors cared about creating an effective work environment +and we were able to create a conversation between the instructors and the groups. + +--Personal Challenges-- +I realized that I did not submit my reflections homework in correctly last week. +I was confused on how to do a pull request and the purpose of it. I realized +that I should have gone to the IRC and asked my fellow classmates for help if +I was confused on how to do this. I also realized that I needed to spend more +time on the github help section. + +--Personal Improvements-- +This week, I've begun a journal documenting what we've done in class and what +I've been doing outside of class. This helps me look back at what we've done +before in class more easily, and allows me to remember the questions that I've had. + +Questions: +I'm confused about what we are going to do with ipython, how to check if it +works for us, and the purpose of all the other programs we have been downloading. + + +##### + + +#Reflections 13/09/01 - 13/09/07 + +This week involved mostly installing new programs into our computers. I've +had experience with most of the programs installed, so there wasn't too much +of an issue with installation for me. I struggled a little bit with accessing +the IRC group chats because I have had no experience with that before, and +Google was not very helpful. I messed around with some variations of the +join command until I realized that Adium only needs a "#group_chat_name" +input to join a chat room. Clearer instructions on that would have been helpful. + +I did have a question about the specific set-ups for Virtual Box (such as +how big should the hard drive be, did the professors want us to set up the +virtual hard drive, etc), but this was eventually answered in class. + +The final struggle I had was understanding the concept of forking and pull +requests. I have been reading github sections on the respective topics to +make the concepts clearer in my mind. +