What have I been up to lately?  It’s obviously not blogging.  Nor is it housecleaning (alas), body-building, knitting, or staring at the ceiling.  It’s not even much eating of chocolate.  No.  It’s prepping for a Vanderbilt class I’ll be auditing come January – EECE 262 – smartphone programming.

In other words, I’m learning how to develop apps for Google Android and Apple iPhone.  Then in the spring semester, I’ll be doing it with a large group of incredibly smart and enthusiastic Vanderbilt engineers.  Can you see how this might grab my attention?

It’s no secret: the future is all about mobile.  And these young engineers, many about to graduate into what I have no doubt will be brilliant careers, know it.  They already have teams and team leaders for projects ranging from Android Dining to iPhone Augmented Reality.

Then there’s me.  I haven’t taken a class in approximately 200 years, and when I did it was oh-so-genteel – library science.  I had to work up the nerve to ask the professors, but once I did, oh my goodness.  They and the student leaders have been so very welcoming.

I’m a far cry from the normal demographic.  Not only am I female, I’ve got gray hair.  But repeatedly they’ve made it clear they’re happy for me to join in their fun.  It’s been markedly different from the stereotypical female-in-IT-land experience.  And this in the hottest area of technology.  All I can say is – wow.

So here is to Professors Jules White and Doug Schmidt, Vanderbilt Computer Society President Hamilton Turner, and all of the Vandy Mobile Teams.  You all are amazing.  I can’t wait for January.

A  joint Labor Day and Wedding Anniversary celebration.

Today is not only Labor Day, a holiday in the U.S., but it’s also our wedding anniversary.  Mr. WebDiva and I have been married an inordinate number of years.  What better way to celebrate than to learn Java?

How did this come to be, you might ask?  Well… it started ten days ago upon attending an excellent Web Spiders session.  The session featured two Vanderbilt School of Engineering faculty and several students, including the President of the Vanderbilt Computer Association, demonstrating applications they’ve developed for Android and the iPhone.

My question….  With my knowledge of PHP, MySQL, plus some ancient underpinnings for Fortran and PL/I (learned back in the punch card era, no less), was I a good candidate for developing my own mobile phone apps?  Answer: yes, definitely.  What to learn next?  Answer: Java for Android.  (The other option, Objective-C for iPhone, didn’t appeal as much.)

So that’s how it all began.  Next steps have been….

1. Buy a great Java book.

After browsing Amazon’s virtual shelves, I decided on Head First Java, 2nd. ed.  I love this book, but this morning, now several chapters into it,  I concluded it’s more theoretical than hands on. (Duh. The title says it all.)  For learning code, I need some hands on. My grand plan is to go back and forth.

2. Search the Web for tutorials about learning Java on a Mac.

The good news: Java is native to Mac OS X.  Figuring out what package to download and install isn’t necessary.

The bad news: there’s almost nothing out there when you search intro Java/Mac tutorials on Google and Bing. (Actually I’m using Bingle, but that’s another story.)  All you can find is that eye-crossing stuff for people who already know everything there is to know on the topic.

3. YouTube, however, has a few adequate tutorials.

Eureka!

I started with the silent, but simple and to the point, You [sic] first java on OSX.  Then it was on to the more thorough, with voice, Compile and run java on Mac via Terminal.  Between these two I had my first Java program running from Terminal in no time.  Then one of those wonderful, serendipitous links that YouTube is so good at, led to the start of an excellent series: Java Tutorial #1 – Hello World.

4. A Java development environment?

The first thing you learn in “Java Tutorial #1 – Hello World” is that not only does the author use and recommend the Eclipse development environment, but also Eclipse is available for Macs.  Dandy.  I go to download it, but there are not one but two versions of Eclipse for the Mac: Carbon and Cocoa.    What’s a diva to do?

5. Carbon vs. Cocoa Eclipse?

Back to Google and Bing, but, once again, there’s not much out there.  My brain is turning to glue. I’m reading through obscure articles on Mac flavors of Eclipse, learning such things as the word “Galileo” is somehow part of it, when Mr. WebDiva announces lunch.  In honor of our anniversary, my wonderful, amazing better half has made a chocolate babka! Be still my heart. The answer to my latest dilemma is now obvious: download the Cocoa version, while eating seconds of babka.

Put these five steps together, and I’ve now programmed four more simple (and silly) little Java apps in Eclipse.  Who could ask for a nicer Labor Day and Anniversary?

For reasons I don’t have time to figure out, Facebook is downsizing wallpapers I’ve created for the Peter Morales for UUA President campaign.

So here they are:

• 800 x 600
• 1024 x 768
• 1280 x 800
• 1280 x 960
• 1280 x 1024
• 1440 x 900
• 1600 x 1200
• 1680 x 1050
• 1920 x 1200
• iPhone

Enjoy!

And go check out the Facebook site.

While recording a podcast yesterday (WebBeet no. 2) I surprised everyone, including myself, by flying into a technicolor rant.  Religion, politics and the web.  It’s heady stuff.  Specifically I was venting about the websites for the two candidates currently running for the office of President of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Association of Congregations: Laurel Hallman and Peter Morales.

Unlike like most UU websites, these are both somewhat attractive and attempt to use the new media, with hat tips to blogging, YouTube and even Facebook.  But the bar for candidates on the Web was set by Obama some time ago, and by this measure they both fall far short.

First, I’ll run through three quick and simple changes both could make to their sites, and then I’ll get to the more serious issues.

Quick Fixes

1. Stop the non-stop slideshows on the home pages. Most web users dislike endless animations.  The photos on both sites are fine, but I’d strongly recommend adding a stop command after about three or four photos.  Then I’d switch some or all of the photos out every few weeks.

2. Improve the contact forms. Hallman has a good big “Contact” button in her main menu, but the text box for actual comments is very small, suggesting she doesn’t really want to hear much from you.  Moreover, when you fill it out, you don’t get clear acknowledgement that your message has been received.  Morales has a “Contact us” email in the footer of all pages.  The footer is where people will often look, so that’s good, but it’s in a small font, suggesting they too would just as soon not hear from you either.  That said, the Morales campaign replied promptly when my church used this email recently.

3. Shrink the photos of the candidates. Did you ever notice how small the photos of Obama and Biden were on their site during the campaign?  At first I was surprised, and then realized it was brilliant.  It meant the focus of the site wasn’t really Obama – it was you, the site visitor, the person who might vote or donate.  Plus it made room for other content in that prime real estate.  On UU campaign sites, what do the visitors most want and need to see?  Clear position statements are essential, and both have that, but might it not also be comfort and hope?  Might it not be ministry?

A Shift in Understanding

Those are the easy things to talk about.  The hard part, of course, is what’s more important.  To oversimplify, neither candidate really knows how to use Web 2.0, in particular social media.  They both talk growth, but they aren’t communicating effectively to the base that swelled Obama’s ranks – the younger generations.  And it’s not just the 20 and 30-somethings they are missing.  It’s anyone who gets the Web.

UUs can be proud that our faith attracts the technoscenti in unusually large numbers.  But that said, do we live up to it?  We can attract such people sometimes, but can we engage them?  Neither of these candidates does – yet.  The funny thing is, nor should they.  I learned long ago that there is, roughly speaking, an inverse correlation between first-rate ministry and technological-know-how.

Rather, what they need is to find someone they each can trust in this arena – and work with that person.  I would advise both candidates to put a technological visionary on their team and turn not just this aspect of their campaign over to him or her, but once elected, be sure to channel that vision into the denomination.  UUism needs it.  Desperately.   To quote a recent (and excellent) presentation I went to, “The Internet is Our Parish.”

Here are some Web 2.0 things I hope for.

• A UU podcast that speaks to me.  I don’t mean yet another sermon-cast.  Ho hum.   That’s trying to mold the ‘net to old faith models rather than molding faith to the new models.  All I’m asking for is a five minute podcast, perhaps every-other-day, with a meditation or thought for the day.  We have roughly a bazillion brilliant orators in UUism.  Can’t one of them do this?
• Twitter feeds from UU leadership.
• Targeted, informative, ministerial email newsletters that are easy to subscribe to.
• Websites that collect feedback in meaningful ways and build new, virtual UU communities.
• And of course, the Obama signature technology — highly selective blast texting — at just the right moment.

Were I to see such things I would know the future for my faith is bright.

The most astonishing thing happened this morning. I learned that today is Ada Lovelace Day — an international web event to honor tech heroines. Even more amazing, I learned that oodles of people know about Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron. And here I thought I was one of an exclusive few.

So who is my modern-day tech heroine? To quote the Ada Lovelace Day website: “Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones.” But my field, web development, is so new. There’s hardly been time for any role models, let alone female ones.

My best support comes from a group named…. Can you guess…. The Lovelacians. They are, collectively and individually, my heroines. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Donna, a true web leader with a vision;
• Gill, the best web designer maybe on the planet — certainly in my universe;
• Heather, a super sys admin, who can actually explain her trade so that people like me can understand;
• Judy, my fellow jack-of-all-web-trades, savvy business woman and podcast co-hostess-with-the-mostest;
• Kim, the amazing Drupal Ninja biker chick.

I may not have a classic role model, but who needs one with wonderful, talented and generous friends like these?

My sister-in-law is a stage 3 colon cancer survivor, and today is the first ever Annual National Dress In Blue Day. It’s part of Colon Cancer Awareness Month.  So I’m wearing blue for Nancy.

And I’m wearing blue for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, especially its amazing staff.  Every day I see them in action — so many people in so many ways dedicated to overcoming and reducing the suffering of cancer.

Check out, for example, the Jim Ayers Institute, where they are establishing tests to detect cancers at the very earliest stages.  Can you imagine spotting colon cancer with a blood test?  They’re working on it, and using technology to do it.  Bet they’re wearing blue today too.

The other day my better half astonished me … once again … in his usual gentle way.  Seemingly out of nowhere he began his own blog: The Navigator’s Reflections.  Not only does it capture a few of his wise (and of course gentle) thoughts, it has a window into a smattering of his gorgeous photos.  For the latter, I’d recommend clicking on the slideshow in his left nav bar; the thumbnails don’t do the photography justice.

Needless to say, while delighted to learn he was blogging, I was put out with his software choice.  Blogger.  Not only am I a die-hard fan of WordPress (having experimented with a number of platforms, including Blogger), I associate Blogger with spam.  But he, ever logical, pointed out that Blogger makes it simple to work with his photo platform of choice, Picasa.  Score one for Blogger; score much more than that for the blogosphere.

Neil Brake….  When I remember him, it’s with a smile — flashing back to his kind face and gentle presence.  The first time I met him was a photo shoot for Vanderbilt Law School.  It was around 2000.  We were doing a site redesign and badly needed some decent photos.  Neil came through with not just decent photos, but great ones: a dramatic shot from top-to-bottom of an obscure stairwell, a student curled up on a sofa, a pile of law books in the courtyard, and so on.

Fast forward to 2006 — doing a redesign for Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.  Guess what I needed and guess who came through again.  Of course, these too were beautiful.  You can see a small sampling here.  But what’s even more important to me, Neil was so gracious about sharing them.

I emailed him, concerned that for many photos I couldn’t find a way to include his name.  He wrote back – no problem.  “Thanks,” he said. “I will leave it up to you. You do what you need to do with the images.”

Like many, I was both shocked and deeply saddened to learn of his death and, like many, I will miss him, his generous soul and his beautiful art.

For more information about Neil, see:

Vanderbilt View

MyVU information on a12/3 service

A few nights ago, with heart in mouth, I installed Liferay, the widely acclaimed open source portal, on my laptop. This is not any old laptop. It’s my trusty Mac, configured jut so – in particular as an Apache server (localhost only) using MAMP. I know enough about Liferay to know it doesn’t run on standard Apache, but rather Apache Tomcat. And while I love the name (memories of the many marvelous male cats dancing through my mind) about all I know about Tomcat is it’s Java based. So I also had visions of Liferay blowing up my machine.

Why run this kind of risk? I could claim being game for any popular open source technology, and while I wish this were the case, who has that kind of time? No. It’s because of a work project I’m part of. A group needs an online collaboration tool, including document sharing. More to the point, they need it quickly. Drupal (as of version 6) is weak at document sharing, though strong on some of the group’s other needs. Several of my IT colleagues know and like Liferay, and think it may be a good match for document sharing. They tell me it’s a competitor to SharePoint. So we’re off an adventure — exploring whether to use it, Drupal or a combination.

Basic Instructions

My laptop survived. In fact, it turned out there’s a very simple way to do this. I used the BitNami Liferay Stack for OSX 10.4 or later. I considered doing it from scratch, but my eyes started to cross reading the documentation, plus I don’t aspire to be a Liferay expert.

If you’re considering doing this too, the only caution is to be sure your MAMP (or other server setup) is running on a port other than 8080 – the port Liferay will use. MAMP defaults to 8888, so if you haven’t changed that, it should be straightforward.

The result? A cool new technology on my laptop in just a few minutes. While I’m digging into Liferay in more of a stakeholder mode, setting up pages and “applications” like a software hussy, I’m also exploring how to change its themes. It looks fairly straightforward for someone who has dealt with Drupal or Wordpress themes.

One final tip: the themes in a BitNami installation will be buried deep in the following directory:
[your liferay folder] > apache-tomcat > webapps > liferay > html > themes

Enjoy.

Yesterday’s New York Times has a provocative glimpse into a “happiness conference”: Even if You Can’t Buy It, Happiness Is Big Business

It got me thinking about the driving force behind this blog: happiness and the web. The article doesn’t mention the web, but for almost 15 years, the web has been a bulwark of happiness for me. In the early days, it was a release from a difficult situation and the tendrils of despair. At times I even wonder if the web saved me. Now it’s part of what conference experts label “sustainable eudaemonia.” In other words, these days (with the bad years long gone) it remains a sure way to augment everyday peace of mind with happiness. And that’s with it now being my day job. Wonder of wonders.

But what is it that works this magic for me? It’s not surfing, and it’s certainly not email. It’s not hardware, nor software much either. Rather I notice it most in two ways.

First is the sheer wonder of the things people do with the web — and how it’s there to be shared. Humanity takes the bedrock of web standards, and from them creates the most astonishing things: elegant web apps like Backpack and Google Analytics, clever communication tools like change.gov and Twitter, everyday fare like RSS feeds and handsome sites, and most of all, the powerful search engines and knowledge banks that tie this super-abundance together.

But even more, I can feel that surge of happiness in the act of creation — when I jump into the web not as a spectator, but as a participant — when I’m building websites. It doesn’t matter if it’s for myself or for others. Nor does it matter if it’s a new site or an overhaul of an old site. It’s the fusion of HTML, scripts and databases; it’s the rhythm of code, save, refresh; it’s learning the latest techniques; it’s catching an unexpected glimpse of a site I helped build; it’s the teamwork and appreciation of others. And it’s other evanescent aspects…. “A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud.”

So fleeting, but so sure.

And you? Does the web bring you happiness? I’d love to know.