Sunday, May 4, 2008
My Last Post
When first entering this community partnership for the Boys and Girls Club in the Tenderloin I already had an idea of how it was going to be working with them as I had volunteered for them previously at the Ernest Ingold location by Haight Street. Volunteering at this new location with a different, more technological motivation was a different dynamic. Working in the Tenderloin did sadden me a bit, as walking through this underprivileged area it’s distressing to realize that children have to grow up in a neighborhood, where on some streets crack-heads outnumber regular pedestrians and people are doing drugs openly on the street. It was disturbing to see that part of the B&G club (the section where we were volunteering) was located across from a gentleman’s club. After volunteering, I still have the same opinions about myself and my abilities; I enjoy volunteering and working with kids - I am going to continue my volunteering, but I’ll probably return to the Ernest and Ingold location because their schedule is a bit more flexible. I have learned through this experience that you don’t have to be interactive with the kids in order to help them (as we helped predominately by setting up software on the computers), but it is still my favorite part.
Ethics
When it comes to software where security is critical or the software plays a role of significance (life/death situations), then the software should be thoroughly tested as not doing so could lead to terrible repercussions. For instance, if computerized accounting system were to have bugs, people’s finances could be at risk; balances emptied out or information leaked. The money people use to pay the bills and buy groceries – gone.
What about situations where software does not play a life or death position, where no one will starve because there are a few bugs. Is it better to hold the release date until the software is debugged or is it better to release the software sooner and distribute patches later on? Many companies have chosen to go with the latter solution, but this could put the company’s reputation at risk. Just because several companies have chosen to this route, does not make it right. In most other industries a faulty product is unacceptable, why should software be any different? Companies should refrain from releasing buggy software and test their software properly and thoroughly, as it could harm future sales.
What about situations where software does not play a life or death position, where no one will starve because there are a few bugs. Is it better to hold the release date until the software is debugged or is it better to release the software sooner and distribute patches later on? Many companies have chosen to go with the latter solution, but this could put the company’s reputation at risk. Just because several companies have chosen to this route, does not make it right. In most other industries a faulty product is unacceptable, why should software be any different? Companies should refrain from releasing buggy software and test their software properly and thoroughly, as it could harm future sales.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Community Partner
The Boys and Girls Club was first founded in Connecticut in 1860, now with over 4,000 locations nationwide as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands along with domestic and international military bases; over 4.8 million boys and girls have been served. They serve nine different communities in San Francisco. I currently volunteer at the center in the Tenderloin.
The Boys and Girls Club was established to provide a safe sheltered place for children in underprivileged communities. Their mission: "To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens."
This semester we do more technologically targeted volunteering than typical volunteers. We have set up a little mini tutoring session for the kids about how to use the computers, specifically the dangers and precautions to take on the internet. As B&G recently received new computers, we have installed software to maintain them against spyware; along with parental software to prevent inappropriate websites from appearing while the kids are on the internet. We have future plans of instructing the old kids how to use Microsoft Word and Powerpoint as it will be useful to them in school.
The Boys and Girls Club was established to provide a safe sheltered place for children in underprivileged communities. Their mission: "To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens."
This semester we do more technologically targeted volunteering than typical volunteers. We have set up a little mini tutoring session for the kids about how to use the computers, specifically the dangers and precautions to take on the internet. As B&G recently received new computers, we have installed software to maintain them against spyware; along with parental software to prevent inappropriate websites from appearing while the kids are on the internet. We have future plans of instructing the old kids how to use Microsoft Word and Powerpoint as it will be useful to them in school.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Writing Assignment
Everyone is at fault.
The Technician was supposed to know how to use the program, testing it and putting in the proper value.
The Programmer was supposed to debug the software adequately.
The Purchaser was supposed to be knowledgable of the software prior to making the purchase, perhaps check reviews of the software's performance. The purchaser could have asked for a trial run of the software, as many companies offer, to test it and make sure it was in working order.
The Software Company was supposed to make sure their products were working properly before putting it on the market for sale. Putting out faulty software could mar their reputation and name.
The Captain needs to have be in constantly updated and completely knowledgable as to the activites on the ship, including software being installed on it. He is supposed to keep in communication with the technician to make sure the software was running properly, tested before and after installation. Also, he is in charge of overseeing that everything on the ship is up to par, fitting the quality and standard required, from having a capable technician to having working software.
Roadblocks ahead
We had some difficulty in the beginning getting started with our service-learning project. The book notes it as "flexibility in the face of rapidly changing conditions", where we had to be flexible, as all our schedules conflicted, to find a time that would fit all our schedules to come in to meet and volunteer.
D-U-E process
Describe the situation
The community partner's schedule did not mesh well with ours.
The event coordinator was incredibly busy and was either unavailable or had to reschedule for many of the weeks we had planned on meeting.
My partner's and my schedule were also very tight, so that we were only available on Fridays.
Friday's is the community partner's slowest days, they do not open until 2pm and children do not start coming in until the hours of 3-4pm. This was later than the time we were hoping to volunteer, between the hours of noon-2pm.
Understand
There were schedule conflicts, which was frustrating when we were trying to meet with the community partner, but it was no one's fault. Everyone has things they need to get done. I understand that, as my schedule personally is pretty hectic and packed, I can identify with those whom have similar schedules.
Encourage Communication
Communication was essential. The volunteer coordinator, my partner and myself had to exchange e-mails for several weeks before we were finally able to meet. My partner and I also had to be flexible with our volunteer times, and agreed to come in between the hours of 3-5pm, later than we had hoped. My partner and I also have to keep up communication with each other, as on certain fridays either one of us may be unavailable due to prior engagements, so we have to notify each other and the community partner.
The Technician was supposed to know how to use the program, testing it and putting in the proper value.
The Programmer was supposed to debug the software adequately.
The Purchaser was supposed to be knowledgable of the software prior to making the purchase, perhaps check reviews of the software's performance. The purchaser could have asked for a trial run of the software, as many companies offer, to test it and make sure it was in working order.
The Software Company was supposed to make sure their products were working properly before putting it on the market for sale. Putting out faulty software could mar their reputation and name.
The Captain needs to have be in constantly updated and completely knowledgable as to the activites on the ship, including software being installed on it. He is supposed to keep in communication with the technician to make sure the software was running properly, tested before and after installation. Also, he is in charge of overseeing that everything on the ship is up to par, fitting the quality and standard required, from having a capable technician to having working software.
Roadblocks ahead
We had some difficulty in the beginning getting started with our service-learning project. The book notes it as "flexibility in the face of rapidly changing conditions", where we had to be flexible, as all our schedules conflicted, to find a time that would fit all our schedules to come in to meet and volunteer.
D-U-E process
Describe the situation
The community partner's schedule did not mesh well with ours.
The event coordinator was incredibly busy and was either unavailable or had to reschedule for many of the weeks we had planned on meeting.
My partner's and my schedule were also very tight, so that we were only available on Fridays.
Friday's is the community partner's slowest days, they do not open until 2pm and children do not start coming in until the hours of 3-4pm. This was later than the time we were hoping to volunteer, between the hours of noon-2pm.
Understand
There were schedule conflicts, which was frustrating when we were trying to meet with the community partner, but it was no one's fault. Everyone has things they need to get done. I understand that, as my schedule personally is pretty hectic and packed, I can identify with those whom have similar schedules.
Encourage Communication
Communication was essential. The volunteer coordinator, my partner and myself had to exchange e-mails for several weeks before we were finally able to meet. My partner and I also had to be flexible with our volunteer times, and agreed to come in between the hours of 3-5pm, later than we had hoped. My partner and I also have to keep up communication with each other, as on certain fridays either one of us may be unavailable due to prior engagements, so we have to notify each other and the community partner.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Everyone is at fault.
The Technician was supposed to know how to use the program, testing it and putting in the proper value.
The Programmer was supposed to debug the software adequately.
The Purchaser was supposed to be knowledgable of the software prior to making the purchase, perhaps check reviews of the software's performance.
The purchaser could have asked for a trial run of the software, as many companies offer, to test it and make sure it was in working order.
The Software Company was supposed to make sure their products were working properly before putting it on the market for sale. Putting out faulty software could mar their reputation and name.
The Captain needs to have be in constantly updated and completely knowledgable as to the activites on the ship, including software being installed on it. He is supposed to keep in communication with the technician to make sure the software was running properly, tested before and after installation. Also, he is in charge of overseeing that everything on the ship is up to par, fitting the quality and standard required, from having a capable technician to having working software.
Roadblocks ahead
We had some difficulty in the beginning getting started with our service-learning project. The book notes it as "flexibility in the face of rapidly changing conditions", where we had to be flexible, as all our schedules conflicted, to find a time that would fit all our schedules to come in to meet and volunteer.
D-U-E process
Describe the situation
The community partner's schedule did not mesh well with ours.The event coordinator was incredibly busy and was either unavailable or had to reschedule for many of the weeks we had planned on meeting.My partner's and my schedule were also very tight, so that we were only available on Fridays.Friday's is the community partner's slowest days, they do not open until 2pm and children do not start coming in until the hours of 3-4pm. This was later than the time we were hoping to volunteer, between the hours of noon-2pm.
Understand
There were schedule conflicts, which was frustrating when we were trying to meet with the community partner, but it was no one's fault. Everyone has things they need to get done. I understand that, as my schedule personally is pretty hectic and packed, I can identify with those whom have similar schedules.
Encourage Communication
Communication was essential. The volunteer coordinator, my partner and myself had to exchange e-mails for several weeks before we were finally able to meet. My partner and I also had to be flexible with our volunteer times, and agreed to come in between the hours of 3-5pm, later than we had hoped. My partner and I also have to keep up communication with each other, as on certain fridays either one of us may be unavailable due to prior engagements, so we have to notify each other and the community partner.
The Technician was supposed to know how to use the program, testing it and putting in the proper value.
The Programmer was supposed to debug the software adequately.
The Purchaser was supposed to be knowledgable of the software prior to making the purchase, perhaps check reviews of the software's performance.
The purchaser could have asked for a trial run of the software, as many companies offer, to test it and make sure it was in working order.
The Software Company was supposed to make sure their products were working properly before putting it on the market for sale. Putting out faulty software could mar their reputation and name.
The Captain needs to have be in constantly updated and completely knowledgable as to the activites on the ship, including software being installed on it. He is supposed to keep in communication with the technician to make sure the software was running properly, tested before and after installation. Also, he is in charge of overseeing that everything on the ship is up to par, fitting the quality and standard required, from having a capable technician to having working software.
Roadblocks ahead
We had some difficulty in the beginning getting started with our service-learning project. The book notes it as "flexibility in the face of rapidly changing conditions", where we had to be flexible, as all our schedules conflicted, to find a time that would fit all our schedules to come in to meet and volunteer.
D-U-E process
Describe the situation
The community partner's schedule did not mesh well with ours.The event coordinator was incredibly busy and was either unavailable or had to reschedule for many of the weeks we had planned on meeting.My partner's and my schedule were also very tight, so that we were only available on Fridays.Friday's is the community partner's slowest days, they do not open until 2pm and children do not start coming in until the hours of 3-4pm. This was later than the time we were hoping to volunteer, between the hours of noon-2pm.
Understand
There were schedule conflicts, which was frustrating when we were trying to meet with the community partner, but it was no one's fault. Everyone has things they need to get done. I understand that, as my schedule personally is pretty hectic and packed, I can identify with those whom have similar schedules.
Encourage Communication
Communication was essential. The volunteer coordinator, my partner and myself had to exchange e-mails for several weeks before we were finally able to meet. My partner and I also had to be flexible with our volunteer times, and agreed to come in between the hours of 3-5pm, later than we had hoped. My partner and I also have to keep up communication with each other, as on certain fridays either one of us may be unavailable due to prior engagements, so we have to notify each other and the community partner.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Digital Information
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/) is a popular website that offers free media, such as music videos, movie and television clips, along with amateur video sharing. Youtube makes their revenue through advertisements that are placed throughout their pages, which is how many other high traffic websites seem to generate revenue such as myspace and facebook so that users may still use the websites free of charge.
The consumer has the freedom to share the video with others whether by posting the clip on other websites or emailing it. Users are also able to comment on the videos, posting their personal input as to what they thought of it and rate it, which sometimes turns out to be more interesting than the actual media itself.
Radio websites such as Yahoo! Music (http://new.music.yahoo.com/), offer free access to individual music videos that they can put together into a personalized playlist or listen to the radio online. They also make profit through advertisement but with additional placement besides just webpage ads, where an advertisement is played before a video, or played in between songs on the radio. In order to avoid the ads, have a larger range of radio stations and be able to skip through an unlimited number of songs while listening to the radio, users may pay a monthly subscription fee.
Consumers are able to pick playlists (songs they are interested in listening to) either by music genre or selecting individual songs. Similar to Youtube, users may embed the video on other websites, email the video and rate it. While listening to the radio, users may skip past 3 songs of their choice, but in order to skip through more, they have to join the monthly subscription.
Certain television websites such as NBC (http://www.nbc.com/) offer full version reruns to consumers via online. They too generate revenue through advertisements, similarly to the radio websites, they have ads plastered on their pages and a 30 second commercial plays while the video loads.
Consumers are able to view the reruns as if it were on dvd, going back or skipping forward certain parts (when skipping forward, a commercial comes on while the video loads). Unfortunately, we cannot skip forward, past the commercials. *joke*
The consumer has the freedom to share the video with others whether by posting the clip on other websites or emailing it. Users are also able to comment on the videos, posting their personal input as to what they thought of it and rate it, which sometimes turns out to be more interesting than the actual media itself.
Radio websites such as Yahoo! Music (http://new.music.yahoo.com/), offer free access to individual music videos that they can put together into a personalized playlist or listen to the radio online. They also make profit through advertisement but with additional placement besides just webpage ads, where an advertisement is played before a video, or played in between songs on the radio. In order to avoid the ads, have a larger range of radio stations and be able to skip through an unlimited number of songs while listening to the radio, users may pay a monthly subscription fee.
Consumers are able to pick playlists (songs they are interested in listening to) either by music genre or selecting individual songs. Similar to Youtube, users may embed the video on other websites, email the video and rate it. While listening to the radio, users may skip past 3 songs of their choice, but in order to skip through more, they have to join the monthly subscription.
Certain television websites such as NBC (http://www.nbc.com/) offer full version reruns to consumers via online. They too generate revenue through advertisements, similarly to the radio websites, they have ads plastered on their pages and a 30 second commercial plays while the video loads.
Consumers are able to view the reruns as if it were on dvd, going back or skipping forward certain parts (when skipping forward, a commercial comes on while the video loads). Unfortunately, we cannot skip forward, past the commercials. *joke*
Monday, March 17, 2008
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
What does Raymond mean by the 'cathedral' and the 'bazaar' style of software development?
A 'cathedral' style is based on a skilled individual or a small group privately developing software, without releasing it before it is completed and ready.
With 'bazaar' style, the software is released early and often and different approaches are taken by different people to develop the software; those submissions form a single stable system.
According to Raymond, what is necessary for a successful bazaar-style project?
A successful bazaar-style project starts with a base program that was written by the will of a skilled individual developer that understands certain key ideas like, it is better to start from a good partial solution from nothing and be ready to start over if needed. It is also important to treat your users like your co-developers as they are a good source of quick code-improvement and effective debugging. By releasing early and often, the new software and its updates can be 'tested' by your 'co-developers' and they can give you new feedback.
Do you think Raymond's characterization of these styles of development is accurate? Why or why not?
I think Raymond's characterization of these styles of development is accurate as with 'cathedral' style software development, which is closed source there is a small group of working togther towards a single direction while with 'bazaar' style of software development it is open source, where different people can input their various code for different improvements.
In your opinion, what sorts of projects tend to be successful open-source projects? What is it about them that causes this?
Projects that are not specialized and can be flexible are best for open-source projects. Developing software is also prime to be open source as being open source will help them penetrate the market; they are able to become established and gain a competitive edge, as users, 'co-developers', would feel empowered and a sense of ownership from the resulting product.
In your opinion, what sorts of projects are better suited for commercial development? Why is this?
Projects that are complicated and specialized like Photoshop or many games would be very difficult to complete through open-source projects. Projects may also have a certain reputation and standard which must be upheld, like how great the first version of a software or how good the first game was, which is best kept up through commercial development.
A 'cathedral' style is based on a skilled individual or a small group privately developing software, without releasing it before it is completed and ready.
With 'bazaar' style, the software is released early and often and different approaches are taken by different people to develop the software; those submissions form a single stable system.
According to Raymond, what is necessary for a successful bazaar-style project?
A successful bazaar-style project starts with a base program that was written by the will of a skilled individual developer that understands certain key ideas like, it is better to start from a good partial solution from nothing and be ready to start over if needed. It is also important to treat your users like your co-developers as they are a good source of quick code-improvement and effective debugging. By releasing early and often, the new software and its updates can be 'tested' by your 'co-developers' and they can give you new feedback.
Do you think Raymond's characterization of these styles of development is accurate? Why or why not?
I think Raymond's characterization of these styles of development is accurate as with 'cathedral' style software development, which is closed source there is a small group of working togther towards a single direction while with 'bazaar' style of software development it is open source, where different people can input their various code for different improvements.
In your opinion, what sorts of projects tend to be successful open-source projects? What is it about them that causes this?
Projects that are not specialized and can be flexible are best for open-source projects. Developing software is also prime to be open source as being open source will help them penetrate the market; they are able to become established and gain a competitive edge, as users, 'co-developers', would feel empowered and a sense of ownership from the resulting product.
In your opinion, what sorts of projects are better suited for commercial development? Why is this?
Projects that are complicated and specialized like Photoshop or many games would be very difficult to complete through open-source projects. Projects may also have a certain reputation and standard which must be upheld, like how great the first version of a software or how good the first game was, which is best kept up through commercial development.
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