Q: What’s the best type of alcohol for community management?

A: Bourbon.
A: Whiskey.
A: Gin.
A: Next question!

“Twitter is the fastest way to shoot yourself in the foot.” – Elizabeth Tobey (Head of Community, 2K Games)

Q: “What advice would you give someone looking to be a community manager without any experience in the video game indus–”
A: Don’t. Next question!
(thunderous applause, cheering, and laughter)

And that’s why…. you don’t leave candles unattended.

Anyway, I thought it looked cool when I saw this. You could peel back the layers of melted wax (the lower ones being more settled and solid). My kitchen also just happened to have those objects there at the time which gives this a nice splash of color.

I managed to set aside some time, figured out how to write a simple WordPress plugin, and wrote something that will display the Healthy button (an unstyled, bookmarklet image) at the top of single posts. I wrote it for the purposes of having it installed on the Fitness Stack Exchange blog, but I also do have other experimental ideas for the plugin that I want to try. The idea so far has had little, but positive and encouraging, feedback including some from people at RunKeeper.

The code for the plugin is available on my GitHub account:

• https://github.com/mattchan/wp_runkeeper_button

For any issues or suggestions regarding the plugin, it is best to open up an issue on the GitHub repo. Feel free to ping me in the Stack Exchange chat and also get involved with the Fitness & Nutrition Stack Exchange.

• http://www.mystjudeevent.org/mattchan

Why am I running the Warrior Dash?

As a practicing martial artist, I am continuously discovering how my body physically moves and have been improving my performance and technique over time. Once I began to become consciously aware of what I was doing, I have been wanting to see what kind of limits I could push myself outside of martial arts. A friend of mine has invited to participate in this fun event with him, and I saw this as an opportunity to see how my training has affected me in my overall physical fitness. Growing up, I hardly did any physical activity at all, was very out of shape, and could not even run a quarter mile without feeling winded.

Why did I decide to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital?

I have been involved with community service in various capacities since I was a student in high school. That is where I met someone who started a Youth Program in the volunteer department at a large organization which has grown tremendously over the years. That person has also been a big influence on my life, she is a huge proponent of youth activism and empowerment, and also happens to be my martial arts instructor. Giving back to the community is something I learned over the years in knowing her, an idea also reinforced by my parents who have always been very selfless, taking care of other people and providing for them no matter who they were.

Patients at St. Jude never have to pay for the care they receive, and it is one of the world’s leading centers for researching and treating pediatric cancer and other child diseases. I knew running the Warrior Dash would be fun, but when I learned about the charity aspect, I knew I couldn’t pass the chance to make a difference. The event itself already carries meaning for me, but running for a cause makes it even more meaningful, and that is something I hope that everyone else can support.

Any contributions you can make — $50, $250, $500, or whatever you can give — will greatly help the cause. Every dollar that that is donated through my page will go directly to St. Jude. I hope you can support me and support the cause. No donation is too small and will make a huge difference in many lives.

What I’ve learned so far about Stack Exchange is that thought-out, well-written questions are of “higher quality” and tend to produce better answers. It’s fairly straightforward communication — being to state something clear and concise so that others can understand and properly interpret the question at hand. Just reading what other people have written has taught me to read things a bit more carefully and also really try to dig deep at what people are really asking.

There is a pattern of questions that I’ve seen crop up, and those questions usually are very vague and general. They tend not to do so well, because by their nature, the responses will also be vague and general. Sometimes people have very set minds about a certain topic, and my impression is that the answer those people are really looking for is one way off their path of thinking. I don’t think it’s a really good idea to validate other people’s views especially when doing so doesn’t address the real issue.

Participation in Stack Exchange has also translated to real life situations for me personally. I get into this habit now of asking more questions when someone asks me a question (all the meanwhile thinking to myself, “this is a sucky question,” in my head) to really drill down to what another person is asking for and then trying to answer it.

I knew Stack Exchange would be a great place to learn about various subject matters, but I never would have thought it to be a place, especially given that this is the Internet, to learn how to communicate effectively. The whole community, its open nature, and participation system really makes it worthwhile to get involved.

Node.js was pretty nifty, but rewriting a whole server to do all the (sort of) complexity our current web application is doing was just a little too daunting. I had also looked at express.js for doing some of the heavy-lifting for me, but ultimately decided in the end that this was still too cumbersome for what I wanted to do. After stumbling on some backbone.js tutorials, I thought it would be best to try and integrate that with the Rails stack we currently have.

Understanding the code was simple enough. Coming from an ActionScript background, which I’ve used extensively with the Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR frameworks, picking up JavaScript was trivial. They’re both based on the same standard, but with some minor syntactic differences. Doing a simple backbone.js for my company’s web app didn’t take much time, and was similar to what I had already done in an ActionScript library (used by the main Flash client). Seeing as how the Rails backend only rendered XML for each request and no html, I abandoned the backbone.js route and decided to fall back on implementing Rails views.

For many years, I had avoided learning Rails views mainly because I didn’t have the need to do so since I had been programming in Flex and AIR for so long. I didn’t understand Rails views in 1.2.x and certainly didn’t up through the 3.x releases (until very recently). My biggest fear was having to hand-code CSS in order to achieve the best look and feel that would be suitable for our app. The thought of doing that send shivers down my spine. As much as I like to think that writing CSS is fun (and my only experience has been through WordPress themes), I’ve found it be more annoying at the end of my day.

When I recently discovered the Twitter Bootstrap, I was astounded and amazed at what was available at my hands. I loved how simple and easy it was to create an entire layout with pre-defined styles for just about anything that I would ever really need in a simple web application. I got so excited about it I immediately set out to convert my company’s existing Flash web application to a Rails-only stack and implement actual HTML views. I got some buy-in from others to use the Twitter Bootstrap and convert from Flash to standard HTML. Using the Twitter Bootstrap has dramatically decreased the time it took me to implement standard HTML views that mimic the look and feel of our Flash client. In about a week, I was able to convert a lot of the app’s panels over into Rails HTML views.

Doing this effectively cuts down on development costs since there is less code to maintain which consequently means less bugs to track down and less development effort (no need to duplicate effort in the Flash client). One other team member, who hasn’t had as much experience programming in Flash, was able to pick up the Twitter Bootstrap anew and program Rails views with ease. Now that I think of it, I honestly can’t understand why I was so afraid to tackle Rails views in the first place.

Flex and AIR aren’t all bad in my opinion, and I think they both have their place in terms of solving specific problems. The fact JavaScript is gaining more and more popularity, not to mention the HTML5 and CSS3 standards that have been in development for years, it is hard to make a convincing statement that using Flash is viable for web apps (especially since the iOS platform doesn’t support it at all). There is very little in Flash that can’t be achieved with some JavaScript and CSS — and there are already things like the Twitter Bootstrap that make this job faster and easier to do.

Twitter Bootstrap is so complete out of the box, it’s hard to not use it for simple static website. In fact, I’m doing one right now for a friend who is trying to start her own business. Just for kicks, I decided to use a Twitter Bootstrap gem for Rails while also using the high_voltage gem for static pages. After a few hours of work (most of it doing basic dual-boot setup and development configuration), I was able to throw a simple site for my friend to see on Heroku (which by the way is awesome for pushing deployments using git). Doing that was much more satisfying than setting up a WordPress site (it would have solved the problem but somewhat convoluted) and trying to find, develop, or hack a theme for it.

Over the past few weeks, the creative spark for programming was reignited in me. Playing around with these new things, which I almost never have the chance too, has really fire up my passion for coding and getting an intellectual satisfaction out of it. It’s frustrating sometimes, especially when you come in as a newbie, but taking pride and ownership in what you create is so rewarding. The feeling of accomplishment is a personally motivating drive.

Note: The opinions expressed here in this post and on my blog are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

My typing was never very good. I can sort of touch type, but my fingers a slightly more tuned to hit my keyboards in certain patterns for gaming or coding. The rubber dome Dell keyboard I had been typing for nearly 10 years showed a lot of wear. Switching to the Logitech keyboard was a slight improvement, but getting used to a low-profile scissor switch keyboard was a bit of a hurdle. It took time for me to get used to typing on it, but I was never truly comfortable with it. Sometimes I would miss keys, or my accuracy would be off because I was typing too quickly. It was the closest thing I could have to the Apple Aluminum Keyboard that I use at work. However, even I was getting tired of that keyboard.

Lately last year, I saw a Super User question about mechanical keyboard switches. My interest was piqued again, and I began to look at mechanical keyboards and study all the facets and nuances of what they were. When I heard a first-person account of the Razer BlackWidow, I reached my breaking point and decided I had to buy one. I spent weeks reading about the different types mechanical switches, figuring out what kind I want, and which keyboard model I should get.

I went to a MicroCenter store near me to check out some mechanical keyboards. I also knew this would be the only place where I could see mechanical keyboards physically. I was hoping I would be able to try them out before buying, but no models were on display. Many types were available but only the Razer BlackWidow had an opening on their packaging so you could feel the Cherry MX Blue switches. I liked the feel of it, and the clickiness of the key was satisfying. I had read about the feel of other switches, some with linear force and some requiring more force to actuate the key. I decided I would just go with a keyboard with the Cherry MX Blue switches as a middle ground compromise.

Deciding which keyboard to buy was not a simple choice. There were lots of models available, and eventually it came down to aesthetics. While my Logitech Illuminated had backlighting on the keys, which looked really cool in the dark, I ultimately decided that this was not an important feature to me. Any keyboards that did have it were ugly (to me) in other regards. I narrowed my choices to either a Das Keyboard or one from EliteKeyboards. There were many options on EliteKeyboards in terms of keys, switches, and accessories. What got me to buy a Das Keyboard (they have a really nice website too) over others is its 30-day return policy. I could try a keyboard and return it if I wasn’t satisfied with it in any way, which was an easy low-risk entry into using a mechanical keyboard.

The keyboard is pricier than standard keyboards or even the “nicer” keyboards available from other vendors. The model I have costs $129 (with free ground shipping), but it’s well worth the price for me. When I received it, I immediately hooked the keyboard up to my computer and began typing. The tactile feel is so much more satisfying in that I receive a stimulus in knowing I fully pressed a key. The sound it makes when you type furiously away is great audible feedback. I feel like I’m getting things accomplished, because I feel like I’m in more control of what I’m doing and how I’m interacting with the computer.

I brought the keyboard with me to work today to try it out some more. It like using it more for coding that Apple’s own keyboard, and I got a kick out of a few coworkers who commented on how loud the keyboard is. After only using the Das Keyboard for two days, it’s a keeper for me. At some point in the future, I do want to try other keyboards with different switches. For now, the Das Keyboard is the only keyboard I need.

because people are not finite state machines

– R.B. Boyer

Me: Does your guy… look like a terrorist?

Friend: Stop profiling. That’s discrimination.

Me: This whole game is about discrimination!

Apparently there is a ton of strategy behind this game.

Have you ever had that creepy feeling when you go to the gym and you catch someone glancing at you in the mirror? Have you ever noticed how professional poker players were sunglasses? Have you ever secretly given a cue to someone with your eyes? What about when people roll their eyes or look away in shame? Our eyes make over about two to four movements a second and over 100,000 movements per day. We rely on our eyes so much but are often unaware of its activity. It is often said that the eyes are the windows to the souls. At the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), eye tracking research is providing windows into how people think about tasks and goals.

Two professors at RIT have been conducting research on eye tracking. Dr. Roxanne Canosa is an assistant professor of the RIT Computer Science Department who recently earned her PhD at the Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT in September of 2003. She completed her dissertation under the direction of Dr. Jeff Pelz, an associate professor of the College of Imaging Science who received his PhD from the University of Rochester in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Although both professors have done research in eye tracking, their ultimate goals are very different. Dr. Pelz’s research with eye tracking is to understand how the human brain and its cognitive processes – how we gather visual information and use it to plan and guide our actions. On the contrary, Dr. Canosa’s research involves the same goal but modeling it on an artificial system.

A lot of information is contained in a picture. As the saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words.” However, not all words are important. For example, go up to some flyer posted somewhere and focus on it. Now try reading another flyer close by without moving your eyes. Your eyes focus on what is right in the center of your vision, but you can barely read what the other flyer says. Your brain interprets the surrounding information as non-essential to your task much like the sensation of your clothes against your skin. It just simply ignores it. Even though this process seems passive, our eyes are very active and tightly tied to the planned behavior and action.

Canosa’s purpose to extend this human process to an artificial brain requires the same strategy. The computer need not digest all the information it is receiving. Creating this artificial brain requires data that heavily relies on how our eyes move and what they see. To emulate the brain and its visual process requires creating a model that can interpret an environment. Some models are able to distinguish colors, brightness, and edges of objects. However, these attempts do not accurately portray how an eye moves and what it sees. Combining that model with eye tracking can provide a more intelligent module that can be applied to a wide variety of fields.

The purpose of Canosa’s experiments is to gain insight to the interaction between vision and action. Rather than conducting research in the confines of a lab, Canosa decided to capture data in natural environments. One main problem was that the giant eye tracker in the lab could not be carried outside (much less worn by the subject) to perform tasks. This led Canosa to build a portable eye tracking system from scratch. The subject carries the equipment in a backpack and dons the headgear to wander around campus and proceed with experiments almost like some blatantly obvious secret agent.

The eye tracking headgear contains a module that tracks the eye. A near-infrared light source is used to illuminate the eye. After it hits the eye, the light is reflected back into a mirror and into a sensor that records where the center of pupil is. There is also a camera on the front of the headgear that records a video of the scene where the subject is. The control unit then takes the information from the sensor and computes a line of gaze. The line of gaze is displayed as a cursor or crosshair as an overlay on the video scene to indicate what the subject is looking at.

Canosa’s subjects proceeded to carry out tasks such as having a conversation with someone, sorting or counting items, and reading posters and forms. The data gathered reveals a general trend for each of the different tasks. Visual activity ranged from low to high depending on the task. Tasks that are very clear, such as reading and counting, require lots of visual attention. Tasks like these cause the mind being “restricted” to that task because the goal is so defined. In contrast, tasks like walking down a hall or having a conversation on the phone do not necessarily require a lot of visual attention. This allows the mind to wander and spend its time looking at other things. Sorting cards or following Lego instructions lies somewhere in between. Both visual engagement and contemplative thought is required at the same time. These tasks require more of a strategy to complete which gives more freedom in the ways to complete them.

What all the results boil down to is how much our eyes fixate on certain objects during certain tasks. Our eyes tend to fixate on objects that are task-relevant for longer times. There are also instances when our eyes tend to fixate on other objects in the environment that are not necessary in attaining the goal. In Canosa’s experiment, subjects’ eyes fixated on the floor while trying to find a restroom even though the floor is not relevant or particularly conspicuous. The fixation on objects depends heavily on the task and how much they stand out in an environment.

Research in eye tracking and movements can lead to developments in all sorts of applications. We can potentially learn how the brain works on a pre-conscious level. We can understand how deaf students divide their attention between the instructor and the interpreter and what impediments they encounter. If we can understand how some people use visual skills, it is possible to teach those skills to others. Using a computer model, applications could include those in the military such as helping soldiers locate objects in the environment. There are even some people who think that eye tracking will be a future user interface for computers, similar to the hand-tracking computer in the movie Minority Report. There are so many things that eye tracking can be used for; it is only limited to whatever the imagination can conceive. ]]> http://mattchan.net/2012/01/eye-see-you/feed/ 0