day 4- one to breathe

Today, I was finally able to really enjoy the day because I wasn’t exhausted. By day 3, I figured out what I needed to do to complete all of my homework with enough time to get adequate rest. It was wonderful!

This morning, we began by reviewing our problem areas within documenting and ShareLaTeX. I was having a lot of trouble with the bibliography of my personal bio because I thought I needed a lot more code than I actually did. I was so tired on one of the other evenings this week that I gave up and wrote my references down as text. It was simple because there were only two books to cite. I realized how easy ShareLaTeX will be for bibliographies with dozens of citations, once I was given even more instruction on it specifically. We probably could have used more time to go over ShareLaTeX with guidance.

Also, we worked on coding our own qualitative data from our cell-phone study that we conducted on Tuesday night. I went to Starbucks and examined coffee drinkers as they interacted with their cell phones. It was a bit awkward at times when I made awkward eye contact with the gentlemen that I was examining. Today, we learned how to  code and group our qualitative data using Dedoose. It felt as though by the time we were all logged in with access to the data, we didn’t have enough to play around on our own in the application. In addition, we worked on our very own elevator pitches and we will continue to refine those throughout the day tomorrow.

In the afternoon, Kay Connelly spoke with us about all that she has been working on in the past few years. I was honestly fascinated by all that she has been able to successfully do. I am inspired by the way that she hasn’t forgotten the health and well being of any sector of the population, no matter their socioeconomic status or education levels. I wish I had experience working with Java to have been able to have the opportunity to work on her project this summer! I didn’t know that programming was a requirement for 80% of  the summer research projects. That is something that would be useful for students to know upon acceptance. I would have worked on programming within the past month or so since I learned of my acceptance.

Following her talk, we worked with her fantastic graduate student Majdah on developing a mobile application. The group of students who didn’t know how to code/program with Java used a plug and play style program called appery.io. The website was honestly great! I loved working with Grace and making our Cupcake App to match your mood. I have a minor cupcake obsession…see my blog. Go ahead and get a tour of my app too! https://youtu.be/KJ23i6_Wq1U

My app!

My daily cupcake app!

It was a great day. Also, I was matched with my mentor for the summer as well!! I am so excited to be working with Katie Siek and Ben Jelen on a participatory design study for older adults. I look forward to this fantastic research!