Call for Participation – ICLS Workshop
I'm hosting a workshop at ICLS 2008 with Stephanie Teasley, Volker Wulf, Eric Cook, and Jude Yew - The Missing Chapters: Learning Sciences Beyond the Classroom.
This workshop will provide momentum toward building a community of Learning Sciences researchers who focus on learning that takes place in non-traditional contexts with learners of any age. Our goal is to bring together researchers who might otherwise be on the fringe of learning sciences to discuss their work and help generate publications appropriate for new chapters in the next Handbook of the Learning Sciences or a special issue of a Learning Sciences journal.
More information about the workshop is available on our blog.
TeX tip: Storing files in multiple folders
See, here's a TeX tip already. I have a somewhat strange filing system on my computer. It's marked by a number of behaviors that don't work smoothly with TeX - storing images in their own folder, keeping one giant references file instead of different ones for each paper, putting the main tex file in a folder by project rather than file type. So, this means that for any given TeX file, the .cls file that formats it, the references file where it's bibliography is stored, and the .tex file itself will be in 3 different folders. TeX doesn't like that. It's not easy to reference or include files in other folders within one's TeX document. So, I make symlinks for the files that live elsewhere. Symlinks are possible only on Mac (not Windows), and you can create them in Terminal. So, fire it up and navigate to the folder where your .tex file lives. Then use
ln -s [directory_with_file_you_want_to_include]/filename .
Note that space and period at the end. Those are important; they create the symlink instead of an alias. LaTeX actually doesn't care if you use an Alias instead of a symlink, but Subversion does. If you're using Subversion for version control (say you're writing a paper in LaTeX with your colleagues), Subversion will follow symlinks and update your project accordingly.
For example, I'm writing a CSCW paper with Sean and Jude that uses my "references.bib" file. That file is stored in "/Documents/endnote files/references.bib". I have a symlink in "/Documents/ResearchProjects/KNOWSI/CSCW 2008" for the references.bib file, and when I add citations, Subversion knows to grab the real file and commit that to our Subversion project. Cool, huh?
More about Subversion. Note: I recommend TortoiseSVN on PC for managing Subversion projects. I'm still hunting for a good Mac GUI (good = one that works!) I've tried Finder scripts, svnX, and RapidSVN with no success.
Saving money, writing in TeX
I've switched many of my writing tasks to TeX, and it's time I talked about that decision. I wrote a paper for a class last term in TeX, and I think that was the official beginning. Well, I guess I'd tried and failed to write a paper in TeX before, so my paper for Curtis LeBaron's class was my first success. EndNote and Office 2008 for the Mac don't get along yet, so TeX has a couple months to cement itself as my paper-writing environment of choice.
Some of you may have no idea what I'm talking about. For you, I recommend Wikipedia and CTAN: WHat are TeX, LaTeX, and Friends? Basically, TeX lets me write papers without having to format them at the same time. It uses tags to give formatting directions, then I run some command business, and wala, a PDF appears! I'm using it instead of Word because Word makes me angry when I'm trying to write papers for ACM conferences (e.g. GROUP, CSCW) with figures and/or tables. I'm also afraid of using Word for my dissertation because the rules about formatting are super-strict, and I bet Word could screw it up. TeX and the software I need to do my writing are also FREE. 100% FREE. The latest and greatest reason for me to use TeX, though, is that TeX + BibTeX works and Word 2008 + EndNote doesn't. Putting references into a paper by hand is not an option. My dissertation proposal is only 19 pages long, and 2 of those pages are a single-spaced citation list. Sean, Jude, and I are working on a paper for CSCW that has 9 references, and each reference appears in the text a couple of times. You can see that I'm not going to be able to keep track of all those citations myself, let alone switch between citation styles (e.g. between APA 5th and ACM proceedings).
So, TeX + BibTeX beat out Word 2008 + EndNote. How do I do it? I'm also using Windows occasionally now, and because TeX documents are plain text, they couldn't care less which OS I'm using. If you're somewhat comfortable with markup (e.g. HTML, XML), TeX may be a good option for you. Even with the student discount, Office 2008 is $50, and EndNote will probably be $90 again when they have a version that works with Office 2008 - likely summer 2008. Save yourself the $140 and give TeX a shot.
I use TeXShop and BibDesk on the Mac (available in the MacTeX package), and I wouldn't recommend other software. I tried iMacTeX or some such thing, and it was awful. TeXShop has a bunch of built-in AppleScripts that are helpful including Bibliography which automatically does the latex-bibtex-latex-latex order that you need to run in order to get a PDF with a properly formatted reference section. If you miss Bibliography in the dropdown list, you'll change the color scheme of your TeXShop windows, and there's no menu for resetting them. Instead, to change the background color of your source window, get the RGB values of the color you'd like, open up Terminal and use these commands (where XX = the appropriate R, G, or B value):
defaults write TeXShop background_R 0.XX
defaults write TeXShop background_G 0.XX
defaults write TeXShop background_B 0.XX
Similarly, you can change the colors of the text and the insertion point using foreground_R, insertionpoint_R and the like.
Now that I'm humming along on my dissertation and a couple of papers for CSCW, I'll probably be posting TeX tips. I get stuck a lot, and you probably will too when you get started.
New (to me) and not Useful: emacs therapist
Lifehacker comes through again with something fun. This time, it's a software Easter Egg - emacs Therapist! To use the emacs Therapist (Mac OS X only), open Terminal, type emacs, hit return, hit Escape, then type xdoctor. You get Eliza. Ha! That can kill some time.
If you're looking for other ways to kill time, may I recommend shopping for t-shirts? I found Palmer Cash recently, and it makes me pretty happy.
Yes, sometimes I read the Journal
In one of last week's Wall Street Journals, there was a thoughtful little piece about our near-helplessness in the face of all the information available online. You can read it here. Lee Gomes compares us humans and the internet to cats and laser pointers. Trust me, it kind of works. I admit, mostly I posted this link because I don't want you to think the New York Times is my only news source, and I haven't had much to say to the world in a while.
This week and next, I'm finalizing my dissertation committee. I hope. More when that works out.