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Nerd Nite #33 - Trolls, Trouble, and Telling the Difference
For as long as we’ve had the Internet, we’ve had online trolls. But what is a troll, really—and how do we tell the difference between trolling and more serious forms of abuse? To build a better and more empathetic web, researchers, designers, and users must work in tandem. In this talk, PhD student Lindsay Blackwell explores the ins and outs of misbehavior online, including efforts to regulate and prevent online harassment.
About Lindsay: Lindsay Blackwell is a PhD student at the University of Michigan School of Information’s Social Media Research Lab. Her research explores misbehavior in online communities, including trolling and online harassment. Prior to graduate school, Lindsay enjoyed a career in social media marketing, where she won several awards for her work with clients like I Love New York. You can follow Lindsay on Twitter (@linguangst) or by visiting www.lindsayblackwell.net.
Find her on Twitter as @linguangst.
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Nerd Nite #32 - Beyond the Video Frame
Take a walk beyond traditional filmmaking and into the world of interactive video art and video mapping. Our journey will go behind the scenes on how this artist’s projects were created from concept to execution. Discover more about the strange world of video beyond the rectangular screen.
About Martin Thoburn: Martin is a local animator and artist working in a variety of different media. He has produced and directed several short films, both animated and live action. Determined not to be confined to any one medium, Martin continually explores photography, live video mixing, design, collage, animation and motion graphics. Working with both modern and antique technologies sometimes in tandem, his work explores the uniqueness of the medium, technology, and/or tool. He is involved with YPSI24 and the Ann Arbor Film Festival and you can follow him on Twitter @duiceburger, or visit martin-thoburn.com.
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Nerd Nite #32 - Are Film Cameras Dead, and Why Not?
“Didn’t Kodak go bankrupt?” After the year 2000, sales of photographic film plunged by at least 95%. Yet there’s still a dedicated fringe who appreciate film’s tangible physicality and distinctive look. In a digital age, why are new converts dusting off decades-old, chunky, glass & metal cameras? For this talk we’ll bust out the 35mm Carousel projector and look at examples of why “slow photography” matters even today.
About Ross Orr: Starting with a bakelite Argus at age 8, Ross photographs Ann Arbor (and beyond) using cameras from every era. He bought his first copy of Photoshop in 1995, but celebrates his ongoing love for the photochemical image at silverbased.org and on Flickr. He has contributed numerous articles to MAKE: magazine, including the DIY panoramic pinhole camera chosen for The Best of Make: Vol. 1. He also helps coordinate the web’s largest camera encyclopedia, camera-wiki.org.
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Nerd Nite #31 - Anxiety Disorders: When Worrying Gets in the Way
Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health diagnosis in the United States. This talk will outline how anxiety is manifested in our bodies, common medications used to treat disorders, and therapeutic techniques used to manage (or alleviate) symptoms.
About Elizabeth Block: Elizabeth is a third year psychiatry resident at the University of Michigan, set to begin a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in July. In addition to anxiety disorders, her professional interests include psychotic disorders and increasing mental health awareness.
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Nerd Nite #31 - Great, and Not So Great, Moments in Measurements: Wait! What Units Were You Using?
We encounter measurements every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us up and we adjust the water temperature for our shower, get dressed in clothes that fit, take doses of medicine, cook our meals & coffee, drive to work, buy gas & groceries, turn on a light switch, pay our bills, use gas/electricity, watch TV, build anything, pay for anything. How do we know these measurements are correct? What happens when these measurements happen in another country? How do we know the measurements “translate” from country to country & language to language? International System of Units and metrological traceability are the backbone of measurements. What does that mean? What are examples of non-traceable measurements? What happens when measurements go wrong? Proper measurements bring confidence & peace-of-mind to our lives. Understanding what measurements are help to ensure better measurements happen and life goes more smoothly.
About Heather Wade: UM grad and Calibration Officer at NSF International, headquartered here in Ann Arbor, Heather is an ASQ-Certified Calibration Technician (www.asq.org). She is a co-author of The Metrology Handbook, 2nd Edition, edited by Jay Bucher and has been published in Cal Lab Magazine: The International Journal of Metrology. She just completed her terms as Chair of ASQ’s Measurement Quality Division and also as Chair of ASQ’s Certification Board subcommittee for the ASQ-CCT. She has presented and published at national and international conferences. She also does outreach as a Metrology Ambassador. She has worked as a microbiologist, extraction and analytical chemist, and as a physical test engineer prior to embarking on her career in metrology and calibration.
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Nerd Nite #32 - Music and The Microphone
The invention of the microphone dramatically changed popular music, and allowed for the development of a more personal, intimate and emotional style of singing. We’ll look at, and listen to, this development.
About Andy Ross: Andy is a web and graphic designer, and a widely exhibited artist here in Ann Arbor. He’s also a dedicated amateur musician and singer, and he has taught courses in popular culture and its impact. Find more about him at andyrossdesign.com or follow him on Twitter @andyrossdesign.
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Nerd Nite #31 - The Great Pleasure (and Long History) of Creating New Kinds of Plants
Basically as soon as agriculture began, humans started messing with plants, controlling their sex lives in order to transform the weeds around them into the grains and vegetables we depend on today. And while the crazy origin stories of things like corn and broccoli are in the distant past, I still use the exact same traditional methods to indulge my inner mad scientist and create new varieties of plants in my garden. The results are fun (and sometimes delicious) and will make you see the produce section of the grocery store in an entirely new way.
About Joseph Tychonievich: A life long gardener and lover of plants, Joseph has been a repeated guest on public radio’s food show The Splendid Table, wrote a book, Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener (Timber Press, 2013), spent two years working at the famed rare plants nursery Arrowhead Alpines and was named by Organic Gardening Magazine as one of “…six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.” Joseph lives and gardens with his husband and an adorable black cat in Ypsilanti. You can find him on Twitter at @gsgardens, read his blog posts at gardenprofessors.com or http://www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors/
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Nerd Nite #30 - Twitterbot Says Vote!
There are 90,000 registered voters in Ann Arbor. Most don’t vote. I built a Twitter bot that matched voter names to Twitter accounts, then sent reminders to vote in local elections. Learn more about the problem, the project, and how it worked!
About Sam Firke: Sam is a data analyst at an education nonprofit and a former high school math teacher. He’s active in local politics, makes things, and raises a couple of small nerdlings. He’s involved with the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild (aabg.org) and you can find him on Twitter at @samfirke.
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Nerd Nite #30 - 35 Offbeat Ways of Looking at the POTUS
Sometimes the President of the United States seems larger than life. This humorous talk will bring them down to size with anecdotes that present them as more man than myth. The Head of State Cakes project, in which a cake recipe is created in honor of each president, is what happens when you cross a lifelong interest in presidential history with a love of baking. The results are not only tasty, they’re pretty fun to talk about.
About Sherlonya Turner: Sherlonya has an all-consuming and perhaps overwhelming love for the presidents. She’s interested in them less as politicians and more as men. Her history degree helps her put things in context. Her library degree gives her research tips and tricks. Her love of cooking has inspired her to create a tribute cupcake for each US President; see them all at headofstatecakes.com. Her son is tired of hearing her talk about Lyndon Baines Johnson, her president boyfriend.
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Nerd Nite #30 - How Nano-Electronics Might Allow You to Communicate with Your Refrigerator
Imagine having a refrigerator that can tell you when food has spoiled! The next technological revolution will be turning every appliance we use into a smart device. To create these devices, we need tiny sensors to allow the electronics to interact with the environment. Today these sensors are too large or too expensive, but luckily, engineers are working to reduce this sensor size and cost with the help of nano-electronics.
About Matt DeJarld: Matt is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan. For the past few years, he has worked heavily with semiconductor nanostructures in efforts to improve the future of solar and indoor lighting technologies. In his free time he enjoys hiking with his dog, music, and movies/television.