Category: Technology

University of Iowa + flooding

The University of Iowa emergency homepage

The University of Iowa will be closed for at least a week due to flooding in Iowa City. The U of Iowa’s website has been stripped of almost all images and is providing important updates to university students and personnel. The University of Iowa News Services Department is using a combination of Blogger and Flickr to conserve the university’s bandwidth.

For more information, please consult the University of Iowa Flood Information Site hosted on Blogger. Photographs from the U of Iowa’s New Services Dept can be found on the UI News Flickr site. KSUI 91.7 on Iowa Public Radio is providing extensive regional news, flood and emergency updates for Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and other locations in eastern Iowa that are and will be heavily impacted in the coming days by flood waters.

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Firefox 3 – Download Day

Download Day 2008

Download Day is Mozilla’s attempt to set a world record for the most software downloads in 24 hours and will occur on Firefox 3’s launch day occurring sometime in June.

via Crouch Consulting (I can’t believe I’m giving Crouch link juice ;-) )

If 5 million people download Firefox 3 on Download Day, Mike Morgan will give every Corvallis resident a free iPhone. That’s the completely fabricated rumor…

Web Stats Addict (WSA)

It is public knowledge that I am a web stats addict. Web stats are a variable reward system that keep me coming back to check on my referrals, keyword searches, and recent visitor activity. I think Wendy is going to host a web stats intervention soon… Is anyone else hooked on their web stats?

Eric Stoller web site statistics from statcounter

More web stats goodness after the jump.
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eduStyle Higher-ed Web Awards

eduStyle Peoples Choice Awards
The eduStyle Higher-ed Web Awards People’s Choice voting has begun. People’s Choice voting will end on June 1st. Vote now!

The eduStyle Higher-ed Web Awards celebrate the best work in college and university websites. Eighteen categories recognize the most innovative and exciting developments in key areas of higher education web development.

Top-level prizes include best overall website, best redesign and most innovative. There are also awards in areas such as information architecture and video; awards for sub-sites (e.g. a faculty website) and special projects. Awards on blogging in higher-ed will be presented in partnership with CollegeWebEditor.com.

Some of my favorite nominees include: University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Oxford University, Biola University, Brown University, and Vassar College. I am surprised that the MIT Admissions blog didn’t get enough nominations for the People’s Choice award. The design and copy are superb! Unsurprisingly, the University of Tennessee website has been nominated in several different categories. What can I say, it’s awesome.

Campus maps and Google

Oregon State University campus map using the Google Maps API

Several higher education websites have revamped their campus maps. The map-making-mashup technology of choice seems to be the Google Maps API.

Here are a few examples of university campus maps that utilize Google Maps:

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Optomap of my eyes

My eye doctor has this spaceage device called an Optomap that takes a picture of the back of your eye – the retina. I was getting my eyes checked a few weeks ago and had my eyes photographed using this system. The images were amazing. I asked my doctor if I could get a copy sent to my email address. (Yes, I am a total geek!) Here are Optomap images of both my right and left eyes. My eyelashes appear at the bottom of each image.

Left eye:
Left eye Eric Stoller optomap

Right eye:
right eye Eric Stoller Optomap

Web 2.0 footprint

Recently, the head space that I am devoting to various Web 2.0 sites and applications has begun to feel quite cumbersome. I decided to create a post on my “Web 2.0 footprint.” My usage of each of these sites ebbs and flows. This list represents Web 2.0 services that I use at least once per month. Without further ado, here is a list in no particular order (with links to my personal profiles) of the Web 2.0 sites and services that I currently engage with on the interwebs:

Wordpress.org
WordPress.org: It runs my blog. I’ve tried Blogger and heard a lot about Movable Type, but WordPress has my blogging heart in its php basket.

Twitter
Twitter: I’m still not sure what it’s good for ;-). My virtual journal consists of my blog, my live journal account and my twitter account. Sometimes I just need a few words in the Twitterspace to get something out of my head.

LiveJournal
LiveJournal: Everything that does not get posted on my blog or on Twitter is posted on my LiveJournal account. Private groups get treated to spectacular rants and it serves as a space for me and my local friends to share all sorts of thoughts and feelings.

Flickr
Flickr: Only a few of the gigabytes of photographs that I have taken are on my Flickr account. I really need to upload more when I get some spare time.

Facebook
Facebook: I use Facebook on a daily basis. It’s a great place to connect with friends. It enables me to stay connected with a lot more people than I probably would be able to in the “real” world. Facebook isn’t perfect, but in my opinion, it is the only show in town for my social networking needs.

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