Class2010Apr16

Class Assignments and Agenda for Week 14, 2010 Apr 16
Class meets from 9:10 - 11:55A in 3214 Jordan Hall Addition


 * The major objectives for this session are to ...**
 * Wiki final pages tutorial (Hess)
 * Deal with any comments
 * Think through final presentation approach
 * Get out invites to final presentation / open house


 * Things to do before class**
 * Get external review copies out the door


 * Agenda

Wiki tutorial - what you need to know to post the report **
 * Play in the sandbox
 * Creating and linking pages
 * Uploading and inserting figures
 * getting figures from XLS to JPG: mac / windows
 * single
 * in tables
 * Creating tables - cut-and-paste from excel
 * Cleaning up formatting
 * eliminating span stuff

Need to define a year for all $$ reporting
 * Farms has used 2010 and has a methodology

Collecting data and metadata
 * Each team to compile data and bring to last class or final presentation on USB drive
 * Template for MetaData tab in all Excel files: [|SOEMetaDataTemplate.xls]
 * Example: [|PopulationByCounty.xlsx]
 * Also need to complete metadata in ArcCatalog for GIS layers
 * And need a README.txt file describing briefly what each layer is - name of layer (match filename) and brief description

Final presentation - from last week's notes ...
 * We decided to do a more active kind of presentation than we had originally considered, thanks to a great idea from Lauren.
 * Instead of a full-length PPT, which is made redundant by having everything on the web, we will do an overview to the full audience, and then have one of the large plasma screens set up for each of the four public values (big sign on top of each screen).
 * Audience will be able to move around to each and talk to the team, look at things, etc.
 * Jessica and I (Hess) were talking after class - we should also put out a bunch of the laptops scattered around the room so that people who want to poke around on their own can do so - we can bring them up and set to the TriangleEnvironment home page. People can look on their own and then also visit teams to ask questions.

What have we learned, and how have we learned it?


 * Notes: (by Hess) **


 * No other groups are reporting $$ amounts; farms will standardize to 2010
 * Agreed that metadata need not follow exact format, so long as the information is included. We still need a MetaData tag in all xls files that will contain the information. It's OK if it's the same as the information in the Technical Notes, so long as all elements are present.
 * Agreement on final presentation as outlined above; sketched out an agenda. Willis agreed to write up a short feedback form for our review by next week. Hess agreed to send out a draft invitation for review (done 16 Apr). Hess will check with Brice on paying for food (done 16 Apr - Brice has agreed).
 * Some learnings ...
 * getting data can be very difficult; getting the right data even harder - need lots of lead time
 * data often assumed to be "out there" are often not
 * being as specific as possible when requesting data and creating mock tables really helped with requests
 * it seemed like we were being asked to do so much that it was hard to get time for analyzing data - sorry, but that never stops
 * it was very difficult to step away from high levels of assumed knowledge so that we could write for a more general audience - led to deeper thinking about what things are and mean
 * communication is so important when working with teams - we all have to know what everyone is doing - and trust that team members will get it done
 * creating structure really helps more things forward - jointly creating the milestones was a key step to our continued progress, even though we changed them along the way
 * the wiki was a bit of a pain, but nobody had alternative - the real issue is that it was yet another software package to learn - new software overload