Topology

When referring to computer graphics, 3d models and the like, topology is the wireframe of a given object. The wireframe is comprised of all the vertices (where lines meet to form a point), edges (the lines made up of two connects vertives) and from that information the faces can be made (generally have 2-3 connected edges per face). Now, as I pointed out in a previous blog I said that optimization was immportant for computer graphics. Today, I will go over "proper" topology.

Proper Topology?

Proper topology is the arrangement of the wireframe so that enough detail is present in the model while also keeping the polygon (faces) count to a manageable number (as low as possible while keeping necessary detail). In animation, proper topology goes one step further because it allows the model to deform more naturally when moving. (Bad topology example) (Good topology example)

I've been working on a system for recommending courses to students based on the past performance of similar students. Hopefully the system will be a useful tool for students wishing to gain some idea of what courses they might do well in. However another purpose of designing this system is to compare it with an artificial intelligence advising system that is being worked on in the computer science department. The comparison would be to see how artifical intelligence does with planning for students versus a netflix style advising system (technical term is collaborative filtering).

What is amazing about this to me is the possible use of a computer as an advisor. I think of advising decisions as complex and personal. To think that artifical intelligence has come so far as to be considered for this type of process shows just how far computing has come. Think about early computers. They filled entire rooms and required intensive set up to perform very simple computations. Now we use computers in the military (automated drones), selecting movies (netflix), playing chess, winning jeapordy, and finding love (match.com, eHarmony, etc). The early computer scientist would be astounded by how much has been done in such a short time. So the question is: what is possible in the future?

I detest people that nickel and dime others.  Really, it’s a disgusting practice and I imagine after a certain point no amount of soap and water can wash of the shame a retailer feels for doing this to their poor customers.  The rage for this week is focused mainly on EA games.

Now if any of you watched E3 this year (doubtful, I realize) you’ll know that they are releasing a Stars Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG later this year.  This issue is that the digital version of the game is selling exclusively on Origin, EA’s site.  Now the game’s preorder price is set to be 40 pounds (the British money, not the weight), but they’re charging 5 pounds for buying it digitally instead of through a retailer, and then another 5 on top of that for being allowed the privilege of pre-ordering.  That’s 50 pounds, or for those of you bad at currency exchange, $85.  This for a game that they’ve said practically mum on, when on average you’d pay $50-60 for a new game in the U.S. and 30 pounds in Britain.

Off DeWall: Wired co-Director Goes to China (July 20, 2011)

Wired has the mission of connecting members of the UK family with each other and our local and global communities. This is my first blog entry to show you how I live this mission. I’m in the air right now, on my way to China. I’ll be there for a month doing a bunch of different things devoted to connecting members of the UK family to the global community.

First, I’ll be teaching a short course to Chinese students at Sun Yat-Sen University, which is located in a town called Guangzhou (pronounced GWAN-JOE). It’s in the Southern Part of China, making it something like the Miami of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). I’ll teach psychology students about social psychological research—how to do it, how to evaluate it, and how to get excited about it. I’ll focus on my areas of interest: interpersonal relationships, self-control, and aggression.

Second, I’ll give a speech to the School of Psychology on my research program on how people respond to social exclusion. I relish the opportunity to share the research we’ve conducted at the University of Kentucky with the Chinese faculty and students.

Being able to condense entire music libraries and photo albums is pretty commonplace now.  But until recently, with advances in tablet computing, being able to condense an entire library of actual books into a handheld device that still offered the same reading experience was quite hard.  I have tried out several different e-readers including the iPad and NookColor, but recently decided to purchase an Amazon Kindle, which I have been immensely satisfied with.

My biggest complaint with the other e-readers I have used (the iPad in particular) was the amount of screen glare that could occur in a well-lit room or outdoors.  When outside an iPad’s screen is practically invisible, be it in a game, internet browser, or reading app.  The Kindle uses what Amazon calls “e-ink” to accurately reproduce the look of ink-on-paper print.  I actually believe that e-ink is in many ways superior to traditional printing.  Often times, especially with mass market paperbacks, the print quality is not the greatest and can impede readability of the book.  This has never been a problem while using my Kindle, no matter which book I am reading.

 I have recently discovered a new website that has a collage of all things on it.  It is called Pinterest.com; this site has everything from food to fashion, travel to tech, design to DIY and everything in between.  This site is so great because there is always something different pinned to the site when the page refreshes.  There is always some cute home décor or some delicious looking recipe that you just have to check out.  Then if you really like it you can repin that post to your board.  Pinterest is social media site of only pictures and captions.  There are no posts, no blogs, and no personal profiles—there are simply pictures that are pinned to the site.  It’s a giant always changing site of pictures that are posted and arranged in the same way that a bulletin board might be arranged.  If you are looking for some creative new things to try out or you are just looking for some entertainment, I would suggest checking this site out.

Born this way

We are removed and alienated from this xenophobic society. 

We are known as the strange, weird, exotic, different, insane, eccentric breed in this world.

They claim that we are emotionally tortured and disturbed, stuck in our own fantasy realm.

We were born this way.

We were born different

We were created to bring abstract viewpoints and color in to this plain colorless space.

We are what make the world different.

We are the fabricators of dreams and ideas that we attempt to bring to life.

Nothing is impossible for us.

We bring enlightenment to the world.

We illustrate what is outside the box from within the box.

We are our own genre of people.

Nothing is impossible through our eyes.

We imagine what we desire.

We will not apologize for the way we are.

They will never be able to wrong this right.

We graffiti this world with much needed splendor.

We must stand together, rise against the nay-sayers of this utopian society and be the artistic, creative interesting, living organisms we are.

We all stand for one thing- the freedom to be - who we were born to be: creative. 

     I did a project this week using Adobe Connect and taught some of my colleagues about astrology.  Adobe Connect is a platform which enables for many people to have an online conference.  It can be really useful for Online Education in the form of virtual office hours, lectures, or even study sessions.  Many of the professors in our Online Education classes have used it quite successfully and rave about how interactive it made their classes.  Judging from the course evaluations, the students really enjoyed using it too. 

     One important thing that I learned, among other things, while presenting my lesson was that perfection is not needed for online instruction, or any instruction for that matter.  Even though I had rehearsed my presentation a few times, there were still some technical difficulties that occurred which could not be foreseen.  It did not detail the lesson, however, and I was able to recover and finish.  In the end, the lesson went well.

Greetings! Marshall Herbst here… the really, really new guy, and welcome to my blog!  Just for your reference, I recently graduated Hanover College in Indiana and am currently enrolled in the MIC Program here at UK. I am also working as an Instructional Technology Assistant here in the College of Arts and Sciences  I think I am going to treat this like a journal of sorts. After my first couple weeks here at Online Ed, I feel like I am starting to get into the pace of things. With all the new programs to learn, the people to meet, and the problems to solve, it seems like each day flies by. The really cool thing about all this is that I really am beginning to see the value in what this office does for both professors and students, and appreciate all the work that goes into actually constructing, and maintaining, these online courses. I will admit, previous to my experiences over the past couple weeks, I did not acknowledge how online classes could be as effective as the traditional method of instruction, sitting in a class of peers with open communication with the instructor. Perhaps it is the History Major in me coming out, the one who is used to huddling in the library pouring over piles of texts to search for the perfect quote.