I was at an awards ceremony the other night. At that time, several people were making presentations, using PowerPoint. The screen was directly behind the presenter, and the slides were being controlled by another person, sitting behind the presenter. Therefore, each presenter would frequently turn his or her head, look at the screen and slide, then continue the presentation.
While it's good to be sure of the slide you're on, turning the head and talking to the screen is an ineffective way to communicate. You run the risk of losing your audience when you do so. People give presentations this way because they have no other way of knowing that's on the screen.
Here are two alternatives for you, when you are the presenter. First, control the computer yourself. Keep it in front of you, so that you see exactly what the audience sees. That way, you can look BRIEFLY at the screen while still seeing the audience, and thus can avoid turning your head.
If you can't arrange to have the computer screen in front, then have in front of you instead a printed copy of the slides. Make sure, though, that the printed copy and the "soft" electronic copy are the same.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Almost time to leave Beijing
I can't believe how quickly time flies. It seems like only yesterday I arrived in Beijing, to study and teach at Tsinghua University. I will be leaving on December 31, with many fond memories and experiences.
Here's an article I wrote on living in Beijing, with tips and things to watch out for. Since that time, I've added a few more.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=449
Here's an article I wrote on living in Beijing, with tips and things to watch out for. Since that time, I've added a few more.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=449
Monday, November 24, 2008
Library issues
The library I study at, here in Beijing, is convenient and quiet. I usually can accomplish a great deal. However, several things do irk me.
- "no bag" policy
The first two or three times I entered the library, I was greeted by "你好, 别拿袋子," i.e. "Excuse me, no bags are allowed." Patrons must leave bags outside the library, on a row of chairs outside the entrance. Then, they must empty the contents and bring those contents inside, by hand (in other words, this policy defeats the purpose of having a bag). Several times I've forgotten something, and had to go back outside to get it. Other times, I have left things at the library that I should have taken.
- limited Internet connection
The library has a wireless network, but users of that network can access only China-based web sites. If I want to access U.S. web sites, I have to use a physical Ethernet connection, but there are NONE on the main floor of the library. Instead, I have to go upstairs to one of the classrooms, some of which have a limited number of Ethernet jacks.
- limited hours of stack availability
The stacks close at 5 pm during the week, and are unavailable completely on weekends. Fortunately, much of the material I use and need is online.
- early closing on Friday and Saturday
On these days, the library closes at 3:45 pm. Students who are studying therefore must find another place.
The reason I was given for the early closing, and for limited stack availability, is that the staff has a meeting at 4 pm on Fridays. I wonder why they couldn't schedule the meeting later, or just keep the libray open, and let students know that many services are unavailable during the meting.
To be sure, there ARE things I like about the library. When they announce the closing, they play a really beautiful song as a signal. There are times when I will come to the library near closing tiem just to hear that song. My host student, Cissy, thinks I'm weird in that regard. I've even asked the librarians if the song is available on CD?
- "no bag" policy
The first two or three times I entered the library, I was greeted by "你好, 别拿袋子," i.e. "Excuse me, no bags are allowed." Patrons must leave bags outside the library, on a row of chairs outside the entrance. Then, they must empty the contents and bring those contents inside, by hand (in other words, this policy defeats the purpose of having a bag). Several times I've forgotten something, and had to go back outside to get it. Other times, I have left things at the library that I should have taken.
- limited Internet connection
The library has a wireless network, but users of that network can access only China-based web sites. If I want to access U.S. web sites, I have to use a physical Ethernet connection, but there are NONE on the main floor of the library. Instead, I have to go upstairs to one of the classrooms, some of which have a limited number of Ethernet jacks.
- limited hours of stack availability
The stacks close at 5 pm during the week, and are unavailable completely on weekends. Fortunately, much of the material I use and need is online.
- early closing on Friday and Saturday
On these days, the library closes at 3:45 pm. Students who are studying therefore must find another place.
The reason I was given for the early closing, and for limited stack availability, is that the staff has a meeting at 4 pm on Fridays. I wonder why they couldn't schedule the meeting later, or just keep the libray open, and let students know that many services are unavailable during the meting.
To be sure, there ARE things I like about the library. When they announce the closing, they play a really beautiful song as a signal. There are times when I will come to the library near closing tiem just to hear that song. My host student, Cissy, thinks I'm weird in that regard. I've even asked the librarians if the song is available on CD?
Friday, October 10, 2008
Led down the proverbial primrose path
Did you ever waste time thinking you had a problem in one area, only to find it was caused by something that was easily corrected? That happened to me yesterday, in trying to access the Internet from Tsinghua University School of Law.
Internet access here at the law school has several unusual aspects. In the first place, free wireless service is available in the library and in many classrooms. However, such service permits access only to Chinese-based web sites, plus limited English web sites (namely Google). People who want unlimited Internet access must subscribe to a paid Tsinghua network service called TUNet, and receive a user-ID and password. Furthermore, in order to use TUNet, one HAS to be connected via a physical Ethernet cable connection (i.e., one has to have a cable connection from the computer to a wall jack). TUNet access is not available using a wireless connection (don't ask me why, that's just the way it is--something I have come to expect while here).
I use TUNet on my own laptop, via an installation program my host student, Cissy, gave me. It works fine and I can access the Internet without problems. However, yesterday I did have problems, when using a library computer.
The library in the law school has a computer lab. The computers are connected to a local area network via Ethernet cables. These computers have the same TUNet program, and users can access the Internet.
I went to the lab, sat down by one of the computers, brought up TUNet and tried to sign on. I entered a userID and my password, but was unsuccessful. TUNet displayed a message saying that the password was invalid. I tried several times more, each time getting the same message. I then hooked my own laptop, started TUNet and entered the same password I used for the lab computers. This time, as I expected, I was able to start TUNet just fine. So, I went BACK to the lab computer, started TUNet there, and again I got the same message, "invalid password."
Finally, I went to the TUNet office, and explained to them what was happening. The woman in charge, who has helped me before, asked to sign onto TUNet using a computer in their office, and I did so. Right after I entered a userID and password, she stopped me, immediately noticing an issue. Instead of ending my user ID with "c08" I was ending it with "c2008." I never noticed the issue because my userID is saved on my laptop version of the program. Once I corrected the userID, everything was fine.
Clearly, I made a mistake in entering the userID. The password really had nothing to do with the problem. In both cases, whether on the library computer or on my own laptop, I entered the "right" one. However, when I entered the "wrong" userID, the system couldn't make a match, and gave me an error.
However, think about this situation more: really, the system gave me the wrong message. Chances are, the "wrong" userID I entered doesn't really exist on the system. In that case, rather than telling me "invalid password," it should have told me "invalid userID." That would have saved me time, and kept me from looking in the wrong place for an answer.
Moral: if you're getting error messages, check everything. Don't assume the message is pointing you to the right place. Second, if you're designing a system, make sure your error messages are accurate and not misleading.
Internet access here at the law school has several unusual aspects. In the first place, free wireless service is available in the library and in many classrooms. However, such service permits access only to Chinese-based web sites, plus limited English web sites (namely Google). People who want unlimited Internet access must subscribe to a paid Tsinghua network service called TUNet, and receive a user-ID and password. Furthermore, in order to use TUNet, one HAS to be connected via a physical Ethernet cable connection (i.e., one has to have a cable connection from the computer to a wall jack). TUNet access is not available using a wireless connection (don't ask me why, that's just the way it is--something I have come to expect while here).
I use TUNet on my own laptop, via an installation program my host student, Cissy, gave me. It works fine and I can access the Internet without problems. However, yesterday I did have problems, when using a library computer.
The library in the law school has a computer lab. The computers are connected to a local area network via Ethernet cables. These computers have the same TUNet program, and users can access the Internet.
I went to the lab, sat down by one of the computers, brought up TUNet and tried to sign on. I entered a userID and my password, but was unsuccessful. TUNet displayed a message saying that the password was invalid. I tried several times more, each time getting the same message. I then hooked my own laptop, started TUNet and entered the same password I used for the lab computers. This time, as I expected, I was able to start TUNet just fine. So, I went BACK to the lab computer, started TUNet there, and again I got the same message, "invalid password."
Finally, I went to the TUNet office, and explained to them what was happening. The woman in charge, who has helped me before, asked to sign onto TUNet using a computer in their office, and I did so. Right after I entered a userID and password, she stopped me, immediately noticing an issue. Instead of ending my user ID with "c08" I was ending it with "c2008." I never noticed the issue because my userID is saved on my laptop version of the program. Once I corrected the userID, everything was fine.
Clearly, I made a mistake in entering the userID. The password really had nothing to do with the problem. In both cases, whether on the library computer or on my own laptop, I entered the "right" one. However, when I entered the "wrong" userID, the system couldn't make a match, and gave me an error.
However, think about this situation more: really, the system gave me the wrong message. Chances are, the "wrong" userID I entered doesn't really exist on the system. In that case, rather than telling me "invalid password," it should have told me "invalid userID." That would have saved me time, and kept me from looking in the wrong place for an answer.
Moral: if you're getting error messages, check everything. Don't assume the message is pointing you to the right place. Second, if you're designing a system, make sure your error messages are accurate and not misleading.
Led down the proverbial primrose path
Did you ever waste time thinking you had a problem in one area, only to find it was caused by something that was easily corrected? That happened to me yesterday, in trying to access the Internet from Tsinghua University School of Law.
Internet access here at the law school has several unusual aspects. In the first place, free wireless service is available in the library and in many classrooms. However, such service permits access only to Chinese-based web sites, plus limited English web sites (namely Google). People who want unlimited Internet access must subscribe to a paid Tsinghua network service called TUNet, and receive a user-ID and password. Furthermore, in order to use TUNet, one HAS to be connected via a physical Ethernet cable connection (i.e., one has to have a cable connection from the computer to a wall jack). TUNet access is not available using a wireless connection (don't ask me why, that's just the way it is--something I have come to expect while here).
I use TUNet on my own laptop, via an installation program my host student, Cissy, gave me. It works fine and I can access the Internet without problems. However, yesterday I did have problems, when using a library computer.
The library in the law school has a computer lab. The computers are connected to a local area network via Ethernet cables. These computers have the same TUNet program, and users can access the Internet.
I went to the lab, sat down by one of the computers, brought up TUNet and tried to sign on. I entered a userID and my password, but was unsuccessful. TUNet displayed a message saying that the password was invalid. I tried several times more, each time getting the same message. I then hooked my own laptop, started TUNet and entered the same password I used for the lab computers. This time, as I expected, I was able to start TUNet just fine. So, I went BACK to the lab computer, started TUNet there, and again I got the same message, "invalid password."
Finally, I went to the TUNet office, and explained to them what was happening. The woman in charge, who has helped me before, asked to sign onto TUNet using a computer in their office, and I did so. Right after I entered a userID and password, she stopped me, immediately noticing an issue. Instead of ending my user ID with "c08" I was ending it with "c2008." I never noticed the issue because my userID is saved on my laptop version of the program. Once I corrected the userID, everything was fine.
Clearly, I made a mistake in entering the userID. The password really had nothing to do with the problem. In both cases, whether on the library computer or on my own laptop, I entered the "right" one. However, when I entered the "wrong" userID, the system couldn't make a match, and gave me an error.
However, think about this situation more: really, the system gave me the wrong message. Chances are, the "wrong" userID I entered doesn't really exist on the system. In that case, rather than telling me "invalid password," it should have told me "invalid userID." That would have saved me time, and kept me from looking in the wrong place for an answer.
Moral: if you're getting error messages, check everything. Don't assume the message is pointing you to the right place. Second, if you're designing a system, make sure your error messages are accurate and not misleading.
Internet access here at the law school has several unusual aspects. In the first place, free wireless service is available in the library and in many classrooms. However, such service permits access only to Chinese-based web sites, plus limited English web sites (namely Google). People who want unlimited Internet access must subscribe to a paid Tsinghua network service called TUNet, and receive a user-ID and password. Furthermore, in order to use TUNet, one HAS to be connected via a physical Ethernet cable connection (i.e., one has to have a cable connection from the computer to a wall jack). TUNet access is not available using a wireless connection (don't ask me why, that's just the way it is--something I have come to expect while here).
I use TUNet on my own laptop, via an installation program my host student, Cissy, gave me. It works fine and I can access the Internet without problems. However, yesterday I did have problems, when using a library computer.
The library in the law school has a computer lab. The computers are connected to a local area network via Ethernet cables. These computers have the same TUNet program, and users can access the Internet.
I went to the lab, sat down by one of the computers, brought up TUNet and tried to sign on. I entered a userID and my password, but was unsuccessful. TUNet displayed a message saying that the password was invalid. I tried several times more, each time getting the same message. I then hooked my own laptop, started TUNet and entered the same password I used for the lab computers. This time, as I expected, I was able to start TUNet just fine. So, I went BACK to the lab computer, started TUNet there, and again I got the same message, "invalid password."
Finally, I went to the TUNet office, and explained to them what was happening. The woman in charge, who has helped me before, asked to sign onto TUNet using a computer in their office, and I did so. Right after I entered a userID and password, she stopped me, immediately noticing an issue. Instead of ending my user ID with "c08" I was ending it with "c2008." I never noticed the issue because my userID is saved on my laptop version of the program. Once I corrected the userID, everything was fine.
Clearly, I made a mistake in entering the userID. The password really had nothing to do with the problem. In both cases, whether on the library computer or on my own laptop, I entered the "right" one. However, when I entered the "wrong" userID, the system couldn't make a match, and gave me an error.
However, think about this situation more: really, the system gave me the wrong message. Chances are, the "wrong" userID I entered doesn't really exist on the system. In that case, rather than telling me "invalid password," it should have told me "invalid userID." That would have saved me time, and kept me from looking in the wrong place for an answer.
Moral: if you're getting error messages, check everything. Don't assume the message is pointing you to the right place. Second, if you're designing a system, make sure your error messages are accurate and not misleading.
Taking care of a defective Sony Vaio, part I
My wife, Michelle, yelled at me on Saturday morning, September 27 as she was writing, on her Sony Vaio notebook computer, an account of our current stay in
As Michelle was working on her computer, it suddenly became significantly warmer by the left hinge, at which the AC power adapter is plugged into the computer. Suddenly, the left side of the monitor frame began to melt. We immediately shut down the computer and unplugged the AC adapter, but by that time a small section of metal underneath the lid frame had become exposed.
Here’s where the real fun began.
We naturally expressed concern over this plan, saying that it would take too long, and asked instead if we could find a facility in
A day went by, and we heard nothing from anyone at Sony. We called back, and after another long wait, reached another level 2 person. This second person told us that the first person really had misspoken in committing an answer to us. Because our call occurred on the weekend, no supervisors were available. In addition, the computer systems that might contain the desired information, regarding Sony repair centers in
He probably meant well, but this second Sony person then made an unbelievable statement to us: he suggested that we go to the Sony China web site and try to look up the information ourselves. We replied that this idea had two complications. First, the web site is in Chinese, with no apparent way to display an English version. Second, even if we did locate this center, we had concerns over whether they would know how to handle our situation. He apologized, but said that until the weekend was finished, he could do nothing more.
Next: The Sony answer, and our response
Taking care of a defective Sony Vaio, part I
My wife, Michelle, yelled at me on Saturday morning, September 27 as she was writing, on her Sony Vaio notebook computer, an account of our current stay in
As Michelle was working on her computer, it suddenly became significantly warmer by the left hinge, at which the AC power adapter is plugged into the computer. Suddenly, the left side of the monitor frame began to melt. We immediately shut down the computer and unplugged the AC adapter, but by that time a small section of metal underneath the lid frame had become exposed.
Here’s where the real fun began.
We naturally expressed concern over this plan, saying that it would take too long, and asked instead if we could find a facility in
A day went by, and we heard nothing from anyone at Sony. We called back, and after another long wait, reached another level 2 person. This second person told us that the first person really had misspoken in committing an answer to us. Because our call occurred on the weekend, no supervisors were available. In addition, the computer systems that might contain the desired information, regarding Sony repair centers in
He probably meant well, but this second Sony person then made an unbelievable statement to us: he suggested that we go to the Sony China web site and try to look up the information ourselves. We replied that this idea had two complications. First, the web site is in Chinese, with no apparent way to display an English version. Second, even if we did locate this center, we had concerns over whether they would know how to handle our situation. He apologized, but said that until the weekend was finished, he could do nothing more.
Next: The Sony answer, and our response
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