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Wrapping Up My Gratitude This Year in Christmas Paper and Ribbons. | Wrapping Up My Gratitude This Year in Christmas Paper and Ribbons. As 2020 comes to a close, I glanced back over my first eight months writing on Medium. I’ve learned so much from so many and found a passion that had been lying dormant under a pile of self-doubt.
Please help me celebrate those who made a difference in 2020 :) Casey Botticello and his Blogging Guide were instrumental in my growth on Medium. Brian Brewington, the editor of Journal of Journeys, published my first story and gave me hope! Dr. Mehmet Yildiz of ILLUMINATION and ILLUMINATION-Curated helped me take it to a new level, and Dew Langrial helped promote my work. Thanks to Nicole Akers, founder of Publishous, and Dr. Christine Bradstreet, editor of Change Your Mind Change Your Life, for your great tips and encouraging words! | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/wrapping-up-my-gratitude-this-year-in-christmas-paper-and-ribbons-f9d7e481fc4c | ['Liz Porter'] | 2020-12-22 18:07:45.792000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Writing', 'Gratitude', 'Christmas', 'Ｍedium'] |
The Most Efficient Way to Read Code Written by Someone Else | As developers, regardless of our specialty, whether it being data science, front end, or back end, we spend more than 75% of our time reading code written by others. That task can be such a demanding task.
That being said, the ability to read others’ code efficiently is one of the skills that could make one’s job in software engineering much more pleasant. Unfortunately, it is also a skill that is widely overlooked by schools, bootcamps, and companies. It is one of those skills that everyone assumes you know, or be good at, just because you know how to write code.
The thing about writing code is, everyone has there own coding style. Reading code is not like reading a novel or a story; it’s not just about reading instructions on the screen. Instead, when you read code written by someone else, you’re not just reading their code. You’re trying to get into their thoughts process and what they were thinking when they wrote that code.
Needless to say, that is an extremely challenging task. But, it’s a task that you can make exponentially easier. In this article, I will walk you through my 4 steps process of reading and understanding other people’s code.
To explain the different steps, I will go through a code I wrote for a web scraping tutorial.
Step #1: Run the code and see what it does
Whenever you get a code that you need to read and understand, the first thing — and most apparent, I may argue — to do is to run the code and see what it does. What does it take as inputs? What are the outputs?
So, let’s go ahead and run the code above and explore the results.
Image by the Author (The code’s results screenshot)
Not all codes will result in a chart; some codes’ output will be a text output. Regardless of the output type, we can explore it to guess — if you don’t already know — the general idea of what the code was written to do.
However, this might not give you a lot of details about the details of the code, or if this code was a part of a bigger project, you might not know how it all connects, but you will learn how to build it and run it. Also, you will get to know about the libraries it uses and the frameworks it depends on.
Nevertheless, running the code will give you the information you need to understand it better, and to make sure you got every dependency, you need to start working and expanding it.
Step #2: Find the main function or the start point
Now that we know what the code does and what the output is/are, we can start looking deeper into its details. To do that, we need to pinpoint the start of the code. If you’re using a programming language with a must main function, like C, C++, or Java, start from there and walk your way through to the other functions.
If you’re using Python, however, not all codes will have a main function, but you can use the indentations to know where the code starts. For example, in the code above, we have multiple functions, and then the starting point of the code is on line 64.
So, we can start going through the comments first — if there is any — and go through the entire main section of the code without going into details of the subfunctions.
Going through the main function gives you the general flow of the code, what each subfunction does, not how they work, but what they do.
Step #3: Run the code on debugging mode
Once you’re done carefully reading the main part of the code, you may find it useful to run the code in debugging mode. The reason for that is, when you run code in the debugger, it allows you to observe how your code interacts with the memory.
It will show you how each variable changes with every step in the code. Doing so will give you a more in-depth understanding of the inner functionality of the code and its different functions.
Once you see how each variable in the code changes with every line, you can start adding your own comments in the code, explaining to yourself what every line of the code does.
Step #4: Build a mindmap of the connections between different parts of the code
One thing I found to help tremendously is to build a mindmap of the code connections while I am running it in the debugger mode. The debugger mode shows you a clear connection between the different code items.
Start with the name of the code file in the middle of your mindmap and then branch out with the different functions and how they connect. Try ti encourage the variables in the code into the mindmap as well, maybe not all of them, but the ones that have the most effect on the overall results.
Moreover, try to include the inputs and outputs of the code as well as their types or expected types. Here’s the mindmap for the code above. | https://towardsdatascience.com/the-most-efficient-way-to-read-code-written-by-someone-else-cb1a05102b76 | ['Sara A. Metwalli'] | 2020-09-15 19:44:30.758000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Technology', 'Productivity', 'Computer Science', 'Programming'] |
You Work in Advertising | It starts off great. The recruiter you spent two months talking to over emails and voicemails takes you on a tour of your new office. They show you all the free snacks. You spy a Foosball table. Someone walks by holding a beer. You notice a DJ booth in the corner. You don’t know how you earned the right to work among these intimidatingly cool people, but you have. You rush home after work and stay up all night bingeing the first season of Mad Men. “Wow, this show is pretty good,” you say to yourself.
Whether you’re a man or woman, you spend hours deciding what to wear on your first day. You get to work and realize immediately that your clothes are all wrong and vow to never wear them again.
You arrive at work on your first day. The agency has not assigned you a desk yet. Your laptop is being cleared of files from an employee that quit last week. They introduce you to one of your team members and tell you that you’ll be shadowing them until your desk and computer are ready. Your teammate gives you the same tour you got in the interview, but with more small talk and questions about where you came from. When you list a couple companies she hasn’t heard of, you receive an affirmative “Oh yeah, I know them, I think I had a friend that worked there. Do you know…?”
Lunch rolls around and you are still deskless. If you’re lucky, your Account Director or Supervisor will have set up a team lunch so you can get to know everyone. More likely, you’re on your own and you go sit in your car and call whoever will answer the phone to tell them how your new job is great, but a little weird.
After lunch, you learn the names of Creative Directors that you should be honored to work with. You can’t meet them now because they are off on a shoot, or more likely, they hate themselves and their job so they roll in at the latest acceptable time, around noonish. When you finally meet these CDs they pepper you with inappropriate jokes to see how stiff you are and then casually mention their Clio Award. You have no idea what a Clio Award is.
A month goes by. You have your first panic attack and find your first white hair. Your coworkers consistently drop the ball because they know you’ll pick it up. Meetings are scheduled and rescheduled. No one shows up on time except for the developer guy and you can’t find a way to hold a normal conversation with him. You pretend to be busy finishing a deck but you’re really trash chatting with your roommate. “This guy is so awkward.”
Six months pass. Your pro bono client is hosting a gala so you and your team attend looking unrecognizable to one another because you usually look like freshmen that rolled out of a dorm room. Everyone is in suits and gowns. The creatives are wearing sneakers. You pose for countless photos with your team and take more than a handful of selfies on the red carpet. Your Facebook friends are going to be so jealous.
The office politics and gossip all wash away. You are on the red carpet. Everyone on Facebook knows it. You made it. You are famous. You have a cool job. You deserve this cool job. You got this cool job by being smarter, hipper, and more creative than your Facebook friends. You are doing okay in life.
The next morning, the whole team is hung over. The Account Supervisor’s voice is deeper than usual when she greets clients on the morning check-in call. The creatives call in from home, put the phone on mute, and fall back to sleep.
You get a call at your desk asking if you’ll show the new Junior Account Exec around the office. You roll your eyes and look her up on Facebook to see how weird she is. She’s young and attractive. You either hate or love this.
You take the new Junior AE by the free snacks, past the keg where the new business celebrations happen, past the Foosball table, and then back to your desk. All you want to do is surf the web, but you have to pretend to be hard at work until her laptop is ready. You decide to get some space by running to a “meeting” that is actually lunch with someone on another account.
Reflecting on your awkward tour of the office, your lunch friend smiles when you tell her how excited your new team member was about the office. She sighs and moans “All the perks you need to stay at work 24/7.” You realize that your cool office is a ruse. A piece of cheese on a mouse trap. That cheese looked so good six months ago, and you find you’re not as hungry anymore.
You immediately become disenchanted with all things advertising. “It’s so fake,” you tell your roommate. “I just want to do something that helps the world” you tell your therapist.
Three more months pass. You are thrown under the bus for misinterpreting a client request. You cancel plans with family members and stay home sending emails all night so the client knows you’re working hard to make things right. The client loves that you’re working into the wee hours and starts sending you late night requests that are due by morning.
You never take advantage of the free snacks. You’re always in a meeting when the keg is tapped. No one realizes the Foosball table’s ball has been missing for two years.
You fantasize about going “client side,” but you don’t want to work on a PC or wear business attire. You think about consulting but realize you haven’t developed any new skills other than managing other people’s skills.
You find a small “boutique” agency that is very excited that you responded to their Linkedin message. They offer you a generous bump in pay but you are hesitant to accept because no one has ever heard of them. Your friends tell you that the pay increase makes it a no-brainer.
You grab drinks with your team who all admit to being jealous of your escape. You take a short vacation between jobs and wonder why you can’t figure out a way to work from the beach year round. You return home and don’t bother to stress about your first day apparel because you are the big fish in a little pond.
People at the new agency are excited to meet you. Your laptop is not ready yet, but there is a space cleared on one of the long tables where everyone sits. They take you out to lunch on your first day and you share all your big agency stories. Everyone nods and shares stories about where they used to work and how crazy it was.
You settle into your new job after a couple weeks. Going to work now seems like a huge hassle. You’re invited to contribute creative ideas for the first time but you can’t be bothered. Most of the creatives you work with are freelancers. You’re bored even when things are hectic. You talk to your therapist about being depressed. She puts you on Lexapro.
You still want a fulfilling job that benefits the world, but every job description looks like a demotion. You scroll through your Facebook feed and stop when you see a photo of your old high school friend smiling at an in-office birthday party with her fellow dental assistants. You click on her profile and see photos of her happy family on their annual vacation to a lake. She hasn’t paid for a toothbrush in years. | https://medium.com/on-advertising/working-at-an-advertising-agency-is-not-cool-e2d53b9b3a15 | ['Sweet Georgia Pancakes'] | 2017-07-31 04:49:31.487000+00:00 | ['Advertising Agency', 'Branding', 'Advertising', 'Marketing', 'Digital Marketing'] |
How I Would Explain GANs From Scratch to a 5-Year Old: Part 1 | In the case of images, we are dealing with a high-dimensional probability distribution.
How “high” a dimension are we talking about here?
Generally speaking, we use 32x32 images and each of them is colored, meaning three additional channels to capture the RGB component. So, our probability distribution has 32 * 32 * 3 ≈ 3k dimensions. That is, the probability distribution will go over each pixel in all of the images. Finally, the distribution that emerges will determine whether an image is normal or not (more on this in about 45 seconds).
Can I still visualize it somehow?
To put this in some perspective (and coming back to the original topic of probability distributions for images), let’s take an example of the handwritten digits represented by features x1 and x2 . That is, we have used some sort of dimensionality reduction technique to bring down 3k dimensions to 2 dimensions only, such that we can still represent all ten digits (0–9) along these two dimensions.
Source: Coursera GANs Specialization course (Week 3)
As you can see, the probability distribution, in this case, has many peaks, ten to be precise, one corresponding to each of the digits. These peaks are nothing but the modes (a mode in a distribution of data is just an area with a high concentration of observations), i.e. our distribution of digits is a multimodal distribution.
Different images of the digit 7 are represented by similar x1 and x2 pairs where x1 usually tends to be on the higher side compared to x2 . Similarly for the digit 5, both x1 and x2 dimensions have lower values compared to that of digit 7.
Now if we have done a great job at training our GAN properly (in other words, it has learned the probability distribution correctly), then we won’t have one of GAN’s output images ending up in the space between 5 and 7, i.e. in areas of very very low density. If not, we can be quite certain that the digit produced would probably look like a love-child of digits 5 and 7 (in short, random noise) and thus, not one of the ten digits that we care about!
Overview of the GAN architecture
To ensure GANs are able to replicate a probability distribution nicely, their architecture is essentially composed of two neural networks competing against one another — a Discriminator and a Generator.
A Generator’s job is to create fake images that look real. A Discriminator’s job is to correctly guess whether an image is fake (i.e. generated by the Generator) or real (i.e. coming directly from the input source).
Once the Generator becomes good enough at creating (fake) images that the Discriminator perceives as real (i.e. we have deceived the Discriminator), our job is done and the GAN is trained.
In terms of coding these two neural networks,
Discrinators can be thought of as simple binary image classifiers, which take as input an image and spits out whether the image is real (output = 1) or fake (output = 0).
Generators are somewhat more complex, in that they take as input some random numbers or noise (say a vector of size 100; where choice of 100 is arbitary) and try to perform some computations on it during the hidden layers such that the final output is an image (or more specifically a vector of size h*w*c where h is the image height; w is image widht and c is the number of channels i.e. c=3 for a coloured RGB image).
Note: This image, although fake, must have same dimensions as that of the real image i.e. if the size of real images in our source data is 32*32*3, then output from generator should also be an image of size 32*32*3.
Objective of the Discriminator
Generally speaking (and this will come handy when we are coding our GANs from scratch in Part 2), the aim of the discriminator is to be the best at determining fake images from the real ones. As a result, when calculating the amount of error that discriminator makes during training phase, we must include two instances:
Real error (or positive error): amount of error made when discriminator is passed real images.
Fake error (or negative error): amount of error made when discriminator is passed fake images (created by generator).
The sum of the positive and negative error is what will be optimized during the training process.
Mathematically speaking, the discriminator’s objective is to:
max { log D(x) + log (1- D(G(z))) }
D: Discriminator
G: Generator
x: real image
z: noise vector
As you can see, the objective function has two parts to it, both of which need to be maximized in order to train the discriminator. Maximizing log (D(x)) takes care of the positive (or real) error whereas maximizing log (D(G(z))) takes care of the negative (or fake) error. Let’s see how…
Why should we maximize log (D(x)) in the above equation?
As we mentioned earlier, a discriminator is essentially a binary classifier and thus, D(x) will generate a value between 0 and 1, establishing how real (or fake) it thinks the input image is.
Since x is a real image,
in an ideal world (one where D is trained perfectly to recognize fakes from real), D(x) output should be ≈ 1. That means, log (D(x)) will be roughly equal to 0.
in a not-so-ideal world (where D is still learning), D(x) would output, say 0.2, meaning it is only 20% confident that the image is real. That means, log (D(x)) will be -0.69.
In short, when passed real images, discriminator’s objective is to maximize log (D(x)), increasing it from a meagre -0.69 to 0 (maximum achievable value).
Why should we maximize log (1-D(G(z))) in the above equation?
Since z is a noise vector, passing it to the Generator G should output an image. In other words, G(z) will be an image, lets call it fake_image:
in an ideal world (one where D is trained perfectly to recognize fakes from real), passing fake_image to D will result in D(G(z)) ≈0. Consequently, log (1– *a-very-small-value*) will be roughly equal to 0.
in a not-so-ideal world, passing fake_image to D will result in D(G(z)) ≈0.99 as D is not well trained and it thinks the fake image is real. Consequently, log (1–0.99) will be roughly equal to -2.
In short, when passed real images, discriminator’s objective is to maximize log (1-D(G(z))), increasing it from a meagre -2 to 0 (maximum achievable value).
Objective of the Generator
For a generator, the biggest challenge is to produce an image which is realistic enough to fool the Discriminator. In other words, calculating the amount of error that Generator makes during training phase can be easily figured out with the help of the Discriminator.
Speaking strictly from the Generator’s point of view, it would like the Discriminator to churn out output = 1 (or a very high number close to 1) when one of its fake images is given as input.
Mathematically speaking, this is precisely what a Generator’s objective is:
max { log D(G(z)) }
Now one might wonder, why does Generator’s objective function have only one term to maximize whereas Discriminator’s had two. That’s because a Discriminator must deal with both fake and real images as inputs and so we must calculate the loss separately. However, a Generator never has to deal with real images since it never sees them (remember: a Generator’s input is some random noise, not a realimage) and so no need for an additional loss term.
Overview of Discriminator Neural Network
Note: While I will be discussing how to build GANs (DCGANs to be more specific) from scratch in Part 2, right now we are going to look at what all hidden layers are at play in a Generator neural network.
Layers in a Discriminator Network: Source
As mentioned, the discriminator, D, is a binary classification network that takes an image as input and outputs a scalar probability that the input image is real (as opposed to fake).
Here, D takes a 32*32*3 input image, processes it through a series of Conv2d, BatchNorm2d, Dropout and LeakyReLU layers, and outputs the final probability through a Sigmoid activation function.
P.S. Do not worry if you don’t understand what each layer does, thats what we will be covering in Part 2!
Structure of the Discriminator Model
Overview of Generator Neural Network
Layers in a Generator Network: Source
As mentioned, the Generator G, is a neural network that tries to produce (hopefully) realistic-looking images. To do so, it takes as input a random noise vector z and tries to create a RGB image with the same size as the training images i.e. 32*32*3 (see image below). To do so, it processes z through a series of strided Conv2d transpose layers, each paired with a 2d BatchNorm layer and a relu activation.
Note: The spatial size of the images used here for training is 32*32*3. In case you are working with another size, the structure of both D and G must be updated.
Steps involved in training a GAN
Training a GAN is no less than piece of art. Regardless of whichever framework you choose to code you GAN, the steps more or less remain the same.
for each epoch: for each batch b of input images:
##############################
## Update Discriminator - D ##
############################## # loss on real images
clear gradients of D
pred_labels_real = pass b through D to compute outputs
true_labels_real = [1,1,1....1]
calculate loss(pred_labels_real, true_labels_real)
calculate gradients using this loss
# loss on fake images
generate batch of size b of fake images (b_fake) using G
pred_labels_fake = pass b_fake through D
true_labels_fake = [0,0,....0]
calculate loss(pred_labels_fake, true_labels_fake)
calculate gradients using this loss update weights of D
##############################
#### Update Generator - G ####
############################## clear gradients of G
pred_labels = pass b_fake through D
true_labels = [1,1,....1]
calculate loss(pred_labels, true_labels)
calculate gradient using this loss
update weights of G ################################################
## Optional: Plot a batch of Generator images ##
################################################
We begin with an outer loop stating how many epoch do we want our code to run for. If we are going to set epochs = 10 meaning the model is going to train on all of the data 10 times. Next, instead of working with all the images in our training set at once, we are going to draw out small batches (say of size 64) in each iteration.
Refrain from using an exceptionally large value for batch size since we do not want the Discriminator getting too good too soon (as a result of having access to too much training data in initial iterations) and overpowering the Generator.
The training process is further split up into two parts — updating Discriminator and updating Generator (and an optional third part where you throw in some random noise into the Generator (say, every 50th iteration) and check the output images to see how good it is doing).
Updating Discriminator
For updating the Discriminator (or rather updating Discriminator’s weights with each epoch to minimise the loss), we pass a batch of real images to the Discriminator and generate the output. The output vector will contain values between 0 and 1. Next, we compare these predicted values to their true labels i.e. 1 (by convention, real images are labeled as 1 and fake images are labeled as 0). Once the discriminator’s loss over real images is calculated, we calculate the gradient i.e. take derivative of the loss function with respect to the weights in the model.
Next, we pass some random noise input to the Generator and produce a batch of fake images. These images are then passed onto a Discriminator which generates the predictions (values between 0 and 1) for these fakes. Next, we compare these predicted values to their true labels i.e. 0 and compute the loss i.e. how far the predicted labels are from the true labels. Once, the loss over fake images has been calculated, derivative of the loss function is used to calculate gradients, just like in case of real images. Finally, the weights are updated based on the gradient (w = w + learning_rate * w.gradient) to minimize the overall Discriminator loss.
Updating Generator
A very similar sequence of steps are used when updating the Generator. In there, we start with passing a batch of fake images (generated during Discriminator training) to the Discriminator. Now one might wonder — why did we pass the fake batch through the Discriminator for a second time? Didn’t we just do that during Discriminator training? The reason is, the Discriminator D got updated before we started updating the Generator and so a forward pass of the fake batch is essential.
Next, the loss is calculated using the output from the Discriminator and the true label of the images. One important thing to note is that, even though these images are fake, we set their true label as 1 during loss calculations.
But why, we thought 1 was reserved as a label for real images only!
To answer this, I am going to re-iterate a line from this article itself:
Speaking strictly from the Generator’s point of view, it would like the Discriminator to churn out output = 1 (or a very high number close to 1) when one of its fake images is given as input.
Because the Generator wants the Discriminator to think it is churning out real images, it uses the true labels as 1. This way, the loss function translates to minimizing how far D’s output for fake images are from D’s output for real images (i.e. 1).
Finally, the weights are updated based on the gradient to minimize the overall Generator loss.
The optional code for generating images when noise is fed into the Generator will be discussed in Part 2.
Until then :) | https://medium.com/swlh/how-i-would-explain-gans-from-scratch-to-a-5-year-old-part-1-ce6a6bccebbb | ['Varshita Sher'] | 2020-12-16 06:46:09.242000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Neural Networks', 'Gans'] |
The House That Fish Built | First, a list:
Now let’s rewind a bit.
In March 2012, Robin Sloan introduced us to a “short but heartfelt manifesto about the difference between liking something on the internet and loving something on the internet.” He called it “Fish: A Tap Essay.” As with all of Sloan’s work, the writing was fun and thought-provoking. The mode of delivery, meanwhile, felt both new and familiar.
Fish, in the wild
Sloan distributed Fish as a standalone iOS app which, when opened on your iPhone, forced you into landscape mode and asked you to tap the screen to move forward. With each tap, a new sentence or fragment of a sentence would appear, along with an accompanying visual (most often just a solid color background). By controlling the progressive reveal of information, Sloan managed to establish a cadence — something we generally associate with the spoken word, not the written one.
The constant variation also created an undercurrent of suspense. Tapping forward felt addictive and satisfying: What would he do/say next?
Me, the next day
Around the time Sloan published Fish, I had been wanting to move my explanatory storytelling studio towards a new visual medium. Newsbound had produced several video explainers earlier that year — on wonky subjects like the filibuster and the federal budget process. They had attracted healthy traffic, but our user testing had revealed a pacing problem. Everyone loved the accessible illustrations and animations, but more-informed viewers often complained that our narrator (yours truly) spoke too slowly. Newcomers to the subject matter felt the opposite — that it was too much information too fast.
I’d already entertained the idea of a self-paced, slideshow-esque format, but worried that requiring the user to continuously click or tap their way through a narrative might be too tedious. Then I found myself standing in line for a sandwich at Pal’s, happily tapping my way through Fish.
I was bewitched by this medium — and emboldened.
In the days that followed, I created a prototype in Keynote (a chronological explanation of the Trayvon Martin story). Using their iOS app, I could simulate the “tap-essay” experience on an iPhone. Over the next few weeks, we tested that prototype with a series of users. They took vastly different amounts of time to complete the explainer, but stuck with it nonetheless. Most of them complimented the format, telling us that they had “lost themselves” in the story and expressing surprise when we showed them a text-only print-out of the 1,500 words they had just consumed in bite-sized pieces. (“I would never read something that long!”)
The Newsbound team continued to refine the reading experience and started building our own web-based technology to power it. Around the same time, Sloan wrote an essay for Contents reminiscing about Hypercard stacks and predicting their triumphant return:
“We will start to make stacks in earnest again. We will develop a new grammar for this old format. We will talk about rhythm and reveals and tweetable cards. We will know how many cards an average person can tap through in one sitting. We will know when to use stacks…and when to just scroll on. Twenty-five years later, we will prove the hypertext researchers wrong: cards are pretty cool after all.”
When we published our first embeddable, public-facing explainer in this format (on the history of political conventions), we called it a “stack.” Internally, we started referring to our software as “Stacker.”
Newsbound has since published over 75 stacks — some of them original works, some client projects. Our embeddable player has appeared on the websites of The New York Times, The Washington Post, BoingBoing, The Atlantic, Upworthy, as well as in Bill and Melinda Gates’ annual letter.
Over this period, we’ve gathered granular analytics (all those clicks and taps are trackable, after all) and observed remarkable engagement rates. For instance, out of the 50,000 people who started reading this Gates Foundation stack on the history of international family planning, 65 percent finished it, spending 4–5 minutes on average. Over 80 percent completed this OZY stack on Iceland’s marriage norms. The minimum wage explainer we produced in tandem with KQED has been launched nearly one million times.
This year, we released Stacker as a platform to a beta group of writers and designers. They are now creating their own stacks and, every week, we are onboarding more people from the waiting list (which has grown to over 400).
About that new grammar …
Stacker is just one branch splintering away from Sloan’s Fish app. As the list above shows, we’re not alone. NPR’s visuals team, The New York Times, Facebook, CNN and others are experimenting with this medium as a way to tell certain stories. Each is approaching it with their own tenor and flavor. The techniques vary. But a common strain runs through it all.
In a blog post on Source dissecting his team’s approach to picture-driven content, NPR senior interaction designer Wes Lindamood categorizes pieces like Demolished as “sequential visual stories” and acknowledges Fish as a source of inspiration (along with the work of Scott McCloud and Frank Chimero).
He goes on to provide one of the best descriptions of the medium I’ve ever read:
“Sequential visual stories are self-paced experiences controlled through a minimal interface. Like a slideshow, ideas in sequential visual stories are presented in a linear and visual way — but unlike a slideshow, which treats the image as the dominant element, sequential visual stories mix multiple forms of media. A key advantage of this format is that it can direct a user’s focus in a way that will have editorial impact, without taking control away from users over the speed in which they experience the story. Through revealing moments over a sequence of screens, we can emphasize key ideas, offer surprise and juxtaposition. And because users have control over the amount of time the spend on each screen, they can linger on images and ideas that are most important to them.”
I can’t speak for the other outlets and companies experimenting with this medium, but at Newsbound we’ve still struggled with the “new grammar” that Sloan referred to back in 2012. While working on a stack, we sometimes refer to the atomic unit as a “frame,” other times as a “slide,” other times as a “click.” Lindamood apparently calls them “screens.” Before Betaworks shut down Tapestry (which allowed anyone to create a Fish-esque tap essay), they used the term “page.” And Sloan has called them “cards.”
When it comes to the broader label, we’ve noticed that “stack” doesn’t always … stick. Just look at the wide-ranging terms our readers use to describe our content:
“filmstrip”
“infographic”
“slideshow”
“interactive”
“powerpoint”
“deck”
“picture book”
Take a peek at the tweets emanating out from one of NPR’s sequential visual stories and you’ll see something similar happening, with references to “presentations,” “slide decks,” “slideshows,” etc.
Is this actually a problem?
I don’t know. I go back and forth on this question.
On the one hand, I believe this a powerful medium for all the reasons (and more) that Lindamood and Sloan lay out. I know there are certain subjects and certain readers for whom it is the ideal platform. I want to see it become as pervasive and familiar as the video or the infographic. And perhaps — perhaps! — if we had a common shorthand for this style of storytelling, adoption would spread faster.
On the other hand, I’m not sure you can force such a thing, no matter how hard you try.
Still, I’m interested to hear from the other writers, designers and developers experimenting in these waters or contemplating it. If the term “slideshow” were prohibited, how would you describe this medium to your boss, your loved ones, complete strangers? Leave a response below or email me at josh (at) newsbound (dot) com.
And if anyone has more examples of recently-published stories that fall into this bucket, please send them along (I’ll then update this post with a longer list). | https://medium.com/newsbound/the-house-that-fish-built-1cc10349ae8d | ['Josh Kalven'] | 2015-05-09 17:23:55.410000+00:00 | ['Publishing', 'Media', 'Storytelling'] |
Hybrid vs Native Mobile Application. What to choose in 2019? | The most typical dilemma that rises if you prefer to develop a mobile application is to make the appropriate decision between the varying approaches to get the app developed. This blog will help you grasp the difference and pick the most appropriate among Hybrid mobile app and Native mobile app.
NATIVE MOBILE APPLICATION:
One of the most accepted apps is the Native Mobile App. Native means that this mobile app is special for an individual platform. We handle platform-specific tools and APIs to stimulate all kinds of processes in the application. Native proposal stocks the app resources in the device memory and supports the utmost utilization of OS peculiarities. The advantage of preferring Native mobile app is that it is the swiftest and most reliable. Some of the frameworks for Native app development are Xamarin, React native.
The important features of a native app are:
High level of dependability
Uncomplicated but swift Performance and excellent user experience.
Supports both online & offline activities (transactions).
Key features can best be oppressed.
HYBRID MOBILE APPLICATION:
The hybrid mobile application consolidates native code alongside the platform-independent code. The code is composed adopting the traditional web technologies (JS, HTML & CSS) and then it is loaded as a native app, with a Webview. With the start of frameworks like React Native, this strategy can be accomplished with various inadequate efforts while concurrently accomplishing accuracy. While launching a Hybrid application, it is agnostic i.e. once the app is developed it can be delivered beyond multiple platforms. A Hybrid app comprises of two parts :
The first part is the backend code built utilizing languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
The native shell that is downloadable also loads the code using Webview forms the second part.
Some of the frameworks for Hybrid app development are Cordova, Ionic, Framework7, Titanium Appcelerator.
The significant features of a hybrid app are:
Smooth and easy maintenance
A device file system can be combined.
Profitable and inexpensive app development and cost-effective maintenance
Distinct code management for different mobile platforms
NATIVE V/S HYBRID APPLICATION:
To sum up the variations between the two:
Native apps are very swift, responsive and interactive whereas Hybrid apps are gradual and less interactive.
Native permits developers to access adequate feature assemblage of their given platform whereas Hybrid enables access to device’s internal APIs, storage and camera.
When correlated to Native apps Hybrid apps have decreased time to market and are inexpensive
Native apps have excellent user experience whereas Native apps are compact.
Paid apps are customarily recommended to be amplified as Native applications as they have the best UI, whereas unpaid apps are normally developed as Hybrid applications.
The app developer can be customized the form you want, economically in Native Approach whereas in Hybrid approach it becomes complicated and overpriced.
WHICH APPROACH TO GO WITH?
The debate around which sort of app is the best is yet notable today as the distinction between the two approaches is growing progressively complex.
The remarkable perspective to remember is that you shouldn’t find an approach for the technology but rather make a conclusion based on what you require your app to do. Native and Hybrid Applications possess their own advantages and disadvantages since we have already considered in the blog. The resolution regarding the choice of the application relies considerably on the stipulations of the organization. It also depends on how fast you need the app and it’s time to market, the user experience aspects, the complexity of features and total price allotted.
The bottom line is that a specific type of application offers an entirely diverse experience altogether, therefore, it is essential to examine the strengths and weakness of any approach before choosing any of them to develop your app. But at the end of the day, a native approach will have the biggest benefits for a company’s bottom line. | https://medium.com/quick-code/hybrid-vs-native-mobile-application-what-to-choose-in-2019-8f9a806f660f | [] | 2019-06-12 19:02:14.928000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Native', 'Hybrid App Development', 'Technology', 'Hybrid'] |
Ever imagined, How IPL Fantasy League Applications deals with high Millions of requests per minutes?🤔🌟 | We’re dealing with the top 3 Fantasy League Applications success stories in this blog which have created a huge impact on the market with the help of Amazon Web Services Dynamo DB with just a startup team of maximum of 16 people.😲
Case Study by Rohit Ghumare
Hey, Today I’m here to just share the “Gyaan ka Pitaara” for the most trending topic in current IPL season. Everybody in India watches IPL and shows their talent skills by managing the own cricket teams on Fantasy League Applications but I wanted to just ask one thing that you ever tried to learn: How they manage their huge servers? How they Render huge deployments? How they handle DevOps system?
For all of the above questions, Answer — Amazon Web Services (AWS)💎
FanFight
Cricket is arguably the most popular sport in India. In 1983, the Indian national cricket team won the Cricket World Cup, and it went on to garner a series of wins from 2002–2013. To allow zealous fans to participate as well as spectate, Akhil Suhag founded the fantasy sports platform FanFight. “We started with the mission of providing a better second screen experience and giving users better ways to be a part of the game happening in front of them,” says Akhil, CEO of FanFight. But just 2 years after the application’s launch, its hybrid database solution buckled during peak traffic of prominent matches, disrupting service for users and generating more work for FanFight’s small team. The company needed to be able to quickly scale on demand — and do so automatically so that its staff could focus their efforts on adding value to the business.
FanFight Cuts Costs by 50%, Boosts Daily Revenue by Four Times Using Amazon DynamoDB
The FanFight team turned to Amazon DynamoDB, a fully managed key-value and document database from Amazon Web Services (AWS). Amazon DynamoDB is popular in the gaming industry because it can scale reliably to millions of concurrent users and requests while delivering single-digit millisecond performance. It naturally fit with FanFight’s existing application architecture based on the serverless AWS Lambda, which executes code when triggered by Amazon DynamoDB. Using this AWS solution, FanFight was able to scale for peak traffic on game days while massively reducing costs and improving staff productivity.
Searching for Simplicity and Scalability👌
FanFight is the second-biggest fantasy sports platform in India, with nearly five million users who create teams, compete against each other, and potentially win cash daily. Cricket is the main sport, but the app also has leagues for basketball, soccer, and kabaddi, a contact sport popular in India. Quizzes engage users and diversify revenue for FanFight during the off-season.
Using Amazon DynamoDB’s autoscaling capabilities, FanFight could easily accommodate traffic fluctuations without any action or preplanning on the part of its team of fewer than 50 employees. Amazon DynamoDB would function seamlessly alongside AWS Lambda to execute code only when needed, conserving compute resources and therefore money. Amazon DynamoDB’s pay-per-usage model meant FanFight paid only for the resources it consumed. FanFight was also drawn to the fully managed AWS solution because the company didn’t have a DevOps team that could tackle software development and IT operations. “We are a very small team, and we don’t have any DevOps, so Amazon DynamoDB was the perfect solution for us,” says Tushar Dhara, vice president of technology at FanFight. “We don’t have to do anything.”
Migrating to Amazon DynamoDB Overnight👦
In December 2019, FanFight migrated to Amazon DynamoDB in less than 4 hours. A week before the migration, the company performed a successful proof-of-concept trial with about 20 million requests to test the solution and check that data would migrate quickly to minimize application downtime. Helping to facilitate the migration were Amazon EMR and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), an object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance. FanFight converted its data 80 million records — using Amazon EMR, then put it into Amazon S3. From there, AWS Lambda ran the data to Amazon DynamoDB.
AWS provided continual support by supplying best practices prior to the migration and monitoring the application during the migration to detect any bumps in the road. Tushar says the AWS team was available in the middle of the night, replying within an hour or two. “Anytime I called the AWS Support team — the Technical Account Manager or solutions architect or anyone — they responded quickly,” he says. “That helped give us a lot of confidence.” FanFight’s AWS Technical Account Manager also connected the company to the right technical experts within AWS, helped identify and mitigate potential risks, and conducted AWS Infrastructure Event Management to facilitate a smoother migration. And with the help of AWS Enterprise Support, which provides 24/7 technical support from high-quality engineers, tools, and technology, FanFight knows it can get the right support whenever it needs it.
Using Amazon DynamoDB, FanFight achieved a simplified structure with one database solution rather than a hybrid of MongoDB Atlas and Amazon EMR. Now the app can scale up to one million writes per second with no service disruption. After migrating to Amazon DynamoDB, FanFight saw optimized API call response time and faster player points updates in the leaderboard. Using Amazon DynamoDB Streams, which captures a time-ordered sequence of item-level modifications in any Amazon DynamoDB table and stores this information in a log for up to 24 hours, FanFight also provided users nearly lag-free real-time transactional push notifications. Because FanFight pays less during low-usage periods, the company cut costs by $450,000 annually when it stepped away from MongoDB Atlas — a 50 percent reduction. Furthermore, FanFight increased daily revenue by four times. But FanFight hasn’t just improved its bottom line; it’s made better use of its resources. “Obviously there are multiple cases where we can use money better,” says Akhil. “It goes into acquisition retention. Processes are streamlined, so everything from support to billing moves to one common place. That takes a lot of headache out of it and lets people focus on important things.” | https://ghumare64.medium.com/ever-imagined-how-ipl-fantasy-league-applications-deals-with-high-millions-of-requets-per-minutes-516770667ff9 | ['Rohit Ghumare'] | 2020-09-22 18:03:27.758000+00:00 | ['Fantasy Sports', 'Amazon Web Services', 'Amazon', 'Cloud', 'Fantasy'] |
How I Overcame My Fear Of Investing In The Stock Market | If you're anything like I was, you may have a small amount of fear related to investing your hard-earned dollars into the stock market.
Honestly, it’s a completely rational fear. We work hard for our money, and investing it into something as perceivably as volatile and unpredictable as the stock market can seem like madness. I remember my mother and grandmother telling me to save my money. They never told me about investing — funny how those things stick with you.
A little about me …
I married young and had kids at an early age. I didn't grow up around money, and in the early years of my marriage, my wife stayed home with our children, and I wasn't making much more than what was required to pay our bills.
Any small amount of surplus was put straight into a savings account. In my early 20’s, I didn't know much about investing and how the market really worked. I knew many people had become wealthy, but I thought that came from timing the market, day trading, and the like. All of those ventures seemed a bit unreachable to me, so I kind of wrote investing in the stock market off (little did I know my 401k at the time was invested in mutual funds).
I also was uneducated about compound interest and how it can be a powerful force in the wealth-building process. I didn't know how the wealthy became and stayed wealthy. My knowledge of wealth building was not much more than stashing away cash. When you think of becoming a millionaire, it can seem impossible when you think of how many of your own dollars you will have to put into an account to hit that million mark. Little did I know, this isn't how the wealthy become wealthy. They get their money working for them and watch it grow.
Here is a good explanation of compound interest according to Kate Ashford of Forbes …
“Compound interest is when the interest you earn on a balance in a savings or investing account is reinvested, earning you more interest. As a wise man once said, “Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money.””
To sum it up, I was afraid or apprehensive of investing because I was uneducated. I didn't have a baseline of good knowledge to lean on.
So how did I overcome that fear?
It’s quite simple. I became sick and tired of not gaining any traction on my wealth-building journey. I became fatigued with working hard, paying my bills, and only having a few dollars to throw in my savings account. I knew my formula of work, spend, and save a little wasn't going to get me where I wanted.
I educated myself on what other formulas people who were wealthy used to become wealthy. I learned that it isn't all about a large income. It isn't about working 80+ hours a week. It wasn't about drop shipping, affiliate links, or flipping things on the weekend. It was about budgeting, discipline, goals, and a steady dose of diligent investing.
“I learned that it isn’t all about a large income. It isn’t about working 80+ hours a week. It wasn’t about drop shipping, affiliate links, or flipping things on the weekend. It was about budgeting, discipline, goals, and a steady dose of diligent investing.”
I know many people have become wealthy doing the things I mentioned above, but that isn't how I wanted to become wealthy. I wanted my wealth-building to be extremely practical — something that anybody could do.
After educating myself, I executed. This was the scary part, but I slowly began investing. I opened an Acorns account and invested literally a few dollars a week, something I didn't even notice being gone from my account, and I did it for months without thinking about it. I built the habit of investing, even though it was a small amount, and I made it a part of my everyday life.
The next step, and the most important, was I began winning. I started to see my account grow. I started to notice my money working for me. I received freaking dividends for the first time and it all started to click! This was the formula I wanted to pursue, and despite my apprehension, it is a formula that works.
Now, since I have tasted what it is like to have my money work for me, I have become addicted to this formula. I love investing every month! It’s something I take great joy in doing. I continue to expand my knowledge, refine my processes, and I also remember to enjoy my money as well. This formula of investing has become a part of my everyday life.
To everyone out there who may be apprehensive to start investing, I would advise you to take a path similar to mine. It doesn't have to be flashy; in fact, it can be incredibly practical and easy.
Educate Yourself — Read books, listen to podcasts, watch quality content on YouTube. Learn how everyday investors have done it before you. Execute — Start investing, but start small. Make small contributions to your investment account every week and do it for a long time. Maybe a long time is a few months, and maybe a long time is a few years, but before you know it, you are going to look at your account balance and be shocked how something as small as $5 a week can accumulate. Win — This is such a key step. Invest your money and watch what happens. I invested in Index Funds and ETFs. I let those investments sit, and before I knew it, my money was working for me. My money was making me money. This is the fun part! Refine — Once you get a taste of winning, you will be motivated to win more! The important part of this stage is to ramp up your investing and continue your education so you can become more proficient with your process.
I hope these words motivate you to take the next step. On the other side of fear and ignorance is prosperity. It is available to you! Go out and grab it.
Talk soon,
Jarod Dickson
www.millennialecon.com | https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/how-i-overcame-my-fear-of-investing-in-the-stock-market-84d0f158946e | ['Jarod Dickson'] | 2020-12-10 14:57:28.482000+00:00 | ['Personal Finance', 'Motivation', 'Investing', 'Inspiration', 'Finance'] |
Submission Guidelines (Updated) | Submission Guidelines (Updated)
How to get published in Thoughts and Ideas?
Dear Readers,
Everyone is hereby invited to submit their writings (articles, poems, short stories, etc) to “Thoughts and Ideas”. Its followers are increasing day by day due to our reader’s goodwill and by good work of many writers who are associated with our publication. However, it is the most popular publication in ‘Medium’ with a follower base of 22k (at the time of writing) and is visited by more than 3000 unique visitors per day, and averaging over 1lakh views a month, and growing at an amazing rate, thanks to the goodwill of our readers and writers.
This publication is, perhaps, one of the oldest and still very much active publications in Medium catering to the thinking public here with great pieces of writing since 2016. True to our tag line, “An attempt to bring all heart-touching and thought provoking writings under one roof to make an impact”, our aim is to publish great work of authors which have to ability to invoke new thinking and bring a positive change in the life of our readers.
I would request all interested writers, who want to see their work published in the publication, to submit their good work so that a lot of our readers can read and be benefited by it. The Editor invites all of you (at least who are reading this) to submit their best articles to the publication. You can submit your articles and writings directly to the publication only after being added as a writer for the publication. We also accept articles already published, the only condition being it must be the original work of the person submitting the article. This is how you can be added as a writer for our publication, “Thoughts and Ideas”:
You must sign in to “Medium” in order to be added as a writer to our publication because “Thoughts and Ideas” is hosted by “Medium”. Medium membership is free, so no worry.
Simply, send a mail to our co-editors with the link of the unpublished draft of the article you want to publish in our publication along with your medium user-name at : [email protected] or [email protected].
Once you are added as a writer, you will be able to submit all your articles to the publication in the following manner:
Open the story you would like to submit. Click on ‘Edit.’ Click on the three dots that will appear next to your profile picture. Click on ‘Add to publication.’ Choose ‘Thoughts and Ideas’ Your writing will be published within 2 days. (So please be patient.)
Mandatory Requirement: Please support ‘Thoughts and Ideas’ by your generous claps and responses, because like you many other writers want their works to be read, appreciated and shared. Follow the publication on Facebook and invite your friends to like and follow our publication: https://www.facebook.com/thoughtsandideas1
Subscribe for our Newsletters Here on substack.
I believe that most of you will support my initiative to make this publication one of the greatest Indian online publication and a successful experiment in social journalism, and help people to be heard by lending them your ear. Let me know what you think of this publication, and help us to improve by your helpful suggestions and advises. And do subscribe us to encourage our numerous writers who simply write to inform and move you by their words.
Readers are the sole essence of every publication: they are the reason; they are the sole means of a publication’s survival. We value our readers more than anything.
Thank you | https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/submission-guidelines-11e73fa26335 | ['Thoughts And Ideas'] | 2020-07-24 05:57:11.769000+00:00 | ['Submission', 'Thoughts And Ideas', 'Writing', 'Medium'] |
Visual Storytelling in UX with Storyboards | Visual narrative, also referred to as visual storytelling, is telling a story through photography, illustration, or motion pictures. There are many uses of visual narratives, including storyboards. While storyboards have been used widely in the animation and film industry since the early 1900s, it’s only been around in UX since the 2010s. Storyboards in UX are used to plan for design and development of products and make user problems more relatable.
The Origin of Storyboards
In the 1920s, Georges Méliès, a French special effects pioneer, was one of the first to use storyboards and pre-production art to visualize the effects he planned to shoot before his shooting took place. The storyboarding process that is popular today was developed at Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1930s for their animated films. Storyboarding became popular in live-action film production around the 1940s. Gone with the Wind was one of the first live-action films that was storyboarded from start to finish. Every shot of the film was laid out in storyboard format before a single scene was shot on film. Commonly known as “shooting boards,” a storyboard’s main purpose was to help visualize the sequence of events before shooting to minimize time on set.
Image from Walt Disney Studios: The Archive Series STORY
At the Walt Disney Animation Studios, the illustrations started out as thumbnails in the margins of a script to help visualize gags. Then, individual panels were made to show each part of a scene pinned to a large bulletin board (that’s why it’s called storyboard), so that the entire scene could be studied at the same time. These panels allowed for easy manipulation of sequences, and for the artists to describe and act out the scenes to each other. In time, these tiny drawings helped transform the story and evolved into the storyboards we know today.
In today’s modern world, a storyboard is a sequence of illustrations or images that can be used for pre-visualizing a screenplay, live-action film, animation, motion graphics, or interactive media.
Benefits of Storyboarding in UX
Storyboarding is a tool in UX that allows product owners to visually explore a user’s problem or pain point, a proposed solution, and a benefit to the user. Product owners place ideas on storyboards and rearrange the stories to discuss possible solutions. The discussion around the story is more important than what’s written at this point. This format enables you to get feedback quickly from a participant (end user, decision maker, or stakeholder) and then iterate on the idea. A storyboarding exercise can help spark new and creative ideas.
Illustrate User Motivations
User Stories are a simple way to describe how your product helps someone achieve their needs. They are sometimes called a “problem statement” and typically follow this format:
As a <who>, I want <what> so that I can <why>.
This results in having a purpose (or user motivation) for the story, where we can then illustrate from. Use this purpose to frame the main story you’ll be making storyboards from. Just having the who, what, and why figured out is enough to start your story. However, in a more complete story, we find out if the person using our product had difficulties, how they overcame the problems with our product, and whether or not they ended up in a better place than before they used our product.
Communicate Effectively
Stories are the most effective way to communicate ideas among humans. It’s ingrained in our psyche and we’re wired for stories. Visual stories such as storyboards put the human aspect up front. It materializes all the data and research findings into a more relatable format. Storyboarding is a great way to get people from all backgrounds in development, product management, and design to communicate and visualize the same idea using storytelling methods.
Test Different Scenarios Quickly
Sketching out ideas in a storyboard format allows for the testing of multiple story concepts at the same time at little to no cost of development. Designers can test out different scenarios quickly and move on to other solutions. Encourage candid feedback by showing a concept in lower fidelity.
Pitch Story Ideas
Product owners can pitch their ideas in a team-based activity, much like the Disney way of pitching a story, through panels of sketches pinned to a board. This can inspire new ideas from other team members during the critiquing session. This will result in better collaboration and gathering a clearer picture of what needs to be designed. Teams can also see quickly what the users may encounter in certain situations.
A storyboard is an incredibly valuable tool during the ideation process. We can use it to shape the user’s journey, and string user stories together with other various research findings. It’s best used for participatory design where all the product owners (stakeholders, UX Design + Research, developers) solicit feedback early and iterate before designing or building in high fidelity.
Making Storyboards from User Stories
Story Structure
The story structure for storyboards in UX should be simple. A good story structure contains a clear beginning, middle, and ending. Focus on one goal for the main character throughout the entire narrative of the story. Your audience should have a clear understanding of the outcome of the story in three stages:
Introduce characters and situation Show problem and how it’s resolved End with a clear outcome.
In the following example from Workday, we took those three stages and structured a narrative around someone named Gavin who wants to give feedback to a colleague on Workday from another platform. We expanded on those three stages to make the story more emotional, authentic, and clear. How can our users give feedback anywhere they’re connected to Workday? Let’s outline it:
Gavin is listening to Jordan’s presentation that they worked on together. (Introduce characters and situation) Gavin gives Jordan feedback in Google Hangouts. (How problem was resolved) Jordan is happy to receive feedback from her protegé and feels delighted to be connected to his workplace anywhere she goes. (Clear outcome)
We then take this outline and draw out the panels. We can either condense or expand the narrative as needed for the story to be complete. We added an extra frame to show more detail on how Gavin is submitting his feedback in Google Hangouts.
Storyboard by Nor Sanavongsay from Workday
Three Main Elements of a Storyboard
Storyboard by Nor Sanavongsay from Workday
1) Story
What is the story and the character who will play the main role? The main character could be the persona that corresponds to that scenario. Use the three stages as a guide for your outline to introduce characters and situation, the problem and how it’s resolved, and have a clear outcome.
2) Visuals
Each panel is presented with its own visual to enhance the caption and show one main idea at a time. These could be sketches, illustrations, or photos. The audience or purpose of the storyboard determines its fidelity. The images may include the environment the character’s in, a sketch of the UI being used, or word balloons, if necessary.
3) Captions
Below each individual frame is the caption that tells the story. The visual should do the heavy lifting of telling the story, but the caption is there to enhance what’s going on in the panels. Captions should be straight to the point. Don’t repeat what’s going on in the visuals; instead explain what is happening. For example, instead of “she picks up her phone,” say “she calls a cab.” The picture already shows that she’s using her phone.
Tips on Making Your Own Storyboards
Different Drawing Styles
“Guest Journey” Storyboard by AirBnb
Storyboards come in many varying styles depending on how skillful the artist is. AirBnb hired a Pixar artist to storyboard their user journey recently, and the panels were beautifully made. But a storyboard doesn’t have to be Pixar-level impressive. You can easily tell a story with stick figures, too. It doesn’t matter how well-drawn the images are on the panels; what matters is that the story is clear.
“Travel App” Storyboard by Nor Sanavongsay from Workday
Visual Storytelling Techniques
In my blog post, How to Use Children’s Book Storytelling Techniques in Presentations, I touch on how to use visual storytelling. But to summarize: keep the visuals simple, complement the written text and don’t repeat it, only put things on the scene that help the story, and show one main idea per scene. Allow the audience to experience the story through actions and feelings rather than telling them what’s happening in the scene.
Final Thoughts
We’ve gone through the history of storyboards and showed some examples so that you can integrate storyboards into your planning stages. Now it’s your turn to make user stories more human-centric, easy to understand, and easy to follow. There’s no right or wrong way to use storyboards in UX as it’s a relatively new concept. Check out my upcoming post to learn how Workday Design built an internal Storyboard Kit to help us make storyboards more quickly. | https://medium.com/workday-design/visual-storytelling-in-ux-with-storyboards-d58214dedfac | ['Workday Design'] | 2020-04-20 19:00:27.100000+00:00 | ['Visual Storytelling', 'Storyboard', 'Storytelling', 'Visual Narrative', 'UX Design'] |
No data governance, no data intelligence! | Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash
Any big traditional company dreams to be like Google, Facebook, or Amazon but there is one thing that separate the former that existed before the birth of the Internet, from the latter which started with the Internet: they were not born with data mining and machine learning in their DNA.
Data, a resource turned into an asset
For the incumbents, data was an information technology (IT) resource to conduct business and as such, it was delegated to CIO and his or her organization to manage it. The latter was missioned to build the global data architecture, choose the database vendor, and design all the necessary applications to process data from the databases to the screens of business and functional leads.
We had the enterprise resource planning (ERP) era to manage data for finance, supply-chain, logistics, and human resources functional organizations. After the ERP era, we had the client management relationship (CRM) era to manage data for marketing, sales, services, and support. Then came the Internet that triggered a new era with company’s websites, social media pages, and downloadable mobile applications.
Unlike the two first eras, the Internet era gave rise to a new type of data and processes that is totally different from what incumbents were used to with ERP and CRM data. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, and Airbnb were born with advanced data mining in their DNA. The scope of their analytics was not only about what happened but also about what is happening and what might happen. This is all what big data and advanced analytics is about.
At the same time, the analytics at the incumbents were limited to what happened. This is what is meant by business intelligence (BI). But things have changed since. Incumbents changed their minds about data from a necessary resource into a valuable asset and started to hire data analytics professionals — with heterogenous titles: statisticians, data miners, data analysts, data scientists… But the incumbents continue lagging behind Google, Facebook, Amazon, and alike who are already in an era of deep learning, a kind of data mining on steroids. For evidence, I invite the reader to cast an eye over the continuous announcements on the Web.
The question a careful reader would have is why the incumbents are still lagging despite their large databases that span decades (case of retailers, banks, and insurances) and their recent investments in big data and data science?
To me, the answer is not about the incumbents that are in darkness, their executives who are not aware about the value of internal data their companies have accumulated since decades, nor their data professionals who are less knowledgeable than the ones at Google, Facebook, and Amazon. It is about the age, the structure, the format, the quality, and the diversity of data they possess. Data in incumbents is much more complex than one might think. So, mining it to extract insights and predictions as the online platforms do, is not automatic. To reach the level of sophistication of the online platforms, the incumbents have no other choice but to add data governance as complement to data management and data science as presented in the following sections.
Data governance, a must-have for data science
Like any new acronym, there is no consensus of its definition. To get an intuitive idea, think of all data preparation work that data scientists do for each project and imagine all of this work done once and regularly updated for all the projects. This is data governance in action.
In a layered data architecture, data governance sits on top of data management (aka relational databases, big data, ETL, cloud storage) and below data science (aka statistical modeling, predictive analytics, machine learning) to cover at least the following functions:
Ingestion, integration, and harmonization of data coming from all the databases that compose the digital nervous system of the company. Depending on the industry and business of the company, the digital nervous system can comprise the digital processes that closely link every aspect of the company’s thoughts and actions — finance, production, customers, and so on — in a single system (rare situation) or split into multiple interconnected systems (common situation)
Measurement and tracking of the quality of data from its capture into client-facing applications (customer relationship management) to its consumption by back-office applications (analytics, reporting)
Application of data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act, New York Privacy Act) and any other regulations specific to the industry of the company like in health-care, banking, and insurance
Referencing of all external data (purchased or open source) aimed at crossing it with the customer data to infer insights for the marketing departments of the company
Cybersecurity, the biggest threat for companies that now almost all of their client-facing and back-office activities are conducted digitally. To me, cybersecurity should be at the same level of priority if not above digital transformation and business datafication
As the definition implies, data governance is less technical than data management and data science. The bulk of the work at this level is organizational: defining processes, not all of them are automated, and committees to decide on what data to consider, in which order, how to manage it, what to do in case of missing data, how to infer it, when and how to update data in order to keep it always accurate, up-to-date, and of high quality, etc. As these examples of tasks show, it is not because it sounds less glamorous than data science, that it should be overlooked.
As regularly reported, the majority of data projects did get stuck not because they didn’t have the right data scientists or the right models and algorithms. In the reported cases, it was due to a problem of data availability, quality, or diversity. It is not unusual to expect data preparation to be the most time-consuming part of a data mining project. And for this reason, it would be more effective and efficient to have worked out a data governance strategy that serve all the projects (current and planned) for advertising, marketing, sales, and customer relationship management or for finance, supply-chain, operations, and human resources.
Now that I have defined data governance, let us see how everything stacks up to build a data strategy that enable incumbents to reach the level of maturity as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and alike?
Data layered architecture
A layered architecture allows to present data into a set of layers where each layer serves the layer above and guides the layer below. It is more of a representational view than a technology stack.
Data strategy level: At the top level, should be the corporate data strategy that define which data has value to the company. Not all the businesses are equal. For some, the most important data to consider is related to advertising, marketing, sales, and customer relationship management. To others, it is related to finance, supply-chain, logistics, operations, and human resources. Yet to others, data is a product to monetize.
Functions level: Below the data strategy level, should be the functions. For example, if data is related to advertising, marketing, sales, and customer relationship management functions, then the functions could be:
Compute advertising attribution, optimize media planning, and distribute advertising budget
Improve direct marketing campaigns
Use current customers to learn about prospects
Reduce exposure to credit risk
Cross-sell, up-sell, and make recommendations
Reduce customer churn
Forecast the sales
Data science level: below functions level, should the data science level. It is at this level that companies customize or develop models to algorithms that serve the functional objectives. In the same example, data scientists will help to answer the following questions: who will remain a loyal customer and who will not? Which messages are most effective with which segments and on which days? What if the media budget is split half for TV and the other half for outdoor?
To answer such questions and others, there is a need to rely on high-quality data from the databases of the company and it is here where data governance plays its role. Without data governance, even the most sophisticated models and algorithms will not be effective. As it is now admitted, the power of data science resides more in high-quality data than in sophisticated models.
Data governance level: below data science level, data governance enables data scientists to be certain to use data with the highest quality and therefore do not waste their time on useless, outdated, or unworkable data. If the work has been done, then the data preparation for data science will be much shorter than without data governance — Without data governance working, data preparation is estimated to eat up to 80% of data projects.
Data management level: below data governance level lie all the traditional and new data technologies, ranging from relational data to big data to data on the cloud. It is the territory of IT who should align the architecture, the extract-transform-load processes, and the pipelines between the data bases according to what data governance has defined as standards.
Wrap-up
All big traditional companies dream of being like Google, Amazon or Facebook, but they were not born with data mining and machine learning in their DNA. They need to add data governance to their strategy for their data sources to reach the quality required for data mining and machine learning to be effective.
Data governance should lie above data management, to guide it with the required quality, security, and conformance needs, and below data science, to reduce the time and cost of data preparation. As such, all digital transformation and business datafication programs should include data governance layer. Such large programs constitute the best opportunity to tackle this layer, without which there will be no data intelligence.
About the author
Strategy consultant and transition executive in technology, innovation, and transformation with extensive experience in data and tech for advertising, marketing, sales, and customer relationship management.
This paper benefits from strategy and implementation work done for top-tier consumer research firms, digital and data agencies, CPG/FMCG retailers, luxury and beauty brands, and a large mutual insurance.
Comments are welcome. Please, either post them here, send them in private message, or email them to hlaasri at hbmjpartners dot com.
#data #strategy #datascience #digitaltransformation #analytics | https://towardsdatascience.com/no-data-governance-no-data-intelligence-9b45bf819638 | ['Hassan Lâasri'] | 2019-11-12 20:41:37.264000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Data Analytics', 'Data Strategy', 'Data Science', 'Digital Transformation'] |
Behind the Design: Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S | In late 2017, a few small hardware teams quietly visited a handful of Xbox gamers’ homes in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. With several black foam boxes in tow, they asked gamers to unplug their current Xbox and put the new shape in its place.
Fans knew this was for the next-generation Xbox consoles, but they had no design details and no engineering specs, just squares and rectangles. “We wanted their gut reaction to whether the silhouette piqued their interest. What we didn’t want to hear is ‘that looks like a microwave,’” laughs principal designer Chris Kujawski.
“As designers, we aspire to create products with visual impact,” says senior design director Nicolas Denhez, “but we know most gamers buy an Xbox to play games, not for its aesthetics.”
At some level, you shouldn’t even know you have a console because you’re that deeply immersed in gameplay. But the thing is — when you turn the game off, what remains is the hardware. “And our fans love the hardware,” smiles senior designer Erika Kelter.
So how do you design a product to simultaneously blend in and stand out?
Form follows function follows fan(s)
Hearts quicken when danger looms, hands sweat as time ticks down, endorphins surge when passing a level. Part of the thrill of gaming is leaving your world and jumping into a different one. High-def graphics, whip-quick load times, precise controls, and a host of other next-generation gaming features make you feel wholly present in the game.
To power these immersive experiences, engineers started building the next-gen chip while designers figured out how to keep the chip cool. Gaming chips get really hot from always running at full speed, and fans can get loud — both the human kind and the cooling kind 😉.
Designers had to find a solution that wouldn’t interrupt or distract from gameplay. Different fan types and different motherboard layouts led to differently shaped boxes, and the team spent a few hours with several gamers across the US to gather initial reactions to the various console shapes. “We asked them a lot of questions, and they gave their unvarnished opinions,” chuckles Chris.
While they didn’t get the microwave comparison, they certainly got “VCR” and “cable box” for a few silhouettes. But among these comparisons were a few “Hey, that one feels different!” comments, which gave the team confidence to explore cooling solutions that fit what ultimately became the shape of Xbox Series X.
The size of the fan also determined the console’s dimensions, which achieve an almost 2:1 ratio — like two cubes stacked. Designed for both vertical and horizontal orientation without a stand, this footprint adapts to whatever setup you already have.
Simply put, the team wanted to create a device that fit in people’s lives. They even stress tested the device in a common bookcase that’s sold by the millions around the world. “When we visited gamer homes, device placement (whether it was displayed or hidden) and furniture orientation informed all of our design choices,” says Nicolas.
Form enables flexibility
With a bona fide global audience, our fan base and their needs are as diverse as it gets. While some gamers have a physical library, others don’t want one or have space for one. Some are accustomed to subscription services (Hello, Xbox Game Pass!), and if you live outside the US, import taxes on discs can be cost prohibitive. Then there’s those who simply don’t like getting up to switch discs to play a new game (it me 🙋🏽♀️).
Although many gamers might prefer an all-digital console, that doesn’t mean they’ll settle for anything less than next-gen experiences. So for the all-digital Xbox Series S, we based the chip on the same die as the chip for Xbox Series X. You’ll still get the immersive gameplay but in a more compact package. | https://medium.com/microsoft-design/behind-the-design-xbox-series-x-and-xbox-series-s-cc814f81ad6c | ['Joline Tang'] | 2020-10-30 19:19:32.248000+00:00 | ['Hardware', 'Design', 'Games', 'Industrial Design', 'Microsoft'] |
This MVP madness must stop | Charles Mackay, a 19th century journalist called it ‘ the Madness of Crowds’. In the 14th century dancing mania broke out across Europe (shown above). Groups of men, women, and children would dance uncontrollably for hours or even days at a time for no apparent reason, only finishing when they succumbed to exhaustion. In the 17th century Holland tulip mania broke out. Driven by manic investors the price of tulip bulbs spiralled upwards and then crashed. At one crazy point, a particularly valuable tulip bulb cost the same amount as an elegant house in Amsterdam. In the 20th century, we have seen many episodes of collective madness, from the anti-vaccine movement to the terrifyingly bonkers (and baseless) QAnon conspiracy theory. Throughout history, humans have had a strange and inexplicable compulsion to follow the crowd, even when the crowd really shouldn’t be followed.
First seen in 2011, a new, potentially dangerous form of collective madness has been infecting development and product teams around the globe: MVP madness. Find out what MVP madness is, why it can be so damaging and how to stop it infecting you, and your team.
The madness begins
There can be many different reasons as to why a collective madness takes hold. Dancing mania in the 14th century might have been initially caused by contaminated food, or simply as a reaction to terrible hardships, such as the plague. The refusal of parents to allow their children to receive the MMR vaccine, even though it has been proven to be safe and effective can be traced back to a flawed and fraudulent medical study by Andrew Wakefield (who was subsequently struck off as a practising doctor).
MVP madness can be traced back to a book — the Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Promising to explain, “How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses”, the book introduced a lean startup methodology for building products and services. Having sold over a million copies, the book has become hugely influential and has helped shape the approach that many development and product teams take.
The Lean Startup book by Eric Ries
A core part of the lean startup methodology outlined within the book is the concept of an MVP, a minimum viable product. As described in the book:
“The minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”
Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup
Even if you’re not familiar with this definition, you might have seen the popular MVP illustration shown below by Henrik Kniberg, an Agile and Lean coach.
MVP illustration by Henrik Kniberg, a Lean and Agile coach
If we’re helping our customers to get from A to B, in Henrik’s example, we start with a skateboard rather than just a wheel. This allows customers to get from A to B, even if it will take a lot of effort on their behalf and not necessarily be the best initial experience. Gradually we iterate based on learnings from customers. We move to a scooter, then a bicycle, a motorbike, before finally ending up with a gleaming sports car. Sounds great in theory, doesn’t it? At each point, we release something that allows us to collect the maximum learnings from our customers, with the least effort from us.
The problem is that this isn’t the approach that most teams take, and certainly not a result they usually end up with. Rather than starting with a skateboard and ending up with delighted customers, cruising from A to B in their highly desirable sports car, we end up with something more like the monstrosity shown below: a Frankenstein monster of a product or service (Frankenstein was the creator in Mary Shelly’s book, not the monster).
An MVP approach can all too often result in a Frankenstein monster of a design like this
So, what’s going wrong? The problem is that teams infected with MVP madness, will blindly take an MVP approach, without the necessary know-how to do so. You see it turns out that whilst taking an MVP approach sounds easy, in reality it’s not. It’s really, really hard to get right.
MVP easy as one, two, three?
Remember Eric Ries’s definition for an MVP:
“The minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”
What Eric fails to mention are that there are some pretty big caveats. And when I say big, I mean BIG. As Eric acknowledges:
“Some caveats right off the bat. MVP, despite the name, is not about creating minimal products. If your goal is simply to scratch a clear itch or build something for a quick flip, you really don’t need the MVP.” “Second, the definition’s use of the words maximum and minimum means it is decidedly not formulaic. It requires judgment to figure out, for any given context, what MVP makes sense.”
WTF! A minimal valuable product, is not about creating minimal products and what is minimum and maximum can vary widely in the first place.
What constitutes an MVP, will depend on the context, and what a team is trying to learn. An MVP, might not even be a product, it could be a prototype or an experiment. An MVP might not even be very minimal. If something minimal is not going to tell you what you want to learn from customers, then your MVP is going to need to be more like a sports car, than a skateboard. Confused yet?
When is an MVP, not an MVP?
Unsurprisingly individuals and teams struggle to understand what an MVP is, and isn’t. Three parts of the concept tend to be latched on to:
It should be minimal (nope). It should be a working product or service (nope). ‘Least effort’ allows us to do a half-arsed job (nope).
All 3 of these points are simply not true. All too often teams will ship a half-arsed minimal product, rather than an MVP. They will deliver a huge steaming turd of a product or service to their customers and justify doing so by calling it an MVP.
An MVP is not an MVP if it’s never iterated. An MVP is not an MVP if it’s so full of bugs and issues that all we learn is that customers hate buggy, and broken products and services. An MVP is not an MVP if it doesn’t delivery any value to customers.
So how can we end this collective MVP madness? We need to re-frame the MVP approach, and probably ditch the term ‘MVP’ altogether.
A better MVP approach
Death to ‘MVP’! Not the concept, but the term.
I completely agree with Henrik Kniberg (the Lean and Agile coach behind the skateboard to car sketch from earlier on) that the term ‘MVP’ sucks. It’s confusing and invariably misinterpreted. I suspect that if Eric Ries could jump in a flux capacitor equipped DeLorean and travel back in time, he’d probably choose a different term.
Rather than calling it an MVP, I’d suggest using Henrik’s preferred terminology. Start by calling it the ‘Earliest Testable Product’, then the ‘Earliest Usable Product’ and then the ‘Earliest Lovable Product’. This does a much better job of communicating the goals at each step of the approach and helps to build a better shared understanding within the team.
Earliest Testable Product > Earliest Usable Product > Earliest Lovable product by Henrik Kniberg
An MVP approach is really a hypothesis driven approach. Rather than thinking of your MVP as a product, it’s better to think of it as a learning exercise. You have a hypothesis, and your MVP / Earliest Testable Product is one way (but not the only way) to test that hypothesis.
Releasing a product into the hands of your customers is certainly not the only way to test a hypothesis. Carrying out user research sessions to evaluate mock-ups, concepts or prototypes with customers and running experiments, such as sign-up pages can be much more effective learning mechanisms.
Another potentially catastrophic error that teams frequently make is to build their products and services on the shaky foundations of their MVP. As Frederick Brooks Jr reminded us over 35 years ago in his seminal book, ‘ The Mythical Man-Month ‘:
“In most projects, the first system built is barely usable. It may be too slow, too big, awkward to use, or all three. There is no alternative but to start again, smarting but smarter, and build a redesigned version in which these problems are solved. The discard and redesign may be done in one lump, or it may be done piece-by-piece. But all large-system experience shows that it will be done. Where a new system concept or new technology is used, one has to build a system to throw away, for even the best planning is not so omniscient as to get it right the first time.”
Frederick Brooks Jr, The Mythical Man-Month
This is as true now, as it was when Frederick first wrote it in the 1970s. Like building a house on sand, building a product on an MVP, held together with string, sticky tape and enough product debt to sink the Titanic is never a good idea. Treat your MVP / Earliest Testable Product as a learning exercise and ditch the code once you’ve learnt enough to move forward.
Conclusion
MVP madness has infected thousands of individuals and teams across the globe. Rather than a vaccine, or wonder drug, the cure for this madness is simple: knowledge. Use your new-found knowledge to rid yourself and your team of this terrible infliction. Ditch the term ‘MVP’, along with any half-baked code once you’ve learnt enough and take the hypothesis driven approach that Eric Ries originally intended.
If you like this article then please recommend and share it. You can find lots more articles like this on my blog: UX for the Masses
See also
Image credits | https://uxdesign.cc/this-mvp-madness-must-stop-ee05d65e553e | ['Neil Turner'] | 2020-11-30 23:52:17.290000+00:00 | ['Product Management', 'UX', 'Ts', 'MVP', 'Startup'] |
My Passion Sets Me Ablaze | POETRY | SPIRITUALITY
My Passion Sets Me Ablaze
A Poem
Photo by Blake Cheek on Unsplash
When the sunrays puncture the skies,
When the first light of the day disperses the darkness,
When the warmth of the day’s love touches me,
My dreams come alive.
My passion burns and cooks my life.
Every day, I wake up, I feel alive.
I feel refreshed to achieve something new.
I feel energized to conquer my fears.
To visualize my emotions, I write.
I write to feel myself.
I write because that’s my life.
I write because I know nothing else.
I know no fancy,
I know nothing else other than simplicity,
I hope to touch hearts through my thoughts,
Just as nature loves us without words. | https://medium.com/spiritual-secrets/my-passion-sets-me-ablaze-c0a8287d0c0e | ['Darshak Rana'] | 2020-12-22 21:41:45.816000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Spirituality', 'Life', 'Poem', 'Writing'] |
Minimum Words, Maximum Impact | The origin and importance of one of the best screenwriting mantras… ever!
I know the source of this mantra. It was one of my online screenwriting students. During a weekly live-chat session. I was going on and on about the importance of writing tight, taut, lean scene description, make it easy on the eye, clean on the page, really getting on my bully pulpit. Then a student typed:
Minimum words, maximum impact?
Here I had been guilty of the very thing I was decrying, then — boom! The perfect comment. Four words. And maximum impact indeed!
Screenplays are a unique form. Unlike novels which can be hundreds, even thousands of pages long, a feature length script is typically no longer than 120 pages, even less nowadays with action, comedy, and horror scripts clocking in at 90–95 pages. Simply based on the fact that you have a limit to the page count means you should be mindful of how you approach your use of words when handling scene description.
Beyond that, there is an aesthetic consideration. Scripts filled with black ink are not only less pleasant to look at, they’re harder for a reader to get through. White space is more attractive to the eye, which can have a psychological effect on a reader, and can make a script a better read. In truth, I’ve known some script readers who have told me they hate reading scene description and often will skip big blocks of it to read the dialogue. Why? Because dialogue margins are narrower and therefore easier to read.
But there’s an even more important reason why we need to be incredibly choosy about the words we use when writing scene description: To make an impact on the reader. How do we do that? Strong verbs. Visual nouns and adjectives. Tight paragraphs. Good, lean imagematic writing. Here’s an example from the beginning of The Matrix:
INT. CHASE HOTEL The Big Cop flicks out his cuffs, the other cops holding
a bead. They've done this a hundred times, they know
they've got her (Trinity), until the Big Cop reaches with
the cuffs and Trinity moves – It almost doesn't register, so smooth and fast, inhumanly
fast. The eye blinks and Trinity's palm snaps up and his nose
explodes, blood erupting. Her leg kicks with the force of
a wrecking ball and he flies back,a two-hundred-fifty pound
sack of limp meat and bone that slams into the cop farthest
from her. Trinity moves again, BULLETS RAKING the WALLS, flashlights
sweeping with panic as the remaining cops try to stop a leather-clad ghost. A GUN still in the cop's hand is snatched, twisted and
FIRED. There is a final violent exchange of GUNFIRE and when it's
over, Trinity is the only one standing.
18 lines and a ton of action. Average paragraph length: 2 lines. And note those descriptors: flicks, inhumanly fast, blinks, snaps, explodes, erupting, kicks, wrecking ball, flies, limp meat and bone, slams, raking, sweeping, leather-clad ghost, snatched, twisted, fired, gunfire. You could almost just read those key words and get a sense of the action.
Of course, the mantra pertains to dialogue as well. I’ve heard an anecdote about one of the first things Clint Eastwood does when he agrees to act in a movie is take a red marker and cross out half of his dialogue. Movies are primarily a visual medium. While important, creating moments where with a minimum of dialogue we let the emotion of the scene work its magic in subtext and silence is most often the preferred way to go.
File this one under “less is more.”
Minimum words, maximum impact.
Comment Archive | https://scottdistillery.medium.com/minimum-words-maximum-impact-ff8a4f30c78d | ['Scott Myers'] | 2018-12-14 12:11:00.674000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Screenplay', 'Writing Tips', 'Screenwriting', 'Writing'] |
The Secret Sauce! | “A 5 step guide to optimize your attendance to any blockchain event!”
On March 15th, 2018 the BOOSTO team attended their first ever crypto conference together. Up until that point our amazingly charismatic CEO Heidi was touring blockchain events solo, speaking and spreading her energetic enthusiasm to wherever she could. However, it was time for the rest of us to catch up!
BOOSTO At Token Fest
That particular event had a lot of issues, the main being that they took our money…but then forgot to give us our booth. We were not in the agenda, and the person whom we were communicating with via email had recently left the company. The only acknowledgment of our existence was that our logo was indeed on their website…albeit in the wrong section. To say our first venture into the event space was a little rocky would have been a massive under-exaggeration….it was umm…VERY rocky to say the least.
But atlast, we made it work!. When the event coordinator could not be found we procured an fan empty booth, and then relocated it to an optimal spot that was in the center of all foot traffic. Once we were all set up our booth was three times the size of the ones we had purchased. The event coordinators were surprisingly not only just ok with this, but they also upgraded all of our badges to VIP w/ additional speaking opportunities.
On top of all of this, we also procured some media passes, which led to us breaking out the camera that we conveniently brought with us and performing attendee interviews. Too say the event ended smoothly would have also been a massive under-exaggeration…it was umm…VERY smoothly to say the least!
Heidi interviewing
Our team may have been saved by our CEO’s inability to ever take a step back in the face of adversity, but it also motivated us to create a set of guidelines that we’ve been following since; guidelines that up until now have been our “SECRET SAUCE!”
You see, now 6 month later, we attend an event at least once a week! Some examples include GBC, BCS, WITI, BEF, Blockchain Connect, Impact Summit and GBForum. We’ve even had the pleasure of hosting our own event during Consensus Week!
Heidi’s panel @ Global Blockchain Forum
In each occurrence, the following “secret sauce” has never ever allowed us to leave without gaining something of value!
The Secret Sauce:
Make sure everyone is a superhero!
If we have five team members attending, then we make sure that every team member is capable of doing every role. If for whatever reason the only team member available at the time to get on stage is the nervous office intern…well you best believe its still going to happen!
2. Embrace our individual strengths!
If you have a booth, then there is bound to be at least 100 product pitches performed by the end of day. We prefer to do ours through the use of decks…but each deck is different depending on who is pitching. A uniformed standard pitch does not work. Each individual team member has their own personality strengths and if you allow their pitch to revolve around these strengths then it will ensure that the strength of your product also shines through!
3. Don’t ever accept a singular role!
If you are speaking, also try to get a booth once you are there! If you have a booth, then try and get a media pass. Never accept a singular role. The ability to network with the event coordinators is just as important as networking with the attendees…once you are in the building, immediately make your presence known, and your availability to fill in for any slots that may be open!
4. Control + S
This is a new one for us! We initially did a very poor job of “saving our work!” We get so busy that we forget to take pictures. Constant updates are great for social media presence, however, what we truly mean by “ctrl + s” is to take a SCREENSHOT of the event page. Conferences are continuously updating their websites, if you have a logo or a speaker profile on their website, you want to save that for future promotion!
5. The Secret Sauce!
This step is by far the most important step within the 5 steps that you just read! The step, is to have your own set of steps! That might sound overly “meta” of us, but it is by far our greatest x-factor. Experiment yourself, find out what works for you, and then create your own secret sauce! Everyone’s will be different, but acknowledging that you need your own grove is imperative for success…don’t just copy ours…use it as motivation to whip up your own!
That’s it for the “sauce” guys! I hope you all find our recipe helpful, and we’ll be seeing all of you at our upcoming panel during Blockworld! Cheers! | https://medium.com/boosto/the-secret-sauce-d4b60f057df4 | ['Crypto Influence'] | 2018-07-31 23:23:00.340000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Storytelling', 'Blockchain', 'Crypto', 'Event'] |
“Best Before” | — an anecdote of potpourris.
“Best Before”
Answer me this: am I sick?
Photo by Gantas Vaičiulėnas from Pexels
Best before: 2023.12.25
That’s an odd number. 25–12–23. Why that day? Why that specific number? That doesn’t even make any sense, what’s so special about it? Is it because it’s Christmas?
December 25, 2023. That’s a crazy number, I’d be 23 then! Maybe the rest of the label tells a hint.
Gardenia-Scented Body Wash.
Why did they call it gardenia? It is flowery, but is this what an entire garden would smell like? I never had a garden big enough to tell which scent goes to which flower.
Is gardenia a flower? Does this have anything to do with the Christmas thing? No, this doesn’t have anything to do with the Christmas thing. Why did I buy gardenia; I don’t even know what that is.
Best before: 2023.12.25
December 25th, 2023. My birthday is just a week before that. Did they set the date to be near my birthday? Did they know I was going to buy this specific bottle? No that doesn’t make any sense at all. I’m just paranoid. Why would they choose me?
Are they choosing me, though? But why would they reveal themselves through a body wash? Who are “they”? Maybe this is a test. If I call the customer support and reveal the answer, I’ll win a gold medal. Wait they don’t give medals anymore, do they?
“Best before.”
Three years from now. Why then? If the bottle is tainted somehow, it wouldn’t be any good — even after a year. What’s in this bottle that makes it go bad within three years? I’m not a chemist, if I read the label I’ll only know water. But why three years?
It would be nice I guess if people were born with a “best before” label tattooed on them. We all know what they say, it’s best for us to just live our lives as best as we can, appreciate everything we have before our time runs out, and that somehow it’s always better to not know when you’re gonna go. | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/best-before-3a0be8fbc98f | ['Lita Tiara'] | 2020-07-10 10:31:01.409000+00:00 | ['Nonfiction', 'A Cornered Gurl', 'Short Story', 'This Happened To Me', 'Life'] |
Making peace with your past | Living With Past Hurt
When you reach a point where happiness is the priority, what do you do with your past emotional trauma? My life has reached a high point where I’m living peacefully, and for the most part, I’m pretty comfortable. However, comfort and conflict are in direct opposition to one another. Like bickering family members, they rarely see eye to eye and fight for dominance.
A comfortable life with a conflicted soul is a poor combination. These days, I lack the adversity I knew when I was growing up. My self-awareness of my desires and a better environment has led to a better quality of life as a whole.
Except deep down inside, I yearn for that source of…Injustice.
Even in my writing, in the past few years, my work has become increasingly focused on the different origins of “hurt” that I have experienced.
I have dealt with various personal Injustices in my 27 years of living on this planet.
In a way, experiencing so much personal trauma can take its toll on your psyche. It has a way of hardening your heart and blinding you to the world around you.
Friendly interactions with the people around you could be perceived as threatening due to your past experiences.
Relationships are made increasingly more complex due to past damage and could lead to inadvertently hurting someone you care about.
Micro-interactions with the world around you escalate to something much greater…
…because…deep down inside…
You’ve created your own personal inner demon. Originating from the source of your Injustice, they crave retribution. They desire comeuppance to the racists, bigots, and bullies.
The wrong that was committed to you now gives you vindication. You feel justified to be wary of the world around you. You maintain your guard and look for the opportunity to strike back when the chance presents itself.
You were WRONGED…and the world needs to know it.
That’s your inner demon speaking. Instead of living in the moment and enjoying your happiness, you’re fixated on the negative.
Honestly, it’s so much easier to give in to the pain inside than constantly rising above it.
Comfort and conflict rarely see eye to eye. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/the-importance-of-coexisting-with-your-past-d30749fe62f7 | ['Dayon Cotton'] | 2020-10-23 03:28:03.896000+00:00 | ['This Happened To Me', 'Mental Health', 'Self', 'Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons'] |
A Love Letter May Be the Most Important Thing You Write This Year | I’ve been purging as I get ready to move again. This has put me in touch with sentimental boxes where I have stored precious memories: my high school prom corsage, little souvenirs from different trips, honor cords from graduating from college, a teddy bear from my childhood that I forgot about. It was fun to hold these one last time, but I noticed it was not difficult to them put them into the “bury-in-the-backyard” pile. We don’t want to haul them inside a box to yet another house, but we plan to have a little ceremony honoring these items. I hoped to get down to one sentimental box.
At the end of the day what my one sentimental box was filled with was cards and letters. As I touched each one of these — letters from my grandparents who lived overseas, from my parents when I left home, from young high school sweethearts, from my husband of 36 years and from my own children — I could feel the energy still present in them. So. Much. Love.
It made me reflect on our current condition and think how important it is now — this year, especially — to continue the tradition of writing love letters. We are socially isolated connecting as best as we can via zoom calls, but perhaps better is to reach out and touch loved ones with our written words.
“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.” — Phyllis Theroux
Imagine for a moment traveling to your mail box and finding a physical letter from someone important in your life. Imagine taking that letter into your socially isolated house, sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading the words that someone sat down to write you. Words that are not pithy responses on social media, or carefully crafted arguments, or awkward caught-on-zoom moments, but something else altogether — slowed down, tuned-in words speaking directly about what someone appreciates about you, what someone loves about you.
Now, imagine being the author of those words writing to someone else in your life. Who might need to feel the hug of your words?
Writing from a place of vulnerability and flow
This kind of writing comes from a different source. It comes from slowing down and tuning in to our still center — from feeling our emotional connection to an issue, to a person, to our own self. It comes from a place of vulnerability and flow. Love letters escape the boundaries of the thinking mind, escape the academic culture of structure and the word-limit boundaries of social media to meander through heartfelt territory fearlessly.
Writing a love letter is as much for the writer as it is for the reader. When we allow words from the heart to flow, we escape the inner critic who constantly compares and judges our writing. We let go of perfection and instead write from the heart. A love letter is more than the stream of consciousness writing in our journal, though. A love letter has an intended recipient with whom we hope to communicate and connect.
All of this became apparent to me a couple years ago and continues to move me. One day I sat down to write and realized that I didn’t need to instruct or educate. I didn’t need to quip. I didn’t need to make another list of the best things about x, y or z. I needed to tune in to a deeper place — to be awash with emotion without being swept away. I needed my handwritten words to both honor and connect and to serve as the long embrace that I could not give physically. In short, I needed to write two very different love letters: one to my mother and the other to a neighbor.
Letter to my mother
My mother lives in another state and has had an increasingly difficult couple of years taking on more and more responsibilities in caring for my mentally ailing father. (Earlier this year, she had to move my father into assisted living — with no visitation allowed. This was utter anguish for her.) At the time, though, she was still caring for him and was facing the milestone of turning 80. I wanted to show her I saw how difficult these past years had been, that I was proud of her, and that she still seemed so young and lively.
To my mother, a woman who lived in occupied Holland during World War II, who grew up to be passionate about reading survival stories, I wrote a letter that talked about her love of survival stories as a metaphor for her current difficulties. Her mainsail husband was torn and the ship of their life together was foundering. She faced an endless sea with no guarantee they would find a safe shore together. She relied on strict anti-Alzheimer’s protocols and supplements the way a lost sailor used bare hook lines-hoping for a nibble of hope. Her doldrum days were similarly marked by fatigue and despair. Like that lost sailor appreciating the company of dolphins, she too often managed to find something precious to focus on — a new recipe, a cup of tea, a simple walk.
I told her in my love letter what I saw: that the stories of survival she so loved were a pure reflection of her own heart. She harbored little self-pity instead drawing from a feisty reservoir of inner strength and a deep conviction that she could and would manage whatever was placed before her. She was not only a survivor but a lover of life and I wanted her to know that I saw that in her.
It was the most important thing I wrote that year.
Giving this letter to her that expressed my love and gratitude, while acknowledging her difficult journey, also fulfilled me. I felt like I had shown up for her birthday, notwithstanding the distance. Words bridged the gap. Later, she told me receiving the letter meant everything to her and was a turning point in being my dad’s caregiver. She relaxed. She was in the middle of a survival story and she was doing a helluva job. She kept that handwritten card on her kitchen counter and turned to it again and again for solace and comfort.
Not too long after I wrote to my mother, I discovered my neighbor was facing her own life passages. Her husband had died earlier in the year. Shortly after his death, she embarked on round-the-world travels, then arrived back home to our neighborhood feeling a little unwell to learn she had inoperable Stage IV pancreatic cancer with only months to live.
Letter to a neighbor
In the case of my neighbor, I felt helpless. Imminent death is hard — not something we, as a culture, are comfortable with. I didn’t know what to do or say — even casseroles were not an option. I ran headlong into not being able to “fix” this problem. In facing these truths, I got to see that connecting and communicating with someone during difficult times must not require me to fix the problem. Rather it invited me to radically accept what was in front of me while staying kind, curious, open and loving. It required me to do my best to connect anyway. To simply try.
To my neighbor — a woman I did not know well — I sat down one day and gave all my attention to the space she had carved in my heart. I wrote to her about meeting her at yoga and what a deep comfort it was to know that a like-minded soul lived just across the street. I wrote that I appreciated her enthusiastic and engaged approach to life and loved the connection she had with the community and her extended family. I thanked her for the time she went with our daughter to a Zen, Buddha and the Brain class, even though she was a Christian and the class was far away. I told her I saw her as someone who fit everywhere and made bridges as she went. I mailed it, even though she lived across the street, because her family had indicated she was not accepting visitors and I appreciated they needed uninterrupted time with her. I wrote it by hand and in writing it I felt intimate and connected with her.
To write these letters, I needed to draw from a different writing strength. My usual methods of communicating through structured essay or three-word lines of encouragement were inadequate. I needed to sit quietly, to let the words find me, to allow my writing to flow uninhibited and unstructured — awash in love, while mired in uncertainty. These important moments were asking me — a writer — to write not about them so much as from them — to wade deep in acceptance of the profound difficulties that life sometimes offers.
-
Life is full and often sweet, but also precarious and fragile. At any given moment it might be happy or sad, messy or clean, perfect or imperfect. As writer’s we might not be sure how to capture it all — Novel? Memoir? Non-fiction?
My advice: Practice by writing a love letter and let the word tears flow.
Love letter inspiration prompts:
To write a love letter that feels like a warm embrace I’ve discovered I have to let go of the thinking mind and engage the subconscious while tickling the heart. Writing a love letter is a “free-writing” exercise for me. With one person in mind, I follow simple free-writing rules: keep the hand writing, don’t think, don’t edit, don’t filter. I let it all flow. Below are the concepts I consider when writing a love letter. I’ve included them as prompts for you to play with.
The prompts:
Dear ___, I want to write you a letter because…
I appreciate that you…
You make me feel…
I remember when we…
Thank you for…
I know how hard it has been for you…
You are courageous because…
I guarantee that this process will yield tremendous pearls of authentic love to be assembled into a love letter. Enjoy the process of putting your letter in an envelope and mailing it! It just might change their life.
In fact, I wager, it might be the most important thing you write this year. | https://medium.com/scribe/a-love-letter-may-be-the-most-important-thing-you-write-this-year-28e0e8d3f6ec | ['Marijke Mccandless'] | 2020-11-18 21:26:13.384000+00:00 | ['Love Letters', 'Writing', 'Love', 'Relationships', 'Vulnerability'] |
MS Excel — Two Awesome Conditional Formatting Tips | INTRODUCTION
Conditional formatting is a great way to highlight items for the spreadsheet user. But, setting the conditions up can be tricky.
It’s even more confusing when you introduce variables into the formatting (so that user can define what to format).
But, persevere and the payoff is significant!
Two of my favorite techniques when working with lists of data are to highlight entire rows in tables when specific values are found in certain selected table columns (e.g., highlight all rows where company market cap exceeds a certain value).
HOW?
I use two Excel functions which make this happen — INDIRECT and SEARCH, based on scenario.
INDIRECT
“ The Excel INDIRECT function returns a valid reference from a given text string. Use INDIRECT when you need to convert a reference assembled as text into a proper reference.”
SEARCH
“ The Excel SEARCH function returns the location of one text string inside another. SEARCH returns the position of the first character of find_text inside within_text. Unlike FIND, SEARCH allows wildcards, and is not case-sensitive.”
To see how these functions work with conditional formatting, you can check out the Slideshare below: | https://medium.com/lets-excel/ms-excel-two-awesome-conditional-formatting-tips-712a7a6a8d60 | ['Don Tomoff'] | 2019-11-12 15:57:23.138000+00:00 | ['Conditional Formatting', 'Excel', 'Reporting', 'Productivity'] |
Can AI make an Art Introduction? | With recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence, we at YML Innovation Labs were curious whether art introductions can be automated. In this article we explore how we went about creating such an art exhibition in NYC with Damjanski.
It’s not too long since OpenAI cautiously revealed the capabilities of its language generation learning model GPT-2, taking the task of performing language modelling to the next level. While knowing that it performs well on a number of language benchmarks, everyone’s been talking about it, so we decided to take a look at it and see what we could conjure up something for the art world. This was part of a kick-off with the artist Damjanski to create a solution to showcase statements of an art exhibit named Museum of Modern Art, generated in response to questions answered by folks coming to the art performance. This project investigates ideas of collaboration with an AI and its integration into the artist’s practice. Exploring the subject of thinking processes is an AI based on all the archived exhibition statements of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The exhibition comprises of a headset where people can interact with the AI to create new exhibition statements in the form of printed text. These statements serve as a means for artists to think about the generated information in new ways. | https://medium.com/ymedialabs-innovation/can-ai-make-an-art-introduction-842d20b96b06 | ['Kinar Ravishankar'] | 2019-06-07 06:27:43.703000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'TensorFlow', 'Art', 'Deep Learning'] |
Rebuilding the user typeahead | Devin Finzer, Jiacheng Hong and Kelsey Stemmler | Pinterest engineers, Discovery
A core part of Pinterest is giving people the ability to discover content related to their interests. Many times, a Pin can be discovered when people share it with one another, through features like Group Boards and messages.
To make the experience of finding a person as seamless as possible, we recently rebuilt our user typeahead. The goal was to quickly surface the most relevant contacts for the user given what we know about that person’s social connections and following activity on Pinterest.
The legacy typeahead was often slow and unresponsive, and limited the number of contacts a user could store. Additionally, all of the logic for the typeahead layer resided in our internal API. We set out to not only make the typeahead faster, but to also split it into a separate service that could be deployed and maintained independently of our API and web application. Building our typeahead in line with our service-oriented architecture would improve testability, ease the process of adding and deploying new features, and make our code more maintainable.
Developing the Contact Book signal
To surface the most relevant contacts, we leveraged the Pinterest following graph, and social graphs from Pinners’ social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail. Still, many users don’t link their social networks to Pinterest, so additional signals based on mobile contacts were used.
Asking for permission to access contacts on mobile can be tricky if intentions aren’t clear. Simply showing users a native dialog can result in a confusing user experience and a low acceptance rate. To build a seamless permissions experience, we integrated learnings from other companies, such as that the best way to ask for permissions is to explain the value of connecting upfront before asking for native permissions.
We also leveraged the Experience Framework for our mobile permissions flow, which allowed us swap out the text of the mobile permissions flow without changing client code. It also meant we could easily experiment with different flows to further optimize our success rate.
Building the new backend
We built a separate backend service (we call Contacts Service) to store the data for the new user typeahead. The new system consisted of three major components:
A modifiable, real-time online “index” for fast access of any user’s contacts from different sources.
A Thrift server (which we call Contacts Service) exposing interfaces to manage this index. This allows clients to update the index and look up top contacts using prefix-matching.
A set of PinLater tasks that keeps the index in sync with the contacts sources using the Thrift interface.
We chose HBase as the storage solution for the contacts index because it met all of our requirements:
Speed: The primary requirement of the typeahead is to look up names quickly. If names are sorted, the operation is simply a binary search using the prefix combo to locate the position then scan until we have enough results. This is a typical HBase scan operation. Our performance data shows that a scan of 20 rows in HBase takes less than two milliseconds — fast enough to meet our requirements.
Scalability: HBase is horizontally scalable, and adding more machines to a cluster is easy with minimal manual intervention, and gives linear throughput increase.
Fault tolerance: HBase supports auto failover. If a box dies, the HBase cluster moves the data to other live servers and the whole process takes a few minutes to finish with no change required on client side.
Writable: We chose to maintain an updatable index instead of two-layer system solution involving base index and fresh index to simplify the implementation and maintenance. HBase provided us with great write performance.
Supporting millions of contacts for one user
We support and aggregate contacts from various sources for each user in the contacts service. Therefore, it’s extensible if we want to add new sources, and flexible if we want to query contacts from certain sources. In most cases, the number of contacts from each source is under two hundred. However, some Pinners have millions of followers, so to tackle this challenge, we used two kinds of schemas to store contacts: wide schema and tall schema.
Wide schema: This is the default schema, which is expected to fit most sources. Contacts in one source for one user are stored together in one row. Each name token is stored as the prefix of column name. With our own implementation of ColumnPaginationFilter (which provides similar feature as Scan but inside one row), we are able to batch these GET requests to all sources in the wide schema in one RPC to do a prefix lookup.
Tall schema: This schema is specifically designed for sources (e.g. Pinterest follower) with potentially large number of contacts. The wide schema cannot support this use case because data in one row cannot be split across regions in HBase. In the tall schema, for each user we store contacts from one source in nearby rows, where the name token is part of the row key. Then for each source, one Scan request can achieve the prefix lookup among the contacts in this source.
Ranking and de-duping contacts
As we provide contacts lookup from different sources, it’s important that we display the most relevant contact at the top. It could also be annoying if we returned the same contact multiple times because it appears as a contact in multiple of your sources. We found an accurate de-duping logic to filter out contacts was highly beneficial to a user’s typeahead experience. To further improve on the above two areas, we relied on many of our existing services to provide real-time data access and enable Contacts Service to return de-duped contacts in the pre-defined ranking order.
Ranking: We have configurable ranking order based on different sources. For example, mutual followers is a strong signal of relevancy, so we always want to boost mutual follower contacts at top. This ranking order is configurable, which can be easily replaced with another one.
De-duping: Contacts Service talks to Friend Service for social network (including Facebook, Twitter, G+) id to Pinterest id lookup, and Data Service (with our own positive and negative caching) for email to Pinterest id lookup. With this information, we can easily tell whether these contacts are actually the same person based on their Pinterest id.
In order to store the data for efficient lookups, we tokenized each of the contacts names, and store each token with a reference to the original contact. We use the same algorithm to tokenize the contact’s full name, and the query string. This guarantees consistent results. We were able to use this tokenization to help score each match based on the proximity of the terms within the contact name and query string. For example, searching for “John Smith” should yield “John Smith” as a stronger match (higher in the results) compared to “John Michael Smith.”
How to enable real-time results?
We considered running an update job daily, to refresh the index with all of the new connections, but decided real-time results were far more useful. For example, when you connect your Facebook account to your Pinterest account, you should be able to send pins to your Facebook friends almost immediately.
In order to have real-time results, we hooked in updates to the new backend service for every time a user’s contact information changes. There are a few places this can happen:
Pinterest name change: When a Pinner changes his/her name, it’s reflected in all of their contacts. That way, others can search based on this new name, and the old name will no longer yield this contact as a result. It can get tricky for those with millions of connections for a particular source, though. We wrote a chained PinLater task that uses pagination to help fan out the updates without overloading the system.
Connecting / updating social network source: When a user connects their Pinterest account to Facebook, Twitter, etc., we want them to be able to send pins, and so we created a new PinLater task for this user, to lookup their new connections and update the backend Contacts Service accordingly. We also hooked up these updates in the existing social network refresh tasks.
Updating follower relationships: When a Pinterest user follows or unfollows another Pinterest user, those changes should be reflected immediately.
Getting all that data loaded
Since we wrote a new backend service for the new user typeahead, we had to populate it somehow. The initial set of data was not small by any means.
To upload the initial data, we wrote a task to upload all of a user’s connections for each supported source type. We ran this task for every Pinterest user, which took about three days to complete, even with a dedicated PinLater cluster.
Timing was critical. We needed to write all of the real-time updates before doing the initial upload so the corresponding updates would be done on top of the base set of data. So, first we added the real-time updates logic, and then we did the uploaded all of the data. Any actions, thereafter, that changed a user’s contacts updated the backend automatically.
Introducing a faster typeahead
The new user typeahead is markedly faster than the original implementation, with a server-side p99 of 25ms. When we A/B tested our new typeahead implementation against the old version, we found that message sends and Pinner interactions increased significantly.
The next improvement is to compute second-order connections to expand the breadth of the typeahead. Stay tuned!
Devin Finzer, Jiacheng Hong, and Kelsey Stemmler are software engineers at Pinterest.
Acknowledgements: Dannie Chu, Xun Liu, Varun Sharma and Eusden Shing | https://medium.com/pinterest-engineering/rebuilding-the-user-typeahead-9c5bf9723173 | ['Pinterest Engineering'] | 2017-02-17 22:29:18.406000+00:00 | ['Engineering', 'Typeahead', 'Data', 'Search', 'Thrit'] |
Content Is King | Lights…Camera…Acton!
Social media changed a lot about society. We communicate, share, comment, support, motivate, laugh, and lots more with each other with just the click of a button using the power of social media. Social media has become our main source of information (sometimes disinformation). It’s our spell check, our problem-solver, and our one-stop-shop for all the questions we might have or things we want to buy or places we want to find. Social media in my opinion took marketing to another level and made it (marketing) a lot more powerful and influential. Given the fact that I haven’t been in the business of marketing for long. I’ve learned that the main goal of marketing is to get as many eyes of potential customers on your product as possible. What better tool is there in the world for marketers to use to achieve their goal other than social media. Social media has a monopoly on our attention. One of the biggest reasons people are on social media maybe even the biggest is entertainment. Social media is the new television that we can carry around with us in our pockets. We can pull out our phones whenever we’re bored and need something to laugh at or maybe we might need something to occupy our time for a while. Being able to carry your socials with you everywhere you go is probably the reason why it has so much of our attention. It’s always with us. Marketers are capitalizing on this by using social ads, but content in my opinion is the best tool to get consumers to engage with and become aware of your product. Things are moving at the speed of light and people are consuming content at the same pace. Yes, there is a lot more content being produced by independent content creators, but also new people are joining social media every day. While the people who are already there are looking for new things to watch so they can share with their friends and brag to them about being the first to find this new piece of content. Staying consistent on socials putting out content for people to watch and share can bring more potential customers to you. Take a page from the president himself. He may not be making videos or have a youtube channel where he does tutorials, but he doesn’t need to the media networks make the videos for him. Trump is constantly in the news and making headlines every day. Yes, Trump is going to make headlines and get attention because he is the president but I haven’t seen anything like him in my lifetime. Trump is also on Twitter engaging with his followers and with people that don’t like him. If there is one thing that’s for sure about trump it’s that he knows the value of being on the minds of other people. With the attention, he gains Trump has more influence on the people that love him while also getting the people that hate him to talk about him. Whether you love him or hate him Trump’s attention-grabbing ability is something marketers should apply to their business. | https://medium.com/plus-marketing/content-is-king-7c5013f79b04 | ['Javar Narine'] | 2020-12-04 22:45:23.745000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Marketing', 'Content'] |
The Sordid Life of Caravaggio | The Sordid Life of Caravaggio
“Tenebrism was a trademark technique of Caravaggio’s, and perhaps creates a fitting analogy for the artist’s life. For, as replete with wrongdoing as it was, he also created numerous paintings of immense beauty.”
Benjamin Blake Evemy /MutualArt
The Seven Works of Mercy, 1606–1607, oil on canvas. Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples
To this day, Caravaggio remains one of the most revered Italian painters of the late 16th and early 17th century. Conjuring brooding, violent, and dark biblical masterpieces, it should come as little surprise that the painter himself lived a blood-soaked and turbulent life, fraught with swordfights, heavy drinking, brawls, and even murder.
Born Michelangelo Merisi, in the town of Caravaggio, Lombardy, in 1573, he went on to study briefly in Milan, before relocating to the grand and luxurious city of Rome. It was here that he found companionship with other artists, as well as persons of social prominence, and he secured public commissions from patrons of immense wealth.
From the onset of his career, Caravaggio was a rebel. Refusing to adhere to the traditional European depictions of idealized religious figures, he instead often used peasants and citizens from the street as models for his sacred subjects. His treatment of light and dark, and his depictions of violent, dramatic, and erotic subject matter also set him apart from both his contemporaries and those who came before.
Medusa, 1597, oil on canvas mounted on wood. Uffizi, Florence
From 1600, Caravaggio made a regular appearance in Roman police records, with fourteen recorded citations in a period of slightly less than six years. Most of these offences were not serious, and included writing defamatory doggerel about his rival, the painter-historian Giovanni Baglione, throwing a plate of artichokes in the face of a waiter who had offended him, obscenely cursing police, carrying a sword without permission, and throwing stones at the window shutter of his estranged landlady. Some of his appearances in the records involved serious bodily violence, however, and he was jailed six or seven times, always being released, often from intervention from friends in high places. This kind of reckless behavior and life in the streets, along with an affinity for its people, must have been an inherent part of Caravaggio’s nature, for in September of 1605, he was described as having no fixed abode, was notorious for wearing expensive clothes until they were all but tatters, and also at one point was using an old canvas as a tablecloth. And it was not out of poverty, for the artist was always paid more than handsomely for his commissions.
Amor Vincit Omnia, 1601–1602, oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
On the May 29,1606, Caravaggio lost ten scudi on a tennis match with a young man from Terni, Ranuccio Tomassoni. A subsequent argument ensued, and the two beat each other with their racquets. It ended with the men challenging one another to a fight. That night, armed with swords, and accompanied by respective friends, they met and fought. Tomassoni was wounded on the thigh and fell to the ground, where Caravaggio promptly ran him through and killed him. Wounded, he fled to the foothills east of Rome. Since papal authority did not extend past the city walls, the baroque master was safe for the time being, but after several months relocated south to Naples.
The following years were spent in exile in Naples, Sicily, and Malta, where he still found himself in the throes of bizarre circumstances. Nevertheless, his artistic talent outweighed any misgivings that others may have had against him, for he completed many major commissions for portraits and altarpieces.
Naples at the time was under Spanish jurisdiction. It was a lawless and crowded city, ridden with disease and full of filth. Still, it was not without its aristocrats, and Caravaggio completed several of his most important works there, including The Seven Works of Mercy, which was commissioned for the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia, where it is still housed today.
The Seven Works of Mercy housed today in the Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples (photograph by the author)
Despite enjoying artistic success in Napoli, Caravaggio left for Malta after only a few months. His arrival (and subsequent escape the following year) was facilitated by Fabrizio Sforza Colonna, a Knight of Malta. Caravaggio soon undertook commissions from the Order, which was so proud about having a famous artist as their official painter, that Caravaggio was inducted as a Knight. It was in Malta that he completed his largest painting, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, as well as his only ever work to bear his signature, Saint Jerome Writing. In 1608, Caravaggio was arrested and imprisoned, once again for brawling with a member of the Knights of Malta. The Knight was wounded, and Caravaggio found himself having to flee yet again.
Saint Jerome Writing, 1607–1608, oil on canvas. St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta
This time, Caravaggio found himself in Sicily, where, according to his old friend, Mario Minniti, his behavior had grown even more erratic. He returned to Naples after only nine months. In the October of 1609, he was ambushed, resulting in the disfiguration of his face. It is speculated that the attack may have been linked to the Knights of Malta, who had come for retribution. During this period he painted two paintings that featured his own severed head, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (Madrid), which he sent to a prominent member of the Knights of Malta in an act of seeking forgiveness, and also David with the Head of Goliath, which he sent to Scipione Borghese, hoping that the Cardinal and art collector would pardon him so that he could return to Rome.
David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1610, oil on canvas. Galleria Borghese, Rome
In the spring or early summer of 1610, Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga arranged absolution for the murder of Tomassoni, which meant that Caravaggio could finally return to Rome. Most likely out of suspicion, he chose to sail to a southern Tuscan enclave which was under Spanish jurisdiction at the time, as opposed to traveling overland or sailing directly to the port of Rome. But upon landing, he was mistaken for a wanted fugitive knight, and jailed. Two days later he was released but found that all his possessions had disappeared. He had also likely come down with malaria. He set off under the scorching summer sun, but before long he was delirious and raving. He died miserable and alone a few months short of his 39th birthday. He never made it back to Rome.
Mostly due to the reputation Caravaggio formed as a scoundrel with a violent temper, his work was not always appreciated by critics. In 1642, Baglione wrote “he ruined the art of painting” (even though this statement may well have been payback for the defamatory verses), and in the 19th century, John Ruskin, leading English art critic of the Victorian era, bluntly expressed his disgust for the master’s work, finding in Caravaggio’s paintings, “…horror and ugliness and filthiness of sin.”
Tenebrism — a heightened form of chiaroscuro, the treatment of light and dark — was a trademark technique of Caravaggio’s, and perhaps creates a fitting analogy for the artist’s life. For, as replete with wrongdoing as it was, he also created numerous paintings of immense beauty. And even though his creative life lasted less than two decades, what he left the art world in his tumultuous wake will forever hold the utmost importance. | https://medium.com/mutualart/the-sordid-life-of-caravaggio-52b3b0ff1aa6 | [] | 2020-12-09 08:01:52.208000+00:00 | ['Painting', 'History', 'Art', 'Society', 'Culture'] |
Designing a Flexible Permissions System with Casbin | At Silo, we recently worked on an overhaul of our user management system. The overhaul primarily involved adding the ability to assign permissions over specific features in our marketplace application. As we went through the planning phases of our new user management architecture, we insisted on not reinventing the wheel and decided to use Casbin to support user permissions in our Go backend. Casbin has great built-in support for a lot of common access models like ACL and RBAC, so we were able to adapt our user permissions design to use the Casbin framework even though our design was a bit of a hybrid model. Casbin is super flexible so it can be daunting to dive into the ecosystem, but we hope the examples we include here can provide some insight into how you can use Casbin in your own applications.
Defining a Casbin Model for Feature-Based Access Control
The model definition you choose dictates how Casbin ingests requests and enforces access rules. Casbin has some general requirements for the model definition, mainly that the .conf file needs at least four sections: [request_definition] , [policy_definition] , [policy_effect] , and [matchers] . Additionally, if the model is following RBAC it should contain a [role_definition] section. We’ll explore what all these sections entail when walking through Silo’s model definition.
There are several example files in the Casbin documentation that show configuration for common access models, but since our design is a little unique we’ll skip past those.
There are a few high level requirements we need to fulfill with our access model. We need an access model that is focused on feature-based access, in that users are provided access over a subset of features you can mix-and-match rather than assuming a role that itself is a container for specific access rules (as you would find in an RBAC model). We want to construct a feature hierarchy where if a user is given access over a feature, they are also granted access over all of that feature’s child features without having to manually add separate rules for all those child features or migrate the user’s feature set when new child features are added. Initially, we only need support for two different access types, view and edit , but we also want the ability to add additional types in the future. Lastly, we need a way to easily allow admin access over all features, without having to add an explicit “role” for that functionality. Included below is a configuration file which has support for all the requirements described:
[request_definition]
r = user_id, feature, action [policy_definition]
p = user_id, feature, action [role_definition]
g = _, _ [policy_effect]
e = some(where (p.eft == allow)) [matchers]
m = p.user_id == r.user_id && ((g(p.feature, r.feature) ||
(p.feature == r.feature)) && (p.action == r.action ||
p.action == 'edit' && r.action == 'view') || p.feature == 'admin')
Let’s break down the components of the configuration file:
The request_definition is how we interact with Casbin. We define our authorization requests to be in the format user_id, feature, action (with action being either edit or view , which we will see later).
[request_definition]
r = user_id, feature, action
The policy_definition is how we store permissions. In Casbin’s terminology, “policy” is equivalent to our concept of a “permission.” We define our policies to be stored in the format user_id, feature, action , mirroring how we send requests to Casbin to verify permissions.
[policy_definition]
p = user_id, feature, action
The role_definition in this case is used to create the feature hierarchy. The first _ indicates the parent feature and the second _ indicates the child feature. This is a little opaque, but functionally this block defines a “grouping policy” in the format g(a, b) where we can basically store and verify the relationship between a pair of strings (which in our case are parent and child features names).
[role_definition]
g = _, _
The policy_effect defines what action is taken if a request is matched according to the matcher in the configuration(which we’ll take a look at later). In this block, we’re basically saying that if some policy is matched, the effect is allow .
[policy_effect]
e = some(where (p.eft == allow))
matchers defines the boolean expression needed to satisfy an authorization request with existing policies.
[matchers]
m = p.user_id == r.user_id && ((g(p.feature, r.feature) ||
(p.feature == r.feature)) && (p.action == r.action ||
p.action == 'edit' && r.action == 'view') || p.feature == 'admin')
The matcher here can be broken down into several clauses:
The first overall condition is that there has to exist some policy p stored in Casbin that matches the user_id in the request r .
p.user_id == r.user_id
The second condition is a bit more involved:
((g(p.feature, r.feature) ||
(p.feature == r.feature)) && (p.action == r.action ||
p.action == 'edit' && r.action == 'view') || p.feature == 'admin')
The g(p.feature, r.feature) function matches a permission to a child feature, meaning that if the user has access to the parent feature, match on its child.
g(p.feature, r.feature)
Either that parent/child relationship condition can be fulfilled, or the user could have an exact match with a permission over the request feature, so p.feature == r.feature is fulfilled.
p.feature == r.feature
Then, the action in the request has to match the action granted in the policy, or if the request is view but the viewer has edit that will also be granted.
p.action == r.action || p.action == 'edit' && r.action == 'view'
Or, ignoring all of the logic for matching specific features, if the user has an admin permission stored in Casbin, access is granted regardless of what feature is being requested.
p.feature == 'admin'
Now that we have our model defined, let’s run through some examples.
Policies in Action
Let’s create some policies to give permissions to some users and set up a feature hierarchy:
p, alice, inventory, edit
p, bob, inventory, view
p, paul, admin, edit g, inventory, inventory_items
g, inventory, inventory_photos
In the above file, we define three users with three different permissions and a simple feature hierarchy with one parent ( inventory ) and two children ( inventory_items and inventory_photos ). Let’s look at how Casbin will respond when we send permission requests with our model definition and the policies we just defined:
Request: alice, inventory_items, view Casbin response: true
alice has edit access on inventory so the request for view access is granted.
Request: bob, inventory_items, edit Casbin response: false
bob only has view access on inventory , so bob can’t have edit access over the child inventory_items feature.
Request: bob, inventory_photos, view Casbin response: true
bob has view access on inventory so bob has view access over the child inventory_photos feature.
Request: paul, inventory, edit Casbin response: true
paul is an admin , so he has access to all features
If you’d like to experiment more with our model definition and other policies or even test out your own model definitions, check out Casbin’s nifty editor.
Implementation
Now that we have the overall design of how the system will work, we can dig into some of the implementation specifics.
Disclaimer: The following code snippets are definitely not production-ready, so please use them only as a guide.
The default method of adding policies to Casbin is to create a policy CSV file, but that method doesn’t quite fit our use cases. We want our own admin users to assign privileges to other users in their account. Additionally, maintaining a CSV file for sensitive permission storage can quickly become untenable. With those reservations in mind, we chose to instead store these policies within our application’s database. Thankfully, there’s a host of adapter middlewares to connect Casbin to your storage method of choice. We went with the GORM adapter since our application heavily leverages GORM as our ORM library.
For the enforcement of policies, we attach a casbin.CachedEnforcer to our overall application struct so that all of our HTTP handlers are able to interface with Casbin to verify permissions.
type App struct {
... enforcer *casbin.CachedEnforcer ...
} app.enforcer = casbin.NewCachedEnforcer(<configuration file path>, gormadapter.NewAdapterByDB(<GORM DB struct>))
The CachedEnforcer stores the results of previous permission requests in a map within the runtime enforcer struct to reduce the amount of database calls. To ensure the cache doesn’t get stale, we clear the cache whenever a user’s permissions change.
# Add new permission
app.enforcer.AddPolicySafe("alice", "inventory_items", "view") # Clear cache
app.enforcer.InvalidateCache()
For the actual authorization of access to our endpoints, we “enforce” the minimum permission required for a specific endpoint through our HTTP handler flow. If the requirements aren’t met (Casbin simply returns false ), we return a 403 Forbidden , otherwise the handler proceeds as normal.
func (app *App) ViewItems(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
userID := GetUserID(r)
if !app.enforcer.Enforce(userID, "inventory_items", "view") {
return fmt.Errorf("403 Forbidden")
} // User has access so proceed
...
}
And that’s it! Using the core Casbin functionality is straightforward enough that you can quickly get set up with permission handling with just a few lines of code. For larger applications you can easily abstract the boilerplate of adding, removing, and enforcing permissions. Hopefully this has given you enough background to get you started with designing your own access control system. Have fun! | https://medium.com/silo-blog/designing-a-flexible-permissions-system-with-casbin-f5d97fef17b8 | ['Upal Saha'] | 2019-10-11 21:14:24.117000+00:00 | ['Backend', 'Software Engineering', 'Golang Tutorial', 'Runtime Permissions', 'Go'] |
Editor’s Picks — Top 10: A Perfect Writing Style Is Not Possible | Let’s read our top 10 writers who write in their signature style:
10. What If I’m Not Good Enough?
Neha Doshi is an English teacher and a fine writer. Do check her other work.
Since 2018, the Office of National Statistics has conducted surveys regarding the gender pay gap in the UK. What has been revealed is that even in industries where women make up the greater workforce, men earn on average more than women. That is not to say that women earn less for the same work — technically that would be illegal — but that women are lacking in positions of leadership, or do not apply for higher paying roles.
9. I Tried Writing True Crime
Sarah Lyall-Neal, PsyD is a business coach, speaker, and psychologist. She is an excellent writer as well. Her writing style is frank, direct, and engaging. She is talking about how writing true crime gave her a new respect for her favorite content creators. Don’t miss this one.
If you were to ask any of my friends what I geek out on the most, they would likely say true crime. I am a sucker for true crime podcasts, TV shows, and books. What can I say? I love a mystery. There is always someone out there who knows the whole story, finding them is the hard part. Turns out I’m not alone in my love of true crime content. A study completed by the University of Illinois found that if given a choice of violent reading material, women were more likely to choose true crime, whereas men were more likely to choose non-fiction books about war or gang violence.
8. The Fault In Our Loyalties
Adam Prescott is a software engineer and manager of people. He is an outstanding writer. His style is simple, direct, and engaging. Do check his other work.
Regardless of your position in a company, you’re probably a part of multiple teams. You have an immediate team — the people you work with every day. There’s another team made up of everybody in your department, and you might also be on a team with peers from other departments. And within those teams, there might be even more virtual teams that you belong to. The point is, you’ve got a lot of teams beyond the one you’re assigned to on the org chart.
7. Losing Your Job is a Blessing
Julia Appa is a 21-year-old student who loves reading and engaging with different ideas. She has been wanting to be a writer since she was six.
She is an excellent writer. Her style is formal, informative, and highly engaging. She is offering a new perspective here. Don’t miss this one.
A majority of Americans hates their jobs. According to a report by CBS News, two-thirds of employees are disengaged at work and feel no real connection to their jobs. Given that most employees do the same thing every single day for 40, 50 or even 60 hours a week, it’s no wonder they grow tired of their work. If their personal values do not align with the values of the company, there is an even bigger chance they’ll get miserable.
6. How to Budget Your Way to Debt Freedom
Matt Reicher is a researcher, writer, and content creator. He is a superb writer. His style is formal, direct, and engaging. Do check his other work as well.
“There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt. “~P.T. Barnum The United States is a country in which a large part of its citizens lives in financial disarray. Stress and anxiety from our debts are exacerbated by the current pandemic’s added economic woes. It can leave one feeling lost like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. But, merely taking an in depth look at your financial situation and making positive changes will eventually fix things. To do this properly, you’ll need to create a budget.
5. Why You Should Avoid Making Own App
Dmytro Khmelenko is a software engineer and a fine writer.
Some time ago I started exploring available options for a side hustle. In the beginning, I was thinking about doing something interesting after work and learn new technologies. After some time I started thinking if it is possible to monetize it. You have an app, users all around the world are using it, making purchases and you become rich just like Warren Buffett said once. If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die. ― Warren Buffett
4. Vaccine Opposition, an Origin Story
Bashar Salame loves to write about restoring health and enhancing life. He is an exceptional writer. His style is informative and engaging. Don’t miss this one and check his other work.
Science saves, plain and simple. Science saves time, science saves energy, and above all, science saves lives. Scientific advancements have led to a vast array of efficiencies, improvements in energy production and usage, travel, as well as countless medical breakthroughs. One reason for this has to do with clinical trials. Typically, a clinical trial begins with animals. Provided the study shows efficacy and the animals do well, only then will researchers move on to people. Beginning with small groups, researchers increase trial participants until a well representative portion of the population is studied.
3. It Is Possible To Move Beyond Grief
Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is an educator and an author. She writes to speak her truth. She is a skilled writer. Her writing style is honest and engaging. Don’t forget to check her other work.
The 2019 holiday season was very typical for me. I embraced the excitement and the true meaning as I always did. While I silently protested as my father asked me to complete his Christmas shopping for my mother during the final hours before store closed as he did most of my adult life, I braved the cold evening elements as well as the crowds and purchased his gifts. My daughter and I selected memorable gifts for my mother on his behalf. I remember how carefully I wrapped a large box containing several packages of gourmet coffee that I ordered for my father for yet another Christmas. The delicious aroma of the flavored coffee packages penetrated the large box as I wrapped it. The smell of the fresh coffee added enjoyment to my gift wrapping.
2. 5 Red Flags You Must Not Ignore in People You Hang Out With
Haris Mohammad is a coach, trader, and engineer. He writes about personal growth, money, and business. He is an excellent writer. His writing style is thought-provoking and engaging. Do check his other work.
There are certain kinds of people we hate to have around us. Most notably, the kind prone to abusive and violent outbursts. However, not everyone bad for us gives out such loud and obvious signals. In fact, certain traits make people likable to us when it’s in our best interests to stay away from them. Besides, sometimes even well-meaning friends can cause us much harm through unintended consequences of their actions.
1. Now Is the Time to Discuss Order Fulfilment
At number one, it is Paul Myers MBA. He is a top writer in Business, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Startups and Innovation.
If you are interested in topics he writes about, follow him. He can provide you valuable advice in his areas of expertise. Don’t forget to check his other work and wait for his next piece. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/editors-picks-top-10-a-perfect-writing-style-is-not-possible-62a6a39950ed | ['Dew Langrial'] | 2020-12-28 19:16:36.569000+00:00 | ['Writing Tips', 'Self Improvement', 'Writing', 'Reading', 'Readinglist'] |
How to build an innovation engine…from within | How to build an innovation engine…from within
Empower your team to be intrapreneurs, give them room to experiment, and celebrate failures
Amina Islam
In the race for relevance to future customers whose needs and desires still remain obscure, a company’s capacity to innovate is far more important than its capacity to execute. This is because technology disruptions have brought on unprecedented waves of change, making it critical for companies to ride them or risk drowning.
When resources are abundant, it’s easy to invest in building Research and Development (R&D) departments or innovation labs. You can even create clever architectural changes the way Steve Jobs did when he designed Pixar’s offices in 1986, and placed the bathrooms in an atrium at the center of the workspace. Even though some people found it annoying, as The Independent’s Archie Bland writes, “Pixar’s employees started to bump into each other. They shot the breeze. Sometimes, the chatter would yield something useful, and one of the participants would head back to her desk with a new idea.”
However, if you don’t have those luxuries, what can you do as the leader of an organization with limited resources and manpower to build a culture of innovation?
Start with your current workforce; encourage them to become intrapreneurs, give them room to experiment, and celebrate failures.
Encourage intrapreneurship
It is common for organizations nowadays to outsource innovation services, and hire consultants in hopes that they’ll provide silver-bullet solutions such as design thinking training. While these one-off initiatives do add some value, a more holistic approach to driving innovative thinking is to encourage intrapreneurship, by giving your staff the right authority, support, and opportunities.
An intrapreneur is someone you can think of as an ‘in-house entrepreneur.’ Whether they operate within the boundaries of an organization as intrapreneurs or on their own as entrepreneurs, they are always noticing and acting on opportunities, utilizing their resourcefulness to overcome obstacles, and thinking of ways to improve goods, services or business models. Entrepreneurship can be thought of as a mindset rather than a job title.
Disseminating this mindset means empowering employees to implement their ideas by giving them enough leeway and resources. The implementation part — or the ‘hustle’ — is perhaps what separates intrapreneurs from employees with good ideas. It is also the most important part to ensure that innovation efforts are adding real value.
Fast Company defines the difference between Creativity and Innovation as being, “Creativity is the process of generating something new. It is a prerequisite for innovation. Innovation, however, is the practical application of creativity. A good idea is a great thing, but if the idea is not implemented, for whatever reason, we simply have creativity”.
One idea that can be implemented is to allow employees to use a percentage of their work time to pursue their own initiatives. 3M calls this the 15 percent program. When they launched this program in 1948, they did not know that they will be launching an innovation dynamo. Today, 3M is a multinational powerhouse, boasting 22,800 patents, and has been awarded the US government’s highest award for innovation, the National Medal of Technology. Although not all patents come from the 15 % program, it is one of the ways in which they have nurtured an innovative culture.
It is very easy to get stuck in the weeds of running daily operations, and such programs present people with the space to break out of tunnel vision, and think beyond their cubicles, and daily tasks, to see how things can be improved.
Build an Easy Process for Presenting Innovations
Amazon prides itself on being customer-obsessed. Their ethos is to start with the customer and work backwards, which is why at the heart of their innovation engine is their ‘Work Backwards’ process that starts with the following:
A one-page press release that announces the new idea, its name, target audience, and value, highlighting the type of customer problems it is going to solve. A six-page FAQ list that lays out details about the solution, and the anticipated issues customers might encounter or be curious about. Customer experience in the form of mockups or rough prototypes to show how customers will access and work with the new solution.
This process helps employees gain clarity about their proposed idea. It also reinforces the intrapreneurial mindset as they are expected to advocate for their ideas, selling them internally by presenting them with the same level of energy and enthusiasm as though it were launch day.
Give autonomy, with accountability
To allow creativity and innovation to flourish, as a leader you must ensure that every employee has the needed level of autonomy over how they complete their tasks, and solve any problems that arise. According to social science writer Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us’, autonomy is one of the major drivers of workplace motivation. Daniel asserts that the secret to high performance and job satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, learn and create new things. Rethinking traditional ideas of control and micro-management such as regular office hours, dress codes, numerical targets — organizations can increase staff engagement, build trust, and create a culture of innovation. Giving staff autonomy means giving them the space to try, fail, learn, succeed and repeat.
However, it is important to note that giving autonomy does not mean removing accountability as the right expectations need to be set. You would not want chaos to reign supreme, which is why it is important to ensure that everybody is clearly aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities.
Allow Experiments to Fail
Most attempts to innovate fail. Punishing failure in the workplace does not reduce the rate of failure, rather it ends up killing innovation itself. As a leader, it is important for you to build a safe work environment where employees can talk openly about failures, and focus on learnings that come out of these.
In fact, why not take a step further and celebrate failures? P & G, for example, has “heroic failure awards,” and Google employees are publicly applauded by their co-workers and supervisors for embracing failure, and rewarded with time off to think about their next project.
Failing often does not mean it should come at the expense of critical thinking and delivering good quality work. Its main realm is to be iterative, tweaking as we learn from mistakes, and redoing if necessary in order to move the company forward.
Remember that your most valuable resources are the people within your organization — their motivation, imagination, and faith in a better future. So harness their energy to drive your innovation engine.
About the author: Amina Islam is the Innovative Learning Lead for Xcelerator , where she works with the product team to develop new programs. She received her Ph.D. from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in 2017. Amina is always excited about new ideas and explores them in writing on her Linkedin profile and ahscribbles.com. | https://medium.com/xcelerator-alg/how-to-build-an-innovation-engine-from-within-2ee1bf301926 | [] | 2020-02-05 07:49:23.341000+00:00 | ['Xcelerator', 'Leadership', 'Innovation', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Leadership Development'] |
Overview of the different approaches to putting Machine Learning (ML) models in production | Photo by Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash
There are different approaches to putting models into productions, with benefits that can vary dependent on the specific use case. Take for example the use case of churn prediction, there is value in having a static value already that can easily be looked up when someone calls a customer service, but there is some extra value that could be gained if, for specific events, the model could be re-run with the newly acquired information.
There are generally different ways to both train and serve models into production:
Train : one-off, batch and real-time/online training
: one-off, batch and real-time/online training Serve: Batch, Realtime (Database Trigger, Pub/Sub, web-service, inApp)
Each approach has its own set of benefits and tradeoffs that need to be considered.
One-off Training
Models don’t necessarily need to be continuously trained in order to be pushed to production. Quite often, a model can be just trained ad-hoc by a data-scientist and pushed to production until its performance deteriorates enough that they are called upon to refresh it.
From Jupyter to Prod
data scientists prototyping and doing machine learning tend to operate in their environment of choice Jupyter Notebooks. Essentially an advanced GUI on a repl,that allows you to save both code and command outputs.
Using that approach ,it is more than feasible to push an ad-hoc trained model from some piece of code in Jupyter to production. Different types of libraries and other notebook providers help further tie the link between the data-scientist workbench and production.
Model Format
Pickle converts a Python object to a bitstream and allows it to be stored to disk and reloaded at a later time. It provides a good format to store machine learning models provided that their intended applications are also built-in python.
ONNX ,the Open Neural Network Exchange Format is an open format that supports the storing and porting of predictive models across libraries and languages. Most deep learning libraries support it, and sklearn also has a library extension to convert their model to ONNX’s format.
PMML or Predictive model markup language, is another interchange format for predictive models. Like for ONNX ,sklearn also has another library extension for converting the models to PMML format. It has the drawback ,however of only supporting certain types of prediction models.PMML has been around since 1997 and so has a large footprint of applications leveraging the format. Applications such as SAP for instance is able to leverage certain versions of the PMML standard, likewise for CRM applications such as PEGA.
POJO and MOJO are H2O.ai’s export format, that intendeds to offers an easily embeddable model into java application. They are however very specific to using the H2O’s platform.
Training
For one-off training of models, the model can either be trained and fine-tune ad-hoc by data-scientists or training through AutoML libraries. Having an easily reproducible setup, however ,helps to push into the next stage of productionalization, ie:,batch training.
Batch Training
While not fully necessary to implement a model in production, batch training allows us to have a constantly refreshed version of your model based on the latest train.
Batch training can benefit a-lot from AutoML type of frameworks, AutoML enables you to perform/automate activities such as feature processing, feature selection, model selections, and parameter optimization. Their recent performance has been on par or bested the most diligent data-scientists.
Using them allows for a more comprehensive model training than what was typically done before their ascent: simply retraining the model weights.
Different technologies exist that are made to support this continuous batch training, these could ,for instance ,be set up through a mix of airflow to manage the different workflow and an AutoML library such as tpot,. Different cloud providers offer their solutions for AutoML that can be put in a data workflow. Azure ,for instance ,integrates machine learning prediction and model training with their data factory offering.
Real-time training
Real-time training is possible with ‘Online Machine Learning’ models, algorithms supporting this method of training include K-means (through mini-batch), Linear and Logistic Regression (through Stochastic Gradient Descent) as well as Naive Bayes classifier.
Spark has StreamingLinearAlgorithm/StreamingLinearRegressionWithSGD to perform these operations; sklearn has SGDRegressor and SGDClassifier that can be incrementally trained. In sklearn, the incremental training is done through the partial_fit method, as shown below:
When deploying this type of model, there needs to be serious operational support and monitoring as the model can be sensitive to new data and noise, and model performance needs to be monitored on the fly. In offline training, you can filter points of high leverage and correct for this type of incoming data. This is much harder to do when you are constantly updating your model training based on a stream of new data points.
Another challenge that occurs with training online models is that they don’t decay historical information. This means that, in case there are structural changes in your datasets, the model will need to be anyway re-trained and that there will be a big onus in model lifecycle management.
Batch vs. Real-time Prediction
When looking at whether to setup a batch or real-time prediction, it is important to get an understanding of why making real-time prediction would be important. It can potentially be for getting a new score when significant events happen, for instance w,hat would be the churn score of customers when they call a contact center. These benefits need to be weighted against the complexity and cost implications that arise from making real-time predictions.
Load implications
Catering to real-time prediction, equires a way to handle peak load. Depending on the approach taken and how the prediction ends up being used, choosing a real-time approach, might also require to have a machine with extra computing power available in order to provide a prediction within a certain SLA. This contrasts with a batch approach where the predictions computing can be spread out throughout the day based on available capacity.
Infrastructure Implications
Going for real-time, put a much higher operational responsibility. People need to be able to monitor how the system is working, be alerted when there is an issue as well as take some consideration with respect to failover responsibility. For batch prediction, the operational obligation is much lower, some monitoring is definitely needed, and altering is desired but the need to be able to know of issues arising directly is much lower.
Cost Implications
Going for real-time predictions also has cost implications, going for more computing power, not being able to spread the load throughout the day can force into purchasing more computing capacity than you would need or to pay for spot price increase. Depending on the approach and requirements taken ,here might also be extra cost due to needing more powerful compute capacity to SLAs. Furthermore, there would tend to be a higher infrastructure footprint when choosing for real-time predictions. One potential caveat there is where the choice is made to rely on in-app prediction. For that specific scenario ,the cost might end up being cheaper than going for a batch approach.
Evaluation Implications
Evaluating the prediction performance in a real-time manner can be more challenging than for batch predictions. How do you evaluate performance when you are faced with a succession of actions in a short burst producing multiple predictions for a given customer for instance? Evaluating and debugging real-time prediction models are significantly more complex to manage. They also require a log collection mechanism that allows to both collect the different predictions and features that yielded the score for further evaluation.
Batch Prediction Integration
Batch predictions rely on two different sets of information, one is the predictive model, and the other one is the features that we will feed the model. In most types of batch prediction architecture, ETL is performed to either fetch pre-calculated features from a specific datastore (feature-store) or performing some type of transformation across multiple datasets to provide the input to the prediction model. The prediction model then iterates over all the rows in the datasets providing a different score.
example flow to model serving for batch prediction
Once all the predictions have been computed, we can then “serve” the score to the different systems wanting to consume the information. This can be done in a different manner depending on thee use case for which we want to consume the score, for instance, if we wanted to consume the score on a front-end application, we would most likely push the data to a “cache” or NoSQL database such as Redis so that we can offer milliseconds responses, while for certain use cases such as the creation of an email journey, we might just be relying on a CSV SFTP export or a data load to a more traditional RDBMS.
Real-time Prediction integration
Being able to push a model into production for real-time applications require three base components. A customer/user profile, a set of triggers, and predictive models.
Profile: The customer profile contains all the related attributes to the customer as well as the different attributes (eg: counters) necessary in order to make a given prediction. This is required for customer level prediction in order to reduce the latency of pulling the information from multiple places as well as to simplify the integration of machine learning models in productions. In most cases a similar type of data store would be needed in order to effectively fetch the data needed to power the prediction model.
Triggers: Triggers are events causing the initiation of the process. They can be for the case of churn, events such as calling to a customer service center, checking information within your order history, etc …
Models: models need to have been pre-trained and typically exported to one of the formats previously mentioned (pickle, ONNX, PMML…) to be something that we could easily port to production.
There are quite a few different approaches to putting models for scoring purpose in production:
Relying on in-Database integration: a lot of database vendors have made a significant effort to tie up advanced analytics use cases within the database. Be it by direct integration of Python or R code, to the import of PMML model.
Exploiting a Pub/Sub model: The prediction model is essentially an application feeding of a data-stream and performing certain operations, such as pulling customer profile information.
Webservice: Setting up an API wrapper around the model prediction and deploying it as a web-service. Depending on the way the web-service is setup it might or might not do the pull or data needed to power the model.
inApp: it is also possible to deploy the model directly into a native or web application and have the model be run on local or external data sources.
Database integrations
If the overall size of your database is fairly small (< 1M user profile) and the update frequency is occasional it can make sense to integrate some of the real-time update processes directly within the database.
Postgres possess an integration that allows to run Python code as functions or stored procedure called PL/Python. This implementation has access to all the libraries that are part of the PYTHONPATH, and as such are able to use libraries such as Pandas and SKlearn to run some operations.
This can be coupled with Postgres’ Triggers Mechanism to perform a run of the database and update the churn score. For instance if a new entry is made to a complaint table, it would be valuable to have the model be re-run in real-time.
Sequence flow
The flow could be setup in the following way:
New Event: When a new row is inserted in the complaint table, an event trigger is generated.
Trigger: The trigger function would update the number of complaints made by this customer in the customer profile table and fetch the updated record for the customer.
Prediction Request: Based on that it would re-run the churn model through PL/Python and retrieve the prediction.
Customer Profile Update: It can then re-update the customer profile with the updated prediction. Downstream flows can then happen upon checking if the customer profile has been updated with a new churn prediction value.
Technologies
Different databases are able to support the running of Python script, this is the case of PostGres which has a native Python integration as previously mentioned, but also of Ms SQL Server through its’ Machine Learning Service (in Database), other databases such as Teradata, are able to run R/Python script through an external script command. While Oracle supports PMML model through its data mining extension.
Pub/Sub
Implementing real-time prediction through a pub/sub model allows to be able to properly handle the load through throttling. For engineers, it also means that they can just feed the event data through a single “logging” feed, to which different applications can subscribe.
An example, of how this could be setup is shown below:
The page view event is fired to a specific event topic, on which two applications subscribe a page view counter, and a prediction. Both of these applications filter out specific relevant events from the topic for their purpose and consume the different messages in the topics. The page view counter app, provides data to power a dashboard, while the prediction app, updates the customer profile.
Sequence flow:
Event messages are pushed to the pub/sub topic as they occur, the prediction app polls the topic for new messages. When a new message is retrieved by the prediction app, it will request and retrieve the customer profile and use the message and the profile information to make a prediction. which it will ultimately push back to the customer profile for further use.
A slightly different flow can be setup where the data is first consumed by an “enrichment app” that adds the profile information to the message and then pushes it back to a new topic to finally be consumed by the prediction app and pushed onto the customer profile.
Technologies:
The typical open-source combination that you would find that support this kind of use case in the data ecosystem is a combination of Kafka and Spark streaming, but a different setup is possible on the cloud. On google notably a google pub-sub/dataflow (Beam) provides a good alternative to that combination, on azure a combination of Azure-Service Bus or Eventhub and Azure Functions can serve as a good way to consume the messages and generate these predictions.
Web Service
We can implement models into productions as web-services. Implementing predictions model as web-services are particularly useful in engineering teams that are fragmented and need to handle multiple different interfaces such as web, desktop, and mobile.
Interfacing with the web-service could be setup in a different way:
either providing an identifier and having the web-service pull the required information, compute the prediction and return its’ value
Or by accepting a payload, converting it to a data-frame, making the prediction, and returning its’ value.
The second approach is usually recommended in cases, when there is a lot of interaction happening and a local cache is used to essentially buffer the synchronization with the backend systems, or when needing to make a prediction at a different grain than a customer id, for instance when doing session-based predictions.
The systems making use of local storage, tend to have a reducer function, which role is to calculate what would be the customer profile, should the event in local storage be integrated back. As such it provides an approximation of the customer profile based on local data.
Sequence Flow
The flow for handling the prediction using a mobile app, with local storage can be described in 4 phases.
Application Initialization (1 to 3): The application initializes, and makes a request to the customer profile, and retrieve its initial value back, and initialize the profile in local storage.
Applications (4): The application stores the different events happening with the application into an array in local storage.
Prediction Preparation (5 to 8): The application wants to retrieve a new churn prediction, and therefore needs to prepare the information it needs to provide to the Churn Web-service. For that, it makes an initial request to local storage to retrieve the values of the profile and the array of events it has stored. Once they are retrieved, it makes a request to a reducer function providing these values as arguments, the reducer function outputs an updated* profile with the local events incorporated back into this profile.
Web-service Prediction (9 to 10): The application makes a request to the churn prediction web-service, providing the different the updated*/reduced customer profile from step 8 as part of the payload. The web-service can then used the information provided by the payload to generate the prediction and output its value, back to the application.
Technologies
There are quite a few technologies that can be used to power a prediction web-service:
Functions
AWS Lambda functions, Google Cloud Functions and Microsoft Azure Functions (although Python support is currently in Beta) offer an easy to setup interface to easily deploy scalable web-services.
For instance, on Azure a prediction web-service could be implemented through a function looking roughly like this:
Container
An alternative to functions, is to deploy a flask or django application through a docker container (Amazon ECS, Azure Container Instance or Google Kubernetes Engine). Azure for instance provides an easy way to setup prediction containers through its’ Azure Machine Learning service.
Notebooks
Different notebooks providers such as databricks and dataiku have notably worked on simplifying the model deployment from their environments. These have the feature of setting up a web service to a local environment or deploying to external systems such as Azure ML Service, Kubernetes engine etc…
in App
In certain situations when there are legal or privacy requirements that do not allow for data to be stored outside of an application, or there exists constraints such as having to upload a large amount of files, leveraging a model within the application tends to be the right approach.
Android-ML Kit or the likes of Caffe2 allows to leverage models within native applications, while Tensorflow.js and ONNXJS allow for running models directly in the browser or in apps leveraging javascripts.
Considerations
Beside the method of deployments of the models, they are quite a few important considerations to have when deploying to production.
Model Complexity
The complexity of the model itself, is the first considerations to have. Models such as linear regression and logistic regression are fairly easy to apply and do not usually take much space to store. Using a more complex model such as a neural network or complex ensemble decision tree will end up taking more time to compute, more time to load into memory on cold start and will prove more expensive to run
Data Sources
It is important to consider the difference that could occur between the data source in productions and the one used for training. While it is important for the data used for the training to be in sync with the context it would be used for in production, it is often impractical to recalculate every value so that it becomes perfectly in-sync.
Experimentation framework
Setting up an experimentation framework, A/B testing the performance of different models versus objective metrics. And ensuring that there is sufficient tracking to accurately debug and evaluate models performance a posteriori.
Wrapping Up
Choosing how to deploy predictive models into production is quite a complex affair, there are different ways to handle the lifecycle management of the predictive models, different formats to stores them, multiple ways to deploy them and very vast technical landscape to pick from.
Understanding specific use cases, the team’s technical and analytics maturity, the overall organization structure and its’ interactions, help come to the right approach for deploying predictive models to production. | https://medium.com/analytics-and-data/overview-of-the-different-approaches-to-putting-machinelearning-ml-models-in-production-c699b34abf86 | ['Julien Kervizic'] | 2020-11-29 21:28:02.226000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Software', 'Data Engineering', 'Data'] |
How Can I Know Anything Without Awareness? | Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash
A while back, a friend was attempting to persuade me that awareness is real. He told me that all the saints and sages have talked about Awareness or Consciousness as being primary. Until recently, I believed that to be true as well. I think he might have quoted people like Ramana Maharishi and Nisargadatta Maharaj. I don’t know much about those people, but I presume that they must have existed in the same reality as all of us.
After I demonstrated that I wasn’t willing to argue with concepts vaguely related to apparently dead people, my friend asked me, “Did you drink coffee this morning?” After I told him that I had, he claimed that this was evidence of awareness or consciousness.
To me, this sounds the same as arguing that if you tap a spoon on the edge of a plate and it makes a sound, then you can claim “Ah-ha, the plate knows that it was made on a potter’s wheel, from clay, and it is therefore conscious.” But the plate is just no-thing plating. In the story, the spoon and plate seem to make the sound because the plate (and spoon) were made, but they are not in themselves conscious of having been made. In reality, they were not even made. There is just unborn no-thing clinking. A human responding to a question is no different; just no-thing responding.
In the story of me, I had drunk coffee, but that response doesn’t require consciousness or awareness. There are a few false presuppositions that the question is based upon, including that there is a past, that there is a thing called me, and that I can know anything.
When the question is apparently asked, it is no-thing questioning. Then, in the apparent story of time, there is a memory of drinking coffee, which is no-thing appearing as memory, and then, in the apparent story of time, what seems to be a response is no-thing responding. In the whole interaction, nothing happened, as nothing ever does.
Okay, you might say, but what about in the “present moment”? Isn’t there something aware of drinking coffee as it’s happening. Actually, there isn’t even that. Each thing that seems to be happening is no-thing thinging. Every apparent experience is unborn wholeness being itself without witness.
The touch of the fingers on the cup, the seeing of the cup approaching my mouth, the taste, the swallowing of the coffee: there is nothing witnessing any of this. All that appears to be happening is actually no-thing touching, no-thing cupping, no-thing seeing, no-thing tasting, and no-thing swallowing. Each apparent thing is no-thing being everything. There is no separation from wholeness that could be aware or conscious of wholeness.
Just to be clear: when I write “no-thing seeing,” I don’t mean that there is a thing called no-thing that is the subject that is seeing something. I mean that no-thing is appearing as seeing, and appearing for no one. It’s more like no-thing is being seeing, whole in itself.
The illusion of individuality recasts all of what is apparently happening to be about the individual: I am inside this body experiencing or witnessing all of this as awareness or consciousness. When wholeness is contemplated from the perspective of separation, it can seem to be some kind of universal consciousness or awareness, but that is a projection of individuality onto it. In itself, wholeness is neither conscious nor aware. | https://duncanr.medium.com/how-can-i-know-anything-without-awareness-9e3780f1b25c | ['Duncan Riach'] | 2018-11-24 07:51:01.650000+00:00 | ['Meditation', 'Psychology', 'Self', 'Philosophy', 'Life'] |
Connection Is Key for Chicago-Based Music Duo Zigtebra | By Chloe Castleberry
There’s a unique sound behind Chicago-based band Zigtebra’s music. Self-described as lo-fi indie rock, you can’t help but move to it. But it’s not just the synthetic beats or spunky lyrics that make the music mesmerizing. After talking with Emily Rose, 28, and Joe Zeph, 34, the “dream pop duo” behind the band, I quickly learned how their love for the music translates to their audience, making even a newcomer to the sound love their music too.
Joe grew up in church and was therefore exposed to music at an early age whereas Emily’s background is in dance. But although delayed in formal music training, Emily’s passion for music has always been present, which is apparent in her dedication to the craft.
In 2017, Zigtebra wrote one new song every month of the year and went on a 120-day summer tour. The following year they toured for nine months playing house shows and alt spaces around America.
Emily described the tour as a learning experience that was “totally personal” and “satisfying.” She says, “It was the best kind of hard work. I would rather show up to that kind of hard work than hard work I’m not passionate about. That year changed everything. It grew me more than anything I had ever done.”
That year, Joe and Emily started writing songs together — a process that transformed their songwriting journey. All of their music comes from personal experiences they’ve gone through whether it’s “scorching heart ache or longing.”
Emily says, “The coolest part about our music is that it’s not the story that we own. It’s a story everybody knows and we want to write music that people can hear and think this is how I feel because falling in love, being dumped or missing somebody is a universal thing we all go through.”
“When you realize your friends or even strangers have felt the same jealousy heartache, loss and embarrassment, it brings everyone together and I really love that — it makes me feel a little bit closer to everybody.”
And that’s what Emily and Joe want fans to get from their music — simply knowing they aren’t alone in whatever they’re going through, no matter how good or how bad.
Emily, who doesn’t come from a music background, also says she hopes people feel empowered to share their creative or artistic ideas with others.
“I never want to come across as pretentious or too cool,” she says. “I want to feel connected to everybody because that’s what makes me really happy is going to shows where the artist is accessible.”
She adds, “We always try to come on stage already thinking we’re connected to the audience instead of feeling self-conscious about how we look or what we’re doing.”
And by doing that, Emily and Joe have created a space where anyone and everyone can feel free to be themselves and connect with one another through their shared loved of music.
Emily and Joe have come a long way since they first started making music and performing together, and in terms of their career, they still have a long way to go until they make it “big” so to speak, but they’re eager to see what the future holds and look forward to seeing it through with their fans.
“In two years, it would be great to have an album made that I am in total love with,” Emily says. “To be able to go further and deeper down the hole and extend beyond the release of Major Crush.”
She adds, “If you start with realism and then go toward expressionism, Major Crush was our realism phase. We passed art class 101 and now we’re going onto weirder stuff.”
And as for what’s next on the agenda, Emily and Joe would both love to sign to a record label and go on tour through Europe.
They’re big dreams but dreams that don’t seem that far-fetched. Emily tells me she knew when she met Joe that they were going to make music together for a long time.
“Everyone knows how that is,” she says. “When you have a friend that gets the same things you get and are curious about the same stuff. Regardless of what people thought of Zigtebra, we both knew it was going to be something we loved and that it wasn’t going to be perfect but we were going to do our best to make it get there.”
The process hasn’t been easy. They’ve sacrificed a lot along the way and they’ve had their fair share of challenges, but it’s been worth it.
“In this moment, we’re better than we ever have been in our craft,” she says. “And we can only continue to get better from here.”
Find out more about Zigtebra on their website or Bandcamp. Follow along on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Subscribe to our Newsletter | https://medium.com/in-kind/connection-is-key-for-chicago-based-music-duo-zigtebra-989323155769 | ['In Kind'] | 2019-03-30 16:19:46.035000+00:00 | ['Electronic Music', 'Music', 'Art', 'Chicago', 'Culture'] |
Finding a New Normal | As we begin to reinvent the way we live on our planet, there’s a simple process that can help us: becoming aware of awareness.
Often referred to as mindfulness, this everyday inward focusing of our attention helps us be more tuned in to our intuitive and creative self.
While the political changes needed to improve life seem to progress slowly, here’s something we can bring into our lives today that really makes a difference. | https://medium.com/assemblage/finding-a-new-normal-436582e59bcd | ['Paul Mulliner'] | 2020-08-20 04:14:08.056000+00:00 | ['Meditation', 'Self-awareness', 'Mindfulness', 'Personal Development', 'Life'] |
Playing with Android canvas drawVertices | If you like some simple graphic drawing in Android Canvas, drawVertices is a pretty nice API to use. It could be used as the fundamental for drawing 3D images as shown below.
Anyway, before getting into that complexity, let’s learn the fundamental of the API.
I was searching for some tutorial explaining it and can’t any one for Android. So do some experiments and learn the API to share below.
Have fun!
Prerequisite
Unlike most of the API in the Canvas , in order to drawVertices to draw something, one need to disabled the Hardware Acceleration first using
setLayerType(View.LAYER_TYPE_SOFTWARE, null)
Why? It is simply because it is one of the unsupported feature in Hardware Acceleration as per documented at the point of writing this blog.
The API
The API have 12 arguments. 😱 Wow!
// THIS IS NEEDED
int vertexCount, // usually verts.size
float[] verts, // THIS IS NEEDED
int vertOffset, // usually 0
float[] texs, // can be nullable
int texOffset, // usually 0
int[] colors, // can be nullable
int colorOffset, // usually 0
short[] indices, // can be nullable
int indexOffset, // usually 0
int indexCount, // can be 0
public void drawVertices ( Canvas.VertexMode mode,int vertexCount, // usually verts.sizefloat[] verts,int vertOffset, // usually 0float[] texs, // can be nullableint texOffset, // usually 0int[] colors, // can be nullableint colorOffset, // usually 0short[] indices, // can be nullableint indexOffset, // usually 0int indexCount, // can be 0 Paint paint) // can be just Paint()
Let’s break it down into 4 different grouping.
1. The vertex datas
// THIS IS NEEDED
int vertexCount, // usually verts.size
float[] verts, // THIS IS NEEDED
int vertOffset, // usually 0 Canvas.VertexMode mode,int vertexCount, // usually verts.sizefloat[] verts,int vertOffset, // usually 0
First of all, is the float[] verts . This basically used to store the coordinates of the verts in ( x1, y1, x2, y2, … )format. e.g. if we want to have 3 coordinates as below,
val verts = floatArrayOf(20f, 10f, 25f, 30f, 40f, 15f)
The vertexCount is just to let the API know how many points you have in your verts that you want the API to consume. In the case of everything, then vertexCount = verts.size .
However in case you have a super long array of verts , and only wanted to use a section of it, you could then use vertOffset to indicate your starting point (which by default is 0 ), and follow by the vertexCount points that you are using from the verts . e.g. you have
val verts = floatArrayOf(0f, 0f, 20f, 10f, 25f, 30f, 40f, 15f, 0f)
And you want to use only 20f, 10f, 25f, 30f, 40f, 15f , then your vertOffset = 1 and vertexCount = 6 .
Okay, enough of the vertex data. Let’s jump into the most important ENUM argument for this API. There are 3 of them.
1. Canvas.VertexMode.TRIANGLES
This is the most simplest one, where given the verts , group each 3 coordinate and draw the triangles of it accordingly. e.g.
Give ( x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4, x5, y5, x6, y6 ) coordinates, when draw using TRIANGLES mode, it will draw 2 triangle that groups 3 coordinates each together, where by the below triangles will be formed
( x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3 ) ( x4, y4, x5, y5, x6, y6 )
To make things more interesting, I have created an App and draw some triangles below
Using a different set of ( x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4, x5, y5, x6, y6 ), if you draw on it, it will group all adjacent 3 coordinates into a triangle. Hence some coordinate is reused. Hence the triangle form will be as below
( x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3 ) ( x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4 ) ( x3, y3, x4, y4, x5, y5 ) ( x4, y4, x5, y5, x6, y6 )
To make things more interesting, I have created an App and draw some triangles below
Using a different set of ( x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3, x4, y4, x5, y5, x6, y6 ), if you draw on it, it will be using ( x1, y1 ) as the central fan point, and each subsequent adjacent coordinates will be connect to it to form a triangle. Hence the triangle form will be as below
( x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3 ) ( x1, y1, x3, y3, x4, y4 ) ( x1, y1, x4, y4, x5, y5 ) ( x1, y1, x5, y5, x6, y6 )
To make things more interesting, I have created an App and draw some triangles below
You could get the full source code from below
2. The tex shader
int texOffset, // usually 0
paint, // can be just Paint() float[] texs, // can be nullableint texOffset, // usually 0 Paint paint, // can be just Paint()
The texs is basically a set of coordinates (same format as verts ) that could be used to map a given bitmap tiles to the triangles drawn. It is using the paint to perform the needed shading onto the triangle.
In here, I’m using a simple paint with shader set as below
val paint = Paint().apply {
val bitmap = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(
resources, R.drawable.pyramid_small)
val shader = BitmapShader(
bitmap, Shader.TileMode.CLAMP, Shader.TileMode.CLAMP)
this.shader = shader
}
If the coordinate is identical with verts , then it is mapped as per the original image there.
However, we could perform some translation by changing the texs coordinate. Swapping the second and third coordinate would result in a reflection image as below
Lastly, the texOffset is similar to vertOffset , where one could choose how where one would like to begin in a longer than needed texs coordinate arrays. The length of texs used is the same one argument apply to vertexCount
2. The color arrays
int[] colors, // can be nullable
int colorOffset, // usually 0
This is used to fill the triangle with the colors provided. Each colors in the array will be designated to each coordinate of the vertex.
Note: Technically, the size of the color should be verts.size/2 . However I suspect there’s an internal issue in Android OS handling it as per stackoverflow. We’ll still need to provide arbitrary color to fill up the entire verts.size to avoid the crash.
For 3 coordinates, and we would like to designate RED, GREEN and BLUE to the first 3 coordinates, below would be as below (note the -0x100000 is just dummy color of no effect as per stackoverflow)
val verticesColors = intArrayOf(
Color.RED, Color.GREEN, Color.BLUE,
-0x100000, -0x1000000, -0x1000000)
Using this we’ll get the below image (Note the color got smooth gradient across).
If we blend together with the texs shader, it will be semi transparent
4. The Indices
short[] indices, // can be nullable
int indexOffset, // usually 0
int indexCount, // can be 0
The indices is an array that let you cherry pick the coordinate from the verts so that you could use them at a different sequence than what is put in the verts per your liking.
The nice bit is, the picked coordinate could also be repeated, making new triangle from different combination of triangle.
Assuming I have 4 coordinates ( v0, v1, v2, v3 ), and I would like to draw 2 triangle from it using the basic Canvas.VertexMode.TRIANGLES mode. I could write my indices as below
val indices = shortArrayOf(0, 1, 2, 0, 2, 3)
This would then from the two triangles
( V0, V1, V2 ) ( V0, V2, V3 )
This is a very simplistic example to clarify what indices is for. A lot of fancy operation could be achieved from it when give more thoughts to it. | https://medium.com/mobile-app-development-publication/playing-with-android-canvas-drawvertices-32266c480ab6 | [] | 2020-10-03 02:40:15.212000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Graphic Design', 'Android', 'AndroidDev', 'Android App Development'] |
Turning data into customer insights through AI | Regardless of their domain of activity, many companies use the power of data to support and guide their decisions. This is because data, once able to interpret it properly, is one of the most valuable insights. Customer insights are key to helping you make informed decisions that bring more value in the long-term and drive business growth. But through the evolution of technology, it was never as approachable as it is right now.
Sounds good, but what insights can we get?
For one thing, getting to know the target audience you are addressing is key to understanding what they really want, and therefore, what they expect from your product or service. There are some basic ways in which the market research is done, which ultimately provide data about four essential characteristics of potential clients. This data typically answers questions such as:
Where are your consumers? Yes, literally where they are in the world (state, country, city, region) so you can target them geographically . There are two main reasons why this is so important. The first and most obvious one, you need to know where to target them. The second one is because each location is different and in some, cultural beliefs and traditions have a lot to do with consumer behavior.
Yes, literally where they are in the world (state, country, city, region) so you can . There are two main reasons why this is so important. The first and most obvious one, you need to know to target them. The second one is because each location is different and in some, cultural beliefs and traditions have a lot to do with consumer behavior. Who are they in terms of demographics? Where do they live? How old are they? Are they in a relationship, married, single or divorced? Do they have children? Are they retired? Their gender, age, race, and all the demographics mentioned above are some of the basic things that can impact the consumer decision or make a particular product or service more desirable than others.
Where do they live? How old are they? Are they in a relationship, married, single or divorced? Do they have children? Are they retired? Their gender, age, race, and all the demographics mentioned above are some of the basic things that can impact the consumer decision or make a particular product or service more desirable than others. What type of personality do they have? This is called psychographic targeting . Their personality traits, lifestyle choices, values, attitudes, and beliefs are fundamental in decision making. Say your product aims to bring all people passionate about traveling on a social platform. All these characteristics are important, but you need to get enough data about your target audience prior to any action. What if the people you are targeting right now have a lifestyle that has nothing to do with being passionate about traveling? Or what if they are passionate about traveling, but online communities are simply something they don’t believe in nor wish to be a part of?
This is called . Their personality traits, lifestyle choices, values, attitudes, and beliefs are fundamental in decision making. Say your product aims to bring all people passionate about traveling on a social platform. All these characteristics are important, but you need to get enough data about your target audience prior to any action. What if the people you are targeting right now have a lifestyle that has nothing to do with being passionate about traveling? Or what if they are passionate about traveling, but online communities are simply something they don’t believe in nor wish to be a part of? What type of consumers are they? This refers to their behavior as consumers. Some products or services are made to be used once, while others try to create such an experience that the consumers become brand ambassadors through repetitive exposure and purchase. Behavioral segmentation speaks to the different types of consumers, the usability of products, benefits, client loyalty, and occasion of purchase.
Cool, but how do we make sense of this information?
Well, a lot of companies have been using this scheme for a while now — basically since the beginnings of marketing. After the market research is done, marketers make sense of the information and come up with strategies to reach the target groups. One main reason this isn’t an exact science, and no one can promise success is that people are more complex than that. Meaning, it is not enough to “get to know them” to understand them completely. Their expectations of products, services, and brands go way beyond the data we can gather through these traditional methods. Consumers also develop different patterns, which requires professionals to collect more and more information that needs constant attention.
Luckily, there’s something that can ease this process and actually make research almost instant and more accurate. And the answer is AI. While every business can take advantage of artificial intelligence, there is a far more innovative domain than the rest, and that’s fintech. Fintechs, for example, are experts in getting valuable information from the customers and transforming it into opportunities. And their speed, accuracy and eventually, ability to process issues, solve them, recognize consumer patterns and adapt, come from the use of AI.
AI: turning data into insights
Fintechs and banks are top investors in the AI sector and the firsts to benefit from the perks of artificial intelligence implementation — it helps with the rate of attrition, market insights, understanding the pipeline, and many more. But let’s go back to customer insights for a bit. If back in the day, marketers, as said before, would go through market research and then assess the obtained data through machine learning, the data is constantly evaluated in a more standardized way, and changes are made instantly according to new info. Besides the data needed to launch a new product, service, or brand, AI is impacting more than that. When assessing credit scoring, credit agreements, consumer behavior in a financial app, AI can process information fast, interpret it, learn the behavior of each particular customer, and improve instantly.
This “personalization” of services to each particular customer is highly important. People sometimes go to multiple banks or use fintechs for very different services. Where AI really shows its value proposition is pattern recognition. Not only you get information on your client, data, and stats, but you can actually recognize patterns in consumer behavior, which transforms you into an agile, adaptive, and basically, always ready supplier. The number one reason why clients leave a bank is the feeling that it doesn’t fulfill all the desires and expectations set from the beginning. Well, through the use of AI, data interpretation, pattern recognition, and instant adaptation, services are constantly improved and tailored for each particular client and their specific needs. Besides the enhanced customer experience and adaptability, AI can give you valuable predictions about the future, ensuring your products or services are always one step ahead and on track with the clients’ wishes.
To wrap it up
Instead of wasting time and money on the constant efforts to make educated guesses in the matters of your target audience, future, and existing customers, their desires and needs, a one-time investment can be your key to success. By integrating AI in your financial services, you can attract more clients, satisfy the existing ones, and rely on machine learning to constantly improve customer care and predictions about the future, which will eventually lead to happy, loyal customers. | https://medium.com/salt-pepper/turning-data-into-customer-insights-through-ai-73cbd14503cb | ['Flavia Mocan'] | 2020-08-17 11:33:09.557000+00:00 | ['Fintech', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Blockchain', 'Technology', 'Finance'] |
Lessons learned through coaching UX/UI designers | Are you having a hard time finding a UX job in 2020 or almost 2021!? I hope that this can help. It’s time to look back at the most useful things I’ve learned during the last four years of mentoring and coaching other designers.
I‘ve coached different designers both on a personal level and in groups. Whether you are looking to shift your career to UX/UI or are looking to get a job in this field, here you will see the options you have to achieve that goal.
Mentoring vs Coaching
Mentoring vs Coaching what is the difference?
In simple terms:
Mentoring — Result-driven, yet it has a more holistic approach, targeting deeper thoughts with usually long-term goals. Such as becoming a design leader.
Coaching — Result-driven, traditionally more often targeting shorter-term goals, such as getting a job or setting up a portfolio.
→ This of course doesn't mean that mentoring and coaching can’t happen simultaneously or overlap in some areas.
Designer groups — Who is this for?
Designers intend to have different coaching needs based on their goals, generally, I have coached the following design groups.
Career Shifters
01. Career shifters
Definition : people shifting from one career e.g. accounting to UX/UI design.
: people shifting from one career e.g. accounting to UX/UI design. Usual motivation/questions: a previous passion for design, frustration with current career, an increase in salary, finding a junior design job asap, understanding what a UX/UI designer’s day looks like and questions like do I need a design degree?.
Junior Design Graduates
02. “Junior” Design graduates
Definition: designers that recently graduated from a university or college.
designers that recently graduated from a university or college. Usual motivation/questions: breaking the “ you need experience as a junior, but no one is offering the experience for a junior”, getting a career started, creating a great portfolio with no real cases, understanding what recruiters are looking for.
03. Graphic, visual and motion designers
Definition: designers in another discipline other than UX/UI.
designers in another discipline other than UX/UI. Usual motivation/questions: understanding if UX/UI is really that different, how to shift into UX/UI, do I have transferable skills and shifting from a graphic/visual to a UX portfolio.
What it takes to learn design
Do I need a design degree? Is amongst the first questions I get asked. The answer is always: it depends. I will explain why you might or might not need it. Lisa Angela explained the problem in design education here amazingly. We constantly hear about the greatest entrepreneurs and designers like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and countless others that are dropouts. Mostly out of context and without providing what they did instead.
Nonetheless, it’s fortunately 100% possible to make it being a dropout, but not always. I believe that it takes one of the following three things to learn design.
Self-study
For 30y+ career shifters and graphic/visual/motion designers
Disciplined self-study — If you have a job, you need to self-study, read and design every evening and weekend. That is a huge sacrifice if you ask me, but that is what it takes. If you don’t have a job, treat UX learning as your job, that means 8 hours of learning, designing and reading every day — that will fast track your career.
But, how quickly can I learn design doing it full-time? That depends on where you came from. Did you come from a graphic design background? Perhaps 3–6 months would suffice. Are you coming from an accounting background? 12–24 months is more realistic. These are arbitrary numbers based on my experience with other career shifters. Remember that motivation is not discipline. Ask your self if you are willing to commit to such drastic change and are you the type of person that can self-discipline without the need for accountability? If yes, go for it! You can definitely do it!
⚠️ → With disciplined self-study, there is no guarantee that you will be hired, unless you have a great portfolio that is attractive to recruiters and designers alike! Even then, you are up against some steep competition with younger and qualified designers.
Design Degree
For 20–30-year-old career shifters
Design degree — Are you in your 20s? Is it free or cheap to obtain a design degree? Then, yes do it! That is still one of the best ways to get an education. This way you don’t have to defend why you don’t need a design degree to be a great designer. This way you will have greater career opportunities, especially when it comes down to older school companies. This does not mean that all design degrees are useful or up to date with the industry, in fact, most of them aren’t. Nonetheless, most recruiters put a degree as a condition.
⚠️ → You still need a kick-ass portfolio that exceeds “course work” and preferably contains real-life work examples. Ideally, this is done during studies, alternatively, see who you can help around you. Friends or family with small companies — even if it’s for a lower fee?
Coaching or Mentoring
For all designers from all levels
Coaching — Find a design coach or mentor. Easier said then done. It’s quite important to mention that 100% of the information you will be receiving from the mentor, you can find online and in books for free. However, this will provide you with the deepest insights into other aspects. Not all mentors are created equally, study who you want as a mentor. A mentor can introduce you to the correct people and send you in the right direction. They can greatly shorten the path to success.
Most importantly, a mentor holds you accountable for design and learning tasks and provides you with the motivation needed to continue. It could be that your mentor sets up a kanban board with a structured to-do list for you. Coaching/Mentoring can last anywhere from two weeks to years.
⚠️ Though a coach or a mentor can provide you with a strategy, training, and perhaps introduce you to the correct people, all the work still needs to be done by you. Don’t expect them to write your bio on your behalf. You are the brand, only you can sell your self!
Cut out the buzzing noise
Focus on the basics — Designers need to cut through the Buzz noise.
Just like every other industry, the design industry is buzzing with upcoming trends and jargon, that seems to make or break, where in reality it’s not important to focus on as of now. It’s important to stay current and knowledgeable about the changes, yet it’s more important to focus on the basics.
If Design was a building, the basic design fundamentals would the foundation and design trends would be the upgraded light switches. In simpler terms, here is what you should focus on in the following order:
Design — Design thinking, creative problem-solving. Read every design book you can lay your hands on. Visual research — Get inspired, train your eyes to understand good design. Typography — If people can’t read it, it’s art, not design. Layout Composition — Direct the users where to look at, and what to do. Colour — Good luck :) Interactions — How should a user get form point A to Point B? Design Sytems — Understand how to build them, and how to work with them. User Research — Designers can be intuitive, but never accurate until you’ve conducted research Public Speaking — You need confidence, as a UX/UI there is no escaping this Workshop Facilitation — There is no escaping this either :)
Highlight your weaknesses
Understand and highlight your weakness upfront
Never hide your weakness, it’s very apparent. Instead, highlight it and speak about how you’ve overcome it. If you haven’t overcome your weakness yet, talk about the steps you are taking to compensate for it.
Example weakness 01
If you don’t have a degree, state that upfront, instead, do mention all the other things that you do have!
Example weakness 02
If you haven’t done any user research before, talk about it, and mention what kind of research you have done in the past. Think about transferable skills from a previous career(s).
Example weakness 03
If you haven’t worked in a particular industry such as UX/UI for financial services, mention that upfront, instead, talk about your other expertise that might be beneficial to that employer or client.
Why should I?
Isn’t easier to undermine and not talk about your weakness, instead focus on your strength? Not exactly, it’s quite simple, if you acknowledge your weakness upfront, your client or future employer doesn’t have that point as leverage to use against you. In my case, I’ve lived n Finland for the past 6 years. Yet, my Finnish sucks! That’s something I’m not proud of, however, it’s amongst the first things that I mention. Then I try to talk about what I’m doing to improve (not enough), and what I have to compensate for it.
Find a mentor
Where to find a design mentor?
That is a tough question and rather dependent on where you live. Ideally, you know someone that you look up to and they want to mentor you. That would be quite unlikely however and a match made in heaven. Luckily there are many other alternatives. For example, I had a business coach, Keir McLaren all the way in LA, whilst living I was living in Helsinki.
ADPLIST is one of the websites that offers mentors for free. It’s, however, safe to say that most mentors that offer their services for free, won’t have the time to give repeated 1-on-1 sessions, but sometimes that is all you need.
Springboard, General Assembly, Career Foundry UX Bootcamps that can catapult you years ahead.
Designed is another website that offers mentors in design around the world.
LinkedIn if you see a designer that you admire, you can simply connect and ask! I contacted Keir McLaren after seeing that he coached Chris Do. It was an instant match. In fact, that has inspired me to coach others!
Behance/Dribble/Instagram. Again, if you see a designer or a mentor that you admire, simply send them a DM/PM!
Hit me up :) I can’t promise that we will be the right fit, but I promise to try to send you in the right direction. If we are a right fit, then 🎉🎉🎉
🙏 Thank you!
Thanks for making it till the end of this, now that you are here, I would love to connect with you. You can find me on LinkedIn or follow me on Instagram. | https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/lessons-learned-through-mentoring-ux-designers-86729b06a31f | ['Anmar Matrood'] | 2020-12-28 11:17:01.650000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'UX', 'Career', 'Design', 'Coaching'] |
Editor’s Picks — Top 10: Do Unprofessional Writers Make More Money Than Professionals | 10. I’ve Been a Vegetarian for 6 Years and This is What I Learned
Diana Bernardo is a former journalist who loves to write about travel, work, and life lessons. Her style is simple, direct, and engaging. Do check her other work as well.
We were approaching the end of 2014. Two of my best friends had recently become vegan. They started talking to me about their experience and the reasons that led them there. I listened. I followed their suggestions and watched some documentaries. I saw things that I can not unsee ever again. And in the space of a few weeks I got more and more convinced that me too, I needed to make a change. I realized that I had been numb for the first 27 years of my life. I hadn’t asked the right questions, I hadn’t challenged what the world presented to me. Eating animals is an option that doesn’t make any sense from an ethical point of view. Then why had I never questioned it? Why hadn’t most of the world?
9. I’m a Performer with Social Anxiety
Jae Nichelle is a writer and a lover of sweet potatoes. Her poetry video went viral. Her style is friendly and engaging. If you read this story, you’ll like to read her other stories as well. Don’t miss it.
As a touring spoken word artist (before Covid, of course), I spent a lot of time traveling to different venues to perform poetry, to host open mics, and to compete in poetry slams. Truthfully, I love to perform, but it’s not always easy. In addition to being on stage in front of however many people, going to events comes with socializing, marketing myself, and answering questions — three things that my anxious mind does not like to do.
8. This Man Ate Only Mac & Cheese For 17 Years — Here’s Why
Kim Mia is a minimalist. Interesting story.
While we rely on food to sustain us physically, we also depend on it for its emotional support. From grandma’s chicken soup recipe to mom’s famous poached eggs, sometimes a dish just knows how to convey so much more than words ever could. But what if this comfort food becomes all you could ever eat?
7. Your Yawning Makes Me Want to Punch You
Rose Bak is a writer, author, and yoga teacher from Portland, Oregan. Her style will teach you to knit words into interesting sentences. Don’t miss this one.
Did you just yawn? That’s so annoying. I have a confession to make: every time I hear someone yawn I become irritated. Enraged even. In fact, there is a direct correlation to the loudness of a person’s yawn and how much I want to punch them in the face. Also, if someone chews their food too loudly, or groans when they get up, or breathes too loudly, or makes any other body-related noises, it’s all I can do not to start screaming at them.
6. The forgotten side of Cystic Fibrosis
Louis Dennis loves to write. His style is academic and difficult to read. But if you want to know how to write scientific articles, he can teach you a thing or two.
Although the biological impacts of CF are commonly known, the psychological and social effects of living with a chronic illness such as CF are often unrecognised. The following article aims to discuss the psychological effects of CF on the development of adolescents. In particular, the psychosocial theories of Erik Erikson will be used in order to explain the developmental challenges and differences an adolescent with CF may experience, when compared to a “healthy” individual.
5. Why You Should Try Slow Reading
Jason Ward wrote this gem. If you missed it, here is an opportunity to undo that.
Reading purely for enjoyment, absorbing and savoring words seems to be being replaced with a need to simply consume information. On an increasing number of websites, there are estimates of how long a piece will take you to read. Book summary apps are immensely popular. I keep reading articles about ‘How I read x number of books a year/month/week’.
4. 5 Actions You Can Take To Add New Positive Influences Into Your Life
Rob Cyrier is an excellent writer and a family man. He loves technology. But in this great article, he is telling us to mend our ways. Don’t miss this one.
When you make an effort to live your life more consciously, you start noticing things are literally sucking the life right out of you. You wake up out of your subconscious slumber, take a look around, and wonder how in the world you got yourself into certain situations.
3. What I Learned From a Year Dedicated to Writing a Novel
Luke Beling lives in Hawaii and finds joy in his stories. He is a superb writer and he is sharing with you his personal experiences. If you read this story, you are definitely going to read his other work as well.
I began 2020 with a simple mission: write a novel. I settled on a manageable word count per day (250) and started a story that had long been brewing under the surface. I’m a short-term goals oriented type of person. It’s difficult for me to stay with projects, ideas, or pursuits that span over months. I like to get things done immediately, then move onto the next task. Writing a novel wasn’t only out of my comfort zone; it was out of my universe. “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way…”
2. The Frustratingly Simple Reason Why Black People Voted For Trump
Steve QJ’s superb insights that you have to read to know why many black people voted for Trump. Steve QJ is a rising star of Medium. You must check his other work.
1. The Easiest Buddhist Practice To Hammer Down Stress and Anxiety
At number one, it’s Sebastian Purcell, Ph.D. He is a philosopher and a happiness researcher. His style is friendly, focused, and compelling. You should check his other work if you like this one. Brilliance shines through his pieces, from start to end. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/editors-picks-top-10-do-unprofessional-writers-make-more-money-than-professionals-6443fce2d195 | ['Dew Langrial'] | 2020-12-10 23:28:39.025000+00:00 | ['Writing Tips', 'Readinglist', 'Self Improvement', 'Reading', 'Writing'] |
Exploring Stock Market Seasonality Trends with Python | Fama (1970) introduced efficient market hypothesis (EMH), stating the prices of securities fully reflect available information. Therefore, investors buying securities in an efficient market should expect to obtain an equilibrium rate of return. Later he introduced three different form of market efficiency: weak, semi-strong, and strong. Anomalies are empirical results that seem to be inconsistent with maintained theories of asset-pricing behavior. One class of market anomalies is seasonality and changes in market trend during different seasons. Seasonality in stock returns is a closely related to week-form of market efficiency. There are multiple seasonality effects (aka calendar effects):
Weekend effect
Monthly effect
Holidays effect
Here, we attempt to explore monthly change in stock market returns. The following table demonstrates market return at each month for the past 300 plus years!(Source: SeekingAlpha)
Dow Jones Industrial Average returns with respect to changes in months.
First, we are going to look at SPY calendar anomaly and observe possible trend changes in every month. Data available for this analysis starts from 2012 so we have 16 years of history to study. We are going to calculate monthly return of each year and plot with box plot.
Codes are provided in the Appendix.
Average monthly returns of S&P 500 ETF (SPY) for period of 2002–2018
Observations:
Overall market return trend exhibits a wave like pattern: market returns seem to increase from January to April followed by decrease in average returns in May and June. August to December exhibits steady increase in market returns.
Highest range of return (high to low range of box plot) in the past 16+ years occured in January, July, and August.
October demonstrates low donwside trade probability as low part of the box plot is closely situated outside the first quantile of the data. Therefore, it might provide good opportunity for investor to get in market or add to their investments. However, proper backtesting is needed to prove this hypothesis.
Months of June and December provide the smallest quarterfinal range (IQR). Coincidentally, the aforementioned months are half year and end of the trading yea
Now we will utilize the Augmented Dickey-Fuller Test for stationarity. The null hypothesis states that large p values indicate non-stationarity and smaller p values indicate stationarity. (We will be using 0.05 as selected alpha value.)
ADF Results indicates non stationary time series
As suspected, ADF test revealed the time series data (SPY stock data) are non stationary meaning time series is a stochastic process whose unconditional joint probability distribution changes when shifted in time. Now we know our time series is non staitionary, we attempt to exploit seasonality trends using time series decomposition.
We shall think of the time series Yt as comprising three components: a seasonal component, a trend-cycle component (containing both trend and cycle), and a remainder component (containing anything else in the time series). For example, if we assume an additive model, then we can write:
Yt=St+Tt+Et
where Yt is the data at period “t”, St is the seasonal component at period t, Tt is the trend-cycle component at period t and Et is the remainder (or irregular or error) component at period t. Alternatively, a multiplicative model would be written as
Yt=St*Tt*Et
For more detailed information visit (https://www.otexts.org/fpp/6/1)
In this notebook I am using additive decomposition model to extract seasonal model. In order to calculate seasonal effect, I used frequency decomposition of 252 meaning, trend is repeated every 252 days (5 trading days and 9 holidays results in 252 trading day).
Time series decomposition of SPY
As it can be seen from the above chart, overall trend of the market was increasing with the downward trend in 2008–2009. The seasonal trend repeating every year indicate valley and peak. Now, we attempt to isolate this trend and inspect it further:
Extracted seasonality trend of SPY which repeats every year (only 2017 is shown here)
Observations:
As it can be seen from the above seasonality chart, the seasonality trend is like a wave with major high happening around May and major lows happening around October.
Market expands from beginning of the year to Spring, then it follows by a period of contraction to mid fall.
The seasonality trend reveals change in expectation of market performance during the year.
Now we isolated seasonality trend we can, adjust market trend in regard to seasonality. Since we used additive model to identify seasonality, we can simply deduct seasonality from stock data (SPY) and adjust for seasonality. In periods where market has strong bull or bear (upward or downward) trends, seasonality effects might be too weak to observe. However, if market exhibits range bound behavior it, such effect can be more evident. Here, we will look at 2017 data (strong bull market) and 2015 data (sideways behavior)
SPY seasonality adjusted- 2017 Period
SPY seasonality adjusted- 2015 Period
Now we can simply test the return of a simple strategy based on seasonality. We are going to buy SPY in October and sell the entire holdings in May or simply comparing return of SPY from October of each year to May of next year.
Sell in May and go away strategy (excluding purchase of bonds from May to October)
Looking at returns of our strategy we can see; this strategy is not as profitable as simply buying and holding for entire year. During market crash of 2008, this strategy lost less money than average market return. However, this might be due to start month of market crash (further analysis is required). One should note that this strategy is extremely simple without considering proper entry and exit point within each month. Therefore, in order to fully understand the profitability and risk of this strategy, in depth analysis is required which is outside the scope of this article.
Another aspect of market seasonality is different market sectors and their respective seasonality and measure the correlation to SPY seasonality:
Stock market sector’s seasonality
SPY seasonality in the above picture overlaied with black line.
I used Spearman Rank Correlation to identify correlation of seasonality of different market sectors to seasonality of market itself. As it can be seen from the tables below, consumer discretionary has highest correlation to market seasonality and real estate sector has the least seasonality correlation to market.
Sector’s seasonality correlation to SPY seasonality
We can use empirical time series model to identify the effect of each month. The model is defined as below:
𝑅=𝛽+𝛼𝑗𝑎𝑛×𝑟𝑗𝑎𝑛+𝛼𝑓𝑒𝑏×𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑏+…𝛼𝑛𝑜𝑣×𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑣R=β+αjan×rjan+αfeb×rfeb+…αnov×rnov
All we need to do is to find returns of each month then use regression analysis to find the coefficients. β in this case can be considered as December return
The result of this multivariate regression can be seen below: | https://medium.com/quantjam/exploring-market-seasonality-trends-19a91381c0fe | ['Amir Nejad'] | 2020-11-06 18:17:13.005000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Trading', 'Quantitative Finance', 'Data Science', 'Stock Market'] |
DreamTeam Digest #24 | Dear Contributor,
Here’s a quick DreamTeam update. Since the last digest, our CEO has taken part in a crypto interview, DreamTeam has been nominated for the EuroAsian Startup Awards, we‘ve released our Q2’2019 report, and have been mentioned in several crypto publications.
Check out the details below.
DreamTeam CEO Alexander Kokhanovskyy talks to Coincentral
Alexander Kokhanovskyy talks to Coincentral about gaming’s past, present, and future. Find out what he thinks about the current state of esports and how DreamTeam is doing its part to continue the esports evolution. Learn more here.
DreamTeam has been nominated for the EuroAsian Startup Awards
DreamTeam has been nominated for the EuroAsian Startup Awards, which is a part of the Global Startup Awards. The EASAwards provide an annual spotlight to those who dare to dream big and shape our future. The finalists will be announced on August 12th. Learn more about the EASAwards here.
DreamTeam Q2’2019 Report has been released
Q2 2019 has come to an end. DreamTeam has been busy with Apex Legends, the DREAM token, and many other updates and tweaks. If you missed our Report you can find it here.
Reasons to use blockchain in gaming
Such new technologies as AI, VR, and blockchain provide a lot of opportunities for mobile and PC gaming. Blockchain creates a new way for people to interact with games — sell and buy in-game items for real currencies. In this article, we’ll discuss how blockchain operates in the gaming field and how DreamTeam is using this technology.
Sincerely,
The DreamTeam Crew
About DreamTeam:
DreamTeam — infrastructure platform and payment gateway for esports and gaming.
Stay in touch: Token Website|Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn|BitcoinTalk.org
If you have any questions, feel free to contact our support team any time at [email protected]. Or you can always get in touch with us via our official Telegram chat. | https://medium.com/dreamteam-gg/dreamteam-digest-24-ba63d97fc3a | [] | 2019-08-12 14:53:37.687000+00:00 | ['Gaming', 'Blockchain', 'Esports', 'Games', 'Startup'] |
How Does News Coverage Differ Between Media Outlets? | How Does News Coverage Differ Between Media Outlets?
A comparative analysis of news media over the last month using R and Python
In the past year, it seems like political news has become more divisive and more biased¹. As President Trump rails against tech companies for not promoting news sources equally², I wondered, is there a measurable difference in the news these days?
Luckily there is a fantastic python library that can be used to scrape news sites, so we can begin to answer that question. Using Newspaper³, I was able to grab the main headlines from multiple media outlets over the last month. Writing some simple scripts to collect and analyze the news data, I was able to get a sense of how their coverage diverges.
The Focus of the News
One fun way to see patterns in text data is to generate word clouds. R provides some simple text mining libraries (tm, wordcloud, and SnowballC) that make generating wordclouds a breeze. For a great resource on this topic, see this tutorial⁴.
After I removed the obvious English stopwords from the data (‘the’, ‘a’, etc) as well as some news-specific ones (‘link’, ‘video’, etc), I saw obvious patterns.
Mainstream news sites are all about ‘trump’
In 2018, it’s no surprise that the mainstream news is dominated by ‘Trump’.
Nevertheless, I also wanted to see what less popular media outlets were reporting. To do so I picked a sampling of sources from across the political spectrum. Although the secondary areas of interest differ across these sources, each one focussed most on the president.
Finally, I grabbed data from two international news sites — the BBC and the Guardian, to see if the emphasis on president Trump was as strong across the globe.
Thankfully, it seems that global news has a broader array of concerns than just Donald Trump.
Top Words in News Headlines
Another useful tool to detect the most common terms in a corpus of text data is the R “TermDocumentMatrix” function. It tells us the frequency of each word in a collection of text⁵. Using this information, it’s easy to plot the most common words from each news source. Below I plot the 5 most common words in the headlines of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.
It’s clear that CNN and MSNBC are almost entirely devoted to President Trump and his scandals, with ‘Trump’, ‘Cohen’, ‘Mueller’, and ‘Manafort’ being the top terms. On Fox, ‘Trump’ is still number one by a wide margin, but the other stories are more generic (ie. ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘report’, ‘police’).
For fun, here are the top words in headlines from the other sites as well.
Simple Analysis of Headlines Sentiment
The news always tends to have a negative bias. In these tumultuous times, where some people claim we are living in a new dark age, I wanted to see how negative these headlines really are.
One simple way to measure the sentiment of text is to use a sentiment lexicon, or a dictionary where each word has a positivity score associated with it. I chose to use the popular AFINN⁶ lexicon which rates words on a scale of -5 to +5. For example, in this corpus, words like “worried” have a score of -3 and words like “great” have a score of +3.
By averaging the sentiment scores of the words associated with each new site, I was able to get a picture of how positive or negative they seemed.
Surprisingly, the Washington Post proved to be the most negative news source using this method. I guess the company whose new motto is “democracy dies in darkness” doesn’t mince words.
Sentiment Analysis using Sentimentr Library
One flaw of naively measuring sentiment solely using words scores is that this method ignores the context of a sentence. Using this approach, a sentence like “this pizza is not bad”, will only register the word ‘bad’ and not the valence shifter ‘not’ in front of it. Luckily the SentimentR⁷ library takes into account these valence shifters and allows us to measure sentiment at the unit of sentences.
Using this library to compare the positivity/negativity of the headlines themselves, I got the following plot.
Once again, the Washington Post is the most negative by a wide margin, beating out even more radical sites like Breitbart and Infowars. The rest of the news sources are all about the same and all slightly negative.
Conclusions
In this era of “fake news”, the idea of political objectivity seems more distant than ever before. Nevertheless, with a data-driven approach, we may be able to get a more neutral look at what is being presented to us in the media. As I’ve shown, gathering news data is incredibly easy. I’d encourage anybody with a little bit of time to see how their favorite news outlet measures up and to make sure that they are really getting a comprehensive representation of our shared reality.
Notes
All code and data used for this article is online at https://github.com/taubergm/NewsHeadlines
1 — A fun study on media bias — http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/06/democrats-see-most-news-outlets-as-unbiased-republicans-think-theyre-almost-all-biased/
2 — https://gizmodo.com/president-trump-accuses-google-of-rigging-search-result-1828647850
3 — https://github.com/codelucas/newspaper
4 — a how to on wordclouds with R — https://datascienceplus.com/building-wordclouds-in-r/
5 — info on documentmatrices — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document-term_matrix and how to generate them https://www.rdocumentation.org/packages/tm/versions/0.7-5/topics/TermDocumentMatrix
6 —AFINN sentiment lexicon http://corpustext.com/reference/sentiment_afinn.html
7 — SentimentR lib — https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/sentimentr/README.html | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-does-news-coverage-differ-between-media-outlets-20aa7be1c96a | ['Michael Tauberg'] | 2019-01-08 18:19:09.615000+00:00 | ['Media', 'Data Science', 'News', 'Data Journalism', 'Journalism'] |
birth | first you were a stringy substance.
helpless from most angles, wielded
by the force of life surging through
when amenable- a twinkle in your eyes
mostly a cacophony of hard-wired urges-
for consciousness, the first education in Need
your skin still bore the scent of your maternal home
miniature fingers wrapped themselves around your father’s one
immutable ring of commitment
enough to heal the broken years
then your mother held you on her tired chest
she studied two new onyx eyes
and fell in love with the nascent bloom. | https://medium.com/meri-shayari/birth-ce3b9e6110d7 | ['Rebeca Ansar'] | 2020-12-25 17:11:43.971000+00:00 | ['Storytelling', 'Poet', 'Poem', 'Creative Writing', 'Poetry'] |
Quadrant’s eQUAD bootstraps further liquidity with Decentralized Finance | Quadrant available now on Uniswap
During the past few months and despite the ongoing pandemic, Quadrant has launched innovative initiatives which have led to notable growth of partners and ecosystem. This accelerated growth has accelerated demand from our partners and for the future of our utility token, “eQUAD”, which powers the Quadrant Protocol. In order to improve the accessibility and utility of the eQuad token, we have launched decentralized liquidity pools and listed eQuad on new decentralized exchanges for easy access and improved name recognition.
While we prepare for our next major product launch dates, we are aiming to continue to increase the liquidity for our token to make it a more tradeable asset for our current and incoming community members. This will ultimately make eQUAD more easily obtainable for use with our comprehensive product suite and innovative line of services. It will also give expanded options to those earning eQUAD in the ecosystem to exchange tokens for other services. The liquidity of these assets will grow as our community continues to attract both investors and network users.
We are currently on schedule to release our updated roadmap and will reach one important milestone date in the upcoming weeks.
eQUAD Available on Uniswap
Today, we are excited to announce that the eQUAD token has already been listed on the automated exchange protocol Uniswap. This provides instant increased liquidity for our existing token holders and increased access for future token holders. With more liquidity and a healthier order book on one of the fastest-rising exchanges, we are confident that this addition will help grow our community and entrench our project at the forefront of the next sector-wide push towards innovation and access. Similarly, this is critical for the numerous micropayments to data producers that we will enable over the period of the next few months, allowing easy conversions to stablecoins and other assets.
You can find the eQUAD token contract here: https://uniswap.info/token/0xc28e931814725bbeb9e670676fabbcb694fe7df2
You can now swap eQUAD for ETH or any other ERC-20 token on the Uniswap exchange. Additionally, you can contribute to a liquidity pool with equal values of eQUAD and your chosen ERC-20 token, earning yourself a 0.3% liquidity provider fee.
According to Poolys.FYI, a Decentralized Pool discovery aggregator which has listed statistics about the pool, there exists already $14,643 worth of eQuad & ETH liquidity. Already, other decentralized exchanges or aggregators have listed eQUAD with 100s of pairs, including stablecoins.
eQuad on 1inchExchange
1inch.exchange is a user-friendly DEX Aggregator with the best prices on the market. They are able to achieve the best rates by splitting orders among multiple DEXes in one single transaction.
With 1InchExchange, you don’t ever have to deposit tokens to a centralized exchange or make orders and withdraw tokens back to your wallet — all necessary actions will be performed in a single transaction right from your Ethereum wallet.
What’s even more fascinating for 1InchExchange is that it tracks liquidity from numerous sources so you will end up with the best available opportunity available at the market.
1Inch Exchange, is only one year old and transacts half a billion USD trading volume daily, which is fascinating and impressive! We are happy to have established a presence on their exchange.
Introduction to 1inch: https://twitter.com/1inchExchange/status/1276477537628102659
eQuad on Bamboo Relay
Bamboo Relay is an ERC20 relayer built upon the 0x protocol that implements the open order book matching model. Among others, it includes the ability to trade any ERC20 compatible token directly from your Ledger Wallet. You can buy eQuad with any of the shown wallets on BambooRelay now!
What’s next?
Quadrant Protocol believes that crypto payments in a decentralized manner is the way of the future in blockchain communities. With listings on Kyber, Uniswap, 1Inch Exchange, and Bamboo Relay, users of eQUAD will be able to get instant access to our token which enables instant access to our ecosystem.
Quadrant team looks to continue to expand liquidity offerings to build the foundation of future products to come into the market. As we release new tools that will require individuals to own eQuad to access data sources or distribute micropayments to data producers, the need for instant decentralized swaps will continue to grow! Stayed for more things to come!
Join the discussion in our official Telegram community! https://t.me/quadrantprotocol | https://medium.com/quadrantprotocol/quadrants-equad-bootstraps-further-liquidity-with-decentralized-finance-60c8a6912b03 | ['Mike Davie', 'Quadrant Protocol'] | 2020-08-13 11:36:39.428000+00:00 | ['Uniswap', 'Big Data', '1inch', 'Crypto', 'Defi'] |
How I Got Access to Other People’s Medium Accounts | Medium’s API
What could someone do with a key for the Mediums API? As always, the best information can be found in the API documentation, so let’s have a look at Medium’s API docs.
As we can see, the document is pretty short and only a few methods are provided. Every request goes to api.medium.com and contains the HTTP header Authorization: Bearer <auth key> . The first request one could send is obviously to /v1/me and the response would contain the user’s id, name, and a link to the profile. This helped me to identify and notify the person behind the discovered keys.
A more critical method is the request to create and publish new posts or send them to publications. As this, publishing articles, is the core functionality of Medium, having another person’s authentication key means owning his or her account.
Some things that the API does not provide is the option to change settings or view private and sensitive information. I have also not found a possibility to view someone's drafts. Of course, I tested all options with my own account only. | https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/how-i-got-access-to-other-peoples-medium-accounts-122d49b7f721 | [] | 2020-08-08 09:29:26.916000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Hacking', 'Technology', 'Cybersecurity', 'Programming'] |
A New User, Candour Design and User Experience | It is a fact that some accidents, incidents and natural disasters precede many changes and gradually human life adopt these changes. But Covid-19 has rapidly changed the way of life. This virus has done a lot of damage to every industry but on other hand e-commerce business has grown faster than expected. An example of this is the sudden increase in the wealth of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. Now everyone is doing or thinking of doing their business online. In short, in coming days you will see every business existence online in the form of website or mobile application. As a user experience designer, I am seeing a lot of challenges coming to ux community. And the biggest challenge is that user we haven’t dealt with yet.
From my observations and studies I can explain this user through some of the following points.
A conservative type person who can be a businessman, shopkeeper or any office holder or a skilled work. Zero experience of online shopping and buying. Only use cash for selling purchasing. Not even a bank account. Use his phone only for calls. Might be very allergic to internet before corona. Age 40 years or onward
All are above points are kind of feature of this user. Now we need to introduce a new dimension to UX strategies. We have to come up with a solution to all the pains and problems that are in the mind of this type of user. Also we need to create more trust factor in product design than ever before. As individual I can’t completely define this user but jointly we ux community can do.
Regarding this kind of user I invented a term called Candour Design in which we have to earn the trust of this user and make a trusty, honest, traditional, friendly environment. In coming days I will briefly explain Candour Design.
Right now I am working on it and also will share new ux strategies for our new user. I am very grateful if someone want to part of my study or better guide me. Need suggestions and tips. Thanks! | https://medium.com/nyc-design/a-new-user-candour-design-and-user-experience-4cc303ff57ff | ['Salman Habib'] | 2020-08-09 15:28:49.962000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'New York', 'Design Process', 'User Research', 'Design Thinking'] |
How To Market Elon Musk | He is Relevant
Remember Elon Musk memes? Of course you do. This is how you build relevance, especially with youth. He uses Twitter and tweets every day, one of the richest men in the world is literally reposting memes, how can’t you relate or like him?
Younger people’s attention is important to capture right now because in a few years they will be able to give you money. They are the people who will buy Tesla cars just because they remember their childhood idol. As Gary Vee said, people who are in their 40s right now are still influenced by pop culture in the 80s and 90s especially in fashion.
Strong statements are also the thing that defines Elon from the rest. He can announce anything, anytime on Twitter, and he doesn't care if his company’s stock market shares will drop. This is what people like in him. He also admits his mistakes, he is human.
Moreover, there’s The Boring Company, which is basically made just for fun, they sell some useless stuff like “not a flamethrower”, but it’s still sold out in a few hours. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/how-to-market-elon-musk-db1aa9316219 | ['Rufat Rassulov'] | 2020-12-25 22:02:15.797000+00:00 | ['Branding', 'Personal Branding', 'Technology', 'Elon Musk', 'Marketing'] |
Browser Automation with Python and Selenium — 3: Architecture | Primary Building Blocks
Selenium Client Libraries: Selenium Client Libraries or Selenium Language Bindings allow us to write automation scripts in the language of our choice like Python, Ruby, Java, etc.
Selenium Client Libraries or Selenium Language Bindings allow us to write automation scripts in the language of our choice like Python, Ruby, Java, etc. JSON Wire Protocol: JSON Wire Protocol is a REST-based API that is responsible for communication between the selenium scripts and the browser drivers.
JSON Wire Protocol is a REST-based API that is responsible for communication between the selenium scripts and the browser drivers. Browser Drivers: Selenium script communicates with the actual browser through the related browser driver. Browser drivers are responsible for controlling the real browser. The driver runs on the same system as the browser. Selenium framework does not need to know the implementation details of different web browsers thanks to drivers.
Selenium script communicates with the actual browser through the related browser driver. Browser drivers are responsible for controlling the real browser. The driver runs on the same system as the browser. Selenium framework does not need to know the implementation details of different web browsers thanks to drivers. Browsers: These are the actual browsers on which the desired automation tasks are performed. They receive the command from the driver and call the respective method to accomplish the task. After executing the command they return the response through the same route.
Drawing by the author with Inkscape
Types of Communication
Selenium WebDriver talks to browsers in 2 different ways: direct and remote.
1. Direct Communication
WebDriver talks to a browser through a driver. WebDriver, browser driver, and the real browser are on the same system in this type of communication. WebDriver passes commands and receives responses through the same route.
Drawing by the author with Inkscape
2. Remote Communication
Communication can also be remote through Selenium Server or RemoteWebDriver. In this case, RemoteWebDriver runs on the same system as the driver and the browser. Commands are sent and received over the remote webdriver.
Drawing by the author with Inkscape
Another way of remote communication is through Selenium Server or Selenium Grid components. They talk to the browser driver on the host system.
Drawing by the author with Inkscape
As stated in the official documentation | https://medium.com/dev-genius/browser-automation-with-python-and-selenium-3-architecture-fa01f7d0763a | ['Coşkun Deniz'] | 2020-12-16 17:09:06.737000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Automation', 'Technology', 'Programming', 'Selenium'] |
Tableau Version Control is here to make your life easier | If you are a Tableau server admin or interact with your Tableau admin, then the chances of you desperately crying out for their help over some accidental action is a quiet common possibility. Currently, retrieving just one workbook or select few items from a Tableau backup is time costly and counter-productive work. Imagine having to move the entire box that will take you five hours to move from your storage into your room just to get two items. Pretty rough huh? That is what Tableau admins currently have to go through in order to restore workbooks from a backup, but there is little more hassle to that too. Let me explain:
Currently, Tableau uses the all-or-nothing backup system when it comes to backing up your workbooks. What that means is that there is no way we can individually backup workbooks but in bulk that can only be then restored as a bulk. That translates to having to restore the entire backup into a test server then retrieve the workbooks that are needed. Depending on the size of your backup, this process takes a total of staggering 12–15 hours to complete. This gruesome process is required surprisingly often since people accidentally delete workbooks or older version is needed for various reasons. Tableau currently do have their own version of version control, however it is not the most optimal option. It also deletes all previous versions along with its newest version if accidentally deleted.
Luckily for you Tableau admins, we have a solution that would make your life easy and make others happy by getting that precious workbook in a fraction of the time than it normally takes to retrieve. We make this possible by running a version control on all the workbooks on the production server. The version control will scan all the workbooks and only backup the ones that have been modified since the previous backup (meaning it doesn’t waste time backing up something that hasn’t been changed since the last backup). Best of all, it will keep all the old versions as well! More importantly, you would have an ability to individually restore desired workbooks without having to go through the old all-or-nothing way. This saves a tremendous amount of time for all parties involved and adds the convenience of being able to access old workbooks at any given time. Lastly, this is an open-source tool, and you can sprinkle this amazingness into your life now if you’d like! Or if you have any questions so far, reach out to us at [email protected].
HOW IT WORKS:
Without our Version Control
With our Version Control
Let’s take a deeper dive into the technical side of things so you can install it on your server. Here is all you need to get started:
It’s an Open Source tool!
tool! Requires Python 3.7 or later version
You would need git command line installed and configured
command line installed and configured The script use Tableau Server Client library in Python to interact with the Tableau Server REST API
Ready to get started? Let me walk you through the steps:
Clone the git from here
Once you cloned the files then open the README.md which will walk you through the configuration part
which will walk you through the configuration part After the configuration is done then all you have to do is run the python script tableauBackup.py along with the required arguments
along with the required arguments You can schedule the script to run periodically by utilizing the Windows Scheduler or crontab(1)
Tableau Server Client library allows us to makes this process possible with less than 100 lines of code. Using TSCL, we can login to Tableau server, iterate through all the sites, iterate through each workbook and data source within the site, download the .xml of each workbook and data source, and back them up to git. | https://medium.com/starschema-blog/tableau-version-control-is-here-to-make-your-life-easier-80ecf5da1ce4 | ['Chimed Altandush'] | 2019-03-18 17:53:17.319000+00:00 | ['Git', 'Tableau', 'Dataviz', 'Tableau Server'] |
15 Helpful Style Guides for Fiction Writers | 15 Helpful Style Guides for Fiction Writers
How do you know what’s correct?
Image credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Writers and editors often rely on a shelf (or five) full of resources to make their work as consistent and accurate as possible. I have a page of helpful writing resources, in fact, right on my website, that lists books I own and use regularly. (Note: my resources page contains affiliate links.)
There are more I haven’t listed yet, but that’s because I don’t recommend what I’ve not looked through myself. As a result, the list keeps changing and growing as I make my way through the TBR pile, which is wonderful.
In the editor groups I belong to, there’s often an inquiry about a particular word or style that prompts the exchange of style guides that are so useful, you’ll want to bookmark them. There are many that are purchase-only, but this list contains fifteen pretty decent free guides that will help you on your writing journey.
As book editors, we continually strive to stay current with the seemingly liquid thing we call language. Sometimes it’s word usage and trends, but recently, attention has been given (and rightly so) to those words or terms that can be offensive or dismissive to certain people and/or groups.
The list below is by no means complete, but these are some of the online style guides you may find the most useful. Enjoy!
APA Style Blog If you’re using APA (American Psychological Association) style, this blog and the resources linked to it are pretty indispensable. The site has recently been updated and is easy to navigate.
Bible Hub Online Bible Study Suite This site isn’t so much a style guide as it is a set of tools featuring topical, Greek and Hebrew study aids, concordances, commentaries, dictionaries, and more.
BuzzFeed Style Guide The guide that aims to provide consistency within the evolving standards for internet and social media. This style guide is updated regularly to reflect current and relevant usage.
Conscious Style Guide As the tag line on the home page states, this is the essential guide to conscious language. If you’re seeking authenticity and current usage when dealing with disability, age, appearance, ethnicity, gender, spirituality, and much, much more, this is practically a one-stop shop.
Disability Language Style Guide The National Center on Disability and Journalism has an excellent style guide on its site, available not only in English, but in Spanish and Romanian translations as well. It covers the words and terms commonly used when referring to a disability. A PDF is also available for download.
The Emoji Style Guide is exactly what it says. You can find out how, why, and when to use emoji, and how to properly punctuate them.
List of Generic and Genericized Trademarks This is a handy list on Wikipedia that contains words that started off as trademarks but which have become generic terms over time.
The Guardian and Observer Style Guide The guide to writing, editing, and English usage followed by journalists at the Guardian, Observer, and theguardian.com.
Internet & Text Slang Dictionary & Translator This one’s fun! It works much like any other translator. Are you trying to keep up with every idk, afaik, fwiw, ymmv, and other slang or acronyms that come your way? Plug it into the translator at no slang dot com and wonder no longer. There’s even a government watchlist word filter if you want a few chuckles.
Medline Plus Drug Information If you’re double-checking the spelling or usage of something in a book you’re editing, or writing about a particular drug, herb, or supplement, this guide is easy to use and quite thorough.
Microsoft Writing Style Guide If you write about computer technology, this is the guide you’ll want to use. According to their website, this style guide replaces the Microsoft Manual of Style. The new guide aims for clear, simple communication within a tech community.
RxList An easy A to Z guide for all drugs and supplements. Includes a pill identifier (useful when describing while writing or when verifying for an edit).
Trans Journalists Association Style Guide The way the public thinks about trans people directly relates to the way they’re written and spoken about. This style guide is a tool for all writers and editors to make sure we present trans people as accurately as possible.
Writer’s Guide to Firearms and Ammunition If you’re writing about firearms or ammunition, whether it’s an instruction manual or a thriller novel, you’ll want to be as accurate as possible to ensure credibility with your readers. This guide, put together by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, is full of plain-language reference material for your use.
Writing with Color This site has it all, sharing advice, guides, and resources centered on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity.
Do you have a favorite style guide online you’d like to recommend? Share it here in the comments!
You just read another exciting post from the Book Mechanic: the source for writers and creators who want to make more work that sells and sell more work they make.
If you’d like to read more stories just like this one tap here to visit | https://medium.com/the-book-mechanic/15-helpful-style-guides-for-fiction-writers-62995503cb6c | ['Lynda Dietz'] | 2020-12-07 17:17:34.105000+00:00 | ['Writing Tips', 'Style Guides', 'Language', 'Writing Resources', 'Writing'] |
SMBs Often Struggle With Data. Here’s How Humanlytics Can Help. | Zach Diamond: So what is the problem that Humanlytics is trying to solve?
Patrick Han: Long story short, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have a ton of data and they don’t know what to do with it. The big players have joined the data revolution; they hire teams of analysts because they understand that data analytics has great ROI (return on investment) for the business. By using these analytics they can better optimize their sales. The problem is that the smaller guys haven’t joined the revolution because they either don’t understand the true value of data or don’t have the capacity to fully extract value from their data.
This presents itself through a variety of problems: collection, integration, automation, adoption, and interpretation. Even if they have collected integrated data, they don’t know how to draw actionable business insights from it. That’s why we think that a highly simplified web app is the best solution. They need something to take care of the whole data process for them. They want all of it to come to a single point of truth: “What do you do?”
ZD: What kind of information can this tool give SMBs?
PH: Data is about measuring things, such as KPIs (key performance indicators), yet a lot of these SMBs don’t know which metrics to track, which ones to focus on, and which ones are the most important. So we’ll take all of their data and see what they should be tracking.
We want to take away all of the noise and find the signals. Actionable insights come from market data. One thing we want to do is build an ideal customer profile. Once we find out who their customers are, we can put forth a hypothesis and then change the marketing strategy to see if it works. For example we could focus on soccer moms or “techy” people.
ZD: How will SMBs know if the tool is helping?
PH: It all comes down to ROI, which is what drives revenue. It’s okay if we spend a lot of money as long as it drives revenue. This is what every business decision comes down to. ROI is the gold standard. If you’re doing it right then you should be able to see your numbers going up.
ZD: What exactly can social media analysis do for them?
PH: This is part of a bigger question. Everything is going digital, including marketing. The three main places in digital marketing that are most important are blogs, SEO (search engine optimization), and social media.
SEO is how you get found. More and more consumers are finding the products they want through google. Blogs are important because they improve SEO. When you write about your industry more and more people link to you which improves SEO and increases the likelihood that your business will be found. Social media is important because that’s how ideas get value and that’s how ideas get spread. This is where people are and where they get their information.
ZD: How will the data analysis Humanlytics provides fit into the context of the business?
PH: A lot of startups make the mistake of assuming that the solution to everyone’s problem is a software tool. We want to make a software tool because of the nature of our problem. People want the right information at the right time. A SMB could hire someone but they have limited resources: time and money.
Thus, they need a tool that delivers the information, actionable insights that can identify problems, and work with it in real time and quickly. A lot of SMB owners aren’t analysts, they’re operations people so we need to give them the insights and actions. If their ROI is going down we can give them a checklist in order to fix their problems. We want to generate task lists for them so that they know what to do. People like checklists.
ZD: People want powerful KPIs. How realistic is it to provide a few all encompassing KPIs? How do you avoid anecdotal KPIs?
PH: Most of the people we talk to have KPIs they really care about already. These can provide a very high level overview. It is very industry specific. Less is more when it comes to KPIs. This is true from an organizational perspective and it’s also true from a design perspective. Based on their data we can tell which tactic makes the most sense.
ZD: If the space is full of tools that provide data visualization then what is the difference with Humanlytic’s tool?
PH: Certainly a lot of tools occupy this space and the good ones are visual. We’re different from all of those because, though visualization is better than nothing, even if it allows you to identify the outliers it doesn’t tell you what to do. If your twitter ad ROI’s are going down there is a repeatable workflow way to solve that. We’re focusing on actionable insights which provides that motivation and call to action.
ZD: Do you investigate SMB’s hypothesis or just provide them with clear numbers?
PH: This could go both ways. Some people are overwhelmed so we need to tell them exactly what they’re looking for. What’s been trending down for them is not profits but revenue. On the other hand, a lot of our users might know what to ask for so we just help. Right now we’re leaning towards the former though there is likely space for us with both. | https://medium.com/analytics-for-humans/smbs-often-struggle-with-data-heres-how-humanlytics-can-help-d0f6a6bb6c2a | ['Zach Diamond'] | 2018-06-08 20:18:16.157000+00:00 | ['Analytics', 'Small Business', 'Digital Marketing', 'Startup', 'Critical Thinking'] |
7 New Year’s Resolutions You’ll Want to Keep | Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
New Year’s resolutions got their start some 4000 years ago. But what ancient peoples used as a promise to their gods in hopes to gain favor for the new year, is a lot different these days.
Today, we celebrate the conclusion of a year. We honor our losses for the previous year and place our hopes in a better tomorrow. Today, we bargain with ourselves. We make New Year’s resolutions — promises in hopes of self-betterment and good fortune. Not by the cosmic hands of Babylonian gods, but by way of our own making and perhaps a little luck. Yes, there are still prayerful aspects to the holiday for some groups, but where we all may differ here and there on spiritual theologies, we do have one thing in common.
We suck at keeping our New Year’s Resolutions.
It is estimated that over 50% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions each year, yet only about 10% honor those commitments. I’ve been making New Year’s Resolutions for decades now and I can look back on some of the ones I have kept with pride, but the ones that fell by the wayside (nearly before the ink dried) are far more numerous. Can you relate? I mean, if we had to get our resolutions out from the previous year and answer to them now, perhaps receive a review of sorts, how would you fare? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Where Did New Year’s Resolutions Come From?
New Year’s resolutions got their start with the ancient Babylonians, who made deals with their gods, promised to do better, behave better, return all that borrowed stuff from their neighbors. The planting season was coming up and they really wanted the god’s favor for a good season of growth and harvest.
Some features of the original practices that we now know as New Year’s continue:
Some form of resolution making
A look back at the previous year
Hopes for a better upcoming year
Celebratory behavior
Some form of self-examination and forward-thinking
Superstitious perceptions, activities, or traditions
So, today it’s much more simple. Make a resolution. Keep it. No fire and brimstone to rain down on your crops. No bargaining for a good future. Simply making wise choices about your life (yes, they can be prayerful) and then setting out to do better.
So why do we fall flat on our hopeful faces before the last day card for January rolls over into February?
Turns out, we humans have a hard time making ourselves change without the fear of the god’s breathing down our necks — though we do try! What we need is accountability, motivation, and the internal fortitude to work to change our own habits. When those stars align, we make resolution magic happen.
New Year’s Resolutions — Making them Stick
First, you need a simple program to tackle those resolutions: accountability, motivation, and work.
Accountability — Write it down. Tell someone. Make an out loud commitment to your resolution(s). Having to answer to yourself and others provides accountability and keeps you on track. Motivation — Incentivize. Make small milestones and when you meet them, reward yourself with Starbucks or a new book or something you want. Work — There’s no silver bullet here; do the work.
Plan in place, white board or journal ready, jaw set — let’s get some resolutions in place you’ll be able to stick to!
Be Honest with Yourself about Your Limitations
You know you. Are you an all in kind of person or an early quitter? A step-by-stepper? Knowing your own limitations will help you to design a program of resolutions that work for you. Set yourself up for success, not failure!
Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Reasonable and Manageable
Reasonable. You know deciding to quit sugar, soft drinks, and white bread all at the same time might be a bit much. Set smaller, more realistic goals and keep focused on one “big” resolution with a few other supportive ones. Perhaps quitting all of that by the end of the year would be more reasonable. You have 12 months to set smaller, more attainable goals to work toward your larger end goal.
Work Toward the Goal of Creating a New Habit
New Year’s resolutions are all about eliciting personal change and trying to push ourselves to be better, do better, live better. Breaking the bonds of bad habits is difficult. But it is not impossible. In fact, it only takes 3 weeks to set a new habit and train yourself to stick to it. New behaviors can be performed with a bit of motivation, but for them to “stick” we must create new habits. Try to think of your resolutions as mini training courses to prepare you for the life you envision for yourself.
Need Some Ideas? Here are 7 Categories for Great New Year’s Resolutions (and ideas for each!)
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Take a short walk every day.
Drink more water.
Cut back or quit smoking (or other nasty habit)
Learn a new sport or exercise.
2. SOCIAL
Get out to visit with family more often. (How often? Be specific in your goal.)
Make a new friend.
Join a social group or gathering like mic night, book club, or a dancing group.
3. GIVING
Donate to charitable organizations.
Give of your time to volunteer in your community.
Find ways to do random acts of kindness each day / week / month
4. CLEANING & ORGANIZING
Clean out the garage / attic / storage building
Have a yard sale or donate some items to clear up space
Organize your pictures into digital files
Set an easy cleaning schedule and rotation
Finally ditch all those no-match socks or do a fun craft project with them
5. TRAVELLING & NEW EXPERIENCES
Learn a new craft or how to play an instrument
Pick a place you’ve never been and plan your trip there
Enjoy a day trip
6. FINANCES
Start paying off a debt.
Begin investing a little money.
Start a savings account and a savings plan.
7. RELAXING & ENJOYING LIFE A BIT MORE
Get outdoors more — go hiking!
Set a reading goal for the year
Make some time for your hobby or to learn a new one
Set a no-tech time for each day
Start having a weekly spa time for yourself
New Year’s resolutions are workable steps you can make to ensure a better year for yourself. You get to choose these paths to a better you, redefine the upcoming year under your own terms, and go for it. They are all about hope. Keep them doable and achievable. You can always up the ante later in the year if you are ready to expand on your New Year’s resolutions and keep your new-found forward momentum. Remember — the only thing holding you back, is YOU.
Thank you for reading. The author wishes you a fine new year! | https://medium.com/an-idea/7-new-years-resolutions-you-ll-want-to-keep-fe7a18af23a5 | ['Christina M. Ward'] | 2020-12-28 06:07:04.919000+00:00 | ['New Year Resolution', 'Self Improvement', 'Productivity', 'Advice', 'Personal Development'] |
Microsoft automates design handoff with Figma’s API [Video] | Each year, Microsoft hosts a company-wide hackathon called, OneWeek. Known as the largest private hackathon in the world, Microsoft employees are encouraged to step away from their day jobs and use the time to dream big, tackle problems, and pursue passions. For the Dynamics365 for Talent design team, that meant it was time to focus on streamlining the laborious handoff between design and engineering.
Video was produced by Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent team
Ever since the release of Microsoft’s Fluent Design System, the Dynamics 365 for Talent team has been hyper focused on scaling out visceral design elements rather than building out new features (aka, the fun stuff). While striving to hit a 1:10 ratio of designers to engineers on the team, there was an overwhelming need to streamline handoff. Designers had to campaign and negotiate even the smallest design updates. While the engineers had to prioritize each request against the extensive workload that comes with being at a large enterprise company. As a result, it would take up to a week, sometimes longer, to push a single design element to production. There had to be a better way!
As a team of Figma power users, they were confident Figma’s web based API could do the trick. So for their OneWeek project, the team hacked the workflow.
Framework for leveraging Figma’s API
By utilizing the Figma webhook, designers can save a new version of a file which then automatically creates a pull request for design and engineering to sign off on and commit — and voilà, designs are pushed live! According to the team, the new automated process can easily reduce their workflow by 70%. That means designers have more time to design and engineers have more time to focus on development. A win win for all. | https://medium.com/figma-design/microsoft-automates-design-handoff-with-figmas-api-video-79ee88edac74 | ['Morgan Kennedy'] | 2018-09-26 15:37:17.597000+00:00 | ['Case Studies', 'Design'] |
The Iteration Imperative | The Iteration Imperative
Why digital products should be created iteratively
Back when people first started building complex software, the natural approach was to do this in a planned methodical way that resembles physical engineering. You make a detailed plan, validate the plan in theory, build it, test it in practice, and then deliver the final product to the customer. While there are variations of this approach, it is commonly called the “waterfall” model, since you have a cascade of stages that the process goes through, and once you’ve “fallen” from one stage to the next, you generally don’t go back.
Over time, people realized that this approach was not optimal for the development of digital products. After all, software is more malleable than physical items. You can’t easily add another story to a house once it’s built. It’s much easier to add new functionality to software — especially in today’s world of software that’s either run directly in the cloud or at least delivered and updated via the Internet, where you don’t have to physically ship an updated software package to your customers.
Additionally, developing and improving digital products is risky. It is generally unknown what the best way to deliver value through the product will be. More concretely: when starting out, we don’t know what functionality and user experience the product should provide in order to be most beneficial to its users. The more innovative a product is, the more risk there is. This is another key difference to many physical engineering projects, that are often more similar to previous constructions.
Today, many companies — big and small, incumbents and challengers, old and new — have adopted iterative software development practices. They use Scrum or similar practices, and ship new versions of their software more frequently than as one big annual release. On the surface, it seems they are now working iteratively… but they are not. To truly develop products iteratively, you have to start earlier.
The scrumfall trap
The trap that many companies fall into, whether they transitioned to an iterative, “Agile” development methodology or started out with it, is the “scrumfall”. In the “scrumfall”, software is delivered incrementally, often using the Scrum methodology, but that delivery is embedded in a waterfall-like process. The backlog items that the Scrum team works on to deliver get specified and prioritized top-down without participation of the Scrum team. There might be a “refinement” meeting in which the Scrum team asks clarifying questions and ensures that they can confidently deliver the item, but that’s it. These items were first ideated and prioritized (by business stakeholders or product managers), and then designed (by product managers, business analysts, and/or UX designers), before they landed on the Scrum team’s board. Once delivered, they will often go through separate, waterfall-like test and release stages. The different stages are “owned” by different stakeholders, which necessitates a handover and therefore enforces a waterfall-like structure.
Often, this process will be overall more iterative than a traditional waterfall in the sense that what moves through the waterfall isn’t the whole software system, but rather individual features or “projects”. At any given time, there will likely be some features being ideated, some in design, some in development, and so on. Accordingly, releases happen more frequently than in traditional waterfall.
For each individual feature, however, the process is still very waterfall-like. There are few feedback loops before something is built and rolled out. The scrumfall has iterative delivery, but not iterative discovery.
Iterative discovery
Product discovery is the process of understanding the needs of users and customers and determining how value can be best delivered to them. It includes researching customers and their needs, identifying opportunities or problems, ideating solutions, and validating them.
Product discovery starts with generating insights into the problems to be solved. This could be done by reviewing existing information or conducting original research. In any case, based on this information, a product vision is formed, describing beneficial outcomes if this problem is solved in a better way. The vision provides the north star for then discovering the best solution.
This discovery process should be iterative. You should “think big, start small” (one of Intercom’s product principles), meaning you should have the long-term vision in mind but make progress in small steps, not all at once. The reason the discovery process should be iterative is that most of the ideas we have to solve the problem will turn out not to work. We therefore need to fail early and often in order to double down on the ideas that work and kill the ones that don’t. If we were certain that our ideas would work out, if there was no uncertainty whether our ideas will deliver the value we hoped for, then a waterfall-like process could work. However, since a lot of them won’t, iteration is crucial.
This means that for every problem definition and every solution idea, you should identify what the most critical assumption is behind it, and then validate or invalidate that assumption as quickly and cheaply as possible. With that learning, you can then either double down or change course. This loop is at the heart of iterative discovery.
The misunderstood MVP
Product people who don’t fully understand this need for iteration often ask “what should be the scope for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for this idea?” This is the wrong question, though. You shouldn’t just have one MVP. You should have a series of MVPs, each testing another assumption. The first of these MVPs are likely not going to be real products, but rather prototypes of some sort.
This is at the heart of the Lean Startup build — measure — learn loop. Identify the most critical assumption, build the smallest thing possible to test it, learn from it, iterate. In Eric Ries’s own Words:
To apply the scientific method to a startup, we need to identify which hypotheses to test. I call the riskiest elements of a startup’s plan, the parts on which everything depends, leap-of-faith assumptions. The two most important assumptions are the value hypothesis and the growth hypothesis. (…) Once clear on these leap-of-faith assumptions, the first step is to enter the Build phase as quickly as possible with a minimum viable product (MVP).
In contrast to these MVPs, the scope for the first “real”, shipped version of the product should be determined in a different way. Here, you don’t just want to test a single assumption. You want to ship a product that makes sense from end to end and that customers will want. Now, I am not saying that you should gold-plate your v1. The scoping for a v1 is likely going to be more of an 80:20 exercise: can we get 80% of the potential customer value with 20% of the effort? If you’ve validated the critical assumptions using a series of prototype MVPs before you ever ship v1, you should be pretty confident in how to provide customer value, allowing you to make this tradeoff decision.
The elusive v2
Another way that lots of organizations fail to iterate enough is not revising features once their initial iteration has been shipped. This means that the build — measure — learn cycle stops when v1 is shipped. This can break the trust of team members who had been promised that something would be fixed in v2 (often designers and engineers). It is also not a good way to build a great product. It means you are leaving a “good enough”, 80:20 scoped feature in the product in order to chase the next shiny thing.
The reason organizations do this is because they feel they never have enough time and resources to do all the things they would want to be doing. So once something has been shipped as “good enough”, let’s not waste more time with it, right? After all, we’ve already built the 20% that deliver 80% of the value!
This thinking is a fallacy, however. It is caused by not focusing enough. A great product isn’t one that does a lot of things “well enough” (meaning “mediocre”). A great product focuses on a few things and really nails them. So if you’ve found something that works, consider doubling down instead of moving on. Make a good idea a great one — by iterating.
Another reason to avoid always moving on to the next thing instead of iterating is that it increases the complexity of the product. Every feature that is added multiplies the complexity of the product, which incurs additional efforts in design and engineering down the line. Improving an existing feature by iterating might add some complexity, but rarely as much as adding something new.
Iterative does not mean incremental
One potential risk when embracing the concept of iterative product development from discovery through delivery is to settle for only incremental changes. After all, it’s easy to be iterative by continuously making small improvements to the product. This approach is great if you want to optimize an existing experience. However, you can’t build a great, novel product that way.
Iterative doesn’t have to mean incremental. Think about the development of the first airplane, clearly a completely novel product. However, the development was very much iterative: prototype after prototype was built and tested, until finally a working model was identified. Of course, if we take this analogy further, what these prototypes were testing was the feasibility (is there a technology that can achieve what we want to achieve?), because the riskiest assumption was the feasibility of manned flight. The same iterative approach is also possible to test assumptions of value, usability, and business viability. This way, even a big, long-term vision can be realized incrementally.
It’s important in this approach to move away from the idea that every iteration has to produce working software. That is true only in delivery mode. During discovery, every iteration should produce learning. This could be achieved for example through creating prototypes or conducting research.
In order to achieve more than incremental progress in an iterative way, it is paramount to have a long-term vision and a strategy to achieve that vision. That strategy can then be broken down into assumptions, and they can be tested iteratively, starting with the most critical ones. | https://jefago.medium.com/the-iteration-imperative-46d1dad21b2a | ['Jens-Fabian Goetzmann'] | 2020-06-21 19:48:31.703000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Agile', 'Product Management', 'Leadership', 'Startup'] |
Talkoot podcast: Service Design in Practice the early years | Apply and test your learning over 6 months
We’re working in partnership with CIH Cymru on a project that I’m, personally, really excited by.
Service Design in Practice is a new learning and development programme for people who have service design responsibilities. It goes beyond traditional training courses (in fact it is complementary to them).
Learning the theory is fairly straight forward. Putting it into practice can be difficult, especially without support.
We’ve teamed up with Melys Phinnemore who is a leadership and development specialist and partnered with CIH Cymru to run a pilot cohort.
The other day I sat down with Melys and Jo Carter to find out more about how the project is going. And as I had my microphone I turned it in to an edition of our Talkoot podcast series.
I hope you like it
You can find out more about Service Design in Practice over on the CIH Cymru website.
Jo Carter explained some of the background to the programme on our blog.
You can follow Jo on Twitter.
Why not sign up to receive every edition of Talkoot as soon as it is published?
Or check out our SoundCloud profile to listen to podcasts about Liberating Structures, local government website use and so much more… | https://medium.com/the-satori-lab/talkoot-podcast-service-design-in-practice-the-early-years-65ea21dbc11a | ['Ben Proctor'] | 2019-06-03 15:03:44.696000+00:00 | ['Service Design', 'Social Housing', 'Culture Change', 'Wales', 'Development'] |
SEO Professionals: Most Creative Link Acquisition Strategy | Introductory Guide on Link Building
SEO Professionals: Most Creative Link Acquisition Strategy
Top 8 ways of Creating Backlinks in 2019
Image by Great Learning
In the world of SEO, acquiring backlinks is one among the highly crucial components, which at times can be hectic and time-consuming. In general, Google uses the backlinks for determination of the website’s quality, popularity, and ranking in the default search algorithm. Backlinking has existed for long and continues to serve as a popular way to acquire visitors. However, not every backlink is equal. While some are of high quality, others do not help your website as much as you would like it to.
But before we jump, skip, and hop to learn the tactics of Link Acquisition, let’s learn the basics of backlinking.
What is Backlink?
Backlinks are the incoming links going into any webpage. When any webpage links with any different page, the process is termed as backlinking. Back in the days, backlinks were used as one among the important metrics for webpage ranking. A page loaded with backlinks used to rank highest among its competitors.
Backlink Glossary
Link Juice: When any webpage links with any of the existing articles/blogs/website homepage, it sends in the “Link Juice”. The link juice aids with article ranking while improving the domain authority. You can also stop passing this link juice with the use of the no-follow tag.
When any webpage links with any of the existing articles/blogs/website homepage, it sends in the “Link Juice”. The link juice aids with article ranking while improving the domain authority. You can also stop passing this link juice with the use of the no-follow tag. No-Follow Link: When any website links with another website but with the no-follow tag, this link doesn’t pass any link juice. A no-follow link is generally used when linking out with a site that is unreliable.
When any website links with another website but with the no-follow tag, this link doesn’t pass any link juice. A no-follow link is generally used when linking out with a site that is unreliable. Do-Follow Link: All links added to your post are by default do-follow links. These links are capable of passing the link juice.
All links added to your post are by default do-follow links. These links are capable of passing the link juice. Linking Root Domains: This term defines the total number of live backlinks coming into the website you own from any unique domain. Even if one website is linked with you 10 times, it shall be counted as one given the source is single.
This term defines the total number of live backlinks coming into the website you own from any unique domain. Even if one website is linked with you 10 times, it shall be counted as one given the source is single. Low-Quality Links: These are the links which come from automated sites, harvested sites, spam sites, and even the porn sites. Such links can do more loss than benefit. This is the prime reason you should always be careful during the purchase of backlinks.
These are the links which come from automated sites, harvested sites, spam sites, and even the porn sites. Such links can do more loss than benefit. This is the prime reason you should always be careful during the purchase of backlinks. Internal Links: These are the links which emerge from a certain page to another in the very same domain.
These are the links which emerge from a certain page to another in the very same domain. Anchor Text: This is a text used for the process of hyperlinking and termed as anchor text. The backlinks with Anchor text works fine when one is attempting to rank certain keywords.
Now that you know the basics of backlinking, here are the best link acquisition strategies that can aid better ranking of your website.
Image by Great Learning
Broken-Link Building Technique:
This technique is by far the best method to create proper one-way backlinks. To do so, you need to contact a webmaster or website owner and report all the broken links present in his/her website. In doing so, you can also recommend the owner some fruitful links to replace the broken ones. Of course, that list would include your own website as well. Given the fact that you are helping the website owner by reporting broken links, it increases your chances of backlinking your website over his/her platform.
So, in order to use this method, locate relevant websites dedicated to the niche of your interest with resource pages. Locate them by use of these particular search queries:
“Target Keyword” + Links
“Target Keyword” + Resources
Keywords inurl: Links
You can also install the latest plugin by Google Chrome named Check My Links to locate the broken links easily. Try to help but do not seem greedy when it comes to obtaining backlinks.
2. Backlinks via Infographics:
Infographics are among the popular techniques for diverting traffic towards your website all the while gaining some valuable backlinks. Moreover, they work perfectly as they are easy to share and understand. Visitors to your website surely love a glimpse at visual data. This is why the demand for infographics has increased substantially.
Make sure you pick your infographics after proper research. Every infographic you place on your website should include interesting and unique stories to be decoded by your audience. In order to curate your selection, make sure you follow the trending topics and scope for things people search for. Now, create your infographic with the use of this statistical data. Although infographics can be a bit expensive, they surely pay the price by acquiring you good traffic, especially when they go viral.
There are multiple infographic directories to submit your creations. Use those platforms and ask for proper feedback from professionals that can decode your infographic and explain if anything isn’t right with it.
3. Guest Articles:
Guest blogging can be effective when it comes to reaching new audiences. You can do this by publishing your articles over popular websites. This will help you bring your content in front of potential readers who haven’t ever visited your site but surely visit the site where you have posted your blog. This way you win more and more exposure. At times, it is more than just the backlinks. It is about increasing the online reputation and followers over social media channels.
With the help of guest blogging, you can leverage the existing relationships while expanding the audience base for your website. If you are someone new to the field of guest posting, you can always seek help from the Google Analytics Blog where one can post guest blogs and obtain better visibility for your website. However, you need to adhere to guidelines set by the websites for blogs that can be published as guest posts.
You can use these search queries by Google to locate blogs that accept guest contributors:
“Target Keyword” + Guest-Posts
“Target Keyword” + inurl: write-for-us
“Target Keyword” + inurl: guest-post-guideline
“Target Keyword” + bloggers wanted
“Target Keyword” + become a contributor
“Target Keyword” + want to write for
“Target Keyword” + submit an article
“Target Keyword” + Become an Author
“Target Keyword” + Contribute
“Target Keyword” + Now Accepting Guest Posts
“Target Keyword” + Guest Post By
4. Assess your competitors:
If you need a good amount of organic traffic, you surely need to be updated with everything your competitors are trying to surpass everyone in the market. Understand and assess their strategies via things such as social media platforms, link-building techniques, and earning techniques. Also, remember to read through their content and content marketing techniques.
This will help you learn from their mistakes or follow on their footsteps while creating your very own strategies. You can also look for tools that allow you to monitor the backlinks being used by the competitors.
5. Build Some Internal Links:
Internal links can aid you immensely when it comes to running a popular blog. They help in passing through link juice, plus you can also use the anchor texts for keyword ranking. With a well-structured internal lining all through the website, you can aid the users to easily navigate from one section of your blog to another which is related. This increases the overall experience for the user.
There are several tools available over the internet to aid you in creating automatic internal links to the blogs posted inside the website. This is especially true if you have a website operating over WordPress.
6. Promote the Content:
A perfectly crafted content isn’t going to get you any backlinks unless it is promoted in the way it needs to be. The internet sprouts hundreds of thousands of websites every day and it’s important that you practice methods that will help promote your content and surpass any competition. You need to reach out to people via social media websites or practice email outreach in order to promote the articles.
The best way to do so is to contact websites or bloggers that run weekly and monthly roundups. Additionally, you can seek help from Google and look for queries such as “Target Keyword + Roundup”. Make sure the results you pick are from last month or week. Contact the owners of the websites and explain them more about your website. If they like what you sell, you can pass them the link to your best writeup. If they love what you have sent, they might link back with you during the weekly roundup. Bloggers constantly search for amazing content, so it is assured that they will link back to you.
7. Write some testimonials:
An amazing method to gain quality backlinks, writing testimonials can aid your website a lot. All you need to do is spend some time everyday and your website can acquire a backlink from the homepage of any authoritative website. If you are one among the customers of their product, it is possible that you can acquire a link as an exchange for the testimonial.
8. Contact Bloggers and Journalists:
In order to acquire links for your website, it is important that you promote your business. The best way to do so is to plan an email outreach and contact the influencers and journalists popular in your concerned niche. However, locating someone’s email can be a challenging task. But, you need not be discouraged.
Here are some ways to locate some email address of influencers in your concerned niche:
More than 90 percent of email addresses used by websites and publications are formatted in a similar manner which looks something like this:
[email protected]
[email protected]
If the given formats do not work, you can use tools such as Thrust.io, Voilanorbert, or Emailfinger.io. Simply enter the person’s name you want to contact along with the website they are working for.
Bottom Line
Earning high-quality backlinks can be challenging at times. However, with the right methods and resources by your side, you can take your website from zero to a popular name. Last but not the least, always remember that keeping the backlinks alive and running is as crucial as acquiring them. So, make sure you track your backlinks on a regular basis.
Learn more about SEO and digital marketing. | https://medium.com/my-great-learning/seo-professionals-most-creative-link-acquisition-strategy-f2edcef9640e | ['Great Learning'] | 2019-08-19 06:17:20.121000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Organic', 'Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'SEO'] |
Fate, Coincidence, and Whatnot | There’s always a lot of ways to explain life as we know it. And I do not mean it in the metaphysical sense of the bigger why questions. Douglas Adams answered the biggest ‘why’ questions extremely succinctly when he asked back, ‘why not?’ I meant the banal, everyday hand of cards that we are all dealt. There’s fate, there’s coincidence, there’s luck, there’s chance: these are the standard fallback to explain what happens to us day-to-day. We came up with horoscopes to blame it all on stars and planets that are reasonably far out and are not going to come in and lodge a complaint anytime soon for slander. In India, they look at the lines on a person’s palms and predict what fate has in store for them. And there are people who believe what gets prophesied this way. I think there’s always been a market for fortune tellers and soothsayers in the society. Now that I’m thinking about it, I believe this is primarily because we want to be told by someone other than us that it will all be alright. Probably, we all want to be placated as we try and wade through the tides of life.
I am of the opinion that the whole thing is hogwash. Fates should not be written: while written, stories can be beautiful, they are essentially bound in that prison. They can only mean just that for the rest of times. (Thus, in the same line of thought, a dictionary is one of the worst prisons for words ever created). There are lots of way I think the fates work, one of them is this. Out there somewhere, is an ocean of thoughts. All thoughts that can be head, are thus, random sips of that same ocean. All we do in living is drink at random from this sea of occurrences, that puts us onto the paths that gets one to the forked roads where we get to decide which path to take.
Thus, all a man is, are his circumstances and his choices.
The poem this time is not as heady as the write up here. I heard it on the radio, and wrote it down. I cannot seem to find the poet for this one, so if anybody knows let me know. The poet takes about an incident, and I love the portrayal of that incident. It changed everything for him, as he later tells. Maybe they crossed while walking, and exchanged a glance. What I like about this poem is the emotion that he manages to carry in a small incident. Probably tells me there’s still hope. But who am I kidding here? Hope you enjoy. | https://medium.com/translating-looks-and-glances/fate-coincidence-and-whatnot-2664bbbbfd5c | ['Marm Dixit'] | 2017-03-18 23:19:53.121000+00:00 | ['Destiny', 'Fate', 'Writing', 'Translation', 'Poetry'] |
What Makes Us Great Could Also Make Us Fragile | Or, what makes us fragile could also make us great.
By Alejandro Alvarez on Unsplash
It can’t be a coincidence that many of the greatest, brightest minds in history have also been the most tortured souls. The exceptionally creative, hyper-intelligent and uniquely gifted are known to fight fierce internal battles and suffer greatly. In fact, studies have found that those in creative professions are, on average, 25 percent more likely to carry genetic factors that raise the risk of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, than those who are less creative and more practical. Basically, painters, musicians, writers and dancers were deemed more at risk than farmers, manual laborers and salespeople.
Research also shows a link between mental health issues and intelligence. Findings include data that supports bipolar disorder may be four times as common among young adults who earned straight A’s in school. The strongest correlation was found among students who excelled in music and language, which unsurprisingly references the more creative intelligent thinkers.
My single gripe with the above theory would be that grades are not always reflective of intellect. There are too many variables in play here, such as the quality of education, teaching methods and different learning styles. Also, super smart people are known to get bored with school and have difficulty being motivated to apply themselves. Thus, a person could get poor grades simply because they aren’t trying, but actually know the material better than most.
A similar study addresses this, and found an incredibly high correlation between exceptional arithmetic IQs and those who later received a bipolar diagnosis. The test not only measured skill, but the ability to rapidly process information.
However the connection is established, there certainly appears to be one as some of our most renowned achievers have been plagued by mental health conditions. A pantheon of artists, writers and famous individuals have suffered from clinical depression, schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder.
This begs the question, could the thing that separates the average and the extraordinary also contribute to psychological unrest?
Ironically, or not, the ability of highly intelligent people to rapidly process information signifies a tendency to experience a state of mania. Similarly, the element of eccentricity that makes a person highly creative is also believed to be what contributes to their debilitating illness. Their imaginative, innovative thought process is actually considered to be fueled by the battles waged within between the artist and his or her demons. More telling, is that the artists themselves usually consider this to be the case as well, believing they would not be as formidable at their crafts as they are without their conditions and an ability to teeter on the border of insanity.
Kanye West is our current example of a tortured genius. Whether you enjoy his music, like his clothes, or not — you can’t really argue that he is a creative mastermind. Kanye continuously innovates in both fields. He’s also admitted to contemplating suicide, and believes that being bipolar makes him a superhero.
Ludwig van Beethoven is considered to have broken the mold as it pertains to classical music. His manic episodes seemed to power his creativity as he wrote his most famous works during times of inner turmoil and psychotic delusions.
The list of great minds who faced great instability goes on and on.
Iconic painter Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide at age 37. Prior to this, he experienced depressive states accompanied by manic episodes and exorbitant passion.
Fashion Designer Kate Spade is another more recent example. She also took her own life, after years of anxiety and depression.
All of the aforementioned and many others that suffer from mental illness are also reported to struggle with substance abuse, usually in an effort to self-medicate. Certainly, the pitfalls attached to fame, especially with current celebrities, are a contributing factor to one or the other, perhaps both.
Not all scientists agree with the correlation between craft and what is often irresponsibly deemed “crazy.” Though, much of the discord can be attributed to the difficulty of defining the abstract concept of creativity. Creative people think outside of the norm. Thus, even without a medical diagnosis they are often labelled strange.
Does the suffering lead to the disorder? Or is it the end-result? I’m no psychologist, so I’ll leave the answers to such questions to someone more qualified and well-versed in the subject.
I do, however, consider myself a creative. I’m also very empathetic. So much so that I’ve learned that I have to protect myself from an overload of negative stimuli. Yet, it is this empathy that I feel has nurtured my ability to positively connect with others, especially through written word.
Obviously, there are plenty of ordinary people who suffer from mental illness. And plenty of creatives, prodigies and overachievers who do not. Nonetheless, the slew of great thinkers and creators who have battled such conditions serve to accentuate the ways in which our greatest strength could also be our greatest weakness. | https://acamea.medium.com/what-makes-us-great-could-also-make-us-fragile-26622e429635 | ['Acamea Deadwiler'] | 2018-11-02 06:41:03.085000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Celebrity', 'Achievement', 'Mental Health', 'Bipolar'] |
Failure as Your Path to Resilience | Failure as Your Path to Resilience
Lessons from positive psychology
This is not a feel-good story about how good failure is and how it sets you up for success. Or how successful entrepreneurs succeeded because they first failed many times.
That is simply not true; these are lies by people trying to arbitrarily identify the magic formula for success. The truth is that there is no such formula. How will failure make you learn how to succeed? There are a million ways to fail, but just a few to succeed.
No, this is an article about how to learn from failure and to develop coping mechanisms to deal with it. This post is about resilience. It’s one of the superpowers that sets you up for greatness.
Success is not what it seems
Failure is the antithesis of success. But what is success? Because we need to understand success before we know what failure is. Too often, we mix this up with what our consumption-obsessed society defines as success. A good paying job, a large house and other status symbols make you seem successful.
These symbols do not necessarily represent success, however. Our misconception that money equals success shows in an overall decline in happiness ratings: in the mid-1980s, 61 percent of working Americans reported they were satisfied with their jobs, compared to a mere 43 percent by 2010.
Success is instead about a sense of accomplishment and meaning. We will only get a sense of accomplishment when we have to work hard for something. It is about the struggle, and it is about making a meaningful contribution to others.
Earning more and more money, it appears, does not motivate us. Money is a precondition, but once we make enough money, it stops driving us. Therefore, we need to do the work that we love for a cause that we find worthy. It is about intrinsic motivation.
Failure, therefore, is very personal as each person is motivated by different work and rewards. However, most of us start with a twisted sense of what failure is. Is this when you get fired from your job? Or when you don’t get hired in the first place? Or are we failing when we’re making less than 50k per year?
To be sure about this, we first need to be clear about what we want in life. “Failing” in your early twenties, by not landing a steady and well-paying job, for instance, might be the very thing to force you to explore your interests and strengths.
And you’ll likely develop coping mechanisms that will make you more resilient later on in life. Take the story of the Pulitzer price winning journalist Charles Duhig, for instance:
Some of my classmates thought I was making a huge mistake by ignoring all the doors H.B.S. had opened for me in high finance and Silicon Valley. What they didn’t know was that those doors, in fact, had stayed shut — and that as a result, I was saved from the temptation of easy riches. I’ve been thankful ever since, grateful that my bad luck made it easier to choose a profession that I’ve loved.
And then you have people who seem wildly successful. To the outside world at least. Take the bankers with seven-digit incomes. A lot of them are wealthy and “successful”, but they’re doing work that they hate. Some people have a lot going for them. But they will hit a wall later in life, realizing that money alone is not the answer. As Jim Carrey famously said:
I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.
Late bloomers have a rough start. This can have two significant advantages, however. First of all, failure early on forces you to rethink what you find important and where your calling lies. You’ll find your calling on the intersection of your interests with your innate talent.
Second, failure forces you to rethink what your strengths are. Together, this will make you more resilient. You will not obtain success, however, by failure alone. You have to explore your talents and flourish by utilizing them purposefully. This is where positive psychology comes in.
Resilience and positive psychology
Positive psychology is a relatively new part of the social sciences and deals with mental wellbeing. This as opposed to traditional psychology, which primarily focuses on mental illnesses.
But let’s say the “patient” is cured of this mental illness. That does not necessarily mean that he/she will happy, but only not unhappy. Positive psychology takes another approach, though.
This stream of research primarily offers two ways to make you more resilient, which are to start working with your signature strengths and to develop coping mechanisms. It is the science of human flourishing.
Exploring and working with your signature strengths
Especially after a big failure, you should assess which character strengths come most naturally to you. You should use your signature strengths to your advantage by picking jobs and tasks you usually excel at.
This kind of test is called a “VIA — Values in Action inventory — strength finder”. I completed the test, and my top 4 strengths are honesty, judgment, self-regulation, and bravery. Other strengths that you can assess with this test are, for example, humor, kindness, perseverance, and creativity. Research shows that once we’ve identified our signature strengths, we need to apply at least four of those in our work to find lasting happiness and gratification.
Developing coping mechanisms
There are many coping mechanisms that you can use to reframe situations more realistically and to give you a more positive outlook on life. One example is to write down three positive things that happened to you during the day before you go to sleep. This is a straightforward exercise, but it has been shown that this will make you happier in just a few weeks.
Another example is the ABCDE method. With this method, you create a diary of sorts whenever something bad happened to you. It is a structured approach in which you reframe the adversity you went through. The letters in ABCDE all stand for a separate step in this process:
A stands for adversity. Here you write down what happened to you. In this step, you objectively describe what happened. You create some distance from the situation by doing this.
B stands for beliefs. What were your automatic thoughts when the adversity happened? Write these down along with your emotions and physical sensations.
C stands for the consequences of the beliefs. How did you behave after what happened? Did you start a fight? Did you start worrying?
D stands for disputation. In this step, you actively reframe your beliefs to something more optimistic and realistic. Usually, we think of all de worst-case scenarios which are not likely to happen.
E stands for energization. By reframing, you should also think of a realistic course of action you should take. When I complete this step, I often even conclude that I don’t have to do anything except to stop worrying. You write down your new beliefs here and the new feeling or the way you want to feel.
Both topics have been shown to have positive effects on people’s mental health. Next to this, positive psychology offers a lot more tools for developing resilience, each of which deserves a separate post. I advise you to learn more about positive psychology and resilience if you’re interested in the topic.
Why late bloomers have an edge
Late bloomers have an advantage over others who succeed early on but fail later. They develop resilience and can bounce back more quickly, as they’ve already developed coping mechanisms to deal with adversity. Early disappointments force compromise and make you think about your key strengths.
Therefore, late bloomers will navigate the challenges of life more easily than others. Fortunately, it is never too late to learn resilience at a later age. In the end, you should always choose to invest in yourself by developing resilience, no matter what your age is. There are many tools out there, and you only have to look for them and put them to good use. | https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/failure-as-your-path-to-resilience-80fb747221c6 | ['Martin Van Duyse'] | 2020-02-09 13:01:01.165000+00:00 | ['Resilience', 'Success', 'Psychology', 'Positive Thinking', 'Positive Psychology'] |
Gear Up for Remote Work | Last Updated: December 2020
Setting up your remote work space can be daunting. You’ll be confronted with dozens of purchasing decisions, and you may feel like you need to do a lot of research. I build and advise remote development teams as part of my regular work, and have been doing so since 2014. I’ve looked at all the microphones and headsets, furniture, and accessories, so you can gear up quickly and get right to work.
Here are my current recommendations.
Note: Purchase using these links to support more great, free content.
A Fast Computer
Remote software development is CPU and memory intensive. You’ll often be recording and transcoding video clips, screen sharing or video chatting while compiling and interacting with a web browser.
Lots of computers will struggle with those demands. You’ll start an npm install and the video will drop frames. Grab at least 16 GB of RAM for best results. 32 GB is better. A current MacBook Pro will do a great job.
I recently purchased the 16" 8-core i9. It’s a great machine. It’s lighter, smaller, and still manages to pack an extra inch of screen real-estate into the compact package. I love the new keyboard, touch bar, and touch ID, and I don’t miss the old function keys. Apple recently announced the new M1 laptops.
New MacBooks only have USB-C compatible Thunderbolt 3 ports. You’ll probably need to connect to USB 3, HDMI, and memory cards. You can get a connector hub that has all of those built-in.
External Keyboard, Trackpad, Mouse
Ideally, you’ll want to mount your laptop on a high stand to bring your screen and video camera up to eye level. Doing so will make you more comfortable, allow you to easily adjust your camera for video conferencing, and probably improve your health, but it will also put the built-in keyboard and trackpad out of easy reach.
In my opinion, nothing beats the Apple Magic Keyboard and Apple Magic Trackpad for productivity. Syncing is easy. There are no battery replacements to worry about. Plug them in with the included cable, and you can charge them while you work.
If you plan to do any gaming to relax when you’re not working, you’ll want a real mouse. Trackpads just won’t do it. The best mice out there are designed for gamers. Check out the Logitech G Pro Wireless.
A Good Microphone
A built-in mic is OK, but it’s not ideal for video chats. First, it’s too close to the speakers, so if the speakers are too loud, it will pick up your coworker’s voices and echo back to them, which can be very distracting. Second, it’s not very good at rejecting sound that’s farther away, so it’ll pick up all the background noise.
If you want your coworkers to really hear you clearly, pick up a better external mic. Choose a dynamic mic rather than a condenser mic. You need to speak directly into a dynamic mic for it to pick up the sound well. That’s a good thing, because it automatically filters out most of the background noise.
I’ve tried a whole lot of mics over the years, and I keep circling back to the Shure Beta 58A. This is a professional mic commonly used by professional musicians on stage, which means it’s not a USB mic. That’s OK.
You’ll need a USB audio interface. My favorite is the Scarlet 2i2. While you’re at it, pick up an adjustable boom stand for the mic. There are good ones that clamp to your desk.
A Good Monitor
The MacBook Pro monitor is great, but even a 16" monitor is a bit small. While I’m coding, I usually have a browser and terminal on one screen, and an IDE on the other. Having plenty of screen real-estate can help you be up to 20% more productive. It’s worth splurging on a nice ultra wide. While you’re at it, pick up a desk mountable, adjustable stand. My favorite is the VARIDESK Vari Monitor arm + Laptop Stand.
Headphones
If your surroundings are loud, first, remember your coworkers and mute yourself when you’re not talking. Second, you may want to block out the noise for yourself. A pair of comfortable, over-ear, closed-back headphones might come in handy. It’s hard to do better than the Beyerdynamic DT 1770 Pro.
If you are in a particularly noisy environment you may want to get some cans with active noise canceling. Many of those also offer wireless connectivity. The Sennheiser Momentum 3 offers best-in-class sound and a more natural sound signature helps you avoid ear fatigue. It also offers a transparent mode so you can have conversations or hear your surroundings without taking them off.
Sometimes you might want to tune into a meeting without looking like you’re hiding in some gigantic over-ear headphones. Sennheiser has you covered with the Momentum True Wireless Earbuds. I find these far more comfortable than the ubiquitous Apple AirPods. Despite their popularity, AirPods don’t comfortably fit all ears, don’t offer different size or ear shape options, and can’t hold a candle to Sennheiser on comfort or sound quality.
If you don’t need the noise isolation, the AKG K 701 will let your ears breathe and offer more transparent, detailed, expansive sound than any of the other options here. If you’re looking for the best sound quality to enjoy some great sounding music while you work, with great comfort and build quality, these are the ones to buy.
Sick of headphones? Check out the Beats Pill+ bluetooth speaker. It’s hard to believe such great sound can come out of such a small package. Compact, loud, and plenty of punch.
Lights
For best results, you don’t want a big window with bright sunlight directly behind you. Your indoor lighting won’t be able to compete with the sun, and your face will be lost in shadow on your video calls. Instead, you want good illumination. I used to use a pair of brightness and color adjustable LED panel desk lamps which I set up on the left and right sides of my desk. Now I use desk mountable LED panels to free up desk space.
The panels are bigger, which makes it possible to position them a little further away and retain the softness. They also get brighter than the lamps, so they can more easily compete with and overpower a bright background, like a window.
Many people make the mistake of skipping the lights. Don’t make that mistake. Good lighting is an inexpensive way to dramatically improve the experience of video calls. Even an inexpensive lamp can make a dramatic difference.
A Good Chair
You’re going to spend a lot of time sitting. You need a good chair. My favorite is the Herman Miller Aeron chair. I would say it’s the Rolls-Royce of office chairs, but it’s not about luxury. It’s about posture, comfort, and health. A cheap chair could lead to far more expensive back trouble. Besides, it looks a lot more professional than a gaming chair.
A Good Desk
You’ll want a desk with space for a dual monitor. Bonus: The ability to sit or stand. We love a good height adjustable standing desk. If you’re standing up a lot, you’ll want an anti-fatigue standing mat. | https://medium.com/javascript-scene/gear-up-for-remote-work-d93cf61300f | ['Eric Elliott'] | 2020-12-16 03:54:45.173000+00:00 | ['Remote Work', 'Covid 19', 'Gadgets', 'Technology', 'Coronavirus'] |
8 Awesome Designs from Last Week — Week Six | This is a weekly series where I share some awesome design work from the seven days. The work you see here wont just be the popular big designers but the small guys as well.
This list is curated by me, Alex Brown, a freelance developer and creator of Snackify and Photo Ipsum.
by Bart Ebbekink
by Aman Singh
by Lukas Svarc for Norde
by Britton Stipetic
by Cody Pearson
by Zhenya Rynzhuk
by McLane Teitel for Squarespace
by David TJ Powell
My Weekly Shot
by Alex Brown
Thanks for reading!
Which one was your favorite?
Props to all of the creators work featured here. You did some awesome work this week! If you liked their work make sure to show them some love.
Do you have a submission for next week? Reach out to me on Instagram! | https://medium.com/techtrument/8-awesome-designs-from-last-week-week-six-14dd3ac13d70 | ['Alex Brown'] | 2018-02-08 16:37:11.180000+00:00 | ['App Design', 'UI', 'Web Design', 'Inspiration', 'Design'] |
Design better data tables | Why Tables Matter
Data is becoming the raw material of the global economy. The pursuit of data drives the reinvention of antiquated industries. Energy, media, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, retail, finance, and even the government are undergoing a digital transformation.
However, data is meaningless without the ability to visualize and act upon it. The companies that survive the next decade will not only have superior data; they will have a superior user experience.
Good user interface design is based on human goals and behavior. The user interface in-turn affects behavior, which drives further design decisions. In subtle and unconscious ways, user experience alters how humans make decisions. What is seen, where it is presented, and how interactions are afforded, influence actions. It is important we make design decisions that lead to a better world, one data table design at a time. | https://medium.com/nextux/design-better-data-tables-4ecc99d23356 | ['Andrew Coyle'] | 2020-07-29 04:57:41.723000+00:00 | ['UI', 'Data Science', 'Product Design', 'UX', 'Design'] |
Leveraging the “Final Vocabulary” of your Users | Most product managers have been in this position at some point. Maybe we thought we understood the problem we were solving, but as time passes the issues just keep multiplying. It’s a mess, but I think it stems from something deeper. We have never really been taught how to understand the problems of the users we are trying to help
You can have the world’s best engineering team, but without understanding a user’s world view, you have nothing worthwhile to build.
I’ve been pondering this subject a lot recently, and think I have some ideas that can help. By the end of this article, I hope to provide you with the mental tools for thinking about user problems that I believe will not only improve our chances for building more successful products but also becoming better people in the process.
Product management or Product Translator?
In many ways, the job of a product manager is the job of a translator. The language our user speaks may be the same as ours, but understanding how they express that language it is where the critical details lie.
In many ways, we are trying to learn this language while educating others (engineers, designers, etc.) on how to speak and use it. This is demanding of us at the best of times, so its understandable we unintentionally take ‘mental shortcuts’ to get the job done.
These shortcuts take the form of a personal filter we use to navigate the complicated world around us. Usually, this filter helps us function and form decisive action, but it’s also a curse — limiting our ability to understand and empathise with others.
“But I’m not like that?” I hear you cry. Nobody thinks they could be so polarised in thought as to lose sight of the bigger picture. But often we are so focused on solving the most complex issues head-on, we miss a deeper understanding of the simple problems.
The ‘Final Vocabulary’ of the product manager
I have started to rethink how honestly non-biased I am when speaking with any given person. What are the components that make up my biases? The American philosopher Richard Rorty provides a toolset of sorts for understanding this, one central idea he described is an individual’s Final Vocabulary’.
Everyone has a final vocabulary. It’s the set of words we use to understand the world around us and our place within it. It’s called ‘final’ because the things that make it up are often, very final.
People (like you and I) can reach a stage of life where we believe our view is sufficiently developed that no further effort is required. We have all the stories, narratives, metaphors and discourses we need to justify our actions and thinking (thank you very much).
Given enough time and skill to argue for your world view, you would be hard-pressed to agree that anyone else’s world view is better than yours. And here, is where we arrive at the challenge of understanding others.
Understanding the user and building the real product
How can we understand a user’s problem if we can only describe it from our own perspective? What information are we missing? What pain points are hidden?
This ‘final vocabulary’ of ours shapes our speech and behaviour. Our language is the functional limit, and in turn, forces us to limit our thinking. Understanding this is the key to overcoming these limitations.
We essentially need to go into every interaction with an acceptance that our final vocabulary is as fallible as anyone else’s. At any time we might need to rethink and update it.
For a product manager, this can be counter-intuitive. We are actively rewarded for decisive decision making, which is an exercise in reason. But breaking out of our final vocabulary requires us to expand our imagination.
If we want a better understanding of our user’s, it’s a talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well that will help us innovate. It enables us to describe and think differently about the problems we encounter.
How do I change my ’Final Vocabulary’?
Let’s start at the beginning. Everything you were taught on how to treat your intellectual development, was wrong.
Plato’s allegory ‘The Cave’ is an excellent place to start. You know the one. We spend our whole lives watching an imitation of life with its shadows projected on the wall, and the truth of the world is only revealed when we step out into the light.
In much the same way, we are taught that only after we have studied, fraught, argued, worked or read a thousand books will we have finally done the ‘work’ for the truth of the world to be revealed to us. In this process, Rorty argues we are not finding the truth of existence, but rather are just making our final vocabulary.
Our development should not be seen as a linear goal to the truth, because when it comes to humans, there is never a single truth. Your view was still created by you, a human being and ultimately is as fallible as anyone else’s.
Understanding this is the challenge we need to overcome.
Applications in the product lifecycle
So what I a good test for demonstrating an understanding of the problem? Well, written, user stories.
I’ve learned that when I write these stories, I’m trying to do so from the user’s perspective. When I can’t, I know there is a problem. A limitation in my view and understanding. My preferred story structure is the Role — Feature — Reason format, also known as the Connextra format:
As a role I can capability, so that receive benefit
Another version of writing a user story:
As a particular user, I want to be able to perform/do something so that I get some form of value or benefit.
Think about it. As product managers we are effectively translating a given set of user stories to a range of audiences all the time: pitching to managers, collaborating with UX, quantifying with analytics, transcribing into user stories for engineers etc. Performing this task well not only requires us to understand the vocabulary of our user’s, but also our stakeholders.
A user story should give your team a different perspective that helps them understand the intricacies of what’s needed to ship quality features. They effectively grow your teams ‘final vocabulary’, and a shared ‘final vocabulary’ will form the base of better collaboration and problem-solving. | https://uxdesign.cc/how-product-managers-should-understand-users-4ed139e575b6 | ['Adrian H. Raudaschl'] | 2020-10-31 20:36:17.535000+00:00 | ['Product Management', 'Management', 'User Experience', 'Design', 'Work'] |
How to give support | There was a time when I thought the only way to support my friends was to give them advice. Then Rahul Guttal blew my mind when he hosted a workshop on the subject. I’ll share what I learned there and a bonus that changed how I interact with myself and friends in need.
Types of support
Rahul introduced the five love languages:
receiving gifts quality time words of affirmation acts of service (devotion) physical touch
Often miscommunication or lack of appreciation comes from someone needing support in one language and receiving it in another. For example, maybe I had a bad day and want a hug, but you’re giving me advice. Or maybe you know I like words of affirmation, but you’re having trouble affirming me in a way that feels authentic to me.
Some people may have trouble identifying their love languages, or maybe it changes on a day to day basis. Maybe you think of yourself as someone who’s intrinsically motivated, so words of affirmation rub you the wrong way: “I don’t need you to tell me I’m smart!” Maybe you dislike materialism, so gift giving and receiving is difficult for you. Maybe your culture eschews physical touch, but it’s what you want and you feel you can’t tell your friends.
My only concern with this taxonomy is where advice fits in. Is it an act of service? Is it quality time? But advice vs just listening vs going into the world and trying to actually solve someone’s problems feel so different. I might add advice as a sixth category and limit quality time to anything less normative than advice giving.
Ask for what you need
Find a partner Describe something you’re struggling with Partner asks “How can I support you?” Ask for the kind of support you want in this moment Partner gives the requested support
In practice this can be difficult because we don’t always know what kind of support we need. That’s ok! Try a few if it feels like something isn’t working.
Redirect
Describe something you’re struggling with Partner starts giving support of the type of their choice Wait for them to pause, then say for example, “I appreciate your offer to wash my dishes for me, but what I really need right now is a hug.” Partner gives the requested support
This may feel artificial in the context of the exercise, but it’s really important to exercise the redirection muscle when the stakes are low. Then when we’re emotionally distraught, we’ll be ready to ask for what we need.
Self support
Partner only listens as you describe
What you’re struggling with Why it’s hard and why it’s okay that you’re struggling What progress you’ve already made
The fascinating thing about this exercise is that people can be surprisingly mean to themselves in their own internal monologues, but they’d never say those things to someone else. When you speak out loud about yourself in the presence of a good listener, that same mental benevolence and filtering that usually applies to other-directed speech turns on for yourself. I find the same is true when I’m journaling, so I’ll often use the above technique in my own writing when I’m self criticizing.
Listening and reflection
This exercise is from Search Inside Yourself and formed the basis of my active listening experiment.
Talk about anything you want for 5 minutes. Partner listens and can’t say anything. Partner attempts to summarize and reflect back in ~30 seconds. This can include nonverbal communication such as “You felt horrible about this,” eg., from their tone of voice, facial expression, or body language. Try to avoid repeating anything verbatim. You correct any miscommunication or inaccuracy from #2. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until everyone agrees.
I like this exercise because it’s rare that we’re 100% focused on listening to someone rather than searching for moments to insert our own experiences into someone’s narrative or drilling into parts of the story that are irrelevant from the speaker’s standpoint.
You can trigger this exercise in the wild any time! When someone recounts an emotionally charged monologue, you can say, “I want to make sure I understand you. Here’s what I heard.” Or when you’ve dumped something heavy on someone, you can ask, “I want to make sure I said things the way I meant to. Can you summarize what you heard for me?” | https://8enmann.medium.com/how-to-give-support-98707d5742c | ['Ben Mann'] | 2018-10-09 16:56:32.680000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Mental Health', 'Support', 'Communication', 'Therapy'] |
Green Technology Gifts | Give and receive the gift of green this holiday season. Green — by its 21st-century definition- is good.
We Americans are going green. Some say we’ve reached the point of no return. Like the “ecology” movement of the 70’s and the technology boom of the 90’s, the “green” movement is forging ahead. There is no longer a typical demographic to define the green consumer. Everyone gets in the game. Women primarily purchase green products for themselves and for their men. Children influence their parent’s purchasing decisions.
Adults buy from businesses that stock their shelves with renewable consumer products. According to a 2005 UK report, three in 10 Americans are classified as green consumers, bringing $225 billion to the marketplace. That’s good news for you and me. Finding and selecting a green technology gift is easier than ever.
Renewable Energy
Consider solar power, wind and water, and give gifts that take advantage of the renewable resources of the earth. Solar-powered gifts are available for all budgets. No, I’m not suggesting you give a windmill to your husband for Christmas, or dig a well. But consider battery chargers and bike lamps; spa heaters and solar trailers. Solar-powered gifts now meet consumer demand for price and availability. Portable water purifiers that make dirty water drinkable are great gifts for the outdoorsman or -woman.
Now, there are many high-quality gifts made from renewable materials. Wood and cotton are renewable because they are continuously harvested and replanted. Find a gift that incorporates both of these renewable materials and environmentally-friendly packaging, and you have hit the trifecta of green technology gift-giving. Consider Timber Sound LLC. They make Thinksound headphones using real wood from renewable forests, a cotton carrying pouch and PVC-free cables. The company uses bleach-free packaging and has eliminated unnecessary plastic bubble inserts.
Don’t think that a green gift has to be a cheap trinket or toy made from inferior products. Computers, cell phones and other high-tech electronics can make great green gifts. Some stereo speakers, boom boxes and even computers are now encased in recycled cardboard instead of plastic and incorporate a high amount of other recycled material in their design. Samsung’s Reclaim cell phone is manufactured from 80 percent recycled materials and Sony’s GreenHeart Elm received top honors in 2010 with a ranking of 4.3 out of 5 on green standard credentials.
Kids learn while they play with toys. Start early with your kids, teaching them about green technology by giving them a gift that simulates life in an environmentally-friendly community. PlanToys has Eco Town, an interactive play mat for kids age 3 years and older. They build streets for electric cars, bicycle trails and walking paths, and an eco-train station. It introduces children to clean energy sources by giving them a choice about where they place charging stations, parks and ponds.
So there is some food for thought. Don’t be afraid to be a bit discerning this holiday season and shop stores that are incorporating this burgeoning industry into their product mix. | https://medium.com/chuck-douros/green-technology-gifts-2dcbba99323e | ['Chuck J Douros'] | 2018-01-02 16:32:06.429000+00:00 | ['Web Content', 'Solar Energy', 'Ehow', 'Recycling', 'Renewable Energy'] |
Senior Designer isn’t a dead end. New Year’s resolutions: 3 paths of development for experienced designers | Interdisciplinarity is the key. Start expanding your hard skills. The analysis* of job offers clearly indicated that majority of companies seek persons who possess knowledge in a few related fields. It’s great that you’re an UI designer, but it’s even better if you’re able to do flow and wireframes (UI/UX Designer) or to encrypt what you have drawn (UI/Font).
And this is the way it looks once specific numbers are taken into account. Out of 30 job offers:
only 4 were aimed at UI Designer
were aimed at UI Designer and as many as 50% included skills from multiple fields in the requirements or as skills otherwise welcome
included skills from multiple fields in the requirements or as skills otherwise welcome in 5 cases UI Designers were expected to do research and front end development.
Comments:
*I analysed requirements candidates had to meet to be able to apply for the job rather than the name of the very position which has often been imprecise.
**I analysed 30 newest job offers from Dribbble Jobs.
Vu Hoang Anh, Avocode CEO, during the last Encounters Design conference (devoted to interaction between designers and developers) admitted that startups don’t have the liberty of employing specialists from very narrow fields because they cannot afford it.
If you know more skills than just creating pixels then you definitely have better position on your market. But always if you know UX/UI and you know marketing and stuff, you will be in a leadership position (…). If you in a small start-up, you can’t really have more people so you really should hire someone who has experience with UI, UX, coding and maybe even marketing. (…) This is why I think it’s important to know a lot of things. - Vu Hoang Anh
Persons with knowledge in a few related fields are much more valued. As a matter of fact, teams look like this in startups. The UI Designer position appears very rarely. The positions of UI/UX Designer or UI/Front End Developer appear much more often.
On the flipside, according to David Cancel, Drift CEO, the ideal way in which teams should work doesn’t involve distinguishing between different specializations in the field of design. Design is treated as a whole.
The market itself values interdisciplinarity much higher. According to the infographics prepared by Dashburst, persons with the minimum of 2 skills e.g. UI/UX Designers or UI/UX Developers, earned on average about 10 k more than UI (Visual) Designers annually.
Combining the knowledge in a few fields (including Design Thinking and Service Design) and having a flair for leading the field, you can have a go at being a Product Owner. Apart from technical skills, it’s very important to feel comfortable while initiating and participating in small talk. These seemingly trivial things have a significant influence on the bond you will create with a customer. And good relations can help you in case of a fuckup or two.
Ready to be the captain of the ship? | https://medium.com/elpassion/senior-designer-isnt-a-dead-end-896d0bd08a92 | ['Michał Ptaszyński'] | 2016-12-28 07:12:16.627000+00:00 | ['Product Owner', 'Product Design', 'Career', 'Design', 'UI Design'] |
If You Can’t Motivate Yourself to Accomplish Basic Tasks, You’re Not Alone | If there’s been any resounding sentiment on the internet over the past few weeks, it’s this: Functioning at optimal levels of productivity simply isn’t a reasonable expectation right now.
This is true. However, it ignores the fact that many of us lacked motivation before the pandemic — and our current reality has only exacerbated that.
If the simplest tasks feel overwhelming right now, don’t worry.
It’s not just you. It’s everyone.
It’s also a solvable problem — but solving it requires a few mindset shifts.
If you’re someone who finds very little motivation in completing mundane daily tasks that are at once seemingly insignificant and tremendously important to your sense of sanity, read on.
Stop overloading
If you find it hard to complete seemingly simple tasks throughout the day, your issue is probably not that you’re doing too little, but that you’re trying to do too much.
No, you probably won’t cook three complicated meals, dress in your best outfit, keep the house immaculate, parent, work, keep up with social media, and listen to a podcast all in one day. You could, but most people don’t, because most people don’t want to.
The internet has inflated our sense of “normal” to a deeply unhealthy degree. We think everyone is performing at max capacity each day, and while it certainly motivates us to improve in some ways, this disconnect holds us back in the end.
It’s okay to eat simple meals.
It’s okay to wear simple clothes.
It’s okay if you didn’t knock out a ton of work.
It’s okay if you weren’t a perfect parent.
It’s okay if there are dishes in your sink right now.
This doesn’t make you a failure. It doesn’t mean you lack motivation or willpower. It means you are a human being doing the best they can to manage the limited energy they have in a day — and you’re doing pretty well at that, too.
Create systems
All of that said, when you do care about accomplishing something, you must create systems. Systems are rituals and routines that incorporate your desired actions and contribute to your long-term goals.
This can look like always taking your vitamins when you wake up, tending to a skin care routine (even a simple one) at the same time each day, drinking your cup of coffee in the morning, doing a 10-minute tidy before you go to bed, reading in the evening, or taking a break to walk around the neighborhood at 3:00 p.m.
Once you establish your system, you’ll adapt to it pretty quickly — that’s the whole point.
Decide on your top priority each day, and then create a routine to get it done. That’s the secret highly productive people don’t tell you: You must get yourself on autopilot.
Stop trying to care about everything
One secret of self-sabotage is that, sometimes, the things we resist doing are things we never wanted to do in the first place. We’ve simply allowed society or peers or insecurity to pressure us into thinking we must accomplish them.
Most people don’t care to have a perfect Instagram feed, gourmet meals, perfect ensembles, Friday night plans with posh friends, a high-paying job, a sports car, and a six-pack.
Maybe you laughed while you were reading that list — and you should.
Most people don’t have these things not because they aren’t capable of attaining them, but because they don’t care.
An internal battle begins when your head tells you something might be ideal, but your heart knows your priorities are elsewhere.
You need to give yourself permission to care about what you care about and let go of everything else. You do not need to master every aspect of your life; you just have to get to a place where you are sincerely content. No other opinions matter.
Find your own motivation
Low motivation can be a sign that you’re performing for someone else.
Human beings are naturally highly motivated to accomplish whatever it is they genuinely want to. (We’re less motivated to accomplish what other people want us to do.) So, to motivate yourself to accomplish simple tasks, focus on what you get out of them, as opposed to how your work might be perceived.
For example, focus on how relaxed you will feel when your space is clean; focus on how good it will taste to eat a meal you really like; focus on how nice it will feel to wear what you really want.
When you shift your focus back to what you will gain — instead of what other people will think — you’ll easily find yourself doing more. | https://humanparts.medium.com/cant-motivate-yourself-to-accomplish-seemingly-simple-tasks-you-re-not-alone-55f2596f0f7e | ['Brianna Wiest'] | 2020-05-12 20:13:01.199000+00:00 | ['Personal Growth', 'Self', 'Productivity', 'Life Lessons', 'Inspiration'] |
Installing Apache Hive 3.1.2 on Windows 10 | Installing Apache Hive 3.1.2 on Windows 10
A step-by-step guide to install Apache Hive 3.1.2 on Windows 10 operating system
While working on a project, we were asked to install Apache Hive on a Windows 10 operating system. Many guides were found online but unfortunately, they didn’t work. For this reason, I decided to write a step-by-step guide to help others.
The starting point of this guide was from a great video I found on Youtube which provides a working scenario for Hive 2.x without much detail.
1. Prerequisites
1.1. 7zip
In order to extract tar.gz archives, you should install the 7zip tool.
1.2. Installing Hadoop
To install Apache Hive, you must have a Hadoop Cluster installed and running: You can refer to our previously published step-by-step guide to install Hadoop 3.2.1 on Windows 10.
1.3. Apache Derby
In addition, Apache Hive requires a relational database to create its Metastore (where all metadata will be stored). In this guide, we will use the Apache Derby database 4.
Since we have Java 8 installed, we must install Apache Derby 10.14.2.0 version (check downloads page) which can be downloaded from the following link.
Once downloaded, we must extract twice (using 7zip: the first time we extract the .tar.gz file, the second time we extract the .tar file) the content of the db-derby-10.14.2.0-bin.tar.gz archive into the desired installation directory. Since in the previous guide we have installed Hadoop within “E:\hadoop-env\hadoop-3.2.1\” directory, we will extract Derby into “E:\hadoop-env\db-derby-10.14.2.0\” directory.
1.4. Cygwin
Since there are some Hive 3.1.2 tools that aren’t compatible with Windows (such as schematool). We will need the Cygwin tool to run some Linux commands.
2. Downloading Apache Hive binaries
In order to download Apache Hive binaries, you should go to the following website: https://downloads.apache.org/hive/hive-3.1.2/. Then, download the apache-hive-3.1.2.-bin.tar.gz file.
Figure 1 — apache-hive.3.1.2-bin.tar.gz file
When the file download is complete, we should extract twice (as mentioned above) the apache-hive.3.1.2-bin.tar.gz archive into “E:\hadoop-env\apache-hive-3.1.2” directory (Since we decided to use E:\hadoop-env\” as the installation directory for all technologies used in the previous guide.
3. Setting environment variables
After extracting Derby and Hive archives, we should go to Control Panel > System and Security > System. Then Click on “Advanced system settings”.
Figure 2 — Advanced system settings
In the advanced system settings dialog, click on “Environment variables” button.
Figure 3 — Opening environment variables editor
Now we should add the following user variables:
Figure 4 — Adding User variables
HIVE_HOME: “E:\hadoop-env\apache-hive-3.1.2\”
DERBY_HOME: “E:\hadoop-env\db-derby-10.14.2.0\”
HIVE_LIB: “%HIVE_HOME%\lib”
HIVE_BIN: “%HIVE_HOME%\bin”
HADOOP_USER_CLASSPATH_FIRST: “true”
Figure 5 — Adding HIVE_HOME user variable
Besides, we should add the following system variable:
HADOOP_USER_CLASSPATH_FIRST: “true”
Now, we should edit the Path user variable to add the following paths:
%HIVE_BIN%
%DERBY_HOME%\bin
Figure 6 — Editing path environment variable
4. Configuring Hive
4.1. Copy Derby libraries
Now, we should go to the Derby libraries directory (E:\hadoop-env\db-derby-10.14.2.0\lib) and copy all *.jar files.
Figure 7 — Copy Derby libraries
Then, we should paste them within the Hive libraries directory (E:\hadoop-env\apache-hive-3.1.2\lib).
Figure 8 — Paste Derby libraries within Hive libraries directory
4.2. Configuring hive-site.xml
Now, we should go to the Apache Hive configuration directory (E:\hadoop-env\apache-hive-3.1.2\conf) create a new file “hive-site.xml”. We should paste the following XML code within this file:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="configuration.xsl"?>
<configuration><property> <name>javax.jdo.option.ConnectionURL</name>
<value>jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/metastore_db;create=true</value>
<description>JDBC connect string for a JDBC metastore</description>
</property><property>
<name>javax.jdo.option.ConnectionDriverName</name>
<value>org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDriver</value>
<description>Driver class name for a JDBC metastore</description>
</property>
<property>
<name>hive.server2.enable.doAs</name>
<description>Enable user impersonation for HiveServer2</description>
<value>true</value>
</property>
<property>
<name>hive.server2.authentication</name>
<value>NONE</value>
<description> Client authentication types. NONE: no authentication check LDAP: LDAP/AD based authentication KERBEROS: Kerberos/GSSAPI authentication CUSTOM: Custom authentication provider (Use with property hive.server2.custom.authentication.class) </description>
</property>
<property>
<name>datanucleus.autoCreateTables</name>
<value>True</value>
</property>
</configuration>
5. Starting Services
5.1. Hadoop Services
To start Apache Hive, open the command prompt utility as administrator. Then, start the Hadoop services using start-dfs and start-yarn commands (as illustrated in the Hadoop installation guide).
5.2. Derby Network Server
Then, we should start the Derby network server on the localhost using the following command:
E:\hadoop-env\db-derby-10.14.2.0\bin\StartNetworkServer -h 0.0.0.0
6. Starting Apache Hive
Now, let try to open a command prompt tool and go to the Hive binaries directory (E:\hadoop-env\apache-hive-3.1.2\bin) and execute the following command:
hive
We will receive the following error:
'hive' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
This error is thrown since the Hive 3.x version is not built for Windows (only in some Hive 2.x versions). To get things working, we should download the necessary *.cmd files from the following link: https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/hive/trunk/bin/. Note that, you should keep the folder hierarchy (bin\ext\util).
You can download all *.cmd files from the following GitHub repository
Now if we try to execute the “hive” command, we will receive the following error:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument(ZLjava/lang/String;Ljava/lang/Object;)V
at org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration.set(Configuration.java:1357)
at org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration.set(Configuration.java:1338)
at org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobConf.setJar(JobConf.java:518)
at org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobConf.setJarByClass(JobConf.java:536)
at org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobConf.<init>(JobConf.java:430)
at org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf.initialize(HiveConf.java:5141)
at org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf.<init>(HiveConf.java:5104)
at org.apache.hive.beeline.HiveSchemaTool.<init>(HiveSchemaTool.java:96)
at org.apache.hive.beeline.HiveSchemaTool.main(HiveSchemaTool.java:1473)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.apache.hadoop.util.RunJar.run(RunJar.java:318)
at org.apache.hadoop.util.RunJar.main(RunJar.java:232)
This error is thrown due to a Bug mentioned in the following Hive issue link: HIVE-22718.
As mentioned in the comments, this issue can be solved by replacing the guava-19.0.jar stored in “E:\hadoop-env\apache-hive-3.1.2\lib” with Hadoop’s guava-27.0-jre.jar found in “E:\hadoop-env\hadoop-3.2.1\share\hadoop\hdfs\lib”.
Note: This file is also uploaded to the GitHub repository mentioned above.
Now, if we run hive command again, then Apache Hive will start successfully.
Figure 9 — Starting Apache Hive
7. Initializing Hive
After ensuring that the Apache Hive started successfully. We may not be able to run any HiveQL command. This is because the Metastore is not initialized yet. Besides HiveServer2 service must be running.
To initialize Metastore, we need to use schematool utility which is not compatible with windows. To solve this problem, we will use Cygwin utility which allows executing Linux command from windows.
7.1. Creating symbolic links
First, we need to create the following directories:
E:\cygdrive
C:\cygdrive
Now, open the command prompt as administrator and execute the following commands:
mklink /J E:\cygdrive\e\ E:\
mklink /J C:\cygdrive\c\ C:\
These symbolic links are needed to work with Cygwin utility properly since Java may cause some problems.
7.2. Initializing Hive Metastore
Open Cygwin utility and execute the following commands to define the environment variables:
export HADOOP_HOME='/cygdrive/e/hadoop-env/hadoop-3.2.1'
export PATH=$PATH:$HADOOP_HOME/bin
export HIVE_HOME='/cygdrive/e/hadoop-env/apache-hive-3.1.2'
export PATH=$PATH:$HIVE_HOME/bin
export HADOOP_CLASSPATH=$HADOOP_CLASSPATH:$HIVE_HOME/lib/*.jar
We can add these lines to the “~/.bashrc” file then you don’t need to write them each time you open Cygwin.
Now, we should use the schematool utility to initialize the Metastore:
$HIVE_HOME/bin/schematool -dbType derby -initSchema
7.3. Starting HiveServer2 service
Now, open a command prompt and run the following command:
hive --service hiveserver2 start
We should leave this command prompt open, and open a new one where we should start Apache Hive using the following command:
hive
7.4. Starting WebHCat Service (Optional)
In the project we are working on, we need to execute HiveQL statement from SQL Server Integration Services which can access Hive from the WebHCat server.
To start the WebHCat server, we should open the Cygwin utility and execute the following command:
$HIVE_HOME/hcatalog/sbin/webhcat_server.sh start
8. References | https://towardsdatascience.com/installing-apache-hive-3-1-2-on-windows-10-70669ce79c79 | ['Hadi Fadlallah'] | 2020-05-05 21:12:06.967000+00:00 | ['Hadoop 3', 'Hadoop', 'Apache Hive', 'Big Data', 'Hive'] |
How to Teach Science to a Preschooler | Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Science has gone from pinholes to the Large Hadron Collider. What did not change is how our children learn science. They begin to learn science in the same way we did. But toddlers today skip Youtube adverts and navigate to the next desired video like pros. Do they have to wait until university to learn about the discoveries of humankind?
By and large, we choose the tried and tested way of teaching science to our children. It is a successful and proven method for delivering excellent results. But what if I say there is an inherent problem in this method which is often overlooked. We are teaching science to our children in a way things have unfolded or discovered by humanity. So the true mystery of how our universe has sprung up to life is unravelled only during their adolescent age. This method of reverse chronology might have produced some fine scientists, but what if we can narrate the story in the same order of how things happened.
Conceiving concepts from the grassroots will produce better students, and in the end outstanding scientists.
Our children learn about engines and vehicles running on fossil fuel before they are exposed to the power of our Sun. Think about when you learnt about cars and when the photovoltaic effect was introduced to you. So it is understandable why a whole generation prefers fossil fuel over renewable energy.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We learn about body parts before teaching our children that behind every cell in their body there is chemistry. Without understanding chemical bonding we teach about macronutrients in the food they eat. So they are compelled to memorize stuff not knowing there is a simple way to understand the basics. With strong fundamentals in science, their thought spectrum will be wider. This will produce an exponential increase in the number of scientists thinking in innovative ways.
If we had created more virologists we would have a thousand vaccines lined up for every possible influenza or coronaviruses by now.
So the solution to this problem is a chronological approach to education. I have been experimenting with a different way of teaching science to preschoolers. With strong support from my wife and a happy little volunteer by my side, I started an experimental journey.
I have researched a wide range of topics from Big Bang to Biochemistry and translated them into bedtime stories for my 4-year-old daughter.
The story starts with the Big Bang as the first chapter, introducing each particle as a character like up and down quark as the parents, proton and neutron as their children. The story progresses by talking about the sibling bonding of protons and neutrons. Higgs field is introduced as a huge pit of balls (Higgs Boson) the particles play in.
Proton and Neutron playing in Higgs field — An image from the book “Bedtime Stories for Little Scientists”
Then photons and electrons are introduced as buddies interacting with the nucleons. The concept of how atoms form is introduced by a story about the friendship of Protons, Electrons and Neutrons. By the end of chapter 4, my kid was able to understand what constitutes matter and how our universe had formed. That is astronomy and particle physics for preschoolers.
As the format of these concepts was presented as bedtime stories, my daughter enjoyed it thoroughly and often talked about those characters (elementary particles). This encouraged me to continue to the next event in the evolution of our universe. Formation of stars, planets and other celestial bodies. I finished the first course of my experimental teaching methodology with the formation of the earth. With this, she clearly understood how stars and planets formed out of the interstellar matter which in turn is just a blob of atoms.
After the success of teaching science to my daughter through this chronological approach, I decided to write this as a book so that it will be useful for anyone who wants to try homeschooling or inculcate the interest of science in preschoolers.
Available in 2 volumes with chapters explaining, | https://medium.com/the-kickstarter/how-to-teach-science-to-a-preschooler-af0843828cdf | ['Richy Great'] | 2020-12-01 10:58:11.807000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Homeschooling', 'Children', 'Education', 'Family'] |
How To Be Happy When Your World Is Falling Apart | How To Be Happy When Your World Is Falling Apart
I feel so much compassion for us all, facing this global challenge that hits right at our most sensitive spots.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
By Stephanie Harrison
This pandemic has exposed a hard truth to us and delivered it in an incredibly harsh way. It has made it unequivocally clear that we are, in fact, not in control. Our collective worst nightmare. We are not in control of the world, we never really were, and all of the ways we tried to pretend we were have been exposed as flimsy delusions that can be ripped away within a moment, without a thought or care for our opinion on the matter.
We want desperately to believe that we have control over the chaotic world, because otherwise, the world is just too damn scary, too uncertain, too random. This belief leads us to work so hard to create structures and identities that pull the wool over our own eyes, using external gratifications to soothe our existential fears.
In normal life, for the lucky people of the world (those who have not already been forced to confront this truth through sickness, subjugation, or other tragedies), it’s relatively easy, most of the time, to pretend that the world is in your control. You can delude yourself in various ways, accumulating new methods of control (achievements, possessions, titles, adventures, and so on) like they’re trophies. And when you are forced to confront the truth, through grief and loss, it doesn’t usually impact your entire existence or last forever, so you eventually can move past it and return to trophy-collecting.
The way to find happiness — both now, and prior to this moment, for the world has been and always will be this way — is to view everything in our life as something that has been lent to us, something that could be requested to be returned to the original owner at any time. The beautiful sunset, the loving friend, the interesting job, the fun vacation, the family, the house: everything in your life that doesn’t come from within is something that you have borrowed. Sometimes, the world will come knocking and ask for it back. And tragically, you don’t get to say no.
This mindset is opposite to what has been drilled into us by our society: that everything in our lives is something we have earned, that belongs to us permanently, and that reflects our status, identity, and worth as a human being. It’s those with this mindset who are most at risk when the world comes requesting the loan, for they have constructed an identity that is so precariously built on what’s next to them and not within them, that the whole thing can easily come crashing down.
Some of us try to control the world through being productive. Some of us try to do it through manufacturing conflict. Some of us try to control others. Some of us try to do it by fixing the past through rumination or controlling the future with anxiety. Some of us try to hide away so we can’t get hurt, and some of us run at the hurt so we can control its impact. Some of us try to be perfect. Some of us choose to be victims. Most of us try all of these things! (You can see your tendency by looking at what you’re stressing the most about right now: in America, being productive is clearly the drug of choice, based on the articles I see about how this is the perfect time to write your best-selling novel and finally get into shape.)
MY EXPERIENCE
Here’s what my attempt to control the world looked like:
In the beginning of the pandemic, I thought a lot about how incredibly unfair everything was. I thought about how dearly I would like to tell people, “Please shut up and stop complaining, because I’ve been living like this for two years.” I wanted to yell at everyone who was talking about how incredibly horrible and terrible this way of living was, and tell them they were denigrating the millions of sick people who live this way all the time and have no idea if they’ll ever be free of it. I thought about how satisfied I was that people would now have some point of reference about what it is like to be Alex, stuck inside for two years, and also how preemptively annoyed I was that people would probably compare their two months in lockdown to his.
None of this was evolved or compassionate thinking. Nor is it something I’m proud of sharing. But this is what the attempt to control the world looks like: I was desperately struggling to hold on to this illusion, trying to deny the truth that the world is not in my control, and that made me self-centered, selfish, and disconnected. And, in my desperate attempt to ignore this truth, I used it as an excuse to victimize myself, which I did in so many interesting ways.
I thought about how the ONLY (always, always capitalized like this in my head) pleasure in my life, walking my dog to go get a coffee, had disappeared. I thought about how UNFAIR (also capitalized) it was that I couldn’t go outside because I live with a very sick person and it was too risky. I was ENRAGED (emotional capitalization) that my already never-ending to-do list had just expanded to include so many new and annoying tasks, like wiping down every item that came into our house.
Then one day, I woke up, and something clicked: look at me, trying desperately to control the world, forgetting the truth, forgetting what I’ve already learned through Alex’s illness. And look at what that desperation to control does to me. And look at how far it takes me away from my goals of helping others and being happy.
IT’S NATURAL TO WANT TO CONTROL THE WORLD
Forgetting this truth is the human condition, because we want to be in control. It’s a natural impulse deep inside of us, something we’ve had since we were babies, pulling ourselves up on tables and crawling towards what we want. It’s natural, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, and it’s something that we have to accept. By accepting it, we can begin to work with it.
I think that this is part of our nature is so central to many of our struggles right now. I’m in awe of all of you who are navigating this moment, thrown into a boiling pot of water with no warning. And I feel so much compassion for us all, facing this global challenge that hits right at our most sensitive spots.
I think the most important (and bravest) thing we can all do right now is to express these new vulnerabilities, putting our hands on our hearts and saying to ourselves, “This is really hard. This is how I’m trying to cope with the challenge. I see what I’m trying to do, and I accept and love myself for my humanness.”
It’s okay to not feel at all okay right now. Denying that truth just puts up a shell around us, which at the end of the day, is yet another way to try to control the world. It also makes us small and disconnects us from the rest of humanity, limiting our ability to show up for those who really need our help right now.
We are all so much more fragile than we admit and so much stronger than we believe. We are all pretending to be okay, even though saying that we aren’t okay will be the act that does make us okay. We are all afraid of the overwhelming, vast chaos of the world and trying to control it because we think it will bring us happiness, but it is letting go of that need to control the world that will actually make us happy.
HOW TO COPE
The secret to being happy in an uncontrollable world is to let go of what you can’t control and to focus your energy on what you can control. That is why cultivating happiness from within is the way to live a truly joyful life and that is why focusing on helping others is the way to impact the world around you.
We can direct our desire for control towards productive pathways, towards what we can impact: our selves, our thoughts, and our actions. (And if you’re like me, some days, you will find this impossible. And that’s okay. You can try again tomorrow. You can keep trying. Every moment has the seed of a new beginning.)
This global experience is not in our control. But waking up and saying, “What can I do, in this moment?” is.
When I remember this, when I shift my attention, when I feel the truth of it in my bones, I feel true happiness. And I am reminded of how lucky we are to live in this world where so many people are, every day, choosing to be good to each other, and to be good to themselves. Keep going. We can do this. I believe in us!
—
This story was originally published on The New Happy and republished on The Good Men Project. | https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/how-to-be-happy-when-your-world-is-falling-apart-f3a4c5e1f322 | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-08-13 01:46:00.942000+00:00 | ['Happiness', 'Mental Health', 'Covid 19', 'Self Care', 'Stress'] |
Why are we not a blogger? | Why Are We Not A Blogger?
Inspiration to write blogs
Writing something is not easy but writing something is also not so difficult.
I have met many people who are very interested in sharing. Actually we all think of something and sometimes we take a pen and notebook and start writing. However, we don’t share it because we are shy.
Some of us are just interested in sharing with friends only. Some of us want to share a lot, but sometimes we just think that whom to share are thoughts with.
We all have different stories to share. We share sometimes with our friends, and we may also just write in our notebook, some of my friends just share with me, so I think we all are at the same platform but our sharing styles are different.
There are two types of personalities in this world either introvert or extrovert. I have a suggestion for both of them
Just write what is in your mind
Who thinks that we cannot write?
Just share what is going on in your mind and keep it free from your inner thoughts.
How can we blog? The major takeaways are:
#1. We should not be shy to project our thoughts.
#2. We all think of many things, we should immediately write it in a notebook, edit it and put it on our blog.
#3. It is better to forget that you are an introvert and immediately pen it down. You will not become an extrovert immediately, but you will get the courage to do something which you will enjoy.
#4. Sharing is caring, so openly share your thoughts.
#5. You should be happy always and not be stressed about writing, then you will manage.
To conclude: | https://medium.com/illumination/why-are-we-not-a-blogger-a22bda5c8ed | [] | 2020-12-11 04:54:43.720000+00:00 | ['Thoughts', 'Writing', 'Tips', 'Blog', 'Words'] |
Destroying the Bullsh*t Fantasy of ‘Job Creators’ in America | Another round of potential coronavirus relief was making its way through the United States government, fighting for a pre-election day passing. But with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and Mitch McConnell choosing to adjourn the Senate until November 9th, Republicans again chose politics over the American people's well-being.
We are heading into our 9th month of the pandemic. Cases are once again hitting record numbers. Hospitalizations and deaths due to the virus are also on the rise. Winter is coming, and instead of worrying about White Walkers, we will have to worry about white body bags.
Aside from the $1,200 one time stimulus check and the boosted unemployment benefits that expired back in July, the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, from a fiscal perspective, has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.
The greatest country in the world is so rife with corruption and nepotistic behavior within its government that we couldn’t even rise to the occasion during a once in a century pandemic that badly needed us to do so. The system is broken. You broke it. And now we need to fix it.
The Let Down So Far
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, approximately $4.7 trillion was allocated for coronavirus response thus far between the government's executive and legislative branches. $2.8 trillion has actually been disbursed in some fashion.
In addition to the federal response, the Federal Reserve allocated $7.2 trillion for the coronavirus response. However, thus far, they have distributed just $2.4 trillion, almost all of which was spent on quantitative easing, increasing the money supply by purchasing U.S. Treasury-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities to support the economy.
Of the more than $5.2 trillion already disbursed for the coronavirus pandemic, less than $750 million was given to the American people directly, either through the $1,200 one time stimulus check or by boosting unemployment benefits and increasing access to food stamps temporarily.
On the other hand, companies and corporations were given trillions of dollars, most of the remaining $5.2 trillion, with little to no oversight. Money meant to assist the American people indirectly. Still, from what we have seen, it has been used to fleece the government via fraud or line the stock portfolios of these companies and billionaires even more.
The Myth
Supply-side economics, or trickle-down economics, is the process in which you reduce taxes and regulations on business as a means to spur job creation and expansion of industry—a deeply flawed concept. Starting in the early 1900s, more and more conservative politicians latched onto this idea tightly. And it made their friends very rich.
“[Republicans] are so busy operating the trickle-down theory, giving the richest corporations the biggest break, that the whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket.” — President Lyndon B. Johnson
Later on, Ronald Reagan came along with his charismatic conservatism and juiced the system into the stratosphere. Reaganomics cemented the path of the American system of doing business, busting unions, and ensuring company leadership would reap most of the benefits of a more productive world. Average American income has never caught up.
All of this is predicated on the myth that companies are job creators. They aren’t. Companies are job reactors. The people, the masses, they provide the demand for a job to exist. Without demand, a job and a business would cease to exist.
Companies exist to satiate demand. That’s it. Jobs are created for business owners to multiply their profits. 1 human unit for 1.5 profit units. Bullshit altruism aside, companies’ first and only goal is to make money. Providing someone with a job is purely transactional.
The moral feel-goods of giving someone a job opportunity is a byproduct. In human history, no company owner has ever given someone a job anticipating they would make less money. They did it to exchange their employee’s human capital for more profits, creating a multiplier effect.
The problem is, since the mid-1900s, that exchange of human capital for profits has become more and more imbalanced, resulting in a degradation of the middle class of America.
The Fix
The truth is jobs aren’t pushed into existence by companies and billionaires. They are pulled into existence by the masses demanding a product or service. Someone must first want something for another person to have a job providing that product or service to them.
And that demand only exists if people have the means to afford it. I want a Playstation 5. I have enough money after food, shelter, and paying my bills to afford one. My buying of this Sony product, along with millions of other Americans who will be buying Sony products, create a demand that pulls the jobs necessary to produce these products into existence.
When people have money to spend, they spend it. And when they spend it, they create demand for products and services that otherwise wouldn’t exist.
The United States, through its corruption and failed economic beliefs, destroyed any possible chance at an acceptable response to the coronavirus pandemic. They did this by failing to understand one simple reality: all they have to do was give people money. Money to spend in their local economy. On a large, systemic scale.
The $1,200 stimulus check cost the U.S. government $292 billion. Imagine if the government took the money they’ve already spent and instead allocated it to the American people for 1 year.
12 months of $1,500 stimulus checks to every single adult American. That would have cost the government $4.5 trillion. Less than what they have spent so far already ($5.4 trillion). Long enough to wait out a vaccine without a vast majority of the country falling into insurmountable personal debt.
And a majority of that money would have gone directly back into the local economy. It would have been spent at restaurants on take-out, upgrading their homes, shopping at their local markets and grocery stores, or adapting to attending school at home.
Consumer spending would have remained steady, keeping companies running, jobs in demand, and every American a means of feeding their families.
Sometimes less is more, and the simplest answer is the right answer. If the United States government was actually interested in helping the American people through this pandemic, they could have made this one decision, and it would have changed everything. | https://medium.com/the-purple-giraffe/destroying-the-bullsh-t-fantasy-of-job-creators-in-america-316fab35994e | ['Patrick Tompkins'] | 2020-10-27 13:40:14.584000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Election 2020', 'Government', 'Politics', 'Coronavirus'] |
What will be the Average Height of US Presidents? | What will be the Average Height of US Presidents?
Let’s find out using Python libraries Numpy, Pandas, and MatPlotLib
Photo by Brandon Mowinkel on Unsplash
As I contemplated the next topic for my blog, this struck me as an interesting and curious topic that would also be a useful Python exercise. Let me tell you why I chose this title. While I was searching for datasets to work on, I happened to stumble upon an interesting one that featured heights of all the US presidents. I was instantly curious to explore the data and find out how many US presidents were taller than 6 feet. I hope the same curiosity will invite many to read my blog as well.
Let me start with a small introduction to the Python libraries in question: Numpy, Pandas, MatPlotLib, and Seaborn which will be used in finding the answer to my question.
Anytime we look at the scientific computing and data science communities, three python packages that are extensively used:
Numpy Pandas MatplotLib
Numpy stands for Numerical Python. NumPy was created in 2005 by Travis Oliphant. It is an open-source python library that can be used freely. It provides a high-performance multidimensional array object and tools for working with these arrays. Numpy is used in handling basic mathematical functions such as mean, average, and so on. It is used extensively in the creation and manipulation of multidimensional arrays known as tensors in neural networks and machine learning.
To use Numpy, we need to import the package as shown below:
import numpy as np
Here’s a simple NumPy program that builds a 2X2 array and then performs various array operations on it.
arr = np.array([[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]])
print('Array:')
print(arr)
print("Sum of all elements:", np.sum(arr)) #sum of all elements
print("Sum of each column:", np.sum(arr, axis=0)) # columnwise sum
print("Sum of each row:", np.sum(arr, axis=1)) #rowwise sum
Output:
Array:
[[1 2 3]
[4 5 6]]
Sum of all elements: 21
Sum of each column: [5 7 9]
Sum of each row: [ 6 15]
Pandas is a data analysis library that is built on NumPy using Python programming language. It is a highly useful and important package that is used in data science. It provides high-performance, easy to use structures and data analysis tools. It can present data in a way that is suitable for data analysis using Series and DataFrame data structures. Pandas has a variety of methods for convenient data filtering and utilities to perform Input/Output operations seamlessly.
To use Pandas, we need to import the package as shown below:
import pandas as pd
Here’s a simple Pandas program that builds a data frame using 2 lists.
# students column
stud = ["Ram", "Diya", "Raj"] # mark of student column
mark = [80,85,90] # Put everything into a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame()
df["Student"] = stud
df["Mark"] = mark
print('DataFrame')
print(df)
Output:
DataFrame
Student Mark
0 Ram 80
1 Diya 85
2 Raj 90
MatPlotLib and Seaborn libraries are used for data visualization.
MatPlotLib is a library that adds the data visualization functions to Python. Visualization using Matplotlib generally consists of bars, pies, lines, scatter plots, and so on. It is well integrated to work with NumPy and Pandas.
Seaborn is a Python data visualization library based on MatPlotLib. It provides a high-level interface for drawing attractive and informative statistical graphics. It is more integrated for working with Pandas data frames.
Now let’s cut to the chase, and find out the answer to my title question.
To find the average height of US Presidents, we will use president_heights_new.csv from Kaggle datasets. The data is loaded to a data frame as shown below and let’s explore the data.
#Load the CSV data in to dataframe
data = pd.read_csv('../input/us-presidents-heights-how-low-can-u-go/president_heights_new.csv') #print no of rows
print(len(data)) # print the first four records just to check the data print(data.head(4))
Output:
No. of records = 43 order name height(cm)
0 1 George Washington 189
1 2 John Adams 170
2 3 Thomas Jefferson 189
3 4 James Madison 163
Let’s take the height column data into a Numpy array to perform numerical operations. We can also perform the same using data frames, but here I am using Numpy arrays to demonstrate how all these libraries work together to achieve the required outcome.
heights = np.array(data['height(cm)'])
print("Heights of US Presidents")
print(heights)
Output:
Heights of US Presidents
[189 170 189 163 183 171 185 168 173 183 173 173 175 178 183 193 178 173
174 183 183 168 170 178 182 180 183 178 182 188 175 179 183 193 182 183
177 185 188 188 182 185 188]
Now on this array, we can perform all the statistical operations as shown below. Let’s find out the mean, minimum and maximum heights.
print("Mean Height: ", heights.mean())
print("Minimum Height: ", heights.min())
print("Maximum Height: ", heights.max())
Output:
Mean Height: 179.93023255813952
Minimum Height: 163
Maximum Height: 193
We can see that the average height of the US presidents is 179.93 which is 180cm i.e 6 feet.
Sometimes, it will be more useful to see the output in a pictorial format. We can achieve this using MatPlotLib and Seaborn. Since this dataset is a very simple one with 2–3 columns we will just use the MatPlotLib library to plot a bar chart. Let’s import the MatPlotLib library as shown below:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
You can see, that I have used pyplot module. pyplot is a module in matplotlib package, which is a collection of command style functions. Each pyplot function makes some change to a figure: e.g., creates a figure, creates a plotting area in a figure, plots some lines in a plotting area, decorates the plot with labels, etc.
Let’s now plot a bar chart with heights of the US presidents on the X-axis and the number of presidents on the Y-axis as shown below:
plt.hist(heights)
plt.title('Height distribution of US Presidents')
plt.xlabel('height (cm)')
plt.ylabel('number')
Output:
We can see that using the 3 very popular python libraries, we could find the average height of US presidents and also were able to see how their heights are distributed.
To conclude, these 3 python packages are extensively used by data scientists to format, process, and query their data and perform data manipulation and data visualization.
Happy coding! | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/what-will-be-the-average-height-of-us-presidents-a88f87c244b2 | ['Bhuvaneswari Gopalan'] | 2020-12-28 12:41:30.469000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Python Numpy', 'Python Pandas', 'Matplotlib', 'Data Visualization'] |
3 Subtle Signs Telling You to Give up Your Coding Job | 3 Subtle Signs Telling You to Give up Your Coding Job
Your awful feelings may tell you something about your current position.
Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels
My last coding job was terrible.
Months of increasing distress and emotional unrest preceded the end of it, and I couldn’t understand why.
After more than a year as passed from those days, I can tell you to be aware of your visceral bad feelings toward your job, because the signs that it’s time to quit are not always so evident.
The clues indicating that something is wrong can be, in fact, very subtle, and times of pain can pass before you recognize them and put a stop to the situation.
Let’s try to give a name to these subtle signs.
The Rapport between You and Your Colleagues Has Cracked
I’m confident that you can understand when this has happened. You should always trust your guts. If your colleagues are not inviting you to meetings, whether they are personal or related to work, that’s a pretty bad sign. If you feel like they have lost their trust in you based on some of your actions, they probably have.
A fractured rapport between you and your peers is a significant flag that it’s time for you to leave. You won't have the chance to live a peaceful environment anymore, because the crack will become more and more evident, causing you stress and maybe even some heated fights.
You won’t even have the chance of growing, because you will kind of be cut out from meetings and important parts of a project.
Unfortunately, whether the end to the relationship with your peers was your fault or not, these things can happen when human beings interact. Apart from that, my advice is that you take a deep look at yourself in the mirror and realize if you were responsible for this, even in part.
If the answer is yes: be careful. Because inner problems not solved always show up again in the future. 😉 | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/3-subtle-signs-telling-you-to-give-up-your-coding-job-233a2b8b553b | ['Piero Borrelli'] | 2020-12-11 06:17:39.957000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Technology', 'Motivation', 'Work', 'Web Development'] |
10 Life Lessons to a Younger Self on Holistic Well-Being | I think back to my younger self quite often. To that young girl with an old soul who was just trying to figure out her way through life with little guidance from the world around her. School and culture never really addressed questions like, “What does it really take for a human being to live a good life?”
In my day, there was no curriculum that focused on how to cultivate lifelong well-being, especially not from a holistic perspective. Sure, we had physical education, but that was the extent of it. We never discussed the other vital aspects of well-being, like emotions, or relationships, or meaningful work, or even the sensitive, yet noteworthy, topic of spirituality.
In many ways, not being given some of those lessons offered me the opportunity to go figure them out on my own through good old lived experience. I wouldn’t take back any of what I’ve lived for the world. At the same time, if I had the opportunity to go back and sit down with a younger self, I would take it. And here’s what I’d ask her to focus on early on…
1. Take care of your body.
Your body is the foundation for your thoughts and emotions, and by extension, influences all of your life experiences. Nurturing your energy levels through nutrition, movement, rest, and stress regulation is a vital part of supporting your psychosocial life over the long haul.
Your body is also the vehicle through which you will experience some of life’s most pleasurable moments — a long hug, a deep belly laugh, an expressive dance, a savory meal, the creation of a new life. Treat it as a sacred home that houses your soul on the journey of life.
2. Cultivate an intimate relationship with your emotions.
These, too, will influence all of your life experiences, and they will control you if you don’t learn how to harness them. You can either become a slave to your emotions, or they can become one of your greatest allies on the journey of figuring out your way through the world. Learn to understand, regulate, channel, and process your emotions so that they inform your life instead of driving it entirely.
3. Learn to recognize and question your automatic thoughts.
Your conditioned patterns of mind are not always conducive to your well-being. Cultivating the skill of questioning your thoughts can save you a lot of suffering. The more you question the thoughts and patterns that no longer serve you, the more your well-being will benefit.
This skill is also key to helping you learn, grow, and develop more robust mental models through which you construct your reality. The more you challenge old ways of making sense of the world and take on new perspectives, the more prepared you will be to meet life’s inevitable challenges.
4. Good relationships are probably the most important key to a good life.
(Research would agree with me here.) Relationships that allow you to be who you authentically are, that help you grow, and that bring out the best in you are rare and life-giving. Invest in those and nurture them. This especially applies to the person you choose to marry or partner with long-term, so choose wisely.
Relationships are also a wonderful container for personal growth. By leaning into the inevitable challenges associated with intimacy and navigating life with others, you have the opportunity to face your limitations, hone your strengths, and evolve into greater versions of yourself.
5. Find or create meaningful work.
You will spend a hell of a lot of your life working; better make it as fulfilling as possible. This sounds simple, but it takes a lot of effort and sacrifice. The key ingredients to fulfilling work are a) work that you feel engaged with and that offers opportunities for you enter into states of flow, b) work that you’re good at and through which your natural talents have opportunities to express themselves, and c) work that serves others or benefits society in a way you find meaningful. (Research also agrees with me here.) Take stock of this as soon as possible and begin working toward this over the long-term.
6. Invest in personal, constructive pastimes.
Humans benefit from being engaged in activities that have no end goal or purpose, other than joy and play. Engaging in personal interests and leisure hobbies will enrich your life more than you could possibly imagine. They are an incredible way to keep your mind and body sharp, connect with people of common interests, and learn new skills that could be applied to other areas of life.
A disclaimer here is that some hobbies and interests are simply going to be more constructive in the long-term. A reading hobby is likely going to be better for you over the long course of life than a drinking hobby is, so choose wisely here as well.
7. Find communities of common interest for energy exchange.
As a human being, you are a social creature, whether you like it or not. You will benefit from being part of groups because you can both give help and receive help in those groups. You can both learn from the group and contribute your skills and talents. Ideally, you will get to choose the groups you spend time with, so connecting over common interests is a good way to start. Whether that’s a hobby community, service community, professional community, spiritual community, or whatever else, community is going to be a pillar of well-being for you.
8. Travel as a way of learning about yourself and others.
Travel is a rich source of personal growth. Go see how differently people live in places far from your home. Learn about their approach to life, use their approach to challenge your own culture’s scripts, and perhaps even incorporate some of those lessons into your own life.
Experience who you are when you’re far away from home in an unknown land. Traveling will grow you up. It will make you learn new ways of seeing and being in the world. If nothing else, it’ll deepen your appreciation for your own culture and home.
9. Nurture your environment.
By that I mean the different places you inhabit in your daily life — your home, your city, your workplace, nature, and whatever other places and people you surround yourself with. Your physical environment undoubtedly influences your psychological state. Be intentional about inhabiting and creating spaces that bring out the best in you. (Bonus Note: Spending time in real nature is essential!)
Additionally, be aware that your relationship to the different environments you inhabit is reciprocal. Do everything you can to respect, sustain, care for, and give back to the environments that you do inhabit.
10. Give yourself over to something larger than you.
You don’t have to believe in God for this, but that is certainly one way to go about it. The point here is to continuously reckon with the qualms and mysteries of existence. It’s about questioning the larger processes and forces outside of the realm of your capacity as a mere human to fully grasp. In essence, it’s about contemplating the meaning of life.
These questions will never get answered, but that’s not the point. The value is in the process itself — the process of exploring your connection to all of nature and the cosmos, and your place within it all. By simply engaging in this process, it will keep you humble and curious. It will inspire wonder and awe in you. Most importantly, it will nurture within you a reverence and appreciation for all of life, including and especially your own.
If you enjoyed this article, I share exclusive content on life lessons and personal evolution, just for those subscribed to my monthly newsletter. | https://medium.com/wholistique/10-life-lessons-to-a-younger-self-on-holistic-well-being-357a45a18251 | ['Deborah Lara'] | 2020-11-01 02:52:08.426000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Psychology', 'Personal Development', 'Life'] |
Getting Started With Vue.js: Components | In my last few blog posts I have talked about some of the ways you can use Vue.js to keep track of dynamic data on a webpage, and how Vue gives you something called directives to change the way that data appears on the page. But, as I mentioned last time, you need a way to use these things on a big scale to make a good website. The way to do this is by using Vue Components. In this blog post I’m going to give a very basic overview of some of the things these Components can do and how they can be used.
Components are essentially reusable Vue instances that are given a name. Because they are instances, they accept the same options as new Vue , such as data and computed , along with a name. The basic format looks like this:
Vue.component('component-name', {
data: function () {
return {
// some data
}
},
template: `<div>
<!-- some html-->
</div>`
})
To break this down, the first parameter, 'component-name' , is the name you give it to refer to the component when you use it in your HTML. You must give it a name, and the object you pass as the second variable should probably have a template with some HTML, so that your component will appear on the page when you use it. It is also best practice to use kebab-case for the name, with all lower case and hyphens, because this follows the rules for custom HTML tag names.
The data part is the data you need for the component, and it should always be a function that returns an object with the data. This is so that each individual instance of the component will have it’s own copy of the data. If it just returned a data object without the function, every instance of the component would be affected by a change in data to any one of them. The template part of the component is the HTML that you want your component to have. Note here that the template is wrapped in back quote marks, instead of single quotes. This is because the string for the template is on several lines, so you either need to wrap it in back quotes, or have backslashes at the end of each line.
Here is an example of a component that will have a button that will increase a counter, showing how to use it in your page:
// in index.js
Vue.component('counter-component', {
data: function () {
return {
count: 0
}
},
template: `<div>
<button v-on:click="count++">Click me!</button>
<p>You've clicked the button {{ count }} times</p>
</div>`
}) new Vue({
el: '#component-example'
}) // in index.html
<div id='component-example'>
<counter-component></counter-component>
</div>
From this example you can see that you can use a component in your webpage by using it’s name as if it were an HTML tag. And you can use each component as many times as you want. There are a few other things to note here. First, you need to have a Vue instance attached to the HTML using el where you want to use the component. Otherwise, in this case, the div would be empty because it doesn’t know of an element called counter-component . The second thing is, you need to have your template wrapped in a single HTML element. If I took away the div from the template in my example, it would cause an error and wouldn’t work.
Vue components are mainly used for when you write a piece of HTML that you want to reuse. For example, the profile of every user of a site should have similar formatting, so we want to reuse some HTML that will be the same except for the data that differs from user to user, like a name or email. But to do this, we need a way to give each use of the component a different set of information. This is achieved by using something called props. Props are one of the options you can give to a Vue component, like so:
Vue.component('profile', {
props: ['name'],
template: '<h3>{{ name }}</h3>'
})
Then, to pass it the name prop when we use it, we can do this:
<profile name="Jane Doe"></profile>
<profile name="John Smith"></profile>
<profile name="Jesse Baker"></profile>
But hard coding names in isn’t especially useful if we want our page to be dynamic, so you would usually want to loop over a list you have in the data of your instance. Thankfully, Vue’s v-for works with components, so you could use this profile component like this:
// in index.js
new Vue({
el: '#people-list',
data: {
people: [
{ id: 1, name: 'Jane Do'},
{ id: 2, name: 'John Smith'},
{ id: 3, name: 'Jesse Baker'}
]
}
}) // in index.html
<div id="people-list">
<profile
v-for="person in people"
v-bind:key="person.id"
v-bind:name="person.name"
></profile>
</div>
As you can see from this example, you can use v-bind to pass props that are dynamic, so this example will look exactly the same on a webpage as the previous one where I passed the name s in manually. Another thing to consider is that as my profile component grows, it will likely need more props. But, using v-bind over and over for a large number of props would get tedious, so another way to write this profile component would be like this:
// in index.js
Vue.component('profile', {
props: ['person'],
template: `<div>
<h3>{{ person.name }}</h3>
<img v-bind:src='person.img_url'></p>
<p>{{ person.email }}</p>
</div>`
}) // in index.html
<div id="people-list">
<profile
v-for="person in people"
v-bind:key="person.id"
v-bind:person="person"
></profile>
</div>
The last thing about Vue components that I’ll talk about is slots. You may have noticed that in the examples I’ve used, there is never anything between the opening and closing tags of the components in the HTML. That’s because, if you try to put anything between the opening and closing tags of a component, it will not show up on the page. But sometimes you may want to put something in between them. This is where slots come in. They look like this:
// in index.js
Vue.component('navigation-link', {
props: ['url'],
template: `
<a v-bind:href="url">
<slot></slot>
</a>
`
}) // in index.html
<div id="profile-nav">
<navigation-link url="/profile">
Your Profile
</navigation-link>
</div>
From the part in bold, you can see that I added the slot element, another thing that Vue gives you. Now anything you write in between the navigation-link tags will show up where you put the slot element in the component.
With this, I think I have given a good basic overview on Vue Components. I’ve shown some of the ways they can be used and some of the things they can do. But there is a lot more you can do with components, and if you’re interested, I encourage you to check out all the ways you can use them in Vue’s documentation about components. With this and all of the other posts I’ve written about Vue.js, I’ve pretty much covered all the basics that you need to get started with Vue.js. | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/getting-started-with-vue-js-components-cdfb763f78c9 | ['Valerie Foster'] | 2020-12-03 08:05:48.065000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'JavaScript', 'Vuejs', 'Programming', 'Web Development'] |
Metrc, ensuring a secure supply chain by tracking and tracing cannabis products from seed to sale | We talked with Jeff Wells, Metrc’s CEO.
How much funding have you raised in total?
Since we became involved in the cannabis and hemp industries, we have raised $50 million in funding, including investments from Tiger Global Management and Casa Verde Ventures.
How would you describe Metrc in a single tweet?
Metrc is the most trusted solution for cannabis governance. Our technology and software help ensure a secure supply chain by tracking and tracing cannabis products from seed to sale, enabling government and industry to promote transparency, public health, and a safe marketplace.
How did it all start and why?
We started back in 1993 as Franwell, Inc. and, at that time, focused on enterprise software for the agricultural industry. We gradually began developing RFID tags, using them to help with supply chain management, eventually expanding into the food and pharmaceutical industries. As we were looking at other use cases for the technology, we learned that Colorado was looking for a track-and-trace system for its new cannabis industry. We were extremely hesitant at first, but over time warmed to the idea, realizing it could be a perfect fit for our solution and a perfect opportunity to help the state develop a secure and safe market. Needless to say, it was a long and windy road.
What have you achieved so far?
Since launching the world’s first industry-wide track-and-trace system for cannabis, we’ve expanded to 11 other states and the District of Columbia; they represent the five largest state cannabis markets by tax revenue. And, in them, we work with over 15,000 cannabis businesses and support over 120,000 users. In our system, we’ve recorded over $11.5 billion in cannabis sales and over one billion supply chain events, like plantings, harvests, packages, transports, and tests. We truly believe that we have the best solution on the market and are proud of a 100% renewal rate in our contracts. But this market is continually changing, so we’re always trying to improve our solution and look for ways to better serve our clients.
How will you use your recent funding round?
Well, in addition to improving our solution, we’re continuing to focus on protecting our software and data, expanding our system functionality, and growing our team. In fact, the number of Metrc employees has grown by over 40% since our most recent funding round last year.
What do you plan to achieve in the next 2–3 years?
Become a world-class solution with sustainable growth. For the latter, we believe that medical and adult-use cannabis will continue to be legalized both throughout the United States and the world; we want to be the go-to partner for supply chain governance in each of those jurisdictions. For the former, we’re working hard to not only provide best-in-class software and technology, but to provide exceptional customer service, including regulatory advisory services, system training, and ongoing user support, at an affordable and transparent price. | https://medium.com/petacrunch/metrc-ensuring-a-secure-supply-chain-by-tracking-and-tracing-cannabis-products-from-seed-to-sale-95cfd4e5f9c6 | ['Kevin Hart'] | 2019-11-20 15:06:25.210000+00:00 | ['Cannabis', 'Marijuana', 'Hemp', 'Startup'] |
The Designer’s Growth Model | The Designer’s Growth Model
The growth of a designer, i.e. the maturity of design, goes through several phases. Different phases ask different things of a designer. In each phase the work and goal of a designer changes. In each phase, the maturity grows.
Borrowing from the Invision report The New Design Frontier and the Greiner growth model (good designers copy, great designers steal), I concocted a model for the evolution of the designer. Just like the famous Greiner growth model, my model has different phases. I also have crises marking the transition from one phase to the next (never waste a good crisis). I reshuffled the order of the maturity model of Invision a little bit. If I remix the two (everything is a remix), I arrive at the following model.
Phase 1: Producers
The start of design is creating beautiful artifacts. It’s the foundational skill for designers. It’s what is taught in art school. It’s why designers become designers: to create beauty. It’s what makes design appealing. It’s what most people think of when they think about design. It’s what is shown in a museum when the theme is design: the designer as the producer of beautiful stuff. The tools are the classical design tools of Adobe. The skills are aesthetics: layout, whitespace, rhythm, color, form. Growth comes from mastery of the tools and learning to create more beautiful stuff.
Crisis 1: Scale
The first moment of crisis comes when the designer is successful. The better designers get, the bigger the projects they can work on become. They have to collaborate with more people and design systems on a larger scale. They need tools that help them collaborate and tools that help them design systems instead of single artifacts. They need to add collaboration and thinking in systems to their skillset. For a producer that has been trained to work solo on a single artifact in art school and that has mastered this craft, this is quite a hurdle.
Phase 2: Architects
When designers have cleared the hurdle of collaboration and thinking in systems, they become architects. They now work with large teams of designers and designs systems instead of artifacts. They use modern design tools that facilitate collaboration and the design of systems. Growth comes from better collaboration and mastery of thinking in systems.
Crisis 2: Co-creation
Architect work with designers. They design beautiful solutions based on design briefs. Design is still isolated from the rest of the business. It’s bigger than the production of single artifacts. The design has more impact because the scale is larger. Design is higher on the strategic agenda. But it’s done by designers on an assignment, on specifications from the business. If they are aiming for more impact, the next hurdle they have to take is opening up the design process to all the stakeholders of the problem that needs to be solved. They need to become a problem-solver instead of a producer of designs. For a designer to allow other people into his process is a big leap.
Phase 3: Connectors
If designers can connect to all the stakeholders and develop facilitation skills, they can create far better solutions. If they know the problems and needs of all stakeholders, they can have a far greater impact with his designs. One of the important stakeholders is the user but there are others. Designers are in an ideal starting position to connect the needs of the user to the needs of business and the possibilities of technology. They need to develop facilitation skills to organize and guide workshops, they need to develop the skill to use design prototypes to help the process of problem-solving, they need to understand the language of business and technology in order to smooth communications.
Crisis 3: Complexity crisis
When designers are able to be the bridge between user needs, business needs, and technological options, when they are able to collect insights, they can design solutions that are better aligned to the interest of all stakeholders. This will make his designs far more successful. This is great until they run into the next hurdle. The next hurdle is complexity. Even if you have done all the research, collected all the insights you can get from workshops and prototyped your way through communication problems, you run into the fact that the reality of your problem is too complex to design a solution and then go on an develop it. Development of large scale designs takes a lot of time and money and in a complex world, in the end, most of the solutions that are designed simply don't work well enough, simply don't deliver enough value. Either the world has changed once your design is delivered or it turns out people don’t behave as you thought. To solve this, designers have to get scientific: create hypotheses, design experiments and analyze the results. They have to shift from designing to solve to designing to learn. For an artistic designer, this shift to a more scientific, analytical approach can be a big mind-shift.
Phase 4: Scientists
Scientists are able to use their design skills alongside their analytical skills to iterate forward, to learn, to adapt. They are able to build, measure and learn and applies his unique designer’s perspective, mindset and skillset to lift projects to a higher level. Their hybrid approach of artistic design combined with analytical science enables them to create more value in projects while reducing risk and boosting performance. They use their prototypes to collect insights, to validate the direction and to guide the development process. The visual thinking, the ability to create concrete things, their creativity, their boldness, their ability to see connections all contribute to the quality and success of projects. They no longer execute assignments but recreates them, transforms them into engaging, successful journeys. Because the right problems are solved with solutions that are continuously validated, the scientist-designer creates an enormous amount of value. With the alternative futures they design, they are able to move people. And when they discover their superpower, they will want more. They will want to defeat the final hurdle. They will want the ultimate impact: to move people with their vision.
Crisis 4: Leadership crisis
That is when they face the final crisis. They need to up their leadership game. When they were architects, they were already leading design teams. But now the playing field has changed. They are no longer just impacting other designers, they are impacting entire organizations. They need to learn about organization and management, they need to understand how businesses work. This is not just about learning to speak the language as they learned when they became connectors. This goes one step further. They need to be able to design alternative organizations. They need to know how current managers think and work. In order to break the rules, they must first learn them. They must learn how to be a leader. They will be a different leader than the traditional MBA-trained leader but they must master the tricks of the trade.
Phase 5: Visionaries
The visionary can apply the skill-, mind-, and toolset to business challenges. Design brings a unique view to strategy, organization, leadership. Designers can transform organizations, create visions of the future, roadmaps to get there. Numbers and facts are not going to change organizations, a new image of the future will. There is a growing need for a new kind of leadership in organizations. A leadership that is based on imagination. A powerful image can be a huge force of change. Holistic thinking, boldness, creativity are what is needed in business today. And designers are in a great position to bring that to leadership.
That concludes the Designer’s Growth Model: | https://medium.com/design-leadership-notebook/the-designers-growth-model-8240dafb7137 | ['Dennis Hambeukers'] | 2019-04-06 07:56:06.768000+00:00 | ['Design Leadership', 'Design Maturity', 'Design', 'Leadership', 'Growth Model'] |
How to Build Confidence and Prevent Bullying | How to Build Confidence and Prevent Bullying
Work to keep it from happening in the first place
Image courtesy of health.clevelandclinic.org
It seemed like I was always the new kid in school. At age seven, I switched again to begin the second grade.
The morning was cool and a small group of us were waiting under a large maple tree at the bus stop. Two much larger kids that I didn’t recognize approached me with mean looks on their faces.
“What are you doing here?” the taller one asked.
“Just waiting for the bus,” I replied.
“It’s our bus,” the shorter, slightly stout kid chirped in. He was obviously the sidekick of the taller boy. “Why don’t your parents drive you? You’re rich.”
My family had owned a business for several years in our small town, and there was always the misconception that because of this, we had money. We didn’t.
“What’s in the bag?” They were asking about my small brown paper lunch bag.
“Just my lunch.”
“Oh, yeah, give it here. I bet you have some good stuff.”
“No way, get out of here,” I shot back. I loved my PB&J sandwiches and wasn’t about to give one up to anybody.
Out of nowhere, the larger kid with the shaggy hair and overalls pushed me hard to the ground, and the smaller kid swiped my lunch bag. They had done this before.
“Ours now, they laughed,” opening it up to see what was inside.
Something like this had never happened to me before. I was a mixture of stunned, hurt, and surprised. Even though I only lost a sandwich and an apple, it felt awful.
I didn’t know it at the time, but it made a big dent in my self-esteem. Up until then, I was relatively non-confrontational. I never wanted to feel frightened and insecure again. I felt I had no way to defend myself.
That day after school, I told my parents what had happened. To put it mildly, they were not pleased. I told my dad I would handle it, and I wanted to start wrestling lessons at the local YMCA. He agreed, and before the week was out, I was learning how to do takedowns and armbars.
My confidence grew. I want to say that no one ever tried to bully me again, but that’s not true. The difference was, those times, I stood my ground. I pushed back. No one ever stole my lunch again. | https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/how-to-build-confidence-to-prevent-bullying-250f93695fb8 | ['Guy D. Mccardle'] | 2020-10-04 19:03:08.340000+00:00 | ['Schools', 'Psychology', 'Children', 'Confidence', 'Bullying'] |
To My Friend Who Can't Seem To Get Over Her Ex | It doesn’t matter what anybody says about time healing old wounds--because it simply isn’t true. Time is no healer, and heartache knows no timeline.
I see you, and it breaks my heart because I know you. I’ve been you. I’ve been the woman who can’t get over her ex no matter what anybody else says.
We drown in our remembrance of a past love. We think that maybe if we had loved those men much less deeply, we’d get over them that much more quickly.
Maybe if we had just done things differently...but we didn’t.
And now it’s done.
Here’s what I really think about heartache.
We wanted to be loved, but it didn’t work out... and then when other things didn’t work out, we fell back on that love we so desperately wanted.
We fell back but the love was gone.
And instead of moving on, we let ourselves get stuck. So stuck.
In a sense, we thought we deserved to stay stuck.
We punished ourselves for some form of regret. And now few people understand why it’s so damn hard to leave.
They left.
Why can’t we?
We make it so hard on ourselves for a few different reasons.
Bad love is addictive.
Back when I was still stuck on my own ex, he treated me like garbage. Somehow, I thought that was okay, because I loved him so much. I thought he needed my love to feel safe. And I thought I had to absorb every blow he sent my way.
Our love was toxic, but by the time I realized that much, I was addicted to the drama. Our drama was better than feeling unloved.
Until it wasn't.
You regret what neither of you would do.
Here’s the thing. I don’t know if your love with him was toxic or good, but I do know that you both made choices. He told you what he wanted, you told him he couldn’t have that with you, then you left, and he never came after you.
It’s painful, but he didn’t fight for you. And I can’t even guess why he didn’t. All I can say is that it matters that he didn’t fight for you.
And it matters that you didn’t fight for him. Ultimately, you made the same choice.
But it’s done.
Isn’t it?
You only have three options.
You could reach out to your ex. Find out if he’s happy. Talk to him. Tell him you were wrong and find out if there's a second chance or not. You could stay stuck. Keep thinking about your ex every single day and regret that moment you walked out the door. Live a life of regret. Or, you could recognize the fact that you’re probably unhappy without him because you’re unhappy in life right now. You’re in the slog--making better choices, building a new life, but it’s slow. And let’s be honest. It's lonely as fuck.
Loneliness makes us crazy.
People like to say that love makes us do the wacky. But that’s not true of good love at all. Good love is boring and sane.
Honestly, it’s the loneliness that we so desperately ache to get off our chests. We all long for past love whenever we can’t stand the emptiness of feeling unloved or alone.
And it’s even harder on single moms.
You and I have so much in common. I know what it’s like to work so hard for your daughter, to do it all alone, and then long for a partner who could be in it all with you.
Sometimes I just want somebody else to say, “I got this.” And then let me rest for a while. So I know firsthand that being a single mom is one of the hardest things anybody can ever do. I know the emptiness and the thanklessness. I know all about every sharp pang.
And of course, I know how the world looks at you... I know how it looks at me.
But loneliness isn’t a good reason to go backward.
Ask yourself what would happen if you were really happy right now. Happy with yourself. Happy with love. Happy with life.
Would you still be unable to quit thinking about your ex?
My guess is that you wouldn’t be stuck on your ex if you were happy in other ways. That was definitely the case for me. In a sense, I had to “outgrow” my ex and start building a new life for me that couldn’t possibly include him.
I look at what I'm doing now and what he's doing... and I am amazed to see that I'm the one moving forward. I'm the one building a better life and future. Meanwhile, my ex is still stuck in the same drama. Same job. Same slog.
The reality is that we can never know how good it feels to move on until we actually do it. So dear, Cheney Meaghan, give yourself a break and move on.
I know it's easier said than done. And I know you're worth the effort. You owe it to yourself to fight for you.
Quit worrying about how you're not over your ex. Don't worry about people getting sick of you.
Focus on building a life you love, and I promise, you will naturally quit thinking about your ex. The past can only haunt you when you give it power over your future.
Give your future the power by going after your dreams.
Forget about even trying to forget your ex. Build a beautiful life that works for you. He will fade, but only if you choose you. | https://medium.com/awkwardly-honest/to-my-friend-who-cant-seem-to-get-over-her-ex-d193ed539093 | ['Shannon Ashley'] | 2019-03-16 18:18:43.537000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Love', 'Relationships'] |
Interview with Kathryn Gonzalez | Design Leadership Interview at DoorDash
Hello Kathryn, thanks for taking time to talk! Could you start by describing your role at DoorDash?
Sure! I lead the Design Infrastructure team here. At a high level, our job is to enable our partners in design, product, and engineering to build better products faster, and to make better product decisions more efficiently.
We do this by making sure that we’re building the right sort of tools and patterns so that our partners have to spend less time thinking about nuances of UI design and how to actually construct the product. This means they can focus on what the product is and the problems it’s trying to solve.
One of the other things that’s important for us to be thoughtful about as we scale at DoorDash is the way we’re building things and the tools we have at our disposal on the design and engineering side.This make sure that designs can be reflected at high fidelity and quality, with less overhead in the actual products we build. It also makes all the things that we want to do much more possible.
I didn’t have the benefit of working with a team like yours until recently. Is it a relatively new discipline in the industry?
Yeah, I would say it’s still a very new discipline. There are some notable companies like Lyft, Spotify, and Thumbtack that have developed really great design systems practices, and seeing those great examples has helped us strive for an equal level of quality. But it’s definitely something that the industry as a whole is still really growing into, and I think there’s a lot of room for innovation and even in understanding the basics of how to do this well.
How did the Design Infrastructure team come about at DoorDash?
So, I joined DoorDash almost five years ago as the very first product designer, and I had previously been at another company working as both a designer and engineer. Both experiences were exciting because they gave me a lot of ownership over the end-to-end quality of the product. As DoorDash grew in the first few years I was here, I spent time focused on different areas between design and engineering, even being the technical lead of our web product for a while.
Shortly after I switched back to design, and after a few stints of being the design lead on projects like DoorDash Drive, I decided I wasn’t happy being focused on just design or just engineering. I decided to move into a role that was explicitly meant to be at the intersection between design and engineering versus being in those two worlds separately. I started by putting in a lot of work towards building out how we think about our design process and a nascent design system that we had at the time. I both designed and built the first versions of our Design Language System, and eventually started growing the team around late 2018.
You’re currently hiring for your team. What types of skills and perspectives are you looking for in candidates?
One of the things that’s really important for us is to find people that are really strong at bridging the gap between design and engineering. That means finding people that are super detail oriented, curious about the similarities and differences between those disciplines, and are able to provide the deep understanding and perspective necessary to make other designers and engineers better, both from the daily practices of their work to the broader decisions they’ll have to make while building our products.
For instance our current open role is a Design Technologist for iOS. This person has to be deeply conscious and experienced with the nuances of how engineers build UIs and products with UIKit, the current paradigm for UI engineering on iOS. They have to know the pain points, how people feel and think when using that tool, and then come up with components that help ensure the things people need the most help with are resolved easily. But they also need to be able to love and appreciate the craftsmanship in building UIs — they help answer how we ensure that everyone at DoorDash can build with craft that is imbued in their work.
Additionally, they should understand from the design side how to engage in and shape how a component will be designed, by providing their perspective as someone building the component and shaping how other engineers will use it.
We need people that care about craftsmanship, have cross-functional/cross-discipline understanding, and just really want to build the platforms & systems that can help our engineers and designers do the best work of their careers.
“DoorDash Design Infrastructure team at the end of 2019.” — Kathryn
I’ve said this to you many times, but I take a lot of inspiration from the way you lead your team. How would you describe your leadership style?
The way I want people to see my leadership style is that I want to understand all the details to make sure that everyone is coordinated in the right way. I want to make sure we’re proactive and communicate effectively with other teams. This is especially important for the kind of role that my team fulfills, serving other teams and their interests, and how they get their work done to build a better product. And because of that need for coordinating our impact through the work of others, I feel like we have to be very collaborative and cognizant of how we affect the stakeholders that are actually using our products to build that correctly. I also think that it takes time to do anything interesting, and you need a lot of different perspectives along the way to make something great.
At the same time, I want to foster the perspectives on our team that can help us build the bridges that we need to build between design and engineering. It takes a very particular kind of person to be comfortable sitting at that intersection, and I want to make space for those kinds of deeply skilled, empathetic people that are drawn to that. This field of design systems is so new, and I want to be part of the reason that more people can participate in this kind of work in 5 years — I want to make that space for these people, that I myself wish I had 5 years ago.
That helps explain your team’s empathetic and collaborative approach! Speaking of empathy, you helped drive DoorDash’s recent accessibility efforts. Why was that such an important focus for you?
So, there’s two parts to that answer. The first is that our team is uniquely situated to make an impact on accessibility because it isn’t something that happens just on a product level, and it doesn’t just happen within our Consumer, Merchant, or Dasher products. It’s a way of thinking and designing so that we’re not only building something that works for the narrow group of people that look like us, but for people with different kinds of mental and physical capabilities and circumstances. It’s about being able to serve anyone who wants to use our product.
I also think at the heart of it, one of DoorDash’s goals is to give everyone in our communities the ability to engage with their local merchant in a way that’s more convenient and accessible. Our service isn’t something that’s supposed to be exclusive. I think one of the things that has always been interesting, especially when I first started at DoorDash, was this idea that food delivery and other convenience services are things that only ‘rich people’ can afford, and that it’s inherently inaccessible from an economic point of view.
But I think our service is meant to actually make the world more easily accessible to more people, and I think we’re on a journey to make that possible both economically and in terms of how we build our products to be accessible. So if the ‘North Star’ of DoorDash is to make the world accessible to you no matter what, and to make your local community better connected, then I think accessibility has to be a core part of how we think about our work.
“DoorDash design team at the end of 2019.” — Kathryn
One of the things I appreciate the most about that answer is how it aligns with the company’s overall user-centric culture, which makes sense since you’ve been here for almost five years now. What makes DoorDash such a special place to work for you?
I’m trans, and back in December of 2018, I officially came out at work and started transitioning while here. I’d been at DoorDash for about 3 and a half years. That’s a long time, given how old the company is overall and how early I started. People knew me for a long time as another person, and because I wasn’t out in any aspect of my life, I had a lot of experiences where I couldn’t really feel comfortable being myself openly. It was hard, and it was a long road both personally and professionally to feel the courage to come out and start being me.
I think one of the things that’s been really amazing about this company, and part of the reason why I’m still here today and love and care so deeply about this team, is that the culture was part of the reason I was able to come out and be truthful about who I was. Being able to take this thing that took 25 years of my life to be able to even vocalize to a single person, and then coming out to everyone at a company of the size of DoorDash in 2018 — I don’t know if I would have been able to do it at any other company. I think that level of comfort, trust and positivity that came from that moment when I came out — all of that support and love — has always made DoorDash feel really special to me.
I was part of helping DoorDash go from being this small company where I was the only person doing product design to a place where there are 30+ people on the product design team and even more people on the engineering team that I helped personally hire and get into this company. Being deeply involved in developing the culture, the hiring process, and just knowing all these people helped me know that I would be able to come out and be me. And I was really proud the day I came out, because I knew I had made good decisions in judging the characters of the people I worked with when I was helping hire them, based on the care that they showed me in that really important time.
“Early design team in 2016, before I came out!” — Kathryn
“Celebration with my lovely coworkers after I came out at DoorDash in December 2018!” — Kathryn
Thank you for sharing such an inspiring personal anecdote, Kathryn. I want to ask about something else from your personal life, which is your love of cooking. What do you enjoy most about it?
There’s a saying in cooking that the cleanliness of your station is a reflection of your mind, and what that means is that best cooks and chefs in the world have a very specific orderliness to how they work and the environment that they work in. And so, for me, the excitement of knowing what the right sort of ingredients are, how they play together, the process and skills necessary to make them bloom, in the act of making something great, that just gets me so happy.
I think this need for orderliness, structure, and precision is reflected both in my work and in terms of how I like to live my life.
What’s your favorite dish to cook?
So, there is this dish that I love to make that is just pure comfort food for me. I’m Filipino and one of the dishes that my dad would make growing up is this dish called bulalo. It’s basically this really rich stew of beef shank with bone marrow and potatoes and corn and bok choy. It’s this really hearty soup and when you eat it, you have to be careful because the soup itself can be super hot under a placid lake of oil. Every time I think about it, I think about home and what that means to me. | https://medium.com/design-doordash/interview-with-kathryn-gonzalez-9b2ef0c8d3e2 | ['Tae K. Kim'] | 2020-06-12 22:57:16.201000+00:00 | ['Design Leadership', 'DoorDash', 'Design', 'Design Inspiration', 'Design Infrastructure'] |
Leading Diverse and Dispersed Teams in Times of Crisis | Leading Diverse and Dispersed Teams in Times of Crisis
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative is collaborating with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ COVID-19 Local Response Initiative to support mayors as they manage the pandemic. A ninth virtual discussion session held on May 14, 2020, focused on leading diverse and dispersed teams in times of crisis.
In the ninth session of the COVID-19 Local Response Initiative, Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, and Jorrit de Jong, Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and Harvard Kennedy School, discussed effective crisis leadership with a particular focus on creating conditions for diverse and dispersed teams to thrive.
Public Health Update
Dr. Josh Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Dr. Caitlin Rivers, Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, provided critical public health updates and examined what organizations, businesses, and other settings need to do when they reopen. | https://medium.com/covid-19-public-sector-resources/leading-diverse-and-dispersed-teams-in-times-of-crisis-b1a3b723af78 | ['Harvard Ash Center'] | 2020-05-18 16:02:04.565000+00:00 | ['Local Government', 'Covid 19', 'Leadership', 'Teams And Teamwork', 'Coronavirus'] |
How to Declutter Your Writing Closet and Become a Minimalist | How to Declutter Your Writing Closet and Become a Minimalist
How to stop hoarding half baked articles and get clinical
Photo by piotr szulawski on Unsplash
Sometimes you buy things just because you can. You have no need for another pair of trainers. In fact, if anything, you have a need to reduce the number of trainers in your trainer collection, because yes, at this point it’s become a collection.
Somehow you’ve got to the point where you have different trainers for different occasions despite the fact you only go out once a month. Along the way that’s happened with the clothes you own and the coats you buy. You realise on one faithful Saturday afternoon that you simply have too much stuff. You have t-shirts that still have the tags on, trainers and shoes that look brand new, coats that haven’t seen the outdoors. Evidence of total excess.
So you decide to clear things out. Charity bags at one end of the room and bin bags at the other. You get rid of all your old, tatty clothes that you’ve had since you were 13 and you bag up all the clothes you know you’ll never wear into the charity bags ready for someone else to get their use out of them. After all, they are wasted if they are sat in a closet not giving anyone any joy. | https://eve-arnold.medium.com/how-to-declutter-your-writing-closet-and-become-a-minimalist-86a9de2ed0f | ['Eve Arnold'] | 2020-11-18 12:15:38.432000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Writing Tips', 'Self', 'Self Improvement', 'Writing'] |
LifeLink CEO Greg Johnsen: AI vs. Healthcare’s ‘Fat Belly’ | Audio + Transcript
Greg Johnsen:
It’s all about using technology to free smart minds up to do the things that they’re really good at.
James Kotecki:
This is Machine Meets World. Infinia ML’s ongoing conversation about artificial intelligence. I am James Kotecki joined by the CEO of LifeLink, Greg Johnsen. Welcome Greg.
Greg Johnsen:
Thank you. Good to be here James.
James Kotecki:
So Greg, your website says “chatbots are the future of healthcare.” So we’re talking about AI powered chatbots that don’t take the place of doctors it sounds like in your case at least, they take the place of an administrative conversation that I might have with somebody about billing for example, is that right?
Greg Johnsen:
That’s right. We’re not using our technology to replace a doctor’s diagnostic assessment or the skills of a physician. What we’re really focused on are all the workflows and protocols that are robotic that humans have to do. I’m talking about things like helping patients complete forms, reminding them to get to visits, doing intake, and triage, and questionnaires, and surveys and keeping them posted on their status, being a search engine for them so when they’re looking for something. That’s what we call the fat belly of cost and aggravation in a lot of the healthcare business.
James Kotecki:
Let’s go right to the million dollar jobs question that I’m sure you get all the time, “Is my job now on the line? I’m calling people all day trying to track down bills or set up appointments.” What do you tell those folks?
Greg Johnsen:
Well, it’s not like that work is pleasurable work or the best way to take a human brain and deploy it there. And what humans are really good at is all the empathy, empathetic discernment that has to happen in human dialogue and conversations and interaction. So if you can offload a lot of the rote procedural work that burns them out and move it to a mode that is low cost but also one that patients prefer. So, the way we explain it and articulate to large healthcare systems and pharma companies and healthcare organizations who we target is, “We’re going to shift up the skill level. We’re going to take the human teams that you have and allow them to shift up into the upper cognitive stack of what humans are really good at. And we’re going to take out the robotic work and move it to this layer that is not only cost effective but it’s the kind of engagement that consumers prefer to do with a digital assistant.” So this is about how to increase capacity in an industry that has been short and thin on service and capacity and how to solve that problem.
James Kotecki:
And we’re talking for context about people interacting with these bots via their keyboards and screens, right? We’re not talking about an automated voice calling them on the phone or are we?
Greg Johnsen:
That’s right. We’re predominantly, exclusively what we’re doing right now is chatbots in chat on mobile phones. You’re going back and forth with chat bubbles.
James Kotecki:
So, you’re saying that this is work that humans generally don’t want to do or aren’t best utilized for and I tend to agree with you there and yet it’s interesting that the interface that you’re building is meant to in effect replicate that interaction people have with a human.
Greg Johnsen:
That’s right.
James Kotecki:
Because if I go back and look at technology for the last 20 years, we’ve long had the ability to fill out a form on a website, right? But why are you choosing to do it in a human-like way? And as a follow-up question, how human are you trying to make this thing seem?
Greg Johnsen:
When you give a consumer, getting ready for a healthcare appointment, a complicated portal, or a set of steps to log in and download an app and learn it and find their username and password and register — it doesn’t happen. It’s why healthcare systems have about a two percent penetration in terms of reaching patients in workflows on mobile phones. Two percent. And it’s because it’s hard. Conversations are simple and they’re easy and they’re natural and there’s nothing to learn. It’s a powerful modality to connect with consumers at scale. And so, our whole architecture is built around that very simple idea which is, how do you connect with a patient, with a consumer in a complicated healthcare flow with a conversation that feels like a human conversation?
Greg Johnsen:
Now to be clear James, we’re not setting up these chatbot workflows to fool anybody. It’s not like the entity on the other end of that conversation ever represents itself as anything other than a digital assistant. They feel like the thing you’re working with is doing things for you and can kind of anticipate what your next move is or what you might be interested in doing or what you should do. When we start talking about AI and machine learning this is really where LifeLink is focused. It’s using smarts and technology to predict what the next best thing or move is in the context of a specific healthcare protocol and a specific human, a person, a patient who we know about.
James Kotecki:
Are we really talking about two separate AI systems here? One system is the one that can go into healthcare records or billing records and find the information that is relevant for that next moment in the conversation, maybe it’s being queried specifically like a search engine. And then the other kind of AI, which is being merged together in your product, is that conversational part that makes it seem more natural and more like a conversational interface. Am I right to think of those as two separate things, and if so which one is harder?
Greg Johnsen:
Well, they’re certainly different applications of AI. The front end thing you might see or associate with AI with chatbots is natural language processing which is understanding what the patient — what the consumer is wanting to do. And so, you have to use AI to understand what their intent is, their intent, and in the context of the entities or things that this domain is all about.
Greg Johnsen:
There’s also this idea of how to make smart predictions about where things can go. So for example, one of the big things in healthcare is patients not showing up for surgery, expensive. There’s an OR that costs $100 a minute. If you can get patients to show up on time and be ready it’s a big deal, but you need lots of humans to do that, to call people, to give them their instructions, to remind them, to call them every day, to get a ride for them. It’s raining, make sure you get a ride. That’s complicated stuff but if it’s chatbot-driven then it can happen at scale. And the AI used to make that happen is all about predicting which patients are most likely to not show up or to show up late or to show up unprepared.
Greg Johnsen:
So if you can begin to have different conversations with patients based on what you know about those kinds of patients in these kinds of workflows at scale, suddenly those conversations get a lot more powerful because they’re not just natural, well-timed conversations. They’re pinpointed, precision conversations that tie and stitch back to a value proposition. Fewer no-shows. Fewer late-shows. For example.
Greg Johnsen:
There’s two different applications of AI and there are 17 more. I mean, predicting wait times in an emergency department is another application. It’s another way of — it’s in that camp of machine learning where you’re looking at all the tests and the turnaround times for lab tests and blood tests and imaging tests over millions of patient visits, which is what we do. So you can communicate that to the patient and say, “Looks like your lab test just went in. It looks like it’s going to be about a 35-minute wait. You might want to get comfortable and we’ll let you know when you’re about five minutes away from getting your physician to come out and talk to you about it.” That’s a lot of computing to make that happen.
Greg Johnsen:
And I think one of the really fascinating things about this kind of technology in healthcare is that it’s such a laboratory for human decisioning, human bias, human behaviors. How many nudges it takes to reach out to somebody to get them to engage, and does that have anything to do with their zip code? Does it have anything to do with their gender, or their age? You’re digitizing all the conversations and all the sentiments all along these workflows, so suddenly you have this consumer research platform. Are there patterns about, should we be incenting certain consumers in certain areas to get a wellness visit more often and should we pay for their ride?
James Kotecki:
Do you run into any issues of AI bias?
Greg Johnsen:
Probably less than in other AI areas. We’re not generating language. We use NLP to understand and then using predefined responses. And by the way, they have to be in healthcare. We’re literally tuning into the approved, medically compliant workflows and dialogues that have to be delivered.
James Kotecki:
One last rapid question before you go, how far along the path do you think we are to artificial general intelligence based on the work that you’re doing now or is that not even really even the right question to ask?
Greg Johnsen:
Clinical care is better than it has ever been in healthcare, and we have highly-trained physicians who know more, have access to more than ever before. The problem is they’re not freed up to do that work. They’re encumbered by a lot of the administrivia and inefficiency of workflow. So, I really think for the next decade it’s all about using technology to free smart minds up to do the things that they’re really good at. And I don’t have an opinion on when general intelligence will arrive, I would only be speculating.
James Kotecki:
Well, that’s what we love to do sometimes, but hey Greg Johnsen, CEO of LifeLink, I really appreciate you joining us today and sharing your insights here on Machine Meets World.
Greg Johnsen:
Thank you for having me. Nice meeting you James.
James Kotecki:
And thank you so much for watching. I’m James Kotecki. You can email the show [email protected]. Like us, share us, comment, you know what to do. That’s been what happens when Machine Meets World. | https://medium.com/machine-meets-world/lifelink-ceo-greg-johnsen-ai-guts-the-fat-belly-of-healthcare-costs-de25db6962ff | ['James Kotecki'] | 2020-10-19 16:08:27.215000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Chatbots', 'Technology', 'Healthcare'] |
Interview with Sam Lind | Interview with Sam Lind
Design Leadership Interview at DoorDash
Hey Sam, How’s it going?
It’s going well. We’ve been busy working on a lot of exciting things lately.
Yeah, it’s definitely been exciting given current events. So what do you do at DoorDash?
I’m the design manager for the core consumer team. We design the end-to-end customer experience — finding a restaurant, placing an order, tracking a delivery — for our mobile apps and website.
And what was your journey to being a design manager here?
I joined DoorDash a little over 2 years ago. Before that I was at an agency called Odopod for nine years, and before that I was at Yahoo for six.
During my time at Odopod, the world of digital design shifted substantially. The first iPhone had just been released and it ushered in a new class of digital products along with a new industry focus on mobile. During that period, I was lucky to contribute to work for EA, Tesla, Sony, PlayStation, GoPro and more.
Over time, though, the nature of our work changed. As our clients built their own in-house product design teams, we were hired to define the product vision, but the in-house team carried that vision forward. It was fun to do that visionary work, but I started to feel a little disconnected from the day-to-day execution. That’s when I started looking for an in-house role.
My team at Odopod. Go, Team Blue!
Funny you mention EA because you’re into video games, right?
Yeah, I play my fair share of video games, mostly Destiny these days. It’s been a great way to remotely stay in touch with my brothers and friends for the past six years. It’s engaging enough to be interesting, but repetitive enough to encourage a sort of mediation.
The amount of detail invested in the story and graphics is sincerely impressive as well.
Bungie definitely invests a lot of time in the craft and details that make the whole experience feel complete and rewarding. Even the in-game UI — which uses a free cursor rather than a directional selector — is pretty unique for consoles. The game also has a strong community of creators who make apps and web tools that let you manage your in-game inventory, capture and reflect game play stats, and more. It’s inspiring to see what people can build with an open API and a little imagination.
Speaking of craft, you’re generally known as the craft enforcer, so to speak here at DoorDash and amongst your team. Is that true?
*Laughs* I hope so! Craft is often undervalued. It’s not enough just to have a good idea, you also need to bring that idea to life through careful execution. A great idea executed poorly loses a lot of value. To execute well, though, you need to both go wide to explore a range of possible solutions, and go deep to pay close attention to the details. The first iteration is rarely the best iteration; set a goal to create 5, 10, 20 different versions of whatever you’re working on and I bet the later explorations are the strongest.
In a similar vein, you and your team do a great job with delightful-ness — this is especially apparent with the cuisine filters at the top of the home page. Where did the idea for these come from?
One of my first projects at DoorDash was focused on improving the home page. We wanted to add tools to help indecisive customers find something to order. Through user research, we found that cuisines are really powerful: they inspire customers to try something new, they remind customers of restaurants they had forgotten about, they also help convey the breadth of selection available on DoorDash.
So cuisines are important and should be prominent, but we also wanted to make them fun to use. The illustration style is inviting and friendly, and the tap animation is the icing on the cake that makes them a delight. The team, led by Ben Sorensen, put a lot of work into each animation. The work involved a lot of unique design debates too, “is this exploding pad thai fun or just a mess?”
Our collection of DoorDash Cuisine icons.
Never heard of someone trying to balance delightful-ness and messiness, but there’s a first for everything, I guess! What’s your favorite icon, and why?
I like that the bowls are all similar, but there are subtle differences that are unique to each cuisine. My favorites are probably the pizza and the sandwich, though. They have enough detail to be interesting and unique, but not so much that they’re distracting.
Back to your team, how do you think they would describe your leadership?
Building on the previous point about craft, I think they would agree that I have sharp attention to detail and hold a high bar for execution. I’m careful not to be prescriptive, though. I want to provide clear feedback, but I want my team to feel empowered to own their work and be the thought leader in their product area.
Empowerment is arguably one of the most important things you can instill in designers. That said, what type of culture do you try to instill amongst your team?
Open and collaborative. That might sound cliche, but it’s truly important given the structure of the team. Each designer owns a product area, so each designer works very independently. To keep the team from drifting apart, I encourage the designers to reach out to one-another regularly, align on common patterns, seek advice, share their perspectives. We need to create organic connections across projects that would otherwise have no organizational connection.
DoorDash design, one year ago.
Agreed. So, I also hear that you’re hiring. What type of designers are you looking for?
We are hiring! I want designers who are independent owners and makers. Designers who can partner with their cross-functional peers — product managers, engineers, analysts, and more — to identify opportunities in their product area and drive change. We’re always juggling near-term product improvements alongside long-term strategic thinking and planning. A designer on the consumer team should be able to move seamlessly between the two and help the team decide where to focus their effort.
I also want designers who are eager to reach outside of their product area and make connections between their work and the work being conducted by the Dasher or merchant teams. Our three-sided marketplace is complex and most of our problems can’t be solved in a silo; we need designers who are looking out for opportunities to collaborate.
With that said, what advice would you give designers that are looking to apply to your team?
Two ideas spring to mind: First, when you present your work, demonstrate that you understand the problem you’re solving. How did you uncover the customer pain-point? How did you evaluate the size of the opportunity?
Second, show your craft and process. How did you arrive at the final solution? What other solutions did you explore along the way? How did you determine and verify that the path you selected was the right one?
We want to see the thinking behind your work.
Great! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
DoorDash is growing fast and the team isn’t resting on our laurels. Everyone, across all disciplines, is excited to radically improve every aspect of our product. We’re also eager to stretch our team culture, grow our skillset, and learn from new team members with new perspectives.
— — — — —
For those readers who are interested in joining Sam’s awesome design team, please check out these links:
Senior Product Designer
Please learn more about other design leaders at DoorDash:
Christopher Payne — Chief Operating Officer
Kathryn Gonzalez — Manager for Design Infrastructure
Radhika Bhalla — Head of UX Research
Rajat Shroff — VP of Product
Tae Kim — UX Content Strategist Lead
Will DiMondi — Manager for Merchant Design | https://medium.com/design-doordash/interview-with-sam-lind-7c4eba82a78 | ['Will Dimondi'] | 2020-06-10 19:28:10.263000+00:00 | ['Design', 'UX Design', 'UX', 'DoorDash', 'Design Leadership'] |
Live: Now From Your Lock Screen | Live: Now From Your Lock Screen
Users watched live video in an expanded notification for an average of three minutes.
The Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab’s live video within an alert on January 20, 2016.
Even now, in an era that feels saturated by breaking news, live video has a startling power to transport the viewer into the action. When we talk about events after they happen, we now say not only “Do you remember where you were when…?” but also “Do you remember what that looked like?”
Newsrooms have a variety of ways of making live video available on desktop, but fewer means of directly bringing users into a live video stream on mobile. For the inauguration on January 20, we tested a completely new format that offered an additional entry point: live video inside a notification, sent to iOS users via the Mobile Innovation Lab app.
Why We Did It
An ongoing goal of the mobile lab is to investigate how notifications can be used in new ways to provide both utility and context for the user. By adding a live video stream to a notification, our aim was to offer a totally new entry point for mobile users who may want to know what’s going on “right now” or who may want access to the source material (like a live view of an official statement, ongoing protest, or major event).
We were interested in using the inauguration, with its hours-long duration, to see when users would open a live stream, how long they would watch for, and if they would re-engage at different points during the day. Would users expand to watch for just the major events or would they use the stream as an alternate television?
This was also an opportunity to do something brand new. We believe this was the first use of live video in a notification ever — an exciting first and an opportunity to break ground and evaluate the format for future use.
Our Hypothesis
Our belief in creating this format was that by making live streaming video of an important news event more accessible on mobile phones while news is happening, live video notifications would offer mobile users a level of convenience they wouldn’t otherwise get by seeking it out on TV, a desktop web page, or within an app.
We saw possible indicators of success of the format as time users spent with the notification expanded and the video playing, as well as positive feedback to our survey questions about its usefulness and functionality.
What We Did
We recently launched an iOS app for the purpose of running Mobile Innovation Lab experiments quickly and easily. One of the lab’s developers, Alastair Coote, who built the app, included the capacity to send live video notifications. The notifications were available to users who downloaded the app and allowed them.
Expanding the notifications
To populate the notifications, we relied on the Reuters live video feed, which we knew would have live coverage of the entire inauguration day and the attendant events. The notifications were sent from a tool, created by Connor Jennings, the other lab developer, and run by the mobile lab, which allowed us to include a notification title and bit of text, updated continuously with what was happening in the live video.
Our first live video notification was sent at 11am EST, as members of the president-elect’s family and politicians arrived at the ceremony in Washington DC. It also included instructions to “press and hold to expand the notification.” In later pushes, we changed this language to “press and hold, or swipe left to view” after users on older model phones, where the press and hold to view was not applicable, told us on Twitter that our earlier language was unclear to them.
Once in an expanded notification, users saw a short title indicating the most recent update, the live video, and 2–3 lines of copy with more details about the events pictured at the moment the alert was sent. As much of what was shown was planned or announced in advance, this copy included details about who was speaking and their titles, or some of the history of the ceremony.
In the expanded view, users could tap on the video to mute and unmute the sound, as well as tap on two action buttons, one of which took the user to the live blog, with the other offering the option to opt-out of the notification. If the user dismissed the alert by swiping it away, they received an immediate follow-up notification with a way for them to re-open the alert. We decided to send this follow-up notification based on feedback from previous experiments, when users who accidentally swiped away notifications were frustrated by needing to wait for another push to re-engage.
Over the course of the day we sent 29 updates to the live video notification, ending around 6:45pm EST, as the inaugural parade following the ceremony was coming to a close.
Numbers in Brief
Audience Size: 620 users
Engagement:
Users watched video for three minutes on average
Users expanded the alerts an average of between three and four times during the experiment
25% of users tapped through to the live blog during the experiment
From the survey:
Users who rated the alert positively, calling it useful, interesting and convenient: 85%
Users who said they would want this type of alert for Breaking News Events: 98%
Users who said they would sign up for this type of alert again: 89%
What the Data Told Us
Users on average expanded the alert multiple times. Users expanded the notification between 3 and 4 times throughout the day. 92.5% of survey takers also said they expanded the alerts they received, indicating that our instructions were clear.
Users watched the live video in the notification for about the same amount of time that current wisdom suggests they watch video on the internet. The average play duration per user for live video was three minutes. That’s roughly on par with some assessments of how long users will watch video in other digital news formats, and is in the upper reaches of expected attention time for an average video online today.
Users came in at the important moments, and reengaged with the content that interested them. Reuters had published a schedule for subscribers of which events it would shoot on its inauguration feed, and then notified clients on the day of the inauguration that they would be cutting back and forth to the protests taking place that day in Washington DC. We adapted the text of the notification to make clear to users what the feed was showing when it switched to protests.
The switch to the protests proved to be the most popular update of the day, and the closest to a true “breaking news” event. 41% of subscribers expanded this alert to watch the video. Overall, users expanded between three and four times during the time we sent notifications.
Users found the alerts convenient, useful and interesting, far more than they found them onerous.
Survey takers indicated that they liked the convenience and utility that we were trying to put into the notification. From our subscription data we saw that the rate of users who turned off the notification over the course of the experiment was low, at 8% (while in the survey 80% told us they knew how to turn off the format if they had wanted to). Some who took the survey indicated that they had a hard time watching the video, or felt like it was more work, though, which gives us some indication that we could try to make the experience easier in future experiments.
25% of subscribers tapped through the live blog over the course of the experiment. Users found the “Open live blog” button below the live video stream and tapped through to get more information, which suggests that even with direct access to the video, some users still wanted analysis, or preferred a written account of events.
Additional Insights
Live video notifications, as well as being an industry first, held up well against our initial expectations and assumptions about their effectiveness as a means of conveying information. Most excitingly for us, 98% of users said that they would like this type of alert for a breaking news event. 89% said they would sign up for this type of alert again.
Running this format on the day required a full time editorial staffer and developer. Developing this type of notification required dedicated work from Alastair, who created the format while working on the mobile lab’s iOS app. In addition, we consulted with the Guardian US video team in advance about the video streams they would be using, and how we might embed the video in a notification.
Editorially, we were able to create an editorial schedule with suggested copy in advance, with the official information available ahead of the inauguration ceremony. One lab staffer ran the titles and notification copy for the format for the day, watching the live video stream and sending updates through the tool. Another developer was dedicated to the format on the day, watching for breakages. We sent 29 push notification updates, including several breaking news notifications in the afternoon for which we wrote copy on the fly, between 11am and 6:45 pm EST.
Live video notifications hold promise for live streamed breaking news. Our most engaged moment of the day was when we updated the alert as the live stream turned away from the official events of the inauguration to cover the protests in Washington DC. After the experiment, 98.3% of survey takers told us they would like these alerts for breaking news.
Additionally, of the 29 updates we sent that day, three others that had high engagement rates were those that signaled major events, like the arrival of the president-elect and the start of the ceremony. This suggests that this format can provide a handy way to prep users for news they know they would like to see, and then offer it immediately after.
We’re planning to try this format again and look forward to sharing it with you.
In the meantime, if you have questions or want to chat, send us an email at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @gdnmobilelab. | https://medium.com/the-guardian-mobile-innovation-lab/live-now-from-your-lock-screen-532133e22419 | ['Madeline Welsh'] | 2017-06-29 17:31:32.253000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Live Streaming', 'Innovation', 'Web Notifications', 'Journalism'] |
Quadrant Expands Its Marketing Team With eQUAD In Focus | We are thrilled to announce that we have expanded our marketing team in the last few weeks, hiring a new Director of Marketing and a Content Marketing Manager.
Strengthening the marketing team is not merely the next logical step in Quadrant’s growth story; we are also introducing structural changes. Historically, the marketing activities of Quadrant.io and Quadrant Protocol — our core data business and our blockchain arm — were somewhat siloed. With the new hires, the marketing strategy of the two sister companies will be perfectly aligned to advance the ecosystem.
Our updated roadmap has four ambitious new projects, focusing on advancing Quadrant Protocol and creating additional value for the token. The new marketing structure makes it possible to explore even more opportunities for eQUAD use.
Quadrant’s new Director of Marketing is Torsten Sandor, with 16 years of experience in B2B marketing, adtech, startups, and blockchain. He is coming from Komodo Platform, one of the oldest projects in the industry, and previously served as Head of Communications of BigPay’s blockchain project. Before venturing into crypto, Torsten was the Chief Marketing Officer at a Google-funded B2B startup pioneering programmatic native advertising.
“Quadrant is in the right place and at the right time, as big data is one of the most exciting, emerging use cases for blockchain applications,” said Torsten. “I am excited to join a team with a strong long-term vision and proven track record of execution. I am equally excited to be part of our incredible eQUAD community.”
Suman Joshi comes on board as Quadrant’s Content Marketing Manager. She is a seasoned technology product marketer with 12+ years of experience, focusing on content, demand generation, and sales enablement. Before joining Quadrant, Suman worked for cybersecurity and data analytics firms like Appsian, USEReady, and Cambridge Tech. Earlier in her career, she supported major global marketing campaigns at Toyota and Mahindra & Mahindra.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the real-world applications of data and how they can facilitate positive change in our world,” said Suman. “The most powerful emerging trend in our industry is data provenance and the integrity of people’s personal information. The combination of big data and blockchain solves this, which I am personally passionate about as a cybersecurity nerd. I am happy to be a part of the team at Quadrant and for the opportunity to build a robust marketing operation.”
The first project of the new, extended marketing team is rolling out Quadrant’s Consent Management Platform, known by the codename Cape Canaveral.
“Our philosophy might be a bit unorthodox in the crypto space, but I believe it is the right way to build a successful business and a sustainable token economy,” added Mike Davie, Quadrant’s CEO. “In the last two years, we established a product-market fit, onboarded dozens of clients, and built a fast-growing company. This is the time to step up our marketing and bring the core business and Quadrant Protocol together. I am thrilled to welcome Torsten and Suman on board.” | https://medium.com/quadrantprotocol/quadrant-expands-its-marketing-team-with-equad-in-focus-489a043b6948 | ['Torsten', 'Quadrant Protocol'] | 2020-10-15 08:41:02.995000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Quadrant', 'Blockchain', 'Big Data', 'Equad'] |
Mixture of Variational Autoencoders — a Fusion Between MoE and VAE | The Variational Autoencoder (VAE) is a paragon for neural networks that try to learn the shape of the input space. Once trained, the model can be used to generate new samples from the input space.
If we have labels for our input data, it’s also possible to condition the generation process on the label. In the MNIST case, it means we can specify which digit we want to generate an image for.
Let’s take it one step further… Could we condition the generation process on the digit without using labels at all? Could we achieve the same results using an unsupervised approach?
If we wanted to rely on labels, we could do something embarrassingly simple. We could train 10 independent VAE models, each using images of a single digit.
That would obviously work, but you’re using the labels. That’s cheating!
OK, let’s not use them at all. Let’s train our 10 models, and just, well, have a look with our eyes on each image before passing it to the appropriate model.
Hey, you’re cheating again! While you don’t use the labels per se, you do look at the images in order to route them to the appropriate model.
Fine… If instead of doing the routing ourselves we let another model learn the routing, that wouldn’t be cheating at all, would it?
Right! :)
We can use an architecture of 11 modules as follows:
A manager module routing an input to the appropriate expert module
But how will the manager decide which expert to pass the image to? We could train it to predict the digit of the image, but again — we don’t want to use the labels!
Phew… I thought you’re gonna cheat…
So how can we train the manager without using the labels? It reminds me of a different type of model — Mixture of Experts (MoE). Let me take a small detour to explain how MoE works. We’ll need it, since it’s going to be a key component of our solution. | https://towardsdatascience.com/mixture-of-variational-autoencoders-a-fusion-between-moe-and-vae-22c0901a6675 | ['Yoel Zeldes'] | 2019-10-01 18:28:59.802000+00:00 | ['Neural Networks', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
The Case For Brand Scarcity In An Era Of Abundance And Accessibility | We live in a time of abundance. Advances in technology have torn down barriers of acquisition and made it possible to receive most any good or piece of media with the simple click of a button. In terms of convenience, this returns an unprecedented amount of hours back to our everyday lives as we no longer are required to go on time-consuming hunts for goods. But, now that we can have anything we want with very little effort, people seem to want less and less of it. Millennials have long been pegged as non-materialists, preferring experiences to stuff. The super rich are all-in on “access” — a.k.a. experiences money can’t buy. For the first time ever people are spending more at restaurants than at grocery stores. What gives? It could be that going to the trouble of obtaining something is half the fun of having it.
Scarcity might be what propelled Noma, a restaurant in Denmark that acquires many of its ingredients through local foraging, to the “best restaurant in the world” slot in 2014 (an appellation whose existence itself was only deemed necessary in the past few years). Noma is hard to get to and impossible to replicate. This might also explain why there is now a race called the Quintuple Anvil in which contestants run five Ironman length triathlons one after another. Just achieving one Ironman has become too easy (216,000 people entered the race last year). On the other hand, very few people can say they’ve completed five Ironmans back-to-back. The explosion of interest in unique experiences points to a new shift in the way we define ourselves in this new social age where everyone can know what you’re doing at all times. The Instagram feed has now become the barometer for a well-curated life. And while posting pictures of new expensive things could be seen as gauche, the images of your children learning to surf in Costa Rica just mean that you are #blessed.
Self-definition, for some, used to revolve around a well-appointed music collection — a curated wall of music was a window into the collector’s soul. I have a great set of rare 1970s African Funk recordings that were given to me by a friend who found them in a indie-record store in Portland. I used to love bringing them out when people came over. Last month the label put their entire library on Spotify. Selfishly, I was a little disappointed by this. This cool thing that only I had was now easily accessible to everyone. It’s good for the label, but not good for my curatorial sense of self. Recorded music, just like everything on Amazon.com, is no longer scarce. It’s completely 100% available. With less scarce things in the world, the ones that are still hard to acquire have taken on even more significance. This is why some East Coasters land at LAX and go directly to the nearest In ’N’ Out burger.
Snap Inc. is well aware of the scarcity effect. The ephemeral nature of Snapchat snaps and stories have contributed largely the success of the platform, with its custom “here-now, gone in a moment” media as the primary currency. Snapchat’s understanding of the power of scarcity is no doubt why Spectacles, their new custom sunglasses that enable wearers to record whatever they’re seeing instantly (another vehicle for sharing experiences) are available in extremely limited quantities in only a few locations, such as a vending machine at the base of the Grand Canyon. And it’s worked. People took a helicopter down to the river bed to get their hands on a product that in the hands of another marketer (ahem Google) could have easily been denounced as dorky and uncool. Snap Spectacles may ultimately suffer the same fate, but for now, their scarcity has turned them into a must have.
On the opposite end of the spectrum sits the NFL, the darling of the professional sports world. A good part of the NFL’s success has relied on the scarcity of viewing opportunities. With a season comprised of only 16 games airing locally on Sundays, this was appointment viewing at its finest. Lately, though, the NFL has added a lot more coverage. Now there’s the RedZone channel, which airs all the exciting parts of every game in real time, ad-free. There are now national games every Sunday, Monday and Thursday night. At the same time ratings for the NFL are as low as they’ve ever been — down an average 11% over last year, with Thursday night games down 21.8%. Suddenly football has become less compelling. Nobody knows for sure why, but one possibility is that there’s too much of it. People don’t feel the need to be parked in front of the TV all day on Sunday when they can watch three nights a week. Or maybe just wait until next week. When we can have all of something, we sometimes don’t feel the need to have any of it.
Fans of high-quality scripted television have been experiencing a bonanza of riches of late, with the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu releasing hundreds of new shows, entire seasons at a time. One has to wonder if shows like Game of Thrones that still trickle out one episode a week may be benefiting from their ability to provide a bit of weekly water-cooler fodder. It’s highly possible that the inconvenience of having to be on the couch at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night is exactly what people crave. What would happen if, for example, Netflix released the next season of House of Cards the old-school way? Would it garner more tune in? More chatter? More urgency? It’s a notion worth considering for marketers — are you making your brand too available? Maybe you need to play a little hard to get. | https://medium.com/walrus-nyc/the-case-for-brand-scarcity-in-an-era-of-abundance-and-accessibility-6d9e788a42e9 | ['Deacon Webster'] | 2017-01-24 23:07:46.701000+00:00 | ['Netflix', 'Television', 'Marketing Strategy', 'Brand Strategy', 'Marketing'] |
Two Things Every Runner Needs | Two Things Every Runner Needs
Which I discovered after my latest trail marathon
Photo by Massimo Sartirana on Unsplash
Earlier this year, I was running 40–50 miles a week whilst training for a trail marathon. Then for a couple of months, I had weeks when I logged zero miles, and averaged less than 10. The difference was not training for a race, but a total lack of motivation combined with no enjoyment. But why?
I’ve always had quiet periods after my races. Some of this is recovery time but it is also because training takes up a lot of time, meaning less spent with the family. But even during those times, I can be relied upon to get out two or three times a week for shorter runs, simply because I love running.
Post the trail marathon around Lake Coniston (for non-UK residents, this is in the Lake District region of England), that enjoyment wasn’t there. Running for me is about being outside, the freedom of running and the chance to clear your head. But I just didn’t want to go out. I did not enjoy running when I did get out. It was then I realised two things drive a runner, or at least this runner: motivation and enjoyment.
Having a Race to Motivate You
With the current state of the world, planned races are not a priority. I think that’s fair. It means I don’t actually have anything in the diary, which is really unusual for me. Even when I’m not in the mood for running I can usually be relied upon to have a date in the distance to aim at. This motivates me over the winter months to get out when it’s cold, wet and dark.
For the last three winters, I have had a summer run planned, each something I’d never done before. My first ever marathon, followed by my first ever trail run and finally my first trail marathon. All of them were fresh and new, things that excited me.
This was key for me, taking motivation from a fresh challenge and not automatically knowing how to do it, meaning I had to train properly because I couldn’t make it on memory muscle alone.
Photo by Sue Zeng on Unsplash
The Love and Enjoyment of Running
Without the motivation of a new challenge, to keep going out, I needed to enjoy my running. I simply wasn’t. When I reflect upon things, I think it has been some time since I last loved running. It was purely the motivation of the races that got me through the last four months.
So I did the sensible thing, rather than these fighting feelings, I took a break. By deliberately saying I would not run, I stopped the guilt I felt when I would normally run. This really helped me mentally step away.
How I Got the Love Back
I’m back to running three to four times a week and very much motivated and enjoying my running again. So I thought I would share what have been the main changes.
Share the Joy
Running with friends has been a big plus for me. Having a date for a race is a motivation to get out, so I’ve replaced that with agreed days to go out with others. It has meant I always make the effort. It’s replacing one form of motivation with another.
Also, I find running with other people more fun. The time goes faster, and you end up running further. At the end of the run, my enjoyment level is much higher.
Changing Things Up
The other big difference for me has been changing things up. I realised I’d fallen into the trap of running the same routes, with the same sort of goals.
I was focused on running a specific distance for so long, I decided to focus on my running times for a change. I was running less distance but pushing myself far harder. For example, I found a local 2.5-mile loop that’s a segment on Strava. I ran it, looked at where I ranked, and then tried to improve it. I got myself into the top three and felt really good about my running.
I’ve also looked at running my fastest ever two miles, five miles and 10KM runs. Again, it’s just about freshening up what you are doing.
I also picked different locations and terrains. I started running in the local woods. I found a new hill to struggle up. Just looking at different views, not knowing how hard they would be — they all gave me a lift. Even planning the routes on Google Maps built anticipation for the run itself.
So if you are struggling with your running, maybe your motivation is low or you’ve simply lost the love. Chances are it’s not permanent, you just need a break, and a way to get going again.
Running with others and trying new things is what helped me, but everyone will have their own motivations. Always try and remember why you got into running at the start. That can be lost over time and people forget what made them passionate. No one takes up running and sustains it for a long period of time without good reason, so when you inevitably hit that ‘wall’, remember what first motivated you and most of all, have patience. | https://medium.com/runners-life/two-things-every-runner-needs-f672af08e73b | ['Garry Lee'] | 2020-12-23 18:29:38.658000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Fitness', 'Running Tips', 'Motivation', 'Running'] |
How to Present and Justify Project Benefits to Sponsors | The diagram above addressed the three components of the SMART principle:
Specific : Key activities, deliverables and targets
: Key activities, deliverables and targets Measurable : Key performance metrics
: Key performance metrics Timely: Key milestones and timeline
In the next section, I will address how to quantify the values – which fulfils the achievable and realistic principles.
#3: Estimate and quantify the overall financial benefits
Investors and sponsors often have a set of projects to sponsor, and financial benefits are one of the primary factors that affect their prioritisation on which are the projects to sponsor.
You’ll want to ensure that your financial numbers are not only appealing but also achievable and realistic — by being able to justify and rationalize the numbers logically such that they are not plucked out of thin air (POOTA).
The pre-requisite is to have some form of clarity on the deliverables of your project. Details can include the key epics and features to be delivered at each phase. Knowing what you plan to deliver allows you to better compare the features of your product against others to obtain a reasonable estimate.
The approaches
There are two common ways to establish the estimates:
Top-down approach: showcase the increase in revenue by benchmarking against industry peers who have succeeded Bottom-up approach: showcase the reduction in costs by diving into the process/feature details and aggregating the values
Do note that these two approaches can also be used interchangeably, but for simplicity’s sake, I’ll only be providing an example of each approach.
Top-down approach (increase revenue)
The top-down approach involves conducting market research on industry peers who have already succeeded in implementing a solution of similar nature (based on feature comparison, etc.) and use the data as a benchmark or reference.
To obtain the project cost:
IT project delivery costs are often charged based on either 1) time-bound or 2) deliverables. Other components include infrastructure hosting costs (AWS/Azure/GCP), development tools (e.g. Atlassian suite), etc. The best case is having a reference project that would provide you with a benchmark of the cost of resources, epics/deliverables, and workstreams.
Alternatively, you can consider consulting an IT project manager or delivery consultant to advise on the costing. You can also try to do it yourself if you’re clear on the deliverables and have some project management experience.
Ample buffers and assumptions would often have to be factored into the cost estimates to manage the expectations of the sponsors.
To estimate the returns on investment:
The best case is having industry peers who have successfully implemented a similar solution and have resulted in an increase in revenue/productivity by X%. These data are typically available at the websites of consulting and product companies, e.g. McKinsey/Accenture, and Salesforce/Microsoft, etc.
If your project is a fairly new venture and there aren’t much data available to benchmark against, you can consider an alternate approach e.g. solving a Fermi problem.
Presenting investment/revenue returns
When it comes to presenting the important data of concern to sponsors, knowing what to omit/include is essential.
Once you’ve managed to obtain a benchmark revenue increment e.g. 30%, you can use that amount and work backwards to project the increment over X years and plot it out against a chart similar to the one below.
With the 30% increment spread over the years, you can then calculate the Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) using excel. CAGR is a good indicator of growth upon implementation of a solution. Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and payback period provide your sponsors with an idea on when they’ll be getting their returns on investment. | https://medium.com/the-internal-startup/how-to-present-and-justify-project-benefits-to-sponsors-9f4d40716621 | ['Jimmy Soh'] | 2020-09-06 08:12:38.909000+00:00 | ['Strategy', 'Innovation', 'Digital Transformation', 'Technology', 'Startup'] |
MLB Stats Lookup Ruby Program. In my flatiron school program we were… | In my Flatiron school bootcamp we were assigned to do a pair project. Me and my partner decided to make a program that takes baseball data, inputs it into a local database, and returns relevant data to the user with a user input. This program would be written in Ruby, and it would use ActiveRecord, sqlite3, require_all, rake, and pry gems.
Starting out the project, we were actually considering using CSV files from a MLB databank. We had some concerns with using this since the data went back all the way to the 1800’s. It was a lot of data. It would have been a tedious and lengthy process to go through all the available data and to record the necessary stuff into our database.
After searching for a new solution to our data, we found an API that includes all the necessary data we need. With the API we could get the data we needed faster and easier to get than if we used an API. The CSV would have worked, and in some places may have been better, but the API ended up being much more convenient.
Get class utilizing open-uri, net/http, and json
To use the API we needed a way to get and parse that information. This was done by using ‘open-uri’, ‘net/http’, and ‘json’. You can get these by requiring them in a file. Altogether they make it possible to retrieve data through the internet, In our case the MLB API. OpenURI makes it possible to open http, https, and ftp urls. The net/http lets us get back an object that is close to the actual structure of the http response. Finally json allows us to parse json formatted data into an array or hash that we can use.
Database showing tables and columns
After we had a way to get and parse the data from our API, we could start on creating methods and setting up our database migrations. For our database we created three migrations that made us the three tables that our data would record. The tables were a players, teams, and a contract table. We wanted to have a many to many relationship between our players and our teams. To do that we needed a bridge that would connect the two, which would be a contract.
The models would match our database, being a player, a team, and a contract model. Our major methods that would be in these classes were our add methods. The tricky part about this was that we needed these methods to not only add a new player to our database, but also adding their team, and creating a contract to connect them in our database. All the while taking the correct information from our API and using that without duplicating data in our database.
A snippet of the player class showing the add player method
The way we were able to make our add methods work was by using the find_or_create_by() Active Record method. This allowed us to avoid creating duplicates in our database. Using this we made add methods to player, team, and contract. With these methods in place we could run add_player and it would take that player’s name, put it into our database, add the team it belongs to, and create a contract between them connecting them in the database.
Now we needed some methods that would display information about our players and our teams. Using the add methods for player and team, we made methods that display and compare information about our players or teams. In our players, there were also methods to display batting averages and pitching averages for specific players. In team there was also a method to display all the players of a specific team. Finally there were methods for all models that deleted a team, player, or contract.
Team class snippet showing methods that display team data
Now we had all of our methods working how they should with fail safes, in case something went wrong like the user inputted an invalid input. The last thing that was needed was a way for the user to interact with our program. To do this we made a run file that would get the user input and depending on what that was, it would loop through if statements to run certain methods.
In conclusion, this project was a fun way to experiment using an API. The program could have much more functionality and methods if we had the time to add them. It would be just a case of adding more API gets, and returning the information from them. The API was very versatile and had plenty of MLB data available through it. You can find the API here. The project I worked on can also be found here. | https://rmiverson.medium.com/mlb-stats-lookup-project-for-fis-e11a2899d8f2 | ['Riley Iverson'] | 2020-12-23 00:55:45.473000+00:00 | ['Database', 'API', 'Activerecord', 'Software Engineering', 'Ruby'] |
The Northmen | The Mantle is a serialized fantasy story. More about it here Table of contents
The fallen star had gouged a channel into the earth miles long and so deep the sun couldn’t find the bottom. Even so buried, its carcass rose above the low hills like the ill-shaped crown of a god emerging from the black depths of the earth.
It was massive, as Simeon thought stars must be, but otherwise was all wrong, black and irregularly shaped and pocked. Dead. Whatever light it once held seemingly had been burnt up in its fiery descent. Nothing remained of its luminescent beauty. It was all rather disappointing.
They lay on their bellies atop a rise to the south. Simeon squinted into the old man’s looking glass, a clever bit of copper tubing that extended to three feet, capped with glass on either end. At its full length, the glass peeled away the distance until it seemed Simeon stood only a dozen paces from the star and the men camped in its shadow.
“How many are they,” the old man said.
Simeon took his time in answering, sweeping the glass over the squat tents, the mounts tied to hitching posts, the wagons piled with furs and barrels and small chunks of black rock. “Seven.”
“Describe them.”
They were fair-skinned and thickly bearded, long hair unfurling in the wind like pale banners. They wore white and gray furs over hardened leather and carried long hafted axes. “Large men in fur and leather.”
“Have they shaggy garrons?”
Simeon studied the horses, squat, thick-legged creatures with boots of thick fur and stringy manes. “Yes.”
“Northmen, then.” The old man’s tone was neutral. These were not Raiders, nor simple bandits, but something else. “The star must’ve drawn them down from the mountains.”
“They are trying to mine it.” In the time Simeon had been watching, he’d already seen one Northman break his axe on the star. “They are using a hammer and chisel but it doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Nor will it. Have they any stone in their wagons?”
“Not much. Small rocks.”
“The detritus of the impact.” The old man fell into the sort of silence that indicated deep thought.
Simeon studied the Northmen curiously. He had only ever seen Raiders and bandits, and, aside from the encounter at the bridge, only at a careful distance. For all their wild and unkempt appearance, the Northmen seemed to possess a certain nobility to their bearing, a purpose beyond mere plunder and pain. They stood talking while two of their number hammered at the star, and broke into laughter when one of the men threw his hammer away in disgust and sprawled onto the ground. One of them rushed over with a curved tankard and thrust it into the exhausted man’s hands, and helped him sit up to drink.
“They seem friendly,” Simeon said.
“To their own, mayhap. We can expect no warm welcome.”
“At least they aren’t Raiders.”
“Yes.”
“What shall we do?” Simeon looked at the old man.
“Given how little of the star they’ve collected, and that they still work at mining what no metal can break, I surmise that these northerners are only lately arrived. If not for that misfortune at the bridge, we would’ve beaten them here and been away with our prize. Alas.”
He squinted uselessly at men he could not see. “Who knows how long they will try to work the star before turning north again. Whatever it is, it is too long. We haven’t the food to wait them out.” With a heavy grunt, he pushed himself to a sitting position and flung his hand out.
Simeon helped him stand. “Do you mean to ensorcel them?”
“Not unless we have no other recourse. No, we will treat with them and ascertain their purpose and speed them on their way. If Luck is with us, we’ll come away with our prize and full bellies in the bargain.”
The collision of earth and sky had filled the shattered plain with loose rock, boulders the size of houses, and everything in between. They were most of the day crossing, and the sun was slipping past the horizon by the time they were within naked sight of the camp.
The Northmen stood waiting, their labors forgotten. They were arraigned in a loose line and had donned leather helms woven with horsehair and round wooden shields. They carried axes and spears with forked ends.
The old man walked boldly forward, quarterstaff striking the ground rhythmically. Simeon had little choice but to follow. He very much wished for Indomitable just then.
“Mind me well,” the old man said without looking in Simeon’s direction. “Say nothing. Be ever vigilant.”
When they were within two dozen paces, the man centering the Northmen stepped forward. He stood half a head taller than the rest and was wrapped in white fur. “That’s far enough, lowlander.” For all his size, his voice was soft and carried with it the promise of song.
The old man stopped. “It is rare to find mountain folk south of the Jagged Edge.”
“Stars do not fall from heaven every day.” Blue eyes shifted to Simeon and held there. “You are mystics.”
It felt as though the comment had been directed to him, but Simeon knew better than to speak up. He looked away, studying the other men. They were universally large, gripping their weapons and scowling, but Simeon didn’t fear them outright as he had the bandits; highwaymen and their ilk didn’t stop to talk.
“We are learned men, seeking knowledge. Nothing more.”
White teeth muscled aside his beard as he grinned without humor. “Even in the north we have heard stories of your learning. Some of us wanted to fall upon you with blade before you could use your fell powers.”
The threat hung between them like fog clinging to a graveyard.
“It is fortunate you did not.”
He blinked, the grin fading. “We have no quarrel with you, mystic.”
“Nor us with you. I will not believe that Fate has sent a prophet such as this,” he waved a hand at the fallen star, “solely that we might spill one another’s blood.”
The Northman inclined his chin as he considered the dead star. “Your words ring true.”
A man with three pale scars slashed across his face said something in a foreign tongue. The tall Northman cut him off with a sharp glance.
“The sun is low and my belly empty.” He hooked his axe over his shoulder. “We shall have a fire, and a feast, and horns of winter mead, that we might palaver as of old.”
The old man bent at the waist. “We humbly accept your gracious offer.”
The Northman crossed over. “I am Staal son of Halada,” he said, offering his hand. “The Snowcat. Voice of the Spring. Avalanche Breaker. The Howling Tempest.”
The old man smiled weakly. “I have lost my name to age, alas, along with whatever titles I’ve accrued. You may name me however you wish.”
Staal frowned heavily at this; when he relinquished the old man’s grip, he cradled his arm to his chest. “What of you boy? Have you a name?”
Simeon was very mindful of the old man’s warnings about the power of names, and he didn’t believe his master had truly forgotten his own. Taken together, he knew how he ought to respond. But it seemed rude to withhold his name when Staal had so willingly given his own, and anyway Simeon had always wanted to share his name and be called by it. “I am Simeon. I don’t know my parents and I have earned no titles.”
Staal smiled and gripped Simeon’s elbow in one massive hand. “In time, I’ve no doubt. Well met, Simeon.” He strode away, shouting instructions to his men in their tongue.
The old man glared at Simeon. “It seems I was wrong to believe you ready. If you cannot follow even the simplest instructions, how can you possibly expect to wield the Art?”
Stung by the rebuke, Simeon looked away. “I am ready, master.”
“Bah. Make yourself useful and help those men. But keep your mouth shut, hmm? I may yet salvage our end here but only if you aren’t undermining my every effort.” He wacked Simeon across the backside with the end of his staff. “Get going.”
Simeon hurried into the camp and helped gather wood for the fire. He sat beside it once it was burning pleasantly and watched a pair of Northmen butcher and clean a scrawny goat. It was hung over the flames on an iron spit and began sizzling nearly at once.
Someone thrust an ivory drinking horn into his hands, foamy liquid sloshing over the rim. By instinct, Simeon looked toward the old man for permission. His master was standing outside the camp amid the long shadows of dusk, with his eyes closed and one hand braced against the star as though trying to commune with it. Oblivious to the Northmen’s long looks. Indifferent to Simeon.
A stocky Northman with a coppery beard and a matching braid plopped down beside Simeon. He took a long drink from his own horn and smacked his lips with a grateful sigh.
Simeon sipped. The mead was strong but fresh, tasting faintly of sage and berries. “Thank you for the drink.”
“Think nothing of it.” He offered his hand. “I am Cordo, son of Kan. The Burning Bear.”
Simeon glanced toward the old man. “I am Simeon.” | https://medium.com/themantle/the-northmen-915e673d7520 | ['Eric Pierce'] | 2020-12-10 17:34:19.476000+00:00 | ['Science Fiction', 'Themantle', 'Writing', 'Fantasy', 'Fiction'] |
A Sketchbook for the City to Come: The Pop-up as R&D | A Sketchbook for the City to Come: The Pop-up as R&D
At first glance, architecture, continuing its slow descent from its 20th century heyday to today’s rather marginal pursuit, has rarely appeared so denuded and impotent as when engaged in pop-up architecture. For a trade once predicated on mighty civic investment, to see architecture scrabbling around with leftover materials in the leftover gaps between leftover buildings is a little disappointing. Many pop-ups resist the idea of architecture altogether, simply taking place in whatever spaces are available; those that engage in new building are generally small parasitical entities, clinging on to the hulk of the existing city, or left alone to grow in the cracks between buildings, like weeds.
Yet just as a weed can be thought of a perfectly reasonable plant caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, perhaps these interventions could be useful elsewhere, at another point, when reframed in an entirely different way? Judged as architecture, through the traditional lens architecture is judged by, there is no there, there. With a different conception of architecture in mind, though, as a medium for the production of social effects, these pop-ups and pavilions could be a kind of sketchbook for the city, a form of R&D for civic space, and for architecture itself.
Pop-ups pop-down
At face value, pop-ups are not exactly a powerful agent for social or spatial change in the city. The reason pop-ups can pop up so easily is because they can also pop down so easily. In terms of architecture, they are the frictionless lines of least resistance — slipping in under the radar of regulation, they are easy come, easy go. They are, in a sense, too damn easy.
Pop-ups leave little trace on the city as they rarely attempt to achieve systemic change within local patterns of urbanism. To systematically change urban processes, cultures and activities, one must deal in the ‘dark matter’ of regulation and governance: of planning law, permits, licenses, decision-making processes — the very things that pop-ups intentionally avoid.
Still, this lack of potency is both its blessing and its curse. It enables a form of experimentation on existing urban fabric, generally in terms of activity, sometimes in formal terms too. However, it is also easily co-opted, and now something of a cliché. It has, for instance, become the most tangible symbol of urban regeneration in progress, often deployed as a pause on the journey from one use of space to another — increasingly known as ‘meanwhile use’.
In many Western cities, this process can often mean a clearing out of previous attempts at social progress through architecture — social housing projects or populous industrial facilities — in favour of privatised housing; pop-ups are used to mark the halfway point, after tenants, prior to sales. Hence Oliver Wainwright’s description of the pop-up arts activities in Erno Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower (1963) in East London as “the usual medley of arts-led temporary use … a live gentrification jamboree”, complicit in a recasting of the tower as the “zombie corpse of the welfare state, (now) eviscerated of its original social purpose”.
When pop-ups aren’t inhabiting existing buildings, they might emerge from structures that are barely buildings at all, such as the shipping container ‘cities’ of Brooklyn’s DeKalb Market or London’s Boxpark Shoreditch. These piled installations of containers speak volumes about volumes. They are dropped in, without context, and with a universal form shaped and weathered by globalised trade patterns, designed for the transient floating architecture of container ships, rather than a place. They are also easy come, easy go, generally without even the formal experimentation of Joost’s Greenhouse installations across Australia, or Freitag’s elegant container tower in Zürich.
There is some sense that this might be a form of progressive architectural activity, redolent of the late-1960s and early-1970s. Yet these clumps of oxidising iron have nothing of the bravado, chutzpah and pizazz of Archigram’s Plug-In City (1964) or Instant City (1969). Those sketches and models were vast pieces of infrastructure, social and material, crunching colourfully through a greyscale 1960s England that, as Ballard reminds us, looked almost like it had lost the Second World War after all. Ironically, those ideas also emanate, in some way, from the war-time innovation machine whose architecture was necessarily mobile, ad-hoc and lashed-together.
If Instant City was an outcome of the post-war period, these container cities, like the pop-ups inhabiting Belfron Tower and the like, are an outcome of a period in which public space is increasingly privatised, in which the idea of the city as a public good can apparently only exist in a form that can be easily towed away (and it is surely no accident that these pop-ups envelop largely retail-oriented programs. While public art is also a keystone, it is generally rendered physical clickbait by the service structures around it.)
Many pop-ups deny new thinking about architecture altogether. That is partly the point. If one needed to ‘do’ architecture for a pop-up, most wouldn’t happen. It is a parasitical form of organisation, best-suited to inhabiting existing structures rather than creating new ones. It moves quickly, where architecture is ponderous (recall Koolhaas’s lament of “inhabiting a painful profession … architecture is too slow”.) Whilst a form of ‘spatial intelligence’ may be at play within those inhabitation strategies, there is very little building.
Apps like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb and Citymapper radically change the perception and performance of space, also without building a single edifice, infrastructural or otherwise. And that’s before augmented reality really takes root. The city is beginning to be changed by software far more radically than by building. Even public transport is shifting into pop-up mode, via startups like Bridj, which runs what Techcrunch described as “a series of pop-up minibus routes … determined based on customer demand, daily changes in traffic, and several other factors (such as social media activity).” Not even a bus-stop stops these days.
None of this is exactly news. After all, as Sam Jacob has pointed out, perhaps the most radical statement of those progenitors of pop-up Archigram was that we should “declare a moratorium on building”. Architectural discourse, whether in the Daily Mail or AD, still revolves around new building nonetheless. But what happens to architecture when we are largely left with pop-ups filling the cracks in-between existing buildings?
The promise of pop-ups and pavilions
Here, actually, lies some promise. Where previous generations of pop-ups and pavilions provided the impetus for formal experimentation, bold spatial exploration, and material innovation, perhaps the next generation of pop-ups and pavilions can explore social and cultural potential?
Perhaps the most celebrated pavilion in modern architecture, Mies van der Rohe’s ‘Barcelona pavilion’ (1929), has hardly been surpassed by subsequent variations on this theme, such as those of the Serpentine pavilion programme, procured from a different representative of architecture’s Champions League each year. For all their occasionally pleasing spatial experiences, few have moved on from Mies conceptually. An exception may have been Rem Koolhaas’s pavilion with Cecil Balmond/Arup (2006), through its focus on programming over building, on designing a space simply as a platform for a curated set of events, with the emphasis on the latter.
Yet even that saw Balmond/Arup engineer a series of dome-like canopies to host the activity. For an example of a pop-up centred on events and activity alone, the Ravintolapäivä ‘Pop-up Restaurant Day’ is now a well-documented festival of street food, running every quarter in numerous countries. It started in Helsinki in 2011 as a reaction to the city’s allegedly stentorian food hygienic and food business licensing regulations, with little more than an agreement amongst a bunch of motivated citizens to pick a day and simultaneously make and sell street food from the streets — from their apartment windows, lowered down with baskets on home-made winches, or in the parks or street corners.
It was a roaring success from day one. And yet it was also illegal, or semi-legal at best; none of the participants had a permit to make and sell food on their premises, in their homes, in the street. Yet the scale of the activity meant that the city government couldn’t touch it, for fear of a gigantic public relations disaster. People, generally, loved it, and it spread like a benevolent virus. The city’s streets come alive on Ravintolapäivä.
Ravintolapäivä exists purely through a simple set of instructions — effectively an ‘un-building code’ — overlaid onto the existing urban fabric. No-one needs to design and build a restaurant to have a pop-up restaurant on Restaurant Day; a ground-floor window onto the street will do, as will a table propped up in the park.
The tools with which Ravintolapäivä happens are — of course — social media-based web services, accessed primarily on location-aware smartphones. No architecture required. This, as I’ve argued before, is where the so-called smart city is already manifest. Less in the grandiloquent, inappropriate plans of ICT multinationals; more in the hands of punters.
So, no, no architecture required here. Except of course the existing streets of Helsinki, that is, which, replete with six-storey courtyard blocks from the first half of the 20th century, do lend themselves to forms of communal activity in public. What’s interesting about Ravintolapäivä, over and above the social media-led organisation, is that it essentially articulates and embodies an un-voiced argument about what a Helsinki street is for. About what the city could be. About what those courtyards, balconies, and facades could be.
The city’s regulations appear to mitigate against diverse street food offerings (in terms of the culinary offer or spatial variety); the increasingly diverse and well-travelled Helsinki population appears to think the streets could be doing a lot more than they are, not least when it comes to empanadas, falafels, and crépes. Who decides?
Seeing Ravintolapäivä as a city-wide pop-up, or a loose open network of pop-ups could give us another way of framing the pop-up, over and above the lines of least resistance. Perhaps if we see pop-ups as providing a sketchbook of possible cities, we can begin to unlock their potential. The science writer Steven Johnson has described the idea of the ‘adjacent possible’, the various alternatives that exist at any one point in time. Pop-ups provide a means for physically prototyping that adjacent possible environment, what a space could handle, what a street could be.
It’s easy to deride a pop-up street food festival as the same kind of activity that Wainwright described at Goldfinger’s Belfron Tower — a kind of ‘bread and circuses’ distraction, with an emphasis on the bread. Enjoyed primarily by Helsinki’s bourgeoisie, it would do little to change the food offer right across the city, or shift the quality of free school dinners upwards, say. Yet the challenge that Ravintolapäivä posed for the City of Helsinki was not what to do about this awkwardly popular semi-legal activity, but how to learn from it, how to absorb its dynamics into the core business of the city, such that the city adapts over time, yet in an equitable, accessible fashion.
Seen in this way — as a sketch of what a street could be used for — it might provide a form of training wheels for a city administration beginning to deal with a far more heterogenous version of Helsinki than it had previously. This, then, could be a genuinely innovative pop-up, with spatial implications — yet only if the city government was able to see it as an ‘R&D’ activity that might suggest a more systemic change.
To paraphrase Daniel Kahnemann, this would require a kind of ‘fast and slow governance’ at the city level, rethinking planning and architecture in the civic plane.
‘Slow’ has a value — as in ‘slow food’, for instance, describing an ability not to be swayed by the vagaries of trends but instead cultivate an awareness of craft accreting over time, of social forms embedded in making. Yet in a culture which is increasingly alloyed to rapid technological change, ‘fast’ is also an important gearing to possess.
This would cast an architecture that practiced building as concerned with the ‘slow release’ functions of the long-term, of baking a set of social values into physical matter, making a virtue of the deliberate pace that provoked Koolhaas’s moan. Whereas architecture as practiced programmatic articulations of space, on existing built fabric, is concerned primarily with the faster cycles of cultural change.
Fast and slow. For instance, having quickly assessed Ravintolapäivä as a case study, SITRA’s Strategic Design Unit created a ‘not-a-cooking school’ called Open Kitchen, in response, working with both the City of Helsinki and local chefs. At Open Kitchen, selected Ravintolapäivä participants learned how to run a restaurant, how to locate organic food sources, how to fill in the City’s forms, how to obtain funding, and so on. These activities would set up a slow-release over the city, filling in the cross-hatched social spaces sketched out by Ravintolapäivä.
We had originally been planning (via my colleagues Bryan Boyer and Justin Cook) to design and deploy a food cart in Helsinki, as the ‘bow-wave’ of a more diverse local food culture embodied in the Low2No development. The organic development of Ravintolapäivä — and the unconnected yet simultaneous Camionette crêpes truck, documented here — meant we no longer had to do that. The ‘fast’ mode was taking care of itself; our job was to institute a more deliberate response, something that could take root in the city’s infrastructure, organisational and built.
In this way, SITRA built a form of cultural superstructure around Ravintolapäivä, attempting to absorb the conditions suggested by ‘Pop-up Restaurant Day’ into a set of more productive, systemic changes concerning food and the city, and indeed what the city’s streets could be used for. Open Kitchen was deliberately located in the city’s former abattoir, repurposed as a food culture hub, such that these fast social effects might also take hold in the slower format of a building, physically embodying these new cultures. Open Kitchen was an attempt to fold the value of fast one-offs into the slower habits of everyday city life.
As I wrote at the time:
“Low2No and Brickstarter are examples of how a strategic design approach might be useful in shaping governance cultures and behaviours, in creating newly productive interfaces between citizens and municipalities, in finding ways forward where there is no clear road map, no prior knowledge, too much analysis and not enough synthesis … we’re creating matter — in this case Open Kitchen — in order to flush out and shape dark matter. As I wrote in Dark Matter & Trojan Horses — where you can also perceive the seeds of Open Kitchen — this is about taking interventions, absorbing their strategic value, and making them deliver systemic change.”
So, in observing the emerging fast layers in the city, like street food pop-ups or civic crowdfunding platforms — and one’s eyes have to be open to even see them, importantly — the key question is how are particular and appropriate dynamics of those layers absorbed into slower layers of city administration or urban fabric, in order to create more effective, more equitable change within the city.
Could we reimagine the ‘clock speed’ of urban planning in this way, by actively interrogating when we are in slow mode or in fast mode? Planning Fast and Slow? If our ongoing urban research indicates productive non-building-related change, this could be working on a fast layer; and the response could be to work in an equally fast mode — via service layers, events, media, and social infrastructure — or in a slow mode, via building and hard infrastructure, or fundamental organisational change. Both are required responses; knowing which mode you’re in might be key. So the implication is for a more multidisciplinary, holistic entity than the current divisions one sees in city government. (Duffy/Brand pace layers are useful here, as ever.)
Fast and slow social effects
Rory Hyde, in his essay in Esther Charlesworth’s book on humanitarian architecture, describes a higher-order function of architecture, well beyond the simple fact of building:
“What is architecture if not a medium for conveying social effects? Form and design are merely the means of embedding these social effects into the built environment, in order that they may continue to manifest over time. While mainstream architecture is distracted by its own images, humanitarian architecture offers an alternate example of an architecture that repositions form and design as secondary to the production of these social effects.”
If this is where architecture is, or perhaps should be, then can we see pop-ups and pavilions as providing a form of R&D for architecture itself, as well as for the city? To borrow from Hyde, what social effects are being produced during Ravintolapäivä, and how?
Assessing Ravintolapäivä through this lens, we see that there is much for architecture to do. There is a clear relationship between the street, between co-opted spaces, with temporary structures, with communication technologies, with transient formations of communities of interest and propinquity, and with a wide variety of cultural activity enabled by all of the above. In other words, with experimentation in social effects, in space, in place.
Here is a pop-up activity that offers a meaningful role for architecture — in learning from its dynamics and carefully folding them into the city’s ‘dark matter’ in order to enable a more equitable and powerful systemic change. Stewart Brand and others have noted the fast and slow layers within buildings, and architecture’s traditional role in orchestrating them, fundamentally important in previous decades. Here is a chance for architecture to discover a valuable role for orchestrating fast and slow layers of social effects in an age often beyond the simple fact of building.
Perhaps ‘slower buildings’ remain a platform for the slower layers of social production, and ‘faster buildings’ (pop-ups and pavilions) are a platform for exploring faster social effects? The challenge for architects is to move seamlessly from one to the other, from fast to slow.
With this richer recasting of architecture in mind, the pavilion and the pop-up may continue to provide the opportunity for R&D for the practice of architecture, as well as being an open sketchbook for the city itself. | https://medium.com/dark-matter-and-trojan-horses/a-sketchbook-for-the-city-to-come-the-pop-up-as-r-d-9de33323404d | ['Dan Hill'] | 2020-04-21 19:28:05.432000+00:00 | ['Cities', 'Design', 'Food', 'Urbanism', 'Architecture'] |
The First Electric Car Was Invented Almost 200 Years Ago | The First Electric Car Was Invented Almost 200 Years Ago
The unknown inventor Ányos Jedlik
A few electric taxis in New York, 1906 (Source: Rare Historical Photos)
We all see this new revolution in the automobile industry as the best innovation brought in this technological revolution of the 21st century without thinking that this isn’t actually an innovation, but something that wasn’t required many years ago when it was first developed. With the appearance of electrical motors, most machinery was automated by such motors, and also the first automobiles. Now, I know that most of you are thinking that the first official launch of an automobile was in 1886 by Carl Benz, but this does not mean that there haven’t been many unofficial launches or prototypes.
The decline of our ecosystem has brought us up to this point of needing to look after our Earth, therefore using electric cars is seen as the greenest way to travel. Many people think that this predicament in which we find ourselves as humans is what brought us to the innovation of Tesla cars or other electric car brands. However, this “innovation” was brought to us many years ago, but due to its inefficiency at the time for reasons such as primitive technology and gas being a more powerful solution, it was never implemented into the automobile market.
The first electric car
Anyos Istvan Jedlik (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The first electric automobile and possibly the first automobile was invented by Anyos Istvan Jedlik, a Hungarian inventor and engineer who was very much interested in the power of electricity and it’s potential to make life easier. He was one of the first people to invent a very primitive, yet functioning electric motor in 1827, however, he never had a specific use for it. He just wanted to build a motor that could produce power, however, he soon thought of using the power output from the motor to power a carriage.
Therefore in 1828, he invented a very primitive version of the electric car that only had a stick for steering. The invention was great but never brought much attention to the public as the motor wasn’t producing a significant amount of power for the automobile to catch a record-breaking speed (for that period of time). Most horses were still able to outrun the vehicle and the automobile itself had many flaws. The idea is that the main concept was achieved almost 200 years ago.
The concept was still picked up by many inventors and engineers throughout history. In 1884, Thomas Parker had the same concept, but a slightly different idea. He saw the need for public transport as society was evolving and decided to use a more refined electric motor that could power a big box filled up with seats for passengers. These became the pillars for metro transportation, later on being applied at the start of the 20th century in Great Britain.
Evolution of antique electric cars
Not long after that, a private taxi company was started in 1897 that used only electric cabs in order to give their clients a better ride with less noise as well as without the smell of burned gas. The company was soon wiped by the competition as gas was much cheaper than electricity at the time.
Another great example would be the Porsche P1 that also functioned only on electricity, the car was invented by Ferdinand Porsche and Ludwig Lohner in 1898. This was an electric vehicle that weighed over 500 kg (1,100 pounds)and was able to travel on a full battery 80 km (50 miles) at a top speed of 34 km/h (21 mph). Quite fast for the time.
Charging station for Ford electric cars in 1913 (Source: Rare Historical Photos)
What is even more interesting is that Henry Ford actually worked with Thomas Edison to produce a low-cost electric car like the one presented by Porche. During 1913 and 1914 they produced 1,000 electric cars that were similar to the Ford Model T produced in 1908, but with an electric engine. These cars were able to go around 60 km (37 miles) on a full battery, however cold weather made the batteries lose power much quicker, therefore making them obsolete to a gas or steam car. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-first-electric-car-was-invented-almost-200-years-ago-7877685bd7ee | ['Andrei Tapalaga'] | 2020-12-19 21:03:36.852000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Technology', 'Brands', 'Cars', 'History'] |
3 Traits of the Most Successful People You Must Have | Everyone follows Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and thousands of other successful people. People see all the aura around their personality but neglect the things that were key in their growth. We want to be icons like them and idolize their current position, status, and reverence.
But did you ever think that what are the three key things in their lives?
Persistence
If you read biographies or life accounts of the most successful people, you’ll find that one of their most important habits is persistence.
No one gets fame, success, and honor in a day. All that glitters is not gold. There are lots of pains, struggles, and hardships behind that.
Victory comes with patience, persistence, and constant hard work. What they achieved today is the fruit of untiring efforts they have been putting for a long time.
In the modern world, it’s easy to lose focus. There are so many things happening around us. Some distractions are attractive enough to pull us towards them. It’s easier to lose focus nowadays.
That’s why it makes sense that persistence is one of the essential qualities of successful people in modern times.
Punctuality
Being punctual is a quality trait that will help you to stand out from your peers. It shows you are responsible, serious, and disciplined.
You might have also noticed that during your studies, disciplined students often get chances to lead the societies. The same rule applies to professional life.
If you are punctual, you’ll get more chances to execute and showcase your leadership skills. That’s where you can shine and jump up to more exciting roles in life.
Personality
Before letting the world believe in you, you need to believe in yourself. If you don’t, no one is going to take you seriously.
I often see many young talented people who are in the early stages of their careers. They miss this trait. They don’t believe in themselves despite being so gifted.
Successful people believe in themselves. They pave the way to their success by not only their hard skills but also their soft skills. Communication, posture, behavior — everything matters and shapes your personality.
Takeaway
Being successful in anything is not easy. It’s the reason a few people in the world are genuinely successful.
If you want to be successful, you need to follow these basic traits alongside working on other stuff. | https://medium.com/2-minute-madness/3-traits-of-successful-people-you-should-have-9dec5400c386 | ['Saeed Ahmad'] | 2020-10-30 19:17:45.532000+00:00 | ['Success', 'Personal Development', 'Life', 'Productivity', 'Life Lessons'] |
Agile, hackathons, and the danger of local maxima | I love agile. For the first few years of my career I worked in a chaotic waterfall environment. My first experience of switching to agile was a breath of fresh air.
Agile is a rational, considered, and sensible approach to apply in development, and I can imagine a lot of other settings too. There are drawbacks though, and there’s one I want to explore a bit here in the hope of starting a discussion.
One of the best features of agile is the retrospective. It forces your team to get together, and analyse your performance in the previous sprint. Pick out highs, lows, and generally any thoughts. The idea being that you refine, and edge closer to peak performance.
Sometimes I see teams cycle through issues, because they only track their retrospective results back one or two sprints. They end up fixing one problem by creating another problem, and then switch back a few sprints down the line. Ping-ponging between issues like that isn’t ideal, but sometimes you have to make trade-offs when there is no perfect solution, and change can be beneficial in itself.
The question I want to raise here ties in to machine learning though. When I was at university I remember being fascinated by the courses I had relating to the use of evolution in machine learning. The essence of it is that you seed your algorithm with some random values, and they each give you a good or bad result. You then discard the bad ones, and mash the good ones together in a variety of ways to see which ones produce better, and which ones worse. Each generation you run through the strongest survive, and the weakest don’t, hence the reference to evolution.
It all sounds good so far, but you can hit a problem with local maxima. On the graph below imagine the flat axes that run from 0 to 50 represent two parameters you put in to your algorithm, and the vertical height of the chart represents how good a pairing those parameters are.
The issue with evolution is that each generation must be better than the last. That can get you stuck if you start in the wrong place. Imagine you start in the corner closest, and then evolve up to that first peak marked ‘Local Maximum’. Once you’re there you’re stuck. You’re not going anywhere, because the only way to get to the true ‘Global Maximum’ is to go down hill first. In other words, things are going to get worse before they get better.
In machine learning the technique often used to avoid local minima, and maxima is the stochastic gradient descent. This doesn’t guarantee escaping the localised peaks, but it means the evolution has an element of extra randomness, which makes it more likely that your optimisation will jump out of a localised peak, and in to the global one.
Tying this back to agile, I wonder sometimes if teams end up in this same position. Optimising their approach every sprint, but never able to jump across to a greater mountain. And if so how do you combat it?
From machine learning it would seem that adding a bit more randomness to our sprint retrospectives might help. Agile often evangelises keeping consistent teams, but this would suggest that it might be more effective to routinely move people across agile teams to inject some variation. I’d also love to try swapping retrospective notes between teams at random as well. Where I work we list some ‘things we should do better next sprint’, and ‘things we should stop doing next sprint’. It would be great to swap those between teams to see if there’s consensus.
Hackathons come in here as well. Teams have to strive for consistency 99% of the time to help achieve business goals efficiently, which means they naturally gravitate to local maxima. Randomness on the way to the top is frowned upon. There has to be a channel where people can demonstrate new ideas that are completely ‘outside-the-box’ in a rapid prototyping environment, and hackathons are the epitome of that. They are the opportunity to jump to another mountain to see if it’s taller than the one you’re currently standing on.
The other thing I’d like to flag as well — thanks to my love of metrics — is that sprint retrospectives are opinion-based in my experience. We decide what we think went well, and what we think we should change, but we don’t ties those things in to metrics that show if our opinions match our outcomes. In the end, if you produce no work for two weeks, and then say at the end that there was nothing you could have done better, that’s not the perfect sprint. Our conscience’s prevent us from doing that, but I still have some concern that our team thinking we’ve made out sprint process better may not correlate with producing a better outcome for our customers.
As always please leave any comments down below. I’d be fascinated to know if anyone has already tackled these issues. Like I say, I am a huge fan of agile, and it’s the fact that we can question and improve the very process itself that makes it so effective.
All the best,
Nick | https://medium.com/swlh/agile-hackathons-and-the-danger-of-local-maxima-4c2255e8f63b | ['Nicholas Heal'] | 2020-05-01 16:52:24.890000+00:00 | ['Agile', 'Product Management', 'Leadership', 'UX', 'Development'] |
Insomnia: To hell and back. | Insomnia: To hell and back.
A fortnight of torment that drove me to the brink of insanity.
Image Source: Google
I promptly shut my laptop’s lid, keep away my phone, set the room lighting to a warm orange hue, grab my Kindle and try to relax — just like what the “How to sleep well” articles I found on the Internet recommended.
After a while, as I feel slightly drowsy, I put away my Kindle, turn off the light, and close my eyes.
Just as I am slipping into sleep, the dreaded thought emerges— “What if I can’t fall asleep”, which startles me back to consciousness.
A pang of fear grips my heart and a feeling of dread settles in my stomach which strengthens my conviction that I won’t be able to fall asleep which in turns feeds my fear and anxiety — A vicious feedback loop that leaves my heart beating like a drum and all my senses turned up to the maximum.
I can’t help but notice every single sound — The rustle of the leaves, the whir of the ceiling fan, water dripping in the washroom, and the beating of my racing heart.
I fall victim to a debilitating cycle of — somehow calming down myself, then feeling drowsy, then thinking ” What if I can’t sleep?”, and a full-blown panic attack.
A fierce onslaught of thoughts — “I need to sleep”, “Sleep deprivation is harmful!”, “I feel like a zombie”, “Will I be able to sleep tomorrow?”, “What if I can’t?”, “This can’t go on!”, “Maybe sleep in the afternoon tomorrow?”, “But that might disrupt my sleep cycle”, “I need to calm myself”, “Will I be able to sleep ever again?” and so on.
2:00 AM, 2:30 AM, 3:00 AM, 3:30 AM, 4:00 A M — Time ticks away, the night gets shorter and shorter, and I am still wide awake with my hopes of falling asleep trickling away.
After what seems like an eternity, my mind shows mercy and finally lets me fall asleep — only to wake me up in an hour or two.
Tired and Frustrated, I trudge out of bed.
Caffeine pills get me through my day, my dread mounting, and the night inching closer with every passing hour.
I can’t go on like this — despising the days and dreading the nights.
I need to fall asleep tonight — I hope I do. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/insomnia-to-hell-and-back-1a8f1f25e4b0 | ['Neeramitra Reddy'] | 2020-10-15 04:52:16.937000+00:00 | ['Experience', 'Mental Health', 'Sleep', 'Insomnia', 'Thankfulness'] |
And now for the weather… | And now for the weather…
Meet the UN meteorologist helping countries to adapt to climate change
Jesse has always held a strong passion for outdoor pursuits. Photo provided by Jesse Mason
Jesse Mason is not your everyday weatherman. He doesn’t pop up every night on television with a big map in the background and tomorrow’s forecast. Most likely, you will in fact find him in remote areas with no TVs in sight.
In his role as WFP Team Lead for Forecast-based Financing, Jesse pays close attention to the skies — helping communities brace for cyclones, droughts, and floods whose frequency has escalated due to climate change.
It was his passion for the outdoors that led him to start forecasting the weather for friends in high school. “There was not much sunshine in Canada,” he explains. “A bright day used to be a big event, and I didn’t want to miss out.”
Jesse laments how conditions are changing on the mountains he used to climb. Photo provided by Jesse Mason
As he grew older, Jesse could be found hiking to the highest mountain in Morocco, hanging from a rope on a glacier in Nepal or just climbing a steep wall in the Alps. Such activities became the unintentional window from which he first peeked at the effects of climate change.
Lessons from nature
“That mountain I hiked ten years ago in my native Canada, now it has no snow left,” he says on a breezy, late-summer’s day in Rome. “The river in which I went swimming as a child is gone. My interaction with places that I loved, and witnessing how climate change made an impact on them, was a huge factor in me joining WFP’s Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction unit [in 2017]. In fact, if outdoors people are aware of climate change by enjoying nature only, imagine if those changes in climate were directly affecting your livelihood, as happens in many countries where WFP works.”
Despite such grim realities, Jesse keeps a positive attitude. “To work in the climate change field, you need to be an optimist,” he says.
The difference between climate and weather
Smiling under the Italian sun, he talks about climate, but as the agency’s ‘de facto’ weatherman, it’s the weather he helps countries plan for. So, to set the record straight, I ask him to clarify the difference between climate and weather. He smiles again and nods. “People still get confused,” he says. “The easiest way to understand the difference is this — we know the summer in Italy is supposed to be dry, and that is ‘climate’. Then you make holiday plans, and suddenly it’s a week of rain and it ruins your vacation, and that’s ‘weather’. Weather is the variation day to day or even hour to hour, and climate is supposed to be these regimes over longer periods.”
Now that we understand the basics, we can go a bit deeper. The earth’s climate is incredibly complex and extremely difficult to define, let alone measure. Fortunately, we have people like Jesse, whose MA Atmospheric Scientist degree gave him the technical knowledge to analyse climate. By convention, scientists have established that climate is taken to mean the average weather conditions over 30-year periods. However, as a result of global heating, everything we knew about climate is no longer reliable, which means our livelihoods, ecosystems and food systems are at risk.
“It’s cheaper to act early than to bring help later. However, money shouldn’t be the only trigger.”
“Most of our food production is linked to climate,” says Jesse. “The way we grow it, dry it, store it. Every piece along the food chain is related to it. If you cannot dry your food any longer because it was raining…suddenly your harvest is lost. Same for droughts. If rain arrives later than expected, your crops will die.”
Forecast-based Finance to the rescue
This is where Forecast-based Financing comes in, with WFP leading an approach which sees Jesse’s team working to offset some of the worst impacts of extreme weather events ahead of time. Where previous weather warnings would arrive just a few hours in advance, and people would lose everything, longer-range forecasting and pre-emptive action helps vulnerable countries better prepare for floods, droughts or cyclones.
“We inform farmers to delay planting or harvest crops depending on the calendar. We ask them to protect their livestock, identify strategic locations — the highest place in a village, for instance — to stockpile food, water, and medicines.”
Jesse’s role involves advising on measures to counter some of climate change’s worst effects. Photo: WFP
Jesse’s role also involves advising governments on a range of measures, from stockpiling markets with dry food and giving cash transfers to beneficiaries, to updating databases of vulnerable people and distributing medical and hygiene kits.
Climate change means we can’t wait
The approach has been so well received that UN agencies and government partners plan to work together on early-action financing and early-warning systems, under the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership to be launched at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September.
The ultimate goal is to build strong systems that will help populations adapt to climate change — increasing resilience and reducing the need for humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of the event. “It’s cheaper to act early than to bring help later. However, money shouldn’t be the only trigger,” says Jesse.
In all cases, weather forecasting is the first step. In fact, it’s a skill that cuts across so many fields, both within and well beyond the humanitarian sector, as Jesse’s varied career path highlights.
In 2010 he was a lead meteorologist at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and producer for Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. “Olympic athletes’ decisions depend on the weather forecast,” he explains. “Skiers change their equipment according to the weather. Ski-racing doesn’t go ahead if the clouds are too close. Those decisions have financial consequences: if you suspend a race, you have to refund the tickets.
“I worked for the energy private sector forecasting how much snow would fall. It was needed to know how much water we would have available to power a hydroelectric plant. I also worked in a meteorology agency doing weather forecasting for movie productions or construction companies.”
If forecasting is important in these fields, then it is clearly essential for humanitarian agencies. Jesse is in no doubt: “If the chances of a crane to fall are 5 percent because the forecasted wind is too strong, would you allow your employees to use it? Would you risk the consequences? For WFP, it is the same: why wait to save lives if we can help to change lives?”
Read more here about WFP’s work in climate action. | https://medium.com/world-food-programme-insight/and-now-for-the-weather-3c9a393d51c3 | ['Barbara Celis'] | 2019-09-22 15:11:34.459000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'Climate Crisis', 'Wfp', 'Un Climate Summit', 'Weather'] |
The State of UX in 2016 | #1 Our Fascination with Pixels is Almost Over
It might be that 2015 was the year you finally added the buzzword “UX” to your Linkedin profile — but were still spending most of your time pushing pixels on a screen. If that’s the case, your Photoshop days may be over soon. That’s not to say interfaces are going to die, but our role as UX Designers will be to less focused on interface design over time. And here are a couple reasons why designers all over the world are saying that.
Everything looks the same
We’re designing for a browsers and operating systems that have a well-established visual language and pretty solid interaction design patterns. Also, the increasingly popular Flat Design aesthetic is making everything look the same. Well, maybe that’s okay.
Interaction patterns are robust enough
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when designing a door handle; two or three types of handles may be enough to cover all the possible use cases. Innovation just for innovation’s sake, like trying to create a completely disruptive navigation system for your website or app, might bring you some usability problems in the long term. The question becomes: what exactly is the user need you’re trying to solve by introducing a new interaction pattern? Robust and comprehensive interaction design pattern libraries are gradually letting us focus our time on what really matters for the user: getting things done in an easy and familiar way.
The end of apps as we know them
Apps are not necessarily your user’s final destination anymore; they’re just an engine that translates raw data into actionable information. Some users might still occasionally open that beautifully-designed weather app to check the forecast, but the most useful thing the app can do is to send users a notification 15 minutes before it rains — reminding them to bring their umbrella as they leave. Yes, a notification. Mobile OS features such as the ability to take action right from the notification center on iOS or Google Now on Tap on Android are going to make people need to see an app’s UI less and less over time.
New interactions don’t always require new screens
Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more popular in 2016. Smart algorithms such as Facebook M are soon going to respond to your texts within the Facebook Messenger app UI, and third-party services and companies will be able to get things done for you without the need of a proprietary user interface. Needless to say, someone still needs to “design” the logic and script of those conversations, and to build the artificial intelligence behind the product.
The interface of the future might not always be made of pixels. | https://uxdesign.cc/the-state-of-ux-in-2016-4a87799647d8 | ['Fabricio Teixeira'] | 2016-05-07 20:09:42.630000+00:00 | ['Articles', 'UX', 'Design'] |
A River Called Mother | A River Called Mother
A poem
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
Daughter,
Your mother will always be your mother
even after the bough breaks.
Somewhere at the end of the road
you will find her heart,
hidden beneath the shadows
that have kissed her body too often.
Daughter,
Someday you will reach up
and touch your mother’s face.
only to find that the pristine surface
has meandered into millions of tiny roads
Each line
a river of experience,
pockmarked by a lifetime of love.
When she raises her hand to greet you,
you will soon understand the meaning
of sacrifice.
And how often her eyes sheltered you
from the hand of the storm
that threatened to break you apart.
Daughter,
someday you will wake
and realize that your life
is a collusion of the Gods.
A three-stringed symphony
plucked by an invisible hand.
and your mother’s words
have become the notes
to life’s questions.
Even after you’ve forgotten the lyrics
your mind will conjure
the shape of her mouth
As she sings the words.
Daughter,
There will be days,
when you will feel more alone
than you will ever be able to say.
Someday you will feel
a tiny hand reach up
to caress your face.
On that day,
you will see love for what it is,
A tangent of light
bursting through the final curtain call.
For the first time
your life will become
an expression of beauty.
~
© 2019, M. C. Rose All Rights Reserved | https://medium.com/literally-literary/a-river-called-mother-bcb0e30ccd47 | ['M. C. Rose'] | 2020-01-15 11:50:35.255000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Parenting', 'Mental Health', 'Feminism', 'Poetry'] |
Gradient Descent, the key for ML algorithms? | Views expressed by the author are his own and done in his personal capacity. These are no way representative and/or reflective of the organization he is associated with.
Background
As part of the machine learning journey, we typically start with linear regression and gradually get onto the concept of the cost function, and the challenge starts from here to get the cost function optimized. Though we can do a trial and error for a small set of data elements, it becomes unviable as we start increasing the data.
To address this optimization problem, we have a technique and theory associated called “Gradient Descent” which will come in handy in getting the cost function minimized. Gradient Descent is not limited to linear regression but can be extended to logistic regression and further to neural networks also.
You may be wondering on why we need to learn all these stuff when we can find built-in function to deal with it directly? Good question, and it is always good to have some insights into the internal workings of it as it may help in visualizing the problems better and thus can help in our modeling for all the complex problems or scenarios tomorrow. Also, this gives an opportunity to peep into the libraries used such that the same can be leveraged for other problems at hand. So having a solid foundation on how things work is always a recommended approach in dealing with complex topics. Another point to remember is the built-in functions are limited to some specific languages but it is not consistently available in all. With the ground set now on the background, let’s jump onto the details.
Gradient Descent — Overview
As the problem is to optimize the cost function, let’s start from there
For a given hypothesis
The cost function can be written as
i=1 to m where m is the no. of sample data points. This is also called as Mean square Error.
Let’s initialize some values to theta0 and theta1 and start computing J(ɵ0, ɵ1), we can arrive at the convergence (with J, the cost function getting to minimum) after some iterations of trial and error, and it can turn out to be an inefficient approach as we start increasing the no. of data points, also this may lead to higher costs overall.
What are the alternatives to get to the minimum value of our cost function with limited steps? The Gradient Descent algorithm comes to the rescue here and helps us in arriving at the optimum value of cost function with minimal steps, thus it helps in concluding on the best fit for a given equation from the many possible opportunities.
To get a better intuition on this, let’s plot a graph with all the data points, assuming that the graph plotted has many troughs, there can be multiple local minimums possible but there can be always only one global minimum. Can we ever reach the global minimum or do we need to settle down with local minimum is something we can review in the subsequent paragraphs, okay?
If the data when plotted transforms into a convex shape, like a bowl shape, with small ridges sideways and a big trough, then we can make incremental improvements progressing step by step. Every step takes us closer to the bottom of the trough, and when we come to a stage where there is no further improvement possible, then we can conclude that the global minimum has arrived. Though we have an interim local minimum, they being very small and not have any impact on the overall direction of the curve, we are bound to reach the global minimum.
To keep it simple, the graph is plotted with only one value
If the data is not getting us a pure convex shape, then it can have a lot of ups and downs which are more or close to equal in their depth leaving the options open for arriving at the global minimum. How is that we can conclude that we arrived at the global minimum? We can either take a brute force approach trying all such possibilities to arrive at the final one, or we can restrict the trials to a few random ones prior to finalizing on the global minimum. Keeping in view of the costs associated, in majority cases, it will be concluded at the first encounter of the global minimum.
In the diagram shown below, we may need to compromise on the global minimum which is easily accessible or has to go through the tedious process of getting to the actual one.
To keep it simple, the graph is plotted with only one theta value
Though we can easily explain this visually picking a graph, the real challenge will be to understand the logic behind the scenes. Let’s get to that by going through the flow step by step.
Implementation
First thing we need to understand on this journey is about finding Slope, this can be easy for a line picking two points and putting it in the formula (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) but how can we find the slope of a curve where we may need to work with a single point instead of two. On a side note, the slope will help in identifying the rate at which the value of y changes with respect to each change in x.
There are multiple ways of handling this like assuming a couple of points closer to the point in the subject and going with the regular formula in calculating the slope, keep in mind that this may not be accurate but can come close to the actual. The other way or the preferred way to approach this is to find the derivative of the function and substitute the point in context. We may need to adopt partial derivatives if working with multiple features.
In the function mentioned above, there are two variables ɵ0, ɵ1 hence we need to use partial derivatives approach keeping one of them as constant while dealing with the other.
α is the learning rate, it helps in deciding the size of the steps to be taken in transitioning towards the convergence.
Fixed size steps may overshoot the global minimum hence the steps have to be gradually brought down as we start approaching the minimum, this can be easily achieved by the slope which can be computed at every step, thus the steps can be adjusted based on the slope hence it gets minimized as we reach close to the convergence.
There may be some questions on where to start with respect to the learning rate and the number of iterations.
We typically can start small say 10 or 50 iterations with a learning rate of 0.01.
Play around with the learning rate first by increasing, decreasing it. We can stop playing around with this as soon as we see a constant decreasing trend which is leading to a minimum cost.
From here, we can fix the learning rate and play around with no. of iterations to arrive at the minimum cost possible.
The other way to arrive at the minimum cost is to get to the point where the slope becomes zero or comes close to zero.
Programming Logic
Coming to the programming language implementation, there is no standard built-in function in Python but Tensorflow has one which abstract the complete implementation details from the user. To keep it neutral, let’s put some pseudo code which can be translated into any programming language based on the user choice.
Review the cost value adjusting the values of learning rate and no. of iterations until the convergence has arrived.
Challenges
This algorithm has a couple of issues to be careful while working on it.
The algorithm may never converge, this is quite possible if the incremental steps taken are big such that it crosses the global minimum without getting onto the convergence path
If the steps are slow, it may get converged but will take more steps so this is either not advisable
What we need is a balanced approach in picking the learning rate such that it will neither take more time nor gets us into a non-converged state.
Variants of Gradient Descent
The Gradient Descent will be arrived considering all the training data available, however, this is going to be time-consuming as the computation in each step has to include all the data set resulting in higher costs. There are some variants in the form of Stochastic and Mini Batch versions which takes a subset of the data than working on the full training set. The difference between the two is that the Stochastic picks only a single data point whereas Mini batch version takes a subset of data points. In both cases, the global minimum can be achieved but the path it takes may look little rough and ad-hoc.
Final Comments
As learned from the above details, Gradient Descent is one of the key concepts in Machine learning and is applicable to various algorithms.
As ML is spreading its wings into all the important aspects of our day to day to lives, the precision is going to be the key, and if we don’t get the things right, the impact will be high on some of these sensitive applications — be it self-driving cars or medical diagnosis, etc. Overall Gradient Descent will not only help in optimizing the costs but helps in ensuring better accuracy which is the need of the hour with machines taking over the control. Agree? | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/gradient-descent-the-key-for-ml-algorithms-d84ad511937e | ['Sharath T'] | 2019-01-22 14:00:40.053000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Cost Function', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Optimization', 'Gradient Descent'] |
An Analysis of Property Prices in Ireland | Processing the data
All records can be downloaded from the Property Price Register (PPR) site in CSV format. In this article, we’ll take a look at the last two years of data. It should be noted that the PPR page contains a disclaimer stating:
The PSRA does not in any way edit the data. It simply publishes, in a fully transparent manner, the data from the declarations which are filed with the Revenue Commissioners. If the data filed contained typographical errors then those errors will appear on the Register.
Let’s take a look at some steps that were taken to clean up the raw information using Pandas:
Remove properties with prices that were not full market price and remove rows that contained a small amount of Irish language descriptions of properties.
df = df[df['Not Full Market Price'] == 'No'] df = df.drop('Not Full Market Price', axis=1) df = df[(df['Description of Property'] == 'Second-Hand Dwelling house /Apartment') | (df['Description of Property'] == 'New Dwelling house /Apartment')]
2. Look at a subset of the data from 2017 onwards.
df['Date of Sale (dd/mm/yyyy)'] = pd.to_datetime(df['Date of Sale (dd/mm/yyyy)'], dayfirst=True, format='%d/%m/%Y') df = df.rename(columns={'Date of Sale (dd/mm/yyyy)': 'Date of Sale', 'Price ()': 'Price'}) df = df[(df['Date of Sale'] > '2017-01-01')].reset_index(drop=True)
3. Parse the price column from strings into floats.
df['Price'] = df['Price'].apply(lambda x: x.lstrip('\x80')) df['Price'] = df['Price'].apply(lambda x: float(x.split()[0].replace(',', ''))).astype(float)
4. Attempted geocoding using Google’s API to obtain latitude and longitude of properties.
In the interest of clarity, I should note that the coordinates I obtained for the last two years of PPR data turned out to be inaccurate enough that I’m not including the results in this piece. It is likely that the fault lies in the recorded addresses contained in the data (which are self-reported and unedited by the PRSA) and not in Google’s actual API. The accuracy could probably be improved if the county of each property was attached to the end of the address (some addresses contain the county but some do not). Regardless of the inaccuracies, I felt it was important to include the code written to request the coordinates.
The GET request url creator function:
def url_creator(address, url='https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=', api_key=''):
logger.debug('Creating API request URL')
add_list = address.split()
add_list = [line + '+' for line in add_list[:-1]]
add_list.append(address.split()[-1])
add_url = "".join(add_list)
return url + add_url + '&key=' + api_key
The latitude and longitude request function:
def lat_lng(address, api_key=''):
logger.debug('Requesting geospatial info from Google API')
url = url_creator(address, api_key=api_key)
try:
response = requests.get(url)
response.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
logger.error(e)
results = response.json()['results']
if len(results) != 0:
logger.debug('Found geospatial coordinates')
return results[0]['geometry']['location']['lat'], results[0]['geometry']['location']['lng']
else:
logger.debug('Could not find geospatial coordinates')
return np.nan, np.nan
The reason I wrote my own code to do this stuff (and more) with the Geocoding API instead of using the popular geocoder library is because of the outdated quota behaviours for the API imposed in the library. Google has recently made it possible to make an unlimited number of requests to its Geocoding API but geocoder’s Google geocoding method seems to have a limit set at 2500 API calls. If you’re interested, I’ve included all of the code I used for processing the data and geocoding in the GitHub repo linked at the end of this article. | https://towardsdatascience.com/an-analysis-of-property-prices-in-ireland-6fc34a56ac87 | ['Chirag Chadha'] | 2019-01-14 14:44:09.331000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Housing', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization'] |
How to do personal brand without the *cringe* | Let’s cut straight to the cringe – most people, including you, dislike the term “personal brand.” If you’re the exception, this post isn’t for you. Everyone else, stay with me.
I hear you: “the influencer movement is so fake,” “I don’t want to be one of those self-promoters,” — “a person isn’t a brand.”
Or how about this?
“People will think I’m full of myself,”
Or these classics :
“Personal brand is just for: the beautiful … the articulate … the photogenic … the popular … the insecure … the power-seekers… the fame chasers, the …” [fill in the blank with whatever trait you believe you lack or loathe]…
I hear you — but there’s a shift happening
Call it what you like, the growth in “personal brand” is part of a massive shift towards greater freedom of identity. Sure, it might look like something else — with people behaving badly — at times — most movements start a little ugly. (TLDR — skip the history lesson? The answer to the question in the headline is at the bottom of this post).
This shift started about 20 years back when reality TV began. Around the same time, blogging was hatching — with writers, then everyday people learning to express their feelings in public to some applause. (Thank you Blogger, twitter and Medium Staff founder Ev Williams for the huge part you’ve played in all those revolutionary platforms for self-expression.)
Big Brother — the global TV show that kick-started the reality TV trend — was essentially a bunch of 20-somethings sitting around sharing their vulnerabilities in public. Part of the reason it was so popular is many recognised their own vulnerabilities and gave them silent cheers. On the surface, there was a lot of muttering about how lame and cringe-worthy Big Brother was. The ratings told us differently and the series lasted well over two decades.
Then social media happened. And the arrival of ‘status updates’ and all variations of social sharing which has changed our approach to communication and our view of privacy in both good and bad ways. I believe these changes has been more evolution than evil-lution and I write about that here.
Wait — you say? “Reality TV is now manipulated reality, social media is heavily curated what about fake news?” Yes authenticity is lacking at times — but there is no turning back. Communication is a lot more democratic than it was before digital media; far from the one-way communication of the traditional media model where only writers got to express, people of every stage and walk of life can share their reality and have a voice.
Yeah its fake and ugly at times, but no more fake than the social masks humans have worn to fit in for centuries. At least now we are also having real conversations about real issues; creating real change.
We are still in the very early stages of this shift. Like any movement, there are early adopters and it can be painful and nauseating watching people test out their new communication methods in public. Up next is mass adoption. And that’s why we need to pay attention.
The real reasons we hate personal brand
The *other* less worthy reasons for our discomfort around personal brand– which feel closer to the truth is being visible makes us feel self-conscious, ashamed, scared, guilty, lazy, inadequate, needy, desperate… [fill in the blank of whatever you are afraid of.]
Maybe you were raised to believe that keeping a low profile somehow makes you a better person? Perhaps you feel guilty for having a higher profile than a family member, a colleague, or your boss? You may feel it’s selfish to put so much emphasis on yourself?
Whatever the cause of your guilt or shame, it’s most likely misguided. Everyone is entitled to acknowledgement for their work and to self-expression. Many of the benefits of having a profile flow back into your current business or business pursuits and to those who depend on you for their career or financial success; everyone benefits.
A common myth (or fear) around personal branding is that it is the territory of charlatans and try-hards.
No doubt that there are many such characters in the public eye, yet you alone determine how much substance you have behind you when you step forward into the spotlight. And ethical choices have little to do with status, or profile, although we love to stereotype. Instead, it has everything to do with your inner compass.
I’ve spent much of my career persuading very worthwhile contributors to stop playing small because status and profile is often the best way to help their cause.
It’s not “worthier” to stay in the shadows. It’s simply more comfortable. And it’s infinitely better to nudge yourself forward than to be watching someone less worthy take your place.
I have spent years building brands and personal brands. Yet I got dragged kicking and screaming to the party 🎈 like many others. One of the issues that got me to step forward (aside from the obvious double standard I was creating) was seeing other people quite literally using my words and achievements to build their own public profile.
We can avoid the need to focus on our personal brand — personal profile (the term is semantics). Dismiss it – diss it as you please. But please don’t kick yourself next time you see someone else receive the advancement and the acknowledgement you want for your efforts.
Doing it without the cringe — how?
I promised you there was a way to do this without the cringe. Yet, I’ve spent this post mostly dealing with objections because getting out of your own way is the hardest part.
The fundamental misconception about personal brand is that it equates to fame or celebrity. And it can — but that’s not the aim. Personal brand is about elevating your profile, helping others to understand what you do and why, and serving as a magnet for (mostly) business or professional success.
In truth, personal brand should rarely be about *self-promotion* —and yes, that is cringe-worthy when that’s the main game. It should, rather, be about cause promotion.
The simple secret of a non-cringe-worthy personal brand is rather than promoting yourself, promote what you love and want to spotlight — promote your area of expertise, educate others on your interests, there’s nothing cringe-worthy about that!
Share, spotlight, amplify and talk about what you love. In a professional context, that’s a magnet for attracting more opportunity in that area. Spotlight other’s achievements in that area, curate and share great content on the subjects you are interested in. Speak up about your concerns in that space. Share your news when you speak, participate or create initiatives in the area you are passionate about. You will gather your tribe around you in that area. Give. (More on that here.)
That feels good — not awful, right?
Fleur is author of The Business of Being You. | https://medium.com/your-brand/how-to-build-your-personal-brand-without-the-cringe-25ff154e36d3 | ['Fleur Brown'] | 2020-04-24 17:46:02.584000+00:00 | ['Professional Development', 'Personal Brand', 'Self', 'Marketing', 'Personal Development'] |
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