Ancient History Ramblings

Classes Over

Well, today was the last day of classes and exams begin tomorrow at IUP. It also signals the fact that the PKAP field season is around the corner. I have been busy ordering supplies and making sure of logistics. Fortunately, we have a fairly large number of students going this summer so they will be carrying the supplies over, not me. I also noticed that I am calling my co-directors (Bill and David) more frequently - at least once a day. It always amazes me how the approaching season seems to approach faster and faster.

RSM

Ordering and yet more Ordering

The PKAP season is nearly upon us. We are in the final stages of preparation for the upcoming season. My current task is to order supplies that we need to buy in the US and ferry to Cyprus with us. Over the last few days I have been combing the web looking for supplies, such as bags, Munsell charts, plumb bobs, tapes, drawing supplies, etc. I have ordered almost everything we need, I just need to place a few more orders. The next step is to make sure everything I ordered actually shows up.

RSM

First Use of Gigapan

I finally was able to use my new Gigapan system. It is my new gadget for the year and I am planning to take it to Cyprus and take large panaramic images of our site. I have to admit it was very easy to use and only took a few minutes to set up. The stitching software gave me a few problems that I had to figure out, but they turned out to be my fault - no suprise there. My first Gigapan photo (Sutton Hall)  looks ok, but has a few issues:

1) I need to do a better job of leveling the tripod - the photo is tilted slightlly to the left.

2) I should have thought better about where I was taking my picture - the trees in front of the building prevent it from being zoomed too closely.

3) I have a partial person in the lower right corner.

Check it out at http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21619&window_height=807&window_width=1659

I have another one that is in process, it will be interesting to see what happens with it.

RSM

Cleopatra's Tomb

The possible discovery of Cleopatra's tomb has been in the news a lot lately. I first noticed an article on the BBC news website about a project to examine 3 areas near a temple outside of Alexandria for the possible tomb of Cleopatra and Antony, CNN.com also had an article "Researchers may have found Cleopatra's final resting place." It will be interesting to see what is turned up in the next few weeks.

RSM

Electronic Textbooks

A new partnership between textbook companies (CourseSmart) and an association of college booksellers (Collegiate Retail Alliance) is supposed to lead to increased sales and a greater prominence of these texts in bookstores. It will be interesting to see if the success of the Kindle will help this out.

RSM

Facebook and Academic Performance

A doctoral student at The Ohio State University discovered that students who use Facebook earn lower grade-point averages than students who don't use Facebook. In addition the students who don't use Facebook spend more time studying. The article I saw "Does Facebook Lower Academic Performance? It's Still Too Soon to Say" says that:

• Ms. Karpinski asserts that she never argued that Facebook is causing poor academic performance — just that she found a connection and that more should be done to study the matter. She points out that the title of her research paper is far from sensational: “A Description of Facebook Use and Academic Performance Among Undergraduate and Graduate Students.” She plans to present her findings on Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. “I completely acknowledge the limitations of my research,” she said. “What I found is so exploratory — people need to chill out.”

This will be interesting to follow.

RSM

Google Scanning hits snag

The Wired Campus is reporting in its recent article "Higher-Ed Groups Challenge Google Book Project Over 'Orphans'" that Google's scanning of orphaned books (out of prints books on which nobody holds an active copyright) has been challenged by several groups. Another blog post on Wired is reporting that the money for one of the group's legal challenge is being bankrolled by Microsoft. Interesting...

RSM

More on Twitter

Since Twitter has been in the news lately (and on the Stephen Colbert Show) I thought it appropriate to post a couple of quick hits on Twitter:

• People attending The Chronicle's Technology Forum have been asked to Twitter about the sessions they are attending.
• CNET has a page designed to help you become a better tweeter.

RSM

Interesting Survey

A recent article in Wired Campus (Mobile Surveys at Different Colleges Produce Mixed Signals) had very interesting results about 2 surveys on students and their mobile devices. In the first one at Ball State University, 27% of the students owned a smartphone, which is 8% higher than the national average for working adults. While this may seem positive, especially for companies developing educational applications for these smartphones, the second one at the University of New Hampshire had a very different view of things.

When asked about how they used their cellphones, the top results were

1. talking - 91%
2. text-messaging - 87%
3. as an alarm clock - 80%

When they were asked about the capabilities they wanted most in future cellphones, the top responses were:

1.  longer battery life - 86%
2. waterproof devices - 81%

The features that smartphones are best know for (listed below) all finished last.

• Internet access
• email
• instant messaging
• video messaging
• GPS

RSM