Tool Guide

The biggest project that I have taken on at the Lichtenberger Engineering Library is the maintaining of the Tool Library. At the time of writing this the tool library consists of 172 tools that are free for students to borrow. But it is ever growing with more being added every few months. Each of the tools has a card that is kept with it. That card has key information (i.e. what is included, links to manuals, and a short description of its function). Those cards are made with Microsoft Publisher. There is a tool binder, which acts as a physical catalog. This is made using Microsoft Word. Finally, there is an online presence for the Tool Library. That started off as a Springshare LibGuide Site but it was transferred to a WordPress Site to match the rest of the Engineering Library Website. If a tool is added, the numbering system changes, or categories of tools changes each of those resources must be updated to reflect the new change. All three of those things have happened as the tool library has grown we have had to come up new methods which have improved the Tool Library.

The Tool Library WordPress can be found on the Engineering Library Website.

Mapping the Independent Media Community

The graduate assistantship that I held for my final year of graduate school I worked with Professor Mattock on her project of Mapping the Independent Media Community. This project revolved around The Film and Video Makers Travel Sheet and supporting documents as a digital humanities project to demonstrate how these media creators were creating a worldwide network and the growth of 16mm film and video technology.

My part of the project was using the D3 JavaScript Library to create visualizations from CSV files of the data. These visualizations demonstrate the growing impact of the travel sheet and the networks that developed. The code for it can be found on my GitHub Repository.

Mapping the Independent Media Community is found at mimcproject.org

MECCA Week Research

This is a project that used my background as a historian and my work on the Museum Studies Certificate. The Director of University of Iowa Engineering Alumni Relations and Communications, Wendy Brentner, has an archive of the University of Iowa MECCA Week Celebration, which I had never heard of before this project. MECCA was a celebration of the College of Engineering for much of the 1900's (1910-1980s). I was required to take her records and add my own research, using skills I have gained while working in the library. I ended up using microfilm, digitized newspapers, a website that was made about alumni memories of MECCA, and a few other physical resources that I found to add to her archive.

The result of this project was a blog that is hosted on the Engineering Website, an exhibit that was on display during the month of March 2017 (a picture is found in the blog post), and a paper of the history that I found that was added to the archive and is hosted on the website as well.

Researcher 101

The University of Iowa College of Engineering has 300+ Graduate Students. This project started off as just to make a flyer for those students discussing the resources that are available to aid them in their research. But, then I had the idea why not make it a tool that they could use by making it into a journal for them to keep their notes. I wrote about the resources that were available, which takes up the first approx. 10 pages, and the rest is grid paper for notes or sketching. Another department on campus designed and produced the cover for the journal. They were all bound in the Engineering Library.

This project was exciting because it is a new way to promote library resources that hadn't been done before and provided me with experience on collaboration across campus departments!

Badging for Information Literacy

The project that will be evolving over this last year of graduate school for me is using technology to teach basic information literacy skills. Kari Kozak, Head of the Lichtenberger Engineering Library, has been developing a series called "Detective Jones" which are a series of "chose your own adventure" YouTube Videos that teach and explain information literacy concepts, such as the CRAAP Test.

My part in this project has been researching how to recognize individuals using badging for those complete the video series. The University of Iowa uses Canvas Learning Management System. Researching I found Badgr.io has a plug-in for Canvas. So, the decision was made that a Canvas "class" be set up with modules for each video series/information literacy skill and then Badgr.io awards badges once that module is completed. I am acting as the course designer so I have been using Canvas to make the modules and quizzes for the class.

Institutional Repository

For the class Data Management and Visualization, the final project was to use Medline data and construct an institutional research repository, an on-line information system housing descriptions of the activities of researchers. All the data was in a database already and the group I was in, Team_A, consisted of Aaron M., Ben S., Bharat S., John Y., and myself. This project used Java and SQL to produce the final product.

My parts in the project were working at the command line to remotely set up an Apache Tomcat Instance and then transfer the files for our project to that server so it could be accessed. Additionally, I wrote SQL queries to retrieve information from the database and made the Java pages where those results would be displayed, example to the right. I also included D3 visualizations into the project.

The code I generated for it can be seen on my GitHub Repository.

C++ Projects

In Programming Languages and Tools, I learned basic C++. This class had two major projects during the semester.

The first was writing a program that read a .txt file that had attributes for a rectangle or an ellipse then graphically display those described shapes. The class was provided several header files and .cpp files and we had to write the main program combine them all together. The second project was to write the game "Hunt the Wumpus" using C++. We were provided a header file that had a slimmed down version of the C++ Standard Library.

The files that I created for those projects can be found in my GitHub Repository. The files are separated into folders, Project 1 and Project II.

Raspberry Pi LAMP Stack

One of my favorite classes during graduate school, Computing Foundations, we used a Raspberry Pi all semester. We had to install a LAMP Stack, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, using the command line. This provided me with experience with a Raspberry Pi and more importantly introduced me to the Linux Command Line Interface. I enjoyed it to the point where I downloaded Bash Ubuntu for Windows and use it for my PC Computer's Command Line Interface.

Organizing Societies

While working on my undergraduate degree, I took a class called Museum Literacy and Historical Memory. This class was focused on creating a digital museum with items relating to the 1904 World's Fair Philippine Reservation in St. Louis. Each person in the class had to find an item and then write a short blog post about that item. My item was about the parallels between the racial segregation in St. Louis and how the Fair's organizers used Social Darwinism to organize exhibits. This project was my first experience with digital publishing and digital humanities. My submission to the digital museum is on the University of Iowa History Corps Website.

This Website

This website is a project that I undertook to both be used as a promotional tool for myself and to learn HTML and CSS. It is hosted on GitHub Pages and all the code for it can be seen on my GitHub Repository.

Iowa DeMolay Website

One of the tasks that I do for Iowa DeMolay is maintain their website. DeMolay International developed the framework for the website with a simple file management system for the backend. I act as a content creator and website manager. The front end for that website can be found at IADeMolay.org.

Iowa Inquisitor

Another thing I do for Iowa DeMolay, is act as the editor for the Iowa Inquisitor. It is the monthly e-Newsletter for Iowa DeMolay. It is written by the State Officers, the young men who lead DeMolay in Iowa. The Inquisitor is the newest edition to the communication for the state. Past editions can be found on the Iowa DeMolay Website.