User talk:Mu301/Archive 2007

Wikimedia Commons vs Wikiversity
I just answered your question about editing image desciptions. See Request custodian action. Let me know if this is not clear or if I do not understand the problem correctly. Robert Elliott 17:28, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Stellarium
I've been playing around with this Stellarium program. Seems fun and intuitive. Have you figured out if screenshots are ok to upload here or should I do it on commons? --Rayc 04:39, 3 January 2007 (UTC)


 * LOL, I went to upload on commons and found that someone had uploaded already, not only the same planet, but the same name as well, [[Image:Stellarium Saturn.jpg|thumb]]. Click the magnifying glass, type Saturn, and hit go and you've got Saturn. One more thing... do you work at Ladd Observatory?  It would be nice if you got a picture of the observatory itself for the wikipedia page--Rayc 05:25, 3 January 2007 (UTC)


 * No, I'm not sure about screenshots. The screenshot "license" template says "It is believed that the use of a limited number of web-resolution screenshots..."  Well, I see people here teaching Photoshop or sound editing and they are using more than a limited number of images, some of which are more than 1000pix in size.  Same on wikipedia.  It seems to be a grey area.  Take a look at Equatorial coordinate system which is a cut and paste from the KStars program (which is similar to Stellarium.)  The software is GPL, so any documentation is free to incorporate here and that would include the use of screenshots.  Yes, I work at Ladd.  I'll look around and see if I have any images that can be uploaded GFDL.--mikeu 15:52, 3 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Also, I seem to recall seeing something that commons has more restrictive rules on uploads. Something about the screenshot "fair use" license not being good enough.  For instance, you will not find screenshots of Microsoft products in the Microsoft category or anywhere else on commons.  But you will find lots at wikipedia.--mikeu 16:23, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for noticing this. --JWSchmidt 15:00, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Uncat
Hi Mike, how come you removed the category from this image ? Cormaggio talk 22:49, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Heya, thanks for the reply. I think that images from Commons should be categorised locally, since the import only takes the description, and leaves any categorisation out. People are going to be searching for all kinds of material on Wikiversity - from an entire course to a single diagram - so anything to facilitate the finding of specific resources (and categories are one such system) is a good thing, IMO. Obviously, one dream is for people to be able to search for specific resources across the entire wikimedia family, so they can aggregate different types of materials to suit their needs - I'm not sure if such a system exists, but I doubt it. Cormaggio talk 19:34, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism
Thanks for cleaning up that spate of vandalism today, Mike. El Hermanito is blocked now. Cormaggio talk 12:33, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

re: Learning in Wikiversity
Hi Mike! I'm very encouraged by your comment, and in a read of your recent posts to your blog, I think it is possibly a good time for all of us to do some reflection on how well we're supporting the building of learning communities, and the challenges inherent in this. I definitely think the creation of content is something that anyone can just 'blaze ahead' with, without necessarily relying on someone else to participate. But, as you say, perhaps the "build it and they will come" is naive with respect to building learning communities. (In fact, I very much think this is borne out in the educational literature.) I personally feel I haven't been doing enough work here on Wikiversity (particularly in the last few months), but would love to get stuck into this discussion. In fact, I think I've always seen this question as central to my research, which I am going to be reviving into actual action soon :-) - and so I think this question, and the reflection you've started could really get us as a community to start thinking about what has worked, what might work better, and what we need to work on in order to make it work better. However, I don't think I'll be very active again here until after Christmas, but I'll certainly be keeping tabs on progress, and hoping to chip in occasionally. Thanks again. Cormaggio talk 15:13, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Oh, just another comment which I've been meaning to make to you for a while. One guy who really gets the kind of thing we're doing here in Wikiversity is John Seely Brown - he has a book chapter, which I think everyone should read, but which has some really good stuff on astronomy as a "pro-amateur" activity - this is on pages 41-45 (if you can't get around to reading the whole thing). Let me know what you make of it. :-) Cormaggio talk 15:45, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks - I presume your audience will be captivated by your presentation rather than being captive in a classroom. :-) And I just now responded to your comment on the Colloquium - sorry for my limp response on IRC yesterday... Cormaggio talk 16:05, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

nytimes
"Have you seen Rock of Ages, Ages of Rock?"
 * Sorry, no....I've registered many times at the nytimes website and none of my registrations ever seem to remain valid. Can you email me a copy? --JWSchmidt 16:43, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for info!
Mikeu, thanks for the message and links. I am aware of the USGS PDS system and a few other online data services for U.S.G. data. We will be using them. I will check out the specific links you provide as I have never encountered resource maps from Lunar Prospector. I put some links around Lunar Boom Town to your observational astronomy modules in case someone shows up with a CCD or camera based telescope system and wants to publish some data for us. I suspected the resolution might be a bit low for anything short of major metro planning purposes. Maybe some logistics planning. Thanks again! Mirwin 02:34, 17 December 2007 (UTC)


 * cc'd from [Digital media workshop] mikeu - I am interested in using some of your astronomical images as previously discussed in games and in venture planning exercises at Lunar Boom Town.  I am thinking about an exercise in the teleoperated theme park rovers of starting with your photograph of Copernicus as top level planning tool then pulling more detailed closeups from the U.S.G.S. online Planetary Data System.  Maybe mining assessments as well.  Thanks for providing useful pictures of pieces of the universe for our use! cc mikeu talk page.  Mirwin 18:14, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * mikeu, thanks for format information. In past I have used Adobe Photoshop and Priemerre, played just a bit with GIMP.  A year ago I was looking at a USG NIH (National Institute of Health) open source impage processing package written in Java ImageJ.  It may be useful integrating some features of  some of our game components.  Eventually I may investigate to see if there are data formats or translation routes to ImageJ from your astonomy package, very possible as it is a package written and used by practicing scientists.   For now the images you and JWSurf are posting and processing are outstanding for our starting participants and processes at Lunar Boom Town  I am not familar with the other data processing packages you mention.   For now my focus is on open source for two reasons ... one I am personally short on disposable income ... two  I wish Lunar Boom Town to be freely and maximally accessible to anyone who can gain access to internet regardless of their personal economic status.  Obviously other particpants may choose to investigate more expensive options, in which case I will attempt to point them to this option to investigate. 8) Thanks again for the free astronomical data! Mirwin 19:01, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * This is a particularly nice shot ... http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Image:Moonl.jpg  The rays are clearly visible for many of the craters including Copernicus.  Very instructive!  Mirwin 02:14, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Dropped your Wikiversity handle on mentoring candidate
Hi, Mikeu. Subsequent to your message at Colloquium I followed the link to the Wikiproject out of natural curiouslty. I spotted a message from w:user:HappyCamper stating he enjoyed following newly arrived academics around and mentoring them. Naturally I promptly issued an engraged invitation for him to help out at Wikiversity with appropriate links .... one of which was mikeu. If you feel this is inappropriate please delete the link at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:HappyCamper#Mentoring_Opportunity or let me know and I will remove it. Thanks for putting some time in improving our arriving academics orientation materials and efforts. Mirwin 16:49, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Mikeu, I noticed HappyCamper at Wikipedia Wikiproject School outreach ... there seem to be several pages related to this ... and then I invited him to come check us out. I have not seen him at Wikiversity yet but the day is young! 8)  Mirwin 19:22, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Oh well. He has not been editing for over a month! 8)  At least I let him know that you are trying to get some action on the School Outreach or Academic Orientation or whatever exactly it is page. lol  I invitation campaign has paid off.   Once other user invited to allow his class to edit here until ready to transfer draft stubs and articles to Wikipedia dropped me a note to say potentially good idea and setup an account.   We progress by little increments foward! 8)

Speedy
My pleasure :-) Sometimes it just happens that a custodian is around! --HappyCamper 01:37, 27 December 2007 (UTC)