Meme Monday–11 Word Blog Post

I just found out via Twitter (If you aren’t there, you are losing out on most of the world’s conversations) that Rebecca Mitchell (Blog | Twitter) has tagged me (asked me to write this blog post) as part of this theme.

Tom LaRock (Blog | Twitter) originally blogged this 11 Word Blog Post theme:  “Write a SQL blog post in 11 words or less”.  Here are my 11 Words:

Design is all about cost, benefit and risk.  Love your Data.

I’m tagging Rob Drysdale (Blog | Twitter) and Tom Bilcze (Twitter ) next.  Get writing, guys.

Thanks for tagging me, Rebecca!

So Excited to be part of #NASATweetup – Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

Just in case you don’t follow me on Twitter, I received great news last week that I have been selected to attend the most amazing event, the NASA Tweetup, an invitation-only in-person meeting of space aficionados on Twitter.  The meeting takes place in the same area where traditional media hangs out.  There will be about 150 of us space geeks converging in Florida to watch one of the last shuttle launches.  This is officially the last funded launch, but NASA has stated that they will have one more launch to do some maintenance work on the Space Station.

Someone from a former NASA Tweetup crowd made the following image to show just why this meetup is special:

The Tweetup is planned for 2 days, although it is all based on the when the Shuttle Endeavour will actually launch (currently scheduled for 19 April 2011).  During those two days there will be socializing, chatting, special speakers, interviews, a ton of picture taking, more socializing…and watching the launch.  I hope.  It’s nice that I can stay the whole week if I have to.  Some other launches have been delayed — one for over 4 months. 

In preparation for this once-in-a-lifetime event for me, I’ve been trying to study up on the Shuttle program.  Early in my career I worked at Space Division in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC. The projects I worked on involved space initiatives, including shuttle missions.  I remember heading down to the officers club every time there was a launch or landing.  It was so exciting being in that environment, where people work working on efforts that truly expanded our knowledge of the universe.

I was also lucky in that I had a meeting in Washington, DC this past Monday, so I was able to spend a couple of hours at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. In a following post, I’ll share some of the photos I captured there.  I also watched Hubble 3D, an IMAX film about repairs made to the Hubble telescope during a previous mission.  What was interesting was that Astronaut Drew Feustel, who appeared in the film, will also be a crew member of STS-134, the Shuttle mission for this NASA Tweetup.  Drew is also a Boilermaker, attending Purdue about the same time I did.

As some other Tweetup attendees have said, I feel as if I have won a golden ticket to a most amazing experience.  I will be writing about this event over the next couple of weeks, but I promise to tie it all back to data and information.  Think of it as a DataChick view of space data.

Keynote: Women in IT Management Networking Night Ryerson University

This Wednesday I’m giving a short keynote at the Ryerson University‘s Women in IT Networking Night.  This event includes faculty, students, alumni and IT industry professionals.

Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Time: 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Cara Commons in the TRS [1-148]

Attire: Business Formal

The WITM group is made up primarily of people involved with the B.Comm Business Technology Management degree program.  In looking over the program, I can’t help but compare it to my undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems (CPT) from Purdue.  In that program, about 35% of our curriculum was in technical areas.  We also took multiple accounting courses, business law, operational research, psychology, and 3 economics courses.  My specializations were in database and organizational psychology.

Look at this excerpt from the BTM program overview:

They study the core business disciplines, such as marketing, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, and law. They receive a solid grounding in the world of ICT in subjects such as systems analysis and design, Internet & web-based applications, ICT architecture and infrastructure, and privacy & security. In their senior years, students integrate the knowledge from these two foundations to learn how ICT can make a difference in every business studying strategic application of ICT, the role of ICT in business processes activities such as supply chain, sales and customer relations. They learn about project management and the integration of ICT into business.

Our companies need more of these sorts of graduates: people who understand technology and how it supports business.  Unfortunately, our profession has not yet fully embraced these applied computing programs.  As employers, we need to continue to demand more of these types of academic programs.

I’m excited about meeting other IT professionals in my local community, especially those focused on the collaboration of business and technology.  I’m also looking forward to hearing more about this program. 

If you are in the Toronto area and would like to network, you can register to attend at witm.ca .

Love Your Data

My friend Michael Swart (blog | Twitter) did this wonderful take on "Love Your Data" for me.  And I….love it.  Not only does it work for our theme, it also is a sort of inside joke for Trekkers.  Do you "get it"?

Check out his blog and his Twitter feed for great content and artwork.

I’ve asked him for another piece of art.  Can’t wait until it is done, too.

Karen’s Typical Day

I used this slide in my recent Webinar sponsored by Embarcadero Technologies.  It’s a collage of photos to represent how it seems I spend my time.

I’d love to see your typical day as you would represent it.  It doesn’t have to be a collage or even have photos.  Just blog your typical day in something other than paragraphs and link to the photo above or leave a link in the comments if you don’t see a track back in the comments automatically.  Include the hashtag #typicalday in the title.

Don’t blog?  This would be a great way to get started. 

I’ll write up a summary blog post of all the submissions, along with my usual witty observations.

Go! Show us what your days are like (or at least what they feel like).

Office Hours with DataChick (Karen Lopez)

One of my commitments this year is to try some new ways of interacting with the data community.  I’d like to try to have some recurring office hours where people just like you YOU can drop into a Go To Meeting to ask me questions about data, data modeling, database design …or my treadmill desk, a recent conference, industry standard data models, etc.  Or you could just say “Hi”.  I’ll also have the ability to get help from you, too.

What are Office Hours?

I’m drawing from an academic practice of educators publishing set times when students could stop by to get help from an instructor on a more direct basis than in a classroom.  However, my intention isn’t for this to be an Instructor/Student dynamic, but more of a professional information sharing opportunity to talk shop outside the bounds of our regular projects.

I see this as the types of conversations that happen during breaks at user group / DAMA meetings or at the end of a webinar.  Not all work, but primarily about topics we share an interest in.  I also see this as a type of tertulia, which is a conversation by a group of people with a share interest.

Rob Drysdale may join us as his schedule fits, too.

This is open to anyone and everyone who would like to be part of a virtual meeting of data professionals where there is no set agenda.

Meeting Information (GoTo Meeting)

1. Please join my meeting.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/483280225

2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.

Dial +1 (773) 945-1017

Access Code: 483-280-225

Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 483-280-225

Update: Office Hours meeting info has changed.  Please see: Office Hours are Back for new information.

Please enter your real name or Twitter ID when joining the meeting. It helps us connect better, which is why we are having these meetings.

What it Is not

The intention isn’t for us to provide 45 minutes of free consulting to solve a detailed data modeling problem for one person.  That’s what we do for a living. It also isn’t quite the bar discussion after a user group meeting where all topics are available.  However, I might be on a beverage break at the same time and so could you.  So think about the same sort of topics, approaches, and conventions you’d normally follow in the break room at work or over breakfast at a your local DAMA meeting.

This isn’t a user group meeting with a presentation or agenda.  Perhaps it is an “unmeeting” of sort.  You don’t have to join at the starting time, nor do you have stay all the way through.   If you want to bring your Barbie, GI Joe, or Wayne Gretzky action figure, please do so.

One final note

We are using a version of Go To Meeting that allows for 15 participants at a time.  That means that our group will be small at any point in time. I think that matches what my intent is.  It also means that we can share screens/applications and that you can use a computer headset or dial in to to talk.

Feedback

As I said, this is a trial.  I’m thinking this will be a couple of times a month, probably on Thursday afternoons ET.  But I’ll be looking for feedback to see if this is the right timeslot and if we are using the right tools to do this.  I’ll also be looking for input into the right structure.

Update: We’ve had a few of these now and I can definitely say that they are here to stay.  Most Thursdays at 4PM Eastern, using the meeting information above.

If you’d like a meeting invite for you calendar, e-mail me Karen @ infoadvisors.com (remove those spaces).  You can also leave a comment here with a valid e-mail address so that I can send you the meeting invite.

So lets give this a try.  I’d love to hear your questions, comments, thoughts on DATA.  We talk about issues, challenges, funny stories, and whatever is going on in the news about data.