sacha chua :: social intranet consultant and geek

So here’s my new workflow:

1. figure out the gist of what I want to say
2. write down some titles
3. sketch a couple of ideas into my idea book (thanks Mom!)
4. pull the storyboard together
5. draw it on my DS
6. copy the files using the USB adapter
7. convert the DRW files to PNGs using a scale of 2.0 (nice and not too blurry even blown up)
8. batch-import all the PNGs in a directory (OpenOffice.org extension or Microsoft Powerpoint Import Image -> Photo Album)
9. post the presentation to Slideshare.net
10. blog about it

=)

I really wish I could just automate step 7, but oh well!

Tags: Uncategorized // 2 Comments »

As promised, here’s a quick guide to sketching on the Nintendo DS:

| View | Upload your own

Useful sites:

• DSTT - one of the homebrew chips
• DS Colors at CollectingSmiles.com
• ColorsDraw, a Java applet for playing back .DRW files

I like sketching on the DS because it’s something I can always take with me. I’ve thought about getting a digitizing tablet, but I’ve always held off because, well, I don’t think of myself as an artist. Not a proper artist–not like Diane, one of my best friends. She has sketchpads full of good stuff, and would definitely make the most of a tablet. Me, I doubt my artistic skill and hand-eye coordination. But I’ve been working on developing my visual vocabulary by taking pictures, looking at photos and great presentations, and trying to explain abstract things with analogies, and I’m discovering that maybe I do have a little bit of an artistic side. Sketching is actually a lot of fun. Maybe my drawings aren’t as cool as the sketches that people have posted in the Colors Gallery, but they’re my drawings, and they make me happy. =)

I’m starting to save up for a tablet PC. =) I think that would be fun to play with, and I’ve learned that it’s good to follow my intuition. I would love to mindmap and storyboard my presentations with a tablet PC, and if I can use that to sketch bigger things, even better! So I’ve made room in my spending plan, and at my current rate of saving, I’ll have the sum saved just in time for my 25th birthday. =) I want the Lenovo X61 multi-touch model, but maybe an even better one will come along by the time I’ve saved up for it. (And maybe there’ll be more software for it, too!)

In the meantime, I want to learn more about communicating with the tools I have. I’ve got so many things I want to share: things I’ve learned, things I’m learning from other people and from books and from the world around me. You can come along and learn with me as we figure things out. That’s what this blog is for. =) So I’ve checked out a whole bunch of books on visual storytelling, and I’m going to be drafting and drawing some other ideas over the next few weeks. (My Wicked Cool Emacs book may turn into a cartoon guide to Emacs… Yeah, right. )

What would be some great ways to improve on this without springing for new gadgets? I’d really love to figure out how to work with the videos I can get from ColorsDraw and turn them into a slideshow where the pace is controlled by the viewer. I’d love to be able to move things around, cut things apart, and crop and greenscreen… I’d love to do proper animations of stick figures and drawings, too. (Wouldn’t it be awesome if someone came up with a DS homebrew app for that?) And there’s plenty to learn even with static images. =)

So that’s where I am with this Nintendo DS sketching thing. I’m learning a lot, and it’s fun. <grin>

Tags: art, sketchcast, sketches // 3 Comments »

Read extensively. The university library’s an amazing resource. Yours might come with access to online research libraries, too. Combine that with Internet resources such as Wikipedia, blogs, and so on. Speed-reading can help you browse through information quickly so that you can focus on the good stuff.

Write. Writing is a great way to remember what you’re learning and reflect on how you’re doing things. This will help you get better and better at what you do, and you’ll be able to recognize the things you’re good at and that you enjoy. If you write on a blog, you can use it to reach out to people. Write about what you’re learning, and you’ll help other people who are learning about it too. Write about what you’re doing well, and you’ll start building a network and a reputation that will come in really handy when you’re looking for work.

Connect. Find out if there’s a Facebook group for your incoming university class. If not, start one and invite other people to join. It’s a great way to connect with people even before the first day of class. Feeling shy? That’s okay, everyone is too. If you focus on helping other people connect and make friends, you’ll become more and more comfortable, and you’ll make friends along the way too. Don’t hesitate to look for role models online, too. Many people have blogs that you can read to get a sense of what life is like in their industry. Read, then comment, then contact them, and you’ll get a head start on growing your network.

Behave online and offline. The Internet remembers, and even sites that promise you privacy occasionally mess up and expose things you’ve shared to the world. Think twice about posting pictures of wild parties, underwear-on-your-head shenanigans, and other things things that future employers and coworkers might take against you. In fact, since just about anyone can take a picture of you and post it up on the Net where you don’t have control of it, you might want to keep clean entirely. You don’t need to posture to be cool, and you can have fun without doing things you’ll regret.

Don’t let yourself be limited by anything or anywhere. I took my bachelor’s degree in a university in the Philippines. Great school, but it didn’t have all the courses I wanted. =) I was on the Internet learning from course materials from everywhere: MIT, Georgia Tech, wherever I could find information. Now there are even more choices. Check out places like MIT OpenCourseware and Stanford iTunes for free courses. This is great not only for learning things, but also for getting a better sense of what you like. In fact, it might be a good idea to check the courses out now before you declare a major. You don’t need to understand everything. You just have to get a sense of whether you’ll like the course or not. That way, you’ll spend less time switching around to find something you enjoy and will use.

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I think I’ll make a few sketches about this over the long weekend. =) Any other tips for incoming college and university students?

Tags: education, tips, web2.0 // 3 Comments »

We took J- to her last hiphop dance class before the performance on Monday. It’s amazing what lessons in life and leadership you can pick up from something like that.

We arrived early, so we watched the previous class. The instructor was a lively young woman who coached and cheered the kids through their dance routine. You should have seen the serious looks of concentration on the kids’ faces as they tried to remember all the steps. They wanted to do well - and they certainly didn’t want to be That Kid Who Forgot The Dance Steps.

After a rather subdued dance routine, the dance teacher called all the students together and asked them to say the steps out loud, just as she’d taught them before. Some of the kids hesitated. The dance teacher explained, “It’s not just for you. It helps other people remember the steps, too!” At that, the kids perked up. I guess they realized that other kids faced the same problems they did, and that they could help each other. =)

The kids went into the dance routine with renewed energy. Some kids jumped straight into it, shouting their moves. Others were more tentative, whispering the moves to themselves. Seeing that, the teacher said, “I can’t hear you!” By the end of the run, the kids were yelling their moves as they did them, and laughing at each other’s antics.

“Great! Now during the performance, we’ll whisper it, okay?” said the teacher. Several kids turned to her with worried looks. The teacher reassured everyone that saying it out loud would help them remember. “Pinky promise!” she said. Then–if I saw it right–all the kids clustered around the teacher, pinky-promising one by one.

Other people around us are trying to figure out the steps, too. We can help others while helping ourselves. That’s why I like yelling out my steps, sharing what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. Who knows, someone might be going through a similar thing too! =) Sometimes, what we need to boost our confidence is that pinky-promise from someone that things are going to work out all right. I pinky-promise you: things will be wonderful.

Tags: life // Add Comment »

Hey, that worked. Good thing I still have some of my favorite sketches on my DS. Here’s the sketch I play back to myself whenever I miss my cat or feel uncreative:

She very obligingly posed for me the last time I was in the Philippines. I miss my cat.

Tags: cat, sketchcast, sketches // Add Comment »