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IBM’s The Great Mind Challenge 2012

January 31st, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Teach IT - (0 Comments)

Attention all USC students! IBM has a new challenge for you…are you ready to take it?

IBM The Great Mind Challenge

What: Social business contest for students. Top scoring teams will receive prizes and recognition for the universities and faculty members they represent. Winning groups will secure special recognition for the universities and faculty members they represent.

Who: Student teams from any discipline.

When: Spring 2012 Semester

For more information, visit facebook.com/ibmskillstour or email tgmc@us.ibm.com.

Other schools eligible for participation:

Anthem College
Baylor University, Waco, TX
Bethune Cookman University, Daytona Beach, FL
DeVry University
Duke University, Durham, NC
Florida Technical College
Fordham University, New York, NY
Herzing University, FL
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Pace University, New York, NY		 Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Strayer University, FL
University of Central Florida, Union Park, FL
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, MA
University of North Texas, Denton, TX
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
University of Tampa, Tampa, FL
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX

 

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Code Year

January 26th, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Careers | Education | Promote IT | Teach IT - (0 Comments)
Codeyear Screen Shot

A shot of Lindsey's computer as she tackles the first lesson

Hello fellow IT-oLogists! So, in effort to understand the IT community and profession a little more fellow co-workers, Powers Strickland, Alicia Thibaudet and myself are going to attempt the Code Year course! Are you shocked?!? I was too at first…the thought of learning code seemed a little far fetched at first. But, I have to say, I’m really excited.

What is Code Year? A FREE year-long course teaching individuals code! Every week they will send you a new lesson. I just completed my first…I have to say it was pretty fun and I’m really excited about this adventure. At the end of each lesson, you’ll even earn a badge. How cool?

So, over the year, I’m sure you’ll see posts on where we stand as “students” in this course. Don’t be surprised if we need your encourage from time to time!

 Sign up and take the course with us! It’s sure to be a fun year! Visit www.codeyear.com for more information.

 

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Technology Makes Things Happen

January 24th, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in IT-oLogy Defined | World of IT - (0 Comments)

Yesterday, IT-oLogy and the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics announced a really cool high-tech effort to encourage women in South Carolina to seek elected office at a press conference held in the Theater at IT-oLogy. With our technology expertise and funding by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the Institute was able to work with Period Three and Palmetto Computer Labs, partners in IT-oLogy, to create a web-based training series to educate women on how to run for office.

A few months ago, Barbara Rackes, the Executive Director of the Institute, approached us for some help. She had been given funding by BCBSSC to make this incredible web-training series a possibility, but needed some direction on how to make it actually happen. That’s where IT-oLogy came to the table. Because we’re made up of over 70 corporate partners that specialize in all types of technology, we knew exactly where to send Barbara and her team.

We brought together the Institute, Palmetto Computer Labs and Period Three and immediately saw creativity and ideas begin to fly. Out of the initial session came a cool series of web-based training for women in SC to learn more about running for office.

Isn’t technology cool? In this case, it allowed the Institute to reach a number of women who may be interested in running for office, but don’t have access to the resources they need. Now, interested parties can participate in the webinar series at their own pace in the comfort of their own home – all with resources one click away.

Technology has endless possibilities, and allows us to take our business and personal goals to the next level.

“IT-oLogy has the mission of advancing IT talent. When more technology possibilities are created, more people are in place with the skills to apply to business needs,” said Lonnie Emard, Executive Director of IT-oLogy. “In this case, three partners in IT-oLogy (BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Palmetto Computer Labs and Period Three) delivered financial support and IT capability to enable the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics to become more efficient in reaching a large target audience.

Want to see these cool webinars? Visit www.scelectswomen.com.

Check out the pictures from the press conference!

Lonnie Emard and Mary Anne Jacobs

Lonnie Emard, Executive Director of IT-oLogy, and Mary Anne Jacobs, President of the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics

Lonnie Emard

Lonnie Emard discusses IT-oLogy's role in the new high-tech effort

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POSSCON 2012 Early, Early Bird Registration Closes January 31

January 20th, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Education | IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

POSSCON 2012The Early, Early Bird Registration rate of $99 will close on January 31st for the world-class Palmetto Open Source Software Conference, presented by IT-oLogy.

The Palmetto Open Source Software Conference will once again bring a world-class lineup of IT thought leaders to the Southeast for two days to discuss the latest issues for developers, executives, government leaders and educators.

We are extremely pleased to announce that Scott McNealy will headline POSSCON 2012. He is one of the most influential and widely quoted leaders in the history of IT. Whether co-founding Sun Microsystems at the age of 27, eventually selling Sun Microsystems to Oracle, overseeing the development of Java and the acquisition of MySQL, assuming the role of defender of the free computing world, originating the visionary phrase ‘the network is the computer,’ or starting the open source education nonprofit Curriki, McNealy has literally changed the course of technology and open source history.

POSSCON 2012 will be held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center March 28-29, 2012, and will feature track sessions, hands-on training and social and networking events. Tracks will include Education, Technical, Big Picture and Demo/Training.

Other speakers include Dr. Douglas Maughan, Director, Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Security Division; Jim Jagielski, Co-Founder and President, Apache Software Foundation; Chris Aniszcyck, Open Source Manager, Twitter, Inc.; and many others.

In 2011, more than 500 people from 15 states, 30 colleges and universities and approximately 100 business and government organizations attended.

Early-early bird registration is now open at a discounted rate of $99. Registration is available at www.posscon.org.

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Nadia, why should I attend CWIC?

January 19th, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Careers | Education | Teach IT - (0 Comments)

For all those thinking of this question ab^^

We all know that the amount of female computer science majors is low. CWIC is a place for you to interact with other women in the same field of study as you. Technology changes fast so there is sure to be some Lightning talk or Birds of a feather talk that would interest you. I’m sure there are knowledgeable people out there that love to teach people about things, so there are opportunities for you too. Present a poster or Lightning talk to fellow Comp. Sci. majors.

I’m looking forward to interacting with professionals in different fields revolving around technology and computing. There is a career fair at the end of the conference as well. Putting yourself out there is important for anything you will do. Also, connections are critical in the career field, so it doesn’t hurt to make friends.

As my informal answer… I’m a computer nerd. If someone says there is a conference where you can chat with other like minded people, of course I’m going to be interested! So if you are like me, why not come? I’m sure you will be able to talk to many interesting people. And you can always look for me there.

Signing off for the night,

Nadia Rodriguez

Register now @ www.carolinaswic.org.

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CWIC 2012: A do not miss event!

January 13th, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Education | Teach IT - (0 Comments)

The Carolinas Women in Computing Conference is back! The event – geared towards college women in computing – takes place at IT-oLogy on Friday, February 17 and Saturday, February 18. This is a do-not-miss event for all college women interested in IT and computing! Visit www.carolinaswic.org for more information. We are introducing a top 10 List for CWIC 2012…Here are #10-6! Stay tuned for #5-1!

Top 10 Reasons to Attend CWIC 2012:

#10 Available Scholarships!

There are lots of student scholarships available through the Grace Hopper Regional Consortium with funds from the NSF (http://ghregionalconsortium.org/upcoming.cfm). These scholarships are made available to students so that money will not be a hindrance to attending CWIC 2012. Faculty may also request funding for overnight hotel stay. In awarding scholarships, we will give first priority to poster and lightning talk presenters. Apply now: http://www.carolinaswic.org/registrationscholarships.html

#9.  A great environment to present a poster! 

If you’ve conducted research, you probably have a research poster. Submit an abstract for your poster to the conference web site: http://www.carolinaswic.org/call-for-participation.html

If you have not conducted research, there are still lots of ways to participate. Ethical issues, social issues and curricular issues of computing are sources of natural topics. At a recent similar regional conference in Chicago, poster titles included: “Attracting Girls to Programming through Alice”, “Asynchronous Access to Friends in a Social Network”, “Fusing Computer Science and the Fine Arts”, “Creating Community for the Technology Good”, “Comparison of CS Education in Russia and the USA” and “A Computer Science Circle”. These titles help one to see how easy it is to create a poster. We can provide poster boards at the conference, if you bring some printouts. Let us know if you need them.

Every student who participates in the poster sessions will acquire a nice supplement for her resume.

Consider pairing up or even tripling up to design a poster. The Web site contains hints for poster preparation. 

In addition, the top graduate student poster winner and the top undergraduate student poster winner will each receive a scholarship that will fully find their attendance at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing next fall in Baltimore, Maryland. 

We would be happy to call you to help you brainstorm poster ideas!

#8 Opportunity to give a Lightning Talk!

Lightning Talks are very short (probably no more than 5 minutes) talks. We’ll know the exact length, after we see how many proposals come in. As in the case of Posters (see #9), there are two tracks for Lightning Talks:  Research and Ethical/Societal/Curricular Issues. The Indiana WIC in 2008 had Lightning Talks with these titles:  “Socialization in an Online World”, “5 Ideas in 5 Minutes for Women in CS Organizations”, “Appealing to Different Learning Styles in Computer Science”, “One Laptop Per Child”, “Gender Differences in the use of Social Networking Sites”, “Collaborative Learning Environments: Reducing Dropouts in Public Schools in Chennai, India”, “Variations on Matrix Multiplication Algorithms:  Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates”, “Inner Peace in Outer Space: An HCId approach to habitability in a high stress environment” and “Self-Healing Database Management Systems”.  Occasionally, two women share a Lightning Talk.

Submit a proposal for a Lightning Talk today:  http://www.carolinaswic.org/call-for-participation.html

#7:  Boost Your Resume

We’ve talked about two ways to participate in CWIC in #8 and #9. You can include the poster or Lightning Talk presentations in your resume. (Feel free to submit more than one proposal too!) Having a presentation in your resume demonstrates initiative, motivation and academic competence.   Developing and giving the presentation provide you with benefits too:  confidence, encouragement and an introduction to the professional world. Brainstorm ideas for proposals with your advisers and friends. Remember that you can share a presentation with a friend. 

Also remember that the undergraduate and graduate poster winners will be given a full-ride trip to the Grace Hopper Celebration next fall in Baltimore,Md. If you have not been to a Grace Hopper before find out about it at http://gracehopper.org/

#6 Opportunities to join a discussion of a topic that you care about in “Birds of a Feather” Sessions

BIRDS-of-FEATHER or BoF sessions are informal discussion groups on specific topics of interest. Suitable topics for discussion include (but are not limited to) careers, education, challenges, student organizations or any other topic related to computing. BoF sessions may be organized by one or more students, faculty, and industry professionals. Submit a brief proposal now http://www.carolinaswic.org/call-for-participation.html

Do we have you hooked yet? Go register today: www.carolinaswic.org!

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POSSCON 2012 Early, Early Bird Registration Now Open! Limited Time Only

January 10th, 2012 | Posted by ToddLewis in IT-oLogy Defined - (0 Comments)

Early, Early Bird registration for POSSCON 2012 is now open at the discounted rate of $99. This rate is only good through the month of January and will end January 31.

POSSCON 2012, which is scheduled for March 28 and 29 at the Columbia Convention Center, has become one of the largest open source conferences in the Southeast. It will again feature keynotes, track sessions and training opportunities for technologists, IT decision makers, and education professionals of all types.

Scott McNealy, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems, a Silicon Valley legend and one of the most influential leaders in the history of IT, is the keynote speaker for this year’s event. Other speakers include Dr. Douglas Maughan, Director, Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Security Division; Jim Jagielski, Co-Founder and President, Apache Software Foundation; Chris Aniszcyck, Open Source Manager, Twitter, Inc.; and many others.

In 2011, more than 500 people from 24 states, 30 colleges and universities and approximately 100 business and government organizations attended.

Registration is available at www.posscon.org. Questions can be directed to Todd Lewis, POSSCON Chair, at todd@posscon.org.

The Palmetto Open Source Software Conference is an annual gathering of technologists, IT decision makers and education professionals to discuss the topic of open source. Started in 2008, POSSCON has now become one of the largest open source conferences in the Southeast. In 2011 more than 500 attended from 24 states, including representatives from 30 colleges and universities and approximately 100 business and government organizations.

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From VHS to DVR to….

January 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Whitney Williams in Careers | Grow IT | Promote IT | Teach IT - (0 Comments)
VHS Tape

Image from www.bing.com

Christmas inspired me to think of how much our times have changed.  It all started when my mother told me she was buying my husband some tapes.  Now, as you can imagine I was a little curious about exactly what type of “tapes” she was buying him, so of course I had to ask.

She told me, “You know, tapes so he can record his shows he likes to watch.” And then it hit me….WOW, have times changed! She was still caught in the times when we would literally use a “tape” to record things! I giggled and said, “Mom, people don’t use tapes anymore, they simply DVR.”

She was in total shock, so I had to explain this new phenomenon and all its vast capabilities! So, this got me to thinking…

Remember the days of the video home system, better know as the VHS? Let’s rewind to the late 1970’s for a moment…

It’s 7pm on a Wednesday night and you just realize your favorite TV show is scheduled to come back on tomorrow at 10am while you’re at work. BIG PROBLEM!

Big thanks to the people at JVC for introducing us to the VHS tape. With this, you could simply pop in a VHS tape into your VCR and schedule your recording. BAM! It was that simple…until someone accidently recorded over it. Or if you were like me, you put sandwiches and any other food/toys into your parents VCR rendering it useless. So, what’s a person to do? Fast-forward to present day…

DVR Remote

Image from Wikipedia

It’s 7pm on a Wednesday night and you just realize your favorite T.V. show is scheduled to come back on tomorrow at 10am while you’re at work. Today, you simply get your smart phone and use your cable provider’s app and schedule the recording – all in ONE STEP! And no one can record over it, ruin the recording device or even loose the tape. WOW, technology really has changed!

This is one of many examples of how careers in technology are on the rise.  How will you fit into this picture? There’s so much to consider, but obviously a career in technology is the way to go.  Here, you can be a part of the next recording device…what will it be?

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