Special thanks

I want to extend a special thanks to the book donors:

• Christopher LaRoche
• Elisa Kaplan Miller
• Elsevier Publishing
• Morgan & Claypool
• Morgan Kaufman
• Rosenfeld Media

Their generosity has created a small library of extremely relevant and timely books for future UTP faculty and students.  On their behalf as well as on mine, THANK YOU!

Also, thanks to the Fulbright Program, sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and particularly, Jennifer Fox for her support and encouragement as I prepared to come to Panama.

Thanks to the faculty, staff and students of the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, and to the staff at the US Embassy in Panama City.

Most of all, thanks to my wonderful family who supported me throughout the process of applying, preparing for, and living this adventure.  

So long, farewell... (Friday)

Today began by going over to UTP one last time.  It was so bittersweet!  Indeed, it felt more bitter than sweet - I'm going to miss my friends and students here!

I had promised Geralis that I would do something to decorate the blank wall in her office, but I hadn't yet done it.  So of course I had to begin by doing this - with Post-Its of course and with every color I had!  Here's what it looked like when I was done (the purple in the middle is her name)

The department had a traditional meal in my honor, and Dean Nicolas "awarded" me with a green ribbon of graduation, as well as a UTP pen-cum-laser pointer (something I had coveted for a long time!) and a Fulbright pin from Karla, who was not able to attend.  I got to say good-bye to friends (left) and students (right)

And also, to my office.  I stared at this picture many times while thinking and brainstorming, so I wanted to be sure to capture it for the future.

 And then it was time for me to leave.  Sadly, I closed the door to my office one last time.

Friday evening, I finally got to meet my friend, Annette, face to face!  We had talked about it, strategized about it, and planned it a number of times, but had never actually been able to meet.  But Friday night, Itzel and Yasmine brought us together for a splendid dinner in Casco Viejo.

Annette

Itzel

Yasmine

What lovely people!  What a lovely last night in-country!  What a hard place to leave!

Ah, Panama!  I will miss you!

Day of the Three "C's" (Tuesday)

Today was defined by three different "C" words:  Colleagues in the morning, Canal in the afternoon, and Chicken at night.

1)  Colleagues.
We started by heading over to UTP so my colleagues and friends there could meet Anna Rachel and vice versa.  After talking about her for so long, it was nice to actually show people that she does, indeed, exist.  As a proud Mama, I enjoyed the chance to observe her poise and to see her (great) skills esp. at navigating social situations in a different language.  I enjoyed giving her a picture of where I've been spending my past four months as well.  She even took a picture of the Masters students' Affinity Diagram from the "Speedy Bead" User Research project.

2)  Canal:

As in "The Panama Canal" of course.  It's just not possible to come here and NOT see the Canal.  So in the afternoon, we set out to visit it.  Even though I've been there 3 times, it's still amazing.  And fascinating.  Each time I learn something new also.  This time, it was that my body is 76% water according to one of the exhibits.  Not sure what that means - especially since all it took besides the weight was your age and gender - but there you have it.  And I guess that means I'm officially "all wet."

But out on the Observation Deck, we watched several ships go through the Miraflores Locks, and saw how the water levels drop (since in the afternoons, ships are coming down from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side) and how the ships power forward in the locks, guided by the trusty "Mules" - still my favorite part of the Canal.

No trip is complete without photos of this all happening in real time, so here are some of Anna Rachel's shots - as well as some photos to prove we were there.

  

3)  Chicken.

Of course, this was only one of the many defining elements of our amazing meal with Martha and Carlos Maduro as well as their amazing daughters, Emily (and Edwin and Emita) and Essie (and Charlie).  First, the food.  Martha is famous for her great meals, as I can attest from an earlier visit where I shared a meal with the same crowd (sans Anna Rachel) and tonight was no exception.  Simple, yes - chicken with pasta, creamed chicken, salad.  But luscious!  And dessert was too - frozen  mini Snickers bars.  Yum yum yum!

(L to R) Carlos, Anna Rachel, Essie,
Martha (missing are Emily, her
husband, Edwin, and Essie's
beau, Charlie)

The REAL defining element of the evening was the incredible family who invited us into their home and to their table, and who treated us like long lost family.  Their warmth and intelligence swirled around us and we talked about all manner of things.  We had one particularly hilarious conversation about Panama's seemingly ubiquitous "Push Buttons" - hotels you rent by the hour, which give you total anonymity.  You pull into a garage where you push the button to close the garage door, open the room, and then, when you are done doing whatever it is you do during your time (ahem!) so they can check the room to make sure everything is OK before they push the button to open the garage door - all without having to interact with anyone.  You can imagine what they are used for.  There's no particular stigma about going to a Push Button - and we were regaled with tales of funny happenings at Push Buttons, as well as a more serious discussion of their value in a country where there is very little privacy for adult children who often live with their parents until they marry, and for their parents too.  Everyone knew the locations of them - in fact, there's a locally famous street with many of them (stay tuned for a tour on Sunday!) and one of their friends gives her address as being "between the McDonalds and the Royal Garden Suites (a well-known Push Button)"  

When the time came to say good-bye, Carlos and Martha drove Anna Rachel and me to 2 different pharmacies and helped me get some inhalers and cough suppressants (not to mention cough drops) to take care of my cough that has been building the past few days.  They went well out of their way and spent quite a lot of time helping us.

I guess the real word to define the evening is "Family" - but heck, that doesn't start with a "C", so it will just have to stay "Chicken."

Tomorrow - we arise EARLY to fly to San Blas!  Gotta sleep in a hurry!

School days (Wednesday)

Wednesdays are the day I teach the HCI Masters Students.  It was also my last day of Spanish class.  The Taiwanese students were so lovely - and so cute when they found out that I'm on Facebook!  Very quickly, I had 6 new Facebook friends from Taiwan!  We took this "us-ie" (if one person is a "self-ie" then surely this is the plural?)

Then I hurried up to the office to share lunch with Elba and then to teach my HCI class.

Today, we did an affinity diagram of the data from the visit to Lydia.  It was very big and complicated, and we didn't finish.  Here is Kaiser "walking the wall"

A work in progress, it is what we will complete next week in my final class.

Diagramming Affinities (Wednesday)

All week long, I have been meeting with my students as they have done (semi) in-depth interviews (IDIs) of between 30 and 60 minutes to accompany the short (10 minute) interviews they did when I was away.  We met with people and spent time with them as they showed us how they use the web, especially to find information about education.

Today, we analyzed what we found from these interviews plus a comparative web site analysis that they also did.  Those of you in my profession will recognize an Affinity Diagram, but for those of you who are not, here's what we did:

• We wrote each observation on a different post-it note
• Then we went into the hallway and started with a "seed" - one of my notes.
• We compared a second note to this one and put it either close or far away depending on how similar or dissimilar it seemed to be
• We contented the process until we had posted all of our notes 
• Then we looked at each group or clump and further organized that into sub-clumps if it seemed that there were such sub-groupings
• We labeled each and then we "walked the wall" to move things as necessary

This is what it looked like when we were done:

Close up of one clump:
The needs of high school ("secondaria") students

We generated quite a lot of interest as we worked.  People came by, asking what we were doing, talking about how they could see doing something similar themselves and generally showing interest. 

It was only partly because we were using colored post-its (though everyone has been coveting these!)  

It represents a very different way of thinking about organizing information, a much more flexible and visual (not to mention physical) way to play around with different groupings and to try on different ways of organizing content.

(And just wait!  We have an even better - and certainly more colorful - Affinity Diagram coming - stay tuned)

Friends - fearsome and otherwise (Monday)

Today, we headed over to UTP in the morning, where David got to meet a number of my dear friends there.  Being an early Monday morning, not everyone was there, but he did get to see where I work and got to talk with some of the folks I know there - at least ones who speak English.

He (and I) also got to "meet" my new diabolico.  Oscar picked him up for me when he was down in Los Santos over the weekend.  I must admit, this is a totally fearsome fellow, don't you think?

Before 

After

Now we "just" have to get him home.  Intact.   Here's hoping he makes it with all of his points!

Spanish, CHI, and a sad anniversary

A day without photos.

The birthday celebration of our department continued this morning with a breakfast for everyone in the hallway.  Panamanian desayuno (breakfast) fare is yummy but not exactly slimming.  And it sticks to the ribs (and elsewhere)  Even though I didn't take much, I felt full all day.  And still do.

I continued my plan to speak (mostly) in Spanish today.  It feels slightly easier to speak with each day and each conversation.  I still feel bad for those who have to listen to me as I try to find words, but I love the corrections and hope that soon I won't need quite so many.

So today, Geralis came by and went over some verbs with me - very helpful.  And I spoke with a number of people.

I came home rather early because Elba had to do some errands with her Mom, but that was great because it meant that I could work on my CHI presentations, rap, etc.  Still a way to go before next Thursday for my Case Study (slides partly done) and "Fireside chat" (rap mostly done, themes ID'd, slides partly decided upon)  And then there are the Workshop (speed dating planned - thanks Matt Kam!),  SIG (no activity on my part yet) and Women's Breakfast (story chosen = done)  But I pulled things together including all of the registration stuff (so glad I can find it!  Let's hear it for organization!) and checked the weather forecast (COLD! not even 60F while we're there) so I put in my long johns.  Yes, I have long johns here.  And sometimes it feels like I need them at school because they keep the offices so cold.

Plus I'm ready for class tomorrow - except that I HOPE I can at least TRY to give part of the class in Spanish.  This will depend a bit on whether Nicolas comes to observe.  Not sure my Spanish could take the pressure.  ;-)

In other news, today (April 22), our second daughter, Sarah Beth, would have been 27 had she lived.  Sadly, she had a genetic defect that was diagnosed 10 weeks before she was born.  Since it was the first time they had ever diagnosed it prenatally before, the doctors couldn't give us much guidance as to what to expect.  It is a recessive disease - Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease - and it is routinely diagnosed prenatally now, but then, we were on uncharted ground.  So we had to prepare ourselves and, more importantly, Anna Rachel who was almost 5 at the time, for the unknown - although a likely bad unknown no matter what.  In the end, she made the decisions about what to do for us because her lungs had not developed (due to the lack of amniotic fluid) and she simply could not survive, even on a respirator.  She had an old-fashioned death, dying in David's arms, surrounded by her family, including her big sister who was the only person she ever really looked at. It was a very hard and sad time.  We remember her always though.  Always.  Even in exotic and far-away places like Panama.  Perhaps especially here.

And it's very late now, so I must sign off.

Lunes

Hoy, decido de hablar solamente en español por que tengo que aprenderlo.
(Today, I decided to speak only in Spanish because I must learn it)

And it worked for most of the day.  Which was great for me, but painful for those listening to me speak v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y and to start in one direction, get stuck and try another route to explanations. Whew!  I'm totally exhausted!

This week is the celebration of the birthday of the department.  As a result, the day began with a mass for the retiring Dean.  This was fascinating to me.  And, as usual, I leapt right in when I saw that Giancarlis, one of our Masters students had her guitar out and a very small group was practicing songs for the service.  I was so excited that I joined in and they welcomed me although they didn't know that I'm Protestant, and that both the Spanish words and the music were completely new to me. But oh, what fun it was!  I'm so glad I arrived when I did and that they let me sing with them.

The day sped by.  Despite the enormous pile of things to do before I leave for CHI on Friday, I wasn't so productive partly because I kept trying to speak and think in Spanish.

Tonight, I am trying to make up for that so this is a short post.  Buenas noches!

In which I become a Panamanian TV star (for 15 minutes)

Today, I was interviewed about what I am doing here, the benefits to UTP, and what HCI is.

I spoke English and Elba-the-incredible translated.

It's funny how something I know quite a lot about became hard to explain clearly.  I ended up repeating my motto, "If the USER can't use it, it doesn't work" several times.  And, since this is a technical audience (if, indeed, anyone is interested and tunes in), I told them about why HCI matters and what it means for them.  I hope it was clear.

This is a good preparation for the upcoming CHI conference where I will need to be totally "on point" and clear.

Later today is a Faculty Meeting, followed by a meeting with the Dean.

So it's a full and happy day.

Oh, and if you're in Panama City, tune in Channel 11 on Saturday, May 3 at 5 pm and judge for yourself whether I was clear or not.  Since this is the night before the national elections, I really doubt that anyone will watch.  I will be en route back to Panama from Toronto so even I will miss is.

<sigh>  So much for my 15 minutes of "glory" (yeah, right)

Veraguas!

Wow!  What a wonderful day!  And what a long one too...

It started, in a sense, at 11:30 pm on Thursday night when I awoke and went to the john.  En route, I felt something damp on the corner of my long nightie.  I thought I was simply not awake (I had been rather soundly asleep)  But, when I went over to the window, I realized that not only was it damp, it was downright wet on the floor.  As in a HUGE puddle!  I briefly thought perhaps there was a broken pipe, but quickly realized that the water was coming from the air conditioner.  A lot of it.  Dripping rapidly.

I grabbed a towel and dried as much as I could - then turned the AC off, put fresh dry towels underneath it, turned on the fan over the bed, and went back to sleep.

At 3:45 am, the alarm clock was 5 minutes away from waking me but my internal clock, set with the "I don't want to miss this by being late!" alarm, rang and I was up.  The AC had stopped dripping.  I quickly sun-screened and bug doped myself (Eau de DEET).  Then I sprayed my clothes with DEET again just for good measure since there is a Dengue Fever epidemic here and all you really can do to avoid it is to avoid being bitten which, for someone who mosquitos seem to think is a great delicacy to be eaten as much as possible, it somewhat of a trick.  I put on my hiking boots (so glad I packed 'em) and double checked:  camera - check, extra charged camera battery - check, hat - check, large water bottle - check, small water bottle - check, lunch/snack - check, and ruana for the bus - check.  I went downstairs so I'd be there when Aris arrived and started an email to my landlord telling him of the AC problem.  About then, I realized that I had never had any coffee.  !!!!

Right on time, at 4:45 am, Aris arrived and, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with the guard, was allowed down to pick me up.  We sped over to UTP, where a bus was awaiting, as were a number of students.  We packed up the bus with all manner of gear:  brackets, a spool of cable (coaxial?), numerous bright orange extension cords, tools, antennas, and boxes of gear needed to do what we were going off to do:  Namely, to set up 3 schools with networks.

The bus got off at about 5:30 as we waited for the final stragglers to arrive.  Everyone looked bright and shiny, although there were also a lot of yawns.  Off we went into the darkness!

I sat with Aris who gave me a great commentary on where we were.  We passed many diablos rojos, all decked out with pain and lights, and trucks also dressed up with fancy lights.  The towns slowly got smaller and more spread out, and finally, we were out in the countryside.

The sun came up - though not in the place I thought it "should" be - it was on our left, so we should have been heading south, but we were heading west.  A mystery it shall remain because the same was true en route home.

We arrived at the first school, Los Ruices, at about 9:45 am.  We piled out of the bus, and went to meet the principal.  Aris kindly introduced me as a visitor from the US, with which, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the front of the classroom, telling me to say something to the class.  Out the window went my paltry Spanish!  I stammered out something - probably "no hablo bien" (I don't speak well) which was painfully obvious to all present.  It was one of those "please, earth, swallow me whole NOW!" moments!  You'd think I would have put something together quickly after that.  But, whether it was the early morning, or the heat or what, the next 3 classrooms all went about the same way - or rather, worse.  <sigh>

Luckily, *I* wasn't the main show!  The students quickly went to work.  The girls went class to class with a questionnaire about current computer use, while the boys worked to get the antenna up.  It took quite a lot of figuring to get it up.  Of course.  Things like this rarely go smoothly.  While they were at work, I busied myself taking photos of the darling kids and of the school as a whole.  And sat in the computer lab since it was cooler in there.

School #1:  Los Ruices

Aris and the Principal

Our team comes in

Classroom for older kids 

Current textbook on computers for elementary kids

Aris stopping for a moment for a picture.  Usually,
she was a blur, moving here and there to
make sure everything went perfectly
(which, thanks to her, it did)

Aris and some of the kids

The guys work with the technology...

while the girls administer the questionnaire about current computer use.

Putting up the antenna was a collaborative effort

Kids will be kids

A lovely mural at the school with one of the lovely teachers

Once the antenna was up, we all trooped up to the cell tower on the hill above the school to install some software there.  Luckily for me, a very kind man who was assigned to the project took me up in his truck.  He was an incredible driver!  Right before this shot where he stopped to unlock the gate, the truck had slewed and leapt over incredibly eroded and rutted dirt.  I really didn't think it would be possible to pass - but he did, saying that he'd been doing this for 16 years so he had  a lot of experience.  Even so, I think I would have been a little more comfortable had the seat belt worked.

The cell tower

The team

One of the guys fooled around and climbed up a bit
It was just for fun because what we were
doing was inside the control room
(is that what it's called?)

Stringing the extension cord to power the
equipment

The gang walks on down the hill.  We follow.

Back at school, it's time for the kids to go home (12:30!)
Kids only go to school half a day!

The team finishes up the installation.

 And voila, we're ready to be off to the second school, El Piro.

The school was going to give us a noon meal

But the kids...

had gone home.

This is the machine we're installing a server on
to provide wireless access.

While part of the team was working at El Piro, Aris took a bunch of us to the third school, Mwaguada, not far away.  No one was at the school, but we were able to get things installed just the same.

Mwaguada is a school for Ngöbe–Buglé children.  The Ngöbe–Buglé are one of the indigenous  groups in Panama, living on a "Comarca" which is sort of like a reservation for Native Americans.  Most live in poverty.  This school is for their children.

Aris doing a dance 

While the team watched

Finding electricity to power the antenna was tricky

Meanwhile, I walked around to the front of the school.

Los Guapos

The ladder was too short to work this way
so the bus backed into position to allow
the guys to climb on top to work.

Aris overseeing things

Two leaders from the Ngöbe–Buglé community came
up to see what was happening at the school.

Still working on getting power

Testing the antenna, here held by hand on the top of the bus

 At last, the antenna was up, powered, and working.  We piled into the bus and headed back to pick up the rest of the team.

Just next to school was a snack shop where many of us
purchased soft drinks for 40 cents.  Cold and sweet,
they hit the spot in the heat.

Tired, hot, weary and a bit sunburned (and bitten sad to say) I joined as we all piled into the bus to head home.  There were many nodding heads and snoring students, to the great hilarity of those who were still awake.

As we rolled along the highway, I thought of how incredible the day had been.  What a treat and honor it was to have been invited along!

But it sure felt good to jump into the shower to wash off the sweat and bug/sun gunk, and even better to fall into bed and into a deep sleep.

And, oh by the way, the landlord had come in and fixed the AC in the bedroom AND checked the other two units to make sure they were fine.  So it was a deep and comfortable slumber.  Zzzz....

[And an update:  The AC has continued to work!  Huzzah!]