2007 Nov 5 to Nov 11

Monday, November 5, 4:30 pm to 6:00 PM
CMU - McConomy Auditorium
Challenge of Diversity in Higher Education
The University Lecture Series presents Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga. Tatum's talk is titled "Challenge of Diversity in Higher Education." Prior to joining Spelman College, Tatum was acting president, dean and a professor of education and psychology at Mt. Holyoke College. She is a clinical psychologist who has addressed issues surrounding race and racism in her courses, psychology practice and consulting. One area of focus for two of her books has been racial identity as it is experienced throughout our educational system for students of underrepresented racial/ethnic populations. She is the author of "Assimilation Blues: Black Families in White Communities (1987), Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" "And Other Conversations About Race, Assimilation Blues: Black Families in White Communities (1997)," and published this year "Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (2007)." The talk is supported by a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Monday, November 5, 7:00 pm
Adamson Wing Auditorium, Baker Hall 136A, on the Carnegie Mellon main campus
Terry Irwin, Co-founder of MetaDesign San Francisco: Design and Worldview
Designed artifacts, processes, and the built environment are the physical embodiment of our individual and cultural worldviews. To the extent that our worldview is sustainable, so too will be the design that arises out of it.
In this lecture I look at the concept of worldview and propose that our current/dominant western worldview is unsustainable, which makes it practically impossible for a new, sustainable design paradigm to arise from within it. We need to work with and shift the cultural worldview before the paradigms of the disciplines will follow. Part of my research therefore, looks at the characteristics and assumptions of both the dominant (mechanistic worldview) and the business/economic paradigms which influence design. Finally I look at the design paradigm and some of its underlying assumptions.
Holistic Science

Tuesday November 6, 5:00 pm
Adamson Wing Auditorium, Baker Hall 136A, on the Carnegie Mellon main campus
Anne Taylor, Director of Technology, National Federation of the Blind: Designing Products for Non-Visual Access
Much of the current on innovation in industrial design has focused on making more technology available in different, flexible ways. The emphasis on mobility and flexibility, however, has done little to address the needs of growing group of consumers with visual impairments. This talk will expose new opportunities for design from a non-visual angle. It will describe the issues that arise as technology and formats change, and makes a case for a more inclusive design.
Non-visual access, if integrated in the development process from an early stage, is an opportunity to re-evaluate the consumer group the product is intended for. It is an opportunity for creativity that serves the community as a whole, not only those who are blind. Past developments indicate that non-visual design often represents a move forward in all design, increasing, as it does, the ease of access and simplicity of operation. Optical character recognition, pioneered in a reading machine for the blind, has long since become mainstream technology, as have the type of portable devices (similar to modern PDAs) that were first used as notetakers for blind people.
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the largest membership organization of blind people in the US. NFB has always aimed to do more than simply evaluate what others produce, as most recently demonstrated in their co-operation with Kurzweil Technologies to produce the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader.
Anne Taylor is the National Federation of the Blind’s Director of Technology, and she maintains close relationships with manufacturers of both general and specifically non-visual products, providing feedback on existing products and consulting on the development of new ones. Ms. Taylor also manages the largest collection of non-visual technology in the US, in the form of the International Braille and Technology Center, and continues to work with universities in the area to involve their engineering students in the Center.
She's an expert in Braille devices
An example of products for the blind

Tue Nov 6 - 6:00 PM
Carnegie Lecture Hall, Carnegie Museum of Art
The School of Art presents Rachel Whiteread, an artist who creates large-scale sculptures and installations by casting everyday objects, including household furniture and large architectural structures to explore complex notions of presence and absence, memory and loss, and the relationship of the body to forms in space. These works, including Untitled (Domestic) 2002, a plaster cast of a three-story staircase recently acquired by Carnegie Museum of Art, formally document how humans relate to the spaces around them.

Nov 8 - 5 PM
The Regina Gouger Miller Gallery presents an opening reception for three exhibitions, featuring a photo installation by Patricia Maurides, a series of wall-hung sculptures by Michelle Stitzlein, and a suite of paintings by Julie Stunden. Maurides investigates her origins in installations made up of photos, projected images and natural sounds. Many photos explore her past and were shot on location in the village in southern Greece where her father was born. Maurides was the first director of Carnegie Mellon's Bachelor of Humanities and Arts and Bachelor of Science and Arts programs. Stitzlein transforms discarded items into large-scale sculptures with some comprising hundreds of objects. Stunden's colorful paintings inspire viewers to reflect on the fantastic and realistic elements in her work and synthesize them into a single perspective. The exhibitions run through Dec. 21.

Thursday, November 8, 2007, 6pm - midnight
Rivers Club, One Oxford Centre, 301 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA
DevHouse Pittsburgh is an event patterned on SuperHappyDevHouse. We aim to become the premier Pittsburgh-area hackathon event that combines serious and not-so-serious productivity with a fun and exciting party atmosphere. Come to the DevHouse to have fun and get things done!
We're about rapid development, ad-hoc collaboration, and cross pollination. Whether you're a l33t hax0r, hardcore coder, or passionate designer, if you enjoy software and technology development, DevHouse Pittsburgh is for you.
DevHouse is not a marketing event. It's a non-exclusive event intended for passionate and creative technical and design people that want to have some fun, learn new things, and meet new people.
DevHouse Pittsburgh #1
Food and beverages will be provided.
DevHouse Pittsburgh

Sun Nov 11 - 1 PM
Orienteering with North East Ohio Orienteering Club
20 miles east of Akron
NEOOC