User talk:Nboffa
Hi
[edit]Thank you for being our college's campus ambassador, hope we will not cause any major problem while we are here Chcpal (talk) 18:00, 9 September 2011 (UTC)
Hello, Chcpal!
No troubles LOL. I am available for any questions/concerns you may have about Wikipedia. Happy Wikipediaing.
Nboffa (talk) 18:21, 10 September 2011 (UTC)
Hey my only question is about the Info Box. Do you mean her D.O.B., Place of origin, etc.? Jckulas (talk) 01:15, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
- hello, yes that basic info. Just something to consider down the road to add. --Nboffa (talk) 05:09, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
Hi!
[edit]Just stopping to say hello. I am in the Com 232 this fall semester. Hope to learn from you. Thanks for your work and support to students. Rox1286 (talk) 03:50, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
- Hello, Rox1286! Try to make a small edit on your user page. As long as you are logged in, click on your user name on the top right next to
, leading to Editing Your User Page. Our online ambassador, SMasters, also left a helpful guide to Wikipedia on your talk page. But, feel free to leave me any questions on my talk page. Nboffa (talk) 05:05, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
- Hello, Rox1286! Try to make a small edit on your user page. As long as you are logged in, click on your user name on the top right next to
how to get my user name on my class list COM 232Drichard02 (talk) 23:44, 19 September 2011 (UTC)
[edit]Hi Nboffa
I am in COM 232 and am trying to get my user name on my class list can you help me. Thank you Drichard02 (talk) 23:44, 19 September 2011 (UTC)
- Hello, Drichard02! Glad that you are asking for help.
- First, make sure that you are signed in. On the class website, bit.ly/COM232, you can scroll down to the "Students" section or access this via clicking on "#14 Students" on the table of "Contents" (displayed on the right side of the class main screen). There is going to be a link that says [edit] on the far right of the Students section. By pressing [edit], notice you will be redirected to an edit page and no longer in simply "read".
- You can view the rest of the class users' codes. You are going to want to copy and paste one of them at the bottom of the list, and simply replace the other username with your own. This would be an * followed by 2 open {'s, "User", a pipe |, your username, and 2 end }'s.
- Be sure to "show preview", and make sure this was inserted properly. Then, you are going to select "save page". Switch back into the "read" mode and see that your user name has been listed under the Students section. Let me know if you have any other questions and/or help. Nboffa (talk) 00:16, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
Hi Nboffa Thanks for your help with getting my user name on the list I checked and I think it is right I noticed the other students got a not from smasters am i supposed to contact that person
i am very new to this thank you for your time
Drichard02Drichard02 (talk) 01:21, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, your username worked out perfectly :) SMasters usually checks in, but if you feel left out I will post the same content on your discussion/talk page. Nboffa (talk) 18:42, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
Greetings && Assignment Reminder
[edit]In all of the excellent ambassadoring you are doing, don't forget your 3-5 articles ideas, as well as a link to your critical evaluation of an existing Wikipedia article related to the class with suggestions for improving it on the article's discussion page. You can post those under this comment (make sure to add a semicolon to indent your comment to the right). Once you have posted these, please be sure to let me know on my talk page in the section I set up for these two assignments.--Theredproject (talk) 21:04, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
- The ambassadoring is quite enjoyable. For the research topics, I am particularly interested in information graphics and work by Herbert Bayer; however, both of these articles are more of a start page than a stub. After some further searching, I finally found a true stub (yes!) in my desirable class of information graphics-- Ladislav Sutnar. Also, I was considering Wolfgang Weingart. From the class list, I am leaning towards Piet Zwart and Ellen Lupton. I contributed to a discussion about commercial art. Toodles. Nboffa (talk) 05:14, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
Checkout research topics
[edit]Hi Nboffa, check out some research topics that I posted on My talk page. Anonymous0123 (talk) 03:43, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
- Interesting selection. Benguiat has substantial information elsewhere on the web I am sure of, but what about Scher? I would be interested to see what you were able to dig up. Curtis is considered a start page, but I think you have a lot to build on for your other two topics. Just a heads up, you accidentally linked to your talk page instead of your user page, which is where your topics are listed. Glad to see that you were able to properly link to your talk page. Try to make a minor edit and correct the link, redirecting it to your user page where the topics are. Update me back here to let me know where you are headed. Nboffa (talk) 05:53, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
Whoops! So, I actually posted my article editing ideas on your talk page a couple of days ago, but never clicked "show preview," so I hadn't realized how nonsensical my whole message came out. Anyhow, sorry about that, please check out the articles I've been thinking of working on, on my talk page. Thanks! Sabinajm (talk) 05:00, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
- No problem. Will get back to you soon. Nboffa (talk) 05:06, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
- Great to see your contribs so far. You have a wide array of topics. Have you been able to find enough information on these though? Some of these are lacking an importance rating, so it is to my concern whether there is enough available information out there to build up towards a good article rating since some of these designers are more recent. I see your heart is set on rococo, but I think you have other viable topics to work with that are in dire need of some wiki-loving. Nboffa (talk) 06:02, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
Research topics for COM 232
[edit]Hello Nboffa, Sorry I'm late in my reply. I like the examples of the two designers with small Wikipedia stubs (Sutnar and Weingart). This is a great opportunity for you to do some research and add valuable content and turn these stubs into academic level articles. The other research topics of information graphics (i.e. subway maps) and Herbert Bayer seem to have pretty robust Wikipedia articles. Personally, I have a strong interest in the many Wikipedia articles that discuss MTA New York City transit. So much wonderful information! I looked at the Lupton stub and it looks like it could be further developed. It has a good reference list but not much content, more like a bibliography. The Zwart stub is quite content deficient so you may wish to add to it. Good luck. Contact me via email or via my talk page if you need any research assistance. Thanks, Mappy1974 (talk) 21:10, 23 September 2011 (UTC)Mappy1974
Possible Articles
[edit]I was really interested in pursuing information graphic artists, so I initially began researching Sutnar and Weingart. Although the databases were pretty limited, what I came across was interesting. Sutnar can be best known for his simplicity, modern sense, and function. He came to NYC in the year that Hitler seized his company. Working with everyday items, he improved design in furniture, toys, dishware, industrial product information, etc. Something as simple as telephone area codes enclosed within parentheses came from him.
While Sutnar focused on logical relationships, it is important to consider this in contrast to traditional graphic design. Also from the category of information graphics, Weingart proved to be more typographically focused. I found Sutnar more interesting in comparison, but there just might not be enough information to have a good article status on Wikipedia.
From the class list, I evaluated Piet Zwart's biographical information. It is interesting that he came out of the Arts and Crafts Movement. After leaving the school in Amsterdam, he taught drawing and art history in Leeuwarden. In 1911, he received his first commissions for furniture and interior design. He was employed by architect Jan Wils, who was a member of the de Stijl group. This is where his career in graphic design took off. His first exercise in topography was to design a device and letterheading for Wils.
With a diverse background as a photographer, typographer, and industrial designer, Zwart's work varied and were interrelated. The Dada influence is noticeable in his graphic pieces. He went on to explore and experiment with typography. His work I would consider concrete poetry, or simply advertising slogans and messages. His piece for the Dutch postal office seemed along the lines of info graphics. With his vast background, his phototypographic works illustrated design principles of composition, repetition, etc. His versatility deemed an impact that should be noted in Wikipedia in far more detail.
There was a lot more information about Zwart and Lupton on the databases, so I am thinking that they may be more viable for this assignment. Nboffa (talk) 08:41, 6 October 2011 (UTC)
- Using more of the library databases than I did at home, I still was at a standstill with many of the other designers I originally intended to work on. However, I was able to find a much more detailed account available in full HTML text of Piet Zwart's career history in an article about Zwart's NKF catalog written by Meggs. To come across more primary sources and examples of his work was also helpful.I guess I am leaning towards working on his Wikipedia article with the information available.Nboffa (talk) 15:53, 6 October 2011 (UTC)
- Do Sutnar. He is clearly very historically important. There is plenty to find. Start with this | AIGA Medal page and also see if you can find some of | these books via ILL. This will be a challenging and rewarding project for you.--Theredproject (talk) 00:02, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
- Thanks, Michael. I am much happier doing Sutnar. Great sources. Nboffa (talk) 03:28, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
- Do Sutnar. He is clearly very historically important. There is plenty to find. Start with this | AIGA Medal page and also see if you can find some of | these books via ILL. This will be a challenging and rewarding project for you.--Theredproject (talk) 00:02, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
Hi Nboffa
[edit]I reviewed your work so far on Ladislav Sutnar. Great job! The arrangement of the page looks very organized. I really like how you've also included the further reading section. I like how you focused on the different types of design that Ladislav has done and not only on one type on design, based on what is being focused on in class. Overall it looks great so far.
Rox1286 (talk) 05:28, 17 November 2011 (UTC)
= Com 232
[edit]Hey Nboffa Can you please check out my wiki page on Ellen Lupton. I just want to make sure that everything is coming along well for my project. Thanks! --Fi89419 (talk) 19:25, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
- Sure. Will check it out when I get a chance. --Nboffa (talk)
- I am not sure if that quote from Lupton is necessary in 'early career' section. It could be probably paraphrased and taken out of her words. --Nboffa (talk) 02:00, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
Wikipedia Ambassadors update
[edit]Hi! You're getting this message because you are or have been a Wikipedia Ambassador. A new term is beginning for the United States and Canada Education Programs, and I wanted to give you an update on some important new information if you're interested in continuing your work this term as a Wikipedia Ambassador.
You may have heard a reference to a transition the education program is going through. This is the last term that the Wikimedia Foundation will directly run the U.S. and Canada programs; beginning in June, a proposed thematic organization is likely to take over organizing the program. You can read more about the proposal here.
Another major change in the program will take effect immediately. Beginning this term, a new MediaWiki education extension will replace all course pages and Ambassador lists. (See Wikipedia:Course pages and Help:Education Program extension for more details.) Included in the extension are online volunteer and campus volunteer user rights, which let you create and edit course pages and sign up as an ambassador for a particular course.
If you would like to continue serving as a Wikipedia Ambassador — even if you do not support a class this term — you must create an ambassador profile. If you're no longer interested in being a Wikipedia Ambassador, you don't need to do anything.
- Please do these steps as soon as possible
First, you need the relevant user rights for Online and/or Campus Ambassadors. (If you are an admin, you can grant the rights yourself, for you as well as other ambassadors.) Just post your rights request here, and we'll get you set up as quickly as possible.
Once you've got the ambassador rights, please set up at a Campus and/or Online Ambassador profile. You can do so at:
Going forward, the lists of Ambassadors at Special:CampusAmbassadors and Special:OnlineAmbassadors will be the official roster of who is an active Ambassador. If you would like to be an Ambassador but not ready to serve this term, you can un-check the option in your profile to publicly list it (which will remove your profile from the list).
After that, you can sign on to support courses. The list of courses will be at Special:Courses. (By default, this lists "Current" courses, but you can change the Status filter to "Planned" to see courses for this term that haven't reached their listed start date yet.)
As this is the first term we have used the extension, we know there will be some bugs, and we know the feature set is not as rich as it could be. (A big wave of improvements is already in the pipeline. And if you know MediaWiki and could help with code review, we'd love to have your help!) Please reach out to me (Sage Ross) with any complaints, bug reports, and feature suggestions. The basic features of the extension are documented at Wikipedia:Course pages, and you can see a tutorial for setting up and using them here.
- Communication and keeping up to date
In the past, the Education Program has had a pretty fragmented set of communication channels. We're trying to fix that. These are the recommended places to discuss and stay up-to-date on the education program:
- The education noticeboard has become the main on-wiki location for discussion of the Education Program. You can post there about broad education program issues as well as issues with individual courses.
- The Ambassadors Announce email list is a very low-traffic announcements list of important information all Ambassadors need to be aware of. We encourage all Ambassadors (and other interested Wikipedians) to subscribe to the list; follow the instructions on the link to add your email address.
- If you use IRC regularly, or need to try to reach someone immediately, the #wikipedia-en-ambassadors connect IRC channel is the place to find me and fellow Ambassadors.
- Ambassador training and resources
We now have an online training for Ambassadors, which is intended to be both an orientation about the Wikipedia Ambassador role for newcomers and the manual for how to do the role. (There are parallel trainings for students and for educators as well.)
Please go through the training if you feel like you need a refresher on how a typical class is supposed to go and where the Ambassadors fit in, or if you want to review and help improve it. If there's something you'd like to see added, or other suggestions you have for it, feel free to edit the training and/or leave feedback. A primer on setting up and using course pages is included in the educators' training.
The Resources page of the training is the main place for Ambassador-related resources. If there's something you think is important as a resource that's not on there, please add it.
Finally, whether or not you work with any classes this term, I encourage you to post entries to the Trophy Case whenever you see excellent work from students or if you have great examples from past semesters. And, as always, let students (and other editors!) know when they do things well; a little WikiLove goes a long way!