InqBlot http://www.inquirium.net/blog Inquirium on Learning, Technology, and Design eng Copyright 2008 2008-06-11T02:48:10-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 OS X 10.5.3 fixes what 10.5.2 broke http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_257.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_257.php#comm Just a quick note to OS X users. If you’re using 10.5.2, please upgrade to 10.5.3, which fixes the issue in InqScribe where floating windows could block mouse clicks in a sheet dialog. 257@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ Just a quick note to OS X users. If you’re using 10.5.2, please upgrade to 10.5.3, which fixes the issue in InqScribe where floating windows could block mouse clicks in a sheet dialog.

]]> inqscribe 2008-06-04T16:05:00-04:00 New InqScribe Resources web page http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_256.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_256.php#comm We’ve just added a new InqScribe resources page with useful links to a number of products and services to improve your InqScribe experience. You’ll find recommendations for digitizing services for converting your videotapes or media files, USB footpedals that provide convenient control of your media, and digital media recorders that record directly to InqScribe-friendly formats. (And if you use our referral links, you’ll be supporting future InqScribe feature development.) 256@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ We’ve just added a new InqScribe resources page with useful links to a number of products and services to improve your InqScribe experience. You’ll find recommendations for digitizing services for converting your videotapes or media files, USB footpedals that provide convenient control of your media, and digital media recorders that record directly to InqScribe-friendly formats. (And if you use our referral links, you’ll be supporting future InqScribe feature development.)

]]> inqblot, inqscribe 2008-04-07T15:43:00-04:00 Sweating Design http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_255.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_255.php#comm Via ArsTechnica, a Business Week report on a session at SXSW on why great design is hard. In particular, the report highlights some really interesting design practices at Apple. Generating ten pixel-perfect alternative designs on the way to one final product sounds exhausting. The discussion of holding separate brainstorming and implementation design meetings, even late in the game, fits pretty well with our own take on iterative design. If you’re not willing to consider radical ideas, you’re producing an incremental design and you may end up boxed in a corner. (We just took a major UI zig on a project very late in the process, so I can report that this approach is not without pain, but we’re pretty happy with the result.) 255@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ Via ArsTechnica, a Business Week report on a session at SXSW on why great design is hard. In particular, the report highlights some really interesting design practices at Apple. Generating ten pixel-perfect alternative designs on the way to one final product sounds exhausting. The discussion of holding separate brainstorming and implementation design meetings, even late in the game, fits pretty well with our own take on iterative design. If you’re not willing to consider radical ideas, you’re producing an incremental design and you may end up boxed in a corner. (We just took a major UI zig on a project very late in the process, so I can report that this approach is not without pain, but we’re pretty happy with the result.)

]]> inqblot 2008-03-13T21:47:00-04:00 OS X 10.5.2 breaks a few dialogs http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_254.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_254.php#comm We’ve discovered that the OS X 10.5.2 update has caused a couple problems for InqScribe users. Here’s the issue. If one or more floating windows are open (e.g. the Shortcuts window), then when a sheet dialog opens, the floating window gets sent all the mouse clicks that should be going to the sheet dialog. (Sheet dialogs are dialog boxes that zoom out of the main document window. Other kinds of modal dialogs, like the Find dialog, are not affected.) This is most noticeably a problem with the “Missing Media” dialog, where InqScribe asks you to click one of three buttons. But clicking doesn’t do anything. Argh! The workaround is to close the floating windows. Once you do that, you’ll be able to click things in the sheet dialog again. This bug seems to be OS X 10.5.2-specific. We’re quite curious whether 10.5.3 will fix what 10.5.2 broke, but we don’t intend to wait that long. We’ll get a new release out soon that resolves the problem. Update: 10.5.3 does indeed fix the problem. 254@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ We’ve discovered that the OS X 10.5.2 update has caused a couple problems for InqScribe users.

Here’s the issue. If one or more floating windows are open (e.g. the Shortcuts window), then when a sheet dialog opens, the floating window gets sent all the mouse clicks that should be going to the sheet dialog.

(Sheet dialogs are dialog boxes that zoom out of the main document window. Other kinds of modal dialogs, like the Find dialog, are not affected.)

This is most noticeably a problem with the “Missing Media” dialog, where InqScribe asks you to click one of three buttons. But clicking doesn’t do anything. Argh!

The workaround is to close the floating windows. Once you do that, you’ll be able to click things in the sheet dialog again.

This bug seems to be OS X 10.5.2-specific. We’re quite curious whether 10.5.3 will fix what 10.5.2 broke, but we don’t intend to wait that long. We’ll get a new release out soon that resolves the problem.

Update: 10.5.3 does indeed fix the problem.

]]> inqscribe 2008-03-07T02:19:00-04:00 MacArthur Announces Winners of Digital Media & Learning Competition http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_253.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_253.php#comm The MacArthur Foundation, which for a few years now has been supporting a $50 million digital media and learning initiative, just announced the winners of its innaugural Digital Media & Learning Competition. Seventeen winners in two categories shared $2 million in funding. According to the press release the “projects are expected to produce promising innovations and share new ideas within the emerging field of digital media and learning.” 253@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ The MacArthur Foundation, which for a few years now has been supporting a $50 million digital media and learning initiative, just announced the winners of its innaugural Digital Media & Learning Competition. Seventeen winners in two categories shared $2 million in funding. According to the press release the “projects are expected to produce promising innovations and share new ideas within the emerging field of digital media and learning.”

]]> inqblot 2008-02-21T10:48:00-04:00 InqScribe 2.0.5 http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_252.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_252.php#comm InqScribe 2.0.5 is primarily a bugfix release. Users with foot pedals will be happy to note that this version properly loads their foot pedal settings again. We’ve also made a few changes to the foot pedal wizard to make it smarter about clearing out old settings when you set up a foot pedal. If you’ve been having trouble with foot pedal-based shortcuts, install this version and you should be set. If you have multiple shortcuts mapped onto the same foot pedal button (this may have happened if you ran the foot pedal setup wizard more than once) then you should run the foot pedal setup wizard one more time. In 2.0.5, the wizard will delete the duplicate settings for you. Also of note: we’ve added support for 23.976 (or 23.98) and 59.94 fps time code formats. Here’s a complete list of what’s new. 252@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ InqScribe 2.0.5 is primarily a bugfix release. Users with foot pedals will be happy to note that this version properly loads their foot pedal settings again. We’ve also made a few changes to the foot pedal wizard to make it smarter about clearing out old settings when you set up a foot pedal.

If you’ve been having trouble with foot pedal-based shortcuts, install this version and you should be set. If you have multiple shortcuts mapped onto the same foot pedal button (this may have happened if you ran the foot pedal setup wizard more than once) then you should run the foot pedal setup wizard one more time. In 2.0.5, the wizard will delete the duplicate settings for you.

Also of note: we’ve added support for 23.976 (or 23.98) and 59.94 fps time code formats. Here’s a complete list of what’s new.

]]> inqscribe 2008-02-11T16:30:00-04:00 HyperCard lives! http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_251.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_251.php#comm Tidbits reported from MacWorld on TileStack.com, a new website from CodeFlare that can not only run existing HyperCard stacks, but it will also allow users to write their own web apps using HyperTalk. Not open to the public yet, but stay tuned. 251@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ Tidbits reported from MacWorld on TileStack.com, a new website from CodeFlare that can not only run existing HyperCard stacks, but it will also allow users to write their own web apps using HyperTalk. Not open to the public yet, but stay tuned.

]]> inqblot 2008-01-31T11:42:00-04:00 SimCity Societies helps explore climate tradeoffs http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_250.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_250.php#comm An interesting component of the latest installment of SimCity Societies, introduced back in November, is the ability to play out climate scenarios by designing cities that either expand or limit their greenhouse-gas contributions. Want to avoid coal powered electricity? Well, then you need to invest heavily in solar panels and wind power… which in turn drains your budget… better start funding research to make these alternatives cheaper. As you monitor the health of your city and the environment, you notice the environmental and economic impacts of your decisions and, significantly, the complexities of the tradeoffs. For years, we’ve been involved in the design of software and curriculum to help students study the science of global climate change. We’ve found that once kids understand the science, they are perplexed as to why we’re not doing more to address the issue. The challenge has always been helping them understand the economic and social complexities that impact our everyday decisions (and this is often beyond the curriculum scope of the science teachers we work with). This game looks like a promising step to help kids explore these issues. 250@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ An interesting component of the latest installment of SimCity Societies, introduced back in November, is the ability to play out climate scenarios by designing cities that either expand or limit their greenhouse-gas contributions. Want to avoid coal powered electricity? Well, then you need to invest heavily in solar panels and wind power… which in turn drains your budget… better start funding research to make these alternatives cheaper. As you monitor the health of your city and the environment, you notice the environmental and economic impacts of your decisions and, significantly, the complexities of the tradeoffs.

For years, we’ve been involved in the design of software and curriculum to help students study the science of global climate change. We’ve found that once kids understand the science, they are perplexed as to why we’re not doing more to address the issue. The challenge has always been helping them understand the economic and social complexities that impact our everyday decisions (and this is often beyond the curriculum scope of the science teachers we work with). This game looks like a promising step to help kids explore these issues.

]]> inqblot 2008-01-31T11:35:00-04:00 Bug: Footpedal settings getting corrupted http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_249.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_249.php#comm Platforms affected: Macintosh + Windows InqScribe Versions: 2.0.4 only We've recently come across a bug in the latest version of InqScribe (v 2.0.4) where footpedals appear to suddenly stop working. A typical problem: You've set up your footpedal, everything seems to be working fine. You quit InqScribe for the day, return later, start InqScribe, and all of a sudden your footpedal is no longer working. So you run the footpedal setup wizard again, and things seem to work...for a while, but soon it's corrupted again. You do this a few more times and the footpedals stop working altogether. There are two problems here: i. You have multiple footpedal assignments conflicting with each other as you run the wizard repeatedly. ii. All of this is being caused by a bug we've just discovered where the saved footpedal settings get corrupted. This affects both the Macintosh and Windows versions. We are actively working on an update that will fix this problem. Look for a new version soon. In the meantime, here's what you can do to work around it. We know it's not ideal, but it'll get you working. How to work around it: Recommended method The easiest way to work around this problem is to revert back to a previous version of InqScribe. Version 2.0.3 does not have this problem, so you can download and install that. Your license should work fine with it. Mac Version 2.0.3 Win Version 2.0.3 Alternative method If you have to use 2.0.4, then here's what you can do: 1. Reset your shortcuts This will clear the corrupted settings. (Note that this will delete all of your shortcuts, so you should write down any that you want to save first.) a. Select "Edit->Edit Shortcuts..." from the menubar. b. Click on the "Reset to Defaults" button. c. When asked "Are you sure..." click "Reset". (Alternatively, if you have a lot of shortcuts you've already defined, you can go through and delete every footpedal shortcut on the list in step b.) 2. Re-run the footpedal wizard Reassign your footpedal with clean shortcuts. 3. Leave InqScribe open The bug occurs when you quit InqScribe and the settings are saved. You can safely hibernate/sleep your computer and the settings will be retained, so long as you don't quit. If you *have* to quit, then just reset the shortcuts and re-assign them again when you start up. 249@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ InqScribe Versions: 2.0.4 only

We've recently come across a bug in the latest version of InqScribe (v 2.0.4) where footpedals appear to suddenly stop working.

A typical problem: You've set up your footpedal, everything seems to be working fine. You quit InqScribe for the day, return later, start InqScribe, and all of a sudden your footpedal is no longer working. So you run the footpedal setup wizard again, and things seem to work...for a while, but soon it's corrupted again. You do this a few more times and the footpedals stop working altogether.

There are two problems here:

i. You have multiple footpedal assignments conflicting with each other as you run the wizard repeatedly.

ii. All of this is being caused by a bug we've just discovered where the saved footpedal settings get corrupted. This affects both the Macintosh and Windows versions.

We are actively working on an update that will fix this problem. Look for a new version soon.

In the meantime, here's what you can do to work around it. We know it's not ideal, but it'll get you working.

How to work around it:

Recommended method

The easiest way to work around this problem is to revert back to a previous version of InqScribe. Version 2.0.3 does not have this problem, so you can download and install that. Your license should work fine with it.

Mac Version 2.0.3
Win Version 2.0.3


Alternative method

If you have to use 2.0.4, then here's what you can do:

1. Reset your shortcuts

This will clear the corrupted settings.

(Note that this will delete all of your shortcuts, so you should write down any that you want to save first.)
a. Select "Edit->Edit Shortcuts..." from the menubar.
b. Click on the "Reset to Defaults" button.
c. When asked "Are you sure..." click "Reset".

(Alternatively, if you have a lot of shortcuts you've already defined, you can go through and delete every footpedal shortcut on the list in step b.)


2. Re-run the footpedal wizard

Reassign your footpedal with clean shortcuts.


3. Leave InqScribe open

The bug occurs when you quit InqScribe and the settings are saved. You can safely hibernate/sleep your computer and the settings will be retained, so long as you don't quit.


If you *have* to quit, then just reset the shortcuts and re-assign them again when you start up. ]]> inqscribe 2008-01-29T03:46:00-04:00 InqScribe 2.0.4 http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_248.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_248.php#comm Hot on the heels of the last point release, here’s InqScribe 2.0.4. This version fixes a couple more bugs for Windows users and also updates the built-in bug reporter to send us a bit more information about your current preferences and keyboard shortcuts. This saves us having to ask you for that information, and saves you from having to tell us, when you submit bug reports or feature requests. A win all around. (You knew you could submit reports and requests from within InqScribe, right? Check the Help menu.) 248@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ Hot on the heels of the last point release, here’s InqScribe 2.0.4. This version fixes a couple more bugs for Windows users and also updates the built-in bug reporter to send us a bit more information about your current preferences and keyboard shortcuts. This saves us having to ask you for that information, and saves you from having to tell us, when you submit bug reports or feature requests. A win all around.

(You knew you could submit reports and requests from within InqScribe, right? Check the Help menu.)

]]> inqscribe 2007-11-18T04:01:00-04:00 InqScribe 2.0.3 http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_247.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_247.php#comm We released InqScribe 2.0.3 today. This is primarily a bugfix version; you can see the list of changes here. Several of you have been using a beta version of 2.0.3 that expired last week. We apologize for any downtime between the expiration and this release. 247@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ We released InqScribe 2.0.3 today. This is primarily a bugfix version; you can see the list of changes here.

Several of you have been using a beta version of 2.0.3 that expired last week. We apologize for any downtime between the expiration and this release.

]]> inqscribe 2007-11-05T16:14:00-04:00 Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By... http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_246.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_246.php#comm It looks like something broke in the blogging plumbing. The net result is that blog titles are appearing but not the article content. In other words, if you can read this, the problem’s been fixed. 246@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ It looks like something broke in the blogging plumbing. The net result is that blog titles are appearing but not the article content. In other words, if you can read this, the problem’s been fixed.

]]> inqblot 2007-10-02T19:47:00-04:00 Learning Sciences Roundup http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_245.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_245.php#comm A quick roundup of learning sciences-related announcements: The submission deadline for the 5th International Conference on Wireless, Mobile, and Ubiquitous Technologies in Education has been extended to October 12. The conference is March 23-26, 2008 in Beijing. Applications for Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowships are due November 2. This is a fantastic opportunity for graduate students whose dissertation topic relates to education. The submission deadline for the 8th International Conference of the Learning Sciences is November 19. The conference is June 24-28 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Finally, the Journal of Museum Education has a call for manuscripts from researchers and practitioners working at the intersection of the learning sciences and museum education. The submission deadline is January 1. For more information, contact Sandra Toro Martell or Heather Toomey Zimmerman. 245@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ A quick roundup of learning sciences-related announcements:

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]]> inqblot 2007-10-02T19:35:00-04:00 Good API Design http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_244.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_244.php#comm Designing a good API is as much about information design and supporting learning as it is about writing code. This applies whether you’re creating a public API, working with a small group, or just writing reusable code for an internal project. I recently came across Joshua Bloch’s presentation (PDF): How to Design a Good API and Why It Matters. It’s great — and better if you watch the talk from Google’s Advanced Technology series. 244@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ Designing a good API is as much about information design and supporting learning as it is about writing code. This applies whether you’re creating a public API, working with a small group, or just writing reusable code for an internal project.

I recently came across Joshua Bloch’s presentation (PDF): How to Design a Good API and Why It Matters. It’s great — and better if you watch the talk from Google’s Advanced Technology series.

]]> inqblot 2007-09-01T19:03:00-04:00 InqScribe 2.0.3 beta 2 http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_243.php http://www.inquirium.net/blog/entry_243.php#comm We’ve been working on a 2.0.3 release that cleans up a number of reported bugs in InqScribe. The latest beta is available for brave and hardy souls to explore. The usual warnings about beta releases — backup your data, beware of crashes — apply. A list of changes in the beta is available if you’re curious whether you need to try this release. If you are interested, download 2.0.3b2 for OS X and 2.0.3b2 for Windows here. 243@http://www.inquirium.net/blog/blog/ We’ve been working on a 2.0.3 release that cleans up a number of reported bugs in InqScribe. The latest beta is available for brave and hardy souls to explore. The usual warnings about beta releases — backup your data, beware of crashes — apply.

A list of changes in the beta is available if you’re curious whether you need to try this release. If you are interested, download 2.0.3b2 for OS X and 2.0.3b2 for Windows here.

]]> inqscribe 2007-08-27T20:26:00-04:00