Douglas R. Seidler

It seems that plans for NESAD’s new building at 20 Somerset got one step closer to reality. The Boston Globe reported the following on June 5, 2008.

Suffolk University and the chief Beacon Hill neighborhood group have struck a pivotal deal on the college’s ambitious expansion plan, paving the way for its approval and easing one of the city’s deepest town-gown quarrels.    

In exchange, the civic association has agreed to support Suffolk’s plan to build a 10-story academic building at 20 Somerset St. and not to contest the university’s 10-year expansion plan, which is under city review. They have also agreed to nonresidential developments at 73 Tremont St., 1 Beacon St., and in Center Plaza.  

 read the full article here

The folks at Mozilla are try to set a new world record for the number of downloads in a single day.

All you have to do is get Firefox 3 during Download Day to help set the record for most software downloads in 24 hours - it’s that easy. We’re not asking you to swallow a sword or to balance 30 spoons on your face, although that would be kind of awesome.

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 has yet to be announced. All you can do right now is pledge to download Firefox 3 on Download Day.

This automated bicycle parking garage in Tokyo, Japan is an good example of how other cultures live and the priorities they place on alternative transportation.

Are you looking for a good, free replacement for Microsoft Word? Are you tired of e-mail word documents between your home and school? Google Docs now allows you to view and edit your documents offline, without an internet connection. (You can currently only edit word documents offline; you can only see spreadsheet and presentations offline)

When you are working without an internet connection, you can access all of your Google Docs by typing http://docs.google.com into your browser or by clicking on the desktop shortcut that is installed with your first sync.

When you’re offline, your edits are stored on your computer until you re-connect to the internet, at which point your changes are synced with Google Docs’ servers.

Read more

Douglas Seidler represented his paper:

Who’s Teaching Technology?

Methods and strategies to develop effective digital design curricula

at the Boston Architectural College’s Foundation Faculty Workshop March, 19, 2008. This paper was previously presented and published with the Interior Design Educators Council 2008 Annual Conference in Montreal, Canada on March 2008. Seidler’s paper continues his research on constructivist education theory and its application in design education.

You can read more about this paper at: dougseidler.com

With Adobe Photoshop Express (beta) you can upload, sort, polish, and store up to 2GB of photos for free. The software is in beta and is not a replacements for Photoshop, but may be a good tool for those of you who cannot afford the real thing.

AutoCAD 2009 is now available for trial download. To receive your free 30-day trial complete and submit the form at autodesk.com.

New features in 2009 include:

• Ribbon - With the ribbon interface, overall drafting productivity is increased as the number of steps to reach a command is decreased. The ribbon interface presents command options in a concise visual format. allowing you to quickly select commands based on the work you’re doing . Moving between applications is now quick and intuitive. The ribbon is both customizable and expandable so that it can be optimized for each user and meet each company’s standards.
• Menu Browser - Reviewing and working with several files is no longer a tedious and time-consuming process. The new menu browser interface allows you to browse files and examine thumbnail images and provides detailed information about file size and file creator. Plus, you can organize recently used files by name, date, or title.
• Action Recorder - The new action recorder saves time and increases productivity by automating repetitive tasks without requiring the skill or assistance of a professional CAD manager. Users can quickly record a task, add text messages and requests for input, then quickly select and play back recorded files.
• Layer Dialog - The new layer dialog makes creating and editing layer properties faster and less prone to error. Changes are instantly reflected in the drawing as they are made in the dialog. The manipulation of the dialog box has been simplified, and columns in the dialog can be individually resized so the contents of that column or its title are not truncated. Individual columns can be fixed in place so that the rest of the columns can be scrolled through and referenced to a fixed column such as the layer name.
• Quick Properties - The easily customizable quick properties menu increases productivity by reducing the steps to access properties information, ensuring that information presented is optimized for that particular user and project.
• Quick View - The quick view feature uses thumbnails instead of file names, making opening the correct drawing file and layout faster and decreasing the time spent opening incorrect drawing files.

The Material Project is a material & building reference that anyone can edit. This type of community edited knowledge base provides an opportunity for design professionals and graduate students to share their material research and building research with each other as an accurate and evolving investigation on material in design.

The Material Project was started in the Fall 2005 semester as a printed research collaborative of graduate students studying Advanced Materials and Methods at NESAD in Boston, MA. The collaborative, lead by Professor Douglas R Seidler, continued into the Spring 2007 semester. The written collaborative and resulting knowledge base was migrated to the MaterialWiki project in the Spring 2008 semester.

see more: materialproject.org

Suffolk University has partnered with Apple to publish audio content from course lectures through iTunes U.Doug Seidler will podcast lectures from his Advanced Interior Design Communication studio in the Spring 2008 semester.  Students can download free archived lectures through iTunes. These audio archives can be played on any computer and any mp3 player.To access the lectures:

1. Download and install the newest version of iTunes
2. Log in to Campus Cruiser
3. Click the BlackBoard link at the top of the page
4. Click our course link from your list of courses
5. Click the iTune U link

Once you setup the podcast, iTunes will automatically download new lectures after each class (you will not have to follow the steps above).

Douglas Seidler has been invited to join Amy Crumpton’s panel presentation on the implementation of Buiding Information Modeling in the Interior Design Curriculum. This panel will present “state of the profession” industry information as well as how specific programs have implemented the technology, including software, textbooks, and successes and opportunities in the area.  Amy Crumpton is an Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Mississippi State University.The 2008 Interior Design Educators Council conference will be held in Montreal, Canada.