So today was a little more exciting.
At the morning intern meeting Bob gave us doughnuts! They were really good, especially since they were free. He also wanted us to write about a job opportunity posted in the Imaging Science building. I choose the R&D engineer because it was out of Canada, which is pretty cool, and it included some many of the same qualities/experience that I have already had. It seemed pretty interesting, so I think that I might like it if I was actually applying.
After the meeting we headed off the finish some coding from yesterday. That took awhile as we all switched on and off with each other so that none of us had to code for too long. Then AJ and I went with some other interns and staff to move an optical bench. I have no idea what it does, except that it is for optics, but I do know that it is REALLY heavy. It took like 6 of us to lift the whole thing. So then we headed back to find the girls still hard to work at coding... haha not really. The VP staff then had a staff meeting at 10:30 at which we talked some business and about stuff that needs to get done. Then we headed out for the King and I, a Thai food restaurant. It was really good and very tasty.
Afterwards, we headed back to the labs only to find that all the keyboards were flipped over!? Then John and Tristen came in and gave us some bogus tapes to calibrate and we couldn't find the cameras. So after searching for the cameras, they finally revealed to us that they were playing a trick on us. They said it was because we had left the lab door open during lunch. Haha, very funny! Anyways, then Jane and I really did calibrate the tape for Leanne's masters study. We also continued working on the coding from yesterday... and played a few more games. That was about all, pretty packed but not too bad.
Keep it classy,
Matt
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Paid Relaxation... Well At Least A Little Bit
Awhhh... mmm... so as you can probably guess from the title, today was pretty slow.
In the morning the intern meeting was pretty interesting. We walked around like pirates covering our eyes so that they would adjust to the darkness while the other eye was exposed to light. When returning to a darkened room we found that we were able to see out of the covered eye very well and almost not at all through the other one. This was due to the fact that the covered eye retains a certain chemical which allows the eye to adjust for vision in the dark. Only one eye retained this chemical however, by remaining in darkness, and therefore was the eye that was able to see in the darkened room.
After that we headed off to the labs where we finished reading the documents John had given us yesterday and we typed up the data that we collected. Nick gave us a tape to calibrate that was from the Infotracking experiment we participated in yesterday. Erica and I completed that and also digitized the tape. Some other tapes were digitized by AJ. Everything took awhile so we soon found that it was time for lunch.
A quick lunch and we were back in the labs... but no one else was. So we waited for a long time, and played some games. Later, Tristen gave us back the tape which we had calibrated this morning. He introduced us to our first job on RITCode and helped us to learn how to prepare the tape so that information could be gathered from it. It was pretty tedious work, going frame by frame and analyzing the tape for points of fixation, it takes a freaking long time!!!
That was pretty much it... not a lot of stuff to do, but it fills the time.
Keep it classy,
Matt
In the morning the intern meeting was pretty interesting. We walked around like pirates covering our eyes so that they would adjust to the darkness while the other eye was exposed to light. When returning to a darkened room we found that we were able to see out of the covered eye very well and almost not at all through the other one. This was due to the fact that the covered eye retains a certain chemical which allows the eye to adjust for vision in the dark. Only one eye retained this chemical however, by remaining in darkness, and therefore was the eye that was able to see in the darkened room.
After that we headed off to the labs where we finished reading the documents John had given us yesterday and we typed up the data that we collected. Nick gave us a tape to calibrate that was from the Infotracking experiment we participated in yesterday. Erica and I completed that and also digitized the tape. Some other tapes were digitized by AJ. Everything took awhile so we soon found that it was time for lunch.
A quick lunch and we were back in the labs... but no one else was. So we waited for a long time, and played some games. Later, Tristen gave us back the tape which we had calibrated this morning. He introduced us to our first job on RITCode and helped us to learn how to prepare the tape so that information could be gathered from it. It was pretty tedious work, going frame by frame and analyzing the tape for points of fixation, it takes a freaking long time!!!
That was pretty much it... not a lot of stuff to do, but it fills the time.
Keep it classy,
Matt
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Finally Some Work
So today we actually started to do work!
The morning meeting was pretty uneventful and we scurried off to unite with our fellow VPers in the labs. There we finished up the reading, which is great because now I don't have to read it outside of work, and then began to get to work. Leanne gave us some tapes to calibrate so that we could track the places where the subject was looking. She helped us with it but we got through it without any problems. Then we took a whole bunch of tapes and started to digitize them so that they could be utilized in RITCode. The digitization process takes about 30 min. for each tape, so while waiting we watched youtube videos and all shared a good laugh.
So in searching for something to do while the tapes were digitizing, we found that John had something for us. He wanted us to read an article and pick out specific information regarding the aspects of an experiment concerning infants/toddlers and vision tracking. This information was being drawn from a variety of other articles as well and will be used to help design and experiment in the future. So that was a really long article but AJ and I got out of it because we had to go hang up posters advertising Leanne's testing for her research study. 10 bucks for one hour to anybody who participates is a pretty good deal, I wish we could get some extra cash through this! Oh well....
After that AJ and I participated in a pilot testing of a developing research study called Infotracking. It was pretty neat and we will probably be able to calibrate our own tape, that will be sweet. After that I had to leave early but hopefully more fun awaits tomorrow.
Keep it classy,
Matt
The morning meeting was pretty uneventful and we scurried off to unite with our fellow VPers in the labs. There we finished up the reading, which is great because now I don't have to read it outside of work, and then began to get to work. Leanne gave us some tapes to calibrate so that we could track the places where the subject was looking. She helped us with it but we got through it without any problems. Then we took a whole bunch of tapes and started to digitize them so that they could be utilized in RITCode. The digitization process takes about 30 min. for each tape, so while waiting we watched youtube videos and all shared a good laugh.
So in searching for something to do while the tapes were digitizing, we found that John had something for us. He wanted us to read an article and pick out specific information regarding the aspects of an experiment concerning infants/toddlers and vision tracking. This information was being drawn from a variety of other articles as well and will be used to help design and experiment in the future. So that was a really long article but AJ and I got out of it because we had to go hang up posters advertising Leanne's testing for her research study. 10 bucks for one hour to anybody who participates is a pretty good deal, I wish we could get some extra cash through this! Oh well....
After that AJ and I participated in a pilot testing of a developing research study called Infotracking. It was pretty neat and we will probably be able to calibrate our own tape, that will be sweet. After that I had to leave early but hopefully more fun awaits tomorrow.
Keep it classy,
Matt
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The Saga Continues
Not too bad today, just a few crazy moments...
First off, football weight lifting in the morning at 6:30! After that, I was straight off to RIT for the morning intern meeting. After slipping in with about 10 seconds to spare, Bob told us about all the exciting field trips he was planning for the summer. Then off to the VP labs. There we learned about the ASL system that tracked a stationary subject's vision direction. We also learned how to use the analog ISCAN program, which was much more complicated. This system utilized a multiplexer and a demultiplexer in order to capture/view both the eye and area films. (I included the names of those fancy gysmos just because I think they are sweet names!) Then AJ and I fiddled around with the ASL system and tracked each others eye movements... while playing Minesweeper! Then we got an intro to the TWiki account and were given a reading assignment about the history of eye tracking. Yeah, fun...
So after lunch the VP interns were split into two group and Erika and I were suppose to be test subjects for an experiment, but stuff went wrong with the programs and that never came to fruition. So we sat back and read. Oh boy lots of fun! Actually the reading wasn't really that bad and even interesting at times. I still got more to go though. We also learned how to assemble the Mobile Eye Tracking Device so that we could set it up in the future. After that the whole group, all four of us, were reunited and we finally met the mystery man of the day, our adviser Jeff Pelz. After meeting him and trying to figure out a problem with power source of the Mobile Eye Tracking Device, AJ and I had to go correct a problem with our RIT cards. Something about the university ID number was messed up and it was just really confusing, but now hopefully everything is squared away... hopefully. Now I can finally be officially logging my hours so I can get paid!!! That's always a good thing!
Keep it classy,
Matt
First off, football weight lifting in the morning at 6:30! After that, I was straight off to RIT for the morning intern meeting. After slipping in with about 10 seconds to spare, Bob told us about all the exciting field trips he was planning for the summer. Then off to the VP labs. There we learned about the ASL system that tracked a stationary subject's vision direction. We also learned how to use the analog ISCAN program, which was much more complicated. This system utilized a multiplexer and a demultiplexer in order to capture/view both the eye and area films. (I included the names of those fancy gysmos just because I think they are sweet names!) Then AJ and I fiddled around with the ASL system and tracked each others eye movements... while playing Minesweeper! Then we got an intro to the TWiki account and were given a reading assignment about the history of eye tracking. Yeah, fun...
So after lunch the VP interns were split into two group and Erika and I were suppose to be test subjects for an experiment, but stuff went wrong with the programs and that never came to fruition. So we sat back and read. Oh boy lots of fun! Actually the reading wasn't really that bad and even interesting at times. I still got more to go though. We also learned how to assemble the Mobile Eye Tracking Device so that we could set it up in the future. After that the whole group, all four of us, were reunited and we finally met the mystery man of the day, our adviser Jeff Pelz. After meeting him and trying to figure out a problem with power source of the Mobile Eye Tracking Device, AJ and I had to go correct a problem with our RIT cards. Something about the university ID number was messed up and it was just really confusing, but now hopefully everything is squared away... hopefully. Now I can finally be officially logging my hours so I can get paid!!! That's always a good thing!
Keep it classy,
Matt
Monday, July 7, 2008
First Day: And So It Begins
So big day today, our first day! It started with our traditional 8:45 intern staff meeting. SO EARLY! I'm sure we all could have fallen asleep right away if not for all the important information Bob and Joe bombarded us with. After all the basic stuff was covered the group headed over to the RIT "Red Bard", which is actually red. There we partook in team building exercises, such as introducing another person to the group and creating the tallest free standing tower. After we were all nice and hot (there was no air conditioning in the barn) we headed over the lunch, which was paid for, sweet! So then some students gave us a tour of the campus and showed us some of the important places. Then we returned to the Imaging Science buildings, only to go on another tour to see the facilities we would be working in. After that we broke up into our different groups, mine being Visual Perception.
There I met the other interns I would be working with, Erika, AJ, and Jane. They were all great and it looks like we are going to have fun working together. So at the VP (Visual Perception) labs we met all the students and faculty involved with the field. We were also introduced to the 007 goggles that are specifically designed for the purpose of VP studies. Then we learned about the software that we would be using throughout the summer. Man was it complicated! There was a digital program called Yarvis (I have no idea how to spell it!) that allows the user to calibrate and determine where the subject's eye is looking. This program seemed a lot easier than ISCAN that we were briefly shown. This is the analog program that preforms the same functions as its digital counterpart Yarvis. We were then shown RITCode, which is a program that allows researchers to denote specific points at which prolonged vision concentration took place. Basically we were introduced to the basics of capturing eye movements and using the software to determine the exact location of vision focus. Oh boy, we're in for a lot more learning tomorrow!
Keep it classy,
Matt
There I met the other interns I would be working with, Erika, AJ, and Jane. They were all great and it looks like we are going to have fun working together. So at the VP (Visual Perception) labs we met all the students and faculty involved with the field. We were also introduced to the 007 goggles that are specifically designed for the purpose of VP studies. Then we learned about the software that we would be using throughout the summer. Man was it complicated! There was a digital program called Yarvis (I have no idea how to spell it!) that allows the user to calibrate and determine where the subject's eye is looking. This program seemed a lot easier than ISCAN that we were briefly shown. This is the analog program that preforms the same functions as its digital counterpart Yarvis. We were then shown RITCode, which is a program that allows researchers to denote specific points at which prolonged vision concentration took place. Basically we were introduced to the basics of capturing eye movements and using the software to determine the exact location of vision focus. Oh boy, we're in for a lot more learning tomorrow!
Keep it classy,
Matt
Intro
Hello fellow bloggers. I am a summer intern at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This summer I will be venturing into unknown territory as I conduct research in the Imaging Science field of Visual Perception. This area of research involves developing, conducting, and analyzing experiments with the tracking of eye movements and vision - basically where people are looking and what they are specifically looking at. I hope to gain knowledge about the imaging science field, as well as to enjoy the intern experience and to explore the RIT campus. Hopefully you will also be able to share in my experience as I dive head long into this adventure.
Keep it classy,
Matt
Keep it classy,
Matt
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