MWLUG Green Project Revealed

On Thursday, August 27, 2009, we revealed the MWLUG Green Project fixture, "Wings of Collaboration" at the MWLUG Conference 2009. It survived being disassembled, moved, and reassembled in addition to being dropped a few times during the move. We were able to save a bit over 1200 pounds of carbon emissions using collaboration tools to share information including Lotus Notes, Lotus Quickr, and Lotus Sametime. In addition, we used Goggle Docs, Skype, and Mebeam.

The fixture is made from recycled corrugated cardboard that uses corn starch glue, recyclable copper tubing, recycled wood pulp and renewable pine wood, and other materials. The fixture includes 21 different wooden balls that represented the different user groups involved, the different sponsors who were graceous enough to fund this conference and Lotus. The copper tubing interconnected the balls to represent the Lotus community. Each ball is painted with the logos of each organization using non-toxic paint. After the conference, each organization will receive their wooden ball.




We are planning MWLUG Conference 2010 and what challenges a new team of students. We are looking at making the 2010 fixture a contest between different teams from different schools. More information will be coming as we develop the plans.

MWLUG Green Project Accident

The design fixture for the MWLUG Conference is almost complete. The team had to redesign the fixture because the design could not hold the weight of the structure. I had to put on my old engineering hat and help the team redesign the frame of the fixture. However, in doing so we had an accident that was almost disastrous. The redesign required replacing certain parts of the fixture with bigger components. During the replacement process we had to solder on new components. Even thought we were extremely careful and covered the entire area with aluminum foil, a slip of the propane torch by yours truly set the fixture on fire. Luckily the material does not burn that easily and we were able to put out the fire. If not, all we had to show at the conference was a few sticks and tubing.

Richard

Announcing MWLUG Conference 2009 Sessions and Speakers

The MWLUG Conference 2009 is turning out to be an incredible conference. We plan to have 27 sessions covering administration and infrastructure, application development, and business development. We will have sessions ranging from UI interface design with Chris Blatnick, BES management with John Wargo to business case studies that will be presented by Lotus customers. For business partners who are involved with Lotus Foundations we have an entire session devoted on marketing Lotus Foundations in the mist of cloud computing. We are still finalizing a few additional sessions. Hats off to the MWLUG Session Committee who has help make this possible.

MWLUG Conference 2009 Sessions

MWLUG Conference 2009 Speakers

The two day conference is packed from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day with sessions and fun. The two day session will be kicked off by a keynote presentation by Ed Brill.

If you are planning to come, please register online since we need to have a head count for the Chicago River and Lake Michigan boat ride on Thursday. On site registration will be accepted, but we will accept checks only, no credit card.

Final MWLUG Signage Fixture Design Complete

The MWLUG Green Project team have completed the final design of the signage fixture for the MWLUG Conference 2009. The next task is to build the fixture using the selected materials. We had a bit of problem trying to get the materials that we needed. The minimum lot size of our main material, X-board, that we were required to purchase was incredibility large, 100 sheets which would have been $8,000.00. Therefore, we had to find alternative materials that would replace the X-board. The total cost of the new material is about $50.00. If I had it my way, it would have been free. All the materials for the fixture are manufactured within the United States or locally here in Chicagoland area. It will be made from materials that have been recycled, is renewable, or can be recycled. The replacement material uses glue made from corn starch grown in the Midwest. Since the materials are purchased all locally, we saved a significant amount of carbon emission required for shipping. We will unveil the MWLUG Conference fixture on August 27 at the conference. So if you would like to know how the final fixture looks like come to the MWLUG conference.

Sketch Models

These three sketch models were created from foam core. This a fast way to convert ideas from 2D to 3D. The 1/6th scale models help give us a deeper understanding of how to make the fixture, and provide a more realistic vision of how it will look.
Brainstorming different techniques to construct our designs was crucial, especially for the 3rd idea. One of the ways that we could achieve the complex curving shape would be to score the back as shown. This would allow the material to curve in two directions.

-Angela and Brian

Final sketches

On June 25th, we had another video conference with Richard and Dave to present eight concepts. Four detailed sketches from each of us were presented, with the goal of picking the three best ideas at the end to keep working on. The first design we chose was the design labeled “1.”



This first design is two planar parts that twist and wrap around each other to form one identity. The smaller strip consists of user group names and sponsors. This design was simple and elegant and also providing space for graphics.


The second was a curved plane created out of panels that had the names of sponsors and user groups on the back. These would be able to disassemble and be offered to the visitors after the end of the convention. This allows the object to have a purpose after the conference.


Lastly was the reappearance of the wire and ball idea. This would allow people to see user group and sponsor names on individual balls suspended by a grid of wires. The curved plane would also allow ample amount of graphic space.



These were some of the other drawing presented:

IBM Innovation Center Visit

Last week on Monday, June 8, Brian and I went to the IBM Center in Chicago where the conference will be held. Soon after we arrived, Dave Charney gave a talk about UI design that was very interesting and inspirational. We then talked to the Granite user group members about the Green Project and presented our goals and processes of designing the fixture. We also looked around the center taking note of the architecture, interior design, and existing fixtures. This illustration shows what we saw and where we will be placing the fixture.


Understanding the environment of our fixture will help us make decisions about our designs as well. Our goal is to not only create a beautiful and memorable fixture, but to make sure it fits well with the feel of the conference.


Since the last talk with Dave and Richard and seeing the IBM center, we have also made new sketch ideas and expanded on our existing ideas. We liked number 6 on the first page and number 1 and 6 on the second, and will start to focus on specific designs as we narrow down our design process. We liked 6. on the first page because it takes the element of connected wires that represent a community and combines it with the form of a sphere, which emulates the globe, and the conference logo. Number 1 on the second page has two spiraling pieces that support each other.


Our next step will be to continue developing about 3 ideas through sketching, and then start to make simple 3D mock-up models.

-Angela and Brian