Vacuum

April 4-5, 2013: Visual Culture and Archives symposium hosted by the Bentley Historical Library at Rackham Amphitheature

The Bentley Historical Library is hosting a symposium on Visual Culture and Archives at Rackham Amphitheatre  on the University of Michigan Central Campus on April 4-5. The event will be live tweeted with the hash tag #bhlvisual, and there's live streaming of the talks. See the event home page for details.

 

Mark Frauenfelder, "Making Makers", April 5, 2013 at Chesebrough Auditorium, U of Michigan North Campus

As originally noted by Dale Grover to the GO-Tech mailing list:

Mark Frauenfelder, editor-in-chief of Make Magazine and co-editor of the blog Boing Boing, will be giving a lecture "Making Makers" this Friday, April 5, 6-7:30 pm at the Chesebrough Auditorium, 220 Chrysler Center, 2121 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor MI 48109

(Map: http://www.engin.umich.edu/facilities/maps/chrysler.html)

Free, open to public. Plan ahead for where you want to park; a number of lots are free parking after 5:00 pm.

"Mark Frauenfelder, co-founder of the collaborative weblog Boing Boing, will present a short and colorful history of making things, and then launch into the amazing new tools, technologies, and social changes that are driving an all-ages maker movement. He'll conclude with a gallery of fun and fascinating homemade inventions."

Event page: http://www.lib.umich.edu/giving-mlibrary/events/making-makers

March 28, 2013 North Quad flood

North Quad at the U of Michigan had a flood today, causing classes to be cancelled and students to be evacuated from their rooms. There is no estimate of the damage at this time, but it's extensive.

The University of Michigan School of Information has a flood information page with reschedule and relocate information for classes and talks.

All media inquires about the flooding should be directed to Kelly Cunningham in the UM Public Affairs Office: kecunham@umich.edu, 734-936-5190.

 

North Quad installs new water feature: the Ehrlicher Room stairs. twitter.com/umsi/status/31…

— UM SI (@umsi) March 28, 2013

Photo by Heidi Skrzypek, UMSI staff

From the Michigan Daily "Flooding forces cancellation of classes in North Quad":

According to Ken Campbell, North Quad’s maintenance mechanic, a broken joint pipe on the building’s fire suppression system was responsible for the flooding. The break occurred in the East Stairwell on the fourth floor of the building, he said. When the pipe lost pressure, the system automatically turned the water pump on to add pressure, exacerbating the flow from the three-inch pipe.

Campbell estimated that “thousands and thousands” of gallons poured from the pipe before it was turned off 20 minutes later.

From the AnnArbor.com: Nearly 100 students displaced by flooding at University of Michigan's North Quad

Jeff MacKie-Mason, dean of the U-M School of Information, sent an email to the school community stating that the The Ehrlicher Room in North Quad sustained major damage in the flooding.

"We will not be able to use it for some time, perhaps several months (the ceilings may need to be replaced, walls may need repair, the carpet and our extensive electronics equipment may need replacement)," MacKie-Mason wrote in the email.

From the Ann Arbor Chronicle: nothing.

From the Ann Arbor Journal: nothing.

2 of of 4 isn't bad.

 

Related articles

North Quad Community Open House, Thursday March 31, 2011, 3p-6p

And This is Why Ann Arbor Is Obsessed With Itself

Living With Floods: How you can minimize the damage

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the University of Michigan, 1962

The Michigan Daily story of April 15, 2012 has an excellent set of photos of MLK's visit to Ann Arbor on November 5, 1962, and the story of how they were discovered.

David Erdody, a digital curator at the Bentley Historical Library, discovered a series of 20 photo negatives in early January that feature King giving a speech and hosting a discussion at the University. These photographs, which have never been printed or published, depict King speaking and greeting a crowd at Hill Auditorium, attending a small discussion in the Michigan Union and having dinner at the University on Nov. 5, 1962.

One of the main archives of MLK materials is at Boston University; there's a set of correspondence with the University of Michigan Office of Religious Affairs that would be worth looking at to round out some of the institutional memory of this event.

 

Furry Wolverine mascot, circa 1983

From Michigan Today, v20 n5, 1989:

There's a reason that the University of Michigan doesn't have a mascot. Read more about Michigan mascots from James David Dickson in Michigan Today, June 16, 2011 and beware of furries.

Michigan 2, North Dakota 0 (2011 NCAA Frozen Four semifinal hockey)

Michigan defeated North Dakota 2-0 tonight in NCAA Frozen Four hockey. I watched on ESPN3. Recap: MGoBlue.com, "Going for 10! U-M Blanks No. 1 North Dakota to Reach NCAA Final".

Box score: ESPN.

Next game is Saturday night, 7:00 pm.  vs. the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. UMD beat Notre Dame 4-3 to advance to the finals.

Edward Vielmetti writes about sports, sometimes, and sings along with the band.

North Quad Community Open House, Thursday March 31, 2011, 3p-6p

From the news release:

This fall, students moved into the first U-M residence hall to open in more than 40 years. Throughout the first semester, the academic programs that are part of this new community moved in. Today, in addition to 450 residents, North Quad is home to the School of Information, the LSA Departments of Screen Arts and Cultures and Communication Studies, the Sweetland Center for Writing, the Global Scholars Program, the Language Resource Center and the Max Kade House.

Edward Vielmetti lived at Bursley Hall, Max Kade House (briefly), Alice Lloyd, and Joint House at the University of Michigan.

Mark Segal, National Security Agency, 3/30/2011, noon, at University of Michigan School of Information

Open to the public, lunch provided. From the news release:

Mark E. Segal, deputy director, Laboratory for Telecommunications Sciences at the National Security Agency, will present a talk on “Computer Science Research at the National Security Agency” on Wednesday, March 30 at noon in the Ehrlicher Room, 3100 North Quad.

Prior to joining NSA in 2007, Segal worked in the telecommunications industry for 18 years. He has conducted research in the areas of distributed computing, dependable systems, information assurance, and multimedia systems. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in computer and communications sciences from the University of Michigan.

 

Edward Vielmetti's grandmother's cousin, Katharine Swift, worked for the National Security Agency.

Obituary: Bob Frost (1952-2011), U of Michigan School of Information professor and great-grandson of poet Robert Frost

Robert L. "Bob" Frost (1952 - March 2011) was a professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1983 and joined the University of Michigan faculty in 2000. Frost was the great-grandson of poet Robert Frost, and established the Frost Open Access Fund with royalties from his great-grandfather's works to support faculty and student projects related to open access to information. He is survived by his wife Margaret Hedstrom; relations, colleagues, current and former students and many friends. Donations may go to the American Cancer Society via Team Frost. Additional details are pending.

There will be a memorial service for Bob Frost held on Friday, April 15 at 3:00 p.m. at the Michigan Union Ballroom in Ann Arbor.

Frost was interviewed for Michigan Today in Winter of 1996, in a story published under the title Robert Frost's great-grandson is not a big fan of the poetry.

A number of Bob's friends, colleagues and students have written in memoriam, collected in small part here.

Mark Matienzo: In memoriam. "Most importantly, he was a faculty member in a huge and ever-growing graduate program who seemed to enjoy nearly every interaction he had with a student, and encouraged us to reach out to him to send him links to "cool stuff" on the Web that might interest him."

University of Michigan School of Information Dean Jeffrey Mackie-Mason announced his death with this message, which was circulated widely and is reproduced here.

Date: Sat, Mar 26, 2011 at 11:49 PM

Dear friends, students, colleagues

It is with deep personal sadness that I write to tell you that Bob Frost has passed away. He expired while resting at home, with his wife -- our colleague Margaret Hedstrom -- and family members by his side.  

As many of you know, because Bob was a delightfully transparent and honest person, he has been fighting cancer for nearly two-and-a-half years.  He had remarkable courage, and fortitude (the initial prognosis was that he had less than a year to live). Bob was passionate about teaching, about his students, and about our School.  He insisted on continuing to teach a full load, and even developed new courses during his illness.  Remarkably, he was still in the classroom teaching SI 500 less than three weeks ago.  Many generations of undergraduate and graduate students have been touched by Bob; many of them say that he had a transformative impact on their choice of major and career.  

Bob was born in 1952, and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1983. He came to Michigan as a visiting associate professor of history in 1995, and joined the SI faculty in 2000. For more information about his many publications, his teaching and his other interests, see http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rfrost/.

Bob was passionate about many things, including a passion for sharing information for the good of all.  Bob and Margaret established the Frost Open Access Fund by donating the royalties that Bob receives from the works of his great-grandfather, poet Robert Frost.  The fund was also named to honor Bob's friend and colleague Olivia Frost, SI's former interim dean and professor emerita.  The Frost Fund supports innovative projects that utilize open source software, or that study or promote the open access movement.

I have known Bob since shortly after he arrived in Ann Arbor, and over the years was proud to become his friend.  His death is a great loss to me, and I know it is to many of you as well; I share my sympathy with all of you.

A number of activities are planned to help us address our grief, and to remember Bob.  One is a fundraiser for cancer research that his students started a week ago in honor of Bob's battle: if you wish, you may contribute through the American Cancer Society at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teamfrost.  We will announce details of other activities soon.  

For now, please join me in a moment of silent reflection in Bob's honor.  And please join me in extending support and sympathy to Bob's loving wife, and our friend and colleague, Margaret Hedstrom.

Jeff