uri Online business exchange creates community, makes critical connections to meet needs during COVID-19 pandemic By newsroom.heart.org Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 13:00:00 GMT DALLAS, April 29, 2020 — As the shortage of many goods, resources and services grows during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the American Heart Association, the leading nonprofit organization focused on a world of healthier lives for all, has launched ... Full Article
uri 5 Ways to Grow Sales During COVID-19 By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 07:04:30 +0000 We are living in unprecedented times. The global pandemic has had a major impact on our lives and our economy. In addition to the vast personal losses across the country and across the world, so many businesses have been negatively impacted. According to CNBC, retail sales fell by 8.7% in March of 2020, the biggest... Full Article Business Online
uri Depression and post-traumatic stress during major social unrest in Hong Kong: a 10-year prospective cohort study By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Jan 2020 11:23:53 EST Hong Kong has been embroiled in increasingly violent social unrest since June, 2019. We examined the associated population mental health burden, risk factors, and health-care needs. Full Article
uri Amazing Photos Of “Luxurious” Lada Stretched Limousines By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 13:00:02 +0000 Lada is a brand of cars manufactured by Russian automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ (originally VAZ). The Lada brand appeared in 1973,... Full Article Technology cars cuba LADA limousine retro USSR
uri This Family Uses Chalk Art To Go On Adventures During The Lockdown By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 13:38:25 +0000 Quarantine might have trapped us inside the shells of our houses; however, some people are finding ways to escape the... Full Article Photography adventures family lockdown quarantine
uri Dugout Sports, MLB pitcher Mitch Keller team up to support local firefighters during pandemic By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 12:42:34 PDT CEDAR RAPIDS — Jay Whannel is baseball through and through. He was a star player in high school and college, played briefly in the professional independent leagues. He coached in college and... Full Article Minor League Sports
uri Xavier senior Kaiden Cuevas turns injuries into possible career By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 09:39:10 PDT CEDAR RAPIDS — Xavier senior Kaiden Cuevas dedicated a majority of his life to sports, but after three different knee injuries he has decided to stop playing and focus on training other... Full Article Prep Sports
uri How Four Food Businesses Started Selling Online During COVID-19 By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0000 From no store to 800 orders per day — see how 4 stores successfully moved their business online during COVID-19 to stay open and save jobs. The post How Four Food Businesses Started Selling Online During COVID-19 appeared first on WooCommerce. Full Article Blog
uri How to Advertise your Products on Google for Free During COVID-19 By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +0000 Google’s offering $340 million in free ad credits during COVID-19. Here’s what you need to know to maximize your efforts and not only survive, but thrive! The post How to Advertise your Products on Google for Free During COVID-19 appeared first on WooCommerce. Full Article Blog Marketing
uri Tyson outbreak: Short closure but enduring grief By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 20:11:00 PDT As the coronavirus spread from the nation’s meatpacking plants to the broader communities where they are located, it burned through a modest duplex in Waterloo. In the downstairs unit lived... Full Article Health
uri Distancing and diversity enhance Iowa’s food security By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 09:47:21 PDT Coronavirus provides a chilling lesson about crowding. The disease originated in a densely packed Chinese City. As it moved worldwide it struck most heavily in crowded places where people live and... Full Article Guest Columnist
uri Mother’s Day, Birthdays, Anniversaries: Celebrating during a pandemic By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 13:10:23 PDT A 10th wedding anniversary traditionally is celebrated with a gift of aluminum or tin. For Sondy Daggett, her 10th year of marriage to Liz Hoskins was marked with a gift of Champagne and... Full Article Health
uri Georgia Lauridsen Gray By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 20:23:24 PDT INDEPENDENCEGeorgia Lauridsen Gray, 89, died Thursday, May 7, 2020. White Funeral Home, Independence. Full Article Obituaries
uri Distancing and diversity enhance Iowa’s food security By www.thegazette.com Published On :: Fri, 8 May 2020 12:47:21 -0400 Coronavirus provides a chilling lesson about crowding. The disease originated in a densely packed Chinese City. As it moved worldwide it struck most heavily in crowded places where people live and work in proximity. Medical experts advise us to stay home and keep fellow humans at a distance. Isolation works. If a pathogen can’t reach us it can’t cause harm. The same holds true for food. Years ago farmers planted diverse crops in relatively small fields, and raised modest numbers of chickens, pigs, and cattle. One cornfield or chicken coop was, essentially, isolated from the next closest counterpart, making it hard for a disease to jump from one farm to the next. Modern Agriculture, in contrast, raises hundreds of thousands of chickens and turkeys crowded together in single buildings. Hogs and cattle are also crammed together, as are crops. Essentially the Midwest is one continuous cornfield stretching from Ohio to Nebraska. Once a pathogen mutates a new disease can easily sweep across vast fields or through crowded growing buildings, leaving a path of death and food shortages in its wake. Modern mass agriculture is efficient, providing consumers with inexpensive eggs, milk, vegetables and meat, but it is vulnerable. Today’s farmers recognize disease potential and practice scrupulous biosecurity to keep pathogens away from their crops and animals. Still, all it takes is one mutation or introduction of a foreign microbe and a high percentage of American food is lost. Families can reduce their vulnerability to mass food production by growing some at home. During The Second World War the government encouraged families to plant victory gardens and keep one to two hens per family member. Many households were able to grow up to 40% of their annual dietary needs, even in small yards. It freed commercially produced food for the military. Yards remain capable of growing significant quantities of nutritious food using three techniques. Gardening: An amazing quantity of nutritious food can be grown in even a small sunny backyard, especially when intensive gardening techniques are used. Foraging: Delicious wild foods grow in unsprayed yards and are free for the picking. Our family, for example, enjoys nettles, lambsquarters, purslane, acorns and dandelions. Learning to identify, harvest, and process them is not difficult. Ironically spraying a yard kills plants people can eat to favor inedible grass. Chickens: A six hen backyard flock will produce two dozen eggs a week. They need some commercial feed but recycle kitchen scraps and garden weeds into eggs. Cedar Rapids and other towns allow families to keep chickens with a few restrictions. Families unable or unwilling to grow backyard food can boost food security by buying vegetables, meat and eggs from small local producers. Coronavirus has taught us about contagion and helps clarify the threat that mass production poses. Raising backyard food enhances resilience. It’s satisfying and helps ensure there will be something to eat. Rich Patterson of Cedar Rapids is a writer, former nature center director and ecological consultant who co-owns Winding Pathways LLC with his wife, Marion. Full Article Guest Columnist
uri Tyson outbreak: Short closure but enduring grief By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 20:11:00 PDT As the coronavirus spread from the nation’s meatpacking plants to the broader communities where they are located, it burned through a modest duplex in Waterloo.In the downstairs unit lived Jim Orvis, 65, a beloved friend and uncle who worked in the laundry department at the Tyson Foods pork processing facility, the largest employer in Waterloo. Upstairs was Arthur Scott, a 51-year-old father who was getting his life on track after a prison term for drugs. He worked 25 miles away at the Tyson dog treats factory in Independence.The two men were not well acquainted. But both fell ill and died last month within days of each other from COVID-19 — casualties of an outbreak linked to the Waterloo plant that spread across the city of 68,000 people.Similar spread has happened in other communities where the economy centers on raising hogs and cattle and processing their meat, including the hot spots of Grand Island, Neb., and Worthington, Minn.The virus is “devastating everything,” duplex owner Jose Garcia, who received notification two days apart from his deceased tenants’ relatives, said recently. “These two guys were here last week. Now they are gone. It’s crazy.”He said it’s possible one of the men infected the other because they shared an entryway, or that they each contracted the virus separately at their workplaces.The virus threatens the communities’ most vulnerable populations, including low-income workers and their extended families.“They’re afraid of catching the virus. They’re afraid of spreading it to family members. Some of them are afraid of dying,” said the Rev. Jim Callahan, of the Church of St. Mary in Worthington, a city of 13,000 that has attracted immigrants from across the globe to work at the JBS pork plant.“One guy said to me, ‘I risked my life coming here. I never thought something that I can’t see could take me out.’ ”In Grand Island, an outbreak linked to a JBS beef plant that is the city’s largest employer spread rapidly across the rural central Nebraska region, killing more than three dozen people. Many of the dead were elderly residents of long-term care facilities who had relatives or friends employed at the plant.In Waterloo, local officials blamed Tyson for endangering not only its workers and their relatives but everyone else who leaves home to work or get groceries.They were furious with the state and federal governments for failing to intervene and for pushing hard to reopen the plant days after public pressure helped idle it.“We were failed by people who put profit margins and greed before people, predominantly brown people, predominantly immigrants, predominantly people who live in lower socioeconomic quarters,” said Jonathan Grieder, a high school social studies teacher who serves on Waterloo’s City Council. “This is going to be with us for so long. There are going to be very deep scars in our community.”Grieder cried as he recounted how one of his former students, 19, lost her father to the coronavirus and has been left to raise two younger siblings. Their mother died of cancer last September.Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson said he first became concerned after touring the Tyson plant April 10 and witnessing inadequate social distancing and a lack of personal protective equipment. As hundreds of workers began getting sick or staying home out of fear, Thompson joined the mayor and local officials in asking Tyson to close the plant temporarily on April 16.But Tyson, with support from Gov. Kim Reynolds, waited until April 22 to announce that step after the outbreak intensified. The company warned of the significant economic consequences even a temporary shutdown would create.The plant, which can process 19,500 hogs per day, resumed limited production this past week.First, Tyson invited local officials and some employees inside for tours to show the new safety precautions, including plastic shields and more space between workers. This time, Thompson said he was “reserved in my optimism” that worker safety would be a priority at the plant.Although Tyson has declined to say how many of the plant’s 2,800 workers had been infected, state health officials announced last week that 444 — or 17 percent — had the virus.In three weeks, Black Hawk County’s cases skyrocketed from 62 to at least 1,450, or more than 1 percent of the county population. Deaths because of the virus rose from zero to at least 15. Ninety percent of the cases are “attributed or related to the plant,” the county’s public health director said.Thompson said the plant’s outbreak decimated the community’s “first line of defense” and allowed the virus to spread to nursing homes and the jail he oversees.“These are the places we did not want to fight the COVID-19 virus,” he said.The losses mounted.A refugee from Bosnia died days after falling sick while working on the Tyson production line, leaving behind her heartbroken husband.The virus also took an intellectually disabled man who died at 73, years after escaping forced labor at a turkey plant and retiring to Waterloo.Scott, who went by the nickname Dontae, was planning to reunite in June with two teenage children he had not seen in person since he was incarcerated on federal drug charges in 2011.A former small-time heroin distributor who suffered from addiction, he and his wife divorced during his prison term, and she moved to Mississippi with the children.Since his 2018 release, friends said he was doing well and rebuilding relationships.Scott told his daughter, Destiny Proctor, 18, that he suspected he became infected at the Tyson pet food factory, which has stayed open under federal guidance classifying the industry as critical infrastructure.Proctor and her 15-year-old brother were looking forward to living with their dad this summer. Instead, their final talk was a video call from a hospital where he struggled to talk.“It was so, so sad,” Proctor, who described her father as funny and caring and frequently sending her cards and gifts, said of their final call. “He told me he couldn’t breathe.” Full Article Health
uri Mother’s Day, Birthdays, Anniversaries: Celebrating during a pandemic By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 13:10:23 PDT A 10th wedding anniversary traditionally is celebrated with a gift of aluminum or tin.For Sondy Daggett, her 10th year of marriage to Liz Hoskins was marked with a gift of Champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries shared through a window.Employees at Bickford of Marion, the assisted living and memory care center where Hoskins is a resident, surprised the couple with the anniversary gift on May 1. Despite the current coronavirus-related mitigation practices, the staff had created a special moment for the couple, who have been partners for 24 years. Daggett burst into tears as employees played their wedding song — Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time.”“It just touched my soul,” Daggett said.Across the state, moments like this are relegated through windows or over a phone call. As the novel coronavirus pandemic sweeps through the country, long-term care facilities have locked down in an effort to keep residents healthy, which means their families are no longer able to hug their loved ones, or sit with them in their rooms.For many families, the feelings at such times this time are conflicted. Typical Mother’s Day celebrations have been placed on hold, and recent milestones have been missed by those living in long-term care facilities. Simple visits through windows feel distant.“Those are the moments you remember and you miss,” said Daggett, recalling memories of visits to Bickford of Marion from Hoskins’s grandchildren and family gatherings during the holidays. Hoskins, who has dementia, has been a resident at Bickford since August 2019.“The pandemic has taken this away,” Daggett said.But beyond this new dynamic with which family members are left to grapple, they also have the constant worry that their loved one could fall ill.So far, Bickford of Marion has not seen any cases.“Every time you read about another outbreak — whether it’s close to home or anywhere in the country — it brings home how fortunate we are so far,” said Matt Hoskins, Liz Hoskin’s son. “I can’t imagine the anxiety the residents and staff are having once it breaks through the wall.”As of Friday, 29 long-term care facilities across the state, which includes skilled nursing facilities and senior living centers, among others — have reported outbreaks of COVID-19 among hundreds of their staff and residents.As a result, for some Iowans, that fear has become a reality.‘I have to trust’Ruth Brackett’s son Jamie Degner, a 38-year-old resident at Harmony House Health Care Center in Waterloo, tested positive for COVID-19 this past week.Degner, who has severe autism and intellectual disabilities, has been a resident there since he was 15 years old.More than 60 residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at Harmony House, an intermediate care facility. It’s one of two long-term care facilities in Black Hawk County reporting an outbreak, defined as three or more positive tests among residents.Degner received his test results on Tuesday. He’s had lower-than-normal oxygen levels, but otherwise has recorded his usual vital signs and has not experienced symptoms.Brackett said it is “unbelievably difficult to not be able to go be with him through this.”As with many facilities across the state, Harmony House closed its doors to visitors in early March, when the first cases of COVID-19 began being reported across Iowa and the nation. Brackett said her son’s cognitive abilities make it impossible for him to understand that she is unable to visit because she might make him sick, so the staff instead tell Degner his mom is “at work.” While she’s optimistic he’ll improve, Brackett worries whether Degner’s virus would take a turn for the worse. “It’s tough because I have to trust” the staff, Brackett said. “There’s nothing I can do, so I can’t spend a lot of time dwelling on what I might do differently.”The families that spoke to The Gazette believe the leadership at long-term care facilities are doing what they can to keep its residents safe and healthy. At Bickford of Marion, officials have taken the unique step of promising public transparency of possible COVID-19 cases in its facility. On the website of every Bickford location is a feature recording the number of residents who have tested positive for COVID-19.“Whether it’s COVID-19 or not, we want to be transparent with families about their loved ones’ care,” Bickford of Marion Executive Director Jacobi Feckers said. “I don’t know why other nursing homes haven’t taken that step because I haven’t spoken to other facilities, but I’m thankful that’s the route we’ve taken.”It’s not just families who are placing their trust in management. Ron Moore is an independent living resident at Cottage Grove Place, one of the largest senior living centers in Cedar Rapids that has reported an outbreak of COVID-19 this past week. According to the latest data from public health officials, five residents and staff there have tested positive.The outbreak originated in the skilled nursing unit, and officials said they are working to ensure the virus doesn’t spread to the assisted-living and independent-living portions of the facility. They restricted movement between the facilities and conduct frequent temperature checks of staff.So far, the general feeling among residents at Cottage Grove Place’s independent-living housing is that management has “done a good job” of controlling exposure.“The feelings of the residents here are positive,” Moore said. “They appreciate what management has done to protect us.”‘Any opportunity to celebrate’Still, life looks much differently at Cottage Grove Place. Moore said his schedule typically is packed with weekly book clubs and coffees with friends. Now he and his wife take walks, or try to connect with friends over email.“I’ve found (residents) are not depressed at this time,” he said. “But in the future, if this goes on for many months? My prediction is yes, depression will be a serious thing.”Local senior living centers have come up with unique ways to allow visitors to see their loved ones. Gina Hausknecht, a 55-year-old Iowa City resident, was able to see her mother in person for the first time in weeks after her assisted-living home, Oaknoll Retirement Community in Iowa City, created a “drive up” visit option this past weekend. While Hausknecht sat in the car, she was able to speak with her mother, 93-year-old Ellen Hausknecht, for an hour outside the facility. Before this, it had been emotionally difficult for Hausknecht not to see her mom weekly as she usually does“It sunk in that I don’t know when I’m going to see my mom again, and that felt really terrible,” Hausknecht previously told The Gazette.Hausknecht said she hopes to take this year’s Mother’s Day as an opportunity to do something special, particularly given the difficult past few weeks.“Our family isn’t super-big on these kinds of holidays but we do like to acknowledge them, and this year it feels important to take hold of any opportunity to celebrate,” she said.Other facilities, including Bickford of Marion, also have eased restrictions on sending food and gifts to residents in time for Mother’s Day. Matt Hoskins, Liz’s Hoskins’ son, said the family’s usual Mother’s Day plans are impossible this year, so they hope to send Liz’s Hoskins artwork from her grandchildren along with other gifts. Brackett, who will be apart from her son Degner this year, said she hadn’t planned anything for the holiday. She looks forward to her first in-person visit with him after the pandemic, when she will bring his favorite meal from McDonald’s and a new deck of Phase 10 cards. Despite the feelings of being separated, their wedding anniversary on May 1 likely is something Daggett will cherish, she said. With Daggett acting as Hoskins caregiver since her dementia diagnosis in 2016, their wedding anniversary has been something the couple hasn’t celebrated in a significant way in some time, she said.But that worry still creeps in the back of her mind. Daggett said she’s trying to remain “as confident as anyone can at this point.”“I learned a long time ago you can’t worry about what you can’t control,” Daggett said. “But does that mean I still wake up at 2 in the morning worried about it? Of course I do.”Comments: (319) 398-8469; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com Full Article Health
uri This is from my favourite shoot/photoset of all time. It was... By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 23 Dec 2016 08:12:04 -0500 This is from my favourite shoot/photoset of all time. It was spontaneous, serendipitous, and simply beautiful. ☂️ . The edit: After applying my preset (I used Clean for this one), I bumped up the exposure and desaturated the yellows/oranges a bit. As a finishing touch, I used a graduated filter to brighten the top a bit and a radial filter on @sllychn to brighten and sharpen the focal point. That’s it! ✨ (at Toronto, Ontario) Full Article
uri How to Foster Real-Time Client Engagement During Moderated Research By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0500 When we conduct moderated research, like user interviews or usability tests, for our clients, we encourage them to observe as many sessions as possible. We find when clients see us interview their users, and get real-time responses, they’re able to learn about the needs of their users in real-time and be more active participants in the process. One way we help clients feel engaged with the process during remote sessions is to establish a real-time communication backchannel that empowers clients to flag responses they’d like to dig into further and to share their ideas for follow-up questions. There are several benefits to establishing a communication backchannel for moderated sessions:Everyone on the team, including both internal and client team members, can be actively involved throughout the data collection process rather than waiting to passively consume findings.Team members can identify follow-up questions in real-time which allows the moderator to incorporate those questions during the current session, rather than just considering them for future sessions.Subject matter experts can identify more detailed and specific follow-up questions that the moderator may not think to ask.Even though the whole team is engaged, a single moderator still maintains control over the conversation which creates a consistent experience for the participant.If you’re interested in creating your own backchannel, here are some tips to make the process work smoothly:Use the chat tool that is already being used on the project. In most cases, we use a joint Slack workspace for the session backchannel but we’ve also used Microsoft Teams.Create a dedicated channel like #moderated-sessions. Conversation in this channel should be limited to backchannel discussions during sessions. This keeps the communication consolidated and makes it easier for the moderator to stay focused during the session.Keep communication limited. Channel participants should ask basic questions that are easy to consume quickly. Supplemental commentary and analysis should not take place in the dedicated channel.Use emoji responses. The moderator can add a quick thumbs up to indicate that they’ve seen a question.Introducing backchannels for communication during remote moderated sessions has been a beneficial change to our research process. It not only provides an easy way for clients to stay engaged during the data collection process but also increases the moderator’s ability to focus on the most important topics and to ask the most useful follow-up questions. Full Article Process Research
uri Together We Flourish, Remotely By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0400 Like many other companies, Viget is working through the new challenge of suddenly being a fully-distributed company. We don’t know how long it will last or every challenge that will arise because of these unfortunate circumstances, but we know the health and well-being of our people is paramount. As Employee Engagement Manager, I feel inspired by these new challenges, eager to step up, and committed to seeing what good can come of this. Now more than ever, we want to maintain the culture that has sustained us over the last 20 years – a culture that I think is best captured by our mantra, “do great work and be a great teammate.” As everyone is adjusting to new work environments, schedules, and distractions, I am adjusting my approach to employee engagement, and the People Team is looking for new ways to nurture and protect the culture we treasure. The backbone of being a great teammate is knowing each other and caring about each other. For years the People Team has focused on making sure people who work at Viget are known, accepted, and cared about. From onboarding to events to weekly and monthly touchpoints, we invest in coworkers knowing each other. On top of that, we have well-appointed offices where people like to be, and friendships unfold over time. Abruptly becoming fully distributed makes it impossible for some of these connections to happen organically, like they would have around the coffee machine and the lunch tables. These microinteractions between colleagues in the same office, the hellos when you get off the elevator or the “what’d you get up to this weekend” chit chat near the seltzer refrigerator, all add up. We realize more than ever how valuable those moments are, and I know I will feel extra grateful for them when we are all back together.Until that time, we are working to make sure everyone at Viget feels connected, safe, healthy, and most importantly, together, even when we are physically apart. We are keeping up our weekly staff meetings and monthly team lunches, and we just onboarded a new hire last week as thoroughly as ever. There are some other, new ways we’re sparking connections, too. New ways we're sparking connections: Connecting IntentionallyWe are making the most of the tools that we’ve been using for years. New Slack channels have spun up, including #exercise, where folks are sharing how they are making do without a gym, and #igotyou, a place where folks can post where they’ve found supplies in stock as grocery stores are being emptied at an alarming pace.Remote Lunch TablesWe have teammates in three different time zones, on different project teams, and at different stages of life. We’ve created two virtual lunch tables, one at 12PM EST and one at 12PM MST, where folks can join with or without their lunches and with or without their kids, partners, or pets. There are no rules or structure, just an opportunity to chat and see a friendly face as a touchpoint to your day.Last Weekend This MorningCatching up Monday morning is a great way to kick off your week. Historically, I’ve done this from my desk over coffee as I greet folks coming off the elevator (I usually have the privilege of sitting at our front desk). I now do this from my desk, at home, over coffee as folks pop in or out of our Zoom call. One upshot of the new normal is I can “greet” anyone who shows up, not just people who work from my same office. Again, no structure, just a way to start our week, together.Munch MadnessYes, you read that right. Most of the sports world is enjoying an intermission. Since our CEO can’t cheer on his beloved Cavaliers and our VP of Design can’t cheer on his Gators, we’ve created something potentially much better. A definitive snack bracket. There is a minimal time commitment and folks with no sports knowledge can participate. The rules are simple: create and submit your bracket, ranking who you believe will win each snack faceoff. Then as we move through the rounds, vote on your favorite snacks. The competition has already sparked tons of conversation and plenty of snack hot takes. Want to start a munch-off of your own? Check out our bracket as a starting point.Virtual Happy HoursSigning off for the day and shutting down your machine is incredibly important for maintaining a work-life balance. Casually checking in, unwinding, and being able to chat about your day is also important. We have big, beautiful kitchens in each of our offices, along with casual spaces where at the end of any given day you can find a few Vigets catching up before heading home. This is something we don’t want to miss! So we’re setting up weekly happy hours where folks can hop in and say hi to each other face-to-face. We’ve found Zoom to be a great platform so we can see the maximum number of our teammates possible. Like all of our other events, it’s optional. There is also an understanding that your roommate, kid, significant other, or pet might show up on screen (and are welcome!). No one is shamed for multitasking and we encourage our teammates to join as they can. So far we’ve toasted new teammates, played a song or two, and up next we’ll play trivia. At the end of the day, we are all here for one reason: to do great work. Our award-winning work is made possible by the trust we’ve built within our teams. Staying focused and accountable to ourselves and our clients is what drives our motivation to continue to show up and do our best. In our new working environment, it is crucial that we can both stay connected and productive; a lot of teammates are stepping up to support one another. Here are a few ways we are continuing to foster our “do great work” mantra. New ways we're fostering great work: Staying in TouchThe People Team is actively touching base with every employee. Our focus is on their health, productivity, and connection. These 1:1s have given us a baseline for how we can provide the best support for our team, from making sure they're aware of flexible work options to setting them up with the tools they need to be successful. We’ve delivered chairs, monitors, and helped troubleshoot in-home wifi issues. We are committed to making sure every Viget is set up for success.Sharing is CaringWe’re no stranger to remote teams. We have four offices across the U.S. and a handful of full-time remote folks, and we’ve leaned on our inside experts to share their expertise on remote work. Most recently, ourData & Analytics Director, who has been working remotely full time for five years, gave a presentation on best practices for working from home. His top tips for working from home include: Minimize other windows in remote meetings.Set a schedule and avoid midday chores.Take breaks away from the screen.Plan your workday on your shared calendar.Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distraction.Use timers.Keep your work area separate from where you relax.Pretend that you’re still working from work.Experiment and figure out what works for you. Our UX Research Director also stepped up to share her expertise to aid in adjusting to our new working conditions. She led a microclass on remote facilitation where she shared best practices and went over tools that support remote collaboration. Some of the tools she highlighted included Miro, Mural, Whimsical, and Jamboard. During the microclass she demonstrated use of Whimsical’s voting feature, which makes it easy for distributed groups to establish discussion topic priorities.Always PreparedHaving all of our project materials stored in the Cloud in a consistent, predictable way is a cornerstone of our business continuity plan. It is more important than ever for our team to follow the established best practices and ensure that project files are accessible to the full Viget team in the event of unplanned time off. Our VP of Client Services is leading efforts to ensure everyone is aware of and following our established guidelines with tools like Drive, Slack, Github, and Figma. Our priorities are that clients’ needs are met, quality is high, and timelines are honored. As the pandemic unfolds, our approach to employee engagement will evolve. We have more things in the works to build and maintain connections while distributed, including trivia and game nights, book clubs, virtual movie nights, and community service opportunities, just to name a few. No matter what we’re doing or what tool we’re using to connect, we’ll be in it together: doing great work, being great teammates, and looking forward. Full Article News & Culture
uri A Parent’s Guide to Working From Home, During a Global Pandemic, Without Going Insane By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:06:00 -0400 Though I usually enjoy working from Viget’s lovely Boulder office, during quarantine I am now working from home while simultaneously parenting my 3-year-old daughter Audrey. My husband works in healthcare and though he is not on the front lines battling COVID-19, he is still an essential worker and as such leaves our home to work every day. Some working/parenting days are great! I somehow get my tasks accomplished, my kid is happy, and we spend some quality time together. And some days are awful. I have to ignore my daughter having a meltdown and try to focus on meetings, and I wish I wasn’t in this situation at all. Most days are somewhere in the middle; I’m just doing my best to get by. I’ve seen enough working parent memes and cries for help on social media to know that I’m not alone. There are many parents out there who now get to experience the stress and anxiety of living through a global pandemic while simultaneously navigating ways to stay productive while working from home and being an effective parent. Fun isn’t it? I’m not an expert on the matter, but I have found a few small things that are making me feel a bit more sane. I hope sharing them will make someone else’s life easier too. Truths to Accept First, let’s acknowledge some truths about this new situation we find ourselves in: Truth 1: We’ve lost something. Parents have lost more than daycare and schools during this epidemic. We’ve lost any time that we had for ourselves, and that was really valuable. We no longer have small moments in the day to catch up on our personal lives. I no longer have a commute to separate my work duties from my mom duties, or catch up with my friends, or just be quiet. Truth 2: We’re human. The reason you can’t be a great employee and a great parent and a great friend and a great partner or spouse all day every day isn’t because you’re doing a bad job, it’s because being constantly wonderful in all aspects of your life is impossible. Pick one or two of those things a day to focus on. Truth 3: We’re all doing our best. This is the most important part of this article. Be kind to yourselves. This isn’t easy, and putting so much pressure on yourself that you break isn’t going to make it any easier. Work from Home Goals Now that we’ve accepted some truths about our current situation, let’s set some goals. Goal 1: Do Good Work At Viget, and wherever you work, with kids or without we all want to make sure that the quality of our work stays up throughout the pandemic and that we can continue to be reliable team members and employees to the best of our abilities. Goal 2: Stay Sane We need to figure out ways to do this without sacrificing ourselves entirely. For me, this means fitting my work into normal work hours as much as possible so that I can still have some downtime in the evenings. Goal 3: Make This Sustainable None of us knows how long this will last but we may as well begin mentally preparing for a long haul. Work from Home Rules Now, there are some great Work from Home Rules that apply to everyone with or without kids. My coworker Paul Koch shared these with the Viget team a Jeremy Bearimy ago and I agree this is also the foundation for working from home with kids. When you’re in a remote meeting, minimize other windows to stay focusedSet a schedule and avoid chores*Take breaks away from the screenPlan your workday on the calendar+Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers+Keep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for you In the improv spirit I say “Yes, AND….” to these tips. And so, here are my adjusted rules for WFH while kiddos around: These have both been really solid tools for me, so let’s dig in. Daily flexible schedule for kids Day Planning: Calendars and Timers A few small tweaks and adjustments make this even more doable for me and my 3-year-old. First- I don’t avoid chores entirely. If I’m going up and down the stairs all day anyway I might as well throw in a load of laundry while I’m at it. The more I can get done during the day means a greater chance of some down time in the evening. Each morning I plan my day and Audrey’s day: My Work Day:Audrey's DayIdentify times of day you are more likely to be focus and protect them. For me, I know I have a block of time from 5-7a before Audrey wakes up and again during “nap time” from 1-3p.I built a construction paper “schedule” that we update and reorganize daily. We make the schedule together each day. She feels ownership over it and she gets to be the one who tells me what we do next.Look at your calendar first thing and make adjustments either in your plans or move meetings if you have to.I’m strategic about screen time- I try to schedule it when I have meetings. It also helps to schedule a physical activity before screen time as she is less likely to get bored.Make goals for your day: Tackle time sensitive tasks first. Take care of things that either your co-workers or clients are waiting on from you first, this will help your day be a lot less stressful. Non-time sensitive tasks come next- these can be done at any time of day.We always include “nap time” even though she rarely naps anymore. This is mostly a time for us both to be alone. When we make the schedule together it also helps me understand her favorite parts of the day and reminds me to include them. Once our days are planned, I also use timers to help keep the structure of the day. (I bought a great alarm clock for kids on Amazon that turns colors to signal bedtime and quiet time. It’s been hugely worth it for me.) Timers for Me:Timers for Audrey:More than ever, I rely on a time tracking timer. At Viget we use Harvest to track time, and it has a handy built in timer, but there are many apps or online tools that could help you keep track of your time as well.Audrey knows what time she can come out of her room in the morning. If she wakes up before the light is green she plays quietly in her room.I need a timer because the days and hours are bleeding together- without tracking as I go it would be really hard for me to remember when I worked on certain projects or know for certain if I gave Viget enough time for the day.She knows how long “nap time” is in the afternoon.Starting and stopping the timer helps me turn on and off “work mode”, which is a helpful sanity bonus.Perhaps best of all I am not the bad guy! “Sorry honey, the light isn’t green yet and there really isn’t anything mommy can do about it” is my new favorite way to ensure we both get some quiet time. Work from Home Rules: Updated for Parents Finally, I have a few more Work from Home Rules for parents to add to the list: Minimize other windows in remote meetingsSet a schedule and fit in some chores if time allowsTake breaks away from the screenSchedule both your and your kids’ daysBe mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers to track your own time and help your kids understand the dayKeep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for youBe prepared with a few activitiesEach morning, have just ONE thing ready to go. This can be a worksheet you printed out, a coloring station setup, a new bag of kinetic sand you just got delivered from Amazon, a kids dance video on YouTube or an iPad game. Recently I started enlisting my mom to read stories on Facetime. The activity doesn’t have to be new each day but (especially for young kids) it has to be handy for you to start up quickly if your schedule changesClearly communicate your availability with your team and project PMsLife happens. Some days are going to be hard. Whatever you do, don’t burn yourself out or leave your team hanging. If you need to move a meeting or take a day off, communicate that as early and as clearly as you can.Take PTO if you canNone of us are superheroes. If you’re feeling overwhelmed- take a look at the next few days and figure out which one makes the most sense for you to take a break.Take breaks to be alone without doing a taskWork and family responsibilities have blended together, there’s almost no room for being alone. If you can find some precious alone time don’t use it to fold laundry or clean the bathroom. Just zone out. I think we all really need this. Last but not least, enjoy your time at home if you can. This is an unusual circumstance and even though it’s really hard, there are parts that are really great too. If you have some great WFH tips we’d love to hear about them in the comments! Full Article Process News & Culture
uri 9 Things You Can Do To Your WordPress Website During Quarantine By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 18:15:25 +0000 If you’d have told us at WPZOOM about the current situation we find ourselves in six months ago, we wouldn’t have believed you. It’s all we can see if we turn on the TV and it’s clear right now, humanity has taken a break. Worrying about loved ones, ensuring we stay safe, and for heaven’s sake, stay inside. Staying inside […] Full Article News
uri How to Foster Real-Time Client Engagement During Moderated Research By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0500 When we conduct moderated research, like user interviews or usability tests, for our clients, we encourage them to observe as many sessions as possible. We find when clients see us interview their users, and get real-time responses, they’re able to learn about the needs of their users in real-time and be more active participants in the process. One way we help clients feel engaged with the process during remote sessions is to establish a real-time communication backchannel that empowers clients to flag responses they’d like to dig into further and to share their ideas for follow-up questions. There are several benefits to establishing a communication backchannel for moderated sessions:Everyone on the team, including both internal and client team members, can be actively involved throughout the data collection process rather than waiting to passively consume findings.Team members can identify follow-up questions in real-time which allows the moderator to incorporate those questions during the current session, rather than just considering them for future sessions.Subject matter experts can identify more detailed and specific follow-up questions that the moderator may not think to ask.Even though the whole team is engaged, a single moderator still maintains control over the conversation which creates a consistent experience for the participant.If you’re interested in creating your own backchannel, here are some tips to make the process work smoothly:Use the chat tool that is already being used on the project. In most cases, we use a joint Slack workspace for the session backchannel but we’ve also used Microsoft Teams.Create a dedicated channel like #moderated-sessions. Conversation in this channel should be limited to backchannel discussions during sessions. This keeps the communication consolidated and makes it easier for the moderator to stay focused during the session.Keep communication limited. Channel participants should ask basic questions that are easy to consume quickly. Supplemental commentary and analysis should not take place in the dedicated channel.Use emoji responses. The moderator can add a quick thumbs up to indicate that they’ve seen a question.Introducing backchannels for communication during remote moderated sessions has been a beneficial change to our research process. It not only provides an easy way for clients to stay engaged during the data collection process but also increases the moderator’s ability to focus on the most important topics and to ask the most useful follow-up questions. Full Article Process Research
uri Together We Flourish, Remotely By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0400 Like many other companies, Viget is working through the new challenge of suddenly being a fully-distributed company. We don’t know how long it will last or every challenge that will arise because of these unfortunate circumstances, but we know the health and well-being of our people is paramount. As Employee Engagement Manager, I feel inspired by these new challenges, eager to step up, and committed to seeing what good can come of this. Now more than ever, we want to maintain the culture that has sustained us over the last 20 years – a culture that I think is best captured by our mantra, “do great work and be a great teammate.” As everyone is adjusting to new work environments, schedules, and distractions, I am adjusting my approach to employee engagement, and the People Team is looking for new ways to nurture and protect the culture we treasure. The backbone of being a great teammate is knowing each other and caring about each other. For years the People Team has focused on making sure people who work at Viget are known, accepted, and cared about. From onboarding to events to weekly and monthly touchpoints, we invest in coworkers knowing each other. On top of that, we have well-appointed offices where people like to be, and friendships unfold over time. Abruptly becoming fully distributed makes it impossible for some of these connections to happen organically, like they would have around the coffee machine and the lunch tables. These microinteractions between colleagues in the same office, the hellos when you get off the elevator or the “what’d you get up to this weekend” chit chat near the seltzer refrigerator, all add up. We realize more than ever how valuable those moments are, and I know I will feel extra grateful for them when we are all back together.Until that time, we are working to make sure everyone at Viget feels connected, safe, healthy, and most importantly, together, even when we are physically apart. We are keeping up our weekly staff meetings and monthly team lunches, and we just onboarded a new hire last week as thoroughly as ever. There are some other, new ways we’re sparking connections, too. New ways we're sparking connections: Connecting IntentionallyWe are making the most of the tools that we’ve been using for years. New Slack channels have spun up, including #exercise, where folks are sharing how they are making do without a gym, and #igotyou, a place where folks can post where they’ve found supplies in stock as grocery stores are being emptied at an alarming pace.Remote Lunch TablesWe have teammates in three different time zones, on different project teams, and at different stages of life. We’ve created two virtual lunch tables, one at 12PM EST and one at 12PM MST, where folks can join with or without their lunches and with or without their kids, partners, or pets. There are no rules or structure, just an opportunity to chat and see a friendly face as a touchpoint to your day.Last Weekend This MorningCatching up Monday morning is a great way to kick off your week. Historically, I’ve done this from my desk over coffee as I greet folks coming off the elevator (I usually have the privilege of sitting at our front desk). I now do this from my desk, at home, over coffee as folks pop in or out of our Zoom call. One upshot of the new normal is I can “greet” anyone who shows up, not just people who work from my same office. Again, no structure, just a way to start our week, together.Munch MadnessYes, you read that right. Most of the sports world is enjoying an intermission. Since our CEO can’t cheer on his beloved Cavaliers and our VP of Design can’t cheer on his Gators, we’ve created something potentially much better. A definitive snack bracket. There is a minimal time commitment and folks with no sports knowledge can participate. The rules are simple: create and submit your bracket, ranking who you believe will win each snack faceoff. Then as we move through the rounds, vote on your favorite snacks. The competition has already sparked tons of conversation and plenty of snack hot takes. Want to start a munch-off of your own? Check out our bracket as a starting point.Virtual Happy HoursSigning off for the day and shutting down your machine is incredibly important for maintaining a work-life balance. Casually checking in, unwinding, and being able to chat about your day is also important. We have big, beautiful kitchens in each of our offices, along with casual spaces where at the end of any given day you can find a few Vigets catching up before heading home. This is something we don’t want to miss! So we’re setting up weekly happy hours where folks can hop in and say hi to each other face-to-face. We’ve found Zoom to be a great platform so we can see the maximum number of our teammates possible. Like all of our other events, it’s optional. There is also an understanding that your roommate, kid, significant other, or pet might show up on screen (and are welcome!). No one is shamed for multitasking and we encourage our teammates to join as they can. So far we’ve toasted new teammates, played a song or two, and up next we’ll play trivia. At the end of the day, we are all here for one reason: to do great work. Our award-winning work is made possible by the trust we’ve built within our teams. Staying focused and accountable to ourselves and our clients is what drives our motivation to continue to show up and do our best. In our new working environment, it is crucial that we can both stay connected and productive; a lot of teammates are stepping up to support one another. Here are a few ways we are continuing to foster our “do great work” mantra. New ways we're fostering great work: Staying in TouchThe People Team is actively touching base with every employee. Our focus is on their health, productivity, and connection. These 1:1s have given us a baseline for how we can provide the best support for our team, from making sure they're aware of flexible work options to setting them up with the tools they need to be successful. We’ve delivered chairs, monitors, and helped troubleshoot in-home wifi issues. We are committed to making sure every Viget is set up for success.Sharing is CaringWe’re no stranger to remote teams. We have four offices across the U.S. and a handful of full-time remote folks, and we’ve leaned on our inside experts to share their expertise on remote work. Most recently, ourData & Analytics Director, who has been working remotely full time for five years, gave a presentation on best practices for working from home. His top tips for working from home include: Minimize other windows in remote meetings.Set a schedule and avoid midday chores.Take breaks away from the screen.Plan your workday on your shared calendar.Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distraction.Use timers.Keep your work area separate from where you relax.Pretend that you’re still working from work.Experiment and figure out what works for you. Our UX Research Director also stepped up to share her expertise to aid in adjusting to our new working conditions. She led a microclass on remote facilitation where she shared best practices and went over tools that support remote collaboration. Some of the tools she highlighted included Miro, Mural, Whimsical, and Jamboard. During the microclass she demonstrated use of Whimsical’s voting feature, which makes it easy for distributed groups to establish discussion topic priorities.Always PreparedHaving all of our project materials stored in the Cloud in a consistent, predictable way is a cornerstone of our business continuity plan. It is more important than ever for our team to follow the established best practices and ensure that project files are accessible to the full Viget team in the event of unplanned time off. Our VP of Client Services is leading efforts to ensure everyone is aware of and following our established guidelines with tools like Drive, Slack, Github, and Figma. Our priorities are that clients’ needs are met, quality is high, and timelines are honored. As the pandemic unfolds, our approach to employee engagement will evolve. We have more things in the works to build and maintain connections while distributed, including trivia and game nights, book clubs, virtual movie nights, and community service opportunities, just to name a few. No matter what we’re doing or what tool we’re using to connect, we’ll be in it together: doing great work, being great teammates, and looking forward. Full Article News & Culture
uri A Parent’s Guide to Working From Home, During a Global Pandemic, Without Going Insane By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:06:00 -0400 Though I usually enjoy working from Viget’s lovely Boulder office, during quarantine I am now working from home while simultaneously parenting my 3-year-old daughter Audrey. My husband works in healthcare and though he is not on the front lines battling COVID-19, he is still an essential worker and as such leaves our home to work every day. Some working/parenting days are great! I somehow get my tasks accomplished, my kid is happy, and we spend some quality time together. And some days are awful. I have to ignore my daughter having a meltdown and try to focus on meetings, and I wish I wasn’t in this situation at all. Most days are somewhere in the middle; I’m just doing my best to get by. I’ve seen enough working parent memes and cries for help on social media to know that I’m not alone. There are many parents out there who now get to experience the stress and anxiety of living through a global pandemic while simultaneously navigating ways to stay productive while working from home and being an effective parent. Fun isn’t it? I’m not an expert on the matter, but I have found a few small things that are making me feel a bit more sane. I hope sharing them will make someone else’s life easier too. Truths to Accept First, let’s acknowledge some truths about this new situation we find ourselves in: Truth 1: We’ve lost something. Parents have lost more than daycare and schools during this epidemic. We’ve lost any time that we had for ourselves, and that was really valuable. We no longer have small moments in the day to catch up on our personal lives. I no longer have a commute to separate my work duties from my mom duties, or catch up with my friends, or just be quiet. Truth 2: We’re human. The reason you can’t be a great employee and a great parent and a great friend and a great partner or spouse all day every day isn’t because you’re doing a bad job, it’s because being constantly wonderful in all aspects of your life is impossible. Pick one or two of those things a day to focus on. Truth 3: We’re all doing our best. This is the most important part of this article. Be kind to yourselves. This isn’t easy, and putting so much pressure on yourself that you break isn’t going to make it any easier. Work from Home Goals Now that we’ve accepted some truths about our current situation, let’s set some goals. Goal 1: Do Good Work At Viget, and wherever you work, with kids or without we all want to make sure that the quality of our work stays up throughout the pandemic and that we can continue to be reliable team members and employees to the best of our abilities. Goal 2: Stay Sane We need to figure out ways to do this without sacrificing ourselves entirely. For me, this means fitting my work into normal work hours as much as possible so that I can still have some downtime in the evenings. Goal 3: Make This Sustainable None of us knows how long this will last but we may as well begin mentally preparing for a long haul. Work from Home Rules Now, there are some great Work from Home Rules that apply to everyone with or without kids. My coworker Paul Koch shared these with the Viget team a Jeremy Bearimy ago and I agree this is also the foundation for working from home with kids. When you’re in a remote meeting, minimize other windows to stay focusedSet a schedule and avoid chores*Take breaks away from the screenPlan your workday on the calendar+Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers+Keep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for you In the improv spirit I say “Yes, AND….” to these tips. And so, here are my adjusted rules for WFH while kiddos around: These have both been really solid tools for me, so let’s dig in. Daily flexible schedule for kids Day Planning: Calendars and Timers A few small tweaks and adjustments make this even more doable for me and my 3-year-old. First- I don’t avoid chores entirely. If I’m going up and down the stairs all day anyway I might as well throw in a load of laundry while I’m at it. The more I can get done during the day means a greater chance of some down time in the evening. Each morning I plan my day and Audrey’s day: My Work Day:Audrey's DayIdentify times of day you are more likely to be focus and protect them. For me, I know I have a block of time from 5-7a before Audrey wakes up and again during “nap time” from 1-3p.I built a construction paper “schedule” that we update and reorganize daily. We make the schedule together each day. She feels ownership over it and she gets to be the one who tells me what we do next.Look at your calendar first thing and make adjustments either in your plans or move meetings if you have to.I’m strategic about screen time- I try to schedule it when I have meetings. It also helps to schedule a physical activity before screen time as she is less likely to get bored.Make goals for your day: Tackle time sensitive tasks first. Take care of things that either your co-workers or clients are waiting on from you first, this will help your day be a lot less stressful. Non-time sensitive tasks come next- these can be done at any time of day.We always include “nap time” even though she rarely naps anymore. This is mostly a time for us both to be alone. When we make the schedule together it also helps me understand her favorite parts of the day and reminds me to include them. Once our days are planned, I also use timers to help keep the structure of the day. (I bought a great alarm clock for kids on Amazon that turns colors to signal bedtime and quiet time. It’s been hugely worth it for me.) Timers for Me:Timers for Audrey:More than ever, I rely on a time tracking timer. At Viget we use Harvest to track time, and it has a handy built in timer, but there are many apps or online tools that could help you keep track of your time as well.Audrey knows what time she can come out of her room in the morning. If she wakes up before the light is green she plays quietly in her room.I need a timer because the days and hours are bleeding together- without tracking as I go it would be really hard for me to remember when I worked on certain projects or know for certain if I gave Viget enough time for the day.She knows how long “nap time” is in the afternoon.Starting and stopping the timer helps me turn on and off “work mode”, which is a helpful sanity bonus.Perhaps best of all I am not the bad guy! “Sorry honey, the light isn’t green yet and there really isn’t anything mommy can do about it” is my new favorite way to ensure we both get some quiet time. Work from Home Rules: Updated for Parents Finally, I have a few more Work from Home Rules for parents to add to the list: Minimize other windows in remote meetingsSet a schedule and fit in some chores if time allowsTake breaks away from the screenSchedule both your and your kids’ daysBe mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers to track your own time and help your kids understand the dayKeep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for youBe prepared with a few activitiesEach morning, have just ONE thing ready to go. This can be a worksheet you printed out, a coloring station setup, a new bag of kinetic sand you just got delivered from Amazon, a kids dance video on YouTube or an iPad game. Recently I started enlisting my mom to read stories on Facetime. The activity doesn’t have to be new each day but (especially for young kids) it has to be handy for you to start up quickly if your schedule changesClearly communicate your availability with your team and project PMsLife happens. Some days are going to be hard. Whatever you do, don’t burn yourself out or leave your team hanging. If you need to move a meeting or take a day off, communicate that as early and as clearly as you can.Take PTO if you canNone of us are superheroes. If you’re feeling overwhelmed- take a look at the next few days and figure out which one makes the most sense for you to take a break.Take breaks to be alone without doing a taskWork and family responsibilities have blended together, there’s almost no room for being alone. If you can find some precious alone time don’t use it to fold laundry or clean the bathroom. Just zone out. I think we all really need this. Last but not least, enjoy your time at home if you can. This is an unusual circumstance and even though it’s really hard, there are parts that are really great too. If you have some great WFH tips we’d love to hear about them in the comments! Full Article Process News & Culture
uri There is no longer any such thing as Computer Security By blog.codinghorror.com Published On :: Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:50:53 GMT Remember "cybersecurity"? Mysterious hooded computer guys doing mysterious hooded computer guy .. things! Who knows what kind of naughty digital mischief they might be up to? Unfortunately, we now live in a world where this kind of digital mischief is literally rewriting the world's history. For proof of that, Full Article
uri What life is like now for 3 people with brain injuries — and their loved ones By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 10:01:48 EDT Ken Rekowski, Shawn Hill and Jodi Graham are dealing with COVID-19 in different ways Full Article
uri Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 13:50:08 EDT There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times. Full Article
uri Support Communication During Conversation By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - 12:54pm Full Article
uri Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - 1:50pm There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times. Full Article
uri James Hansen’s Climate Bombshell: Dangerous Sea Level Rise Will Occur in Decades, Not Centuries By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 23 Mar 2016 11:00:15 +0000 By Lauren McCauley Common Dreams Even scientists who question findings say ‘we ignore James Hansen at our peril.’ Dr. James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who is widely credited with being one of the first to raise concerns about human-caused … Continue reading → Full Article Ocean Dr. James Hansen Global Warming sea level rise
uri How to Grow Your Sales and Leads During the Coronavirus Pandemic By justcreative.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 10:16:17 +0000 Try these 10 actionable steps for streamlined, cost-effective marketing during the lockdown. Shed costs and embrace innovation to drive leads and conversions. Full Article Blogging & Content Marketing Guest Articles Content Marketing Marketing
uri How to Foster Real-Time Client Engagement During Moderated Research By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0500 When we conduct moderated research, like user interviews or usability tests, for our clients, we encourage them to observe as many sessions as possible. We find when clients see us interview their users, and get real-time responses, they’re able to learn about the needs of their users in real-time and be more active participants in the process. One way we help clients feel engaged with the process during remote sessions is to establish a real-time communication backchannel that empowers clients to flag responses they’d like to dig into further and to share their ideas for follow-up questions. There are several benefits to establishing a communication backchannel for moderated sessions:Everyone on the team, including both internal and client team members, can be actively involved throughout the data collection process rather than waiting to passively consume findings.Team members can identify follow-up questions in real-time which allows the moderator to incorporate those questions during the current session, rather than just considering them for future sessions.Subject matter experts can identify more detailed and specific follow-up questions that the moderator may not think to ask.Even though the whole team is engaged, a single moderator still maintains control over the conversation which creates a consistent experience for the participant.If you’re interested in creating your own backchannel, here are some tips to make the process work smoothly:Use the chat tool that is already being used on the project. In most cases, we use a joint Slack workspace for the session backchannel but we’ve also used Microsoft Teams.Create a dedicated channel like #moderated-sessions. Conversation in this channel should be limited to backchannel discussions during sessions. This keeps the communication consolidated and makes it easier for the moderator to stay focused during the session.Keep communication limited. Channel participants should ask basic questions that are easy to consume quickly. Supplemental commentary and analysis should not take place in the dedicated channel.Use emoji responses. The moderator can add a quick thumbs up to indicate that they’ve seen a question.Introducing backchannels for communication during remote moderated sessions has been a beneficial change to our research process. It not only provides an easy way for clients to stay engaged during the data collection process but also increases the moderator’s ability to focus on the most important topics and to ask the most useful follow-up questions. Full Article Process Research
uri Together We Flourish, Remotely By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0400 Like many other companies, Viget is working through the new challenge of suddenly being a fully-distributed company. We don’t know how long it will last or every challenge that will arise because of these unfortunate circumstances, but we know the health and well-being of our people is paramount. As Employee Engagement Manager, I feel inspired by these new challenges, eager to step up, and committed to seeing what good can come of this. Now more than ever, we want to maintain the culture that has sustained us over the last 20 years – a culture that I think is best captured by our mantra, “do great work and be a great teammate.” As everyone is adjusting to new work environments, schedules, and distractions, I am adjusting my approach to employee engagement, and the People Team is looking for new ways to nurture and protect the culture we treasure. The backbone of being a great teammate is knowing each other and caring about each other. For years the People Team has focused on making sure people who work at Viget are known, accepted, and cared about. From onboarding to events to weekly and monthly touchpoints, we invest in coworkers knowing each other. On top of that, we have well-appointed offices where people like to be, and friendships unfold over time. Abruptly becoming fully distributed makes it impossible for some of these connections to happen organically, like they would have around the coffee machine and the lunch tables. These microinteractions between colleagues in the same office, the hellos when you get off the elevator or the “what’d you get up to this weekend” chit chat near the seltzer refrigerator, all add up. We realize more than ever how valuable those moments are, and I know I will feel extra grateful for them when we are all back together.Until that time, we are working to make sure everyone at Viget feels connected, safe, healthy, and most importantly, together, even when we are physically apart. We are keeping up our weekly staff meetings and monthly team lunches, and we just onboarded a new hire last week as thoroughly as ever. There are some other, new ways we’re sparking connections, too. New ways we're sparking connections: Connecting IntentionallyWe are making the most of the tools that we’ve been using for years. New Slack channels have spun up, including #exercise, where folks are sharing how they are making do without a gym, and #igotyou, a place where folks can post where they’ve found supplies in stock as grocery stores are being emptied at an alarming pace.Remote Lunch TablesWe have teammates in three different time zones, on different project teams, and at different stages of life. We’ve created two virtual lunch tables, one at 12PM EST and one at 12PM MST, where folks can join with or without their lunches and with or without their kids, partners, or pets. There are no rules or structure, just an opportunity to chat and see a friendly face as a touchpoint to your day.Last Weekend This MorningCatching up Monday morning is a great way to kick off your week. Historically, I’ve done this from my desk over coffee as I greet folks coming off the elevator (I usually have the privilege of sitting at our front desk). I now do this from my desk, at home, over coffee as folks pop in or out of our Zoom call. One upshot of the new normal is I can “greet” anyone who shows up, not just people who work from my same office. Again, no structure, just a way to start our week, together.Munch MadnessYes, you read that right. Most of the sports world is enjoying an intermission. Since our CEO can’t cheer on his beloved Cavaliers and our VP of Design can’t cheer on his Gators, we’ve created something potentially much better. A definitive snack bracket. There is a minimal time commitment and folks with no sports knowledge can participate. The rules are simple: create and submit your bracket, ranking who you believe will win each snack faceoff. Then as we move through the rounds, vote on your favorite snacks. The competition has already sparked tons of conversation and plenty of snack hot takes. Want to start a munch-off of your own? Check out our bracket as a starting point.Virtual Happy HoursSigning off for the day and shutting down your machine is incredibly important for maintaining a work-life balance. Casually checking in, unwinding, and being able to chat about your day is also important. We have big, beautiful kitchens in each of our offices, along with casual spaces where at the end of any given day you can find a few Vigets catching up before heading home. This is something we don’t want to miss! So we’re setting up weekly happy hours where folks can hop in and say hi to each other face-to-face. We’ve found Zoom to be a great platform so we can see the maximum number of our teammates possible. Like all of our other events, it’s optional. There is also an understanding that your roommate, kid, significant other, or pet might show up on screen (and are welcome!). No one is shamed for multitasking and we encourage our teammates to join as they can. So far we’ve toasted new teammates, played a song or two, and up next we’ll play trivia. At the end of the day, we are all here for one reason: to do great work. Our award-winning work is made possible by the trust we’ve built within our teams. Staying focused and accountable to ourselves and our clients is what drives our motivation to continue to show up and do our best. In our new working environment, it is crucial that we can both stay connected and productive; a lot of teammates are stepping up to support one another. Here are a few ways we are continuing to foster our “do great work” mantra. New ways we're fostering great work: Staying in TouchThe People Team is actively touching base with every employee. Our focus is on their health, productivity, and connection. These 1:1s have given us a baseline for how we can provide the best support for our team, from making sure they're aware of flexible work options to setting them up with the tools they need to be successful. We’ve delivered chairs, monitors, and helped troubleshoot in-home wifi issues. We are committed to making sure every Viget is set up for success.Sharing is CaringWe’re no stranger to remote teams. We have four offices across the U.S. and a handful of full-time remote folks, and we’ve leaned on our inside experts to share their expertise on remote work. Most recently, ourData & Analytics Director, who has been working remotely full time for five years, gave a presentation on best practices for working from home. His top tips for working from home include: Minimize other windows in remote meetings.Set a schedule and avoid midday chores.Take breaks away from the screen.Plan your workday on your shared calendar.Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distraction.Use timers.Keep your work area separate from where you relax.Pretend that you’re still working from work.Experiment and figure out what works for you. Our UX Research Director also stepped up to share her expertise to aid in adjusting to our new working conditions. She led a microclass on remote facilitation where she shared best practices and went over tools that support remote collaboration. Some of the tools she highlighted included Miro, Mural, Whimsical, and Jamboard. During the microclass she demonstrated use of Whimsical’s voting feature, which makes it easy for distributed groups to establish discussion topic priorities.Always PreparedHaving all of our project materials stored in the Cloud in a consistent, predictable way is a cornerstone of our business continuity plan. It is more important than ever for our team to follow the established best practices and ensure that project files are accessible to the full Viget team in the event of unplanned time off. Our VP of Client Services is leading efforts to ensure everyone is aware of and following our established guidelines with tools like Drive, Slack, Github, and Figma. Our priorities are that clients’ needs are met, quality is high, and timelines are honored. As the pandemic unfolds, our approach to employee engagement will evolve. We have more things in the works to build and maintain connections while distributed, including trivia and game nights, book clubs, virtual movie nights, and community service opportunities, just to name a few. No matter what we’re doing or what tool we’re using to connect, we’ll be in it together: doing great work, being great teammates, and looking forward. Full Article News & Culture
uri A Parent’s Guide to Working From Home, During a Global Pandemic, Without Going Insane By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:06:00 -0400 Though I usually enjoy working from Viget’s lovely Boulder office, during quarantine I am now working from home while simultaneously parenting my 3-year-old daughter Audrey. My husband works in healthcare and though he is not on the front lines battling COVID-19, he is still an essential worker and as such leaves our home to work every day. Some working/parenting days are great! I somehow get my tasks accomplished, my kid is happy, and we spend some quality time together. And some days are awful. I have to ignore my daughter having a meltdown and try to focus on meetings, and I wish I wasn’t in this situation at all. Most days are somewhere in the middle; I’m just doing my best to get by. I’ve seen enough working parent memes and cries for help on social media to know that I’m not alone. There are many parents out there who now get to experience the stress and anxiety of living through a global pandemic while simultaneously navigating ways to stay productive while working from home and being an effective parent. Fun isn’t it? I’m not an expert on the matter, but I have found a few small things that are making me feel a bit more sane. I hope sharing them will make someone else’s life easier too. Truths to Accept First, let’s acknowledge some truths about this new situation we find ourselves in: Truth 1: We’ve lost something. Parents have lost more than daycare and schools during this epidemic. We’ve lost any time that we had for ourselves, and that was really valuable. We no longer have small moments in the day to catch up on our personal lives. I no longer have a commute to separate my work duties from my mom duties, or catch up with my friends, or just be quiet. Truth 2: We’re human. The reason you can’t be a great employee and a great parent and a great friend and a great partner or spouse all day every day isn’t because you’re doing a bad job, it’s because being constantly wonderful in all aspects of your life is impossible. Pick one or two of those things a day to focus on. Truth 3: We’re all doing our best. This is the most important part of this article. Be kind to yourselves. This isn’t easy, and putting so much pressure on yourself that you break isn’t going to make it any easier. Work from Home Goals Now that we’ve accepted some truths about our current situation, let’s set some goals. Goal 1: Do Good Work At Viget, and wherever you work, with kids or without we all want to make sure that the quality of our work stays up throughout the pandemic and that we can continue to be reliable team members and employees to the best of our abilities. Goal 2: Stay Sane We need to figure out ways to do this without sacrificing ourselves entirely. For me, this means fitting my work into normal work hours as much as possible so that I can still have some downtime in the evenings. Goal 3: Make This Sustainable None of us knows how long this will last but we may as well begin mentally preparing for a long haul. Work from Home Rules Now, there are some great Work from Home Rules that apply to everyone with or without kids. My coworker Paul Koch shared these with the Viget team a Jeremy Bearimy ago and I agree this is also the foundation for working from home with kids. When you’re in a remote meeting, minimize other windows to stay focusedSet a schedule and avoid chores*Take breaks away from the screenPlan your workday on the calendar+Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers+Keep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for you In the improv spirit I say “Yes, AND….” to these tips. And so, here are my adjusted rules for WFH while kiddos around: These have both been really solid tools for me, so let’s dig in. Daily flexible schedule for kids Day Planning: Calendars and Timers A few small tweaks and adjustments make this even more doable for me and my 3-year-old. First- I don’t avoid chores entirely. If I’m going up and down the stairs all day anyway I might as well throw in a load of laundry while I’m at it. The more I can get done during the day means a greater chance of some down time in the evening. Each morning I plan my day and Audrey’s day: My Work Day:Audrey's DayIdentify times of day you are more likely to be focus and protect them. For me, I know I have a block of time from 5-7a before Audrey wakes up and again during “nap time” from 1-3p.I built a construction paper “schedule” that we update and reorganize daily. We make the schedule together each day. She feels ownership over it and she gets to be the one who tells me what we do next.Look at your calendar first thing and make adjustments either in your plans or move meetings if you have to.I’m strategic about screen time- I try to schedule it when I have meetings. It also helps to schedule a physical activity before screen time as she is less likely to get bored.Make goals for your day: Tackle time sensitive tasks first. Take care of things that either your co-workers or clients are waiting on from you first, this will help your day be a lot less stressful. Non-time sensitive tasks come next- these can be done at any time of day.We always include “nap time” even though she rarely naps anymore. This is mostly a time for us both to be alone. When we make the schedule together it also helps me understand her favorite parts of the day and reminds me to include them. Once our days are planned, I also use timers to help keep the structure of the day. (I bought a great alarm clock for kids on Amazon that turns colors to signal bedtime and quiet time. It’s been hugely worth it for me.) Timers for Me:Timers for Audrey:More than ever, I rely on a time tracking timer. At Viget we use Harvest to track time, and it has a handy built in timer, but there are many apps or online tools that could help you keep track of your time as well.Audrey knows what time she can come out of her room in the morning. If she wakes up before the light is green she plays quietly in her room.I need a timer because the days and hours are bleeding together- without tracking as I go it would be really hard for me to remember when I worked on certain projects or know for certain if I gave Viget enough time for the day.She knows how long “nap time” is in the afternoon.Starting and stopping the timer helps me turn on and off “work mode”, which is a helpful sanity bonus.Perhaps best of all I am not the bad guy! “Sorry honey, the light isn’t green yet and there really isn’t anything mommy can do about it” is my new favorite way to ensure we both get some quiet time. Work from Home Rules: Updated for Parents Finally, I have a few more Work from Home Rules for parents to add to the list: Minimize other windows in remote meetingsSet a schedule and fit in some chores if time allowsTake breaks away from the screenSchedule both your and your kids’ daysBe mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers to track your own time and help your kids understand the dayKeep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for youBe prepared with a few activitiesEach morning, have just ONE thing ready to go. This can be a worksheet you printed out, a coloring station setup, a new bag of kinetic sand you just got delivered from Amazon, a kids dance video on YouTube or an iPad game. Recently I started enlisting my mom to read stories on Facetime. The activity doesn’t have to be new each day but (especially for young kids) it has to be handy for you to start up quickly if your schedule changesClearly communicate your availability with your team and project PMsLife happens. Some days are going to be hard. Whatever you do, don’t burn yourself out or leave your team hanging. If you need to move a meeting or take a day off, communicate that as early and as clearly as you can.Take PTO if you canNone of us are superheroes. If you’re feeling overwhelmed- take a look at the next few days and figure out which one makes the most sense for you to take a break.Take breaks to be alone without doing a taskWork and family responsibilities have blended together, there’s almost no room for being alone. If you can find some precious alone time don’t use it to fold laundry or clean the bathroom. Just zone out. I think we all really need this. Last but not least, enjoy your time at home if you can. This is an unusual circumstance and even though it’s really hard, there are parts that are really great too. If you have some great WFH tips we’d love to hear about them in the comments! Full Article Process News & Culture
uri Flourished cherry blossom By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 01 Jul 2016 14:43:37 +0000 Full Article Nature blossom flower spring
uri Support Communication During Conversation By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - 12:54pm Full Article
uri Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - 1:50pm There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times. Full Article
uri How to Foster Real-Time Client Engagement During Moderated Research By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0500 When we conduct moderated research, like user interviews or usability tests, for our clients, we encourage them to observe as many sessions as possible. We find when clients see us interview their users, and get real-time responses, they’re able to learn about the needs of their users in real-time and be more active participants in the process. One way we help clients feel engaged with the process during remote sessions is to establish a real-time communication backchannel that empowers clients to flag responses they’d like to dig into further and to share their ideas for follow-up questions. There are several benefits to establishing a communication backchannel for moderated sessions:Everyone on the team, including both internal and client team members, can be actively involved throughout the data collection process rather than waiting to passively consume findings.Team members can identify follow-up questions in real-time which allows the moderator to incorporate those questions during the current session, rather than just considering them for future sessions.Subject matter experts can identify more detailed and specific follow-up questions that the moderator may not think to ask.Even though the whole team is engaged, a single moderator still maintains control over the conversation which creates a consistent experience for the participant.If you’re interested in creating your own backchannel, here are some tips to make the process work smoothly:Use the chat tool that is already being used on the project. In most cases, we use a joint Slack workspace for the session backchannel but we’ve also used Microsoft Teams.Create a dedicated channel like #moderated-sessions. Conversation in this channel should be limited to backchannel discussions during sessions. This keeps the communication consolidated and makes it easier for the moderator to stay focused during the session.Keep communication limited. Channel participants should ask basic questions that are easy to consume quickly. Supplemental commentary and analysis should not take place in the dedicated channel.Use emoji responses. The moderator can add a quick thumbs up to indicate that they’ve seen a question.Introducing backchannels for communication during remote moderated sessions has been a beneficial change to our research process. It not only provides an easy way for clients to stay engaged during the data collection process but also increases the moderator’s ability to focus on the most important topics and to ask the most useful follow-up questions. Full Article Process Research
uri Together We Flourish, Remotely By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0400 Like many other companies, Viget is working through the new challenge of suddenly being a fully-distributed company. We don’t know how long it will last or every challenge that will arise because of these unfortunate circumstances, but we know the health and well-being of our people is paramount. As Employee Engagement Manager, I feel inspired by these new challenges, eager to step up, and committed to seeing what good can come of this. Now more than ever, we want to maintain the culture that has sustained us over the last 20 years – a culture that I think is best captured by our mantra, “do great work and be a great teammate.” As everyone is adjusting to new work environments, schedules, and distractions, I am adjusting my approach to employee engagement, and the People Team is looking for new ways to nurture and protect the culture we treasure. The backbone of being a great teammate is knowing each other and caring about each other. For years the People Team has focused on making sure people who work at Viget are known, accepted, and cared about. From onboarding to events to weekly and monthly touchpoints, we invest in coworkers knowing each other. On top of that, we have well-appointed offices where people like to be, and friendships unfold over time. Abruptly becoming fully distributed makes it impossible for some of these connections to happen organically, like they would have around the coffee machine and the lunch tables. These microinteractions between colleagues in the same office, the hellos when you get off the elevator or the “what’d you get up to this weekend” chit chat near the seltzer refrigerator, all add up. We realize more than ever how valuable those moments are, and I know I will feel extra grateful for them when we are all back together.Until that time, we are working to make sure everyone at Viget feels connected, safe, healthy, and most importantly, together, even when we are physically apart. We are keeping up our weekly staff meetings and monthly team lunches, and we just onboarded a new hire last week as thoroughly as ever. There are some other, new ways we’re sparking connections, too. New ways we're sparking connections: Connecting IntentionallyWe are making the most of the tools that we’ve been using for years. New Slack channels have spun up, including #exercise, where folks are sharing how they are making do without a gym, and #igotyou, a place where folks can post where they’ve found supplies in stock as grocery stores are being emptied at an alarming pace.Remote Lunch TablesWe have teammates in three different time zones, on different project teams, and at different stages of life. We’ve created two virtual lunch tables, one at 12PM EST and one at 12PM MST, where folks can join with or without their lunches and with or without their kids, partners, or pets. There are no rules or structure, just an opportunity to chat and see a friendly face as a touchpoint to your day.Last Weekend This MorningCatching up Monday morning is a great way to kick off your week. Historically, I’ve done this from my desk over coffee as I greet folks coming off the elevator (I usually have the privilege of sitting at our front desk). I now do this from my desk, at home, over coffee as folks pop in or out of our Zoom call. One upshot of the new normal is I can “greet” anyone who shows up, not just people who work from my same office. Again, no structure, just a way to start our week, together.Munch MadnessYes, you read that right. Most of the sports world is enjoying an intermission. Since our CEO can’t cheer on his beloved Cavaliers and our VP of Design can’t cheer on his Gators, we’ve created something potentially much better. A definitive snack bracket. There is a minimal time commitment and folks with no sports knowledge can participate. The rules are simple: create and submit your bracket, ranking who you believe will win each snack faceoff. Then as we move through the rounds, vote on your favorite snacks. The competition has already sparked tons of conversation and plenty of snack hot takes. Want to start a munch-off of your own? Check out our bracket as a starting point.Virtual Happy HoursSigning off for the day and shutting down your machine is incredibly important for maintaining a work-life balance. Casually checking in, unwinding, and being able to chat about your day is also important. We have big, beautiful kitchens in each of our offices, along with casual spaces where at the end of any given day you can find a few Vigets catching up before heading home. This is something we don’t want to miss! So we’re setting up weekly happy hours where folks can hop in and say hi to each other face-to-face. We’ve found Zoom to be a great platform so we can see the maximum number of our teammates possible. Like all of our other events, it’s optional. There is also an understanding that your roommate, kid, significant other, or pet might show up on screen (and are welcome!). No one is shamed for multitasking and we encourage our teammates to join as they can. So far we’ve toasted new teammates, played a song or two, and up next we’ll play trivia. At the end of the day, we are all here for one reason: to do great work. Our award-winning work is made possible by the trust we’ve built within our teams. Staying focused and accountable to ourselves and our clients is what drives our motivation to continue to show up and do our best. In our new working environment, it is crucial that we can both stay connected and productive; a lot of teammates are stepping up to support one another. Here are a few ways we are continuing to foster our “do great work” mantra. New ways we're fostering great work: Staying in TouchThe People Team is actively touching base with every employee. Our focus is on their health, productivity, and connection. These 1:1s have given us a baseline for how we can provide the best support for our team, from making sure they're aware of flexible work options to setting them up with the tools they need to be successful. We’ve delivered chairs, monitors, and helped troubleshoot in-home wifi issues. We are committed to making sure every Viget is set up for success.Sharing is CaringWe’re no stranger to remote teams. We have four offices across the U.S. and a handful of full-time remote folks, and we’ve leaned on our inside experts to share their expertise on remote work. Most recently, ourData & Analytics Director, who has been working remotely full time for five years, gave a presentation on best practices for working from home. His top tips for working from home include: Minimize other windows in remote meetings.Set a schedule and avoid midday chores.Take breaks away from the screen.Plan your workday on your shared calendar.Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distraction.Use timers.Keep your work area separate from where you relax.Pretend that you’re still working from work.Experiment and figure out what works for you. Our UX Research Director also stepped up to share her expertise to aid in adjusting to our new working conditions. She led a microclass on remote facilitation where she shared best practices and went over tools that support remote collaboration. Some of the tools she highlighted included Miro, Mural, Whimsical, and Jamboard. During the microclass she demonstrated use of Whimsical’s voting feature, which makes it easy for distributed groups to establish discussion topic priorities.Always PreparedHaving all of our project materials stored in the Cloud in a consistent, predictable way is a cornerstone of our business continuity plan. It is more important than ever for our team to follow the established best practices and ensure that project files are accessible to the full Viget team in the event of unplanned time off. Our VP of Client Services is leading efforts to ensure everyone is aware of and following our established guidelines with tools like Drive, Slack, Github, and Figma. Our priorities are that clients’ needs are met, quality is high, and timelines are honored. As the pandemic unfolds, our approach to employee engagement will evolve. We have more things in the works to build and maintain connections while distributed, including trivia and game nights, book clubs, virtual movie nights, and community service opportunities, just to name a few. No matter what we’re doing or what tool we’re using to connect, we’ll be in it together: doing great work, being great teammates, and looking forward. Full Article News & Culture
uri A Parent’s Guide to Working From Home, During a Global Pandemic, Without Going Insane By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:06:00 -0400 Though I usually enjoy working from Viget’s lovely Boulder office, during quarantine I am now working from home while simultaneously parenting my 3-year-old daughter Audrey. My husband works in healthcare and though he is not on the front lines battling COVID-19, he is still an essential worker and as such leaves our home to work every day. Some working/parenting days are great! I somehow get my tasks accomplished, my kid is happy, and we spend some quality time together. And some days are awful. I have to ignore my daughter having a meltdown and try to focus on meetings, and I wish I wasn’t in this situation at all. Most days are somewhere in the middle; I’m just doing my best to get by. I’ve seen enough working parent memes and cries for help on social media to know that I’m not alone. There are many parents out there who now get to experience the stress and anxiety of living through a global pandemic while simultaneously navigating ways to stay productive while working from home and being an effective parent. Fun isn’t it? I’m not an expert on the matter, but I have found a few small things that are making me feel a bit more sane. I hope sharing them will make someone else’s life easier too. Truths to Accept First, let’s acknowledge some truths about this new situation we find ourselves in: Truth 1: We’ve lost something. Parents have lost more than daycare and schools during this epidemic. We’ve lost any time that we had for ourselves, and that was really valuable. We no longer have small moments in the day to catch up on our personal lives. I no longer have a commute to separate my work duties from my mom duties, or catch up with my friends, or just be quiet. Truth 2: We’re human. The reason you can’t be a great employee and a great parent and a great friend and a great partner or spouse all day every day isn’t because you’re doing a bad job, it’s because being constantly wonderful in all aspects of your life is impossible. Pick one or two of those things a day to focus on. Truth 3: We’re all doing our best. This is the most important part of this article. Be kind to yourselves. This isn’t easy, and putting so much pressure on yourself that you break isn’t going to make it any easier. Work from Home Goals Now that we’ve accepted some truths about our current situation, let’s set some goals. Goal 1: Do Good Work At Viget, and wherever you work, with kids or without we all want to make sure that the quality of our work stays up throughout the pandemic and that we can continue to be reliable team members and employees to the best of our abilities. Goal 2: Stay Sane We need to figure out ways to do this without sacrificing ourselves entirely. For me, this means fitting my work into normal work hours as much as possible so that I can still have some downtime in the evenings. Goal 3: Make This Sustainable None of us knows how long this will last but we may as well begin mentally preparing for a long haul. Work from Home Rules Now, there are some great Work from Home Rules that apply to everyone with or without kids. My coworker Paul Koch shared these with the Viget team a Jeremy Bearimy ago and I agree this is also the foundation for working from home with kids. When you’re in a remote meeting, minimize other windows to stay focusedSet a schedule and avoid chores*Take breaks away from the screenPlan your workday on the calendar+Be mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers+Keep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for you In the improv spirit I say “Yes, AND….” to these tips. And so, here are my adjusted rules for WFH while kiddos around: These have both been really solid tools for me, so let’s dig in. Daily flexible schedule for kids Day Planning: Calendars and Timers A few small tweaks and adjustments make this even more doable for me and my 3-year-old. First- I don’t avoid chores entirely. If I’m going up and down the stairs all day anyway I might as well throw in a load of laundry while I’m at it. The more I can get done during the day means a greater chance of some down time in the evening. Each morning I plan my day and Audrey’s day: My Work Day:Audrey's DayIdentify times of day you are more likely to be focus and protect them. For me, I know I have a block of time from 5-7a before Audrey wakes up and again during “nap time” from 1-3p.I built a construction paper “schedule” that we update and reorganize daily. We make the schedule together each day. She feels ownership over it and she gets to be the one who tells me what we do next.Look at your calendar first thing and make adjustments either in your plans or move meetings if you have to.I’m strategic about screen time- I try to schedule it when I have meetings. It also helps to schedule a physical activity before screen time as she is less likely to get bored.Make goals for your day: Tackle time sensitive tasks first. Take care of things that either your co-workers or clients are waiting on from you first, this will help your day be a lot less stressful. Non-time sensitive tasks come next- these can be done at any time of day.We always include “nap time” even though she rarely naps anymore. This is mostly a time for us both to be alone. When we make the schedule together it also helps me understand her favorite parts of the day and reminds me to include them. Once our days are planned, I also use timers to help keep the structure of the day. (I bought a great alarm clock for kids on Amazon that turns colors to signal bedtime and quiet time. It’s been hugely worth it for me.) Timers for Me:Timers for Audrey:More than ever, I rely on a time tracking timer. At Viget we use Harvest to track time, and it has a handy built in timer, but there are many apps or online tools that could help you keep track of your time as well.Audrey knows what time she can come out of her room in the morning. If she wakes up before the light is green she plays quietly in her room.I need a timer because the days and hours are bleeding together- without tracking as I go it would be really hard for me to remember when I worked on certain projects or know for certain if I gave Viget enough time for the day.She knows how long “nap time” is in the afternoon.Starting and stopping the timer helps me turn on and off “work mode”, which is a helpful sanity bonus.Perhaps best of all I am not the bad guy! “Sorry honey, the light isn’t green yet and there really isn’t anything mommy can do about it” is my new favorite way to ensure we both get some quiet time. Work from Home Rules: Updated for Parents Finally, I have a few more Work from Home Rules for parents to add to the list: Minimize other windows in remote meetingsSet a schedule and fit in some chores if time allowsTake breaks away from the screenSchedule both your and your kids’ daysBe mindful of Slack and social media as a distractionUse timers to track your own time and help your kids understand the dayKeep your work area separate from where you relaxPretend that you’re still WFWExperiment and figure out what works for youBe prepared with a few activitiesEach morning, have just ONE thing ready to go. This can be a worksheet you printed out, a coloring station setup, a new bag of kinetic sand you just got delivered from Amazon, a kids dance video on YouTube or an iPad game. Recently I started enlisting my mom to read stories on Facetime. The activity doesn’t have to be new each day but (especially for young kids) it has to be handy for you to start up quickly if your schedule changesClearly communicate your availability with your team and project PMsLife happens. Some days are going to be hard. Whatever you do, don’t burn yourself out or leave your team hanging. If you need to move a meeting or take a day off, communicate that as early and as clearly as you can.Take PTO if you canNone of us are superheroes. If you’re feeling overwhelmed- take a look at the next few days and figure out which one makes the most sense for you to take a break.Take breaks to be alone without doing a taskWork and family responsibilities have blended together, there’s almost no room for being alone. If you can find some precious alone time don’t use it to fold laundry or clean the bathroom. Just zone out. I think we all really need this. Last but not least, enjoy your time at home if you can. This is an unusual circumstance and even though it’s really hard, there are parts that are really great too. If you have some great WFH tips we’d love to hear about them in the comments! Full Article Process News & Culture
uri Expansion of Iterated Stratonovich Stochastic Integrals of Arbitrary Multiplicity Based on Generalized Iterated Fourier Series Converging Pointwise. (arXiv:1801.00784v9 [math.PR] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: The article is devoted to the expansion of iterated Stratonovich stochastic integrals of arbitrary multiplicity $k$ $(kinmathbb{N})$ based on the generalized iterated Fourier series. The case of Fourier-Legendre series as well as the case of trigonotemric Fourier series are considered in details. The obtained expansion provides a possibility to represent the iterated Stratonovich stochastic integral in the form of iterated series of products of standard Gaussian random variables. Convergence in the mean of degree $2n$ $(nin mathbb{N})$ of the expansion is proved. Some modifications of the mentioned expansion were derived for the case $k=2$. One of them is based of multiple trigonomentric Fourier series converging almost everywhere in the square $[t, T]^2$. The results of the article can be applied to the numerical solution of Ito stochastic differential equations. Full Article
uri The Fourier Transform Approach to Inversion of lambda-Cosine and Funk Transforms on the Unit Sphere. (arXiv:2005.03607v1 [math.FA]) By arxiv.org Published On :: We use the classical Fourier analysis to introduce analytic families of weighted differential operators on the unit sphere. These operators are polynomial functions of the usual Beltrami-Laplace operator. New inversion formulas are obtained for totally geodesic Funk transforms on the sphere and the correpsonding lambda-cosine transforms. Full Article
uri Fourier transformation and stability of differential equation on $L^1(Bbb{R})$. (arXiv:2005.03296v1 [math.FA]) By arxiv.org Published On :: In the present paper by the Fourier transform we show that every linear differential equations of $n$-th order has a solution in $L^1(Bbb{R})$ which is infinitely differentiable in $Bbb{R} setminus {0}$. Moreover the Hyers-Ulam stability of such equations on $L^1(Bbb{R})$ is investigated. Full Article
uri GraCIAS: Grassmannian of Corrupted Images for Adversarial Security. (arXiv:2005.02936v2 [cs.CV] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: Input transformation based defense strategies fall short in defending against strong adversarial attacks. Some successful defenses adopt approaches that either increase the randomness within the applied transformations, or make the defense computationally intensive, making it substantially more challenging for the attacker. However, it limits the applicability of such defenses as a pre-processing step, similar to computationally heavy approaches that use retraining and network modifications to achieve robustness to perturbations. In this work, we propose a defense strategy that applies random image corruptions to the input image alone, constructs a self-correlation based subspace followed by a projection operation to suppress the adversarial perturbation. Due to its simplicity, the proposed defense is computationally efficient as compared to the state-of-the-art, and yet can withstand huge perturbations. Further, we develop proximity relationships between the projection operator of a clean image and of its adversarially perturbed version, via bounds relating geodesic distance on the Grassmannian to matrix Frobenius norms. We empirically show that our strategy is complementary to other weak defenses like JPEG compression and can be seamlessly integrated with them to create a stronger defense. We present extensive experiments on the ImageNet dataset across four different models namely InceptionV3, ResNet50, VGG16 and MobileNet models with perturbation magnitude set to {epsilon} = 16. Unlike state-of-the-art approaches, even without any retraining, the proposed strategy achieves an absolute improvement of ~ 4.5% in defense accuracy on ImageNet. Full Article
uri Quantum arithmetic operations based on quantum Fourier transform on signed integers. (arXiv:2005.00443v2 [cs.IT] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: The quantum Fourier transform brings efficiency in many respects, especially usage of resource, for most operations on quantum computers. In this study, the existing QFT-based and non-QFT-based quantum arithmetic operations are examined. The capabilities of QFT-based addition and multiplication are improved with some modifications. The proposed operations are compared with the nearest quantum arithmetic operations. Furthermore, novel QFT-based subtraction and division operations are presented. The proposed arithmetic operations can perform non-modular operations on all signed numbers without any limitation by using less resources. In addition, novel quantum circuits of two's complement, absolute value and comparison operations are also presented by using the proposed QFT based addition and subtraction operations. Full Article
uri Decoding EEG Rhythms During Action Observation, Motor Imagery, and Execution for Standing and Sitting. (arXiv:2004.04107v2 [cs.HC] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: Event-related desynchronization and synchronization (ERD/S) and movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) play an important role in brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for lower limb rehabilitation, particularly in standing and sitting. However, little is known about the differences in the cortical activation between standing and sitting, especially how the brain's intention modulates the pre-movement sensorimotor rhythm as they do for switching movements. In this study, we aim to investigate the decoding of continuous EEG rhythms during action observation (AO), motor imagery (MI), and motor execution (ME) for standing and sitting. We developed a behavioral task in which participants were instructed to perform both AO and MI/ME in regard to the actions of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit. Our results demonstrated that the ERD was prominent during AO, whereas ERS was typical during MI at the alpha band across the sensorimotor area. A combination of the filter bank common spatial pattern (FBCSP) and support vector machine (SVM) for classification was used for both offline and pseudo-online analyses. The offline analysis indicated the classification of AO and MI providing the highest mean accuracy at 82.73$pm$2.38\% in stand-to-sit transition. By applying the pseudo-online analysis, we demonstrated the higher performance of decoding neural intentions from the MI paradigm in comparison to the ME paradigm. These observations led us to the promising aspect of using our developed tasks based on the integration of both AO and MI to build future exoskeleton-based rehabilitation systems. Full Article
uri Measuring Social Bias in Knowledge Graph Embeddings. (arXiv:1912.02761v2 [cs.CL] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: It has recently been shown that word embeddings encode social biases, with a harmful impact on downstream tasks. However, to this point there has been no similar work done in the field of graph embeddings. We present the first study on social bias in knowledge graph embeddings, and propose a new metric suitable for measuring such bias. We conduct experiments on Wikidata and Freebase, and show that, as with word embeddings, harmful social biases related to professions are encoded in the embeddings with respect to gender, religion, ethnicity and nationality. For example, graph embeddings encode the information that men are more likely to be bankers, and women more likely to be homekeepers. As graph embeddings become increasingly utilized, we suggest that it is important the existence of such biases are understood and steps taken to mitigate their impact. Full Article
uri Towards a Proof of the Fourier--Entropy Conjecture?. (arXiv:1911.10579v2 [cs.DM] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: The total influence of a function is a central notion in analysis of Boolean functions, and characterizing functions that have small total influence is one of the most fundamental questions associated with it. The KKL theorem and the Friedgut junta theorem give a strong characterization of such functions whenever the bound on the total influence is $o(log n)$. However, both results become useless when the total influence of the function is $omega(log n)$. The only case in which this logarithmic barrier has been broken for an interesting class of functions was proved by Bourgain and Kalai, who focused on functions that are symmetric under large enough subgroups of $S_n$. In this paper, we build and improve on the techniques of the Bourgain-Kalai paper and establish new concentration results on the Fourier spectrum of Boolean functions with small total influence. Our results include: 1. A quantitative improvement of the Bourgain--Kalai result regarding the total influence of functions that are transitively symmetric. 2. A slightly weaker version of the Fourier--Entropy Conjecture of Friedgut and Kalai. This weaker version implies in particular that the Fourier spectrum of a constant variance, Boolean function $f$ is concentrated on $2^{O(I[f]log I[f])}$ characters, improving an earlier result of Friedgut. Removing the $log I[f]$ factor would essentially resolve the Fourier--Entropy Conjecture, as well as settle a conjecture of Mansour regarding the Fourier spectrum of polynomial size DNF formulas. Our concentration result has new implications in learning theory: it implies that the class of functions whose total influence is at most $K$ is agnostically learnable in time $2^{O(Klog K)}$, using membership queries. Full Article
uri Deterministic Sparse Fourier Transform with an ell_infty Guarantee. (arXiv:1903.00995v3 [cs.DS] UPDATED) By arxiv.org Published On :: In this paper we revisit the deterministic version of the Sparse Fourier Transform problem, which asks to read only a few entries of $x in mathbb{C}^n$ and design a recovery algorithm such that the output of the algorithm approximates $hat x$, the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) of $x$. The randomized case has been well-understood, while the main work in the deterministic case is that of Merhi et al.@ (J Fourier Anal Appl 2018), which obtains $O(k^2 log^{-1}k cdot log^{5.5}n)$ samples and a similar runtime with the $ell_2/ell_1$ guarantee. We focus on the stronger $ell_{infty}/ell_1$ guarantee and the closely related problem of incoherent matrices. We list our contributions as follows. 1. We find a deterministic collection of $O(k^2 log n)$ samples for the $ell_infty/ell_1$ recovery in time $O(nk log^2 n)$, and a deterministic collection of $O(k^2 log^2 n)$ samples for the $ell_infty/ell_1$ sparse recovery in time $O(k^2 log^3n)$. 2. We give new deterministic constructions of incoherent matrices that are row-sampled submatrices of the DFT matrix, via a derandomization of Bernstein's inequality and bounds on exponential sums considered in analytic number theory. Our first construction matches a previous randomized construction of Nelson, Nguyen and Woodruff (RANDOM'12), where there was no constraint on the form of the incoherent matrix. Our algorithms are nearly sample-optimal, since a lower bound of $Omega(k^2 + k log n)$ is known, even for the case where the sensing matrix can be arbitrarily designed. A similar lower bound of $Omega(k^2 log n/ log k)$ is known for incoherent matrices. Full Article
uri Ensuring Fairness under Prior Probability Shifts. (arXiv:2005.03474v1 [cs.LG]) By arxiv.org Published On :: In this paper, we study the problem of fair classification in the presence of prior probability shifts, where the training set distribution differs from the test set. This phenomenon can be observed in the yearly records of several real-world datasets, such as recidivism records and medical expenditure surveys. If unaccounted for, such shifts can cause the predictions of a classifier to become unfair towards specific population subgroups. While the fairness notion called Proportional Equality (PE) accounts for such shifts, a procedure to ensure PE-fairness was unknown. In this work, we propose a method, called CAPE, which provides a comprehensive solution to the aforementioned problem. CAPE makes novel use of prevalence estimation techniques, sampling and an ensemble of classifiers to ensure fair predictions under prior probability shifts. We introduce a metric, called prevalence difference (PD), which CAPE attempts to minimize in order to ensure PE-fairness. We theoretically establish that this metric exhibits several desirable properties. We evaluate the efficacy of CAPE via a thorough empirical evaluation on synthetic datasets. We also compare the performance of CAPE with several popular fair classifiers on real-world datasets like COMPAS (criminal risk assessment) and MEPS (medical expenditure panel survey). The results indicate that CAPE ensures PE-fair predictions, while performing well on other performance metrics. Full Article
