[nfbcs] Best techniques for group computer science projects

Tue Oct 29 19:10:00 UTC 2013

This idea of multiple team members sitting around working on the same
code is new to me. I haven't encountered this in school or in industry
(although I've only been working for a few months). I do see why this
happened, since it was such a small project and you were forced to
work in a group there was really no other way. But most group projects
should be big enough that you can either bounce the code around
between team members and iterate or divide the work among the team
(Version control works great for both of these). Software engineering
should definitely teach VC as part of the class. At my job, we usually
have devs working on different parts of the code. After completing
your change other team members review it. Demonstrating things in
meetings is pretty common, but if the presenter can send you their
presentation materials so you can follow along on your own system with
Zoomtext you should be fine. We use agile development, so the issues
you encounter could differ based on what model the company uses to
develop software. I can't think of one that involves an entire group
working on the same piece of code, though.

Mike

On 10/29/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
> For my internship last summer, when they used the 46 inch monitor on the
> wall I used either my magnilink cctv camera which then put the image on my
> laptop or I use mini binoculars. I use binoculars over monoculars due to
> the increased files. And my desk was set up with dual 28 inch monitors.
> When I worked as a VC++ programmer back in 2001-2002, I brought my own 19
> inch monitor and zoomtext. I have had much less issues on the job. At
> school everyone has a 15 inch laptop so sharing a screen becomes more of an
> issue. Also with school, the dynamics change with every project. You are
> working with different people that you do not know. Each has their system
> set up differently. Also, so far then has been no version control being
> done.
>
> I did download teamviewer and tried it with my macbook and ipad so that may
> be a solution.
>
> I used to be as fast or faster than my peers. I am not sure why I am not
> now maybe because I am 49 and not 30 and playing catch up on a lot of my
> assignments. I was and still often am the first one done with a test.I took
> many of my prereq classes 15+ years ago. So for calc 2 and 3 I did to did
> way back in the recesses of my brain so I waste a lot of time reviewing
> stuff.
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 7:53 AM, Mike Jolls <mrspock56 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I think most of the respondents to this question are missing the whole
>> point of the question.  Answers such as ... "the work should be divided
>> up
>> and each person does his part, so you shouldn't be in this situation ..
>> you
>> just have to focus on your own work " ... doesn't help solve the problem.
>> The hard truth is that in this line of work, you WILL find yourself in
>> this
>> situation eventually in industry.  Colaborations do take place, and
>> people
>> sitting around the same PC discussing code ... well that just happens,
>> and
>> it WILL happen eventually.  So you better understand that situations like
>> this are going to present themselves.  Despite all the accessibility laws
>> out there, this is going to happen simply because sighted people can do
>> it,
>> and they WILL do it because they can.  And don't expect the sighted
>> people
>> to have a clue about what will help you.  They'll just say "do your
>> best",
>> or give you some platitude like that.  They don't know what you need.
>>  You're going to have
>>  to figure out how to solve the problem, or talk to people (this is a
>> good
>> place to do that) who have already solved the problem, then tell the
>> professor or the people in industry what you need.  That has worked for
>> me.
>>
>>
>>
>> Being a low vision person myself and a ZoomText and Jaws user also, I
>> totally understand the problem.  If sighted people are colaborating and
>> don't want to use ZoomText because it gets in their way, you (the low
>> vision person) lose information and can't follow along.  I get it.  I
>> can't
>> tell you the number of times in years past, before all of this wonderful
>> technology, that I had to sit in group meetings with a big monitor
>> mounted
>> on the wall, and someone is deomonstrating a system.  Of course with the
>> monitor being up on the wall, there was NO WAY I could see anything that
>> was going on.  I simply had to sit through it and it was a total waste of
>> time.  I got nothing out of the presentation bcause I couldn't see what
>> was
>> happening.
>>
>>
>>
>> One thing that has helped me ... which I'm not sure if it would help you
>> here ... is for the presenter to be hooked up to a PC which is on a
>> network.  Then, the network has some kind of SameTime software that
>> allows
>> you to take your PC, connect to the network and the SameTime session, so
>> that you can see the same presentation on your own PC that the others are
>> looking at on the other PC.  Now with it on your PC, you can activate
>> ZoomText.  Now if you get lost, you just ask them to slow down for a
>> second
>> and tell you where they are on the screen, and it only takes you a second
>> or two to catch up.  I have found this SameTime capability very helpful.
>>  And when people know that you can keep up but just need a second to do
>> it,
>> they're OK with helping you out.
>>
>>
>>
>> Hopefully you have access to something like that, because the sighted
>> people I've worked with ... when I'm running ZoomText and they're trying
>> to
>> read my screen  ... can't deal with the loss of information due to
>> magnification ... just as you can't can't deal with loss of information
>> due
>> to not being able to see what's going on.
>>
>> There's also another problem you face in industry if you're visually
>> impaired.  That is ... you may not perform as fast as the sighted peer.
>>  And that means you don't get the same reward at the end of the year when
>> raises and promotions are being given out.  And boy is that a cold hard
>> fact you have to deal with.   But that's another discussion topic for
>> another time.
>>
>>
>> > Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:58:05 -0700
>> > From: sgermano at asu.edu
>> > To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org; nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> > Subject: [nfbcs] Best techniques for group computer science projects
>> >
>> > I have a group project in one of my computer science classes and
>> > several
>> > more to come before I finish the degree. Most sighted people sit around
>> one
>> > computer and all look at the screen. I use ZoomText so no one likes to
>> look
>> > at my screen since you lose so much view but obviously I can't see
>> theirs.
>> >
>> > What techniques do you find work best for situations like this. It is
>> not a
>> > situation that we could run dual monitors and mirror them with one
>> > having
>> > zoom text enlarged. I am also not super fond of that since what I see
>> > depends on where they have the mouse which may not be the area we are
>> > talking about.
>> >
>> > Thank you
>> >
>> > Suzanne
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