Tuesda Apr 1 2011I Vis-a-vis: A few By Vlada Gaisina OPINION EDITOR Afier three years on staff, rt’s trme for me to finally leave TechNews and HT Part of me rs relreved to be rrd of some stress that comes wrth deadlrnes and the extra work but part rs reluctant to let go No realrworld venue (save for actual newspapers) can provrde the same experrence as workrng on TechNews has I first became rnterested rn TechNews fresh man year and was thrrlled to learn that any/7 one could submrt artrcles , at my hrgh school wrth a student body of roughly 3000, workrng on the newspaper was a competrtrve deal, and lnever made the cut Those who have wrrtten for us wrll agree that seerng somethrng you torled hard on rn prrnt rs probably one of the most rewardrng experrences TechNews has grven that to me and many other people Another aspect of berng a staff member or stafrwrrter rs berng rn the loop on campus af farrs A lot ofadmrnrstrators departments and student organizations use TechNews to spread rnformatron to the communrty so the staff rs frequently the first group to know aboutwhat’s gorng on Moreover, TechNews tends to attract people who want to be aware ofnew develop ments at the unrversrty and lrke to be rnvolved It was excrtrng to be among such a group of students over the past three years some of whom I strll keep rn touch wrth My fellowstafr members have played a large part rn my cone trnued rnvolvement wrth TechNews and made rt a lot offun Whetheryou prck up the newspaper for came pus news movre revrews or rust the Sudokur the same dedrcated team works hard to make sure every sectron rs presentable Berng on that team has definrtely grven me a new respect for all the effort that goes rnto producrng an Issue and hearrng slurs agarnst TechNews or unconr structrve negatrye crrtrcrsm was unpleasant On the firp side, I was very lucky to get feed back from a few people who actually drd read my artrcles (when I’d assumed that I’ve been preachrng rnto an abyss) parting words There rs one more thrng I’d lrke to address rn my very last Vibrarvls entry I have been stickr rng up for women rn my column for the past four semesters as bernga femrnrst rs part ofmy rdentrty Thanks to that lens I’ve also observed HT and rts approach to women wrth a crltlr cal eye throughout my trme here Srnce thrs rs a predomrnantly male Institution, I belreve much remarns to be done to empower Itswomr en and address therr needs For Instance, not all women’s bathrooms have femrnrne product drspensers and of the ones that do, most are empty or nonfunctionr rng On a campus wrth such a large commuter population, I consrder thrs an especrallycrucral need let alone a basrc necessrty for women eve erywhere In addition, HT needs to do a much better rob facrlrtatrng dralogue and educatrng rts communrty about sexual abuse Consldr errng that at least one rn four women wrll be sexually assaulted durrng her trme rn college, I find rt shockrng that no one really brought the Issue to the forefront until Feminists United drd therr first Take Back the Nrght week last semester In Short, HT strll has a longwayto go rn order to be consrdered truly femalerfrlendly However, there rs effort on the part ofthe ad ministration to reach outto Its underrepresentr ed sex wrth the Office ofAdmlsslon’s Women’s Day, Women’s Hrstory Month events Women’s Information Network, etc, etc I learned that males at UT also tend to be more respectful to wards women and therr rntellectual capacity, as opposed to some other schools As the stereo type goes they may not know howto approach us but at least we’re not looked down upon Being a smart female at UT rs actually generr ally Viewed as attractive, rather than Intimidatr rng A11 ofthrs means there rs hope Farewell, dear readers Thank you for your attentron And rfyou feel so rnclrned to contlnr ue followrng my musrngs check out my blog http//poetarossablogspotcom/, set to begrn updatrng at the end of the school year Best of luck and remember, “You don’t have to be antlrman to be prerwoman” Idea Shop positive in theory, but still a work in progress By Jenny Beverage TECHNEWS WRITER The Idea Shop rs a space that opened last fall rn a corner of HTS campus It rs home to prorectors named after Star Wars characters , Yoda, Chewler R2132, and others It was opened usrng only money the school already had, a 3ryear free lease ofthe space, and donate ed rtems that may have rncluded the 3713 print ers and laser cutters (accordrng to an earlrer TechNews artrcle by Elnaz Moshfeghlan) Just as Star Wars was about technologres too far away rn trme for us thrs area rs for rnnovatron for the future It was wrthout a doubtworth the small prrce tag, but can be an even greater asset wrth a few mrnor changes The Idea Shop rs an rnvaluable resource for IPROS IPRO 352, M OR E (Mobrle Operate rng Room Engineering), rs a prrme example of thrs I have wrtnessed thrs course use many features such as thewrde space on the east srde of the shop to hold the tent and wall desrgrs the laser cutter to make numerous prototypes cameras and trrpods for documentation, the projector screens to present research or come petrtron material, and even the professors that are often rn the Idea shop , therr feedback and enthusrasm are as helpful as any other feature The use of prototypes rs essentral for desrgn Lrnda Pulrk the lnstrtute of Desrgn professor rn charge ofM o R E, has stressed thrs many trmes rn her course To have and hold a pro totype rs to understand a product One can see desrgn flaws and generate rdeas Wrthout the Idea Shop, thrs IPRO would not have had the necessrtres to advance the rdea wrth profese sronal quality Students can now make precrse prototypes wrth the materrals and machrnes rn the Idea Shop Prototypes no longer have to be onlyofthe final product, one can be made for every step ofthe way However, rt could be expanded even furtherr whrch rs no doubt rn the plans of the trreless staff, who often stay much later than therr scheduled hours to help students 24rhour ac cess to certarn areas would be amazingly help fill, as many IPRO students know thatworkrng rrregular and long hours rs normal, especrally when prototyprng a physrcal product Thrs could even create a new student posrtron by hrrrng someone to scan IDs and watch over the area More students rn general should have more access to thrs locatron Entrepreneurral students would value thrs but many are not certarn rf they can use the shop and whether or not rt rs free It’s free for all students and thrs should be publicized Many would benefit from the resources not Just IPRO students These last few are mrnute but hrghly Imporr tant detarls , there must be new prrnters and vendrng machrnes The vendrng machrnes do not accept TechCash (who carrres cash all the time7) and sometrmes only accept change, but food rs necessary for workrng hard and, you know, lrfe However, thrs rs not controlled by HT Further, there are no printers that use student prrntrng accounts rn the Idea Shop, whrch has no doubt hrndered many people who needed to prrnt somethrng quickly durrng a class or presentatron Small detarls can escape plan nlng, but not the student or faculty eye The Idea Shop was well worth rts Implemenr tatlonr as rt has easrly changed many thrngs about the IPRO process The shop has already proven rts worth , but could rt open rts doors even wider7 Could rt offer even more thrngs that the Instrtute ofDesrgn offers or change the wayentrepreneurs could work7 Stay tuned' Did you know... “Every year Americans drink more than 100 billion cups of cof- fee? Of those, 144 billion are served in disposable paper cups, enough towrap the earth 55 times ifplaced end to enlehose pa- per cups contain a plastic lining made from a petrochemical that would produce enough energy to heat 8,300 homes every yearr Next time you go to purchase that coffee, make sure you bring your reusable coffee mug instead ofwasting a cup rrrlf only 2% of Americans switched from paper bills to electronic bills and payments, morethan 15 million poundsofpaper(181,000 trees) would be saved? On top ofthis, emissions of morethan 390 million pounds ofgreenhousegas would be halted and more than 143 million gallons ofwastewater would be prevented from enter- ing the environment Next timeyou have the option, try the elec- tronic bill instead! CLASSIFIEDS Download Free Gigwalk App in lTunes App Store. Research, photograph Local Businesses. Start Earning MoneyTodayl ChirrCommunity Manager www.Gigwalk.com TechNews Corrections: Issue 11: In our article about the Lego Art IPRO, we mistakenly referred to it as IPRO 335 The Lego Art IPRO is, in fact, IPRO 36L Issue 12: Our Sports article, HT Soccer teams Volunteer at St Iames Food Pantry, was mistakenly attributed to Ashlie Ingoldr The article was, in fact, written by Heather Bickerton, and the photo credit belongs to her as well. TechNews regrets the errors ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Career Management Center \niormation Session FOR Chemistry Food Sciences DENT; AL‘ 2’56 Stop by to learn more about what they can offer IIT students! CONTACT THE CMC FOR MORE INFORMATION AT 31256762300 OR CMC@IIT.EDU