Journal Post 13

This is the most current layout of the poster that I have. I like this better than the previous layout but I still have work to do on the picture placement as well as rewording the text sections. All the information I have received on poster presentations is that the more concise they are the better. I think the line graphs work really well to make the case of the thin-client and to show the difference in energy output of the respective information worker categories.

Poster Layout (work in progress)

Journal Post 12

The main focus of this week has been working on the poster layout and adding graphs compiled from the data I have gathered. The graphs that I added to the poster layout were:

• kWh per week
• Metric tons of CO2 emitted per week
• kWh per year
• Metric tons of CO2 emitted per year
• Each was compiled with data for 6 users, 10 users, and entire UM campus (1% and 10%)

I also added the introduction section and materials section to the poster layout. I will do a post of the poster layout as it is right now. The layout is not properly formatted and is still a work in progress. 

I have also completed the user survey and will also embed that in the blog and send an email to each user asking them to respond. 

The spreadsheet has not been updated as there is no additional data to add until Monday when the last set of thin-client data is pulled. I will also be redoing the control test on one user starting Monday. 

This week I will be going to the training for the UMCUR conference and assisting at The University of Montana Science Fair.

The rest of my time working on the project will be finalizing the data and putting together the results, conclusions and discussions part of the poster. 

Journal Post 11

My abstract has been accepted for the UMCUR conference! I will have to do one more rewrite which will be do April 4th. Due to some unforeseen circumstances the last wave of the thin-client rollout was postponed until Monday of this week so the data should be in the spreadsheet by next Tuesday.  The things that have been accomplished since the last post include:

• Spreadsheet updated to include a new comparison sheet that includes up to date extrapolation data for the entire UM campus. The spreadsheet can be found (here). 
• The data includes thin-client and repurposed extrapolation for 1%, 2%, 5%, and 10% of entire university.
• I have taken the total number of active ports that was given to me by UM IT and cut it in half to account for controllers, printers and laptops that may be using the active ports. 
• The data is accurate as of now but I do need to measure the energy output of one of the regular workstations again. 
• I have started to put together a layout for the poster presentation that can be found (here). It does not have any color is a work in progress. 
• I am using Adobe Illustrator and spent some of the weekend familiarizing myself with the software.
• The questionnaire is almost finished now and should be ready to be passed out by the time the last wave of thin-client testing is finished. The questions I have right now can be found (here).

It is getting down to crunch time now with the presentation only 1 month away. I feel very confident that the data that i have gathered will make for an interesting presentation and findings that will be useful to the university system as a whole. The week ahead will be a busy one for me as I will attend the training for the UMCUR presentation as well as finalizing the thin-client data. In the coming weeks the data should become more concrete and my poster presentation should start to take more of it's final form. Check back next week (hopefully this weekend) to see the progress I have made and to get a better understanding of the findings and presentation strategy I will be taking. 

Journal Post 10

The data has all been collected for the repurposed machines! Last week was the start of the testing using the thin clients. So far 4 users have used the thin clients and and data has been collected for two of the users. Following up with the to do list from the last post I have accomplished most of what is on the list:

• Submitted abstract for UMCUR presentation
• Revised spreadsheet with all new data gathered and also separated the data in to more relevant categories. The spreadsheet can be found (here). There are also some preliminary graphs and calculations on it. 
• I found a conversion method from electricity used to Metric tons of CO2 emitted from the EPA website (here)

• The revision of the questionnaire has proved more challenging than I originally thought it would. The problem I am having is how to word questions that have to do with performance of a machine and what the user experience was like.
• I have combined the repurposed user data and the server data including average kWh with 1,2,5,10 users on the same server.

•  I also received a rough estimate of how many computers the university has on campus. The number is actually the number of active network ports but it was the most reliable data that could be provided by the IT department. 
•  That number was then used to extrapolate the data that had been gathered to the entire campus. (This process is not yet complete and the numbers will change from what is one the spreadsheet at the current moment)

Now that we are almost done collecting the data it is time to get down to putting it all together and figuring out the poster layout.  I will be using Adobe Illustrator to design the poster and will use the university printing center to produce it. What I still need to accomplish is:

• Figure out a way to show the carbon footprint reduction (if any) for the repurposed machines.
• make an appointment with Lisa
• Create survey and have the users respond to it
• Work more on extrapolating data so that it is more realistic 
• 8 year plan for roll out
• What is the end result and how do I show it on the poster presentation
• Get more familiar with Illustrator
• Create layout for poster presentation (sans data and text for now)
• Look into information on energy output per calculation speed (joules per bits)
• Take pictures of thin-client and regular workstation for all users.

That is all I have for now but I will post with an update soon.

Journal Post 9

It has been a long time since my last post so I have quite a bit to update. The main work that has been done over the month of February has been gathering the data on the repurposed workstations. The data that has been gathered has not been what I was expecting. The repurposed machines seem to have the same (if not more) energy output than the previous workstations the users were using. All of the repurposed tests have been finished at this point and the data can be found in the spreadsheet (here). We also received the thin clients that we will be using for the third part of the test this week they are HP t5335 thin clients. They come with 36 Watt power supplies and the full specs can be found in this pdf (HP t5335 specs). The things that still need to be accomplished include;

• Submit abstract for UMCUR presentation (poster session)
• Finish thin client testing
• Revise end of study questionnaire
• Continue analysis of data 
• Calculate metric tons of CO2 based on avg KwH measurements
• Expand data to entire university system
• Figure out how many total workstations there are on the university campus (and what category each falls into). 
• Define categories for study group
• Kiosk, Faculty (power user), Data entry
• Combine server and users data to get power output with server
• Will be done using different amount of users on single server
• Based on data collected server runs at same power level no matter how many users are logged in simultaneously 
• Create graphs to so each user on different type of workstation

Today I will be working all day to start to make sense of the data that I have collected. I will be creating multiple spreadsheets and updating the calendar to reflect the current status of the data collection. When I make significant progress I will post again with links to the spreadsheets as well as the updated calendar. the end survey should also be completed by the end of the day. I will be more diligent at staying up to date with the blog in the future. 

Journal Post 8

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me so I have not been able to update the blog as often as I had hoped. I have done quite a bit of work on my research project since the last post, one of the main updates to the blog are the new calendar that I have embedded which shows the tentative schedule for testing including the weeks that each user will be testing each system. I have been using the repurposed system exclusively at work and have been keeping notes on the overall functionality of the the system and user experience. I will post the results when i have finished testing. The main things that I have accomplished since my last post include;

• I have a new project participate
• Griz Central student kiosks
• On 24/7 all they do is access internet and print
• Started David's testing on repurposed machine on 1/31/2012
• Started control test on Mary's PC on 1/24/2012
• Completed control test on 1/31/2012 
• results in spreadsheet (here)
• Researched thin clients and decided on either of two models 
• HP Smart Client t5335z
• HP Smart Client t5565z
• Specifications can be found (here)
• researched definitions of the information (knowledge) worker
• Almost everything I found referenced Peter Drucker (Peter Drucker Wikipedia)
• I need to find more information 
• Ubuntu 9.10 USB boot drives are stable and functioning properly 
• Sound is still not working
• All programs and applications installed successfully on server and are available to all users
• Microsoft Project and Visio were not able to be installed due to licensing issues
• We will attempt to install directly on profile that needs access to these programs
• I am currently working on a survey to hand to all participates to describe user experience after using repurposed machine
• I will post survey as soon as it is finished and results as they come in 
• Updated spreadsheet with computer models and PSU sizes 
• Decide whether I want to do a poster or oral presentation
• I love the visual idea of the poster but I would also like to be able to put my project into words so....

I should have more time this week to work on the project because I have taken Wednesdays off from work with that sole purpose.