In an earlier post I mentioned I was moving my blog pep talk to a new server. That’s now happened, but it did not go off without the expected hitch or two. So for now, I’m living with a foot in both places.
To make things really interesting, however, we recently launched a NEW BLOG on social media. If you’ve been a longtime reader of peptalk, you are already part of the experiment and we’d welcome your insghts and participation in the discussion. Get Social Now
I’m in the process of moving my blog to a new server. I should have some new features once we get it all set up, and a new address: https://blogs.utmb.edu/peptalk. If things look different for a while, that will be why. Please hang with us while we work out any kinks.
Here’s the official message: With the support and cooperation of various groups on campus, a new online virtual tour is being launched. The tour will serve patients, visitors, candidates, and others interested in our university, and has dual goals of assisting with way finding and highlighting features of our beautiful campus.
A preview of the tour is now available.
The first phase of the project involved 13 scenes and 390 images which were digitally stitched together. In January, several of our League City facilities will be captured and added to the tour, and at that point the tour will be made widely available and linked to other resources. Additional development may follow.
Web developers on campus will be able to embed the tour (or individual scenes from it) on their own web pages. Please take this opportunity to explore the tour, and send questions, feedback or ideas to utmb.health@utmb.edu.
Click the option to view this full screen. It’s still a work in progress; my colleague Jim Barrett is helping us plug in facts and connections. This is phase one; we’ll be capturing a few more campus spots, and then heading out to a few of our clinics. Let us know what you think.
Have the graffiti artists struck again? No, it’s our own Becky Trout, sharpie marker in hand, updating the SECC boards with the morning’s latest numbers. And you thought we were kidding when we said the “People’s Campaign” was grassroots. Here’s the grass to prove it.
So, do I hang out in the hospital circle waiting to catch surreptitious actions by women dressed in black? Well, no. I was in the circle working on a cool new web project, a 360 virtual tour of key spots on campus and at a few off-island clinics. Goal is to help with way finding and to highlight some of our UTMB jewels. Most people have no idea how incredible our campus is; it’s time to shoo away those Ike notions that linger in the minds of some of the public. We’re starting with 20 scenes, shot 13 today. Watch for it to go public in January, but if you stay tuned you might get a sneak peek here.
As I write this, we’re about a week into the State Employee Charitable Campaign. We’ve raised about $207,000 toward our goal of $550,000. I’ve watched these campaigns closely from behind the scenes for more than 10 years, back in the days when we were just getting started and wondering if we could break the $100k mark. I’ve watched the inverted bell curve of giving—good at the start, slow in the middle, a flourish at the end—repeat itself year and again.
Based on what we’ve done before, I think we’re on a good pace to make our goal in terms of dollars. That’s important; those dollars translate into a lot of important and needed services for all our communities. What I’d love to see is our participation go up. A mere four percent of us—541 employees—have ponied up a significant sum. There is power in numbers; small gifts, the cost of a few lattes or a lunch out a month, can really add up when they’re being made by thousands of people. Given how many people are on hard times these days, it feels like the right thing to do be able to help this way.
Side note: I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside many great SECC chairs. It’s a hard job that takes a lot of time. Dr. Elizabeth Protas, this year’s chair, has brought amazing energy and drive to the campaign, throwing herself into it with the passion of a rock star. Hear her message, check our progress, and see how your area is doing at www.utmb.edu/secc.
Disclosure: I am no longer the webmaster for UTMB. I no longer manage the main home pages, haven’t done so since before Hurricane Ike. Like a kid I helped raise, I am still interested in our pages, want to see them grow up to be great. But I no longer start each morning (or end each night) with a review of what’s on them, of what’s coming up and needs to be on them, of what info’s outdated or links no longer work. That responsibility now rests in the capable hands of our colleagues in Public Affairs, and I’ve shifted my energies elsewhere.
I can understand why many people think I’m still involved; I did it for a long time, starting back when our web looked like this. The web in those days was still a very academic and research-oriented enterprise. Academic Computing’s Dr. Don Brunder (now Academic Resources) took me under his wing and we started working, with help from an advisory board and a shoestring budget. One year we replaced UTMB’s main web server with a few leftover budget dollars; that machine hummed for years, as did the ones that followed—all named after fish: marlin, bluefin, wahoo. The dot com boom and subsequent bust were still a few years away. The air was ripe with the promise of this new technology, and like with most things revolutionary, it was overhyped in the short term and its long-term impact was underestimated.
The web was still new and amazing those days, and like everyone, we learned as we went. There were still pundits who thought the web was a fad, who didn’t want to commit institutional resources until we could show ROI. Great applications and uses were being built by talented UTMB programmers to support the clinical enterprise. UTMB was trailblazing. But the public web and our home pages? That would be a “mom and pop” operation for several years.
Jump ahead to 2010. Young professionals joining us today grew up with the web, have used it most of their adult lives. Our students, our patients: the web’s no more mysterious or magical to them than a television or telephone. It’s just there, expected to be as consistent as a light switch and to deliver the information, applications and capabilities they (and we) need in a speedy, seamless and effortless fashion. Amen, it’s a good place to be.
When I go to the new UTMB home pages, all this is what runs through my head. I’m proud of the work that’s been done, like the way it looks and works, am happy to have it reflect well on our institution. I’m proud of my colleague Mike Cooper, Toby Smith and the team in IS, and many others who’ve toiled to make it “speedy and easy.” I’m looking forward to the next great thing…
Happy New Year. Got back from the holidays Monday and like everyone else, began to rev up for the new year. By Tuesday we’d all hit our stride, and it’s been crazy ever since. The big thing for me was the launch of our new clinical web site at www.utmbhealth.com. Tweaking and fixing stuff—the bugs that go along with any complex site launch—are what’s been keeping me busy.
The Victory Lakes blog is up and running; check it out if you’ve not visited it.
And, the next big thing will be a redesign of the UTMB home pages, that my colleague and friend Mike Cooper has been working on. Most of the work will be on the back end, on the adminsitrative side, but it will be a fairly significant advancement to our institutional web site and capabilities.
Love this. I pulled it out of today’s Daily Announcements. My hat’s off to Patrice Houston and the folks in Employee Health for this clever twist on the American Smokeout, and so appropriate for the week before Thanksgiving. My brother quit smoking last year after a two-decade long habit. It isn’t easy, but it can be done. I’m glad he was able to; I’m kinda’ fond of him. If you’re willing to try, I wish you great success. As for the offer below, I wonder if you can get smoked turkey?
GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT–THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009
Are you thinking about quitting smoking but not quite ready to take the plunge? Maybe the GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT is for you!! It is an opportunity to join the millions of other smokers in saying “NO” to cigarettes (and other tobacco products) for 24-hours.
The UTMB Employee Health Promotion Program will sponsor a health station located in the Cafe on the Court on 11/19/09 from 11am – 1pm. Staff will be available to provide encouragement and support, quit smoking self-help material, tobacco awareness information, and carbon monoxide testing.
A FREE “COLD TURKEY” SANDWICH, A BOTTLE OF WATER, AND A PIECE OF FRUIT WILL BE PROVIDED TO THE FIRST 100 SMOKERS WHO VISIT THE HEALTH STATION AND TURN IN AT LEAST A HALF PACK OF CIGARETTES.
The Great American Smokeout, for many, has been the beginning of a journey – free of tobacco use.
For those users who desire to quit long term, contact Patrice Houston with the Commit to Quit Program.
The UT System Board of Regents are meeting today in Austin, and our boss Dr. David Callender is there. Ralph Haurwitz, with the American-Statesman, blogged a funny exchange. Go check it out…