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Maple Mentor of the Year: Call for Nominations

Tim Vrablik's picture
Posted on 2008-09-02 10:15 By Tim Vrablik (Maple Rating 2 82)
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This is it… the big one: the nomination period is now open for the Maple Mentor of the Year.  The winner of this prestigious title will receive among other things, a trip to Maplesoft HQ in beautiful Waterloo.  Nominations will be accepted for the month of September, and the recipient will be announced in mid-October.

You can make your nominations directly in this thread, and feel free to make a pitch as to why you think the person should win.  If the person you want to nominate has already been nominated, just reply to the thread adding your support behind the nominee.  There is no limit to the number of nominations you can make.
 

Comments

clso's picture

Past winners?

Comment on 2008-09-02 13:33 from clso (Maple Rating 1 16)

Could past monthly/quarterly awards winners be nominated for the Maple Mentor of the Year?

Tim Vrablik's picture

Yes you can

Comment on 2008-09-02 14:34 from Tim Vrablik (Maple Rating 2 82)

Absolutely...you can pretty much nominate whomever you would like (as long as they have contributed to MaplePrimes and you can give some supporting material to the nomination).

And remember, if someone beats you to the nomination; still post your nomination...seeing multiple nominations (much like the word in this sentence) could help the nominee win.

Axel Vogt's picture

The Unknowns

Comment on 2008-09-02 15:46 from Axel Vogt (Maple Rating 4 994) 
Actually I would like to suggest Carl DeVore ... or others who
did good work beyond that board, mentoring Maple at least in the
past.

And moreover some outing: I hate that, it reminds me a bit of
employee of the month at McDonalds (if you would do that in a
common German company the slaves would ... [I better censor it]).

Beyond - ahem - ahead all that and being pretty proud to do it
long before any dead line ... and without real intending of any
insultings to others ... and of course with not wishing any harm
for 'my' nominees! ... (or the others, sure) ... my suggestions
are ... (had to re-think the above again ... yes, it still stands):

Jacques C and Robert Israel and acer (in any permutation).

The reasons are:

- low costs for Maple
- I admire their contributions
- they are pretty sound
- reading them helps to catch substantials in Maple and
  underlying Math

(here only 1 permutation applies, which is obvious).
acer's picture

improvement

Comment on 2008-10-09 00:38 from acer (Maple Rating 4 1410)

Thanks very much for the mention, Axel. But I would decline. Having said that...

I would hope that the choice of winner can bring with it the opportunity to get good feedback on key ways to improve Maple.

There is of course quite a bit of feedback provided already -- in the posts, replies and comentary of the most active posters to this site. Attentively reading (all) the posts here can itself lead to insight. There are quite a few important common themes. Some of that may add extra weight for making design and development decisions and choosing directions. Some of it might lead to a few "Aha!"s. Some of it might corroborate views held already. Some parts may be surprising and controversial.

It would be interesting to read the views on improving Maple of any of the nominees, if they chose to post them here explicitly.

acer

Axel Vogt's picture

intentions

Comment on 2008-10-09 13:30 from Axel Vogt (Maple Rating 4 994)

acer, fine too hear that :-)

Well, if it would not be a kind of Consumer Software then a kind of user board or managed community is one way for critical and refreshing input and for dialog as some companies do (which of course does not result in realizing gathered suggestions).

May be this forum is/was found with such intention, at least partially I would guess. You are right it implicitely can serve as such - but not everything will be written out here, it costs time to write (at least if it should have some content).

Anyway: I do not want to cancel any nomination from my list (if I did something that I actually hate then I hate it even more to correct it hehehe).

Another suggestion

Comment on 2008-09-02 19:10 from jakubi (Maple Rating 4 943)

that I would like to add is Alec Mihailovs.

Reasons:

His outstanding and longstanding contributions to Maple Primes and many other Maple communities. In particular for his effort to help others on the use of Maple even without a copy for himself.

I admire his deep insights of the Maple system and Mathematics.

 

alec's picture

Nomination

Comment on 2008-10-09 00:56 from alec (Maple Rating 4 1607)

Alejandro,

Thank you. Today, trying to find a link to the site selling multiple monitors that I remember seeing in one of Jacques Carette posts, I looked here, after a long absence.

The situation has slightly changed - I have received a complimentary copy of Maple 12 recently (as a reward for stopping posting here, I guess), just didn't have time to install it yet.

I don't have much free time at the moment and I definitely won't be able to visit Waterloo in the nearest future, so I would like to take my nomination off the list.

Jacques Carette has the most points, and he, if I understand correctly, also has withdrawn his nomination. I am the second, and Robert Israel is the third in the list. Counting Robert Israel's posts in the Maple newsgroup, he would have much more points than any of us, including Carl Love (who would be second, I believe.)

I'm very glad to use this opportunity to support Robert Israel's nomination for that prestigious award.

Alec Mihailovs, PhD

 

JacquesC's picture

Multiple monitors

Comment on 2008-10-09 16:48 from JacquesC (Maple Rating 4 1699)

The one I referred to was Digital Tigers, just in case you had not found it yet.

alec's picture

Thank you

Comment on 2008-10-09 22:44 from alec (Maple Rating 4 1607)

Jacques, 

Thank you!

8-monitor system looks really nice (and I hope 12-monitor systems are also available.)

Alec

yearly mentor picks

Comment on 2008-09-09 09:02 from Tim Van Dusen (Maple Rating 3 216)

This is really tough! There are quite a few here that provide such useful help. Like Axel Vogt, if I had to narrow it down to three, I too would recommend Jacques C, Robert Israel, and acer . Adding a fourth, would definitely include Doug Meade. They are each very exceptional, while each has their own way of going about helping. Acer, seems to me to be someone I can understand easily, at my level of understanding. Jacques, usually brings a special insight into most any topic. Doug Meade goes out of his way to make sure a question is answered, and that the person understands the answer.

But... as I think I mentioned before, Robert Israel would quailify as my mentor, and thus my number one pick.
 

JacquesC's picture

Flattering, but

Comment on 2008-09-09 13:34 from JacquesC (Maple Rating 4 1699)

I am flattered to be nominated, but you guys should carefully looked at what the winner will get.  The winner is supposed to go talk to Maplesoft developers (for a week) and the subtext is that they will listen to the concerns and advice of an esteemed member of the MaplePrimes community.

But that isn't really true.  There are some members of the MaplePrimes community (yours truly included) who have too much history with Maplesoft to offer advice which would be adequately and objectively evaluated.  The nominee needs to be someone whose advice stands a chance of making an impact.  I will let other nominees comment themselves on whether they think they could serve in this role.

ring-bearer

Comment on 2008-09-09 14:04 from pagan (Maple Rating 2 106)

That reminded me a bit of Gandalf at the council of Elrond, when he ruled himself out as a candidate to take the One Ring to Mordor.

Axel Vogt's picture

pagan

Comment on 2008-09-09 15:02 from Axel Vogt (Maple Rating 4 994)

pagan, you are a real pagan :-)

still appreciated

Comment on 2008-09-09 16:02 from Tim Van Dusen (Maple Rating 3 216)

Oh, okay - I'll put my nomination for you from up in the upper three, to one spot below my nomination for myself, with all other's who post here above myself. That may help prevent your nomination.

But, your input is still very much appreciated!
 

Will's picture

Travel

Comment on 2008-09-09 14:36 from Will (Maple Rating 4 824)

I think that Jacques just doesn't want to make the trip down the street to visit our office. ;-)

 

____
William Spaetzel
MaplePrimes Administrator
Software Developer, Maplesoft

clso's picture

Tour of Waterloo Region?

Comment on 2008-09-09 17:49 from clso (Maple Rating 1 16)

I think that Jacques does not need a *guided* tour of Waterloo Region.   ;-)

JacquesC's picture

Depends

Comment on 2008-09-09 18:25 from JacquesC (Maple Rating 4 1699)

Depending on the guide, I might find such a tour most amusing and entertaining.

Not worried about history

Comment on 2008-09-09 16:17 from pchin (Maple Rating 2 164)

Contrary to what Jacques claims, I'm quite sure that many of us here in R&D would be happy to hear the thoughts and experiences of the award winner, and we would give these views proper consideration. I wouldn't worry too much about "history". The company has evolved over the years and there are many new people here who would benefit from exchanges with an experienced user. I've been at Maplesoft many years, but I still find it valuable to talk to both new and experienced users and try to see things from their point of view. The product itself has evolved so much that certain views I'd held several years ago are completely changed today, because of the different circumstances. So, if you've been nominated, please don't pull yourself off the list because of "history". On the other hand, I can understand that a visit to Waterloo would not be as novel or exciting to Jacques as it would be for some others. :-)

Paulina

JacquesC's picture

Glad to hear it!

Comment on 2008-09-09 16:40 from JacquesC (Maple Rating 4 1699)

And you are quite right that a visit to Waterloo might be more exciting for others...

I will take this opportunity to point out my principal advice for Maplesoft: 

Make sure that Maple is useful to its users.

By 'useful', I mean that it is a convenient tool to get 'real work' done.  In other words, it helps you solve problems.  The system should otherwise be completely invisible to users, in the same way a good hammer becomes a trusted but an invisible tool when the problem is a nail.

And while it is fine to expand Maple's user-base, it is extremely important that the product be useful to whatever the set of users who actually purchase the product - past, present and future.

The easiest way to make sure a product is useful is through the development of "use cases".  In Maple's case, this means making sure that problems which ought to be seamlessly solveable with Maple actually are.  One can test this in various ways.  The most instructive is to give completely new users a specific problem to solve (using Maple) and observe them [in a usability lab, i.e. behind one-way glass].  I could expand on this testing methodology and its variants, but this is rather well documented in the literature.  This is a particularly effective way to test whether a new feature is useful.

 

acer's picture

"use cases"

Comment on 2008-09-09 17:00 from acer (Maple Rating 4 1410)

It also helps if the specific tasks in the "use cases" are not all chosen purely according to what the product creators can imagine. Having a really good mechanism by which users and potential users can provide input into the set of tasks is important.

acer

clso's picture

User-centred design

Comment on 2008-09-12 17:38 from clso (Maple Rating 1 16)

Jacques, the approach you have mentioned in your post is called "user centred design" in HCI (Human Computer Interaction). This design philosophy is well documented and discussed in HCI literature.

(I am another developer who listens to your opinion!)

 

Tough call !!!

Comment on 2008-09-20 01:15 from vishwa_r (9)

Yes, there are so many people around here who would be helping and advising all the time. So its a tough call indeed to pick.

My nominees would be Jacques C and Robert Israel, acer and Axel (list not  in any order).

For beginners of MAPLE like me, its so helpful to get advices not only on mathematical problems but also efficient usage of the MAPLE, as I feel MAPLE is quite different from MATLAB and other packages.

Vish

and...

Comment on 2008-10-30 17:01 from Dave L (Maple Rating 2 130)

Has a winner been picked yet?

Dave L
 

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