What are we up to? CIMS Summer 2020
CIMS is happy to announce the start of its 2020 summer term! This summer comes with a whole new set of unprecedented challenges due to the continuation of COVID-19 precautions in Ontario. Despite this, this summer we still have several exciting projects lined-up for our current team of researchers and are happy to welcome a few new researchers to our team. Continuing projects for the summer include working on the existing conditions model of the Centre Block with the Centrus rehabilitation team, developing a model of the National Capital with the National Capital Commission (NCC), and completing Phase 1 of a working prototype of the Ontario East Economic Development Application – OE3D. New projects include three new research grant projects that focus on digital assisted storytelling.In total CIMS will have 63 employees this summer, all conducting their research through a remote desktop application.
In this blog we will discuss a multitude of ways in which CIMS has transitioned into its temporary virtual life; from providing access to workstations remotely, self-isolation games and other digital initiatives created by employees of the lab.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, our lab transitioned quickly to allow our part-time and full-time students to continue working with our external partners from a distance during the Winter term. Given the nature of our work and the need to access large quantities of data on a regular basis, our researchers needed to have much more than video conferencing abilities. Our system network administrator Ben Daneshgar quickly provided platforms and remote desktop apps to allow us to continue to access our workstations remotely while our associate director Lara Chow helpted to lead the team through this unprecedented transition stage of only two days:
“We’re able to keep on working from remote and at the same time we’re learning how to work from remote more efficiently and effectively, which is knowledge that can be shared later and help other people at Carleton. It’s like one very big research project.” - Lara Chow
Read more on how CIMS and other Carleton activities have continued since the start of the pandemic.
As the lab directors and administrators were busy organizing new means of communication and establishing remote desktop capabilities, our researchers also quickly developed new means of coping with the new and strange reality. Here we present CIMS’ Self-Isolation Bingo. The game was initiated by team lead Hilary Romaniuk upon realizing a new set of strange and silly phenomenon were being shared by many CIMS researchers as the virtual lab operations began.
Several other social-distancing innovations have instilled new ways of communicating with teammates. A new Spotify playlist “CIMSSongs” was initiated by CIMS associate director Lara Chow. With physical distancing in place, a new and in-tangible means of feeling “in-tune” with members of the lab felt necessary. In parallel, a digital “lobby space” was also created in a new online chatroom in order to continue our ritual lunchtime conversations in the lobby of the VSIM building.
In addition to our other virtual activities, a new CIMS movie night has also been keeping us entertained. Each week, researchers vote from a selection of movie titles chosen by team lead Josh Chartrand and then screened using Netflix Party. Winning movies to date include: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Despicable Me 3, Christopher Robin, Uncut Gems.
Lastly... It’s never too soon to plan ahead. Below we have Joey Doherty’s virtual rendition of “Orange Roll” – a “sport” invented during one of CIMS’ initial Christmas parties and now played throughout other CIMS social events. The game requires competitors to roll an orange across a table into a hole carved for computer wires. In accordance with CIMS' style, Joey noted that it’s not just any table… In order to keep hand-eye coordination in check, Joey is modelling the existing conditions of the original table from a sparse set of photos of the lab (hopefully within 2mm of accuracy).
