OSS Watch in Oxford

I am at Oxford in the UK (staying at Hertford College Graduate Center) for a few days for the OSS Watch workshop on Profiling Open Source Communities.

OSS Watch is the JISC funded open source advisory service to UK HE and FE, hosted by the Oxford University Computing Services.

This is an invitation only workshop designed to assist OSS Watch in their strategic planning of activities for the next two years.

OSS Watch is the National Advisory Service on open source for UK Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE). As such, it is part of our remit to help FE and HE institutions and projects who want to engage with open source development, and a key factor for that is the development of open source communities.

I got in this morning at 06:30 (GMT). Found a coffee shop, found an ethernet cable, got laptop going, and went for a 6-mile run along the Thames. Got lost. (I had no map!) Found my way again easily. It is very beautiful here. My plan is to get up early tomorrow morning and go for another run. This weather is too good to pass up, and the scenery is amazing.

Productivity for Professors: Part Seven, Exercise Tools

This is the seventh posting in a series of 7 blog postings, in which I explain some of the productivity tools that I use (or have used) and would recommend to university faculty members.

These are the other items in the series:
Email | Calendar | Collaborative Editing | To-Do Lists | Blogging for Professors | Reading Blogs | Exercise and Nutrition

PART 7: Exercise & Nutrition Tools

Topics in this Part:
7.a. Running Logs based on Google Maps API
7.b. Gyminee and other nutrition tools

7.a. Running Logs based on Google Maps API

There are numerous tools to help you map out an interesting run or walk. I have played with mapmyrun, walkjogrun, and Runner's World. (I ultimately decided to use the tool on Runner's World on a regular basis, but I might switch to Mapmyrun when they get the "import" feature ready. I've got too much data in Runner's World now, I don't want to lose it by starting over on a new tool!)

Each of these sites has a "route map" feature that allows you to draw your route on a google map of roads, etc. After you've finished drawing your route, you can save it. The tool will automatically calculate mileage, will draw both legs of an "out and back" route, etc. Some of the tools calculate your weekly and monthly mileage, and will draw charts of your progress. Runner's World allows you to categorize your run as "easy", "long", "race", etc., and will also allow you to assign which shoes you were wearing so you know the exact mileage on your shoes. (I like this feature because I have different shoes for road running and trail running.)

7.b. Gyminee and other nutrition tools

The one thing that Runner's World site lacks is a nutrition calculator. For a while I was using the one on Gyminee to count protein grams, etc. Like most online nutrition sites, Gyminee has the standard GDOF (Giant Database O' Foods). You can search for what you eat, then put in a portion size (or a fraction thereof), and then over the course of a day, the tool will calculate your calories, carbohydrates, protein, etc.

One nice feature about Gyminee is that in addition to having the Giant Database O' Foods, it also allows you to enter your own recipes and your own foods. These foods become searchable by others. So, in typical web 2.0 fashion, the tool becomes more useful the more people use it by directly harnessing the users themselves to add the value. (Similarly, the route mapping sites discussed above in 7.a will also let you search other people's routes, so you can learn more interesting runs, and maybe even meet other people who run!)