SIPB Prospectives
Getting Involved With SIPB
Projects
The most exciting things going on at SIPB are SIPB Projects. You can
get involved in an existing SIPB
project, or develop your own SIPB project. A good project is
anything that makes computing more accessible or useful to the MIT
community. Though a project can involve writing programs, you don't
have to be a programmer to get involved in a SIPB project. Past
projects, for example, have included writing documentation and
teaching or assisting with IAP classes. Useful projects might include
things that are available at other universities but not at MIT, tools
or resources that you've found yourself wanting but which don't
currently exist, or things to which you have access but many others at
MIT do not.
Once you find something that you are interested in working on, talk to
any SIPB member about the project and what resources or help you might
need for it. They will probably be able to provide you with advice,
and may know of other people who are either interested in helping or
can provide more useful advice.
Come to our Events
SIPB has a number of exciting events throughout the year. SIPB
Computer Tours are fun tours of interesting computer-related places on
campus, ending with several hours of fascinating stories from an
expert SIPB storyteller. We have recently had hackathons in the SIPB
office approximately once a month, which are good places to find a
project to get involved with. Each Fall we have series of weekly
cluedumps to help people learn about topics of interest. We also
periodically have other events which are advertised to the sipb-office
mailing list.
Come by the office and meet people
The simplest way to get involved in SIPB is to come to the office and meet
people. Participate in conversation and ask questions if you want to know
anything. Introduce yourself to people you don't know. Hanging around
the office is an easy way to see just what SIPB is like. You can also get
to know people by zephyr. Sub to the SIPB zephyr class, when you are in
the office and when you are not. To do so, type zctl add sipb \*
\* at the Athena prompt.
Office Heads
The login-able machines in the office are called Office Heads. Log in,
hang out and do whatever you might do sitting in front of a computer
anywhere else. One method to discreetly learn and/or remember members'
names is to finger @OfficeHead. See the layout
of the Office Heads to identify both Office Heads and
members.
Hot Seats
The three Office Heads closest to the door are known as the Hot Seats.
Those who sit in a Hot Seat are responsible for noticing and offering
assistance to any users standing in the doorway. The faster machines in
the SIPB office are Hot Seats, to encourage everyone to be accessible to
users. Try taking a Hot Seat sometime. If you don't know the answer to
a question, you can always turn around and ask other people in the
office.
Acquiring Clue
Want to get more involved, but not really sure what you can do to
help? Read the SIPB docs, the Office Manual,
and meeting minutes. Attend the SIPB Cluedump Series and IAP classes. Poke around in SIPB's AFS cell. Play with your Athena
account, and ask any questions you might have.
