Information Technology in Landscape Contracting

Please note that this blog has moved due to an upgrade in the blog software and a new title for the blog. The new URL is "http://www.personal.psu.edu/mer6/blogs/natureofsi/".

Thank you for reading.

Mike

This is a student drawing created with Google SketchUp. SketchUp is a 3D modeling program that is inexpensive and easy to use. It allows students to easily explore design ideas in 3D. Many landscape objects are included with the program and many others are available from the 3D Warehouse. It also allows a designer to share design ideas with clients in a 3D environment. SketchUp drawings can be exported in many file formats including jpg, pdf, and even as movie files.

As of today, August 1, 2008, I have a wiki online called Computer Applications for Landscape Contracting. This wiki is part of a class with the same name and is being built by the students in the class. This wiki has several goals. First, it is used to help students understand the value of creating group knowledge. They are required to find the resources needed to learn the material for the class and then share their findings with each other. As they use the resources to learn the material they are required to share their tips and tricks with each other as well. Second, this wiki is intended for industry professionals who want to explore the latest information about information technologies specific to the landscape industry. Please follow the link and enjoy the content.

Attached are the powerpoint slides I used for a talk at the NACTA 2007 conference (North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture). The talk was entitled "Convergence of the Traditional Design Process with Innovations in Information Technology: New Approaches for Teaching Landscape Design" and was attended by approximately 30 people.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/mer6/presentations/NACTA07.pdf

This is the first entry for the information technology in landscape contracting blog. The goal of this blog is to discuss information technologies and their characteristics and issues specifically for the landscape contracting industry. Some entries may be more general IT issues but most should be specific as the general issues are well covered elsewhere. I hope to get Landscape Professionals and Students to subscribe to my blog and post their comments.