Wishneski fundraiser cont.

Meanwhile, Wishneski, interviewed by CKVU,
remains determined and optimistic. She

is hoping to be out of G.F. Strong by
September and intends to complete her
program, noting that a wheelchair is not
an insurmountable barrier to a career in
the legal field. Our Legal Assistant
faculty members have pledged to help her
finish the last few months of the program,
and with luck we should see Karen back on
campus soon.

Weavers and computers cont.

But the fields of weaving and computers
have a jot more in common than people

might think. In fact, the birth of the
digital computer can be traced to an early
19th century silk weaver named Lacquard
who devised a system for weaving complex
motifs. In order to use the Jacquard Loom,
weavers first plotted an image on graph
paper, with each filled-in square
representing one thread. Then, every row
was transferred to a rectangular card
which was punched according to the design—
one card per row. To simplify the details
of the mechanism, each thread on the loom
was attached to a needle, which either did
or did not pass through the holes in each
card as they advanced row by row. The
threads that did pass through would be
raised, thus transferring the information
stored on the card to the cloth being
woven.

In 1833 when Charles Babbage invented his
"Analytical Machine"—a forerunner of the
modern computer—he used the punched
rectangular cards which he had seen on the
Jacquard loom to store his mathematical
data in binary form.

Having learned ail this, you will now
appreicate that the computer is ideally
suited for the analysis and computation of
weaving information, right down to the
monitor display where the pixels produce
an effect that is perfectly faithful to
the appearance of a woven structure.
Complex patterns which take hours to work
out on graph paper can be reproduced by
pressing a button, which understandably
evoked much enthusiasm from the weavers in
the workshop, According to Mieneke Mees,

Weavers cont. yet again

they “discovered a whole new world in
designing for weaving."

And they will be back. The Clay and Textile
Arts department is planning more workshops
along the same Vine for the fall aves ee

Computer Se
Printout SOCK
if a Se OS
weaving “a
pattern ;=F—dhy cS Sx x

Sos Spee

Campus without Health for summer

If you had been intending to drop in to
Health Services to consult Dr. Jensen, you
are out of luck. April 23rd was her last
day on campus for the semester, and the
entire department closes April 30, not to
reopen until September 1. In the interim,
for First Aid you should follow the :
emergency procedure to contact the First
Aid Attendant on duty:

- Call Health Services, 2964
- If no answer, call Switchboard, "0"

Any Health and Safety Committee items that
may need attention during the summer
should be referred to Dr. Patricia Groves.

COLOPHON

However sporadically the Informer may
appear in your mail, it is still trying
valiantly to be a weekly publication,
at least during the Fall and Spring
terms. This newsletter is published by
Information Services, Ai18, local 2002,
and submissions are greeted with joy
and delight. Photos are generally taken
by Edna Sakata in MPC and prepared for
publication by Dave Sharrock. Printing
is done by Linda Givens and Dave Callow
in the Print Shop, and distribution is
handled by the Mail Room/Typing Pool.
Most everything else can be blamed on
Donna McMahon, but she'll deny it.