When you consider making multiplayer games, there are many methods available for creating a game that friends can play online. The article will present a playable demo with parameters to play with, showcasing the concepts discussed.

Alumna Kimberly Haines ’12, visual arts, will display a collection of paintings centered around the theme “New Skies” at the David Mikow Art Gallery in Catonsville starting later this week. An opening reception will be held at the gallery on Friday, May 3, from 5 to 7 p.m.

“New Skies, is full of new planets and surreal landscape paintings created with a variety of different mediums including watercolor, spray paint and acrylics,” said Haines, who was part of the gallery’s inaugural show with four other UMBC alumnae last fall. This is her first solo show.

“I am ecstatic to see so much of my own work line the walls of an art gallery,” she said.

The David Mikow Art Gallery is run by UMBC political science professor Carolyn Forestiere and her husband, Asher. For more information, including directions to the gallery, visit the gallery’s website here.

Read more about the gallery in this story featured in UMBC Magazine.

On Saturday, April 27, UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller spoke at the 9th annual Western Maryland Democratic Summit, alongside Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen and others.

According to coverage in the Herald-Mail, Schaller commented that the Republican Party has become a “Housified party” in recent years. Since 1994, Republican majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives have been driving the policies, philosophy and message of the party, which Schaller argued is to the GOP’s detriment in Senate and presidential politics. On the 2014 midterm election, Schaller predicted the Democrats are unlikely to regain a majority in the House because that would require 18 more seats and there are fewer swing districts across the nation than in the past.

Baltimore Students for Startups is a community service project that connect local startups and fast growth companies with talented students looking for internships. Their first event was a success so they are hosting another Intern Match Event for web, graphic, and print design students including other majors.

The event will take place from 6:00pm-9:00pm on Thursday May 2, 2013 at

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School – Harbor East Campus
100 International Drive
Baltimore, MD 21202

Food and drinks will be served. There is plenty of available street and garage parking. The tentative agenda is as follows.

5:30pm Doors Open
6:00pm Orientation
6:15pm-8:45pm Pitch/Match session, delicious refreshments, interviews
9:00pm: event concludes

Interested students should RSVP by May 1st at 2pm.

Baltimore Students for Startups is a community service project that connect local startups and fast growth companies with talented students looking for internships. Their first event was a success so they are hosting another Intern Match Event for web, graphic, and print design students including other majors.

The event will take place from 6:00pm-9:00pm on Thursday May 2, 2013 at

Johns Hopkins Carey Business School – Harbor East Campus
100 International Drive
Baltimore, MD 21202

Food and drinks will be served. There is plenty of available street and garage parking. The tentative agenda is as follows.

5:30pm Doors Open
6:00pm Orientation
6:15pm-8:45pm Pitch/Match session, delicious refreshments, interviews
9:00pm: event concludes

Interested students should RSVP by May 1st at 2pm.

Who is W3C to you? Who should we be?

As W3C nears its 20th anniversary in 2014 we are conducting a research project. We invite you to complete our first public survey about the W3C brand. Your responses will help guide where we direct our energies as we evolve the W3C brand.

The survey, open through 5 May 2013, should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Participants who complete the survey may enter to win an Apple iPad mini.

W3C has retained Salloway and Associates, an independent market strategy and research company, to conduct this survey on a confidential and professional basis. W3C will receive only anonymized data. Please see the survey for the complete privacy policy.

We look forward to hearing from you!

This past weekend, fellow Treehouser Mat Helme and I had the privilege of speaking at Creative South in Columbus, GA. It was a great conference built around design and illustration that boasted the likes of Aaron Draplin, James White, Rogie King, Ryan Hamrick, the Hood sisters and more.

Every time I speak or attend one of these great events I like to focus in on a few takeaways to bring home with me. I’d like to share some of those with you now.

Being Around Others in the Community is Important

One of the most interesting phrases I heard repeatedly at the conference was how much getting together with the art and web community meant to the people that attended the conference. Many times we creatives can find ourselves among family and friends that don’t really understand what it is we do.

Attending conferences like these allow us to share ideas with like-minded artists and meet face-to-face with our family away from family. It’s inspiring to see amazing work and hear the processes and passion straight from the artist’s mouth.

Remember the Magic of Who You Are

Rogie King, amazing illustrator and co-founder of Neon Mob, gave an inspiring talk about re-finding the magic of illustration through the passion he had for Disney as a kid. Many times the things that we once loved were forced into seclusion in the name of parents that didn’t understand, or a society hell-bent on telling us that our dreams won’t get us anywhere in “the real world”.

Rogie reminded me that who we were as kids was exactly who we were before life put a filter on us. I find myself now rediscovering the things I once loved and how they can make me better at what I do.

Be Grateful and Work Hard

Designers have a tendency to complain these days about how bad clients are and that design is somehow superior to what our clients do. The great Aaron Draplin challenged us to remember to be grateful that we get to do this awesome work for a living and that what we do, no matter how much we make from it, can help people in ways many professionals can’t.

We’re very lucky to have found something we love to do and make a living from it. We should never take that for granted and try to work even harder to use our skills to make a lasting and emotional difference.

There’s Always Someone Better

The individuals in our community (and the readers of this blog) tend to be some of the best web professionals out there. We go through our everyday work knowing that most of what we produce is better than a lot of the design firms and freelancers that we have in our hometowns. Something you’ll quickly realize by going to a conference like Creative South, is that your skills are nothing compared to the likes of Aaron Draplin, James White or Sean McCabe.

It’s important to go to events that can challenge everything we hold true about our processes and skills. Watching these great speakers present their work makes you question everything about your style, implementation and taste. We always tend to think we work just as hard as someone else, but then you see James White’s posters and you soon realize that you haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible.

There’s No Community Like Our Community

I’ve got one word for you, “friends”. New friends at these events turn into more and more friends every time. It’s very hard to explain how good it feels to meet people that are in your very same shoes and going through the very same challenges you do on a daily basis.

I’ve met so many new people through these events and I’m happy to call many of them great friends.

I would encourage you, my dear reader, to attend as many of these meetups, conferences and events that you can, grab a few takeaways, and be inspired to get back to good work.

You’ll be better for it.

The Creative South mark above created by the great Ryan Hamrick.

The post What I Learned at Creative South appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

UMBC’s Social Work Department, along with UMBC-Shady Grove, is pleased to announce Katie Morris as the Program Director of the Year at The Universities at Shady Grove. Ms. Morris received her award at the Student Achievement & Leadership Breakfast at The Universities at Shady Grove on Friday, April 12, 2013.

The Program Director of the Year Award is given to a program director from a participating USM institution who has served the students at the Universities at Shady Grove for at least two years. To be eligible the program director must have demonstrated a strong participation in creating a unique campus environment that is supportive of student success through activities such as community service and academic achievement, advanced the educational or career goals of students.

Ms. Morris serves as the Program Director for UMBC’s Social Work bachelor’s degree program and is in her tenth year as a faculty member at UMBC-Shady Grove. Her ability to connect and coordinate with her team of professors in the social work program has made the program among the best at The Universities at Shady Grove. She provides competent and professional leadership while also maintaining a collaborative atmosphere within the social work program. Recently, she presented at a national conference of baccalaureate social work programs and noted an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education on the use of technology in the social work curriculum. Ms. Morris has also been actively involved in inter-professional and interdisciplinary initiatives at The Universities at Shady Grove, including the very successful Poverty Simulation this past fall.

Ms. Morris is a motivator, educator, and a tireless advocate for students. She is totally dedicated to her job, always ready to intervene, to empower, and support students in finding solutions to problems. A student observed, “Katie wants us to take on challenges and do the best we can. She wants us to realize our full potential and is always there for us when we need her. She sees our strengths when we may not be able to see them, and she encourages us to be the best.”

Ms. Morris states, “I am truly honored to receive this award. I received this award because of my students. It is their curiosity, questions, experiences, hard work, passion and interest in social work that encourages me to be a better teacher, administrator, advisor, and go the extra mile to help them.”

Congratulations, Ms. Morris, for your accomplishment and proudly representing UMBC and the Social Work department.