Photo credit: Jonathan Rausseo
GAPinizer, GAPalyse, GAPitite…for some reason, these do not sound like cool super hero names. They just sound slightly creepy. The thing is, I wanted a cool name like Merissa has (#mapetite) for my gap analysis/recommendation report of the never ending STARS. That’s right, this baby ain’t done yet! I spent my entire summer working on this project.
Firstly, I read the manual over and over again to try to understand what the STARS committee was looking for and then create a Word document containing all the “questions”, ready to be filled out with oodles of knowledge. Sooo much knowledge.
Then! It was time to browse the uOttawa directory and contact some peeps with said knowledge. This is how I developed some very important people skills: prodding, annoying, calling multiple times in one day, emailing and visiting knowledge bearers‘ offices. Needless to say word got around quickly and some people emailed me before I got to them (smart cookies).
However, we are also required to prove that 1) these people exist 2) what they state is true (and not some kind of illusion of my tired brain). “Ni! Ni! Ni!” said the STARS website when I tried to submit information without proof, “We want…a shrubbery!”, but…I don’t have a shrubbery… “You must return here with a shrubbery or else you will never pass through this wood alive!” (said in the voice of The Dreaded Knights who say Ni – Monty Python). I offered a sacrifice of URL links which was happily accepted. I now dare you to find a URL link on the uOttawa website that explains reverse osmosis on campus.
Meanwhile, our website had been updated and it had been my sole purpose to check every possible URL we submitted in the STARS website. And I was hoping to jump right into operational mode and changing things on campus! Sadly the Knights of STARS don’t see it that way.
So what do we do now (STARS has been submitted afterall)? Wait for fame and glory? Nah, that’s lame. We write a gap analysis/recommendation report. That’s what cool kids do nowadays. Well, I think, there seem to be a few gaps in my memory lately.
The see a copy of the University of Ottawa's STARS submission (seriously... the entire entry), click here.
-katherine