Mindfulness and Computing Workshop

Parallel Design’s own Emily Schleiner is co-leading a meditation workshop titled ‘Mindfulness and Computing’ at Davis Makerspace Fall 2017 with collaborator Rez Khan. This is a meditation workshop that addresses barriers to entry that budding programmers face and also discusses practices that can help refresh long-time programmers.

This is a 6 night workshop that will take place one night per week from the beginning of October through mid-November of 2017.

Schleiner and Khan have created this series in an attempt to bring mindfulness to an arena where it can profoundly help people work through difficulties that are intrinsic to the programming profession. After all, they say “Programming or other computing work can be fantastically interesting and rewarding. However, at the same time it can be daunting, stressful, and lonely. Senior engineers at Google and other top tech companies have recognized these difficulties and, in response, built mindfulness programs to help remedy stress and other ills that challenge their employees. Secular mindful practices like these are based on scientifically tested methods and have been used in stress clinics for over thirty years. In the context of programming or other computing work, these practices can transform difficult situations into joyful, creative opportunities and increase mental and emotional plasticity.”

They further explain: “You don’t need to have a specific level of computer literacy to attend, however some beginner folks may choose not to participate in the Intermediate or Advanced practice time if they feel it is detrimental to their growth. You may skip some sessions and attend others. However, we recommend attending all the sessions to get the most benefit. (This is the kind of skill set that builds from the ground up.) ”

This workshop series is geared for people who would like to overcome problems that arise when they work on computers for long periods, improve their quality of life, and ultimately connect the creative sides of their personality with the technical and analytical sides. This series may help some to grow to a new level of skill and enjoyment in their careers.

Read more about each workshop.

Fee: $20 Suggested Donation

About:

Emily Schleiner: is a Davis, CA-based artist and web developer with a Masters in Performance and Interactive Media Arts at Brooklyn College, CUNY. She works for Parallel Design.

Rez Khan: is a physicist with a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin who has studied the brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and leads the group ‘Austin Mindfulness’.

DAVIS MAKERSPACE is a diverse group of builders, makers, hackers, and programmers with a space located in Davis, CA. They have an interest in science, technology, art, and what happens when those interests collide.

Time to Speak Out!

Parallel Design does not tolerate hate.

In the wake of violence breaking out in Charlottesville, we at Parallel Design feel it is our responsibility to state our view on hatred in America today. We see a crisis developing around racial and gender hatred and want to be clear that we find this rise in hatred absolutely unacceptable.

We encourage everyone to stay courageous, committed, and safe, and to work hard for justice and healing.

A Process That Satisfies

Sometimes it is the little things that matter.

At Parallel Design, we do understand that the first run of development on a website is often a jumping off point for real strides in a project.

If there is one thing we’ve learned from working on websites, it is that things change.

Your budget may go up or down, you may open a new department, or you may decide that ecommerce is the best solution after all.

We know that sometime people need to see something built before knowing what changes need to take place next.

If you want something new added or changed, it can be done, and we will get to work on it. At Parallel Design, we refer to each following version of your site as an ‘iteration’. And you can have as many of those as you want. (See our handy diagram!)

Our development process starts with an agreed-upon fee for that first run of work, and then we charge hourly for the changes that you request after that first run.

We take your project live when you decide that it is ready.

Why Are We Called Parallel Design?

That is a good question!

Why did we name ourselves ‘Parallel Design’?

Parallel design is a specific term in the web design profession.

It means that two designers come up with 2 separate mockups, and the client picks out their favorite features from both mockups.

We borrowed this term for our business because we like working in parallel during the beginning time, the concept-building phase. Working ‘in parallel’ creates a wider range of options for clients from the outset, and we consider this to be one of our key services.

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting Parallel Design. We are a new web design company that specializes in building custom websites for small businesses. We enjoy working hard to make a high quality web presence for our clients. We hope you’ll get in touch with us soon!