Cisco's Exam Transparency Project --- How do you feel about it?

Cisco's Exam Transparency Project --- How do you feel about it? Register Help Remember Me? What's New Today's Posts Forum Actions Mark Forums Read Advanced Search Forum General General Certification Cisco's Exam Transparency Project --- How do you feel about it? + Reply to Thread Results 1 to 2 of 2 Thread: Cisco's Exam Transparency Project --- How do you feel about it? Thread Tools Show Printable Version Subscribe to this Thread… instant000 Senior Member Join Date Apr 2011 Location San Antonio, TX Posts 1,650
Certifications CISSP, CCNP, CCNA, CCNA:Security, MCSE, G2700, CHFI, C|EH, ITIL v3 Foundation, Security+, Network+, A+, Server+ Yesterday 01:26 PM #1 Cisco's Exam Transparency Project --- How do you feel about it?

By now, some of you may have received the Cisco propaganda e-mail from the Learning Network about their Exam Transparency Project.

Of course, I was anxious to see what they meant by this transparency, and here it is.

New Certification Exam Topics Roll-Out
The Learning@Cisco Exam and Marketing teams are pleased to announce the completion of an "exam topic transparency" project, which was undertaken to increase openness about exams for Cisco certification candidates?consistent with certification industry best practice today. As part of this collaborative effort, the two teams have restructured the more than 170+ exam topic lists, or blueprints, that appear on the Cisco Learning Network and Cisco.com.

The topics have been made more transparent in two significant ways: They now show, as a percentage, the amount of focus, or weight, given to each general topic, or domain, in the exam. Knowing the percentages will allow certification candidates to allocate study and test-taking time more strategically.Further detail about each domain has been provided by means of subtopics, which will give candidates a clearer sense of exam coverage upfront. Click on Cisco.com and Cisco Learning Network for an example of the new topics information for the 100-101 ICND1 exam. Is this the transparency that you were looking for, or did you have something else in mind?

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Quote   ande0255 Senior Member Join Date Sep 2013 Location Around Posts 115
Certifications CCNA R&S Today 01:47 AM #2

I really like this idea, haven't seen this yet but it sounds great. I think this will help anyone without a clear idea of their career path, and those who are wondering what exams would best help their current job roles.

Thanks for posting!

Back in my day we used to route packets on 56k lines, through the snow, uphill both ways.

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Garth Brooks Opens Up About Marriage to Trisha Yearwood: "I Never Knew It Could Be Like This"

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Garth Brooks is a man in love and he doesn't care who knows it!

When the country superstar sat down with Ellen DeGeneres on the Friday, Nov. 29, episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he couldn't help but gush about Trisha Yearwood, his wife of almost eight years. 

"I've got to tell you, I never knew it could be like this," Brooks said of their marriage. "I never knew that everyday you could wake up and feel like this. And I have God and I have Ms. Yearwood to thank for this."

NEWS: Kelly Clarkson talks about her pregnancy on Today

Brooks also opened up how he and Yearwood got together as they were both married to other people when they first met. While Brooks split from his college sweetheart, songwriter Sandy Mahl, in 2000, Yearwood had been married twice before (to Chris Latham and Robert Reynolds). 

The duo first met in 1987 when Brooks' friend songwriter Kent Blazy introduced them and the star admitted he felt an immediate connection to Yearwood, despite the fact that he was newly married. 

"When she left, he goes, 'What did you think?' I said, 'Well, it's strange, because I felt that feeling like when you just meet your wife, but I've been married for 13 months," he explained.

NEWS: Brooks recently became a grandfather

Soon after his divorce from Mahl, who he has three children with, Brooks began dating Yearwood, his longtime collaborator. 

"This was somebody I always enjoyed being around. And we had a lot more in common than I ever dreamed we did. And so we started seeing each other after the divorce," Brooks revealed to Ellen. "We'd known each other music-wise, but we got to see each other as people. And I've got to tell you, if you like her and don't know her, you'll love her. If you love her and don't know her, you'll worship her. She's the real deal."

In addition to her music career, Yearwood has her own cooking show and has released three cookbooks. Brooks was quick to praise his wife's many talents, saying, "She's the bomb, man. She does it all." And as for her voice, Brooks boasted, "I'll put her in the top five female voices of all time. She's that good."

PHOTOS: Celebrity Families

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Black Nativity: 5 Things to Know About This Holiday Musical

Maven Pictures

Ready for some holiday cheer?

A celebrated gospel play by Langston Hughes gets an update in this heartfelt (if saccharine) melodrama. Jacob Latimore stars as Langston (yep, named for the writer), a streetwise teen who lives in Baltimore with his single mother, Naima (Jennifer Hudson).

Strapped for cash, Naima sends Langston to New York City to spend Christmas with her estranged parents, Reverend Cornell and Aretha Cobbs (Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett). Unwilling to live by the strict preacher's rules, Langston looks for a way to return home while also trying to uncover secrets that tore his family apart.

Before you behold this Nativity, check out these five joyous facts: 

PHOTOS: Find out what to see at the movie theatres this weekend

Birth of the Show: Hughes' Black Nativity was first performed in the late 1950s (as Wasn't That a Mighty Day) and later opened on Broadway in 1961. A retelling of the classic Christmas story, the play incorporated traditional carols sung in gospel style, plus a few original songs. Despite its ongoing popularity, the show, like a dream deferred, seemed impossible to adapt for the big screen. That changed when producer Celine Rattray and actress/director Kasi Lemmons discovered their mutual passion for the project and decided to give the musical a more contemporary context.

Dream Girl: Lemmons always envisioned Hudson for the role of Naima, even while writing the screenplay. An Oscar winner for Dreamgirls, Hudson wasn't looking to do another musical at this point in her career, but she was intrigued by the project and agreed to read the Nativity script. She fell in love with the story and became a champion of the film. As expected, Hudson totally kills it on all her songs, especially the rousing spiritual "Be Grateful." That's a powerhouse voice to be grateful for.

From Butler to Pastor, From Witch to Wife: The star of Lee Daniels' The Butler, Whitaker trades his White House tux for Baptist Church vestments to play Reverend Cobbs. Whitaker had never appeared in a movie musical before (though he had played jazz giant Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's Bird), but after Lemmons saw YouTube footage of him singing she knew he was perfect for the part. Bassett, currently casting voodoo spells on American Horror Story: Coven, mixes it up as a devout preacher's wife. Though she was directed by Whitaker in Waiting to Exhale, this is the first time the two have shared the screen.

PHOTOS: Movie premiere pandemonium 

Maven Pictures

Hark! The Herald Actors Sing: Talented musicians round out the supporting cast, including Grammy-nominated R&B songwriter, model and actor Tyrese Gibson (Fast and Furious), who plays pawnshop hawker Loot. Rap star (as Nas) and songwriter Nasir Jones is the street prophet Isaiah, while Grace Gibson and Luke James—as homeless versions of Mary and Joseph—duet on a lovely rendition of "Silent Night." Most heavenly of all, legendary soul singer Mary J. Blige sports angel wings while wailing "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow." Hmm, "No More Drama (No More Pain)" would've worked, too.

A Sense of Community: It was important to Nativity's filmmakers that they shoot in Harlem, where Hughes arrived in the 1920s and helped spark the creative movement known as the "Harlem Renaissance." A resident of the neighborhood herself, Lemmons wanted to portray Harlem as it is today—multicultural and trendy but also with rich history and character. She and her team used numerous Harlem actors and locations, including a historical brownstone—a small hotel previously converted into a private home—that served as the Cobbs' residence. 

PHOTOS: The perfect Thanksgiving movies this holiday weekend 

VIDEOS:

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What’s Good About Modern Art?

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Watch Nathan Love's 'Murder, Sex, Greed' ad that's (surprisingly) about flowers

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Watch Nathan Love's 'Murder, Sex, Greed' ad that's (surprisingly) about flowers

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ArtCast: Learn About Arts Advocacy Day and Share Your Favorite Memory from the Event

ARTSblog holds week-long Blog Salons, a series of posts by guest bloggers, that focus on an overarching theme within a core area of Americans for the Arts' work. Here are links to the most recent Salons:

Arts Education

Early Arts Education

Common Core Standards

Quality, Engagement & Partnerships

Emerging Leaders

Taking Communities to the Next Level

New Methods & Models

Public Art

Best Practices

Evaluation

Arts Marketing

Audience Engagement

Winning Audiences

Powered by Community

Animating Democracy

Arts & the Military

Scaling Up Programs & Projects

Social Impact & Evaluation

Private Sector Initatives

Arts & Business Partnerships

Business Models in the Arts

Local Arts Agencies

Cultural Districts

Economic Development

Trends, Collaborations & Audiences

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Reasons to be Creative organiser reflects on why the best talks are about passion

We chat to John Davey (above), organiser and owner of the successful Brighton-held conference, Reasons to be Creative (part of Brighton Digital Festival).

The conference is religiously held on the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of September each year and this year hosted more than 30 speakers and an impressive 900 attendees over three days. It was previously known as Flash on the Beach.

I caught up with John at the end of the second day to ask him a few questions.

AE: So, John, how would you describe the conference?

JD: "Well, that's a difficult one! [laughs]. I'd say it's a smorgasbord of talent: because I don't fit into the HTML5/CSS3 crowd, I don't fit into the designer-only crowd; because we do have tech and we do have creative, so it's a difficult one to pigeonhole. I'd say it's an inspirational event."

AE: What prompted you to start Flash on the Beach?

JD: "I was on the speaking circuit myself, and then my daughter was born and I took my eye off the ball with work, the speaking opportunities dried up, and I thought, 'I really miss that, maybe I should try to do my own'.

I had no idea, really, how to try and do something like that — so I started planning it, and I invited a load of friends, who all said 'yes, we'll do it'.

About a month or two into planning and selling tickets, I thought, 'Oh my God, if this thing goes wrong, I'll have to sell my house!'. Luckily, it didn't, it all went right, and Flash on the Beach grew to be one of the biggest Flash conferences in the world."

AE: Impressive achievement! What prompted the change to Reasons to be Creative?

JD: "Because Flash on the Beach is exactly the same conference that you've attended here, but [people] wouldn't come to it because it had 'Flash' in the title.

I was fed up of going to events and saying to people 'What do you do?' and they'd say 'Oh, I'm a designer' and I'd say 'I do Flash on the Beach' and they'd say 'Yeah, I've heard of that, but I've never attended'. I'd say 'Why?' and they'd say 'Because it's a Flash event.'

I'd say, 'But we have Erik Spiekermann talking, Stefan Sagmeister talking or James Vittori — they're artists and designers' and they'd always say "Oh my God, I didn't know that they'd come, if I'd known that, I'd have attended, but I didn't look past the title". That's why I changed it."

AE: There are a lot of big conferences going on this week — dConstruct, Big Connected TV – what make Reasons to be Creative different from all those others?

JD: "Well, it's a three-day, three-theatre event, for a start — many of those are single-day, single-track events. We have artists, animators, illustrators, filmmakers, coders, designers – it's much broader. A lot of events tend to be quite focused, my aim is to bring content that a) educates, b) inspires and c) motivates, so when people leave, they really want to do great work again."

AE: I've noticed that a few of the talks have been about artists' or creators consideration for the end user/consumer — was this a decision on your part, or just something that emerged naturally?

JD: "I have never, ever said 'I want you to talk about 'x'', and the reason for that is I believe if you force people to talk about something that you want, they're not necessarily talking about their passion – and if they're talking about something they're passionate about, the talk is always going to be better.

"We don't ever have a theme: you know – this year we're talking about 'computers', next year we're talking about 'analog' – or something like that. I tend to see pretty much every speaker I invite, so I know that they're good on stage, and generally I figure that if I find them engaging and interesting. then the audience will probably agree with me."

AE: What do you hope people go away from this conference with?

JD: "I guess there are two answers there. The first one is, I hope that they get totally motivated and inspired. Selfishly, my second thing is I hope that they write down the conference name as the number one on their list when they decide which conferences to go to in the future."

AE: Is there any advice that you'd give to people looking to run conference like this one?

JD: "Don't."

AE: [laughs]

JD: "If people want to get into event organisation, I'd say it's a lot tougher than people think. If they see someone like me on stage and go 'It looks so easy!' then [it's because] I'm making it look easy. That's a big compliment, but there's months and months of planning [behind that].

"I have to think about flights and accommodation and speakers and logistics with the venue, and the A/V, and 'do I get gifts?, don't I get gifts?', the booking system, name changes. There are so many things – ingredients that people don't think of when it comes to organising an event like this – so I would encourage anyone to do that if that's what you want to do, but go in with your eyes open, because it's not as easy as you think."

AE: What do you think about the Brighton Digital Festival?

JD: "Brighton Digital Festival, I guess, is trying to be a bit like South by South-West, which takes over an entire town. That is a hard act to follow — but, you know, what's great is that Brighton is that kind of environment and has that kind of vibe.

"There's a massive amount of design, web design and code companies down here, so it's the perfect setting for a digital festival, and there's a whole month of content that the Brighton Digital Festival can umbrella. I think it's a great thing."

View the original article here

Why Bing's redesign is about much more than a new logo

The new design aims to optimise Bing's UX, as Microsoft still wants its search engine to take on Google.

Microsoft detailed on Monday a set of new and reworked features for Bing that the company hopes will position the search engine as a "next generation" option for users.

A new logo, a remade interface (below) and improved search features signal "the beginning of a new, more modern era for Bing," wrote Lawrence Ripsher, Bing's user experiences general manager, in the blog post.

One of the main changes is the merging of two features – Snapshot and Sidebar – which were introduced last year. Snapshot provides factual, structured information about people, places and things, while Sidebar mines users' social media accounts to deliver relevant information posted by their contacts on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

"In our new design, we've combined these two sources of knowledge to provide people with all the supporting context they'll need for any given query," Ripsher wrote.

An entirely new feature is Page Zero (above), which attempts to resolve a query while the user is still typing it, by displaying links, information and actions on the fly before the first page of results appears.

"We think the time people will save using Page Zero instead of navigating a search results page will be significant," he wrote.

Also new is Pole Position (below), a set of links and answers displayed prominently and in a larger format at the top of the results page that appear when Bing is highly confident it understands a query's intent.

Examples of this scenario are when the search engine knows "someone wants images of a celebrity, is looking for a specific fact or needs a detailed view of the weather in a particular city," according to Ripsher.

Microsoft also enhanced the way Bing is rendered in a wide variety of devices and screen sizes. "Results should look as beautiful on a Surface or iPad as they do on a PC or phone," he wrote. This also includes incorporating touch-friendly interface controls and designs.

While some of the new features mirror things that the Google search engine already does, Bing offers a richer user interface and user experience, Sterling said. "And the social content integration into search is novel if not useful," he said.

Overall, at the interface level, Microsoft also revised a variety of elements, including fonts, spacing, colour, visual patterns, the search box's design and the Bing logo. These changes attempt to convey the idea that Bing's scope now extends beyond the web, since its technology is now included in products as diverse as Xbox, Office and Windows Phone, according to Scott Erickson, a Microsoft senior director of brand and creative.

The goal was "to create a new visual identity that best reflected Bing as part of the Microsoft family," Erickson wrote in another blog post.

Sterling agreed that Bing has become an integral part of the broader Microsoft product ecosystem. "So it has considerable value for the company beyond directly competing with Google in search and paid search," he said.

People interested in learning more about the changes to Bing can go to bing.com/explore/newbing.

The new look and features will be rolled out in the US "over the coming weeks," according to a Microsoft spokesman. When we might see it in the UK has yet to be announced.

View the original article here

Reasons to be Creative organiser reflects on why the best talks are about passion

We chat to John Davey (above), organiser and owner of the successful Brighton-held conference, Reasons to be Creative (part of Brighton Digital Festival).

The conference is religiously held on the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of September each year and this year hosted more than 30 speakers and an impressive 900 attendees over three days. It was previously known as Flash on the Beach.

I caught up with John at the end of the second day to ask him a few questions.

AE: So, John, how would you describe the conference?

JD: "Well, that's a difficult one! [laughs]. I'd say it's a smorgasbord of talent: because I don't fit into the HTML5/CSS3 crowd, I don't fit into the designer-only crowd; because we do have tech and we do have creative, so it's a difficult one to pigeonhole. I'd say it's an inspirational event."

AE: What prompted you to start Flash on the Beach?

JD: "I was on the speaking circuit myself, and then my daughter was born and I took my eye off the ball with work, the speaking opportunities dried up, and I thought, 'I really miss that, maybe I should try to do my own'.

I had no idea, really, how to try and do something like that — so I started planning it, and I invited a load of friends, who all said 'yes, we'll do it'.

About a month or two into planning and selling tickets, I thought, 'Oh my God, if this thing goes wrong, I'll have to sell my house!'. Luckily, it didn't, it all went right, and Flash on the Beach grew to be one of the biggest Flash conferences in the world."

AE: Impressive achievement! What prompted the change to Reasons to be Creative?

JD: "Because Flash on the Beach is exactly the same conference that you've attended here, but [people] wouldn't come to it because it had 'Flash' in the title.

I was fed up of going to events and saying to people 'What do you do?' and they'd say 'Oh, I'm a designer' and I'd say 'I do Flash on the Beach' and they'd say 'Yeah, I've heard of that, but I've never attended'. I'd say 'Why?' and they'd say 'Because it's a Flash event.'

I'd say, 'But we have Erik Spiekermann talking, Stefan Sagmeister talking or James Vittori — they're artists and designers' and they'd always say "Oh my God, I didn't know that they'd come, if I'd known that, I'd have attended, but I didn't look past the title". That's why I changed it."

AE: There are a lot of big conferences going on this week — dConstruct, Big Connected TV – what make Reasons to be Creative different from all those others?

JD: "Well, it's a three-day, three-theatre event, for a start — many of those are single-day, single-track events. We have artists, animators, illustrators, filmmakers, coders, designers – it's much broader. A lot of events tend to be quite focused, my aim is to bring content that a) educates, b) inspires and c) motivates, so when people leave, they really want to do great work again."

AE: I've noticed that a few of the talks have been about artists' or creators consideration for the end user/consumer — was this a decision on your part, or just something that emerged naturally?

JD: "I have never, ever said 'I want you to talk about 'x'', and the reason for that is I believe if you force people to talk about something that you want, they're not necessarily talking about their passion – and if they're talking about something they're passionate about, the talk is always going to be better.

"We don't ever have a theme: you know – this year we're talking about 'computers', next year we're talking about 'analog' – or something like that. I tend to see pretty much every speaker I invite, so I know that they're good on stage, and generally I figure that if I find them engaging and interesting. then the audience will probably agree with me."

AE: What do you hope people go away from this conference with?

JD: "I guess there are two answers there. The first one is, I hope that they get totally motivated and inspired. Selfishly, my second thing is I hope that they write down the conference name as the number one on their list when they decide which conferences to go to in the future."

AE: Is there any advice that you'd give to people looking to run conference like this one?

JD: "Don't."

AE: [laughs]

JD: "If people want to get into event organisation, I'd say it's a lot tougher than people think. If they see someone like me on stage and go 'It looks so easy!' then [it's because] I'm making it look easy. That's a big compliment, but there's months and months of planning [behind that].

"I have to think about flights and accommodation and speakers and logistics with the venue, and the A/V, and 'do I get gifts?, don't I get gifts?', the booking system, name changes. There are so many things – ingredients that people don't think of when it comes to organising an event like this – so I would encourage anyone to do that if that's what you want to do, but go in with your eyes open, because it's not as easy as you think."

AE: What do you think about the Brighton Digital Festival?

JD: "Brighton Digital Festival, I guess, is trying to be a bit like South by South-West, which takes over an entire town. That is a hard act to follow — but, you know, what's great is that Brighton is that kind of environment and has that kind of vibe.

"There's a massive amount of design, web design and code companies down here, so it's the perfect setting for a digital festival, and there's a whole month of content that the Brighton Digital Festival can umbrella. I think it's a great thing."

View the original article here