Jessica HammerInterview
Game psychologist, designer
Adapted from Jessica Hammer's interview on Uses This, published 10 February 2012. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
Is this you? Claim this kit →Hardware
My office computer is a Dell Optiplex 745, which is standard issue for scholars in the program.
I've customized mine by adding a second monitor HP W17E, which I use to reference academic papers while writing, or my to-do list while coding.
I also use a Kinesis Maxim keyboard, since I've had on-and-off trouble with carpal tunnel syndrome since college.
At home, when lecturing, or on the road, I use my netbook: a Toshiba NB205 with the extended battery.
If I'm going on a longer trip, I'll bring the charger and a Logitech portable optical mouse.
I also have a Lenovo T400 laptop with a 14.1" screen, which was my primary work computer before I joined the Mellon Fellows program.
I've got a 32GB iPad, which has proven surprisingly useful for my academic life.
I'm currently avidly anticipating the arrival of my Cosmonaut for a better writing experience!
My phone is an iPhone 3GS.
I keep the Vestalife Ladybug speaker-charger combo by my bed, because I use my phone as a white noise generator while I sleep.
At work, I use JBuds; they're bright purple and they make me happy every time I see them.
I've got a pair of Sennheiser PX-100s in my home office and for travel.
Wireless Presenter R400+ 4 others
I have no idea how I survived without my Logitech R400 presentation clicker.
Communication
Productivity
Browser
Notes
Coding & Development
For game development, I'm working in Flex Builder, which makes working with Flash actually bearable.
Just bearable.) I also use Textpad for throwing together Perl scripts when I need them.
Media
Storage
I keep active projects in Dropbox, where I can access them across all my machines and share selected folders with colleagues.
I keep a full backup of all my machines on Carbonite, which I love for two reasons.
Other
I adore the Kindle app because I can touch to highlight passages I want to remember or references I want to follow up.
For academic papers, I use the Mendeley app.
Tungle lets students schedule appointments with me quickly and easily, though I'm considering a switch to Google Calendar's appointment feature next year.
For conferences and guest lectures, I use OpenOffice Impress to create slides, and TripIt to manage my travel plans.