What a weird and frustrating day I had today! It was one of those days when you think that there has to be a higher reason behind all the madness. In the end I felt the purpose was for me to test and develop a higher level of patience. You see my car had some issues and it needed to go into the shop. I took it bright and early this morning after I dropped the Meemster off at school. I had several errands to run and figured I would get to them after the car was fixed--plus at the hour I was heading down to the shop not much else was open. It took them several hours to get to my car and when they did they had to order the parts and wait for them before they could work on my car. I guess I must have been less than fully functional when I left the house, since I didn't bring more than the paper I was working on and a mug of tea. By the time I left I barely had enough time to run to the market to get a few things before I had to get Mimi.
I don't know how I did it but I managed to put all the groceries away and then run and get the sweet lil' thing. She was so incredibly good after school, too. I told her I had a paper I needed to get done and that it was important for her to keep herself busy for a little while. She did it and I was so proud of her and thankful that she managed to stay focused. She painted and then played some computer games while I finished my poster submission. The changes in this beautiful kid in the past few months are nothing short of miraculous! She has gone from a whining and impulsive kid to a much more in control and happy kid (the one I remembered from when she was younger). I am so lucky to have her in my life! We had yummy French bread pizzas for dinner and I had a few glasses of wine for stress control. Who knows what I will feel like in the morning, but they sure did taste good. :-)
I am giving the list a night off... not that it isn't there in the back of my mind, but it means a bit more when it is made explicit. Ok, time to relax.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tango-lishious!
Another crazy day in my neighborhood. Lol. But seriously I have been going since 7:30 this morning and now it is just 11 pm. I had many hangers-on type errands to run this morning and so I got those out of the way before I went to my dr.'s appt. downtown. I am sort of feeling very ambivalent towards the medical profession today. You see I have chronic sinus problems. So much so that I opted to have surgery a few years ago. Well guess what? I still have blockages and so I have been having problems lately. I don't have much confidence that another surgery will help (uhm, the last didn't really fix things did it?) and there aren't many other alternatives. I am just hopeful that the several other drugs which were added to my daily regiment will paste me together enough to be functional. I can't keep feeling like crap. Last week I had headaches for 3 days straight with nausea and dizziness. It isn't a whole lot of fun trying to work like a fiend (and needing to flex one's brain) when you feel less than fine in a region close to the brain.
I did manage to get a good bit of reading done today. Amen! I finished the Saracevic article. I found the article to be useful for expanding one's concept of what relevance means and for making a number of theories explicit. It would be a very good read for people interested in the concept of relevance as it relates to the communication of information. If I go any further in this discussion I might get myself into a corner and need to profess the various theories. The article is a bit long and sometimes a little convoluted in terms of its construction, but it offers an excellent recounting of the theoretical flavors of relevance. After this I read a short study of the Perseus digital library/collections. I didn't get much out of the article, since it didn't really report much. The study consisted of observations (think-aloud) and interviews of 6 participants using the resource for a course. 3 participants performed one task and 3 performed a different task. The researcher made some broad observations about how their searching techniques developed during the interaction with the resource.
The last paper I read was the one by Bradley on image users across various disciplines. She looked at 9 participants from several departments at the UMD and gathered information using one-on-one interviews in which they were asked (among other things) to recall their last image search experience. She reports that the task breakdown fell into these groups: presentations 5; print pubs 5; research 2, web page 1, video 1, and identification 1. The resources the participants used are a bit surprising: Google Image 7; create own image 4; search engine 4; known web site 3, Google Video 1; personal contacts 1; books 1; image CD with textbook 1; clip art 1, specialized image dbs 1. Those figures are really telling of the situation with images -- there is little professional support for visual materials. I am not saying that there is none, since there are several good resources for images out there, only that few scholars would turn immediately to Google to find their "perfect" resource. She notes that the majority of participants (8) used proper nouns ("names of people, institutions, conferences, journals, brains and geographic locations). The next largest category was topic or description searches (6) and finally by date (1). Another aspect she investigated was the participants' degree of success at finding images. This depended upon 3 criteria 1) making an exact match, 2) finding something useful, and 3) the amount of time spent. Frustrations were expressed as: image quality 4; didn't meet specific needs 3; relocating images 2, unrelated results 2, format 2, knowing where to look 1, too many results 1, too few results 1, attribution 1, authority 1. Their search success, she states, is easier to define for specific searches when compared to generic searches. The latter are more difficult in this regard because they "require a judgement call by the researcher."
After all that lovely reading I gave myself a little treat and got a few shirts and stuff for spring. Then this afternoon I had a meeting about the development of a software to provide course content. Interesting ideas and experience were exchanged. Hopefully the future will be very bright indeed for this idea which marries technology with content. Lord knows we can use some assistance. Teaching is such a labor intensive job. Few people realize how draining it can be until they have to be the entertainment committee and produce all this content and do it in an engaging way!
Ok, it is nearly midnight and I need some sleep. I have been really pushing this week and I have a long day ahead tomorrow.
I did manage to get a good bit of reading done today. Amen! I finished the Saracevic article. I found the article to be useful for expanding one's concept of what relevance means and for making a number of theories explicit. It would be a very good read for people interested in the concept of relevance as it relates to the communication of information. If I go any further in this discussion I might get myself into a corner and need to profess the various theories. The article is a bit long and sometimes a little convoluted in terms of its construction, but it offers an excellent recounting of the theoretical flavors of relevance. After this I read a short study of the Perseus digital library/collections. I didn't get much out of the article, since it didn't really report much. The study consisted of observations (think-aloud) and interviews of 6 participants using the resource for a course. 3 participants performed one task and 3 performed a different task. The researcher made some broad observations about how their searching techniques developed during the interaction with the resource.
The last paper I read was the one by Bradley on image users across various disciplines. She looked at 9 participants from several departments at the UMD and gathered information using one-on-one interviews in which they were asked (among other things) to recall their last image search experience. She reports that the task breakdown fell into these groups: presentations 5; print pubs 5; research 2, web page 1, video 1, and identification 1. The resources the participants used are a bit surprising: Google Image 7; create own image 4; search engine 4; known web site 3, Google Video 1; personal contacts 1; books 1; image CD with textbook 1; clip art 1, specialized image dbs 1. Those figures are really telling of the situation with images -- there is little professional support for visual materials. I am not saying that there is none, since there are several good resources for images out there, only that few scholars would turn immediately to Google to find their "perfect" resource. She notes that the majority of participants (8) used proper nouns ("names of people, institutions, conferences, journals, brains and geographic locations). The next largest category was topic or description searches (6) and finally by date (1). Another aspect she investigated was the participants' degree of success at finding images. This depended upon 3 criteria 1) making an exact match, 2) finding something useful, and 3) the amount of time spent. Frustrations were expressed as: image quality 4; didn't meet specific needs 3; relocating images 2, unrelated results 2, format 2, knowing where to look 1, too many results 1, too few results 1, attribution 1, authority 1. Their search success, she states, is easier to define for specific searches when compared to generic searches. The latter are more difficult in this regard because they "require a judgement call by the researcher."
After all that lovely reading I gave myself a little treat and got a few shirts and stuff for spring. Then this afternoon I had a meeting about the development of a software to provide course content. Interesting ideas and experience were exchanged. Hopefully the future will be very bright indeed for this idea which marries technology with content. Lord knows we can use some assistance. Teaching is such a labor intensive job. Few people realize how draining it can be until they have to be the entertainment committee and produce all this content and do it in an engaging way!
Ok, it is nearly midnight and I need some sleep. I have been really pushing this week and I have a long day ahead tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday... already?
Yesterday was busy! Not that any of my days aren't but for some reason I was running for most of the day. I did some emailing in the a.m. and got myself downtown to print and copy things. That was a good thing. There are several other things that need to be copied, but since the journals have just been moved to the lower level in Hagerty it isn't really feasible to do everything. A few items are AWOL, so I will return to this task after I go to the WebWise conference next week. I copied several articles from a visual literacy resource I had IIL'd and I copied a bit of a dissertation which also comes from the vis lit discipline.
I was also able to give Jenn the articles and the CD I burned for her which was on my list. ;-) I didn't get any of Caswell read, but I did read an early article (1975) on relevance by Saracevic. It gives a nice history of the term relevance and situates it among the discourse of several disciplines (philosophy, logic, and info science). Another source I was reading through is a nice little book edited by Jana Varlejs titled Information Seeking. It is a bit old (1987), but the several articles in the book are interesting reads (by Belkin, Saracevic, Kuhlthau, Varlejs, and Vandergrift) about information behaviors. I need to seek out more recent literature on the subject, but for now these early things are keeping me busy. I tend to like to read early things since it sets the stage for the later research. I can often see the progression of ideas more easily by doing this -- plus it gives a sort of genealogy to the research.
I have been trying to get more participants involved. Hopefully the research gods will smile favorably upon me soon. I do need the artist and architect participants. Eeeep. I will keep trying. It is difficult not being discouraged at their lack of interest. I don't want to drop them from the study!
Ok, so I have about 3 solid hours to work today and I will spend it reading. But here is the complete list of things that need doing:
1. Read: rest of Saracevic, Varlejs, Bradley.
2. Do annotations!
3. Clean my desk - it feels a bit claustrophobic with all the stacks.
4. Call sitter about next Wednesday and Thursday.
5. Shopping.
6. Camp and Miami call.
7. Poster blurb for conference.
8. Smile!
Tomorrow:
1. Appt. downtown.
2. Read!
3. Rosemont
4. Bala meeting.
5. Finish poster blurb.
6. Cobbler for boots.
7. Bank for deposit.
8. Recruit!
I was also able to give Jenn the articles and the CD I burned for her which was on my list. ;-) I didn't get any of Caswell read, but I did read an early article (1975) on relevance by Saracevic. It gives a nice history of the term relevance and situates it among the discourse of several disciplines (philosophy, logic, and info science). Another source I was reading through is a nice little book edited by Jana Varlejs titled Information Seeking. It is a bit old (1987), but the several articles in the book are interesting reads (by Belkin, Saracevic, Kuhlthau, Varlejs, and Vandergrift) about information behaviors. I need to seek out more recent literature on the subject, but for now these early things are keeping me busy. I tend to like to read early things since it sets the stage for the later research. I can often see the progression of ideas more easily by doing this -- plus it gives a sort of genealogy to the research.
I have been trying to get more participants involved. Hopefully the research gods will smile favorably upon me soon. I do need the artist and architect participants. Eeeep. I will keep trying. It is difficult not being discouraged at their lack of interest. I don't want to drop them from the study!
Ok, so I have about 3 solid hours to work today and I will spend it reading. But here is the complete list of things that need doing:
1. Read: rest of Saracevic, Varlejs, Bradley.
2. Do annotations!
3. Clean my desk - it feels a bit claustrophobic with all the stacks.
4. Call sitter about next Wednesday and Thursday.
5. Shopping.
6. Camp and Miami call.
7. Poster blurb for conference.
8. Smile!
Tomorrow:
1. Appt. downtown.
2. Read!
3. Rosemont
4. Bala meeting.
5. Finish poster blurb.
6. Cobbler for boots.
7. Bank for deposit.
8. Recruit!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Moon-day Madness
Today was one of those major time sucks! I managed to get myself involved in a volunteer position that should have only taken an hour out of my early morning today. But guess what? I was there for three hours. Eeeep. It is for a good cause, so I suppose I should not be so twisted about it... but I need those hours back. Mondays are tough for me since I sort of run back and forth between the school where my daughter goes and home several times. Today was a bust between the running back and forth and the late afternoon doctor's appointment. Yee-haw!
I managed to send out a few feelers for artist participants today and I suppose I should be happy about that. I read a bit of the Maxwell book on quantitative research methods and design and I will try to get back to that before bed. I have so much reading... no wonder my stomach is churning! I have no time to do it all. I need to get stapled to my desk tonight and work for several hours. I can do it. Tonight I will finally skim/read those vis lit resources so I can bring them back tomorrow. The VISOR I bibliography needs to be perused, too, since I need to know what to copy tomorrow at the library.
So tomorrow:
1. Copy articles.
2. Order others, if needed.
3. Give Jenn the CD and the file.
4. Read more of the Caswell book.
5. Try to get more participants.
6. Camp and Miami call.
7. Annotations.
8. Smile!
Ok, time to be busy doing something more along the lines of reading. I will be back in the morning for the daily dose.
I managed to send out a few feelers for artist participants today and I suppose I should be happy about that. I read a bit of the Maxwell book on quantitative research methods and design and I will try to get back to that before bed. I have so much reading... no wonder my stomach is churning! I have no time to do it all. I need to get stapled to my desk tonight and work for several hours. I can do it. Tonight I will finally skim/read those vis lit resources so I can bring them back tomorrow. The VISOR I bibliography needs to be perused, too, since I need to know what to copy tomorrow at the library.
So tomorrow:
1. Copy articles.
2. Order others, if needed.
3. Give Jenn the CD and the file.
4. Read more of the Caswell book.
5. Try to get more participants.
6. Camp and Miami call.
7. Annotations.
8. Smile!
Ok, time to be busy doing something more along the lines of reading. I will be back in the morning for the daily dose.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
A good ending
Yesterday ended well on the research front, thankfully! I went downtown last night to meet up with some lovely ladies for dinner and drinks. We were done by 8 so I headed over to my office to get some work done on the references in the VISOR I report. I managed to get quite a few of the entries printed and ordered those things that I didn't have access to through ILL. The library closed fairly early last night, so I didn't have time to do the photocopying of non-e available things. I did manage to picked up a book from the 'berry I was interested in looking at on qualitative research methods, however. Finally, I nearly completed the reading in Poole's Theories of the Middle Range last night. I am on the methodology chapter, which I think is going to be enough for my needs. Middle range theories are those that fall between completely detail oriented practice-based ideas and the abstract uber concepts, and they are developed using grounded theory methods. Glaser and Strauss' Discovery of Grounded Theory is one of the two books Poole mentions as being most important to his ideas about theory. Now this is a nice thing since I had planned on using grounded theory for my model construction.
I am still having difficulties with recruitment. Blah. It is so funny that the artists and architects have no interest in participating in the study. I have sent emails out to other people who might be helpful in recruitment so hopefully the participant god/desses will shine down upon me soon!
It is nearly noon now and I don't have too much time to work today, but I thought I might at least skim through the rest of the visual literacy book I ILLed and take some notes. There are some interesting ideas in several of the papers in the book that I think might help with the cognition and perception areas of my dissertation. If I can get through those I will be a very happy woman.
The list:
1. Skim/read/annotate pertinent parts of the visual literacy materials.
2. Update my web page.
3. Work on the SIG-AH web site.
Ok, time to get cracking!
I am still having difficulties with recruitment. Blah. It is so funny that the artists and architects have no interest in participating in the study. I have sent emails out to other people who might be helpful in recruitment so hopefully the participant god/desses will shine down upon me soon!
It is nearly noon now and I don't have too much time to work today, but I thought I might at least skim through the rest of the visual literacy book I ILLed and take some notes. There are some interesting ideas in several of the papers in the book that I think might help with the cognition and perception areas of my dissertation. If I can get through those I will be a very happy woman.
The list:
1. Skim/read/annotate pertinent parts of the visual literacy materials.
2. Update my web page.
3. Work on the SIG-AH web site.
Ok, time to get cracking!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!!
This week has been so difficult and unproductive! I am now at home trying to get some work done and failing mostly. It is a snow day for little missy and so there is no way I can get more than 1 minute of silence. Help! I lost most of yesterday to cleaning out my email box, dealing with lingering issues and fighting a terrible headache. I NEED to WORK. Uhg. My head isn't much better today for some reason. I can barely concentrate even when I am graced with silence for a blissful minute.
Between Wednesday and yesterday I did:
1. Read the rest of VISOR I.
This is a remarkable report -- very thorough and detailed account of the various processes influencing image retrieval. It is similar to what I hope to do, but I think it lacks clarity. I say that with some hesitancy, however, since it isn't that the writing is unclear. It is more that the report doesn't present the major aspects of the theoretical model it develops in a clear manner. Everything is inter-related, which I can understand but this tends to muddle all of the various dimensions and tends to make the model seem very weak. I will need to think more about this. What makes a good theoretical model? Isn't it simplicity and clarity? While models by their very nature gloss over the details, their strength lies in their ability to distill the phenomena down to the critical elements. I think the model itself does this in the VISOR I report, but the discussion isn't able to maintain this simplicity.
2. Found R. Bradley's paper and printed it out.
3. Added some research method references to my bib.
4. Ordered several research methods volumes.
5. Sent an email about the SIG-AH web site.
6. Looked through the camps for Meems.
7. Got our prescriptions.
8. Went to the dentist.
9. Got school supplies for the Meemster.
10. Wrote more recruitment emails and gave EA a rundown on my progress.
11. I read more of the Herbert Poole book Theories of the Middle Range. This has been a truly fascinating read, more for the historical story surrounding the development of the disciplines of library and information science than for how one goes about constructing theory. I haven't gotten through more than the first few chapters, so it might show up later on in the book.
Today I am going to try to get myself downtown for a few hours so I can print some of the articles I need for the research methods. I am feeling so much pressure to get back to the writing phase, but I need to go through lots more literature in the meantime. Arrrgggggghhhh! Ok so today I plan to:
1. Go through the VISOR bibliographies and print, copy, order or borrow the items on the list.
2. Try to recruit more participants.
3. Email the several participants who have asked me about the project or responded to my email.
To the shower!
Between Wednesday and yesterday I did:
1. Read the rest of VISOR I.
This is a remarkable report -- very thorough and detailed account of the various processes influencing image retrieval. It is similar to what I hope to do, but I think it lacks clarity. I say that with some hesitancy, however, since it isn't that the writing is unclear. It is more that the report doesn't present the major aspects of the theoretical model it develops in a clear manner. Everything is inter-related, which I can understand but this tends to muddle all of the various dimensions and tends to make the model seem very weak. I will need to think more about this. What makes a good theoretical model? Isn't it simplicity and clarity? While models by their very nature gloss over the details, their strength lies in their ability to distill the phenomena down to the critical elements. I think the model itself does this in the VISOR I report, but the discussion isn't able to maintain this simplicity.
2. Found R. Bradley's paper and printed it out.
3. Added some research method references to my bib.
4. Ordered several research methods volumes.
5. Sent an email about the SIG-AH web site.
6. Looked through the camps for Meems.
7. Got our prescriptions.
8. Went to the dentist.
9. Got school supplies for the Meemster.
10. Wrote more recruitment emails and gave EA a rundown on my progress.
11. I read more of the Herbert Poole book Theories of the Middle Range. This has been a truly fascinating read, more for the historical story surrounding the development of the disciplines of library and information science than for how one goes about constructing theory. I haven't gotten through more than the first few chapters, so it might show up later on in the book.
Today I am going to try to get myself downtown for a few hours so I can print some of the articles I need for the research methods. I am feeling so much pressure to get back to the writing phase, but I need to go through lots more literature in the meantime. Arrrgggggghhhh! Ok so today I plan to:
1. Go through the VISOR bibliographies and print, copy, order or borrow the items on the list.
2. Try to recruit more participants.
3. Email the several participants who have asked me about the project or responded to my email.
To the shower!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Please give me a push!
Ack, I feel like I have fallen into the hole of Hell! Well, ok, it isn't this bad, but honestly it is now Wednesday morning and I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. In reality I have, but it isn't the right kind of make you feel great and gets you extra motivated type of accomplishment. Monday and Tuesday I was being a full-time mom, so that obviously has some impact on what I am able to get done. Monday was pretty dreadful, since little wiggle pants was full of energy and requests from the entertainment committee. Yesterday was a bit better and I was able to get through nearly the remainder of the VISOR I report. I will finish that today in between meetings and train rides. Heh. It is always some distraction to keep me from reading, isn't it?
Yesterday's accomplishments:
1. Send several emails to prospectives about participating.
2. Emailed a participant respondent.
3. Read VISOR I report.
4. Called Dr. Judy's office to make appts.
5. Called for Meemster's prescription.
6. Tried to call about newspaper. (I have no patience for hold!)
7. Called about focus group participation.
It seems like there were a few other things in there, but I suppose this is a good start. I guess I am just feeling pressure to get the lit review and methods section fleshed out... and this alongside trying to get a second pilot participant is making me very uneasy. I suppose I need to feel that unease to keep me motivated. I am really getting that pit in my stomach, need to get moving type of feeling these days. I just feel I am at a standstill. Grrrrrrr.
Anyway, so today I have to go downtown for a few meetings. The majority of the day is my own, nevertheless. I should use the motivation I feel right now to get busy. I am going to cut my blog short today to do just that. My list is below and as you can see there are too many things that are lingering, lingering, lingering from last week. I will do much better today! I can do much better today. :-)
1. Read the rest of VISOR I
2. Add annotations for VISOR I & II.
3. Find R. Bradley's paper!
4. Send an email to SIG-AH re: web site.
5. Summer camp for the Meemster.
6. Read/skim the visual literacy stuff.
7. Go get prescriptions.
Yesterday's accomplishments:
1. Send several emails to prospectives about participating.
2. Emailed a participant respondent.
3. Read VISOR I report.
4. Called Dr. Judy's office to make appts.
5. Called for Meemster's prescription.
6. Tried to call about newspaper. (I have no patience for hold!)
7. Called about focus group participation.
It seems like there were a few other things in there, but I suppose this is a good start. I guess I am just feeling pressure to get the lit review and methods section fleshed out... and this alongside trying to get a second pilot participant is making me very uneasy. I suppose I need to feel that unease to keep me motivated. I am really getting that pit in my stomach, need to get moving type of feeling these days. I just feel I am at a standstill. Grrrrrrr.
Anyway, so today I have to go downtown for a few meetings. The majority of the day is my own, nevertheless. I should use the motivation I feel right now to get busy. I am going to cut my blog short today to do just that. My list is below and as you can see there are too many things that are lingering, lingering, lingering from last week. I will do much better today! I can do much better today. :-)
1. Read the rest of VISOR I
2. Add annotations for VISOR I & II.
3. Find R. Bradley's paper!
4. Send an email to SIG-AH re: web site.
5. Summer camp for the Meemster.
6. Read/skim the visual literacy stuff.
7. Go get prescriptions.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Procrastination and Lost Time
The past few days I have been thinking a lot about how time just seems to fly by me. I am a fairly driven person when it comes to my work, but for some reason the past week or so has been very unproductive. It isn't that I am not doing anything, more like the work I am doing isn't accomplishing much. I don't have the tangible proof of my efforts that reflects the amount of time that has passed. I feel like I am flittering away my time doing things that don't much matter. Like surfing the web (for personal and professional pleasure) and doing less than critical things like housecleaning. I rarely take a day off, but I know these forays away from my dissertation are distractions I shouldn't give into. When I do give in they tend to drag me into a psychological black hole. That makes it nearly impossible to find any joy or motivation in the work... this, eventhough I love the topic. I can understand why people get stuck when doing their dissertations and why so many go unfinished.
So Friday I had hoped to get something done, but it didn't materialize. I suppose I did a little bit of reading of the VISOR I report, but I had hoped to get through the entire thing. I wrote a few emails in the morning and then had to go downtown for a sinus CT. As a kind of treat I went shopping and bought some cheap clothing. When I came home it was nearly time to get the Meemster. I did work on a group project for an online course I am taking for much of Friday night and part of Saturday, too.
Saturday I got the Meems ready for her dad and did the taxi driver thing. I got home around 1 I suppose and after eating lunch and working on the group project I worked on trascribing the observation I did for the pilot study. The recording was 1.5 hors and it took me about 6 hours to transcribe the entire thing. I felt delerious near the end! I suppose the wine had something to do with that. After this I was toast and so I watched a movie... Volver. It was a wonderful, although sort of strange movie. I thought it was a comedy, but it was a very dark one. The actresses were just fabulous -- Penelope Cruz was so lovely and believable. I love the fact they had her wear a fake fanny! I thought her fanny was fabulous with the extra padding.
Today I woke up at a nearly illegal hour. Since the past week has been a little lite on sleep I don't feel dreadful about the extra hour or two I spent in bed. Blissful sleep. I didn't get too much done today beyond bathing and cleaning. I have about an hour before I will need to go play taxi driver again, so I think I will try to finish the VISOR reading. Having just one goal in mind might make the whole thing easier. I also need to annotate the transcript with the non-spoken information that I gathered from the observation. It is so much data. 14 pages of single spaced text. Eeeeek. At least tonight is just inserting things like the number of images displayed in searches. Ok, to work... I need to get back to the list I made up on Thursday eve bright and early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow... I will loose most of the day to the Meems. Hopefully she will let me have a few hours to work.
So Friday I had hoped to get something done, but it didn't materialize. I suppose I did a little bit of reading of the VISOR I report, but I had hoped to get through the entire thing. I wrote a few emails in the morning and then had to go downtown for a sinus CT. As a kind of treat I went shopping and bought some cheap clothing. When I came home it was nearly time to get the Meemster. I did work on a group project for an online course I am taking for much of Friday night and part of Saturday, too.
Saturday I got the Meems ready for her dad and did the taxi driver thing. I got home around 1 I suppose and after eating lunch and working on the group project I worked on trascribing the observation I did for the pilot study. The recording was 1.5 hors and it took me about 6 hours to transcribe the entire thing. I felt delerious near the end! I suppose the wine had something to do with that. After this I was toast and so I watched a movie... Volver. It was a wonderful, although sort of strange movie. I thought it was a comedy, but it was a very dark one. The actresses were just fabulous -- Penelope Cruz was so lovely and believable. I love the fact they had her wear a fake fanny! I thought her fanny was fabulous with the extra padding.
Today I woke up at a nearly illegal hour. Since the past week has been a little lite on sleep I don't feel dreadful about the extra hour or two I spent in bed. Blissful sleep. I didn't get too much done today beyond bathing and cleaning. I have about an hour before I will need to go play taxi driver again, so I think I will try to finish the VISOR reading. Having just one goal in mind might make the whole thing easier. I also need to annotate the transcript with the non-spoken information that I gathered from the observation. It is so much data. 14 pages of single spaced text. Eeeeek. At least tonight is just inserting things like the number of images displayed in searches. Ok, to work... I need to get back to the list I made up on Thursday eve bright and early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow... I will loose most of the day to the Meems. Hopefully she will let me have a few hours to work.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Sugar in all its glorious forms
Happy Valentine's Day! Yes, as the title states, I received lots of sugar in many forms today. Hooray for sweeties!
It is getting late in the day but as I promised myself, I will keep up the newly formed tradition of blogging as my daily writing routine. Today was very busy and I actually managed to make a great step forward on the dissertation front. I conducted the first pilot study observation and it went remarkably well. It took about an hour and a half and was entirely fascinating for several reasons. The first of these is that the participant was so forthcoming with nuanced information about how she was searching for images. A number of people shut down when they are in the process of performing some task (even when prompted to use the think-aloud method) but this particpant was wonderful at indicating why she chose specific images and why certain ones were not useful. From just this single observation, I can see some coding patterns evolving. Quality (size, clarity, color, angle, etc.), availablity, representativeness (of concept), complexity (of searching multiple places and tasks involved in creating the presentation), cataloging/indexing, and trustworthiness come to mind at the moment. I will transcribe the observation and insert my notes alongside her commentary. My feeling from having sat through the observation is that the data is incredibly rich! Even with my knowledge of the processes and the topic she was preparing for, the experience was eye-opening and intriguing. Yes, there are days when I absolutely LOVE what I do!
So after I performed the observation and administered the questionnaire, I went to visit with some people in an attempt to recruit more participants. I have a lead on an architect and perhaps an artist... I need to send a few emails in the morning for these. This afternoon I heard back from one of the archaeologist participants about her ability to take part in the study. She is an adjunct and only teaches one course a year, although her daily work requires images. I am not sure what I should do in her case. I think I will investigate a bit more with her to see when she is teaching. It might be that she will be teaching during the study and so then I think she would be perfectly suited to the study. Recruitment is tiring! I ran into someone I know socially yesterday at my local CVS and asked about participation. It is certainly a bit wacky to be doing this all the time. Thankfully, I believe in the research and its possible outcome so it keeps me going.
I need to get back to the reading. Grrrr. I have an appointment downtown in the early afternoon tomorrow, so I think I will have at least an hour of train time to read. If I am super good in the morning I should have another hour or two. I need to get through this material! Ack! My plan of action for tomorrow is to:
1. send emails off to prospectives.
2. read the rest of VISOR I and add annotations for VISOR I & II.
3. find R. Bradley's paper!
4. send an email to SIG-AH re: web site.
5. call Dr. Judy.
6. make some decisions regarding summer camp for the Meemster.
Ok, I have my list. I am going to climb into bed and do some reading before I sleep.
It is getting late in the day but as I promised myself, I will keep up the newly formed tradition of blogging as my daily writing routine. Today was very busy and I actually managed to make a great step forward on the dissertation front. I conducted the first pilot study observation and it went remarkably well. It took about an hour and a half and was entirely fascinating for several reasons. The first of these is that the participant was so forthcoming with nuanced information about how she was searching for images. A number of people shut down when they are in the process of performing some task (even when prompted to use the think-aloud method) but this particpant was wonderful at indicating why she chose specific images and why certain ones were not useful. From just this single observation, I can see some coding patterns evolving. Quality (size, clarity, color, angle, etc.), availablity, representativeness (of concept), complexity (of searching multiple places and tasks involved in creating the presentation), cataloging/indexing, and trustworthiness come to mind at the moment. I will transcribe the observation and insert my notes alongside her commentary. My feeling from having sat through the observation is that the data is incredibly rich! Even with my knowledge of the processes and the topic she was preparing for, the experience was eye-opening and intriguing. Yes, there are days when I absolutely LOVE what I do!
So after I performed the observation and administered the questionnaire, I went to visit with some people in an attempt to recruit more participants. I have a lead on an architect and perhaps an artist... I need to send a few emails in the morning for these. This afternoon I heard back from one of the archaeologist participants about her ability to take part in the study. She is an adjunct and only teaches one course a year, although her daily work requires images. I am not sure what I should do in her case. I think I will investigate a bit more with her to see when she is teaching. It might be that she will be teaching during the study and so then I think she would be perfectly suited to the study. Recruitment is tiring! I ran into someone I know socially yesterday at my local CVS and asked about participation. It is certainly a bit wacky to be doing this all the time. Thankfully, I believe in the research and its possible outcome so it keeps me going.
I need to get back to the reading. Grrrr. I have an appointment downtown in the early afternoon tomorrow, so I think I will have at least an hour of train time to read. If I am super good in the morning I should have another hour or two. I need to get through this material! Ack! My plan of action for tomorrow is to:
1. send emails off to prospectives.
2. read the rest of VISOR I and add annotations for VISOR I & II.
3. find R. Bradley's paper!
4. send an email to SIG-AH re: web site.
5. call Dr. Judy.
6. make some decisions regarding summer camp for the Meemster.
Ok, I have my list. I am going to climb into bed and do some reading before I sleep.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A spoonful of sugar
It is Wednesday and I have no idea where my week has gone. I feel like I have been running since I woke up on Monday morning and yet I don't seem to have anything to show for it. I have been trying to get some reading in, since there are several things that I need to include in the updated lit review for the proposal (and because these sources offer important information). There are several lines of inquiry that I have been looking into and these are the literature surrounding visual literacy and visual anthropology. I need to look a bit into the theories surrounding cognition and visual materials, but much of the most important aspects seem to show up in the visual literacy sources. I am also looking at theoretical model construction and research methods so I have my plate quite full at the moment.
I am running the first pilot study meeting tomorrow morning and so I have to prepare. It has been so long since I have done one of these I need to:
1. go over the manual for the digital recorder I have.
2. get new batteries for the recorder.
3. print out the questionnaire.
4. bring a pad of paper and several writing implements.
5. bring an extra copy of the consent form.
6. look over my notes about performing observations.
Ok, since I only have about an hour before I need to get Mimi from school I am going to try to fit in some reading.
I am running the first pilot study meeting tomorrow morning and so I have to prepare. It has been so long since I have done one of these I need to:
1. go over the manual for the digital recorder I have.
2. get new batteries for the recorder.
3. print out the questionnaire.
4. bring a pad of paper and several writing implements.
5. bring an extra copy of the consent form.
6. look over my notes about performing observations.
Ok, since I only have about an hour before I need to get Mimi from school I am going to try to fit in some reading.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
A Daily Dose of Writing
Since my last post mentioned a certain particular craziness that preceeded my defense I have been trying to find the time to get back to write about it. Of course now that I have a stack of books to read that is nearly a foot high it is the PERFECT time to do this. I am rationalizing this post as my daily writing habit, so I don't feel so guilty about posting to my blog... as a matter of fact, it might be useful to make this my daily writing space until the time comes that I need to be writing the text of the dissertation findings. I am straying a bit from my initial purpose of posting to the blog, but humor me here. I will post again about the crazy 4 days in Rome finishing the prospectus to meet the deadline!
A few days ago several of the post candidacy stage doctoral students were asked to talk about our experiences getting to that stage to a group of 1st and 2nd year doctoral students. It was an interesting reflection on the process and the varied experiences of each of us. One of the doctoral candidates spoke on how to choose your dissertation committee and the various things you want to avoid (such as putting 3 non-tenured members on it is probably not in your best interest). Another spoke on how you present your research within the proposal defense. His point was that since you have the most knowledge about your topic and what you are trying to achieve, attempting to cover up weaknesses in your methods/questions or the like may come back to haunt you later on. The proposal is a contract between you and your committee to carry out the research in the manner you have outlined. If you end up not being able to get the type of answers you need because you futzed with your methods or you saw inconsistencies prior to the defense and were not truthful about these you could find yourself in a very sticky position. I spoke about time management and the work invovled in writing the problem statement and the lit review.
TIME
I found that it took me about six months from the time I began working on my annotated bibliography until I had something that was useful to the development of the problem statement and the lit review. It took another six months to get the problem statement and lit review in a form that was ready for the committee to look at. Of course throughout this second six month period I expanded the annotated bibliography with materials which were more specific to the questions I was trying to answer.
TIME MANAGEMENT
The most useful thing for me was to set aside specific hours of the day that I needed to be writing, reading and thinking about my dissertation. I have been working 9-3 daily. It is a brutal schedule to maintain long term but I know if I want to finish I have to stick to to. If I have a meeting to attend or other things that need to be done during those hours, I make that time up outside my normal working hours. This means some very late nights... when I find my energy level flagging I do the picky work that doen't need lots of mental fortitude to complete. All of these tasks need doing and so I just try to pick the most appropriate task to my capabilities at that moment. Also, don't put things off just because you don't feel like it. Alright, I should re-word this to: try to limit procrastination because you will find yourself doing just about anything to keep from working on your dissertation! You are going to find yourself "stuck" (read Disnertation Hell post) and you will be kicking yourself about the time you frittered away playing chuzzle, chatting, or what have you. Prepare for getting "stuck". Find tasks that need doing. Keep a list of these handy, and work on them when you reach this/these point(s). You are still being productive and this will make you feel so much better... nevermind getting you back on track since productivity breeds productivity.
Above all else WRITE about anything that has to do with the dissertation on a daily basis. I do this for at least an hour a day every day except for the occasional Sunday. It can be as mundane as "I hate sitting here working on my dissertation when it is so beautiful and I haven't seen the sun in months..." Like any activity, your body needs to get used to writing, focusing, thinking. You are excersizing a whole bunch of different body parts when you write your dissertation. You need to remember that it is going to take some time to get used to this new routine. The routine will become ingrained if you keep at it and you might find yourself getting uneasy if you haven't had that chance to do your "Daily Dose of Writing."
MODELS
There are three types of models that I used to get me through the prospectus phase. The first model was merely looking at other dissertation formats that had some similarity to my topic. Sometimes just noting what others have done with their problem statement and literature review will help you along. Other times you will want to look at how they organized their thoughts. They were a great source for beginning steps into writing my dissertation. The second type of model were the theoretical constructs that have been used within the domain. Even those that aren't close to my dissertation have been brain food... what is possible, what works, what is less successful, the level of specificity, etc. All of these help me to think about where I might go with my dissertation. The final models I have used have been the people who surround me. My committee obviously is molding my dissertation in a certain direction. Other researchers working in my area have also exerted an influence over what I am doing. Getting yourself out there and talking to these experts in your area is a wonderful experience. They are nearly as excited about your material as you are and they have experience that you can call upon. Plus, it is good for one's visibility.
FUN
Finally, I have enjoyed the work involved (for the most part). Yes, the hours are long and the work is sometimes tedious, but I LOVE my topic. I feel very strongly about my research. I have a firsthand knowledge of the difficulties image users experience and I want to help them. I don't know if you can get fired up about a dissertation topic that you have no personal interest in.
I am sure I have left off a dozen other things, but these came to mind as I wrote. Alright, I have written for an hour and so I have done my daily dose of writing. :-) In all honesty, I will be taking notes on this stack of books next to me for at least 3 more hours. This was a very good brain warmer activity, nevertheless!
A few days ago several of the post candidacy stage doctoral students were asked to talk about our experiences getting to that stage to a group of 1st and 2nd year doctoral students. It was an interesting reflection on the process and the varied experiences of each of us. One of the doctoral candidates spoke on how to choose your dissertation committee and the various things you want to avoid (such as putting 3 non-tenured members on it is probably not in your best interest). Another spoke on how you present your research within the proposal defense. His point was that since you have the most knowledge about your topic and what you are trying to achieve, attempting to cover up weaknesses in your methods/questions or the like may come back to haunt you later on. The proposal is a contract between you and your committee to carry out the research in the manner you have outlined. If you end up not being able to get the type of answers you need because you futzed with your methods or you saw inconsistencies prior to the defense and were not truthful about these you could find yourself in a very sticky position. I spoke about time management and the work invovled in writing the problem statement and the lit review.
TIME
I found that it took me about six months from the time I began working on my annotated bibliography until I had something that was useful to the development of the problem statement and the lit review. It took another six months to get the problem statement and lit review in a form that was ready for the committee to look at. Of course throughout this second six month period I expanded the annotated bibliography with materials which were more specific to the questions I was trying to answer.
TIME MANAGEMENT
The most useful thing for me was to set aside specific hours of the day that I needed to be writing, reading and thinking about my dissertation. I have been working 9-3 daily. It is a brutal schedule to maintain long term but I know if I want to finish I have to stick to to. If I have a meeting to attend or other things that need to be done during those hours, I make that time up outside my normal working hours. This means some very late nights... when I find my energy level flagging I do the picky work that doen't need lots of mental fortitude to complete. All of these tasks need doing and so I just try to pick the most appropriate task to my capabilities at that moment. Also, don't put things off just because you don't feel like it. Alright, I should re-word this to: try to limit procrastination because you will find yourself doing just about anything to keep from working on your dissertation! You are going to find yourself "stuck" (read Disnertation Hell post) and you will be kicking yourself about the time you frittered away playing chuzzle, chatting, or what have you. Prepare for getting "stuck". Find tasks that need doing. Keep a list of these handy, and work on them when you reach this/these point(s). You are still being productive and this will make you feel so much better... nevermind getting you back on track since productivity breeds productivity.
Above all else WRITE about anything that has to do with the dissertation on a daily basis. I do this for at least an hour a day every day except for the occasional Sunday. It can be as mundane as "I hate sitting here working on my dissertation when it is so beautiful and I haven't seen the sun in months..." Like any activity, your body needs to get used to writing, focusing, thinking. You are excersizing a whole bunch of different body parts when you write your dissertation. You need to remember that it is going to take some time to get used to this new routine. The routine will become ingrained if you keep at it and you might find yourself getting uneasy if you haven't had that chance to do your "Daily Dose of Writing."
MODELS
There are three types of models that I used to get me through the prospectus phase. The first model was merely looking at other dissertation formats that had some similarity to my topic. Sometimes just noting what others have done with their problem statement and literature review will help you along. Other times you will want to look at how they organized their thoughts. They were a great source for beginning steps into writing my dissertation. The second type of model were the theoretical constructs that have been used within the domain. Even those that aren't close to my dissertation have been brain food... what is possible, what works, what is less successful, the level of specificity, etc. All of these help me to think about where I might go with my dissertation. The final models I have used have been the people who surround me. My committee obviously is molding my dissertation in a certain direction. Other researchers working in my area have also exerted an influence over what I am doing. Getting yourself out there and talking to these experts in your area is a wonderful experience. They are nearly as excited about your material as you are and they have experience that you can call upon. Plus, it is good for one's visibility.
FUN
Finally, I have enjoyed the work involved (for the most part). Yes, the hours are long and the work is sometimes tedious, but I LOVE my topic. I feel very strongly about my research. I have a firsthand knowledge of the difficulties image users experience and I want to help them. I don't know if you can get fired up about a dissertation topic that you have no personal interest in.
I am sure I have left off a dozen other things, but these came to mind as I wrote. Alright, I have written for an hour and so I have done my daily dose of writing. :-) In all honesty, I will be taking notes on this stack of books next to me for at least 3 more hours. This was a very good brain warmer activity, nevertheless!
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