In just 7 days: My muse returned and its time for another peer reviewed journal article

At least that's the goal.
However the intent does presuppose prior work; being on a post-doc writing scholarship I have a thesis to draw on.

After a month that needed some time out to graduate, and in which I also produced a conference paper, I'm back ontask.
Yesterday produced an abstract and the first 500 words of the article.
I also rewrote my own table to follow based on Thomson and Kamlers (2013) writing the abstract as a tinytext that provides the mindmap/roadmap for the article. It's here for anyone interested:

Todays goal: write the tiny text by midday.
The alternative would be my prior habit of writing me a river that meanders and has banks put in afterwards (afterwords) that would be really really time consuming and suffer from a plethora of messages as I attempt to address everything for the reader.

Opening those flood gates has me putting on some music...Louisianna 1927, Original by Randy Newman,
I prefer it sung by Marcia Ball....music to muse by.

http://youtu.be/p4NNM5IaoB8

Finding my writing mojo; writing through writer's block

Ive tried to enter into this months task: one journal article per month.
Instead I wrote a conference paper. Ok. Then went to my own capping. Ok. And thenwas meant to start writing.
I have looked at the two abstracts i had scoped. they are OK.
And IVe not progressed them.

So whats going on?
Tired of writing? A possibility.
The last conference paper was exceptional fun: bilingual in txtspk and plain speak. And now the pedantic holds so much less interest. A possibility.
The paper to write for an international audience rather than the NZ journbal- written once, writing twice has lost its appeal. Its a formal starchy space.

So what have i done. Ive turned up for work to write. Ive allowed distractions.
Ive turned up to work again, and stared at it, toyed with it like a plate of broadbeans gone cold.
Ive revisited some chapters on writing.
Ive read some articles i could think to emulate.
Ive talked with cj. This was a good option.
I have spent today reading good writing; or at least the type of writing i would rather read.
I still have a niggle that this is procrastinating, however it feels a whole lot better than self flagellation.
I have a suspicion writing from a space of self flagellation is pretty ineffective.
Might as well try the more fun approach.
Today ive completed 6 pomodoros of reading. I finished a Gherardi article

Gherardi, Silvia. (2010). Telemedicine: A practice-based approach to technology. Human Relations, 63(4), 501-524. doi:10.1177/0018726709339096
on telemedicine- it structured an argument around things not totally intuitive and then analysed the data to the structure.

Ive also read some more accessible type of reading:
Cowen, Tyler. (2013). Average Is over: Powering America beyond the age of the great stagnation. New York, NY: Dutton Adult.
some good ideas about artificial intelligence through to Turing test, that could lend itself to fears of technology and working alongside technology, strengths identified in the hybrid relationship similar to Latour and Haraway

And am now reading Gladwell- though I started with a web page on what makes Gladwell such a good writer at http://qz.com/132669/heres-why-everything-malcolm-gladwell-writes-is-so-compelling/
And the one idea thing is strong in this, take one idea and exemplify it through the storytelling. This is something i hope to work with.
Gladwell, M. (2013). David and Goliath: Underdogs, misfits and the art of battling giants (Kindle ed.): Penguin.
And there is scope for finding the number one idea , theres working with weak ties, the counterinutitive success made possible because of distant-presence, visibility counterpoised alongside visibility, being heard silently...

In between i also signed up fro #acwriMo, a writing commitment for November.
Did housework- fixed the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed.
And put out at least one workplace fire.

Now to keep reading Gladwell's David and Goliath, hoping to get my mojo back.

I just rechecked the writing scholarship and am feeling less troubled. My conference paper was identified on it as an outcome, so this wasnt a distraction after all.
And my goal which was accepted did not specify the dates of completion as per calendar month, hence my fear i wont have one done by months end may be a little premature. Will just settle in with the plan and keep trucking along.

Post Doc writing scholarship:3 articles/3 months

This is a midway point in my writing scholarship from Deakin University.
To recap: the scholarship was based on a propsal of three articles in three months, I had scoped some abstracts and identified appropriate journals for sending these to.
The first month, I rewrote the plan, and included a conference paper (published in proceedings as additional to the plan.
I met the first months deadline, albeit with some angst around (re)finding voice.
In the first week of the second month I wrote the conference paper.
In the second week i took a break for capping; I am now back.
And struggling.
Ive put on my favourite writing music (Norah Jones) hoping to find my muse.
Ive made an online commitment with a study/writing scholarship buddy, to Pomodoro the day away.
And Im following the Barbara Grant advice of writing about whats stopping me writing; also hoping to find my muse.
Wish the damn muse was less ethereal today.
skimming Howard Becker: "reading this book will not solve all your writing problems. It will hardly solve any of them. ...no one can solve your problems. They are yours.

well aren't i the lucky one, eh?

Taking a turn then from ...Steven Brookfield... on academic imposter syndrome, i can at least try faking it till i make it.

I know whats stopping me. The task is like a mountain and i dont want to climb the hill, but there's a deadline.
I know that there's drudgery. Ive done the article i owed my participants and my site of study. And Ive done the conference paper that was fun. Now there's just chopping wood and drawing water to quote a Zen saying. Academic labour to quote Thompson and Kamler (2013)

There's an inkling of hope. I have yet to hand in anything dull. It might start that way, there's some formuleic processes i can work with.
I have a couple of abstracts to work up.
One bite at a time
Turn them into tiny texts, and let them latch on to me (hopefully, my energy will rise more in proximity to one or other of these) So its back to T&K and the tiny text road mapping to build up the abstracts as a road map and ensuring the movements of Swales "CARS" gets addressed in the article. (for more on CARS: http://sdsuwriting.pbworks.com/f/u33+CARS+and+STRATEGIES+materials.doc )

Todays goal, relates to How to eat an elephant; one bite at a time. Today I need do no more than map the article.

The 7 day wonder; a paper completed

After two exceptionally late nights and also getting up today at 4.00 AM the paper is written.
I have only to print and edit, and then after duplicating it, try out some stylistic layout options.

No i did not stay up all hrs just trying to meet a self imposed deadline of the 7 day wonder of a paper write, the deadline for the conference paper was yesterday. I have an extension till monday but since i am catching a plane tomorrow, I need to send it today.

I am still unclear on the how to write a journal paper form this edition of a conference paper.
T&K's book writing for peer review does mention conference papers but pretty much only as a water test for the journal. They are also very direct in saying if your going to write a paper , write it as a journal article. It being easier to have that specific brief in mind...guess its easier to scale down to an audience than up???)

The conference paper is a bit exegesis, a bit avant-garde.
Next i may also be sourcing journals that are in to radical.
I also suspect the journal version could do with a bit more local contextual stuff about the use of text speak...then again if the stylistic stuff saves me more word count space, i may add some of that.

And I still need to make a decision what article to complete in the 3 weeks post the trip away.

I could live in hope that my having done this one inside the time i set, is that my writing is getting faster- or it could just be the lack of outside eyes on it...or the heavy deadline imposition...

Seems really working at a tinytext is good for me in clarifying where its got to go structurally.


Postscript; a lack of internet at the apartment meant the feedback on the paper from the symposium generated a day of working on it while overseas. Its looking good though, always wanted to do a split page as per Mol. Now i have one. Also the argument moved as i wrote, had an inkling of staying true to form and therefore justifying the txtspk, but during this a more persuasive argument than the aesthetic emerged. Looking forward to the feedback.

Writing a paper in 7 days; day 4

Day 1 instead of starting the writing, had me revisiting an abstract already accepted, writing another abstract for next months paper, and writing a writing plan and sharing it with my supervisor via google docs.

Day 2 seemed to be totally absorbed with recreating the tinytext- whereby an abstract provides the roadmap for an article,
it took 2 days, it took longer than it should have; it was unbalanced.
The structure Thompson and Kamler suggest of "Locate, focus +- anchor, report and argue"
I had a huge front end locating the research; establishing its territory.
Perhaps this shouldn't seem so odd, what i am writing is quite odd and requires significant justifying.
The focus though was almost absent. I was pretty much all over the show:
- was this about the data in my thesis and how it got to on of my many conclusions (young people being maligned because of their use of text)
- was this about the article being written, a performative turn in txt spk
And decided the focus was really about collateral damage; collateral damage whereby 'we' continue to perpetuate discrimination by not allowing other voice (txtspk) to be heard. Hence the new reading required as my thesis had not addressed issues of identity and oppression and language in this way.
The anchor (not always essential unless entering into specific discourse/s) has me address this calling principally on actor-network theory (ANT), (John Law and collateral realities) and 'the performative turn' in ANT, but Ive been having to do more reading (Judith Butler identity formation and excitable speech, and others such as Linda Tuhawai Smith and Kumashiro regarding decolonization and oppression)
But I'm really not feeling strong enough or well enough read in those areas to do more than point to the fields and say this sits alongside.
The reporting has involved pointing to how txt language gets positioned, and how it then positions those who use it. Being performative, the paper then becomes its own report...a demonstration of text speak used to talk of the non trivial.
The argument becomes one of challenging what is 'othered'' and our own 'othering'.

However it also took a while because I was rewriting the abstract , both in English and in text spk.
Oddly i found myself recrafting the language, nuanced to NZ txt spk- yes it appears to be different to what transl8.com provides :)
And also oddly, while i word craft my english for look,canter, syntax, prose... and i found myself altering the txt spk differently - they are not identical, word by word translations differ! The look on the page makes me choose different words. And txt word choices also differ. No one writes "unnecessary" when texting; the words chosen tend to be simpler- its "not needed".
Then having a minor meltdown of how would i ever achieve the writing goal for the month.
Telling myself intellectually that last month would have been impossible if i had seen what wss coming, so this month- knowing what was coming- must be a bonus!
I then went through my calendar cancelling everything i could.
And set up my email autoreplies so i didnt have to feel bad about turning people down- upfront stating i would be writing october- november so unless a repeat email with urgent in the title line..." . Not being a speaker of foreign languages i never quite understood how word for word translations never really work, nonetheless this surprised me and was probably wasting time.
But for getting the tinytext sorted, the abstract needs to be sorted, and this made for a bit of a time absorbing black hole.

Then there is my artistic concern for what comes first, an English or txt spk version...
Still not totally sure, could be all in one version then the other, but which comes first...or could be an abstract then a txt abstract then article then translated article etc etc... and ideally it would be written in 160 character bites , the size of SMS...but at present I am just staying with paragraphed prose.

It is taking a while because this paper is less about 'reporting' but is a performance...so not sure if T&K's writing for peer review journals lends itself to this so readily.Plus i might be trying to do too much- write it for a journal and for a conference...it may be that this is something that suits conference (due date is 2 days away for submission) versus the journal article (scholarship condition- end of the month).
How to do both had me twittering with Pat Thompson (a very generous woman) and going back to their book- another section i skimmed but pages 170 is about this - in bold..."Never write a conference paper, always write a draft of the article that will be submitted for publication". Still think more was needed on this regarding how conference papers can be drafted and how they actually are nuanced differently...

Day 3 converting the already large introduction, locating this paper in a literature, finding its niche, posing the issue... into the first couple of pages of the article. This morphed (segued nicely) into the focus of collateral realities...

Day 4 collateral realities and doing difference differently...


So thats the content stuff above; meantime there's process stuff below:
Cant sleep, its 5.00AM, so Im up blogging about my writing, and reading the pages from T&K's book re conference paper vs article...
Am feeling anxious still about the months goal= 1 conference paper and one journal article.
Then having a minor meltdown of how would i ever achieve the writing goal for the month.
Telling myself intellectually that last month would have been impossible if i had seen what ws coming, so this month- knowing what was coming must be a bonus!
I then went through my calendar canceling everything i could.
And set up my email autoreplies so i didn't have to feel bad about turning people down- upfront stating i would be writing october- november so unless a repeat email with urgent in the title line...or unless i want to look, i wont be responding...

At the end of the month though I will be doing a writing retreat with a friend...wondering if beginning of month are better for these as its getting the stuff sorted that would reduce anxiety better.
Then again, last month started with a writing retreat weekend, and a week later a further 4 days of retreat. But it was the end of the month with seriously rewriting the paper that felt frantic.
Really wishing my writing could be efficient hence the intention of 'the plan',
as next week Im off- time to get capped for the phd which means a short sojourn in Melbourne :)

Write an academic paper in 7 days; 2nd attempt

i am on a writing scholarship where the committment is 3 papers in 3 months; i am in my second month.

Last month's goal was met; though the 7 day wonder wasnt. I remain, however, hopeful.

The best resource i found last month was Thomson and Kamlers (2013) Writing for peer reviewed journals. The tiny text based on the abstract made it very explicit where i was up to at any one time.

This month my intention is a conference paper that i also hope to submit as a journal article.
I have 4 more days to write the paper.
The abstract is written.

I have based it on Guggenheim's argument that to to write academically may betray the subject.
i have taken this a step further.
To write in academicese about txting betrays not just the form of the subject written of, but also those whose activities i engaged with.

It is therefore being crafted in txt spk.

Today i have not progressed it much; i have instead been foraging in literatures of textuality and identity; and in discourses of conformity, colonization and oppression.

I had naively believed that i would be writing of what was in my thesis, and yet there is more literature i find i am needing to call on.

However: Back to the plan.
The direction is an 8 page document with an abstract of 350-400 words.
Todays, and yesterday's goal: Write the abstract and turn this into a 'tiny text' = a map for the paper.

Writing the peer review article in one month

Its all but done.
The critique came back SEND it. it's damn good

:)

So i then mucked about a little further, proofed, expanded some referencing
Looked at how the explaining of the study and its ethics might be incorporated with more discussion or reduced to a footnote. Opted mildly for the first and decided there was another journal article to be had on sensitive ethics.
Updated a couple of references, expanding- and balancing the article.

Then got stuck into the formatting
And discovered that's not a couple of hours type of thing.

Took me a full day, a full 9.00AM to 11.00PM type of day, minus 4 hrs when i was out

And this was already a pretty clean copy.

But the instructions for the journal were not crystal clear.

So there was a little bit of juggling and time wasting in some of the decisions to be made. Beating the thing around a little to fit the constraints of only certain types of headings and subheadings and pagination, and spacing, and font choices, and figures and tables...

But its done (and i found a tiny error in the phd, of a doubled up tiny segment in one of hundreds of my references. Always good to know the human touch is there. I do so like seeing the humanity involved.)

SO its now sent off to the organization to check they are still giving consent to be named

Then it will be off to the journal, with a request for receipt so as to provide evidence justifying the scholarship i had been awarded.

This month felt really tight- am hoping that next months will be easier.

Now that my personal copy of Thomson and Kamler's (2013) book Writing for Peer reviewed Journals has arrived, it might be timely for me to read the sections (beginning and end) that i only skimmed before.

Next immediate goal... #nlc paper- abstract already written. And at least one journal pub.

Consider a further paper for same conference?
Prioritize other potential writing: positioning similar content but for the international scene, different variation focusing on youth empowerment; focus on ANT methodology; sensitive ethics; conference symposium paper and a conference paper?

Rewriting the article in the face of feedback

Sigh
Had to be too good to be true, writing to the plan did not work as well as i had hoped.

In the face of some very constructive feedback, i would say that what i had written was devoid of humanity; odd ofr a paper on counselling. Seemed i had become incredibly starchy in my approach, my own voice dropped.
i had skipped the first half of Thomson and Kamler's (2013)book believing that because i had found my voice in my thesis, lost it in the interim waiting for the thesis too be marked, that since the thesis had passed my voice would be back.
It wasn't.
I'd found this writing tortured. i thought it was because the formality of a journal required the sanitized starchiness of crisp linen.
What i'd produced was less attractive.
And then if I was reading it, would i want the sanitized. washed, clean,pressed version?
Would I rather have an article i could climb into?

So a week of rewriting.
I am happier with it.
Putting it back out there for some more critical review.

writing to the plan

4 days on a writing retreat and the article that i had mapped out last December, and trickled the writing thereof over an exceptionally busy half year, plus a weeken dof writing just before life got in the way, is now done...or at least a fully fledged and fairly sweet first copy.
The image below is the view I have been writing to today.

Taking the tiny text and writing to the plan is done!
Todays task was the fourth movement, presenting the argument that the data supports.
While its shorter than anticipated, its long enough in reiterating the components from the preceding sections.
The section was written by morning tea time! And then editted through to lunch. i think its time to get some external eyes on it...but may also check out some other web site advice on writing in 7 days from Inger Mewburn that i should be able to locate on the thesiswhisperer blog and also the writing a scholarly article stuff that i know is over on the Pat Thompson's patter blog.

All seems a bit easy today, too easy?
The article is currently at 5200 words and will need some trimming, word limit being 5000

Writing to the plan

The tiny text plan is working.

I'd colour coded the abstract that provided me with four major moves.
I then started writing to the plan, workied ok in section one, the why of the research. Got a little unsure in section 2 and began to meander as i am want to do. Popped in some headers on each page reminding me of the section i was intending to address. Then colour coded my sections to match the coding in the abstract. Much less straying.
Got into the third section (data and analysis) i started writing, however this was before i established quite how i was going to address the mess inside my head. Once i found a way into the structure that would leave a lot of stuff out and reconfigure some of the other stuff i knew, i was able to provide some subsections. This led to my revisiting the abstract, rewriting my intent to match what i had done, and again I could then write to the plan.
The article is now 3/4s done; pretty tidy if i say so myself.
That section was bigger than intended, but the one before it was smaller.
I feel like the balancing of weighting regarding the four moves has been reasonable, as has the balancing of how I've addressed the data.

Ive never written in such a delineated way before and it really is liberating.
Historically i have written me a river, then put in the banks and dykes when it wandered all over the place.
This way of writing is so much less wasteful of words.
Last section to address is the argument that the data led me to. I now know where to start tomorrow.
And having the plan I know that even if life gets in the way i can stop or start knowing exactly where i am up to and where to launch off from.

Where I'm writing on my writing retreat; the Waiwera tidal estuary. Not where the arrow points (thats pointing to where i had a honeymoon! Its for sale if i suddenly come into money... the pictures borrowed off a real estate company) But just across the road on the waters edge. Probably a space at risk of flooding if global warming raises water levels. In the kitchen are also instructions regarding what to do in the event of a Tsunami warning.

Back to the plan.... In just (slightly more than 7 non consecutive days) I will have it done.

Life is what happens when your making other plans came home to me this last week.
There will always be things that get in the way of writing, at least Thomson and Kamler's (2013) writing for peer reviewed journals us of 'the tiny text' as a plan sustains me well through the angst of picking up a project (the article) and putting it down. With the tiny text providing guidance I knew exactly where i was up to.
Nonetheless there are still trials and tribulations to be had.
To negotiate these I am now colour coding the draft as i recognize that i have a tendency to meander. Using a highlighting feature, not only is my abstract colour coded, but so too are the sections of the article. In addition, I am also needing more serious constraints to my meandering tendency so I have place d a header on the document so that I stay oriented toward the section that i am currently addressing.

Todays goal: get out of the focus and anchor section and get into the results.

In just 7 days; the writing plan span

The great thing about Thomson and Kamler's (2013) book on writing peer review articles identified that waiting for blocks of time may well position article completion in never never land. Instead they advocate the abstract as a tiny text through which planning of the whole article might occur. In subdividing sections, blocks of work as academic labour might then be delegated.
So far the plan is working. My next identifiable section relates to Reporting of major findings/description of thematisized findings moving to analysis (2000 words).
Given that the Gods seem to be laughing at me for making plans, I am anticipating this next section may well last into next week. Just as well i have another writing retreat planned- i just need a more settled life in which to apply myself- alternately the plan will span up to a week.

Having sorted the Intro, the Focus, and provided a semblance of an Anchor suggesting how the paper would progress, the next task is to Report on major findings, to provide thematisized descriptions and move to analysis.
In a nutshell to expand the tiny text that stated:

While this question (goodness and badness) not being explicitly addressed, a content analysis of some 6000 text messages is provided where skills commonly associated with counselling are mapped against the artefacts of counselling made visible by texting.

Note to self- tell them in a succinct way about ethics being approved also
Am anticipating a section of 2000 words.

in just 7 days: my journal article committment

Day 2 of writing the 7 day article has had to extend into a few more days.

Life is what happens while we are making plans... dont ask, but know life is always full and stuff always happens.

Meantime, seems there is no paint by numbers approach to article writing. I actually need to decide how much weighting to give sections, and in comparing my intro to the ones in Thomson and Kamler's (2013) book on writing for peer reviewed journals i will need to get more specific. I have a tendency to morph form bare bones to the history of everything. Time as Stephen King says it in his book On Writing:
“kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings”
Time to bite back those words, take a deep breath, and start slashing.
Seems i had a tendency to just ramble on.
My learning edge is #1 not to ramble and # to learn signposting (ie telling the reader at this point what the gap is, the niche for this research, and how it will forwith be filled, persuading the reader to read on.)

In just seven days, my journal article writing plan post PhD

Day 2 proposed plan:
The tiny text (Thomson and Kamler, 2013) of th abstract becomes the road map for an article total 5000 words

Thomson and Kamler stress the importance of not leaping in to write first but to plan instead so as to address all sections.

Not a "rocky horror": In just seven days I can make you a plan

Reading Thomson And Kamler's (2013) Writing for peer review journals has been a liberating experience.
Or perhaps the invite to join some friends on an unplanned, but much appreciated writing weekend.
Here's the motivational setting.

My guilt in completing a thesis but not finding writing time is placated.
I resurrected the article i had intended for the last ten months. I had already identified its readership, missed two deadlines, and feared being guzzumped on the subject i had spent 8 years studying.

Having applied for, an won, a writing scholarship and renegotiated many of my paid work place commitments at short notice, I embarked on a weekend's writing retreat with two friends.

Instead of throwing myself at the wriitng, i chose to sneak into the writing space, reading about writing as a motivational taster. It worked.

I initially found this book annoying, Chapters 1-3 on identity and voice were not areas I felt i had a need to revisit, so skim read through these. I wrote strongly in my thesis.
I liked what i saw in chapters 3-6. Seemed i could map the work- the abstract as a performance of four moves, and it felt comfortable- resonating with what i felt i already accepted as necessary. It felt affirming.
I resurrected my article, the abstract i had was too long- too long for its intended journal by 100%
Nonetheless I applied the concept of Thomson and Kamler's 4 moves (see Thomson and Kamler, 2013, p. 61)
The following is a synopsis of these moves:
Locate
Focus
Report
Argue

Locate: placing the paper in context of the discourse community. Larger issues and debates being named and potentially problematized. This creates a warrant for the contribution being made and its significance.
Focus: identifies the particular question/s, issues of kinds of problems that the paper will explore, examine and/or investigate.
Report: outlines the research, sample, method of analysis, - assures reader of credibility
Argue: opening up the specific argument through offering analysis. Moves beyond description and may include theorization in order to explain findings. May offer speculations but will always have a point of view and a stance. It returns to the opening locate in order to demonstrate the specific contribution that was promised at the outset. It answers the so what and the now what questions.

So taking my document (abstract and semi-written article), I could easily highlight where I had made these four moves.
I felt affirmed in that my abstract matched these moves perfectly. This in itself alleviated my unexpressed identity and anxiety of not feeling good enough or fear in being judged and potentially being found wanting. (My recovery from PhD submission even in knowledge of passing seems to be taking longer thn i had initially supposed.)

That my abstract was too long was now reasonably easy to address. I would still need each of the areas addressed so it would take pruning in each area; no one move would be deleted. This proved an excellent strategy.

One morning's work and I now have an abstract of required length, and from this tiny text established a road map to work with.

Instead of feeling a rocky horror of despondency, I have a plan, and instead of feeling fraught with knowing this month i dont have uninterrupted writing time I know i can establish workable chunks that are not too big for the times i have available.
This afternoon's plan: Draw up a road map chart (see Thomson and Kamler, 2013, p. 92) and establish the word expenditure section by section.

How to read a thesis

This begins my postgrad life, and my hopes of a post doc new identity; it's a letter to myself in preparation of post grad supervision, and is based on the experiences of myself and of other students and what we/they want in an examiner.

Read it for added value - not for the student but for the importance it brings into the world.
Read it for rigour - it does need to be clear, honest, coherent. The substance does need to be argued, the methodology likewise.
Read it for its ethical undertaking - its not ok to use and abuse others. Participation requires respect.
Read it for your profession, your colleagues, your students - the cutting edge of new research and of new topics is here.
Read it for enjoyment - the presentation , the wordsmithing, the empathy invoked for the writer if not for the participants talked of.
But above all, read it.

I am so grateful for my own readers/examiners and for the feedback received that made 'my' thesis better.
What irks the phd student is a read where a marker does not read in a spirited way; when what is provided is a review not of what the writer undertook, but of what the reader would have done had it been their thesis.
There is no point criticizing the omelette for not being pavlova.
read it for its promise fulfillment.
Eat it, hoping for its readiness while knowing it could be otherwise....


How To Eat a Poem
by Eve Merriam

Don't be polite.
Bite in.
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.
You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.

On becoming a PhD: just who is being domesticated in the writing

The PhD as a space for creative writing is sometimes considered risky, however if the coherence is able to be argued then creative writing can be included. This is a page from the thesis, it was written in bradley hand script over an image of a cell phone. The intent being the sense of closeness, the companion species that a mobile phone might be seen as. Studying materiality made the materiality of how work was presented important.

On becoming a hybrid
I got it as a gift, but I had to get it a sim card & establish a contract with a service provider, take it home, plug it in, charge it… Wait…wait…hours of waiting… Read the manual. Personalise it; choose my language (English & predictive test) enter ph. no.s (I’ve outsourced my memory). Send a message to family & friends so they know my no., set the calendar, clock, choose a background, select preferred ring-tone & volume. Try them all out. Reply to half the friends & relations. Set the alarm clock. Put in appointments. Phew. Look at the manual to work the camera, learn how to save & send photos, & bluetooth them to my computer. What is Bluetooth anyway? Read the manual online… Check with service provider about overseas roaming to send or call from Aus to NZ on a NZ ph., (0011649… need 2 check for service provider coverage, remember to keep ph. with me or risk my relationship, check for missed calls, oh & for unread txts. I hate the demands of why didn’t you answer your phone….
I become conscious of costs & having to feed it by prepay, & ensure its power supply is maintained. Learn to clear messages, sent & received otherwise it tells me “memory is full, clear messages from any box”. I continue to transfuse it with money, negotiate the credit card with the service provider, keep clearing messages, plug it in when its flat…
I still don’t know how to use it for email or internet, play games, or as a radio, I could download music to it, pay for parking, check movies … I discovered it can also be a torch by manipulating the camera flash, and it’s a calculator, plus a notepad… I’m loving it. It’s old technology already & I only use it for a fraction of what it makes possible!
Now I wouldn’t be without it; got my keys, my cash my mobile… oh and my charger if going away a few days. I’d be bereft without it, how would I get in touch with people? How would I know their no.s? What if I’m running l8? Or the car breaks down?
I’ve bought it a cute cover; to stop her getting knocked about. Oh, and you noticed the charm? she's just cuter with it on…. Well yes, I’ve had pets that are less demanding. Well at least the Tamagotchi & goldfish were, mmm the cats, well yes, this is about as financially demanding as the cat I suppose… but hey now me and my cell go everywhere together. I even chose my handbag with the outside pocket so she's always at hand while also having her own space…

I’m the one domesticated!

(And as for being domesticated, the computer word doc and pdf doc required so many more accommodations on my part, having to choose a font that would stay stable across both PC and mac was problematic- thanks to Andrew LAvery of Academic consultancy, that particular issue got sorted somewhat.)

Thanks extended to Donna Haraway who described stories of materialised refiguration; stories where metaphor and materiality implode. She provided the provocation to think of how technologies are not so much separated from our existence. In addition she provoked consideration for the realtionships we might have/I might have with companion species.
Thanks as well to Bruno Latour for writing in ways that demonstrate that freedom and creativity need not be excluded from academic writing, a genre he refers to as scientification. He prompts consideration for symmetry in the analysis of our relationships with beings human or otherwise, that they might be interrogated on an equal footing (so to speak).
Thanks also to Karen Barad for her writing of identity and agency reflecting ongoing reconfigurations,

and the sure knowledge that boundaries do not sit still.

Refs of specific interest:
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801-831. doi:10.1086/345321
Haraway, D. (2008). When species meet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Latour, B. (1996). Aramis: Or the love of technology (C. Porter, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Made in association

I dont have to be paranoid about the connectivity traces made possible in metadata mining made possible by tracing who connects to who whether on emails or in my google searches or on twitter or my texting.
Today's inability to make the remote control work (probably having been smoted by God for not talking to the door knocking visitors who just wanted to talk about the good news bible...) led to there being no pleasure to be had in ironing, and so i returned to the laptop. This provided me with four bits of twittering that help place my paranoia into perspective: The first from Joss Whedon: "Always be yourself. Unless you suck" allowing me leeway for my alter ego to tweet as some other cool cat...
The second was an admonishment to sext responsibly (not that i sext at all, of course, point one above not withstanding). Remembering also that when you sext with anyone, you’re also sexting with the entire NSA. #SextResponsibly. I guess in NZ that relates to the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)) and they sleep/share secrets with the NSA coz they are desperate to be liked.
The third was a reminder on the use of pseudonyms pp J K Rowling and follows a tradition established by others such as sometimes its a means to be taking more, or less, seriously.
And while such changes were sometimes to disguise gender (eg George Eliott, as well as J K Rowling) a fourth twittering I noted today was of changing one's name to fit in better; to make it easier for others.

So, if you ever meet me at a cafe and i pick up coffee for 'Sue' it's not that I'm stealing someone else's drink, it's just I avoid getting into discussions on 'ailsa' and "how do i spell that", and "where does that come from" ...
It is not only an online world where duplicity occurs with identity being masked at times, the real world is full of such activities also.
Or maybe it is just further evidence of identity being made in association.

Feeling wary of my digital trace; wanting to stay attached to my shadow

The permanence of this came home to me when i was asked by my smart phone to synch contacts with my computer. Suddenly i had thousands and thousands of contacts....every single staff member at my place of work was now on my phone (thousands in a University), but also it managed to do what I could not 9had i wanted to). It managed to data mine every single email address i had connected with for at least the last 8 years, despite my workplace having converted from one platform to another.
Personally i found this unsettling, not least because it meant i now had to scroll through thousands of contacts to find the ones i want on my person, in my pocket, in my smart phone. My choices: delete manually or delete by returning the phone to its preset factory settings (sans all photos and misic). So...I'm up to the letter K...

But its also important because of what else it brings to the fore.

Theres the mining of metadata- apparently its just who contacts who and when...but here it was used to trace the telephone contacts of a journalist who the NZ governement were not happy with in his reporting of how NZ soldiers were treating prisoners.

Here's a programme that maps the connections made of email contacts https://immersion.media.mit.edu/
And here's a news item pointing to how its more than metadata that is subject to mining

And here's one for twitter http://mentionmapp.com/beta/classic/index.php#user-mentionmapp

And there's the live stream on particular words tweeted here and a livestream of particular words being mentioned on twitter http://twistori.com/#i_love

For facebook there's the seeming beauty of knowing who, of those I know, talk together, that can be made visually apparent at http://www.facebook.com/MyFnetwork/

And at facebook https://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch
Here i found i could find:
Photos of myself and others i care about, out of context and looking pretty suspect... even when the photo was de-tagged.... not difficult if one does a friends of friends photo search.
A search of my workplace and everyone who likes the site "I fucking love science". Seems not too embarrassing, but still...
Then maybe a search of one's workplace, and all the people who are single, of a certain age, and gender, and who like a certain dating site?
All very possible with a very creepy facebook graph search....i know more now than i am pretty sure some of my colleagues would ever want me to know- note this gave me info on people i had never been friended with on fb.

Time to talk to friends about not posting what you dont want up tagged or not! And a reminder to check privacy setting. And to reconsider what you put into what actually ends up more public than you might have ever been aware of!
Here's some more on this http://actualfacebookgraphsearches.tumblr.com/

There's also a live stream of everything anyone in the world is searching for by googling it http://live.lmgtfy.com/
And an example of how such surveillance can be used for good in public health http://www.google.org/flutrends/
and here http://www.google.org/flutrends/about/how.html
Note the search precedes the data that would have been gathered by visits to GPs...
And in searches that happen where the individual might then become traceable such as where cookies keep track on the sites one visits and where this information might then be onsold, not only to provide you with targetted advertising but perhaps also to provide other parties with targeted information. Entering into a world where it's not just my use of a company owned computer that might for my employer want to keep record of where i digitally go, but also where such information might attract a higher bidder. What health insurer would want to insure someone who searches depression through to cancer? The inherent risk is identified here http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10895700 where 13 out of 20 websites contained third-party elements that tracked user data. Original publication at JAMA Intern Med. Published online July 8, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.7795 or available here for those without freedom of access....http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1710119

Given the current furore over the GCSB bill, a bill that attempts to retrospectively make right that the GCSB had been spying on New Zealanders on behalf of other agencies despite legislation that explicitly stated it was not allowed to.... so despite the possibilities for good or for pretty, I am feeling the panoptican Foucault talked of very heavily today.

geopolicraticus.wordpress.com
And conscious also of Latour's admonishment to beware of how one's imagination leaves digital traces.

The Panopticon creates a consciousness of permanent visibility as a form of power, where no bars, chains, and heavy locks are necessary for domination any more...

I'm feeling a little lost in a Peter Pan moment of wanting to stay attached to my shadow, to know where it goes...to know what further steps it takes when I'm not with it...

For all of this comes close on the tail of a shadowy moment where my lectures might also be filmed to be shown in my absence or when 'the connections flounder'.

So what's the answer?
Dont leave traces? Or if you leave traces, leave them by the thousands... leader of the opposition on the rally against the GCSB bill suggests CC'ing the PM into every email, now there's an idea...
And a postnote: this post has had so many more reads than others of late, wondering how many of them are by spying agencies ...

Flipping teaching in a flipped classroom

Flipping teaching is suggestive of expletives not too dissimilar to flipping the bird, and i am aware that i am writing this having become angry about the 'latest solution' to an under-resourced teaching and learning environment in higher ed.
I want to start by saying i am not adverse to many of the concepts integral to an authentic flipped classroom approach, but what i need to say first is that i am hugely averse to having smoke blown in my face.

I currently teach in higher ed where quality teaching is not sufficient for promotion but multiple journal article production is. Chasing the research dollar has become some form of a holy grail....even though the substantive part of university funding comes from student enrolment and the likelihood of gaining funding for research is very small (like chasing 1% of government funding that comes to universities for humanities research in Aus)
This shapes the pedagogy of learning and teaching that is/isn't supported and can be distilled to teach less and research more; publish or perish.
I do not deny research importance; my problem is when it erodes teaching and learning.
Back to the flipped classroom.
What i have had blown in my face: If the teaching from this semester is filmed in front of a 'live' audience, this can then be shown to classes later in the day, and becomes the resource for using for all venues in 2014 where there is not a 'live' performance.
See the problem? This is not a flipped classroom.
This is education being delivered like pizzas.
And as for the live class or the live lecturer, it actually makes no difference, dead or alive the 'performance' will go on.
Blow the smoke away. Take it out of my face. I am not convinced.
I am flipping angry.

If it is going to be flipped, it needs resourcing, it's not the panacea for having no live bodies for students to engage with.
If we havent got 5 lecturers for 5 venues for a total of 1000 students, each timetabled to a max of 2hrs a week and 6 tutorials a semester, in what universe can we have a model of 1 hr live filmed, watch it here or wherever at your own time and place, and have classes that are engaging with twice as many tutorials instead... where are the smaller class tutorials being resourced from?
Dont waste your smoke filled breath telling me i need a lesson in flipped classrooms. I know how.
See here http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/education-3-0-and-the-pedagogy-andragogy-heutagogy-of-mobile-learning/ and here http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/the-flipped-classroom-model-a-full-picture/ I am already enamored of authentic student centred learning. I'm not resistant. I'm just not convinced. And telling me to be quiet on education just gets me riled.
So
Repeat
after
me:

Pizzas get delivered; babies get born, and education is about engagement.

I am not ready to play dead on this, so dont tell me to be quiet. Talking louder or talking over me will not make this go away. The smoke and mirrors are not working. Take your obfuscation and shove it somewhere else. When you are ready to engage realistically on this, I am more than happy to flip the learning and teaching, meantime i do not want to further enable an already suspect curriculum where students learn from the hidden agenda that faculty staff do not want to engage. Given that 'we' make our realities, 'we' do not have to accept the dark side of flipping classrooms, anymore than the dark side of moocs. There is so much more to aspire to.