Postponed during Covid-19

Following the great leadership example of Debbie Mayo-Smith (here), I too have decided to suspend blog posts until the Covid-19 situation is reducing in severity. Like Debbie, I too feel that posting in the present climate feels like I am saying that that during this health crisis, we can all pretend that things are 'business as usual'.

It is not business as usual, and will not be for some time.

Please keep safe everyone: follow the advice of your governments and health agencies, and I will come back to you in however long it takes: a few weeks, or a few months, or longer.

Nga mihi mahana (warmest regards)


Sam

• Reference: Mayo-Smith, D. (2020). Current Newsletter. https://debbiespeaks.com/newsletter-current/

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The phone is my servant

My mother always drove my siblings and I mad when we were kids, by saying "the phone is my servant; I am not its". There would be no mad rush for the telephone when it rang in our house: the phone would get answered if someone persisted long enough for one of us to answer it.

Despite our collective teenage eye rolls when this motherly wisdom was dropped, we have all taken the spirit of this to heart. All of us are pretty relaxed about the phone: so much so that my sister's phone message tells people that she never checks her messages, but if they really want to leave a message they are welcome to, but she probably wouldn't listen to it.

So when I read a medium article recently by Megan Holstein (29 December 2019) about how she has ditched her smart phone reminders because "I decide when to use my phone, not my phone", it was as if it came from a kindred spirit. She carried on, saying "When you get a notification, it’s the same thing as your phone tapping you on the shoulder saying 'use me!' Personally, I don’t want my phone tapping me on the shoulder all day. I want my phone to leave me alone until I’m ready to pick it up".

Megan makes some very good points. She suggests that we should ditch apps that keep reminding us to notice things that it thinks are important, and just have apps that help us to do the things that we decide we need to do.

The Smartphone has become somewhat like a religion. We are rubbing the bellies of them minute by minute, day by day, month by month... and our lives are being absorbed into them.

About two years ago I fell out of love with Facebook - largely because of the Cambridge Analytica situation - and largely only post monthly to it now (I also delete all my FB history each month). I haven't missed it. At the same time I stopped Instagram completely, dialed back Twitter and dropped Pinterest like a a wasp-infested apple. Not doing social media has given me more time for better quality reading. I stopped being busy for the sake of being busy.

And, as Megan has done, I too have turned off all my phone reminders. I also habitually turn the sound off on my phone. If I have the phone in my hand and it rings, then I will answer it. If not, then I miss the call. Unlike my sister, I do check my messages, but only once a day. And - unsurprisingly - my life has not been made worse by missing out on anything. If something is so important that people really need to get in touch with me, they will.

Otherwise, the phone is my servant. I am not its.


Sam

• Reference: Holstein, M. (29 December 2019). What My Minimalist Phone Looks Like: How I keep myself from drowning in notifications. Retrieved from https://medium.com/swlh/what-my-minimalist-phone-looks-like-c0fd0180b125

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Synchronising Google Chrome

I still have no idea why I had this problem, but I have noticed that over the past year, all my devices using Google Chrome stopped synchronising at different times. That totalled two PCs, one laptop, and one phone. I would notice the lack of syncing on one of the peripheral devices when I was out, then often forget to have a look for the problem when I was back at home base.

However, from time to time I would remember to do a search, but would run into a problem with the synchronise. That was: how would I know which version would synchronise across the others? I didn't want to end up synchronising a version of Chrome which was not THE master version. I wanted all the peripheral devices to be the same as home base; to set one master and three slaves.

Searching for a solution to this master and slave element took me a while, but at last I have managed to crack it. The master device is the one that is logged into first. To do that, we do the following:

• On the Master device, back up the Chrome elements we definitely want to keep by pasting the following address into our Windows search box on the task bar

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data|Default

• Copy the files to another folder. I saved Bookmarks, Last Session, and History
• Log out of Chrome on ALL devices
• Open Chrome on device containing the Master version.
• At the top right, click Profile .
• Sign in to your Google Account.
• To sync Chrome across all our devices, click Turn on sync Turn on
• Give it an hour or so, then log into all the peripheral (slave) devices.

But remember: do this on the Master device!

Sam

References:

• Google Chrome (2020). User Data Directory. Retrieved from https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/user_data_dir.md
• Google Chrome Help (2020). Turn sync on and off in Chrome. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/185277
• Google Support (23 February 2018). Is there a master sync computer among my three laptops using Chrome? Retrieved from https://support.google.com/chromebook/forum/AAAAmKCdEusdj5b85V4d_o/?hl=en-GB

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Windows 10 metered network setting

Over twelve months ago I had a laptop problem where an over-sized Windows update was trying to download, and was choking my system (here). As I have still not installed that ridiculously large 87Gb file, whenever I change networks, the problem returns.

I had a simple fix for the problem when it recurred: I would set the new network as a metered connection. This involved changing a fairly simple setting at: Taskbar | Notification Icon | Network | Network and Internet Settings | Change connection properties | Metered connection | Set as metered connection; and set the toggle to "On" (as you can see from the illustration for this post, shown as a green toggle switch).

However, I recently ran across the situation where I was unable to change this setting because the "Set as a metered connection" option was greyed out. I could not click on it at all. Clicking on the link immediately below it - How can I change this setting - provided no answers. Tricky.

I did a lot of googling, but, while Microsoft mentioned ensuring that the user had administrator rights - I do - there were no fixes which worked. I tried a registry edit where we need to change the value of the Networks from 1 to 2 (ie, unlimited to limited), but that did not work at all, and for most entries, I was unable to change the registry values at all.

After reading many posts, and a half day search, I finally ran across a single post which offered another way in. And thanks to Network Bees (17 July 2019), I can share that 'how to' with you. Just below the Metered connection area at Taskbar | Notification Icon | Network | Network and Internet Settings | Metered connection, click on the help link "Change data limit settings". From there, set your data limit to whatever the data limit is you require (I set mine as 1Gb for a month), then in the background data section, set this to "Always".

We should be no longer plagued by Microsoft trying to gobble up our harddrives.

Sam

• Reference: Network Bees (17 July 2019). Windows 10 Metered Connection Greyed Out. Retrieved from https://networkbees.com/windows-10-metered-connection-greyed-out/

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Creating an online platform

Image from The Haze (2020)

I was asked recently how a client could create a website. The question made me think, because really the first question is: "what do we need?"

To try and work out the answer to the first question, we need to ask "what do we want to do with it?". This leads to a larger question "what do we want to achieve?"

Answering these questions in the following order should help us decide exactly what it is that we want to do:

1. What do we want to achieve from the platform?
2. What do we want to do with it, and how?
3. So what is it that we actually need?

We need to consider what platforms might be useful. We may not need a website at all. We may need a blog. There are a few 'best' lists here:

• Top 10 websites (here)
• Top 5 websites (here)
• Top 5 blogs (here)

I created my own website using a Blogger Blog base. What I did was to take this course on Udemy, by Andrew Pyle, and to convert my existing blog into a website. I did this because I already had a static website and a blogger blog and wanted to create a website with a blog in it... so it was an easy transition. For the course, you have to (a) already own your own domain name (eg., www.samyoung.co.nz), and (b) have an internet provider who can provide and transfer your domain information at the outset. From there it works perfectly: and this has met my needs, simple as they are, for seven years.

To create a blogger blog, Google has great advice here.

Otherwise we may need a Facebook page. Or a twitter account. Or an Instagram account. We may not need our own site at all.


Sam

References:

• Google Support (2020). Blogger help: Create a blog. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1623800?hl=en
• Pyle, A. (2020). Web Development For Beginners: Get A Website Live in Hours. Retrieved from https://www.udemy.com/course/howtocreatewebsitesusingblogger/learn/lecture/147740?start=0#overview
• thebest10websitebuilders.com (2020). Best Website Builders 2020. Retrieved from https://www.thebest10websitebuilders.com/charts/2/best-website-builders?utm_campaign=ma_thebest10_en_thebest10websitebuilders.com_en-1_b-p^62998971828&experiment_id=1363406155^1t1^265330855643^%2Bsite%20%2Bblog^b&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7aPyBRChARIsAJfWCgL7jg9dCs14m2KIPTteRCR2gBu8PIMJBR_nue5Spa0CJz3WbBwlDl0aAlZcEALw_wcB
• The Haze (2020). Web Service Short Image. Retrieved from https://thehaze.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web-service-short.jpg
• top5-websitebuilders.com (2020). Recommended Website Builders 2020. Retrieved from https://top5-websitebuilders.com/best-website-builders-au/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA7aPyBRChARIsAJfWCgJL2OfBo8IAjC_-_s6rVdL7w2xV7V1_wNxSMzPS8a78akaK6i_qZQUaAgxYEALw_wcB
• WordPress Beginner (2020). How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2020 (Compared). Retrieved from https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-choose-the-best-blogging-platform/

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Running a Google Hangouts Session

If you need to talk to a load of people at once, Google Hangouts can be a useful platform to use. I use it when having short webinars with groups of students, as up to a dozen people can all hear and see each other, almost regardless of the quality of our internet.

There can be a few hiccups with setting up the video call initially, but going to Google Support (n.d.) here will generally get us up and running with a minimum of fuss.

To actually start a call, we simply need to go to hangouts.google.com, and click "Video Call". I usually just click "Copy link to Share", and email that link to my participants, just as we are about to start the session.

However, all participants need to be using Google Chrome:

• If participants' default web browser is Google Chrome, then they need only to click the link to connect to the session, and allow Hangouts to access their camera and microphone.
• If Chrome is not a participant's default browser, they can simply open Chrome and paste the link into the address bar, again allowing Hangouts to access their camera and microphone.

Its not perfect, but it is free, works well, and doesn't have the limitation of Zoom, where each call ends at 45 minutes. With Hangouts you can talk for as long as you want to.

Give it a try :-)


Sam

• Reference: Google Support (n.d.). Start a video call. Retrieved from https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/3110347?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

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What do we get out of Master's study?

I got to thinking about what Master's students got out of undertaking a programme of study, and did a bit of hunting to try and find some New Zealand data.

Firstly, I was lucky enough to find a summary of a 2008 supervisor survey undertaken by Julie Dlaskova and Romain Mirosa from Otago, which found ten characteristics: intelligence; independence/confidence; commitment; literacy/numeracy; Time management/organisational skills; curiosity/ability to learn; enthusiasm and passion; ability to think; hard working/ diligence; and motivation. If we count the number of elements minus the forward slashes and 'ands', Otago came up with 16 strengths or skills, honed by post-graduate study in the eyes of supervisors.

Secondly, the University of Edinburgh came up with three groups of strengths: knowledge; skills; and experience. However, they expand skills into an eleven point list: Independent project management; critical thinking and analysis; creative problem-solving; cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaboration; applying inquiry skills; professionalism; making decisions from complex, unpredictable, and incomplete information; being an independent learner; critically analysing literature; effective communication to a range of audiences; self-motivation.

Thirdly I found a 1999 study by Demb and Funk from Ohio State University about the perceived benefits of a master's thesis. They found that students were layered in eight developmental stages: "a) the decision, b) framing the research question, c) literature review, d) data collection, e) data analysis, f) writing, g) the oral defense, and h) finishing" (p. 21), which then led to a number of learning outcomes. Students learned scoping and literature to get to a question. The literature review taught critical reading, analysis and deep reading. Data collection taught interpersonal skills, instrument design, pattern-seeking and questioning, while data analysis encouraged tenacity and pattern-seeking. Writing developed audience-identification skills, evidence-focus, objectivity and specificity. Collectively this led to greater self-confidence, a sense of achievement and professionalism.

While realising that this is a once-over-lightly analysis, if we tabulate these results, we get some reasonably clear cross-over:

Otago	Edinburgh	Ohio State	Summary
Intelligence; curiosity/ ability to learn	Knowledge		Learning
	Experience
Time management/ organisational skills;	Independent project management		Project management
	Creative problem-solving
Ability to think	Critically analysing literature	Scoping and using literature to get to a question; critical reading, analysis and deep reading	Critical thinking, deep analysis
	Critical thinking and analysis	Interpersonal skills, instrument design, pattern-seeking and questioning	Questioning
Commitment; hard working/diligence	Critical thinking and analysis	Tenacity and pattern-seeking	Committed pattern-seeking
	Effective communication to a range of audiences	Audience-identification skills, evidence-focus, objectivity, and specificity	Clear audience-identification and communication
Confidence		Self-confidence	Confidence
		Sense of achievement
	Professionalism	Professionalism	Professionalism
Motivation	Self-motivation		Motivation
Independence	Being an independent learner		Independent learning
	Making decisions from complex, unpredictable, and incomplete information
	Cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaboration
	Applying inquiry skills
Literacy/ numeracy
Enthusiasm and passion

Where two items roughly matched, then I have assumed they have a place in the summary. This gives us a fast-and-dirty list of ten items: learning; project management; critical thinking, deep analysis; questioning; committed pattern-seeking; clear audience-identification and communication; confidence; professionalism; motivation; and independent learning.

There appears to be some reasonable cross-over. It would be interesting to do a proper study in this area at some stage, rather than a skim.


Sam

References:

• Demb, A., & Funk, K. (1999). What do they master? Perceived benefits of the master's thesis experience. NACADA Journal, 19(2), 18-27. https://doi.org/10.12930/0271-9517-19.2.18
• Otago University (2020). Perspectives on quality candidates. Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/graduate-research/study/otago404001.html
• The University of Edinburgh (2020). What have you gained from postgraduate study? Retrieved from https://www.ed.ac.uk/students/academic-life/study-support/supporting-taught-postgraduates/moving-on/what-gained-from-study

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Nations and Nationality

There was an interesting question on Quora recently, where a member asked "As a Welsh [person], why, when I'm from the UK am I automatically classed as English in foreign countries?".

A number of people replied to this post, including Scots, Irish and Welsh people. The general view was that this was ignorance on the part of the people who were inaccurately classifying those who felt they were misclassified.

My take was not an answer that would soothe the Scots, the Northern Irish, or the Welsh nationalists. I took a simple stance of global and legal national identity. None of Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Wales have the legal status of a nation. Go to List of Countries of the world in alphabetical order (A to Z).

Nations are a formal, accepted, global structure. We use them to pigeonhole people into nice, neat categories, especially for passports. The only choice for the Welsh, the Scots and the Northern Irish is to select "British" as their nationality, and the UK as their nation. Internationally, British is conflated with English: probably because this is the UK's common language.

This conflation is an interesting thing, and is not quite unique, globally. The Dutch are from The Netherlands, which is often conflated with Holland. However, Holland is only one state of The Netherlands. I am sure there are others out there (but that I, in my ignorance, don't know of them!).

Clans, tribe, Iwi, or ethnic affiliation are ‘informal’, and are not seen as being as ‘legitimate’ as nations (man, think Palestine!). I feel that unless Wales succeeds from the UK and becomes independent and is recognised as a nation state, there will be no other choice but to be viewed as "English" overseas.

Perhaps Britons can keep gently correcting people to say they are "British", if they do not affiliate with the English amongst them...?


Sam

References:

• Harvey, P. (16 February 2020). As a Welshman, why, when I'm from the UK am I automatically classed as English in foreign countries? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/As-a-Welshman-why-when-Im-from-the-UK-am-I-automatically-classed-as-English-in-foreign-countries
• Worldometers (2020). List of Countries of the world in alphabetical order (A to Z). Retrieved from https://www.worldometers.info/geography/alphabetical-list-of-countries/

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Leading a Focus Group Discussion

Focus groups are used in the social sciences, but are often overlooked as as a data collection method. Whether we are seeking market information, brand impressions, process clarification, or identifying roadblocks, a focus group is a brilliant way to gather the impressions of a small group in a short space of time.

A group facilitator can prepare a list of questions and prompts designed to tap into a particular set of objectives, then lead the group through the process of achieving those objectives. The focus group participants share ideas amongst the participant group, and - providing the focus group script questions have been well put together - the resulting data set can be far richer than from individual interviewees.

While we need a skilled facilitator, for most purposes, we can learn 'on the job' if we have done our planning before we begin. So when we are setting up focus groups, these are the things we need to carefully consider:

1. Objectives. We need to clearly know before we start writing our script what it is we want to achieve overall.
2. Script. We need to clearly determine what we are hoping to get answers to, and build a sound data collection script around those outcomes to ensure that our focus group is effective. Asking open-ended questions which begin “why”, “how”, or “what” gets discussion started, and similarly worded prompts keeps it moving. For a normal focus group we will probably need about 10 or so good quality main questions, supported by prompts, follow-up questions and exit questions. We need to write questions which are short and clear. Only ask one question at a time. As Humans of Data (11 September 2017) note, "Poorly-worded, biased, or awkward questions can derail a [focus group] and spoil the [data] quality". Prepare prompt questions such as "Tell us more about that"; "Why is that important?"; and "How do you see that working?" Prompts include follow-up questions so we can dig more deeply into participants opinions. We can also prepare exit questions, such as "Have we covered everything?" or "Is there anything else anyone would like to add?"
3. Prioritise. We need to prioritise our questions so we can be sure that we get all the answers we MUST have, and leave the 'nice to have' to ask later, providing we have additional time.
4. Length. A good length of time for a focus group to run is between 45 minutes and one hour.
5. Time. Find a time when everyone can attend, and not be distracted. Control the time so that people are not having to stay longer than the agreed length of the session.
6. Venue. Our focus needs to be held somewhere where we will not be unnecessarily interrupted.
7. Size. Focus groups work best where there are under 10 participants, including the facilitator.
8. Roles. One person should facilitate. The facilitator needs to control the tone, the direction and monitor progress. If we have the luxury, having an extra person to take notes during the session is very useful. And if we are very lucky, having a third person to prompt (or relate short examples) makes it easier for the leader.
9. Recording. Videoing the session is one of the best ways to ensure that no data is lost in the process. We need to get the agreement of our participants to record. Double check that the recording is both image and sound.
10. Rules. Set your session ground rules about respectful listening, contributions, and not talking over other participants; but allowing that discussion could - and should - be lively.
11. Thank you. Say thank you at the end!

If you haven't tried a focus group, do so. They are very, very useful.


Sam

References:

• EventBrite (18 June 2019). How to Run a Successful Focus Group. Retrieved from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/how-to-run-a-successful-focus-group-event-ds00/
• Humans of Data (11 September 2017). What Is a Focus Group Discussion? Retrieved from https://humansofdata.atlan.com/2017/09/conduct-successful-focus-group-discussion/

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Word Auto-correct and contractive apostrophes

I use Word's auto-correct function a lot, now having the shortcut in my quick access toolbar and adding my typically mistyped words. This little function improves my keyboarding speed no end. However, I have had an interesting problem with it for quite a while: when I add an auto-correct with a contractive apostrophe in it, it won't auto-correct. The correct adds to the list, but the next time the same error is keyed, despite being in the list, it won't auto-correct.

Recently I had five minutes alongside the error recurring, and went looking for why this particular auto-correct won't work. And - according to Brad Yundt - "problem is associated with the conversion of a straight quote character to a curly quote. The AutoCorrect is trying to work before the conversion from straight quote to curly quote--but the AutoCorrect entry for the contraction includes a curly quote. As a result, there is no match" (Microsoft Community, 21 March 2015).

The problem is that straight quotation marks get changed to smart ones, and auto-correct can't 'see' a match. That results in auto-correct not being able to process any contraction corrects: even if we go through the AutoCorrect menu and untick the "AutoFormat as You Type" item, "Straight quotation marks" with "Smart quotation marks", it doesn't work. It is, effectively, a Word bug.

At this stage, the only auto-correct answer is avoid contractions.

But hey: the problem has only been known for five years. No rush for a fix :-)


Sam

• Reference: Microsoft Community (21 March 2015). Autocorrect doesn't work with contractions? Retrieved from https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/autocorrect-doesnt-work-with-contractions/bbc19af2-d09b-407f-97bb-760610f3eef3?page=1

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