Using a key word diagram

I recently read an article by Aussie research supervisor, Inger Mewburn (aka the Thesis Whisperer).

Based on work done by Dr Jonathan Downie in Kristin Luker's book, "Salsa dancing into the social sciences" (good book, by the way), Kristin cross-tabs key words visually using the ‘bedraggled daisy’ diagram.

Inger was talking about her process in starting to find out about a topic area, and suggested first making a list of sub-areas - key words - within our topic.


Inger explained that, we should "search each one of these [key words] separately", but that the power lies in creating the bedraggled daisy diagram of them, like the image above. Our brains may then make connections differently, add in other areas, see different connections.

In the middle of the image is where our topics will converge, and where we will create our own area of expertise.

The idea is that we search out unusual combinations of key words: for example, searching digital literacy + anxiety will return us very different sources in GoogleScholar from information overload + procrastination.

Then we mine the bibliography lists of the papers which have some relevance to the area we are working on.

We end up with lots of information in no time flat.


Sam

• Reference: Mewburn, I. (22 February 2017). Using diagrams as research aides. Retrieved 24 February 2017 from https://thesiswhisperer.com/2017/02/22/using-diagrams-as-research-aides/

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How I lost my heart to Albert

http://www.imagechef.com/ic/word_mosaic/

I have been taking Dr Inger Mewburn's MOOC on dealing with the emotions that arise when doing a PhD, called "How to Survive Your PhD" - or #survivephd15 - on the Harvard MOOC platform, edX.

There was an assignment to end the MOOC, a final activity, which asked us to be creative and come up with a way to reuse, recycle or upcycle some #survivephd15 materials.

@debsnet, or the édu flâneuse, came up with a three-blog-post challenge called #HDRblog15, whereby anyone of the 13,500 strong community who had undertaken the MOOC would sign up to her GoogleDocs list and write three blog posts in November reflecting on the learning, the materials or the emotions sparked by #survivephd15.

Thinking this was a GREAT idea, I signed up, along with maybe ten others, who were ahead of me. I read the posts of those who had already posted (only about three at that time).

As people have been posting their links to @debsnet GoogleDocs list, I have been cruising back in to read their posts and reflections. One of the posts contained a reader comment telling about www.750words.com, which is where I am currently writing this post (I can't do the whole mindless ramble thing - read more on that here).

Today I found that there had been a post on @debsnet list that I had missed.

Each week on the #survivephd15 MOOC there was a Periscope broadcast to wind up the topic (that's more or less a smart phone one-way-ish live video beam out to an audience, except the audience can tweet questions back and throw love-hearts at the presenter by tapping the screen). The last topic was love. It had been suggested that we write how thankful we were to things we loved. There was a mention in the last Periscope session about Hanne from Hobart's "Ode to Felt Tip Pens".

Hanne talked about how she loved the colour of her pens, how others laughed at her love of colour and creation, how she hated lending them and how much joy they had given her. I caught up with that post, and left a message for her:

Hi Hanne!
Thanks for your ode - I too will have to apply my gratitude to the thing that I love. I think a post (of my own) is in order for this very topic. I too completed the #survivephd15 MOOC, but I think I only answered posts in the last week, I don't recall creating any. And, although I saw the Periscope mention of your post, I hadn't dropped in to read it. Awesome - thanks for sharing!

When I was doing my under-graduate degree I used four colours of pens - three in kinds of pastelly shades of lime green, pink and turquoise - to create my class notes as mind maps. I get the whole colour-junkie thing. I too was reluctant to lend my spares (yes, I had spares - it would be TERRIBLE to get halfway through a lecture and not be able to embellish in green!).

But then, technology bit me in a big way, and I abandoned my pens for another love...

Hi. My name is Sam, and I love my computer. I have never admitted this to anyone before. I would be TOTALLY lost without my PC (yes, not even a Mac. I know, how sad is that?).

My husband suspects that I love my computer, but I have always distracted him when he has asked me, and not answered him directly.

:-D

Then, I thought, there is more. So what follows is the tell-all, low-down.

I have shamelessly anthropomorphised my computers. I have Albert (my main PC, and my true, true love), his slightly idiot cousin, Norbert (my laptop, who while speedy and cute, does not have the depth of character that Albert has) and Herbert (my smartphone, who is really just a bit too simple, but is adorbable, all the same).

Interestingly, over time, Albert has grown, shrunk, had new attachments, got new chips and accessories, but is still, unremittingly, Albert. Sometimes I call him Bert.

He is a boy.

He lives under my desk. I love the sound of his start-up, and do worry if he is not feeling well (actually, I usually call my husband to check on Albert if things aren't right. I worry about his health. Albert's, that is).

Albert does things for me that no-one else can. He creates my posters. He holds in trust all my photos, my music, my letters, my assignments, my marking, my curated articles, books, links, pages and connections.

Albert is awesome, quick, reliable and WONDERFUL.

I would be only a tiny percentage as creative, productive or connected without him. I could not write my blog without him. I would not be writing my 750 words without him.

He is my profession. Thank you Albert.


Sam

References:

• Mewburn, Dr Inger (2015). How to Survive Your PhD: Activity Description | Final Activity. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:ANUx+RSIT-01x+3T2015/courseware/db2b871a078e455cb2fa43f78e5b362e
• Nielsen, Hanne (2015). Oh Joy: An Ode to Felt Tip Pens. Retrieved 15 November 2015 from http://represantarctic.com/2015/11/12/ode-to-felt-tip-pens/
• /771699afb7244bc787923d85be817b01/?discussion_page=1
• the édu flâneuse (2015). The Research Student Blog Challenge – #HDRblog15 – November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://theeduflaneuse.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/hdr-blog-challenge-2015/

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750 Words

Having completed Dr Inger Mewburn's MOOC, How to Survive Your PhD, recently, I am currently working through all the links and tips I have found through coming into contact with a 13,500 strong global academic community.

One of the tips I received was a link to a site called 750words.com (via the Debsnet challenge). The idea behind this site is that it encourages you to write.

You sign up, and then aim to free-write 750 words each day for three days. It's a brain dump of getting out the crap that may be preventing you from doing other things.

The idea is that you are not writing with purpose: you are just emptying your mental rubbish, organising the recycling, wiping your "to do list" whiteboard, pondering on the "why did I do that?" and the "I wonder if I should..."s, and washing out the compost container. Mental housework, if you will. Meditation for the writer.

Many people who have left comments on the site say that they treat this as their warm up for their real writing.

I have signed up for the free trial, which lasts for 30 days. Membership appears to be about USD$60 per year: the price of a US cup of coffee a month (update: though I bought a lifetime membership for USD$100 in December 2015).

After three days of writing your 750 words, you get some points on your board. If you keep writing for x number of days, you get badges.

If, after your 30 day free trial, you pay up and become a member, there are some acknowledgements for doing - say - 100 days straight. As a paid up member, you get your writing statistics, which will help you to decide how often you should write, what time during the day is best for you to do that (you can set up a reminder email to come to you to kick you in the pants), and to set other writing goals. It also gives you feedback on themes within your writing, which are very interesting.

I have only done three days thus far, but of course, I have subverted the site for my own purposes. Instead of free-writing, what I have done is write blog posts.  After three days of 750words, I am six blog posts ahead.

Not remotely what Buster & Kellianne intended.

But useful for me!


Sam

References:

• Australian National University & Mewburn, Inger (2015). How to Survive Your PhD. Retrieved 13 November 2015 from https://www.edx.org/course/how-survive-phd-anux-rsit-01x
• Benson, Buster & Benson, Kellianne (n.d.) 750 Words: Hello, welcome to a little thing called 750 Words. Retrieved 13 November 2015 from http://750words.com/
• the édu flâneuse (2015). The Research Student Blog Challenge – #HDRblog15 – November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://theeduflaneuse.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/hdr-blog-challenge-2015/

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Practice Practice Practice = Habit

My husband said about two hours ago that he was going to bed. Instead of thinking, "Yay! I can go to bed early!", I have been moping around my office trying to work out why I felt so at a loose end.

Then I realised.

For the past ten weeks, on a Wednesday, I have been reading and interacting with others on a MOOC. The MOOC was an edX course, How to Survive your PhD. My Wednesday nights have been #survivephd15 nights, where I have been focused on learning, on catching up with all that has gone on since the last time I checked in with this 13,500-strong community, on the edX site, on Twitter, on Fb and in sourcing readings.

But tonight is different.

It is different because the MOOC is over.

I didn't think I would miss it, but I do.

The title of this blog post comes from my old HR lecturer: it was something he would say regularly in class (along with his prescriptive instructions for us taking our notes "Now, take a new line..."!).

What he meant by that was that if we repeated a behaviour enough, we would build it into our psyche. We didn't build habits by not repeating the behaviour we wanted: we built habits by doing the work. Regularly. Often. Ad nauseam.

I built a habit: Wednesday night MOOCing for ten weeks. There is no more MOOC; thus I am suffering #survivephd15 withdrawal.

<sigh>

I am sad, and lost. Two emotions that we didn't cover on the MOOC. Perhaps I should tweet Dr Mewburn and suggest another course...?!

...so instead I went and read all the #HDRblog15 challenge posts. Maybe Debsnet's challenge will become my new Wednesday night treat. Or maybe I should put on my big girl panties and make my own entertainment.

But I want to keep the habit I have built, and keep working on how a PhD works, not just in it :-)


Sam

References:

• Mewburn, Dr Inger (2015). How to Survive Your PhD: Activity Description | Final Activity. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:ANUx+RSIT-01x+3T2015/courseware/db2b871a078e455cb2fa43f78e5b362e/771699afb7244bc787923d85be817b01/?discussion_page=1
• the édu flâneuse (2015). The Research Student Blog Challenge – #HDRblog15 – November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://theeduflaneuse.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/hdr-blog-challenge-2015/ 

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#survivephd15 Challenge: connect with others and develop ourselves

Having now completed Dr Inger Mewburn's online couse, How to Survive your PhD, today I undertook some reflection, to determine what I had learned from this edX MOOC.

Most of the courses I deliver have a reflection component to the assessment regime. My students are currently completing their reflections on their 15 week courses for me, so it seemed a good idea for me to undertake the same process to close my 10 week  experience.

My reflection contains what I have processed and what I think I have learned from the ANU team, the MOOC environment, and the platforms used, thus far. It can be found here.


There were so many great people on the MOOC, and I learned a lot about the vast doctoral and post-doctoral community on the planet. Thank you all for the sharing of knowledge.

As well as being a teacher and a scholar, I am also a career practitioner, and a member of the New Zealand professional career community (CDANZ). Fellow CDANZ member, Tui Needham, commissioned a waiata for CDANZ from her brother, Dr Teriu Lemon, in 2011.


I was lucky enough to be part of the CDANZ team who aided Teriu to bring the waiata into being. Teriu created a taonga for our organisation that we trust will last beyond us (Lemon, 2011): 

Ma te whakaatu ka mohio From discussion there will be understanding

Ma mohio, ka marama By understanding there will be light

Ma te marama ka matau Ma matau, ka ora e From light there is wisdom and from wisdom there is wellbeing


I love that link between the concepts: discussion | understanding | light | wisdom | wellbeing. That encapsulates what I have gained from undertaking the MOOC: a sense of wellbeing.

Debsnet, a fellow #survivephd15-er and aka the édu flâneuse, posted a challenge to those who have undertaken the blog: to "connect with others and develop ourselves". She suggested that we who choose to participate in her challenge write a post and share it.

This is my contribution :-)


Sam

References:

• CDANZ (2011). Waiata: Te Wharenui He Mohiotanga by Teriu Lemon. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from http://www.cdanz.org.nz/about-cdanz/cdanz-waiata/ 
• Mewburn, Dr Inger (2015). How to Survive Your PhD: Activity Description | Final Activity. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:ANUx+RSIT-01x+3T2015/courseware/db2b871a078e455cb2fa43f78e5b362e/771699afb7244bc787923d85be817b01/?discussion_page=1
• the édu flâneuse (2015). The Research Student Blog Challenge – #HDRblog15 – November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015 from https://theeduflaneuse.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/hdr-blog-challenge-2015/

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References. Hmm: how do they weigh?

I have been undertaking Inger Mewburn's edX MOOC, "How to Survive your PhD", and read a great question on the discussion boards by Benton Groves. He asked "Are many peer-reviewed papers overloaded with references just to give the thesis a pass grade based on weight?"

Cherry Stewart replied that she had been advised in her writing to take care with the references that she includes, weighing up how credible the source is, and how much value it adds to the argument being built.

Inger replied that both positions have value, citing Bruno Latour (1987, p. 33) on the subject of pure numbers:

“The effect of references on persuasion is not limited to that of ‘prestige' or ‘bluff’. Again it is a question of numbers. A paper that does not have references is like a child without an escort walking at night in a big city it does not know: isolated, last, anything may happen to it. On the contrary, attacking a paper heavy with [citations] means that the dissenter has to weaken each of the other papers, or will at least be threatened with having to do so, whereas attack a naked paper means that the reader and the author are of the same weight: face to face."

I found this comment really interesting: that Latour was saying that without references, we stand alone. Good point. I think most of us are more used to 'standing on the shoulders of giants' - and citing them.

Inger then uses Latour (1987) to point out that if the author brings out the big guns, and you want to refute that author's arguments, you have to go back and unpeel all the references they have supplied. You have to check and verify that each argument has validity, generalisability and reliability in each instance. You also need to check that the argument is correct, and is used with the original author's true intent.

You may also find that further back, the references all end up citing each other. This is something that today we can determine at a click using GoogleScholar, but that had to be painstakingly manually mapped in Latour's day (1987, Mewburn, 2015).

Additionally, some citations might be 'perfunctory'; that is, included because they are always included. These citations might be part of the normal framework of the field, showing the author's allegiances, and go, therefore, largely unquestioned. That may make them incorrect or irrelevant. But we won't know until we dissect the whole thing.

An enlightening little comment in a busy discussion forum.

Sam

Reference:

• Australia National University & Mewburn, Inger (2015).  How to Survive your PhD: Clear writing produces a fail. Retrieved 22 September 2015 from https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:ANUx+RSIT-01x+3T2015/courseware/312040b356094cc28839c22caea3b6b6/f153d38e5aba49069107a8fbedf363ac/
• Latour, Bruno (1987). Science in Action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. USA: Harvard University Press.

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