Eventyr

Abandoning the White Rabbit

And so, before I left for my month away from town I ended up asking myself what my priorities were.  I’d somewhat (no, not somewhat, certainly) neglected my health and my social life over the past year. 

Of course I blame it on my ‘white rabbit’ issue.  Friends and health fall behind work issues when there are time concerns (‘I’m late, I’m late’).  This is just the way I have always worked.

The problem is that I am always late for something.  I always have something I ought to be doing.

The immediate and overdue gets dealt with, the ongoing slips and slides.

When do you face you are doing too much?

How can you convince yourself that a reprioritising is necessary?  Give yourself some time back to play, move, stretch, chat, wander and wonder?

I wasn’t sure so I took a holiday...

And...

I only worked for some of it.

Y’know what, I’m even going to find time to write about it.  Honestly.

Sundial

In 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine gave a sundial ring to Henry II so that he would know when to leave the hunt for their love trysts. Moved by her love, Henry ordered his jewellers to make a copy for Eleanor – inlaid with diamonds and engraved with the Latin words Carpe diem (seize the day).

I realised while packing for my long trip to the states that I could not find my Aquitaine Sundial Ring.  I needed it to tell the time and tell stories in the desert. 

And so I ordered myself a new ring, as these days there are stories I cannot tell without it. 

Those Words

I woke up this morning with a sharp remembering.  I had forgotten.

Once the walls of my bedroom were tessellated thick with books, pictures, paintings, ephemera and words.  Once, that now empty space between the picture rail and the ceiling was filled with hand-written quotes I had lovingly gathered, captured, set down.

I would go to sleep with them and wake up with them before my eyes.

Where are my quotes and words now?  What was it they told me?

Words Slipping

And so my writing lacks depth, beauty, truth.

Or so it seems to me.

I see the souls of others, bared on the screen, bringing tears to my eyes.

I remember how I locked down rather than show myself.

I wonder where the me is that I kept confined for so long, wrapped up tight.

I look for my defended self.

And I wonder where my words lie.

Divided

I've recently been considering the Industry-Academia divide more and more recently* in the context of technology research and technology businesses. 

How can business fail to take on work done in academia, and how can academia fail to take on work done in business?  Why are they such distinct creatures? 

Prime examples:

• e-learning, where so much exciting work is being done by universities at the moment, especially in narrative and user-centred design.  It seems to fail to reach the businesses which create e-learning environments however, thus leading to a feeling that nothing is being done in this area. 
• In contrast so much work has been done in industry on things like TDD, pair-programming and agile methodologies that I find it shocking that the universities that teach it are few and far between.  I've known cs undergraduate students finish degrees without having even heard of such things.

I've seen it argued that there is a divide between the goals and values of the two that make communication very difficult.  Researchers value new knowledge ('that looks interesting') not new applications and generally don't work well in teams.  A good business would rate business value ('that looks profitable') over risky innovation and exploration for exploration's sake, and values teamwork.  Researcher's value dissemination, whereas a business would tend to value trade secrets. 

I wonder if the base language of the two is just incompatible, or if it is a case of clashing world-views.  Can people who work in industry generally appreciate talks given from a business perspective or vice-versa?  I've been wondering this especially with the girl geek dinners, where academic talks could seem alien and not responsive to real-world issues but where business talks could leave out important research and background knowledge, depending on who is listening.  To my mind the definition of 'someone who works, or has an interest in, technology' should embrace researchers in this field as core, but this does not seem to be so clearly the case.

I've become more and more sympathetic to the claims that more initiatives need to exist to bring the two sides together in collaboration, but I remain unsure as to whether they could ever fully understand each other.  I also remain unsure whether this is a failure of universities to move with the times and acknowledge work done outside of their sheltered world, or whether it is the business view that work in academia is not necessarily valid work.

It just, well, seems such a waste.

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* Presumably because I am an academic who is having a lot of contact with the Brighton new media community at present, rather than due to any exciting, or novel, trains of thought.

Damned Fine Coffee

I have recently started a piece of idle musing.  Do I drink so much coffee because it was featured so strongly in Twin Peaks? 

Did I watch it at just the right age for me to take up coffee and smoking (stopped for almost two years) because of all the placement?  And why did I never take to cherry pie? 

These really are important questions and vital for me to consider over and above doing my work.

Return to the Blue

The worst of the academic year is now over.  Not worst, just busiest.

I can feel my stress levels reducing, and am hoping to be a lot more social and a lot less tense. 

The. Tension. Was. Beginning. To. Be. A. Problem. I admit.

(Two pieces of work left, I can see the end.)

To celebrate, since teaching for the academic year is over*, I have reverted to the blue side.

Phew.

And relax*.

And breathe.

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* I don't like to have my hair dyed when leading classes of postgraduates.  The class is mostly full of people who are the same age as me and just as bright, if not more so.  This leads to a desire on my part to give them as little to judge me on as possible.  Pigeonholed immediately can be hard to work round.  I still remember Liverpool as a teenager, the busload of excited children staring and my abortive attempts to explain I was not a football fan to people on the streets. Things are different these days, but people still presume on first glance.

** I took a trip to see an old friend that practices shiatsu.  I hadn't been in five years it turned out.  I appear to be much better now than I was then, surprisingly, and it was a lovely calming experience (so calming I fell asleep).  All the points she mentioned that I felt strongly about were for 'calming the mind' entertainingly.

Rushed and yet not

Working flat out, continuous but relaxed, long days, long weeks, my promised holiday to myself melted away into yet more opportunities I could not miss.  Been a good month; have forgotten most that is not work related.

I had a birthday, lovely time at the hideous and yet fun Bali Brasserie.  Grateful to all my friends that came and reminded me that I had not lost them all to work.

I did a storytelling performance, stood up and told in front of a paying audience.  Wish I had spent more than a couple of hours in prep, but seemed ok in the end.

I slept I think.

I wish I had had more time to enjoy the outdoors, to bask in the spring air and gaze at the flowers.  Mild regrets.

Holes in time.

Festival Dojo

We are almost ready to launch ticket sales for the upcoming Brighton Coding Dojo night which will be held at the Creativity Zone at Sussex on 10th May as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.   Tickets will be £3/£2 and the night will be fully catered (a real bargain).  Public, students and professional programmers are all welcome (although some knowledge of programming constructs is preferred).

Further information will become available on http://www.brightoncodingdojo.co.uk/ within the next week or so.

My major question right now is whether I think people can learn a new language and the concepts of test driven development in one session…  Should we announce the language so that people all have the chance to level the field and then apply TDD?  Should we just emphasise the learning the language together and make it an exploratory night?

This question will impact strongly on how the coding dojo night will be organised – as we cannot guarantee skill level, language or knowledge.  So far it is proving quite difficult.

The lack of clarity of purpose has affected even our publicity:

 

I fear people may expect some kind of performance-art martial-arts display on coding…

Qualified

When I was little I always wanted letters after my name because it seemed cool.  I'm an odd type.

Yesterday I had the interesting news that Associate Practitioners (i.e. Associate tutors with recognised qualification) have become Associates of the Higher Education Academy, with the post-nominal AHEA.

This, when combined with the recent completion of my PGCert in Narrative Research from UEL, means that I am now Johanna Hunt BA, MSc, PGCert, AHEA.  One day my DPhil / PhD will come as well to the list.

I suspect I am almost qualified out - for the moment anyway.  The only thing immediately tempting my bank account is the Scrum Master Qualification, which I surely want, but will cost me over £1000.  Hard cash for a perpetual student like me.