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University Cuts

It was announced last week that the following cuts are proposed at the University:

• 115 planned staff redundancies total
• Losses in the schools of Life Sciences, Informatics, English, Engineering & Design, the Centre for Continuing Education, and History
• Redundancies or reduced staffing levels in the Library, IT Services, lab technicians, portering and catering.
• Closure of Unisex, the sexual health and drug/alcohol awareness service
• Redundancy for 11 out of 16 of the university’s student advisers
• Closure of the subsidised childcare service
• Closure of InQbate, a pioneering high-tech learning space
• A 5% cut in Union funding
• Further cuts planned in early 2010

- From 'All the details so far'

The official position is that these cuts are necessary, and are given alongside management claims that the the student experience will be improved (while somehow cutting services that students need and reducing lecturers) and that the university remains committed to research. Emails which say things like "In a number of schools we need to seek financial savings, which will mean reductions in staffing. However, in all cases we will be investing in developing new areas of research and teaching in these schools as a positive approach to the challenges we face" are not helping matters.

40% of academic staff (below professorial level) in Informatics alone are due to be cut. Somehow there are also plans to increase student numbers in the department. I admit to being baffled about who will be left to teach these students, or how it could possibly work.

The week that this all was announced it was noticed that all large meeting rooms at the university had been blocked out so they could not be used - the supposed reasons having since proved to be an 'administration error'... Alongside other incidents this has prompted some to become concerned about the possibility the management are trying to curb freedom of speech.

The drama continues.

In the meantime, this entire thing, while badly managed by upper management, has served to move several groups into action, and appears to be uniting people within departments and across the university in a way that is truly inspiring.

Links:

• THES Article
• UCU
• Stop the Cuts
• Facebook Informatics Stop the Cuts Group
• Facebook University Stop the Cuts Group
• Uni Management on Twitter (spoof)

Research Methods in CSAI

Second time round and the Research Methods in CSAI course I lead for incoming DPhil students in Informatics is now over.  As ever the students in this class were a pleasure to work with - I don't think I shall ever miss working with those behavioural-problem teenagers that kicked-off my teaching.

We just managed to squeeze in a class in the CETL (probably my last, as the space is now booked up for teaching right through to January 2009) and had lovely talks from Blay Whitby (on research ethics) and Mike Herd the director of the Innovation Centre.

If I do this again next year I need to remember not to presume knowledge in advance.  I was astounded to discover that I had made the mistake of presuming that everyone knew the distinction between qualitative and quantitative research.  It presumed a lot of underlying philosophical knowledge that CS students might never have been exposed to.  My shock when I realised was tangible, and resulted in some restructuring of the course.

Now all I need to do is face the marking (and possibly spend some time designing clear lesson plans, based on my experiences, to follow for next time).

Survival Skills for the Graduate Student

I'll love any talk that opens with quoted music (Making it up as I go along) and some really astounding figures, this held very true for this session.

Shannon Duvall (Elon University) and Michele Pagnotta (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) ran a really interesting session on 'Survival Skills for the Graduate Student' aiming to give hints and tips to help improve mental well-being during graduate school.

The statistics are impressive.  From the 2004 Berkeley Graduate Student Mental Health Survey:

• 50% of graduate* students suffer from emotional or stress-related issues
• 10% seriously considered suicide
• 1 in 20 considered it

I plan to delve into those figures later (might be interesting for stimulating discussion with the first year PhD class I lead), but that is an amazing and worrying finding.

They started by talking through Michele's Top Tips:

• Wise Mind (make decisions you are really happy with, by keeping a balance in your mind between emotion and reason)
• Acting Effectively (do things that will work, most effective.  Don't use SHOULD.)
• Don't Worry, be happy (worrying is not problem solving)

And then Shannon's Top Tips:

• Focus on the Facts (don't worry about Imposter Syndrome, not provable, not a fact)
• Advisor Relations (ever-evolving, professional, vital to your happiness and success)
• Be Professional (it's ok to have worries and doubts, but don't forget to keep your academic relationships professional)

Further advice:

• Set Your Goals and document your activities and meetings
• How to Ask for things (Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce)
• Communication with advisors (ask directly for positive feedback)
• (Everyone was told to write down) MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS (ask, ask, ask)
• Act Confident (you don't need to be confident, you just need to 'act' confident)
• Getting Motivated (remember that progress comes in waves, intentionally take breaks)
• Get Going Again (clarify goals, prioritise and break down)
• Review your Work Schedule
• Gaining Motivation (develop small, medium and large rewards, guild-free breaks and cheerleading statements)

They gave an interesting introduction to the five areas involved in keeping your vital life balance (in order of importance):

• Personal Growth / Care
• Relational Growth
• Community Growth
• Spiritual Growth
• Professional Growth

You don't have time not to take these things not into account - they are critical to your mental health.  Keep yourself physically healthy and relax to reduce stress.  Make sure to attend to current relationships, it is a priority goal.

All in all, sensible and useful advice.  It is really worth visiting the Mental Makeover website, where they have a downloadable handout related to the session.

A lot of people rushed to queue to ask questions when they opened the floor, with more eagerness than I had seen in any other session so far.  What they spoke about had related in some way to everyone in the audience.

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* The term graduate is equivalent to post-graduate in the UK - an interesting difference and a grammatical mystery worth pondering at another time.

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Johanna Hunt
Official GHC 2007 Blogger
You may comment on this blog by visiting the GHC Forum

We Invent the Future of Interdisciplinary Research

I was annoyed with myself for being late to this session, as it was one I had been anticipating for a while. 

As my research is (rather wildly) interdisciplinary, and I lead a graduate class in interdisciplinary and group processes, it was certainly set to be of value to me.  Sadly the second half of the talk, the bit I made it to, didn't solve my problems with my research not being “computer science-y” enough, but then I think that is something I need to resolve through my own hard work. 

There were several interesting points that I leapt on however.

• You need to be stubborn.  To push a new field forward you need to be willing to go against the grain and not take things, or others opinions, as given truths.  Be willing to push for what you believe in.
• Fields move from 'out there' to interdisciplinary to accepted; cognitive science, HCI, AI, Gaming, Ubiquitous Computing, Bio-Informatics.
• It will always be hard to keep up with two fields at the same time.  This is never an easy path.
• Consider what your field is - how do the disciplines you work in contribute to this field?  How do they change perspective on the field?
• Read broadly, and remember to cultivate a network of people who can support you.

Some useful places to start:

• Design Research by Brenda Laurel
• Work on Ethnographic Interviewing by George Marcus
• ACM Digital Library and Citeseer
• Spinning in the library
• Anthro-design mailing list

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Johanna Hunt
Official GHC 2007 Blogger
You may comment on this blog by visiting the GHC Forum

Pausing for Term End

So I find myself relieved to reach the end of another term at Sussex.  No more HCT seminars for a month (after some very interesting talks and a lot of lovely cake), and no more classes to lead* until the autumn at soonest.

If I didn’t have a lot of data collection for my PhD to do then I would have some rest next week.  Hoping that will come the week after.

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* Although I do still have plenty of marking to shift.

Group Process

So today I am setting myself up for the spring term MSc course that I lead. 

The course is Interdisciplinary and Group Processes (previously Integrated Studies II) and aims to expose students to the practical difficulties involved in group interaction for software development.  As ever it has thrilling possibilities as I cannot predict how it will end up.  So much is dependant on the cohort that come in and how they work together. 

I am hoping all goes well.

Presentation Blind

Following from discussions I've been involved with around powerpoint karaoke, I've realised that a brilliant way to teach students about the perils of powerpoint would be to have them:
a) Write slides
b) Give the presentation (for which they had written the slides) blind and
c) Get the audience to design/summarise the slides that they think should have accompanied the talk.

Hmm.  Could be fun as an exercise in presentation skills, but perhaps a bit mean for undergraduates.

Research Methods Ends

Last day of term comes on Friday, but thankfully it was my last day of teaching yesterday, so I am looking forward to a nice month of reading, writing and marking.

We marked the end of the Research Methods in CSAI class with a very interesting talk from Alan Montgomery of InferMed on his experiences moving from research into business (via neural nets, data mining, knowledge-based systems and chip production optimisation).

I think that class went well, and hopefully will be of value to the people on the course down the road.

Compendium

Using compendium to modify the interactive presentation on technology through time for the CETL visit was not as easy as people made out.  My Research Methods in CSAI class forgave me thankfully.

I know other people rave about it, but I can't help thinking... Perhaps mind-mapping software is just not for me? 

Newly Integrated Readings

Over the weekend I finally managed to finish up a project which has been looming over my head for some time now - redesigning the old IS2 course. 

Now, done, and I am not just relieved but actively looking forward to leading this course next term.

There is nothing like being paid to redesign a course into something interesting.

It will be nice to have readings for the group which do not refer to the problems involved in getting people to use DOS in companies...

Here is the new course outline [pdf].