Comments on: why i’m in academia

By: Josh Hyles

Josh Hyles — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:06:25 +0000

“My desire to have it all means that i can’t actually balance anything.”

Thats exactly me right now. I just finished a semester and I the farther I get away from school, the better I feel. I have been juggling both school and consulting work since 2004 and I continue to struggle with the idea that I’m a terrible consultant because i’m stretched so thin. Not to mention that idea that my grandmother(a professor) was told by her university that she needed to fail some students in order to have an average or she’d be fired. I cant help but be frustrated with academia. Some things really need to change.

By: Michael Quinn

Michael Quinn — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:29:04 +0000

i know the feeling, so many worthwhile projects and avenues of thought, so little time. i too am guilty of spreading myself too thin and failing too afford each project the attention it deserves. It’s a shame really but i think its something thats becoming harder to avoid with the wealth of content surrounding.
In the words of Confucious
“He who chases after seven sparrows catches none”

(im not sure confucious said that, maybe he did, he said a lot of things. Anyway i stand open to correction)

By: Yeliz Eseryel

Yeliz Eseryel — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 08:44:01 +0000

Apophenia,
What you wrote came right on time. But it didn’t help me solve anything obviously. Looking at the comments, it looks like we’re note alone.
http://yelix.blogspot.com/2005/02/academia-vs-industry.html

By: infosophy: Socio-technological Rendering of Information

infosophy: Socio-technological Rendering of Information — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:42:46 +0000

why i’m in academia

apophenia: why i’m in academia is a very interesting and thoughtful post by Danah. More or less I could have written the same, I feel the same. Managing and balancing the industry experience and involvement, and pursuing academic path is not easy. But …

By: infosophy: Socio-technological Rendering of Information

infosophy: Socio-technological Rendering of Information — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:36:56 +0000

why i’m in academia

By: stephbot

stephbot — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:45:11 +0000

I wonder when we let go of the idea of “Renaissance man” (person). When did culture shift from thinking that well-roundedness and exposure to myriad subjects meant “unfocused” or “less dedicated”, while what could (in a Renaissance context, anyhow) be dubbed “narrow minded” came to mean “focused” and “dedicated” and “expert”?

I don’t know nearly enough about history, sociology, or many other subjects to say when or why this particular shift took place, but I’ve experienced many instances of it. As soon as we’re born it seems as if the binary speech begins. “Oh, she uses her left hand more! She must be right-brained! She’ll probably be a great artist but horrible at math” and “He has trouble with spelling, but he’s probably great with math”, and on and on – as if everyone is one thing or the other.

Likewise with so many other things – choosing “a major”, or “a profession”, or “a hobby”, the general idea being that if you’re not *exclusively* devoted to One Thing Above All Others that you can’t be *really good* at it. This enfuriated me as an English major – “You can’t write good fiction and good code! You just can’t!”

By: Gumption

Gumption — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:23:32 +0000

Zen, Motorcycle Maintenance and the Church of Reason

danah recently wrote an interesting and provocative blog post about

By: Terry

Terry — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 06:45:47 +0000

I can really relate to the way you think. It’s the excitement of learning from a variety of sources. I am a Systems Archtect who started out as a developer, but a few years ago I was seriously considering an academic career, but I like to apply knowledge. I read your blog because it is academic approach. I also read technical, business and social writing whenever possible. I like to question or be questioned and to “create” something. Breaking “rules” the magical sparks of innovation. You are a rare person follow your instinct and learn to live in each moment. Learning to live in each moment will balance everything out.

By: Jon Moter

Jon Moter — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 17:07:56 +0000

“In the meantime, i feel like i’m moving forward at speeds far too fast for comfort, continuing to balance on the weeble wobble system and hoping that it will all work out. Am i naive as hell?”

Well, It’s worked for you for as long as I’ve known you. I’m confident that it will continue to work for you in the future.

You’ll continue to play in lots of different areas, connecting lots of people, getting in lots of trouble, and creating and doing things that leave the rest of our jaws dropped in disbelief. And you’ll feel stressed and overwhelmed while you do it. But you’ll do it.

‘Tis the nature of danahs.

By: barb dybwad

barb dybwad — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 13:54:03 +0000

I don’t subscribe to the idea that one ought to pick one thing and do that thing to death. Bollocks. That’s the quickest road to obsolescence and boredom, IMHO. I don’t presume to know you but you so often read like the inside of my head that I have to surmise you’re as much polymath as I am, in which case, you’ll never be satisfied/happy/fulfilled doing one thing anyway. The breadth and experience of walking in multiple worlds is an advantage, no matter what ‘popular wisdom’ says. Everything is connected and, increasingly, the folks who will succeed will be the ones who can draw connections between seemingly disparate phenomena/ideas. Apophenia… right?

There are institutional boundaries in academia and industry both, and politics, and balancing acts. Choosing one or the other, for me, has never solved my desire to have it all nor made it any easier to balance – weeble wobble solution in full effect!! I think it’s just a property of me, and not a property of any system in which I operate. If you (grossly, but hey) simplify academia as the archetype of ‘thinking’ and industry as ‘doing,’ it makes more sense that anyone who desires balance is going to want to walk in both worlds, not the other way around. I currently spend about half of my working life in each realm and I’ve never been happier. Each informs the other. Each tends to get bogged down in its own world-box and walking between the two helps keep me from getting trapped in either narrow view, and allows me to cross-pollinate. It’s awesome!

Again, not to presume anything so if what i’m saying doesn’t fit, feel free to throw it out, but – i have a hunch you’re going to get yourself into major trouble no matter you do, danah. And that the million conversations/ideas/projects waiting in the wings will always be there, so it’s best to figure out a way to feel good about what gets done, and to enjoy the time that you spend, rather than beat yourself over the head about what’s still on the table. The 200 ft. banquet table that disappears into the shadows. At least, that’s the strategy I’ve been using to mitigate my own perfectionism and do-too-muchiveness and… it ain’t always easy, but as with anything, practice helps. I used to look at life as if there were a million paths to take and absolute disaster would loom if I chose wrongly. Now I look at it as if there are a million paths to take and how outrageously exciting it is that I could choose any one (or rather, several!) of them and enjoy it immensely, and that it would thus instantly become the right choice. Now when I pose the question of what’s more important – to be the best or to be happy/connected/fulfilled – I know the answer, and I know that focusing on the latter more naturally leads to the former than the other way around. Regardless of whatever that hodgepodge of personal and pop psych/metaphysics is worth, I wish you well on your journey.