It is very unsettling to go to a brainstorming dinner concerning a game that you play and note that the researcher has a copy of your thesis with her without even realizing who you are.
Daily Archives: May 20, 2003
blogging your personal life
There is nothing more aggrevating than reading about your personal life on someone else’s public site or blog. Privacy issues, trust issues, social context… my general rant. Of course, tell this to teenagers or others who are determined to publicly describe everything, regardless of the social/political implications. Mommy always told us never to say bad things about others. As frustrating as it is, this is another one of those things where mommy knows best and yet we don’t listen to her because we need to find out ourselves. And once we do, we tend not to publicly post cruel things about others… well, most of us learn our lessons anyhow.
The thing about posting things to the web is that it’s not like general gossip or public ridicule. This will go down on your permanent record. A google search will resurrect the most sordid bits about you and because you didn’t put them into the public domain in the first place, guess what? You can’t remove them!
This change in structure is going to be quite fascinating… how will current teenagers be impacted by their momentary decisions to post flames about one another on their live journals? I’m very fascinated to see what coping mechanisms evolve for searchable identities.
In the meantime, i’m enjoying all of the articles commenting on this social phenomenon. This week: NYTimes: Dating a Blogger, Reading All About It
smart mobbed
replacing spinal discs
Research into replacing spinal discs has been underway for a while, but it appears as though it is working. They haven’t really gotten as far as neck discs, but more work is underway. Oooh… Maybe one day i’ll be able to ski and play frisbee. Oooh….
dullest blog out there
While folks are constantly trying to create interesting blogs for others to read, this man is creating one that is as dull as possible.
what is research?
Something that i heard recently has been wriggling through my brain, resonating because it’s quite true. Corporate research once flourished in computer-related industry, producing immense amounts of intellectual property and great ideas. So many people that i knew flocked to research centers like Bell Labs, Xerox Parc and Interval instead of entering academia. Such research centers brought in the best and the brightest and so many amazing inventions came from there. Lately, it seems, corporate research centers are disappearing, or fading. Certainly, the economy is tight, but it’s still sad. Yet, it was noted that academia is producing more and more intellectual property and what is now needed is not separate research centers, but folks to bring together all of the emerging research, to bridge connections, to maintain the social networks of academia and industry, to connect two very different approaches to research.
I often wonder what my role in research is, why i’m doing what i’m doing and what i would excel at. Somehow, i think that if research is evolving to be about building connections, relationships, stringing together ideas… i’d be good at that. And i have to admit, i’d enjoy it…