Its PROFOLIO Course!

PROFOLIO is a course run by the University. We were told about this course when we attended the Personal Skills Course. The aim is actually to help guide Research Student (DPhils) throughout the study period and for future preparation as well.

It was short, but good overview of the course. We had it in CETL, the CREATIVE LAB! It is a very very creative lab, one should go to. It is a project of both Sussex Uni and Brighton Uni.

They have projectors everywhere, white boards everywhere, we could write on walls and have them recorded straight away into computers, we were given laptops each for activities, and the most interesting of all, PROFOLIO created a PEN DRIVE, for each one of us, to ORGANIZE our work as a DPhils!

My honest opinion: I've been imagining this (of having a place, like an electronic organizer that contains all the things you need in order to plan your DPhils work).. and I finally got it!!!

YEAY!!!

I was sooo happy, and this I shall use at all times! They even have a journal keeping on it, website link to all the important stuffs, which once open has all the bookmark on it, planner like a diary thingy, and what else.. owh.. loads and loads of them...

I just felt that I am sooo lucky to be here.. (am I promoting the Uni?!?), owh yes.. for sure I AM!!! I don't know, but I just like it... the place is good.. and the training that I had this far, for 1 month of being here as a student, was actually really really great!

There's a lot more to tell, but I don't want to bore some of you... ask me, if you are interested!

But I just love the PEN DRIVE!!! Its free and its a Gig!

Elevator Pitch?

We had this short session of presenting/discussing ELEVATOR PITCH this week.

So what is ELEVATOR PITCH anyway?

This is how I understood it: A very short description of the whole research work that one is doing, but, being said in a very interesting way, as if you are selling it to another person. This should be done within 30 secs, and as its name portrays, imagine being in a lift, and you met somebody that could sponsor your project, and this person asked, 'WHAT IS IT THAT YOU ARE DOING?'

So, basically, you need to sell it, promote it, makes it sound very very interesting.. so that they will buy your idea! *do you get me?*

I find this exercise very useful, because it helps to make you understand better on the research work that you are interested in, and putting it in layman's word is not as easy as one could think of. It was very hard for a friend of mine, as she was very used to doing and writing technical stuffs.. however, practices is really needed in doing this.

Some quotes from our lecturer: When you meet different people, practice telling them what you are doing.. try different ways, and you will one day find the most easiest/suitable way to explain the whole research you are doing.. even if it is your grandma whom asked!

Anyway, just to reflect on what I did... I volunteered to present mine, and here how it goes:

"Can you imagine that one day, children will be able to control the c*****n their watching? Great isn't it? and bla.. bla.. bla..."

It was a good start, but anyhow, I continued with reading all the thing I wrote on the paper... which was a shame really... as it just puts people off then... duh.... blimey...

It was sooo nerve wrecking standing in front, and having everybody staring at you.. owh.. how I wish I could do better again... And my closing statement, was not that powerful, I just ended it without reminding them again of the good intro I gave. G.F. said that, I should have a good round up to it, so that, it will help people to again catch up with what I wanted to do...

anyway, good try girl! YOU GO!

Learned about Poster at last...

This semester, I have to attend this very interesting course called the Advanced Technical Communication. I was actually really looking forward to it.

This week, we managed to learn about Posters Presentation, something that I really like doing, well, a big YES when it comes to designing creatively! Yeay!!!

So, what was assigned to us on Thursday, was to walk around the corridors, and capture (with our camera) all the posters that might interest us and those that might not. There were many of them, but my mate and I just captured 5 of them, which we thought has some positive and negative points on them. The group mate that I was working with, has many years of experiences going to conferences, submitting posters and papers, and she gave me a lot of tips!!! Which I really really appreciate them. Well, you know, as a new comer, there is not much thing that I have experience before, therefore, having a friend whom knows in and out about this would meant a lot, you know.

And so, once the walk around thingy ended, we went back to the Interact Lab to upload all the pictures. The day ends, and we were to gather again the next day to discuss further on our findings.

Our lecturer had managed to help us in thinking of the bad and good points of designing a poster. She has soooo many collections of them, and put them up for us to see and evaluate. The workshop/class starts with ourselves gathering all the pictures we had taken, and in groups, commented on our findings. It was awesome really, when you discussed about it, you then gets a lot of amazing feedbacks and answers to all your questions in mind.

Being me, who measure myself as having a graphical/visual mind, I love graphics and images and do not fancy having words all over the posters. It is a bit biased though when evaluating posters, because I tend to like those with graphics pictures better. But I did try my best to be balanced and evaluate as fair as I could. Despite all this, I did find this activity very useful for myself, as it answers some of the questions in my head.

What was there in my head?
1. Do we have to have lots and lots of wordings on posters? I hate it! (I'm sorry but I'm just being myself... ;p)
2. Does being able to design beautifully would give extra marks for winning a poster?
3. What does it take to win a poster? Because I've seen a few that won, and it was not being designed beautifully, but, does have a proper way of putting things, like very structured wise. Well, I guess I understand why...

We were then split to 2 groups again, and we discussed on points of good and bad posters:



Now, that we had this short course on Poster design, it really helps to clear up my mind, that:

• Poster could be beautifully designed, but with improper data, would not be at its best presentation.
• Poster could be presented with very good info and even though not creatively design, could win because of its very structured way of presenting ideas or knowledge.
• Poster should have a balance of both knowledge/data and graphics images. Too much of either one would not give the best result.

So, people.. I really hope this would help you in a way...

GOOD LUCK in your Poster design!!!

I need to Plan my Writing.. but how?!?!

I need to plan my writing... for conference paper.. but how? where do i start? how to go about it? any ideas anybody?

i just do not know where to start at the moment.. and i need to present them tomorrow?!?!? huhuuu....

anyways, i'm looking at several website, giving tips:

1. writing your thesis

Some points from the website above:

People's experiences/problems/issues when writing

The practice of writing:

• It's hard to get started, especially if you're out of practice in academic writing: writing doesn't seem to flow as well as it did as an undergraduate. [did it ever flow??]
• even if you have experience in other areas, academic writing is different
• you feel capable of producing an acceptable end product, with adequate prose, but the process of getting there is painful
• feeling inadequate when your writing doesn't come up to your (or others') expectations
• [putting off writing, for fear of writing badly]

Handling the information that you gather:

• feelings of drowning in the literature, in the detail
• how to structure the ideas that are developing
• how you record and process the information
  • hand-written notes, or typed into the computer
  • write up papers as you read them.

Communicating your ideas:

• If your writing is too terse: possibly you're not explaining what you mean sufficiently for a reader to understand?
  - [perhaps the therapy for this is to show your writing to peers, or even better to undergraduates, and ask if they can understand it (and then to revise it until they can)]
  
• If your writing is too verbose: possibly you're not being clear about what you want to say?
  - [the therapy for those of us who are too long-winded is to show your writing to knowledgeable colleagues, and prune it until they are no longer too bored to finish it. Steve's personal ideal (not achieved) is to write such that I'm interesting enough to hold the attention of other researchers, but clear and simple enough that undergraduates can understand it]
  
• problems in structuring the argument.

Time management:

• when is the right time to write?
• should you carry out experiments for two years, then write up in the third?
• how should you structure your work?

and yes!!! I am drowned in my literature reading materials... to much of them.. to many infos.. and i am cracking my head trying to extract out the important points for my work.. woah!!!

2. 10 Tips for a Stress-Free Thesis

1. Don’t save data analysis to the very last minute. Plan ahead.
2. Confirm your table of contents with your supervisor.
3. Write an outline, and stick to it as you write.
4. Don’t reinvent the wheel: Transform your published articles into thesis chapters.
5. Create deadlines for yourself and stick to them.
6. Find a quiet place to write where you will be free from distractions. The lab is usually not a good place to write a thesis. Work from home or in a quiet place like the library.
7. Assign yourself a number of pages to write each day and stop when you are done. This will prevent you from spending 24 hours a day at the computer, agonizing over your progress. When you’ve written your assigned four or five pages, then you’re finished for the day. Turn off the computer and do something else.
8. Take plenty of breaks, and be sure to spend time with friends and family.
9. Get some exercise, eat well, and take care of your health.
10. Don’t work in utter solitude. This is not the time to turn into a hermit. If other Ph.D. students in your lab or department are writing their theses at the same time, consider creating an informal support group in which you can share the stresses of writing a thesis and have people at hand who are willing to review certain sections or even the entire manuscript.

A very good TIPS!

and 1 more:

3. Writing a Thesis



okay.. got to focus now...

Found a new Conference!

Very interesting.. as you go in depth on your research, you tend to find more and more new things, including new conferences that you could participate into...

11^th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs

July 9-11, 2008, University of Linz, Austria

Pre-Conference July 7-8, 2008

http://www.icchp.org

Check out this one.. if it is related to you... Very2 good indeed!


And there are a few more which is very related to myself:

CHI 2008
This years theme will be Art-Science-Balance and will be held in Florence, Italy in April 2008.
According to many, this is a very prestigious conference, and usually it is quite tough to get a place. However, if your paper is accepted, that would mean you are very good indeed.

IDC2008
This is the Interaction Design & Children which is a targeted conference for myself. Also a prestigious conference. This year's conference is held in Chicago, USA in June 2008.

I am very interested in joining this conference as my research clearly involves children and interaction. This year's entry is a bit of a rush for myself, as I am still in the process of reading literature review, therefore, I was not able to write or present any study as yet. However, I am still putting this as my target for next year's entry.

I have seen papers from the previous conferences and it is so exciting as many of them did research in the area of my interest. Many of the researcher which papers I read, usually goes to this conference.

This year's theme is "THINK OUTSIDE THE TOYBOX". I personally think that it is a very creative way of putting a theme. If I were to submit a paper to this conference this year, I would have done something very different than others (I hope), which would certainly be something that no one has ever thought of doing. Think outside the toybox encourages researcher and participants to think creatively in presenting ideas or research work or maybe conducting their research study in a different manner or ways. We might be very used to doing things according to theories evolving computers, but if the theme is taken into account, this would allow researcher or participant to think in terms of other theories that might involves fields of engineering or psychology or social sciences, do you get me?

Well, this is just my personal viewpoint. I'd certainly try my best to participate, if I could. Since, this year is a bit tight for myself to squeeze in with the time, I think I should join the conference next year for better preparation. :)

Cheers!

I really hope that the theme would be related to my studies.

Personal Skills Development Course 9-11Jan'08

This course was made specially for 1st year DPhils student. My comments was that, it was a great exposure for someone as new as me in the field of PhD studies..

We had loads of fun, like playing roles to solve problems, all sorts of problems, like management and being a part of a community. We played games, and our group won the first place. AWESOME isn't in?!

Apart from that, we did some questionnaires on skills and at the end of each day, we recap on what we learned so far.. basically, it was a very nice short course. Love it!