Robot dogs and cyber-pigeons
Oct. 19th, 2006 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morslaI think I've read, listened to and watched more online interviews in the past 24 hours that at any time in my life...
I switched back over to working on the feature article, and have been trying to get a sense of what my two subjects are like - from the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean. This would be much easier if I'd picked some local researchers to write about :)
The article's gradually coming together. I ran into a wall of writer's block last week, unable to find a way into the story. Sometimes, the quickest way past a wall involves a bulldozer... so I dumped 15,000 words of research notes into one file and set about rewriting and removing enough material to cull the wordcount by 80%. Overkill, but sometimes nuking the site from orbit is the only way to be sure.
I've shifted focus significantly since I started writing it, as I really wasn't sure where the article would go when I started. I've resurrected four years of History and Philosophy of Science coursework* while doing my research. I've even started to regret never studying politics, as most of the 'technological' debate is really centred on information politics: controlling who can participate in a debate on scientific research. I can keep up with the discussion, but I have a swiss-army-knife approach to virtually everything in the Arts... I studied some flexible subjects, and use them to interpret everything else.
Now I find myself reading about installation artworks and thinking "that's cool! When I grow up I want to do things that empower people, giving them a voice to speak out on environmental issues." I also want to teach myself robotics. I think perhaps I'm getting more impressionable as I get older...
New working title:
Robot Dogs and Cyber-Pigeons
Armed with technology and a social conscience, a new breed of activist is making an impact on the urban environment.
I'm really enjoying the chance to write about subjects that I'm interested in, although it's damn hard staying focused when each story branches into dozens of different tangents. It's also remarkably difficult to write academic papers at the same time as I work on a feature article... old habits die hard, and my working notes are meticulously referenced. Still, it makes for an impressive collection of notes.
In other news, I entered a picture in a photography competition. I'd never really thought of doing it before, but I looked at some of the landscapes that had been entered and thought "those are nice, but they're not quite right." I'd plug the website in a shameless attempt to get votes, but you need to be a Deakin student to take part.
* One day, I hope that UniMelb changes their process for handling "unspent" subject credit. I have 150 points of HPS floating in the electronic ether from my old BA - a graduate diploma and a half, in fact. Problem is, I can't transfer more than 50 points into a diploma-level course... so the credit sits in limbo, until it expires in the system. At least the knowledge content is still getting used...
I switched back over to working on the feature article, and have been trying to get a sense of what my two subjects are like - from the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean. This would be much easier if I'd picked some local researchers to write about :)
The article's gradually coming together. I ran into a wall of writer's block last week, unable to find a way into the story. Sometimes, the quickest way past a wall involves a bulldozer... so I dumped 15,000 words of research notes into one file and set about rewriting and removing enough material to cull the wordcount by 80%. Overkill, but sometimes nuking the site from orbit is the only way to be sure.
I've shifted focus significantly since I started writing it, as I really wasn't sure where the article would go when I started. I've resurrected four years of History and Philosophy of Science coursework* while doing my research. I've even started to regret never studying politics, as most of the 'technological' debate is really centred on information politics: controlling who can participate in a debate on scientific research. I can keep up with the discussion, but I have a swiss-army-knife approach to virtually everything in the Arts... I studied some flexible subjects, and use them to interpret everything else.
Now I find myself reading about installation artworks and thinking "that's cool! When I grow up I want to do things that empower people, giving them a voice to speak out on environmental issues." I also want to teach myself robotics. I think perhaps I'm getting more impressionable as I get older...
New working title:
Robot Dogs and Cyber-Pigeons
Armed with technology and a social conscience, a new breed of activist is making an impact on the urban environment.
I'm really enjoying the chance to write about subjects that I'm interested in, although it's damn hard staying focused when each story branches into dozens of different tangents. It's also remarkably difficult to write academic papers at the same time as I work on a feature article... old habits die hard, and my working notes are meticulously referenced. Still, it makes for an impressive collection of notes.
In other news, I entered a picture in a photography competition. I'd never really thought of doing it before, but I looked at some of the landscapes that had been entered and thought "those are nice, but they're not quite right." I'd plug the website in a shameless attempt to get votes, but you need to be a Deakin student to take part.
* One day, I hope that UniMelb changes their process for handling "unspent" subject credit. I have 150 points of HPS floating in the electronic ether from my old BA - a graduate diploma and a half, in fact. Problem is, I can't transfer more than 50 points into a diploma-level course... so the credit sits in limbo, until it expires in the system. At least the knowledge content is still getting used...
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-19 02:15 pm (UTC)Of course, they wouldn't need to know how that tied in with my gaming goals...just pay for it :)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-19 10:01 pm (UTC)Swinburne definitely has a Technical Writing course, and the uni is the home of the Victorian Technical Writers Association. RMIT also teaches writing and editing. If Cam shows up to Mind Games tonight, I'll ask him about it - he did it a couple of years ago.
How far-sighted is your boss? Is he/she likely to realise that a web developer who can produce and edit copy is likely to price themself way out of reach of their current job? :)
CSIRO used to pay for lots of training courses for the workshop staff, until they realised that every single person who got asbestos removal qualifications resigned and started doing contract work...
no subject
Date: 2006-10-19 10:04 pm (UTC)Cheers, I'll google up the CAE and Swinburne courses.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-19 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-19 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-19 11:56 pm (UTC)technology and the urban
Date: 2006-10-26 06:45 am (UTC)I don't know the focus of your article, of course, but there is a lot of overlap theoretically between technology and its effects on urban space, and people inhabiting urban space.
(this is why I want to do some theory tutoring next year!)
Re: technology and the urban
Date: 2006-10-28 08:42 am (UTC)I think I'll have to run with what I've got so far, though - the essay's already late, and I have a bad habit of running after shiny new ideas instead of finishing what I've started...
Re: technology and the urban
Date: 2006-10-30 12:23 am (UTC)see ya.