Odd Inspirations

I've always been someone who admires a vocation. Both my parents work in jobs which mean a lot to them, which are somewhat integral to their identity, and I'm a bit of a chip off the old block. I suppose it's very few people who aspire to a career in academia for the money though, so perhaps my rose-tinted vocational hopes are nothing new!

Despite truly enjoying the notion of academe, and appreciating the small joys of researching (like reading an article and finally 'clicking' on a topic, or figuring out what it is you're actually trying to say)- I sometimes get a little stuck in a rut. Especially after a break in work (I've just been up helping my dad with the lambing) I find it difficult to get my head in the right space to want to work. And I'm one of those people who has to really want to do it for anything I do to be of any good.

I have a few odd inspirations for these times, when I need to remember what it feels like to learn for the sake of learning. I think perhaps I'm a bit of a romantic, but almost all of my favourite inspirational characters are fictional! What's handy about this though, is that it's inspiration on tap- when real people are your inspiration you can't just watch a video of them 'being inspirational'!

Inspiration One- Inspector Morse / Detective Hathaway

Inspector Morse is the title character of an English murder mystery book/TV show- He's the one on the left. Morse travels around the ancient colleges of Oxford, solving murders from the comfort of his vintage Jag. I know, you're sold already, right.

The cruising around isn't what sells Morse as an inspirational character- He is the archetypal thinker. He doesn't just 'think on the go' Morse has to be in the right sort of situation to do his mystery solving. One of the places he thinks is the pub (he's a bit of a functioning alcoholic), but the other place he thinks is at home, in a wingback armchair (or something of that style) playing classical music VERY LOUD. 

On spotify my 'lit reviewing' playlist is all classical music. Whenever I put it on it makes me think of Morse - Striding around the hallowed quadrangles of Trinity or Merton, solving crimes because he can and he should.  

Oh, and when he's at a dead end he drinks single malt whisky, like me. 

And, FYI, Detective Hathaway is the extraordinarily handsome sidekick of Inspector Lewis (the new Inspector Morse) who is incredibly intelligent, gave up being a monk to work in the police and is absolutely fantastic inspiration AND eye-candy.

Hermione Granger 

A bit of an odd choice, I know. It's not so much Hermione herself as the whole ethic of learning at Hogwarts, and I know that's not really any better!

I've always loved Harry Potter. Unashamedly. Last year, one of my first actions as PG President was to throw a Harry Potter night in the Union, and I went ALL OUT. Cauldron cakes, smoke machines, quill pens for the quiz, full Bellatrix dress and teeny Le Crueset cauldrons for the quiz champions!

I love lots of things about Harry Potter, although my biggest love comes for the castle- The quadrangles, the towers, the hidden doorways and the extravagant staff quarters (were we all that lucky!). One of the 'stars of the show' as far as Hogwarts goes has to be the library. I love libraries, you remember the nice picture of the library I did in that other post about academic narratives.

It isn't so much the architecture of the Hogwarts library though, it's the shots of everyone beavering away for their exams, learning spells and memorising magical creatures and working together. As I spoke about in the aforementioned post, our library is (externally) a relic from a boxier age. What somewhat makes it a little worse (although understandable) is that they keep sacrificing shelf space for study desks. However- even when I walk in their and go up to the silent floors I still feel motivated. It's as if it's not just me working away on my PhD, but we're all engaged in the collective endeavour of academia.

But, when you're at home and you can't exactly pack up 40 books and head 3 miles into the library - Sometimes a Harry Potter hit has to suffice!

Don't worry- I have lots of other embarassing inspirations, but I don't have any more time!

Odd Inspirations

I've always been someone who admires a vocation. Both my parents work in jobs which mean a lot to them, which are somewhat integral to their identity, and I'm a bit of a chip off the old block. I suppose it's very few people who aspire to a career in academia for the money though, so perhaps my rose-tinted vocational hopes are nothing new!

Despite truly enjoying the notion of academe, and appreciating the small joys of researching (like reading an article and finally 'clicking' on a topic, or figuring out what it is you're actually trying to say)- I sometimes get a little stuck in a rut. Especially after a break in work (I've just been up helping my dad with the lambing) I find it difficult to get my head in the right space to want to work. And I'm one of those people who has to really want to do it for anything I do to be of any good.

I have a few odd inspirations for these times, when I need to remember what it feels like to learn for the sake of learning. I think perhaps I'm a bit of a romantic, but almost all of my favourite inspirational characters are fictional! What's handy about this though, is that it's inspiration on tap- when real people are your inspiration you can't just watch a video of them 'being inspirational'!

Inspiration One- Inspector Morse / Detective Hathaway

Inspector Morse is the title character of an English murder mystery book/TV show- He's the one on the left. Morse travels around the ancient colleges of Oxford, solving murders from the comfort of his vintage Jag. I know, you're sold already, right.

The cruising around isn't what sells Morse as an inspirational character- He is the archetypal thinker. He doesn't just 'think on the go' Morse has to be in the right sort of situation to do his mystery solving. One of the places he thinks is the pub (he's a bit of a functioning alcoholic), but the other place he thinks is at home, in a wingback armchair (or something of that style) playing classical music VERY LOUD. 

On spotify my 'lit reviewing' playlist is all classical music. Whenever I put it on it makes me think of Morse - Striding around the hallowed quadrangles of Trinity or Merton, solving crimes because he can and he should.  

Oh, and when he's at a dead end he drinks single malt whisky, like me. 

Hermione Granger 

A bit of an odd choice, I know. It's not so much Hermione herself as the whole ethic of learning at Hogwarts, and I know that's not really any better!

I've always loved Harry Potter. Unashamedly. Last year, one of my first actions as PG President was to throw a Harry Potter night in the Union, and I went ALL OUT. Cauldron cakes, smoke machines, quill pens for the quiz, full Bellatrix dress and teeny Le Crueset cauldrons for the quiz champions!

I love lots of things about Harry Potter, although my biggest love comes for the castle- The quadrangles, the towers, the hidden doorways and the extravagant staff quarters (were we all that lucky!). One of the 'stars of the show' as far as Hogwarts goes has to be the library. I love libraries, you remember the nice picture of the library I did in that other post about academic narratives.

It isn't so much the architecture of the Hogwarts library though, it's the shots of everyone beavering away for their exams, learning spells and memorising magical creatures and working together. As I spoke about in the aforementioned post, our library is (externally) a relic from a boxier age. What somewhat makes it a little worse (although understandable) is that they keep sacrificing shelf space for study desks. However- even when I walk in their and go up to the silent floors I still feel motivated. It's as if it's not just me working away on my PhD, but we're all engaged in the collective endeavour of academia.

But, when you're at home and you can't exactly pack up 40 books and head 3 miles into the library - Sometimes a Harry Potter hit has to suffice!

Don't worry- I have lots of other embarassing inspirations, but I don't have any more time!

Presenters Block

I've heard of writers block. But presenters block?

I'm supposed to be talking about my research to a group of peers at an informal seminar series tomorrow afternoon. I'll be presenting alongside my friend Susie, who is a final year student in Social Anthropology doing an ethnography of UK fashion bloggers (you can read her blog here, it's really good). She has a very interesting topic, so I figure I'm going to need to up my game a little from the usual 'upgrade/annualreview-like' presentations I do.

I feel rather like I spent two and a half years trying to take a research project that originated in real-world practicalities (how can we measure value in the theatre industry) and turn it into a legitimate academic problem.

The only problem is that I'm now left with a fairly narrowly defined contribution in relative terms, which I feel doesn't really resonate with people outside of my direct field- Unless I'm mistaken and the blank looks are of shock into how interesting it all is...

So now, it's time to go backwards again. To care perhaps a little less about the entymology of every single word I use for fear it will be the stray cigarette which starts the raging wildfire which destroys my academic credibility in front of a room of peers and possible future employers. Or something like that.

God. Twenty minutes is nothing. I'm sure I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be.

Spring 2011 - A Year in Pictures

One of the odd things about doing a PhD is the way time passes. When I decided to do a "Year in Pictures" post I thought it would be pretty simple. I thought that it would be simple to track down what I was doing a year ago, that it wouldn't be that distant in my memory. Ha!

Despite the fact I firmly feel that I haven't accomplished that much work over the last 12 months (unrealistic self-expectations), when I look back it's absolute madness to see how much everything has changed!

January
Last January saw my first conference co-submission success when we sent in a paper for the Academy of Management conference in San Antonio, Texas, and were accepted. I also presented at the Institute for Capitalising on Creativity colloqium, where I tried out some material for a later conference on 'Art for Art's Sake'.

January was beautiful, all the sun we didn't get in August

January 2011 was pretty darn busy!

Outside of my PhD work, I was skiing pretty much every week at Glenshee, despite a still unresolved vascular problem in my lower legs/feet that had stopped me running three months beforehand. It was good times, I finally nailed my carved turns and the snow was Alpine for most of the season.

It was beautiful at Cairngorm in January

Also, there was the small issue of the acquisition of the iPad, which has to be the purchase of a century!

February

February saw me continue with my reviewing for a theatre blog (theatreinscotland.co.uk) when I went along to Peter Pan on Ice. The Merchant of Venice it was not, but the experience of being a (amateur) critic over the 6 months that I was reviewing really helped me get to grips with the notion of artistic criticism for my thesis. You can read my February review here.

The not-at-all-airbrushed stars of Peter Pan on Ice

Also in February, my colleague Gail and I went down to Warwick Business School to hear Hari Tsoukas speak on organisational epistemology. I really admire the clarity of thought with which Hari presents his analyses of knowledge in organising, both in content and style. For a while I really hoped I might be able to ask him to be the external on my thesis, but I got a bit starstruck when we were down and didn't speak to him, so I think it might be a little odd to ask now!

Apart from these things, February saw me continuing on my fieldwork with Dundee Rep, and auditing the great module "Sociology of Finance" which was being given by Philip Roscoe, a lecturer at the School of Management who is one on Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers. Although, I should point out that, since he wasn't announced as a NGT at that point, technically I discovered him...

March
Although March started off pretty quietly, it soon got going on both the work and non-work fronts. David Sims, Emeritus at Cass Business School, came up to work with us on a couple of papers we were writing at the time. We had a great couple of days shut up in the basement of the Gateway building, chucking around ideas (and really bad puns) on the topic of improvisation.

Alas, however, this is a pictures post, and, as the weather in March improved dramatically for a time, most of my pictures are from out of door activities!

Michael and I went to see Scotland kicking Italy's ass at Murrayfield

The ground was finally hard enough to gallop around!

And the views were pretty good from above St Andrews

And, they weren't too bad from Maxies above the Grassmarket in Edinburgh either

April

After months of planning, and checking flights, and re-checking flights, and booking hotels, and restaurants... The Managing Music workshops happened on the 19th-21st April! On the 18th we welcomed Antonio Strati, Sierk Ybema and Davide Nicolini to Glasgow for the first workshop. We'd spent months inviting them over, and sorting out funding from AIM and Gradskills to fund a workshop on Managing Music and a subsequent workshop on Organisational Ethnography and I'm pleased to say that they both surpassed all our expectations!

You can read about the Managing Music workshop here and the Organisational Ethnography Workshop here (AIM report) and here (my report).

Nic and Sierk playing havoc with the iPad

Gail and Antonio

Nic and Sierk

Stroll through the cathedral grounds

Group photo (big cheese)

And, of course, we got the most of the Scottish summer in April and May this year, so I spent all of my free time enjoying the sun!

PhD Beach Barbeque

Wills and Kate Easter egg painting (and rolling) 

A rather tubby April Flora

Aiming for the Skies and Whacking yourself in the Eye with the Recoil

It's been a difficult little month for my poor PhD. It's had to cope with a serious amount of neglect. If there was a Society for the Prevention of Ignoring of Theses (S.P.I.T.), I'd probably be drowning in it at the moment...

**Hilarious PhD Joke Laughter**

All this situation is made more ridiculous because I now only have a year to write up. I think that's actually the first time I have written it down. Argh!

Anyway, the reason for this horrendous neglect was...

In case you've been living in a cave for the last fortnight....

Freshers Week!!!

I am well aware that this might be the last ever time I get to experience Freshers' Week, so I wasn't going to let it slide by quietly! I'm always worried about not spending enough time on my PhD, but some things are more important than others and I've always felt that taking the time to really feel part of the University community is an investment worth making. I had a brilliant time at Freshers, not only meeting new postgraduates and throwing PG events but also helping out at Union events (which are for PGs and UGs) and hanging out around town.

Helping out backstage at "Tribal"

Some of the "Tribal" backstage team

As regards PG events, I ran two main events as PGSoc: A Welcome Wine Reception (hosted by the Provost) and the St Andrews Safari. The turnout was amazing! We had 100 tickets for the Wine Reception and we sold out days before the event, despite many PGs not having arrived in town by that point.

Apologies for the ridiculous lack of any pictures- I was too busy sweating buckets about running out of wine etc to remember to take any!

The day after I threw the Safari from the Students Union- An event to which I expected around 80 people. Almost 300 people showed up on the night! This did nothing for my poor shattered nerves, as I only had enough kit for 80 people, and it's fairly difficult to herd 300 PGs, sign them up for teams and sort out over 20 extra team packs by yourself. Luckily Patrick O'Hare, the SA President, stepped in with some mean photocopying skills and we made it through the evening!

I also have a huge thank you to give to Jose, Qian, Jimmi and his girlfriend who were coerced into coming up to the venue to help me mark the returned questions sheets, pictures and items! As you can imagine, I didnt really have much time to take photos during this event either, but I did manage to poach a few photos from Facebook that a team took during the Safari:

Acting regally outside Prince William's hall

Under an arch

And, of course, riding a cannon

Following all this I slept for 12 hours, and then had to head along to the Freshers Fayre to meet people and give away our shiny new calendar, which looks a little like this:

I know, fancy! We got the lovely folks at the Design Team (@St Andrews Union) to work it up for us, and they did a great job!

Other highlights of the week- Going around halls welcoming new students with Patrick, getting to sit on the stage for the Opening Ceremonies (I've *always* wanted to do that) and seeing around the new library (which is great!).

Here's a link to watch the Opening Ceremony (see if you can spot me):

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/orientation/opening/hq/

And here's some pictures subtly pilfered from the Library Redevelopment blog

I hope you're having a more productive week than me, and hopefully the next blog will see a return to more academic content!

Academia: Are we Overthinking it?

I've been really unproductive over the past few months PhD wise- Patrly because of the frontloading I needed to do for the events calendar for my new role, but also partly because I have this really bad habit of waiting for inspiration before sitting down to write. I'm not sure whether I'm avoiding the writing because (a) I'm a bit lazy, or (b) I'm afraid- but either way it's led to me spending the last few months doing other sorts of things (like remembering to write my blog and transcribing (which I normally hate)).

Either way, it's an unpleasant but not uncommon problem in the PhD process (or at least so I gather from talking to others); a problem associated with 'overthinking it' (it being the writing process).

Picture the scene, you might be starting a new chapter from scratch or perhaps redrafting one that you've written previously, and you're still before that PhD stage characterised by sleeping in the office to avoid wasting time walking home. You open up a new document... then what? Perhaps you have one of those little personal routines- for example I like to re-read all my relevant notes and come up with a rough plan- but each stage in the routine has little side alleys:

Exhibit (1) Your Honor:
"I began to look through my notes but then I found that half of them were formatted in a diferent way/stored in a different noting software, so I decided to dedicate the rest of the morning to bringing everything together- I'm sure it'll be a worthwhile investment in the long-run"

Deliberation:
You probably won't even really need the notes once you've written the chapter, if you ever get round to it.

Verdict:
Guilty (of procrastination)

Everyone procrastinates, and everyone talks about it (all the time) so I'm not going to get into it here, this post is about why we procrastinate- why do we put it off? what are we waiting for?

Exhibit (2)Your Honor:
"Once I'd finished bringing my notes together and unifying all the formatting and blogging my little face  off... I still wasn't quite sure how best to start off the new chapter (the start's the most important bit you know) and so I thought I might do well to read through some related material, and wait for inspiration to strike"

Deliberation:
What if that tiny little lightbulb chooses not to appear above your intent little head during this afternoon's reading? What if it's notable only in its absence tomorrow as well? How long are you going to wait for the big idea before you start trudging through the bigger thesis?

Verdict:
Guilty of 'Overthinking It' in the first degree (the jury's still out on the charge of 'ridiculous expectations')

quick, quick, capture that inspirational little bulb PhD dude!

We've all had those 'eureka' moments and they're great- but you get maybe 5 or 10 proper eureka moments ove the 3-4 years you'll be doing the PhD. which means roughly 0.01% of the time you might be inspired and for about 1200 days you'll probably just have to batter on regardless.

Besides, everyone knows that bulbs are like busses (and not just becasue they share the same two letter, although this might also be important)- you don't see one for ages and then, as soon as you get in the taxi (i.e. batter on regardless with the old writing) one will probably turn up.

And, just in case you don't believe me, I'm a good little evidence-based social scientist (ermmm....) so I have proof!

As i was saying previously, at the start of the post, the last few months have been really slow for me, I've been walking around bus stops (I really hope you're good at keeping up with transport-related metaphors at this point) and not even a lousy bicycle has turned up. However, in the second week of August I lost the ability to sleep becuase of thesis-fear, which spurred me onto battering on regardless of a lack of inspiration. And... shortly afterward (two nights later as I was washing my face for bed)... Eureka!!

I grabbed the back of a A4 envelope and started scribbling, properly scribbling, for about 20 minutes, until all the lovely new thoughts I had been waiting for were safely out of my brain (where I would have forgotten them) and onto the envelope. Needless to say, Mr Amateur Academic (who is neither an amateur nor an academic but works in an incomprehensible profession in financial services) thought this was properly mental (but since it would appear from the above that I'm in charge of court rulings, I suppose he has no hope of having me committed at this point anyway).

I did have a picture of said envelope to show you all, but then I got PhD paranoia and realised you might all *steal my valuable thoughts* -- Especially if you're sufficiently without inspiration that you've read to this point in an exceedingly long winded post...

Anyway, the proof of the pudding is in the self-examination- Does any of the above seem familiar to you? Are you also in danger of overthinking it?

When Doing a PhD Isn't Really that Much about Doing a PhD

I've been really busy since I came back from the Moral Economies conference. Unfortunately I've been less busy with the PhD and more busy about getting my tenure as PG President off to a good start! That's not to say I haven't been working, I've kept up pretty well with my fieldwork schedule (by locking down every Thursday I'm not away for visits to my research site and the day or two previous to that for writing up the previous weeks interviews).

I'm sure that when November rolls around, doing a PhD will become the all-encompassing 'Writing the PhD-- NOW', but for now I thought I'd trawl the internet and look for some pictures that sum-up what my PhD is really about right now.

(1) Meeting new people

(2) Late nights and early mornings

(3) Endless making of lists

(4) Eating a ton at the weekend so I can live on office food for the rest of the week

followed by...

(5) Dressing inappropriately for the weather conditions

and, finally, (6) Enjoying the sunshine where and when I can find it!

(see, it's not all terribly strenuous!)

Images from (1) herdeverything.org (2) pomgranatetoothpaste.blogspot.com (3) stellarpath.net (4) diamondliveimages.co.uk and culinaryinnovations.co.uk (5) stoprocks.co.uk and (6) ME.