(Cut) Loose and Fancy Free

I frequently get asked about what it's like to work on a phd online. It's quite similar to other venues, actually: there are advantages and disadvantages. I miss out on the hallway gossip and the informal cup-of-coffee or pint-of-ale conversations. And I really miss those. But what I get in return is transcripts of every single discussion I do have. Pretty valuable when you're trying to remember which article or book your prof mentioned in class, or that great idea for getting at your data that a classmate suggested. It's give and take.

But right now the hard part is that I don't have any more classes. If one has to be self-directed to get a good degree online, then that goes double for conducting research and writing in an online phd program after classes are done. As my grandfather, Pete Shands, always said, "You have to keep your eye on the ball."

Lee Brasseur and Pub Night

At lunch today we heard a cool talk by Lee Brasseur about fetal ultrasound and the effect of graphic representation on patient perception. She led a workshop tonight on semiotics and graphic design, but I needed to do some more work on my dissertation proposal so I bowed out and came back to my room.

If you haven't read Dr. Brasseur's article "Florence Nightingale's Visual Rhetoric in the Rose Diagrams" (TCQ 2005, 14:2) then you should. Excellent example of how a TC article can be informative, clear, useful, and passionate.

Tonight's after-dinner activity was Pub Night with Locke Carter and Fred Kemp. It was a long table with about twenty or so people attending, so I didn't actually get to talk with Fred. He's my diss director, so I was kind of planning on having tonight to chat a bit. But I got a ride home with him, so that's something. Just goes to show, you should take the chances you get to talk to your diss director.