So 1362 new words on Chapter 5 today, but far, far below the goal of wrapping this chapter and moving on to outline the next. After resetting my plan only 2 days ago, I did not expect to hit a snag of this size quite so soon. I think I got through the troubling part of the chapter today, but I'm anxious about when I'll come back to it and whether I'll hit similar challenges going forward.
Well, I guess they don't just hand out degrees for nothing.
Tomorrow I'm taking the day off. We have a baby shower to attend (thanks Bobby!), and a movie to see (oh boy it's Solo!).
It will be a welcome and happy break.
Friday, June 1, 2018
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Day 9: Return of the Thesis
Some pretty fantastic results today. My goals were to outline Chapter 6 and start drafting Chapter 5. The new word count = 4592 for the outline, and 1684 for Chapter 5. (There was a massive amount of copy-pasta for the outline. There's no way I could ever write that many words in the two hours it took me to put that one together. Or in a day. Or three days.)
Attentive readers will note that the dateline includes an interval of 3 days since my last post, rather than the two I predicted at the time. Yesterday turned into a massive re-evaluation of my writing targets following some really productive conversations on Tuesday. Also, I was super exhausted and needed a lot of breaks. But it was the right choice, as today's progress shows.
Back to it tomorrow. My plan is to finish drafting Chapter 5 and then move on to outlining the chapter for the new study. I'm a little skeptical that I'll be able to get that far, but we'll see.
Attentive readers will note that the dateline includes an interval of 3 days since my last post, rather than the two I predicted at the time. Yesterday turned into a massive re-evaluation of my writing targets following some really productive conversations on Tuesday. Also, I was super exhausted and needed a lot of breaks. But it was the right choice, as today's progress shows.
Back to it tomorrow. My plan is to finish drafting Chapter 5 and then move on to outlining the chapter for the new study. I'm a little skeptical that I'll be able to get that far, but we'll see.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Day 8: The Outline Strikes Back
I want to complain today. I really do, because nothing went as planned. BUT, I can't complain. I went back to Chapter 5 today (where I explain my system and theory), and I had thought I would be able to turn the outline into prose. I decided that first I would just do a little tweak to the outline. Nothing big.
3 hours later, there was still no prose, but the outline had gone from confusing and unclear to tight and understandable. I'm pretty happy with it.
Then I had to spend about 2 hours planning, because outlining instead of drafting messed up everything. I also had to reschedule when I had been planning to do my analysis. So everything is a confusing mess right now, but I think I have accounted for everything.
Tomorrow I won't be writing. There simply is no time, but I am proud I wrote every day for 8 days in a row. Then I have 3 days of writing before taking Saturday off as well.
Maybe.
3 hours later, there was still no prose, but the outline had gone from confusing and unclear to tight and understandable. I'm pretty happy with it.
Then I had to spend about 2 hours planning, because outlining instead of drafting messed up everything. I also had to reschedule when I had been planning to do my analysis. So everything is a confusing mess right now, but I think I have accounted for everything.
Tomorrow I won't be writing. There simply is no time, but I am proud I wrote every day for 8 days in a row. Then I have 3 days of writing before taking Saturday off as well.
Maybe.
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Day 7: No rest
It took five hours more than I had planned on, but I finally finished drafting the related works section. Chapter 2 is officially v.01 complete. I cranked out 1971 words today. Way above my average daily output. And I am so happy to report that I owe it to my good friends Jim & Iris.
Some background here. Iris is a former HCII grad like what I'm fixing to become. Now she's a fancy professor at Williams College. (Alright, assistant professor, but whatever.) Jim is her sweet husband (and former Qeexo researcher). Business aside, our friendship was cemented through a shared love of Minecraft, as well as many hours of collaborative play between the three of us on their server. (Hence that kick-ass Minecraft themed quilt that Iris made for our coming baby. Look at that!)
So anyway, they drop into town this weekend basically unannounced and ask me and Vivian to come out for a spell. Absolutely. Wouldn't miss it. But also I have only a few hours available before I have to go back to writing, because Chapter 2 is taking way longer than it was supposed to.
Anyway, heading out to go see them I discover that we have a damage rim and a flat tire. (Pittsburgh potholes are famous.) Well they offer to pick us up rather than wait at the restaurant. Then after listening to me fret about how I don't know where I will find the time to get the tire fixed before our pre-baby class in Monroeville on Thursday, they then offer to take it in for us and let me go back to work. We weren't optimistic that it would get solved today, but at least I could pick it up later in the week.
So the garage tells Jim it'll be a 2 hour wait, which was fine because they were supposed to just drop it off. But no. Jim tells him about the friend with the pregnant wife and the guy gets it done in 5 minutes.
But this blog is about my writing. So here's the point: if these kids hadn't done this for us, I know I wouldn't have finished the chapter today. And given the crammed schedule, that would have been a significant setback.
I just can't even describe how moved and grateful I am. I will seriously have to learn a craft so I can attempt to produce a return gift some day. I'm open to ideas.
Some background here. Iris is a former HCII grad like what I'm fixing to become. Now she's a fancy professor at Williams College. (Alright, assistant professor, but whatever.) Jim is her sweet husband (and former Qeexo researcher). Business aside, our friendship was cemented through a shared love of Minecraft, as well as many hours of collaborative play between the three of us on their server. (Hence that kick-ass Minecraft themed quilt that Iris made for our coming baby. Look at that!)
So anyway, they drop into town this weekend basically unannounced and ask me and Vivian to come out for a spell. Absolutely. Wouldn't miss it. But also I have only a few hours available before I have to go back to writing, because Chapter 2 is taking way longer than it was supposed to.
Anyway, heading out to go see them I discover that we have a damage rim and a flat tire. (Pittsburgh potholes are famous.) Well they offer to pick us up rather than wait at the restaurant. Then after listening to me fret about how I don't know where I will find the time to get the tire fixed before our pre-baby class in Monroeville on Thursday, they then offer to take it in for us and let me go back to work. We weren't optimistic that it would get solved today, but at least I could pick it up later in the week.
So the garage tells Jim it'll be a 2 hour wait, which was fine because they were supposed to just drop it off. But no. Jim tells him about the friend with the pregnant wife and the guy gets it done in 5 minutes.
But this blog is about my writing. So here's the point: if these kids hadn't done this for us, I know I wouldn't have finished the chapter today. And given the crammed schedule, that would have been a significant setback.
I just can't even describe how moved and grateful I am. I will seriously have to learn a craft so I can attempt to produce a return gift some day. I'm open to ideas.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Day 6: Personal Informatics and Smart Classrooms
1062 very challenging words today. I spent about 2/3 of them writing about personal informatics. I was surprised when I went back to the proposal to compare. In that document I spent about half a paragraph talking about it. Not enough. But now I wonder if I wrote too much. A lot of it feels week and rambling, too.
I'm not thrilled with the smart classrooms section, either. It doesn't feel completely cogent. But I had to just keep pushing forward without getting stuck. When I go back to edit I imagine I will see what the problems are.
I'm trying to stay optimistic about the next and final session of Chapter 2. I need to summarize what the contributions will be and then explain design-based research. One thing that I struggle to explain, and another that I have written about many times.
I had to add an unexpected day for Chapter 2. I had only budgeted ~10 hours to write it, but I'll need 1 or 2 more. This kind of mistake tends to cascade, but I'm keeping an eye on it. Here's a sample of my writing calendar. Each of the colors represents when things get moved.
Anyway, if this dissertation thing doesn't work out, I can always go back to making spreadsheets for a living.
I'm not thrilled with the smart classrooms section, either. It doesn't feel completely cogent. But I had to just keep pushing forward without getting stuck. When I go back to edit I imagine I will see what the problems are.
I'm trying to stay optimistic about the next and final session of Chapter 2. I need to summarize what the contributions will be and then explain design-based research. One thing that I struggle to explain, and another that I have written about many times.
I had to add an unexpected day for Chapter 2. I had only budgeted ~10 hours to write it, but I'll need 1 or 2 more. This kind of mistake tends to cascade, but I'm keeping an eye on it. Here's a sample of my writing calendar. Each of the colors represents when things get moved.
Anyway, if this dissertation thing doesn't work out, I can always go back to making spreadsheets for a living.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Day 5: Piling it higher and deeper
I really should have waited longer before using up that joke.
Chapter 2 continues on with 1050 sparkling new words. I didn't get quite as far as I did yesterday because I spent a bit of time digging around in Scholar. I wanted to find out if anyone had already built what I call a "socio-technical training system," and wouldn't you know there's a whole lit review just waiting to be written. Now, I really should be familiar with that research already. As it turns out, I'm only familiar with Personal Informatics. That's one of the most recent branches of socio-technical system research, but far from the only one.
Oh well! I expect I will include a few papers for context and then move on. (Maybe MTFO should be my new motto?) I don't have time to include another entire arm of research if only to add a bit more smarty-pants "historiocity" to my work. It might make for a more interesting read, but it's more likely I would end up making a mess. And the thing is, this divergence just isn't necessary. PI is sufficient. MTFO.
My future boss told me the other day about an initialism she and her colleagues like to use. DTM. It means "do the minimum." (Of course, before revealing what it meant she gave me an elaborate qualification that what she was about to reveal was an exaggeration. A motivator. Not to be taken literally, but still helpful etc etc.) I told her I prefer the term "satisficing," as coined by Herb Simon. That's where you pick a handful of standards that something must meet and stick to them. And you stick to only them. You don't go looking for extras on your new car just because the salesman points out something you hadn't realized you might want. You don't put off buying the thing you need because someone somewhere someday might have it 5% cheaper. As soon as whatever you're doing reaches the minimum targets, MTFO.
But I digress. This writing project is anything but minimum. DTM hardly fits. So anywhere that I can at least avoid adding to my workload, I'll take it.
I'll be honest with you, though... I was totally ready to include it. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to ask one of my advisors what he thought. He slapped my hand and told me to stop it.
Chapter 2 continues on with 1050 sparkling new words. I didn't get quite as far as I did yesterday because I spent a bit of time digging around in Scholar. I wanted to find out if anyone had already built what I call a "socio-technical training system," and wouldn't you know there's a whole lit review just waiting to be written. Now, I really should be familiar with that research already. As it turns out, I'm only familiar with Personal Informatics. That's one of the most recent branches of socio-technical system research, but far from the only one.
Oh well! I expect I will include a few papers for context and then move on. (Maybe MTFO should be my new motto?) I don't have time to include another entire arm of research if only to add a bit more smarty-pants "historiocity" to my work. It might make for a more interesting read, but it's more likely I would end up making a mess. And the thing is, this divergence just isn't necessary. PI is sufficient. MTFO.
My future boss told me the other day about an initialism she and her colleagues like to use. DTM. It means "do the minimum." (Of course, before revealing what it meant she gave me an elaborate qualification that what she was about to reveal was an exaggeration. A motivator. Not to be taken literally, but still helpful etc etc.) I told her I prefer the term "satisficing," as coined by Herb Simon. That's where you pick a handful of standards that something must meet and stick to them. And you stick to only them. You don't go looking for extras on your new car just because the salesman points out something you hadn't realized you might want. You don't put off buying the thing you need because someone somewhere someday might have it 5% cheaper. As soon as whatever you're doing reaches the minimum targets, MTFO.
But I digress. This writing project is anything but minimum. DTM hardly fits. So anywhere that I can at least avoid adding to my workload, I'll take it.
I'll be honest with you, though... I was totally ready to include it. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to ask one of my advisors what he thought. He slapped my hand and told me to stop it.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Day 4: It's getting theory in here
After 3 hours and 1440 words, I have finished drafting part of the related work section. The first part. Out of six distinct sections.
Fortunately, I don't think the rest will be as hard. This section had to introduce professional development for teachers, active learning, feedback, reflection, and self-efficacy.
Crap. I forgot about discursive teaching. It needs that, too. Okay, so I haven't fully drafted this section, but I'll have to come back to it. I've only budgeted 6 more hours for drafting this chapter. I'll push through with the rest and see how much time, if any, remains for fixing holes.
One thing I'm slightly concerned about is that I'm not taking time to go find the citations for anything. I just have (CITE) written everywhere I make some claim. I am hoping that I will be able to fill all of that in easily because I've written on this topic so many times. Also, it's usually easier to go through a document and find a lot of necessary references than to keep stopping and starting again. That said, I'm still afraid that writing in the citations will take a bit longer than I have the budget for.
Things to keep in mind this weekend when I don't feel like working...
Fortunately, I don't think the rest will be as hard. This section had to introduce professional development for teachers, active learning, feedback, reflection, and self-efficacy.
Crap. I forgot about discursive teaching. It needs that, too. Okay, so I haven't fully drafted this section, but I'll have to come back to it. I've only budgeted 6 more hours for drafting this chapter. I'll push through with the rest and see how much time, if any, remains for fixing holes.
One thing I'm slightly concerned about is that I'm not taking time to go find the citations for anything. I just have (CITE) written everywhere I make some claim. I am hoping that I will be able to fill all of that in easily because I've written on this topic so many times. Also, it's usually easier to go through a document and find a lot of necessary references than to keep stopping and starting again. That said, I'm still afraid that writing in the citations will take a bit longer than I have the budget for.
Things to keep in mind this weekend when I don't feel like working...
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