Clare’s blog

I ended my last post by mentioning an interest in returning to regularly blogging about my work, but also noting I wasn’t sure if it’d happen. Well, here I am!

I used as a prompt a system internal to ECS. On a monthly basis, it bugs postgrads to write a mini activity report for their supervisors to read, and then bugs supervisors to respond to these reports. I think writing about its effectiveness is maybe another blog post in its own right, but I will say that it was useful in reminding me to write this

So what have I been up to lately?

The main thrust of my work in the last while was coding up a prototype messaging system. The purpose was twofold - partly to check my logic was sound, and partly to see whether it really *is* feasible to implement it using IBM’s MicroBroker product. I was really pleased with how quickly I built the prototype, and also that it worked!

I’ve now very nearly finished writing up a document about that prototype: this presents the motivation, a scenario of use, system description, all that sort of thing. Hopefully the document will form a good chunk of my mini thesis.

Speaking of which, that’s coming up rapidly. I have one more chunk of work which may be worth doing before the mini thesis - the issue at the mo is that neither myself nor my supervisor have the knowledge to scope the task out. We have a meeting with an expert tomorrow to try and figure that out, and once we know that, hopefully we can work out the timing of everything, and start booking people for the viva!

All that said, I’ve been doing a few things on the side, too. A few weeks ago, I presented to my 2nd and 3rd line managers at Hursley about EngDs in general, and my research in particular. It went well, I’m pleased to say. I also organised an LSL/ECS seminar, which concerned mobile and pervasive work in LSL. Three of us spoke about our work, before we all moved into a discussion on where these technologies are going, particularly with respect to LSL.

I’ve agreed to a bit of demonstrator work, which is coming up: I’ll be marking half of the courseworks for our second year HCI course over Christmas, and from February I’ll be involved with the 2009 SEG module, where I will mentor two groups and apparently be involved in the demo/presentation assessment at the module’s end. I’m interested in HCI, so I’m happy to do the marking, and I had a really good time mentoring SEG students in 2007 - so I’m looking forward to getting back to that, too.

So I’m living in busy times, but good times. I really like where I am at the moment, in fact: the mini thesis deadline (despite being a bit vague right now) is close enough that I’m motivated to get on with things, but far enough away that I’m not enormously stressed. I should make the most of that!

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So the head of my research group has been encouraging us to update blogs and maintain an online presence. I used to update this pretty often, then it all kind of fell over towards the end of last year. On reflection, I suspect that this is due to a sequence of important non-work events, such as getting married…

So: hi!

I last updated nearly a year ago. What’s been going on?

Research stuff

Well, I picked myself up and got back to work, with rather improved health. As I mentioned in my previous post, the viva for my lit review went well. I was particularly pleased that my future research ideas fitted well with IBM - definitely an important goal to meet.

Work-wise, I’ve been looking at two threads in parallel. The first involves pervasive messaging, and considering ways to use existing IBM technologies to ‘translate’ messages between various modalities of communication. The second is to do with examining the functionality offered by social technologies, particularly with an eye to figuring out exactly what’s going on when you browse a site such as Facebook - what is the experience offered? To which (if any) real-life experiences is it analogous? Ideally, it’d be ace to ‘deconstruct’ this experience as Dix does in his paper on Christmas crackers. Long-term, I want to pull these threads together to look at how (if at all) it is possible to ‘transpose’ web-based social experiences to novel, pervasive technologies.

Next up is the mini thesis, the midpoint of my degree. In this report I need to explain where I am, what I’ve achieved and (importantly!) where I’m going.

IP stuff

On the side, I’ve been doing a bit of innovation work with colleagues at IBM - a couple of patents have been filed, now, and some bits and bobs are in the system. Patents are, in some ways, analogous to publications within academia - it’s great that IBM encourage employees to spend some time thinking about unusual and novel things at work.

Less fun is submitting papers to conferences whilst ensuring you meet company rules and regs - IBM are (understandably) very protective of their IP, so I have to ensure any papers I want to submit to a conference are given legal and technical sign-off before I do anything with them… which generally means I need them ready at least a week before any deadlines. That isn’t always terribly convenient! We’ve made it work so far, though

IBM in general

I’m onto my third first-line manager since starting at IBM, but that seems to be relatively normal - people move around a lot. For me, the role of my first line is relatively simple: really it’s about sorting out admin stuff. My industrial supervisor, Andy, hasn’t changed,which is the main thing!

That’s it!

What the heading says. Of course, there’s a difference between making an effort to write a one-off blog entry when prodded by the head of your research group, and regularly updating anything. It’d be cool if I get back into this, if only because (as my supervisor Dave has observed), writing posts can be useful for straightening out thoughts on particular topics. We shall see…

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Long time no update. So, a bunch of health problems jumped on me very soon after my previous post on here; I don’t have much to say about the Hopper conference, as I pretty much missed all of it. The good news is that I’ve been back at work for a fortnight now, and all is going well.

I had the viva on my lit review back on 11th. It went really well! The examiner seemed happy with my report, and I think the discussion of where to go next went extremely well: I’m very excited about all the possibilities. It’s funny: I started off looking at assistive tech for learning, particularly for students with issues such as dyslexia. Somewhere along the way, my direction altered. I’m really intrigued by how different generations/cultures approach and use technology, and how we can use techs to help ‘unusual’ (i.e. non-standard, maybe elderly or disabled) users, particularly socially. (Wendy asked me to put my lit review online, so if you’re interested by this stuff, it is here: you’re probably better off just chatting to me, though!)

I read a fantastic paper today, which is here. It’s all about the design of assistive technologies for use by elders, and discusses the importance of aesthetics. I’ve always felt that interfaces are key (I have been known to say that the smartest, most fantastic technology is useless if no one can use it), but the paper explains this far better than I ever did, particularly with regard to assistive technology for the elderly.

It looks at how the perception of your abilities affects those abilities, and how devices can cause feelings of shame and powerlessness. For example, it describes a woman who resisted leaving her home once wheelchair-bound, due to embarrassment about this; she therefore lost social ties, became more isolated, and engaged in far less physical activity. (Compare a wheelchair with the motorised scooters you see the elderly zipping around in. The functionality is pretty similar, but the image is utterly different.)

The paper concludes that you can’t assume elders will use an assistive technology just because they need it: if it makes them feel embarrassed or incapable, they may avoid it even at the expense of independence or social interaction.

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I’ve just spent an exceptionally busy four weeks writing, reviewing and improving my literature review. This is the first major deadline in a doctorate, and at the least catalogues your chosen research area, and helps you to work out where to go next; the good ones do some analysis, too. I’m pleased to say I handed mine in yesterday. It was very hard work, and I was very pleased to get rid of it! It isn’t over, though, as I have a viva in just under three weeks. I hope, in the viva, to get in some good discussion about my future direction.

I won’t be thinking about that immediately, though, because I’m off to Florida on Monday. A group of us from ECS are attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing - I’m thrilled to have a scholarship! I attended a very useful briefing earlier this week. I have discovered that it isn’t a research conference, and it is very parallel: loads of streams to choose from. It’s all about motivating and inspiring women in computing, and is full of talks from women in industry and research, speaking about what they are doing, and why. (I think!) Another purpose of the conference is, I gather, recruitment of women who are about to graduate: so there’ll be lots of undergrads, and lots of big companies. That said, I hear there are plenty of postgrads there, too. Most of all, I am told, it is a celebration. I am intrigued!

The astute among you may have noted that the conference isn’t actually starting ’til the week after next: this is because myself and a friend are going out a week early, for a well-earned break!

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I discovered yesterday that I’m quoted on the ECS page about EngDocs!

The ECS page explains what the programme is, perhaps a little more clearly (certainly a little more formally) than my previous post.

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A month and a half ago, I (finally) moved house. The following information is hopefully of use to the prospective house buyer within Southampton:

Firstly, I’d recommend getting a mortgage broker. (The guide here is rather useful at explaining why, but in summary: there are thousands of products on the market, so whole-of-market brokers are A Good Thing, as they can find the best deals.) Specifically, I recommend Compass Mortgage Services: they’ve provided nothing but excellent advice, both to myself and to some friends of mine. (They were also ace at hassling the mortgage company to hurry things along.)  These guys earn their money via commission from mortgage companies, so they don’t charge you any fees.

While we’re on the topic, mortgage companies: we went with Abbey National. They are very, very, very slow when it comes to admin. That said, we’ve had no serious problems.

Next, to consider estate agents:

Connells Southampton were absolutely rubbish. I failed to move house in February because they lied to me for well over a month, claiming that the sellers of the house in question had moved out and were ready to go. In fact, they were half-way through buying another house, and had in no way left the vicinity. Not recommended.

Enfields Eastleigh, by contrast, were nothing but a pleasure to deal with. Efficient and professional, they went to great lengths to help get the sale through. This is despite the efforts of various solicitors, to whom we shall now move…

Coffin Mew were… interesting. The service we received was absolutely abysmal: I can barely face detailing it. However, just to throw a few random examples out there: our solicitor told us she’d do things, then didn’t; ‘forgot’ that our mortgage offer expired on 31st May; let us think there was a chance of exchanging and completing on 31st May (up to and including the day itself), when several forms and queries were outstanding; and so forth. She was totally disinterested in our case.

However… that particular solicitor is apparently no longer working for Coffin Mew, and when we complained about the above, they promptly apologised and refunded the conveyancing fees, plus an amount of compensation.

As such, I can’t say I’ll be using these guys again, but perhaps they don’t entirely suck. Our experience did, mind you!

Michael Hayes & Co (another solicitor): this guy is, by all accounts, genuinely useless. He was the solicitor working for the sellers in our second, successful transaction. From what I can gather, the chap seemed to be entirely disinterested in the sale. Our useless solicitor claimed that he was referring pretty much every query to her to do; when the estate agents tried to convince him to do a particular piece of work, he apparently told them that he ‘didn’t give a f***’. Interesting… my suggestion is, avoid like the plague.

Meanwhile, it’s lovely to actually be in the house! It was a long haul getting here, but well worth it.

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A friend passed me this link a little while ago. It is entitled The Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?, and it made me laugh.

I was also made aware of a tribute to this fantastic comic, which is all about playing chess on a rollercoaster. Yes. That’s right. A bunch of people did it!

The sparsity of updates lately is almost entirely due to my having moved house at the very end of June. There’s been a lot of decorating, buying of furniture, sorting out of utilities, and general Being Grown Up. Most distressing! (But fun, and worthwhile, all at once.) We’re gradually winning the fight to get our home homely, so perhaps I’ll be around a bit more soon… but no promises.

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Splitting my time between two locations means that I’ve never full-time anywhere. As such, it’s not too unusual for people to ask me what, exactly, it is that I do: what is an EngD?

Hopefully this post will answer that question.

A Doctorate of Engineering is very similar to a PhD. It has the same major requirements, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. Unlike a PhD, it’s integrated with industry. It takes four years, not three. One of these years is taken up with a mixture of MBA and masters-level technical modules. One of the years is spent carrying out research at the university, and the remaining two years are spent carrying out research at the sponsor company; in my case, IBM.

Traditionally, the EngD student spends two straight years at uni, then two straight years at the host company. Why aren’t I doing that? Well, there’s so much going on in Hursley that it seems a waste! With so many exciting projects and technologies, it’s good to pop in (if only for a day a week, which has been the case for most of this year), and at least stay in touch with developments at the office.

Officially, I’m part-time at IBM over the four years of the course, but what’s really happening is that, having started on one day a week, I’m ramping it up as things progress. Once my lit review is done, and I know where my research is going, I’m better placed to get on with stuff at Hursley. Towards the end of the course, I’ll be in almost full-time… but keeping in touch with the uni, in the same way that I’m currently keeping in touch with IBM.

At least, that’s the plan!

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It’s been a bit of a mad time since I got back, but I’ve finally go a mo to blog about the Anita Borg Scholarship retreat…

So, the event ran from Thursday afternoon to midday on Saturday. I got NDAed, so I can’t go into depth, but in brief:

Had an uneventful journey; being met at the airport by a taxi driver was particularly nice! As was the hotel. It’s a Swiss stereotype, but everything really was clean and quiet! Zürich is a beautiful city.

Thursday night involved a meal out, and a talk by a woman from the Mountain View offices, all about women in computing, and computing, and how exciting our field is at the mo (it’s true!). She also touched on what it’s like to work at Google. The meal itself was lovely, as were the other finalists; I really enjoyed getting to know them, and hope to stay in touch.

Friday was a long day, with plenty packed in. After a breakfast buffet, we headed to the Google offices, and started with a tour; the NDA apparently covers this, too, but I will tell you that these offices are super-cool!

We had a welcome talk from the director of engineering, who discussed how Google are currently opening offices all over the place, the variety of nationalities in the Zürich offices, and the particular focus of work in Zürich.

The next talk was about the scholarship, and how it started in 2003 when Anita Borg died. This is the first year that it’s run in Europe.

The next talk was techy, on algorithms for web search. I shan’t go into detail, but it covered ranking, eliminating near-duplicate pages, and load balancing. I enjoyed it very much, though it was super-mathsy in the middle!

Next up (this was a busy day!), a career panel; this was mostly focused on what it’s like to work at Google. I think ‘intense’ and ‘fun’ might both be words to cover it, from what I can gather! Like IBM, they allocate some of your time to cool (appropriate!) projects of your choosing. Good call! They aren’t so much up on part-time work, or working from home - having seen their culture, I can see why. It’s all about being around with your team, as far as I can tell.

After lunch was another talk, on geo-web stuff; Google Maps, My Maps, Mapplets, the impact of these technologies… all very good.

The next workshop was on women in careers, which did what it said on the tin; a discussion of how companies can attract, and retain, tech women. I agreed with the observation that there can be too much emphasis on the ‘women in computing’ thing. Maybe we just want to do our jobs without a fuss being made?

Next we headed to the other set of Google offices in Zürich, for their TGIF event, which was relaxed, fun and had a real sense of community. Here, I chatted more with one of the scholars, and was astonished to discover that whilst doing her full-time PhD, she’s bringing up her two year old child, with her husband is currently living in Canada! I was really inspired; I’d just assumed that no woman would have a child during a PhD. She was really relaxed and happy talking about her child, which was lovely. Good on her!

This session also included a really touching video about Anita Borg.  I’m glad they showed it.

After all this, we head out for a very nice evening meal, in a super-lush restaurant. Lots of interesting conversation, including the discovery that it’s illegal in Switzerland to to wash your car or hang out laundry to dry on a Sunday. Genuinely illegal, as in you get fined if you do it!

Saturday marked the close of the event, with a great big brunch in town.

All in all, it was an amazing (if exhausting) day or so. My fellow finalists and scholars were a vibrant, smart and wonderful bunch, and I was very well looked after - I had a great time!

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Ever wondered where cats go each day, and what they see?

One answer.

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