A rare thesis-related post
A frustrating day here in Barton... the weather is simply not important.
Supervisors' response to a request for a meeting next week was a bit lacklustre - although we did get sorted, and then - in a moment of panic-inducement - my access to university email from a remote location (which is just what Barton is) was 'denied'. Called the techy people at the university to sort it out - am fearing that having left the regular employment of the university my reduced status (to that of p/t research student) unofficially equates to that of 'nobody' - not good for morale. Equally poor for morale is the small matter of having very little recollection of having ever written what I'm now discovering I wrote far too long ago - especially when it's yielding self-expressions such as "oosh, that is bad, and what the hell does that mean?".
My standard lunch-time skim of the blogosphere has led me to the following simple pronouncement.
If you want people to spend more than an average of 0.8 seconds looking at your blog, make sure that:-
1) Your blog does not have a black background - they are the hardest to read
2) You do not refer to your humour/family as 'weird' - they are not, and neither are you
3) Your first blog screen image does not feature a picture of your dog
Also noticed that Belle de Jour got a less than glowing review in The Observer yesterday. Made me think that the terms of a blog review and the terms of a book review ought not be the same - unless you're assuming the experiences of reading a book and a blog are the same - a very naive assumption. The very ease of accessibility into the world of blog authorship is the thing that devalues it as a statement of anything other than "This person is 'virtually sociable'" - but then that's not always the case.
To the meteorological anoraks among you: it happened to be a rainy day today. Very much so.
Listening to: The Whirr of a Printer
Reading: What I've Just Written
Today I have: Eaten far too Many Minstrels
As you were.
Supervisors' response to a request for a meeting next week was a bit lacklustre - although we did get sorted, and then - in a moment of panic-inducement - my access to university email from a remote location (which is just what Barton is) was 'denied'. Called the techy people at the university to sort it out - am fearing that having left the regular employment of the university my reduced status (to that of p/t research student) unofficially equates to that of 'nobody' - not good for morale. Equally poor for morale is the small matter of having very little recollection of having ever written what I'm now discovering I wrote far too long ago - especially when it's yielding self-expressions such as "oosh, that is bad, and what the hell does that mean?".
My standard lunch-time skim of the blogosphere has led me to the following simple pronouncement.
If you want people to spend more than an average of 0.8 seconds looking at your blog, make sure that:-
1) Your blog does not have a black background - they are the hardest to read
2) You do not refer to your humour/family as 'weird' - they are not, and neither are you
3) Your first blog screen image does not feature a picture of your dog
Also noticed that Belle de Jour got a less than glowing review in The Observer yesterday. Made me think that the terms of a blog review and the terms of a book review ought not be the same - unless you're assuming the experiences of reading a book and a blog are the same - a very naive assumption. The very ease of accessibility into the world of blog authorship is the thing that devalues it as a statement of anything other than "This person is 'virtually sociable'" - but then that's not always the case.
To the meteorological anoraks among you: it happened to be a rainy day today. Very much so.
Listening to: The Whirr of a Printer
Reading: What I've Just Written
Today I have: Eaten far too Many Minstrels
As you were.
posted by Shane @ 6:07 pm
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