By Any Other Nerd

Estimated Reading Time: 25 minutes I know...I know.  Everyone has their thoughts on ChatGPT and I'm coming to the party just a little too late.  That's fair--I largely respect that.  But I haven't been idle in my thinking or working around ChatGPT during this time (some folks know if you've been reading my weekly updates) and definitely have some contributions and thoughts for this discussion.   Before we begin-begin, I am drawing upon the work of Lawrie Phipps and Donna Lanclos' idea about properly acknowledging the problematic use of ChatGPT with the following statement: This presentation/paper/work was prepared using ChatGPT, an “AI Chatbot”. We acknowledge that ChatGPT does not respect the individual rights of authors and artists, and ignores concerns over copyright and intellectual property in the training of the system; additionally, we acknowledge that the system was trained in part through the exploitation of precarious workers in the global south. In this

Estimated Reading Time:  8 minutes Week 26 of  the updates  and I've somehow been doing this for 6 months--say what?!?!?! Dissertation Zero progress and that's to be expected between work, grand jury duty, wake, and funeral--this week was enough.  This upcoming week I have a plan in place to get stuff done and get moving. 122 days until June 1 Work Indigenous Mural in Providence We're after the rush of the start of the semester which is good but also, with grand jury duty this week, it means I'm treading water and not moving forward. That carries some frustration for me as there are lots I need to do. I am hoping this week that things will normalize a bit more than the last few weeks and I can start to move forward with projects that are on my to-do list. What I'm Reading Great Courses: How Horror Works in Books and Film by Shannon Scott : A short lecture series on horror that explores different aspects of horror and grounds it in some historical and contemporary (

Estimated Reading Time:  8 minutes Week 25 of  the updates  and oh boy, it's been a week! Dissertation So little done this week. I think I got into the work for about a half hour to look at some articles.  Given this week, it's to be expected (as you'll see below). 129 days until June 1 Ginger Ale at the Diner Work Work was a bit of a blur of the week (again, see below). There were still lots of moving parts as we settle into the new semester and support returning and new students and faculty. We caught a lot of the cracks in our systems and are now going to be working on improving them. Also, I'm grateful for the kindness of colleagues and supervisors who encouraged me to take the time I needed to get through this week. What I'm Reading Bomba! by Osamu Tezuka : I think we're in the stage of publishing Tezuka's stuff that feels dull or disappoint--things that don't feel like they represent the true "Godfather of Manga".  This story is about a

Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes Week 24 of  the updates  and I'm on time this week! Dissertation Despite a very busy work week, I finished the clean up of all the transcripts.  There's so much in those 25+ hours of transcripts. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into them.  This next week's goal is to revisit some of the writings on phenomographicl analysis and my notes as well as catch some videos on how to effectively use Invivo.   136 days until June 1 Work MJ Getting Breakfast Super busy with the start of the semester as to be expected and also, I feel like I made some significant moves and actions this week that I'm proud of. Encouraged by my colleague and my partner, I advocated for more human support in my work given where we are as an institution and our growth. These first few weeks have been intense and while I've gotten a lot of work done, there's still a lot that was left on the table or done later than I wanted that doesn't feel good

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes Week 23 of  the updates  and I'm 4 days late! Dissertation I finished up one more transcript but this week was consumed by work (also work is why I'm 3 days late with this post!).   143 days until June 1 When Leaves Refuse to Leave Work Lots of things going on but largely that's the start of a typical semester. The Fall to Spring transition is hard because we end late in December and start early in January (as in January 9th). So, feeling a little rattled and like there's a lot to do yet. Still, my biggest excitement is that Digital Interventions: AI & Education is definitely running and we've got a great group. What I'm Reading The Delicacy by James Albon :  An interesting graphic novel about two brothers who lived a sheltered life and how going into the world changes them both in different ways. One brother starts a restaurant that takes off but he is entirely dependent on the other brother to make it successful. There

Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes Week 22 of  the updates  and I bet you thought I'd quit by now! Dissertation Wrentham Developmental Center As of this posting, I have about 2.5 transcripts to go (out of 25).  So I made significant progress during the break.  I have my partner, Christine and my friend Melba to thank for doing co-working sessions with me throughout the break and getting through hours of transcripts.  I will finish up the transcripts this week and get into reading and analyzing soon!  In reality, I think that means I'm not going to be walking in May but I still plan to finish by June 1.  That's 6 months away and I feel that I can do it; the momentum is there; the biggest task is just showing up every day to get work done on it.   150 days until June 1 Work I was largely away from work this week, though neve really away. The semester starts next Monday (January 9th) and the classes in the LMS open today (January 2), so inevitably there are questions to answe