About last week – Week 9
Hi everyone,
sorry for my slightly delayed blog post. Last week was pretty busy & my head was/is a bit frazzled. But hey, at least I have now done all my intensives & submitted a bunch of group work 🙂 And we are all on that very last leg of uni – a few more weeks – we got this! 🙂
With regards to the Knowledge Integration & Project Planning I have to say, first of all, thank you so so much for all your insightful comments! I think (since my idea hasn’t gotten much more concrete recently) maybe it’s time to take a little step back (since we are so busy at uni anyway) and come back at the end of the week with a fresh perspective. I also need to just go back and maybe reflect on the various blog posts and stages I’ve gone through so far. And I want to write everything down nice & visually and with lots of colours which will help me arrange my thoughts as well. Even though this might be a project for when I’m back home at my parents, because there I can more easily cover the floor in paper without being in someones way 🙂
So while I want to take a wee break & then come back with a refreshed view, I do try and foster inspiration in various ways this week. Quite often during the semester I felt like I just worked (uni & my other jobs) and forgot to enjoy and benefit from the many inspiring programmes & events the city offers. This week I want to attempt to try a bunch of new things or see exhibitions I’ve been meaning to see, since cultural events & exhibitions usually give me a bunch of creative input.
So here is a wee list (as I’m sure you know I love a good list) & a pretty picture of the Forth Bridge – I went up there for charity.
- Monday: Technomoral conversations at EFI First Breath: WOW – how inspiring. I didn’t even know there was a “Centre for Technomoral Futures” – there is certainly something I will be googling and researching in depth 🙂
- Tuesday: Talbot Rice Gallery: Why not go to a gallery during a library break? I love the wee gallery in old college & I’m looking forward to see if it inspired me one way or anther
- Thursday: Italian Theater: I do this weird thing, where sometimes thinking about (big) decisions I will discuss them (out loud) in different languages to confront different view on them. I know it sounds nuts, but I guess sometimes it’s even the way you might say things differently in different languages (or depending on the vocabulary I have) that helps me look at it from a different angle.
- Books: I have bought “Earth 4 All” which I am super exciting to read & “Meeting the Universe Halfway” which sounds like a challenging but really inspiring combination of physics and feminist theory (I shall report back on this). However, I have also forced myself to pick up some “pleasure reading” & I really enjoyed “Assembly” which is a short, but critical examination of British society, gender roles, racism and even colonialism. It’s also poetic and I found that really inspiring. It’s interesting to see how it ties into topics we covered during this semester.
- Migration: Another last point of reflection: I really enjoyed my recent module on Migration & Forced Displacement in a Digital Age. We had a lot of guest speakers from various companies, NGOs & it was super interesting to see how our research skills can translate into real world jobs & projects. I was honestly utterly fascinated with the key note speakers & maybe (I know I need to narrow down rather than expand), but this could also be a super cool area of research.
All in all, I think I just need to go back and reflect and rearrange my thoughts a little. However, I have also found a PhD similar to the project idea I have prior discussed. So I am definitely not totally off course. I think I just need to look into a bunch of different options & I would actually love to almost do a wee “exchange” and do my research abroad. I’ve contacted my personal tutor about this already, but don’t know if this is possible. However, I’d love that since I was a language students, but never got to go abroad due to Covid. Well anyway, I’ll leave it at that.
Thanks 🙂
Hi Kassandra – when you said, “I went up there for charity” I first read it as “clarity” – ha! Both, maybe. What a stunning photo. I love that you’re taking advantage of the other forms of experience and learning on and off campus. I have some in-person time next term and plan to cram as much of this in as possible. Something that specifically resonated about your post was the mention of the PhD project you found. This came up in our guidance session recently as a way of narrowing / defining one’s own project – look to see what others have done. Not to replicate, but rather to build from, build on or get inspiration and ideas from. Otherwise, it’s tempting to commit to groundbreaking innovation cut from whole cloth – which for the most part is not a realistic or necessary expectation for our projects. Good luck with your reading and fresh perspective!
Hi Kassandra – when you said you went there for charity, I first read it as “clarity” – ha! Both, maybe. What a stunning photo. I love that you’re taking advantage of the other forms of experience and learning on and off campus. I have some in-person time next term and plan to cram as much of this in as possible. Something that specifically resonated about your post was the mention of the PhD project you found. This came up in our guidance session recently as a way of narrowing / defining one’s own project – look to see what others have done. Not to replicate, but rather to build from, build on or get inspiration and ideas from. Otherwise, it’s tempting to commit to groundbreaking innovation cut from whole cloth – which for the most part is not a realistic or necessary expectation for our projects. Good luck with your reading and fresh perspective!