One more political observation, which I hope won't piss anyone off this time

[maradydd]

As most of you have probably picked up on, I'm among that minority of computer scientists who actually writes code, and often prefers it to writing papers (much to the chagrin of my advisors and colleagues). I enjoy my theoretical work, but if I spend too much time on theory alone, the joy turns hollow; I want to build things that people can use.

Comments

[maradydd]

but one is looking for a theoretical solution and the other an operant one. One wants to produce an idealised model, the other an implementation roadmap

Well, I think most political Mathematicians want to see their models implemented -- but are willing to spend a lot longer refining those models before implementing them than political Engineers find practical, and indeed perhaps longer than is practical.

"While we wait, people are dying," says the Engineer. "I know, I know," says the Mathematician, "but please let's not implement something that will make more people die!" Which is an extreme way of looking at it, and that extremism gets jumped on and distorted in ugly, dishonest ways by the Sarah Palins of the world. The situation isn't made any easier when people with an axe to grind jump in with completely made-up bullshit designed to prompt emotional reactions and get people to shut off their reason.

Everyone has a slightly different model, and different conditions they deem sufficient for validating and verifying conditions under them.

This cuts to the heart of it very nicely; thank you.

And, really, the thing that's got me so emo at the moment (well, apart from the Haskell bit) is that lately, I've been seeing this exact phenomenon mistaken for bad faith between people who really do want to find workable solutions, but who disagree on those models, conditions, and validation/verification standards. It's a really serious problem in both American and global political discourse these days, and I don't have the first idea of how to address it. :(

finding balance points or semi-stable configurations between various attractors

Now you've got me wanting to re-read Mandelbrot's The Misbehavior of Markets looking for insights on how to find those semi-stable configurations.

oh gods it's nearly 4:30am

Oh, right, you're in New Zealand. What's the proposal on?

[morbid_curious]

The short short version: research into understanding and improving virtual learning environments.

The slightly longer version involves capture and analysis of a bunch of quantitative data about learner experiences to complement and validate existing qualitative methods (e.g. pre- and post-tests, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and direct observation). Hopefully this will allow us to better understand what people are actually experiencing in such environments, and thus develop better design techniques for providing effective instruction and learning opportunities.

The deadline's the day before I visit the U.S. for a month, and I'm also co-writing a paper for an ACM SIG submission. So it's a Fun Time All Round right now :-)

[maradydd]

Cool. Do you know steer? He's a mathematician in London who's been an instructor before, and ISTR he's used a variety of different virtual learning environments, both closed-source and open. He might have some useful observations.

I have a bunch of cascading deadlines from mid-September through mid-October, so I feel your pain :-/