So, one thing I knew from the very beginning was that the process of pursuing a PhD is a lonely journey. In the sense that one has got to figure out the ideas, and pave some kind of writing to express your novel contribution to the scientific community. Moral and academic support is always there, but...it is up to oneself to sort out the mess of ideas, and write them out.
See, I am currently doing data analysis for what is supposed to be valuable input to my research. I am using grounded theory, GT (a story for another day). Working with qualitative data i.e. words instead of figures, is appealing to my mind, but it is a very long, iterative process that sometimes leaves you feeling lost as I happen to be feeling now. Btw, I could handle figures too if I wanted to, but after a double major BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics, I decided I did not want to have a deep friendship with Maths again.
Anyway, back to my sense of loss in overwhelming amount of data - I know I just need to keep at it, and somehow, in the process....the pieces of data will fall in place. But you see, I ain't got much time, so I kinda need to get this done before things run out of hand.
Have to go back to my data now....I will be back.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Transition...continued
So, it has been over two years since my last blog. I got inspired to reconsider blogging again after reading a friends blog. The reason I have not been active is that I feel I will not have time to write and post blogs. But, I promised myself, and my inspiring friend that I would give it a try again.
Here I am. Just as I had sensed that a move would soon befall me, it happened that half a year later, I was on my way back to Finland. Back to school again, this time to pursue a PhD, after a lot of thought and prayer, and faith that I was actually doing the best thing for me at the time. A lot has happened since then, and I hope that I can feature some of it as time goes.
I am at a good place in my life right now...and I am thankful to God for his love, grace and faithfulness.
I will try to keep posting..
Here I am. Just as I had sensed that a move would soon befall me, it happened that half a year later, I was on my way back to Finland. Back to school again, this time to pursue a PhD, after a lot of thought and prayer, and faith that I was actually doing the best thing for me at the time. A lot has happened since then, and I hope that I can feature some of it as time goes.
I am at a good place in my life right now...and I am thankful to God for his love, grace and faithfulness.
I will try to keep posting..
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Kenyan MPs must pay tax!
Ok, I am not going to get all political about this issue because the topic of this blog entry says it all.
It is annoying to think that a bunch of men and women pocketing Ksh800,00 a month can run away from the logical governance fact that people who earn should pay tax, and in fact, the more you earn, the higher your taxes should be!
It is annoying to think that a bunch of men and women pocketing Ksh800,00 a month can run away from the logical governance fact that people who earn should pay tax, and in fact, the more you earn, the higher your taxes should be!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Communities and Communication
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in an ICT4D workshop at the Royal Holloway Campus of the University of London in Egham, Surrey. It's been a while since I had an intellectually-stimulating session with like-minded people. The workshop drew together 30-something researchers and practitioners from different backgrounds - united by one common motivation - their interests and/or involvement in ICT4D.
In his final remark, Prof Tim Unwin said something very profound - that a good workshop should inspire you to at least change an aspect of something you do, or even get you to do something new! "It's scarry what I am thinking of doing next", Tim said.
I got there late. The most financially convenient means of travelling there meant that I left Coventry at 7am only to get to London at 9.30am, (which was when the workshop was starting), and I had to be on the train for another 45minutes before getting to Egham. Anyway, I eventually arrived, and still had to walk half an hour to the Campus - it was the first time i was making this trip, and I didnt realize that the campus was a longer trek than I had anticipated. Anyway, this meant that I missed some presentations but anyhow, the day went really well.
Different people presented their work related to different "communities". Note the term communities in quotes because one discussion was about the definition of the term "community". Take a moment, pause and think what your own personal view and definition of the term "community" is, and you will definitely be suprised at what comes to mind. Does community mean the place you leave in? The place you work?Or even your ethnic orientation? What about the concept of online communities? I will not go further into this because that is a whole topic on its own.
Relevant to the workshop was what the term community means to introduction of ICT. It was agreed that a researcher's definition of community will be vary depending on the place he/she is carrying out the research, and indeed the nature of the research itself. Another very important discussion was about the development of ICT solutions for developing communities - also known as as emerging markets and how vital it is for these solutions to suit the needs of these communities. The workshop dealt with other different topics eg sustainable development, top-down business strategies, bottom-up telecommunications development, inclusion vs exclusion of commuties as a result of new ICT solutions.
All in all, I had the opportunity to finally meet Prof Tim and network with other people. It was cool talking to researchers that have projects currently running in Kenya, others interested in Kenya and Africa as a whole. On a very personal note, it helped to put my own aspirations into perspective.
It was a day well spent, a trip worth making. On my return bus journey, the bus driver had such a nice sense of homour, his announcements couldnt help but put a cheer. I couldnt help thinking that the dude actually loved and enjoyed his job!
In his final remark, Prof Tim Unwin said something very profound - that a good workshop should inspire you to at least change an aspect of something you do, or even get you to do something new! "It's scarry what I am thinking of doing next", Tim said.
I got there late. The most financially convenient means of travelling there meant that I left Coventry at 7am only to get to London at 9.30am, (which was when the workshop was starting), and I had to be on the train for another 45minutes before getting to Egham. Anyway, I eventually arrived, and still had to walk half an hour to the Campus - it was the first time i was making this trip, and I didnt realize that the campus was a longer trek than I had anticipated. Anyway, this meant that I missed some presentations but anyhow, the day went really well.
Different people presented their work related to different "communities". Note the term communities in quotes because one discussion was about the definition of the term "community". Take a moment, pause and think what your own personal view and definition of the term "community" is, and you will definitely be suprised at what comes to mind. Does community mean the place you leave in? The place you work?Or even your ethnic orientation? What about the concept of online communities? I will not go further into this because that is a whole topic on its own.
Relevant to the workshop was what the term community means to introduction of ICT. It was agreed that a researcher's definition of community will be vary depending on the place he/she is carrying out the research, and indeed the nature of the research itself. Another very important discussion was about the development of ICT solutions for developing communities - also known as as emerging markets and how vital it is for these solutions to suit the needs of these communities. The workshop dealt with other different topics eg sustainable development, top-down business strategies, bottom-up telecommunications development, inclusion vs exclusion of commuties as a result of new ICT solutions.
All in all, I had the opportunity to finally meet Prof Tim and network with other people. It was cool talking to researchers that have projects currently running in Kenya, others interested in Kenya and Africa as a whole. On a very personal note, it helped to put my own aspirations into perspective.
It was a day well spent, a trip worth making. On my return bus journey, the bus driver had such a nice sense of homour, his announcements couldnt help but put a cheer. I couldnt help thinking that the dude actually loved and enjoyed his job!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Indian Summer
Autumn is a time when the cold starts creeping in, the wind blows in all directions, and the rain falls sometimes 24/7. I suppose it aims at getting people to mentally prepare for the winter......What I like the most about Autumn is the change in colour of tree leaves. From light yellow to deep maroon.....This aspect of nature does capture my admiration.
The weather in the past three days has been suprisingly pleasant. Unusual sunny spells for this time of the year (Autumn). I got to learn that this is usually referred to as the Indian summer and I decided to google it up to learn more. In short an Indian summer can be defined as any spell of warm, quiet, hazy weather that may occur in September, October or even early December. It has something to do with high pressures and breezes but I will not go into the meteoriological explanations and jargon. There are several historical explanations as to why its called an Indian summer, and again, I wont dwell on that.
You dont always get nice weather this side of the globe, so we took the chance to walk and take pictures.....I wish this nice weather would last long.....but I know the rain and the winter will soon be here.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Transition
Reflecting on my life after graduating with a hard-earned master's degree, mine has been a season of transition which I must say is still in progress. With mixed thoughts and unsure sentiments about staying longer in Finland - a country and experience that will forever be one to remember. In so many ways, I think of those two years and five months as an experience that I would otherwise not wish to re-live, but still one that made me grow and change in positive ways. (And perhaps not-so-good ways that I keep trying to evaluate and change...).
The post-election violence in Kenya at the beginning of the year caused a sudden change of plans - from going to Kenya, my beloved country to explore what the great and mighty United Kingdom would have for this mini globetrotter.
Oh well, it's been nine months in this place, and I have, due to changing circumstances managed to live in three different cities/towns. Wolverhampton, Manchester and now Coventry. Asked if I would seek to make a move to another place, I feel that I dont have the energy for making frequent moves, but a deep, honest, realistic view of my season predicts yet another coming move. Even though I dont know where and for what reason the next one shall be, my silent prayer is that it will be one of a more permanent nature because I do want and need to establish some kind of stability in my life.
In the meantime, I appreciate different seasons for the character they build in me, the different, interesting people that I meet and the wide horizons of life that I get to explore and experience. While I look forward to a more stable posture, I try to remember that this moment is what makes life, and that I should enjoy it fully for it will soon be a past that I want to pleasantly remember.
The post-election violence in Kenya at the beginning of the year caused a sudden change of plans - from going to Kenya, my beloved country to explore what the great and mighty United Kingdom would have for this mini globetrotter.
Oh well, it's been nine months in this place, and I have, due to changing circumstances managed to live in three different cities/towns. Wolverhampton, Manchester and now Coventry. Asked if I would seek to make a move to another place, I feel that I dont have the energy for making frequent moves, but a deep, honest, realistic view of my season predicts yet another coming move. Even though I dont know where and for what reason the next one shall be, my silent prayer is that it will be one of a more permanent nature because I do want and need to establish some kind of stability in my life.
In the meantime, I appreciate different seasons for the character they build in me, the different, interesting people that I meet and the wide horizons of life that I get to explore and experience. While I look forward to a more stable posture, I try to remember that this moment is what makes life, and that I should enjoy it fully for it will soon be a past that I want to pleasantly remember.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)