Off the record #1: holiday trepidation

So, in my first off-the-record blog post (post-coursework, if you will), I thought I'd blog about where I'm up to, what my thoughts are, that sort of thing.

I've just sent off two chapter drafts for the supes (supervisors) to read - a condensed methodology chapter (a bare bones spattering of 2000 words); and the first draft of my data chapter (which will no doubt get torn apart, but I've never written one before, so I took a stab at how I thought it should look). 

They were due on Wednesday, but as usual I finished earlier than planned, and got tired of looking at them. My line of thinking is that like art, if you spend too much time going over the same thing, you are liable to overdoing it. So, with them sent off (perhaps prematurely), I earned myself a two week respite.

It's left me with a sense of trepidation, for a number of reasons! I haven't really had a holiday in several years. For instance, during my undergraduate degree, I took classes over Summer so I could get that sucker completed and get into postgrad quicker. So I haven't really been on a holiday since 2010. I don't feel comfortable not exercising my brain, keeping it occupied, thinking. I don't even know what to do with myself. I'm moving in with my girlfriend, so I guess I'll use the break to move my stuff from A to B. Except where I have been living is much more convenient (for my studies) than where I'm headed. Oh well...

What else is on my mind? There's a conference scheduled for first quarter of 2013 in the UK, called Twitter and Microblogging: Political, professional and Personal Practices, at Lancaster University. I'm going to talk to the supes when I see them after my holiday in mid-November, so I'll talk to them about it then. I doubt I could swing funding from my Faculty, but if the supes give it two sets of thumbs-up, I'll likely self-fund. I think it could be good experience/exposure for me to get out there in some capacity - it couldn't hurt I figure, except to make me look like a total wanker if I cock it up - which, if I'm honest, isn't entirely impossible to conceive.

Not much else is going on at the moment, so check back in here mid-November for an update. Fair warning, there'll be a high likelihood of rage, as I figure I'll have a lot of work cut out for me with my data analysis chapter. So long as I can start my discussion chapter by December, all is acceptable, and things will be coming up matt-house.

Time to take a leap of faith!

References

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/twitter_and_microblogging/

My obligations stop here

End of the line, everybody off!

My obligation to post here as part of my honours coursework ends with this post, but I intend keep it updated as my thesis progresses until completion. There seems to be some interest in what I'm doing as over 1000 people have visited this humble place so far. Admittedly, that could just be my Mum. Thanks for the view-count, Mum.

Lately, things have been more (or less) looking up for my thesis. Over 15 hours and 10 interviews later, I generated around 20,000 words of delicious, pregnant research data. From that, I popped out 5,000 or so 'best of' bits. Now, in the timeline of my thesis, I am way ahead of schedule. I think online interviewing (synchronous text-based chatting via an ICT in regards to my thesis) has been great. I spend so much time online (so bitterly lonely) and it worked out that I could just fit my interviews in around the clock.

Obviously, this process isn't for everyone. Some people enjoy things like fresh air, sunshine, and what have you. But I feel like as an emergent method for qualitative research, it has a lot to offer. I hope that, with regards to my research at least, that it proves as effective as it was efficient.

So, what am I started to find, in regards to my research? I can't go into too much depth (mostly because I've not truly begun unpacking everything, organising it thematically etc). At this stage, I think I have ample grounds to not only sufficiently answer my research question, but in the process challenge Giddens and Bauman on their positions on modern intimacy. Bold stuff! You'll have to stay-tuned to the blog if you expect to find out anything more. As if you didn't see that coming! Ha! Ok, fine. Here's two terms that might mean something/nothing to you: homogeneity and micro-celebrity. Mystery! Intrigue! I'm reading some stuff by Senft and Marwick at the moment which I find particularly interesting.

What have I learned from the weekly workshop/class meetings? Well, I learned how lucky I am that I enrolled mid-year and was exposed to the structure and coursework in SOC470. It apparently makes a big difference, as it's greatly beneficial to talk about what a thesis needs from the perspective of your own discipline or what makes a good ____ chapter in an honours thesis before you start writing in any great length. The students who started earlier than me and had to go through ARTS470 had their time wasted, apparently.

I'll wrap up with the obligatory gif. To getting through the first half of my honours year without exploding in complete rage, and my supervisors telling me to take a two week break, presumably because I'm a BOSS.

References:

Marwick A E 2011, 'I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience', in New Media & Society, vol. 13, no. 01, pp. 114-133.

Salmons, J 2012, Cases in Online Interview Research, Sage, London, UK.

Senft, T M 2008, Camgirls: celebrity & community in the age of social networks, Peter Lang, NY, USA.