Hanging around Vancouver

In Vancouver, summer of 2010

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Mendeley – Phenomenal tool for keeping track of references

A friend, Jeffrey, Tweeted about Mendeley. So, I watched the video while getting ready to start working through my proposal today.

Phenomenal. I’ve been trying to keep my library synchronized across computers. I’ve been using Windows Desktop Search to locate them on my hard drive while writing. But, I fear it slows my system. I have been carefully organizing all my PDFs and notes into topic folders. But, the problem is that they belong in multiple folders. To solve that problem, I have been using tags in RefWorks. (And, of course, I have been keeping paper copies filed by author’s last name in a filing cabinet in my office.) As a result, I have been constantly cross-searching different systems. This has been working, but I think Mendeley might make things even more efficient.

Although Mendeley indicates that you can Import and Export with other referencing software, it does not mention Refworks. Good news: I was able to export a .txt file from Refworks and upload it into my Mendeley interface. Then, I was able to synchronize it online.

The synchronization feature is brilliant because it means that I can install the Mendeley interface on my travel computer or any other computer and synchronize the references with those computers. No more carting around USB drives and carefully dating the most recent list.

My only problem now, is to upload the articles. I have been careful to upload the URLs for journal articles, but I want easy access to my library from anywhere in the world. I can match the PDFs with the citations on my less productive hours. Mendeley is not intended as a publishing tool, but a resource-networking tool. I will investigate this further as I wish to respect copyright legislation.

Note that Mendeley also allows you to search through others’ reference lists, connect with other researchers, etc. Hence, it also serves as a social networking tool.

I have yet to explore it further.

Back to writing!

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Online presentation: The Web of Identity: Identity Formation in Online Learning

When: March 2nd, 2011
Time: 11:00 AM Mountain Time (Canada)
Where: Online via Elluminate
More information: http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSessions/

As learners interact in online networks of learning, how do they come to know one another? Building on the work of Goffman (1959) and Foucault (1988), the Web of Identity (WoI) model shows how online learners may use dramaturgical strategies to create and negotiate their personal identities in a continuous flux of presentation and interpretation. Philosophically, the model is highly social constructionist and places a great emphasis on relational dialogue. For practitioners, the implications include finding ways to aid learners to improve their use and translation of WoI strategies. Such skill, theoretically, should help them to enact their unique personalities, lessen their sense of fragmentation, increase their sense of belonging, and gauge authenticity of others. The researchers, Marguerite Koole and Dr. Gale Parchoma, will then discuss some preliminary research projects on identity in networked learning and future research in the field.

Local times for this presentation may be found by clicking on the World Clock link below.

The link to this presentation will be posted closer to the session start date.

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Combining the old with the new

Yes, I still like paper. I like books. I like writing notes by hand. And, I like drawing diagrams of ideas to see how they articulate. But, I need to keep backups and mobile copies. One solution that I have found is LiveScribe.

I’m sure there are (or will be) different brands and vendors, but this nifty gadget is very user-friendly. Without much more than a 10 minute tutorial, I could use this device. The recordings are phenomenal, but I recommend using the earphones (integrated audio and mic) when in convention halls. Otherwise, it will pick up the movements of the pen on the paper. You can download the audio and your hand-written notes. You can convert the output in to different formats. You can even add a tool that will OCR your handwriting. And, when you playback lectures, you will see your handwriting revealed in time with the audio.

I’m starting to use this device when I make notes from books or simply jotting down my thoughts and doodles.

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Actor Network Theory (ANT)

A friend shared his ANT paper with me. The penny dropped. I did not previously envision how one would “trace networks”. In his paper, he traced a variety of actors (human and non-human) that were required to enable a current process to act.

The real-life example of an ANT analysis was very helpful to understand what LaTour meant by the following statements:

• “There is no society, no social realm, and no social ties [LaTour was reacting against the preset social concepts in sociology], but there exists translations between mediators that may gnerate traceable associations” (p. 108) [ANT seems to be commensurate with relational approaches.]
• “. . . a good account will perform the social in the precise sense that some of the participants in the action–through the controversial agency of the author–will be assembled in such as way that they can be collected together” (p. 138).
• details are the key in ANT research (my notes).
• “a network is the trance left behind by some moving agent” (p. 132).

An important ingredient is LaTour’s conception of “intermediaries” and “mediators”. As you read the definitions below, think of a complex network of interactions between actors in a given situation and consider which of the actors is an intermediary and which is a mediator:

INTERMEDIARY

• transports meaning without transformation
• inputs = outputs
• one entity, thought might have many parts (complex)

MEDIATOR

• may count for one, many, nothing, infinity . . .
• input != (not equal) output (no predictors)
• transforms, translates, distorts, modifies meaning of elements (inputs)
• may lead in multiple directions

LaTour writes there is “constant uncertainty over the intimate nature of entities–are they behaving as intermediaries or as mediators?” (p. 39).

PRINCIPLE OF IRREDUCTION

• “the philosophical meaning of ANT: a concatenation of mediators does not trace the same connections and does not require the same type of explanations as a retinue of intermediaries transporting a cause” (p. 107).

According to LaTour, good accounts trace networks as you have done in this paper. But, for him, the identification of mediators vs. intermediaries is very important: “As soon as actors are treated not as intermediaries but as mediators, they render the movement of the social visible to the reader” (p. 128).

Looking back at the analysis, some of the actors identified have become visible to us. Why? And, are there any actors that might be escaping our view because they are behaving as intermediaries? Hmmm . . . is it possible that a true affordance might be one such invisible actor? Or, are affordances mediators in that they transform, translate, etc. the meaning of actors/elements? I suspect that an intermediary can sometimes act as a mediator and vice-versa.

Reference

LaTour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

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PhD Proposal: Getting Started

It occurred to me as I exercise my avoidance and procrastination muscles, that it might be beneficial to start a blog. I’ve spent several days now jotting down ideas of how to get started on my PhD proposal. Obviously, the best way is to simply get started.

So far, I have started writing the first two paragraphs explaining the philosophical orientation of my intended work. Then, I started creating folders for the most significant aspects of the proposal:

• theoretical articles & references
• papers about phenomenography
• papers about learner-identity
• papers about threshold concepts and reflectivity

I am now ready to type out the headings for the main sections of the proposal.

The main thing to keep in mind is the scope of the proposal: 3000 words.

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