A while back I started a new blog called "I Wish to Blog Deliberately" (corny name but accurate in its account). With this new blog I intended to write on philosophical topics and keep more practical discussions focused at MQRL. Aside from being just a collection of philosophical discussions, its creation was important because I was concerned that MQRL might become diluted with esoteric discussions if I were I to maintain only one blog.
However, since that time I've rarely contributed to IW2BD; but my temperament lately has been philosophical and I need an outlet for it. As a result, I'm beginning to post again to IW2BD. I've also been motivated by the observation that my writing is much better now such that I may write coherently on topics such as teleology and ethics. This has arisen in no small part because my writing and thinking has improved as I explored ideas at MQRL.
So, if you're interested in what I have to say, pay IW2BD a visit. I plan on making no changes to MQRL and will continue its theme of the practicalities and execution of science from an academic standpoint.
And if you're really, really interested, e-mail me sometime at kyle.m.douglass@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.
A "lab notebook" about my life in science, programming, and philosophy.
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Thursday, January 26, 2012
I'm reverting back to random posts
The weekly post schedule was nice for encouraging me to write, but I feel like my pool of academic topics are a bit dry at the moment. Therefore, I'm going to revert back to posting at random as thoughts develop, even if that means that the blog may fail to draw in new readers. I may go back to regular posts in the future, but as of now proposal writing, research, and the demands of personal life (i.e. too much time spent at the climbing gym) are taking their toll on my creative faculties.
Meanwhile, here are some recent thoughts. I've had browser tabs to these two sites (OpenScience and Science 2.0) open for some time now but still haven't explored what they're about. I intend to do this soon. I like the idea of free and open source science. Opponents and critics to the movement exist (sorry, I don't have a reference handy), but in my mind the spirit of science is best captured here. Perhaps I'm just cranky and fed up with the politics of academia.
Also, I visited UCF's high performance computing center, a.k.a. Stokes HPCC, yesterday. I don't quite follow the jargon of IT people, but from what I could understand this is a big-ass computer cluster. Pleasingly, it's used by many different people at UCF and isn't just a PR ploy that serves little academic utility. Nice job, UCF.
Meanwhile, here are some recent thoughts. I've had browser tabs to these two sites (OpenScience and Science 2.0) open for some time now but still haven't explored what they're about. I intend to do this soon. I like the idea of free and open source science. Opponents and critics to the movement exist (sorry, I don't have a reference handy), but in my mind the spirit of science is best captured here. Perhaps I'm just cranky and fed up with the politics of academia.
Also, I visited UCF's high performance computing center, a.k.a. Stokes HPCC, yesterday. I don't quite follow the jargon of IT people, but from what I could understand this is a big-ass computer cluster. Pleasingly, it's used by many different people at UCF and isn't just a PR ploy that serves little academic utility. Nice job, UCF.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
On blog writing (and happy 1.5'ish year anniversary!)
I've been writing on this blog for about a year and a half. As with any milestone (ok, so I missed the anniversary of the first post by six months), this fact has put me in a reflective mood and I'm eager to analyze what I've learned from this endeavor.
My original intent for starting the blog was to have a place to jot down my ideas and sort them according to some logical framework. My mind was a discombobulated mess of tasks I had to do, dates I had to keep, and theories that intermingled to the extent that I had difficulties keeping them straight. Of course, I could always jot down notes in a notebook or journal (and I do), but I found that my handwriting simply couldn't keep up with the rate at which my thoughts crystallized into a pattern in my mind. Thus, I started the blog, but honestly did not care whether others read it.
My first post sums up this intent very well. (Having written it so long ago, it actually seems as if someone else wrote it.) So has the blog succeeded in this regard? I think so. I've certainly managed to find a broad range of topics on which to flesh out my thoughts, and my thinking is much more clear than when I started.
The most amazing thing I've found from writing, especially through this medium, is that my intent for a post almost always changes as I write it, leading me to discover something in the process. For example, I first started this post as a discussion on writing techniques, inspired by this article. I suspect that the reason for this is that the public nature of a blog impresses upon me the need to be logical. I dare not commit a logical fallacy in front of the entire digital world, especially since I purport to be a "scientist." So, as I place my thoughts into writing, I'm better able to catch errors in my thinking, fix them, and as a result find new conclusions and ideas.
For this reason I've recently come to appreciate the value of an audience. Sure, my readership is next to nil, but building one takes work that I simply have not put in. That's changing now. Through the magic of Google, I've discovered ways toattract any sort of attention possible popularize my blog, including http://www.twitterfeed.com. If more people are reading what I write, I'll probably pay closer attention to it.
And what of the future? Do I have any more hopes for my writing? Well, trying to keep a regular post schedule has been challenging, so I hope that I can maintain it. I also hope that, if enough people do start reading this blog, that I can gain a lot from comments. I realize my viewpoint is very particular in a large field. My biases likely keep me from conclusions that are just as valid but I otherwise discount or miss entirely.
This was actually a rather easy and fun post to write. If you do enjoy this blog, feel free to share it with your friends who might find it interesting. I'd appreciate it ;)
On a side note: thank you Google for changing the layout of the editing screen on Blogger. The newer, more professional look means I don't have to Alt-Tab to Matlab when my advisor enters my office unexpectedly.
My original intent for starting the blog was to have a place to jot down my ideas and sort them according to some logical framework. My mind was a discombobulated mess of tasks I had to do, dates I had to keep, and theories that intermingled to the extent that I had difficulties keeping them straight. Of course, I could always jot down notes in a notebook or journal (and I do), but I found that my handwriting simply couldn't keep up with the rate at which my thoughts crystallized into a pattern in my mind. Thus, I started the blog, but honestly did not care whether others read it.
My first post sums up this intent very well. (Having written it so long ago, it actually seems as if someone else wrote it.) So has the blog succeeded in this regard? I think so. I've certainly managed to find a broad range of topics on which to flesh out my thoughts, and my thinking is much more clear than when I started.
The most amazing thing I've found from writing, especially through this medium, is that my intent for a post almost always changes as I write it, leading me to discover something in the process. For example, I first started this post as a discussion on writing techniques, inspired by this article. I suspect that the reason for this is that the public nature of a blog impresses upon me the need to be logical. I dare not commit a logical fallacy in front of the entire digital world, especially since I purport to be a "scientist." So, as I place my thoughts into writing, I'm better able to catch errors in my thinking, fix them, and as a result find new conclusions and ideas.
For this reason I've recently come to appreciate the value of an audience. Sure, my readership is next to nil, but building one takes work that I simply have not put in. That's changing now. Through the magic of Google, I've discovered ways to
And what of the future? Do I have any more hopes for my writing? Well, trying to keep a regular post schedule has been challenging, so I hope that I can maintain it. I also hope that, if enough people do start reading this blog, that I can gain a lot from comments. I realize my viewpoint is very particular in a large field. My biases likely keep me from conclusions that are just as valid but I otherwise discount or miss entirely.
This was actually a rather easy and fun post to write. If you do enjoy this blog, feel free to share it with your friends who might find it interesting. I'd appreciate it ;)
On a side note: thank you Google for changing the layout of the editing screen on Blogger. The newer, more professional look means I don't have to Alt-Tab to Matlab when my advisor enters my office unexpectedly.
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