My PHD Blog

At this point it is all about research; reading everything that you can find that is to do with your subject. But how do you find what it is you need to read? This I can not answer for you unfortunately, this is something that you will have to identify for yourself; it all depends on your field. The best place to start will have to be your supervisor as you will have been given a suitable supervisor, (hopefully), who is knowledgeable about your field and is well versed in the topics, giving you a head start.
What has become obvious to me is that, at the end of your 3 or so years is that you are going to be a world expert in this field. As scary as this sounds, that is what you have to aim at. Therefore there are no papers that are exactly what you need to read now. This is because you have not written them yet. As amazing as this sounds when you are here at the start, your path through the jungle you now face will be your own journey. Others may be heading in the same sort of direction but you are the one who will get to the endpoint of your journey and you will be the one who is the expert. Your university wants to be proud of you at the end, as you will be yourself but as you take these first few faltering steps it appears to me that the thing to do is read everything and keep a log of what you have read and the ideas that the reading sparks off.

I am helping out in practical sessions at my uni and one of the undergrads asked me how coursework can be marked when everyone's work is going to be so different. The coursework in question is a database system that has to be designed and developed for a pet shop with private breeders selling through the store. Each student that I talked to today had a different take on the structure of the tables, indeed, I don't think I saw 2 sets of tables the look the same. I got chatting with my supervisor after the sessions and I said that I could see how different undergrad tuition is to post grad; you have to be spoon fed info as an undergraduate as there are set modules that have to be taught. As a post grad you will not have this structure as it is not suitable as you are going to become the expert in your field. There is no one ahead of you to learn from. This sounds scary but if you are going to complete a post grad study course it comes back each time to the fact that you are going to be the expert on your field. Scary yes, but oh so unbelievably cool

It has been a busy couple of weeks. I have been through the induction process now. A few different induction sessions to go through with the faculty induction and graduate school induction and of course the school of computing induction. This last was not really needed as I sort of know who I need to know in the school of computing and I know where most things are from my year as an undergrad. However I would say that a new PhD student needs to go through these sessions and it will probably do your confidence a world of good; and possibly knock it down again.

I say this as you will be told, quite rightly, that you are at the top of the pile; you are very clever and you deserve to be there. Only the best get this opportunity and they are right to keep telling you this. Then, if you are like me, you will look around and see lots of other people in the same situation as you and you will hear about their fields and, in my case, think to yourself, "What am I doing here? My project is not as important as all these others". I was in a room full of people working on big stuff. I mean really big, you don't get bigger than this type big. You know, the cosmos! Suddenly my project looking at houses does not seem so important anymore. How can you weigh a house against the cosmos?

However, keep in mind one thing. You are at the top of the pile; you are pretty damn good to be offered this chance; the university that has asked you to join can see your capabilities and they will only ever offer these places to the very best. There is a lot riding on the people that they offer these places to as the reputation of a uni rides on the quality of its research and its researchers. That means YOU!

So, remember, you are one of the best in the world. Not just one of the best on your undergrad course or your masters course. One of the best IN THE WORLD. Never forget that.

Of course, you still have to turn in the work and this is not going to be easy. But, getting off to the right start must be important and thinking, no, not thinking, KNOWING that you are one of the best in the world should make you and your families proud of you!

Today I had my faculty induction and my graduate school induction at the uni. Well, I say I had my faculty induction but this is not strictly true as I have sort of had my induction over the last year as I already know about the library, where the various buildings are and where the important people reside. I found out where my office and desk are last week and today I checked that I could print stuff out. The grad school induction was interesting; I am working on smart homes. A single dwelling. A small point on a street in a county in a country on the planet earth. There are some PhD students who are looking at the cosmos. Note the difference here; one little building and one entire universe. Looking for dark matter and suchlike. Sort of puts you in your place let me tell you!

Tomorrow I start on the "How to get started on your PhD" course. That should be interesting.

I had thought that a Beaglebone Black would be a great bit of kit to use for this project. I ordered one from RS Components in May of this year and they had none in stock so I went on the back order list. Arriving in September I was told. Great, just the right time as this would give me a bit of time to play with it before getting stuck in to the research side of things. I checked in August that all was OK by looking at my account online and the date had slipped to October 7th. Not a problem but a bit annoying, I must have missed the email letting me know about the slippage. Never mind, still plenty of time to play and learn the system. Last week I looked at my account again to confirm that nothing had changed. But now however, without letting me know that anything was changed again, the delivery date would now be February 2015. Now, this slippage is bad enough, but the main annoyance is the total lack of notification that there was a problem from RS. So I have decided to cancel the order and use my Arduino Mega and my Pi to get the system working instead. I fill out a form letting them know that I do not want to wait till February 2015 for my Beaglebone and that I want my money back. Guess what, nothing from RS again. Customer care has become customer don't care so I have placed my last order with them. This is a complete farce and if anyone asks me for advice about who to buy kit from will be told that I might not know who to get something from but I do know who NOT to buy things from. Yes, RS Components.

I have found an interesting info sheet from NAS, the National Autistic Society, about a framework called SPELL. This stands for Structure, Positive, Empathy, Low arousal & Links.

The overview of the document states that: "The SPELL framework recognises the individual and unique needs of each child and adult and emphasises that planning and intervention be organised on this basis. We believe that a number of interlinking themes are known to be of benefit to children and adults on the autism spectrum and that by building on strengths and reducing the disabling effects of the condition progress can be made in personal growth and development, the promotion of opportunity and as full a life as possible."

This framework seems to me to be very important and will guide me through the next few months while looking at the needs of the users of my system.





The SPELL web page can be found at http://www.autism.org.uk/spell

Should have posted this yesterday as I officially started my PhD then! However more important things were taking place so it sort of got forgotten. More important I hear you ask? What could be more important than the start date of my PhD? My wife's birthday, that's what. I may miss things over the nexty few months because of the doctorate but I had to make sure that I did not miss this one. So, happy birthday Ruth!