My PHD Blog

If your PhD is like mine and stretches over more than one speciality, a word of advice. Make sure you are reading and researching in all the fields equally. My speciality is the technical side and this is where I have been reading to the detriment of the other side. This is now really obvious when I look at the number of papers I have on both sides. I reckon I have at least twice as many documents on the technical side rather than the autism side. I think that the way to go is to try to keep it even, then you won't have a large amount of reading to do in an area that may not be your favourite. I am now trying to balance things up a bit. Not much fun

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!

After thinking about the definition of smart homes and smart buildings, see this blog entry, I started to think about other terms that are likely to be used in this field. So, how about assisted living?
"The Assisted Living Federation of America defines assisted living as a long-term care option that combines housing, support services and health care, as needed. Assisted living is designed for individuals who require assistance with everyday activities such as meals, medication management or assistance, bathing, dressing and transportation". (Definition from http://www.alfa.org/alfa/Assisted_Living_Information.asp ) It appears that this is a sort of generally accepted definition so this will do for now.

The Merriam Webster website defines assisted living as "a system of housing and limited care that is designed for senior citizens who need some assistance with day-to-day activities but are not sufficiently incapacitated to require care in a nursing home and that usually includes private quarters, meals, personal assistance, housekeeping aid, monitoring of medications, and nurses' visits". Obviously this is not the right definition for me as I am not working with the elderly so I need to steer clear of definitions that go off in that particular direction; this said however, I will be looking at systems that are used for elderly to gain inspiration for what could be useful for younger people.

Another thing that I have found is that assisted living can mean a single dwelling or indeed a collection of dwellings in one location that can be supervised by both medical and non-medical staff to ensure that the individuals who live there can be cared for in their own homes rather than in care homes. Again I am not looking at a system that can be used in multiple dwellings, but it may be that the final system could easily be converted for this purpose.

I need to decide what various terms mean in respect to this project. For example a smart home is defined as "a home equipped with lighting, heating, and electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by phone or computer." if you use the phrase "Define smart home" in Google. Is this right? Yes, in some contexts this is right; however this is not really right for my thesis. "A dwelling incorporating a communications network that connects the key electrical appliances and services, and allows them to be remotely controlled, monitored or accessed." is closer as it does not state which devices are accessible as the first one does but states that the "key electrical appliances" are available. This is the definition in a fact sheet on the housingcare.org website entitled "Smart Home - A Definition". This is a document that was put together by the Department of Trade & Industry in the UK.

PC Magazine say that it is a "A home that is highly automated. It is entirely networked not only for computers, A/V entertainment and security, but also for heating, air-conditioning and lighting control. A smart house should have Ethernet outlets in every room. Although Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, and there are many appliances that are Wi-Fi only; connecting computers together via Ethernet is faster and more secure.". This is understandable as this is a computer magazine therefore it is going to veer towards the technological side. But again this is not really what I am aiming for.

Interestingly, a smart building is defined as "At the most fundamental level, smart buildings deliver useful building services that make occupants productive (e.g. illumination, thermal comfort, air quality, physical security, sanitation, and many more) at the lowest cost and environmental impact over the building lifecycle." by the Institute for Building Efficiency on their web site. Closer to what I want. So perhaps I need to be looking at smart buildings rather than smart homes? Are smart homes going to be thought of as a rich man's gadget playground? I must admit that this is how I have perceived them for a long time. I do not want something that can open the curtains or blinds in the morning to welcome the inhabitant to the bright / rainy / snowy / foggy new day. Unless it serves a purpose. I think that the "Unless it serves a purpose" is going to be extremely important and will be a useful yardstick. Or perhaps metrestick as we are supposed to be metric now. Funnily enough, yardstick is acceptable to the dictionary but there is no such thing as metrestick! There's my answer then

So, how do I see a smart home / building in this context? How about "A home that has been designed to assist the users, by means of appropriate technology, to live safer and more enjoyable lives. Key appliances can be monitored, accessed and remotely controlled to ensure that the users have an improved quality of life."

I am not sure about the last bit of that, I need to work on it but it seems about right for now.

My son sent me this link. Nothing whatsoever to do with the PhD but I liked it. An amusing way to show different programming languages.

While looking at the news on the University web site I came across an article on a system called RITA. This stands for RESPONSIVE INTERACTIVE ADVOCATE. The idea is to create a system with a friendly avatar and voice that can be interacted with for help with many different things, from healthcare to just having a conversation to help alleviate loneliness. An interesting idea but I can see that some may have problems with using technology to take over from the human touch. However, with the money being cut so drastically I think people will have to accept that things have to change.Your comments are welcome.

Have a look at this page

OK, you are probably wondering why this is called MALCOLM and, no, I am not yelling the name out for some perverse reason. MALCOLM stands for:
Mapping Assisted Living Capability Over La Manche which I am sure you know that La Manche is the name the French give to what we in the UK call The English Channel.

So, what is it all about then and why am I writing about it? Well, the important bit is the "assisted living" bit. I am going to an event in October that is talking about a project, called MALCOLM that, and I quote from the website, "will map the assisted living capabilities* in the coastal regions either side of the Channel. The mapping will be conducted using a standardised methodology so that direct comparisons can be made between the regions.

*For the purpose of this project, we define Assisted Living as the development and use of sensor and information and communication technologies (ICT) to facilitate the remote delivery of care and support to people to improve their quality of life and allow them to live as independently as possible in the lowest intensity care setting, consistent with their needs and wishes."

As the project is looking at assisted living systems I think that I can make some very useful connections, hence the travel along the south coast of England to Maidstone in Kent to attend. The website for information is to be found here

The event is taking place on the 16th October, I will put some more info up here as I find it and will, hopefully, remember to write up the day once I have been.

Today I received some dates for seminars that I should attend. These are to do with the School of Computing Research Seminars and the University of Portsmouth, (UoP), Computing Seminars. They are the first things in my diary! According to my supervisor I need to go and get ready to present stuff in them myself...... As a couple of the ones that are already filled have Professors as speakers I think that this may be a bit daunting. I reckon it is quite likely that I will be ready to do this and I think that this will be a good training ground for me as I learn how to lecture and then stand up at conferences and extoll the virtues of our work...
Yes, lecturing. I will have to run lectures sometimes, this sounds a bit scary at the moment, but as I am self-funding this doctorate, any cash flow is greatly received! (Perhaps I should put a "Donate using PayPal" button here. Only joking. )

I attended the SIHI conference on Wednesday, fantastic speakers and fascinating topics. Well worth going to if you are in this field.
One thing that I find very worrying is the lack of joined up thinking in the NHS. This was highlighted time and again throughout the day and it is amazing that we have got this far without all the bits of the NHS able to talk to the others easily. I know it is a huge organisation but still, it seems to me to be a disgrace.

Spoke to Professor Jeremy Wyatt about the topic of my PhD and he tells me that not enough quality research has been done in the field. Now there is a real challenge for me I think. Next year I will hopefully have a poster at the conference as I should be a year into the doctorate and should be starting to get papers published. How scary is that?

I have been looking around for themes for the blogging platform that I am using here, Serendipity. It appears that, on the whole, there is very little activity in creating themes for this platform. Why? Not sure, is it due to the success of the others such as Wordpress? I think I will have a go at creating a couple of themes myself, I know a reasonable amount of CSS and suchlike, (after all, my degree is in web technologies, (first class by the way ) ), so it can't be that hard can it?

It seems a shame that this is not being pushed as a great little blogging system. I assume that it is too much hard work for people and they want to be led by the hand as you are with Wordpress.