Saturday, December 18, 2010

More great grad school themed blogs

I seem to be having a bonanza in the department of "excellent blogs for UVic graduate students to read", something I am always seeking in my work.

The Thesis Whisperer warms my heart because, like me, she keeps a list of procrastination activities handy. It is also packed with practical advice to be productive in your research and writing, so has the best of both worlds.

The thesis whisperer is actually a group of whisperers, but the writing is consistent and topical.

how is academic writing to be ranked in the age of 2.0?

Found this article an interesting read from the Academic Productivity blog. What is the impact of self publishing online for academics?

What happens when "that hallway conversation moves into blogs" and is now cited?

The author argues that peer reviewed journals are becoming out of date in terms of tracking article impact, and looks at new publishing models for researchers. Not sure I want to give up on peer review altogether but the proposal for self publishing and online debate is interesting. After all, it isn't so much different than conferences ...

Perhaps we should organize a discussion on this at the GSS?

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

BC Student Activism goes waaaay back

In a tribute to the students around the world standing up for public post secondary education systems in past weeks, here is some archival footage of BC's first (I expect) student demonstration -- the UBC Great Trek of 1922, which demanded the campus finally be build so students didn't have to study crammed in old huts.

On a personal note, I recently learned my Great Aunt Eunice was a student on the Great Trek, as my cousin found a letter she wrote home describing the demonstration to her family. Guess I know where I get my activist streak!




Here is a bit of a history lesson in a bit of a bland but more structured and informative video about BC's history of establishing universities. Given the financial struggles we are having, it is good to learn from this mini-doc that BC's biggest university fought off closure during the great depression, only 7 years after it opened.



To learn about some current grad student campaigns visit the UVIC GSS at http://gss.uvic.ca