Month: January 2012

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2012-01-09

Powered by Twitter Tools

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2012-01-08

  • Just finished pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (finishing #10 ' #phdchat #
  • Just started pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (finishing #10 ' #phdchat #
  • Just finished pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (#10)' #phdchat #
  • Just started pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (#10)' #phdchat #
  • Just finished pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (finish #9 begin #10 ' #phdchat #
  • Just started pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (finish #9 begin #10 ' #phdchat #
  • Just finished pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (to finish #9 ' #phdchat #
  • Just started pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (to finish #9 ' #phdchat #
  • @christiepooh Hang in there, it will be ok. Maybe not now, but it will be. in reply to christiepooh #
  • @lizith Excellent. How are you resolving the contrasting perspectives? @sarahthesheepu @lizgloyn #phdchat #
  • @christiepooh Refreshed? in reply to christiepooh #
  • Just realized I have had my email off most of the day. Did not even realize it, between my research and Twitter #phdchat #
  • I think I need a little longer break this time. Have been sitting at my desk most of the afternoon, even during my breaks. #
  • @lynntrinko Start with a little pomodoro to get you going! http://t.co/0BNr2F1s in reply to lynntrinko #
  • Just finished pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (#9)' #phdchat #
  • Just started pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (#9)' #phdchat #
  • @lynntrinko Sounds like the best of all worlds. Kudos to you, especially as I am now so jealous!! 😉 in reply to lynntrinko #
  • @gconole The first time I looked at the pomodoro, it did not seem like a big deal. However, as nothing else has worked, I tried it. in reply to gconole #
  • @gconole I used a pomodoro to explain it; thanks for the prompt!! in reply to gconole #
  • A colleague asked me what a pomodoro is, and I explained it using transcription for context http://t.co/8OpRQxiJ #phdchat #
  • Just finished pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (#8)' #phdchat #
  • Just started pomodoro 'Transcription Checking & Review (#8)' #phdchat #
  • @klbz Yes, that is a lot off my mind. While there is still that smoky fire smell in the air, things on the block seem back to normal #nyc in reply to klbz #
  • @lynntrinko Sounds great. Is it management or hands-on? in reply to lynntrinko #
  • @christiepooh @gconole Will try to take it easy; just reviewing transcriptions today. Thanks for the positive energy. #
  • @gconole Much appreciate the positive energy. in reply to gconole #
  • Very late and slow start to the day, awoke with headache and some congestion. #
  • @ai1sa Not MY wine; only the wine of the dozen fire trucks. Alas, at least they saved the building and all the cars in it. And the block. in reply to ai1sa #
  • @bonstewart You participate in a more . . . let's say transcendent manner #edchat #phdchat in reply to bonstewart #
  • @christiepooh Yes, though I do not like raw tomatoes. Yuck. Here is the good one http://t.co/J4g2wiRF in reply to christiepooh #
  • @christiepooh Have never seen one of them. That is a chain? in reply to christiepooh #
  • @ai1sa Yes, though I think I got a breath or two of smoke, and now a little light-headed. Not a good night it seems. in reply to ai1sa #
  • @lindathestar Yes, it was. There were certainly enough NYFD members, trucks, equipment, and assorted emergency equipment. No fooling around in reply to lindathestar #
  • @lynntrinko Missed your new job; how, where. what? Glad you love it!! in reply to lynntrinko #
  • Thankfully none of the cars exploded or anything. This could have really been a horrible event. #
  • We can now smell some of the smoke coming in the window. #
  • It is scary to hear that beeping sound that the firefighter equipment makes, reminds me of other more horrible fires #NYC #
  • Really glad nobody seems to have been hurt. #
  • Thankfully my car is not parked in the garage. It is the most excitement on my block in years (thankfully). #

Powered by Twitter Tools

Transcribe via Pomodoro

I have found the most difficult challenge in my doctoral thesis (dissertation) thus far to be transcription.

As a matter of fact, there are few things I have struggled with more than transcription. While I love hearing the interviews again – I make connections, I feel even more connected to the experience – but for some reason(s) my mind goes numb when I think about transcription. I either type slowly or my mind wanders or I nod off or whatever, so much to the extent that I finally had to hire somebody associated with my university to help with my transcription. Either I was going to go broke and get it done or I simply was not going to finish.

Thus, even with transcription behind me, I still have to re-listen to the interviews and review / correct / edit them. Even the best transcriber in the world was just not there at the interview, and thus cannot know the context as much as I do. Thus, I need to re-listen and check and verify and tweak before I return to the interviewees for their checking, and while this is close enough to the transcription process that my mind borders on numbness and revolt, I have discovered a technique (once again from my wonderful #phdchat network!) to help me chunk this process into small portions that are not overwhelming.

Enter the pomodoro.

The Pomodoro Technique is a simple time management process where you do a single task for 25 minutes, without any distraction, followed by a 5 minute break. Track the success. Repeat. Get the idea? Large tasks can be overwhelming, though if we break them down to doable chunks, called pomodoros, we are able to make progress and track it along the way.

The process can get a little more organized, or course, though this is the extent that I have started to use to help me to get through my transcription, and thus my thesis, at this point. Working through a 90 minute interview, stopping to rewind and make corrections and edits along the way takes hours, but chopping it into short 25-minute pieces – hey, I can do that!

While this can be done with a simple timer (I bought one for this when I started, one of those wind-up kitchen timers), there are also a number of applications and apps to help with the process. I finally tried and found one I like, called Pomodoro, and the few dollars I spent on it has been well-spent. After all, a few optional dollars to help overcome a major challenge by helping to break it up into shorter bits of doable effort is OK in my book.

While pomodoros can be used for all sorts of tasks, it is simply another process tool to help increase efficiency (and simply finish). I am using it with success at this point, though can imagine its application being almost limitless (especially when surrounded by everything so interesting in social media and the internet!). After all, in the spirit of the #changee MOOC, doing something new and counter to how the mainstream does, can be useful indeed. Learning opportunities indeed do surround us!

BTW, I wrote this post in a pomodoro as a colleague asked me what it was!

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2012-01-07

Powered by Twitter Tools

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2012-01-06

Powered by Twitter Tools