January 2008 – Page 9 – Silence and Voice

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2008-01-09

Just booked my flight to #NorthernVoice #NV08 or even #NV2008 ! #
Vancouver is the first stop, with the rest of the people going on to Hong Kong. The world is getting smaller. #
@Currie Will be great to see you at #NV2008 too! #
@dmcordell I remember the amount of snow last year. The weather was very deceiving. #
@kristiewells Obama seems like a nice fellow, but he does not strike anything in me. In some ways, his energy seems somewhat forced. #
I went to a new moon ceremony tonight. Too much mantra chanting for my likes. #
Nothing but computer problems again this morning. #
Philippe de Montebello will be retiring this year as the director of the #Metroplitan Museum of Art. He has been there for 30 years. #
de Montebello made both the cover of the #NYTimes and the front page of the Arts section of the Times. #
Under him the museum has become the world-class institution it is now. His shoes and influence on culture will be hard to fill. #
Finally got MS #Project to work for a project status meeting. Printed a report with one minute to spare. #
Eating a 12" Veggie Delight from Subway. Filling and somewhat healthy. #
@RobinYap That will be fun at the gym! #
About to take a new French class. I always wanted to study at the #FIAF. #

Interpret Qualitative Research; Don’t Analyze It

I heard a great statement today, though I do not recall exactly who said it (I think it was an autoethnographic mailing list I follow), but I have been thinking about this all day:

We don’t analyze qualitative research, we interpret it. Only quantitative data can be analyzed.

That is one of the reasons I am so much fonder of qualitative work–interpretations can be very rich and can be done from a variety of perspectives. After all, how many interpretations have there been of the Bible or Shakespeare or even the Tarot? So much depends on experiences and assumptions, among other factors, that interpretation itself can even be interpreted.

Try doing that with quantitative research!

Technorati Tags: autoethnography, qualitative research

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2008-01-08

@fncll Which ones didn’t you like? #
Just ate a vegetarian lentil casserole and some Christmas pudding with brandy butter. #
Think I will go to the gym for a brief workout. I have been eating like we are approaching a famine. #
@heyjudeonline Which application for mobile Tweets? #
@RobinYap You showed the generation gap by referring to chris brown as "this artist." #
Computer problems at work again. Computer turns off without warning. No shutting down or blue screen or anything. #
Frustrating since the Help Desk cannot reproduce the issue. How otherwise can they troubleshoot? #
@RobinYap It seems to be working again, somewhat mysteriously #
Just facilitated a #project review meeting. #
Working on an agenda for a steering committee meeting I am #managing next week. #
So warm here in #NYC that I had to turn on the air conditioning when I got home. Take that, high fuel oil prices! #
Irony does not easily translate into Twitter, it seems. #

Countdown to Infinity

I received an email from my colleague, Robin, who stated that he got this odd email. Trusting he would not send me anything like a virus or other problematic surprise, I clicked it. Ouch. Living in New York City these days prepares me for a lot, but nothing like this. I decided to reproduce it here for the full effect.

How to handle an irritating seat-mate on a plane
If you are sitting next to someone who refuses to let you travel quietly, follow these instructions:
1. Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.
2. Remove your laptop.
3. Start up.
4. Make sure the guy who is annoying you can see the screen.
5. Close your eyes, tilt your head up to the sky and move your lips like you are praying
6. Then hit this link

I showed it to a few friends, and they were all equally disturbed. I am sharing it here as I think it warrants discussion. Is this real? Alarmist? Funny? Racist? Stereotypical? Appropriate? Inappropriate? Callous? Fill in the blank ______.

It comes from the website of a talk show host, Neal Boortz. I am not familiar with him, but thought some people out there may be. What do you make of this?How do we make sense of a world like this? Can we? Is there sense to be made, or is this subject still too close and intimate? How do others outside the US feel? Perhaps my musing on this is just overreacting?

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2008-01-07

Warm out tonight in NYC. #
Wondering why it is dark and cloudy when NY is supposed bright and sunny. #
My computer is not working at work, again. #
At least there is another computer I can use, but it does not have MS #Project and #SnagIt, two programs I use daily. #
HelpDesk just came. Of course, my computer seemed to work fine when he was here. #
@pinoyboy Are you sure it was your bank and not a #phisher? #
Going for Korean food at #Mandoo Bar. #
Wishing TwitterBerry would show more Friends’ Timelines. #
Wishing TwitterBerry would show more Friends’ Timelines. #
Turned out to be a beautiful day in NY. Got coffee outside without a jacket. Weathermen were right on target today. #
Just watched a great Camtasia video on geotagging with Flickr. #
@rachelclarke Not following your Amazon and PayPal comment; what do you mean? #
@rachelclarke . . . and perils of increasing our debt with nifty books and other online goodies! #
The Northern Voice 2008 #NV2008 schedule is available http://2008.northernvoice.ca/schedule #
The schedule for #Moosecamp2008 does not seem available online yet. #
@NancyWhite I never got used to the "+" sign with tags. I tend to make them all one word or use an "_". I wish there were consistency! #