New academic Year, new academic students.

It seems almost surreal that the M.Sc. course I completed last year has started again. I have been helping out in some of the practicals which has also allowed me some time to work on the paper that I am trying to publish.

It's interesting talking to the new students and discussing with them about some of the course options and what they hope to get out of the course. It's amazing how similar their thoughts are to what I was thinking last year. 

I am keeping myself busy mostly with application forms for employment, learning R (a statistical programming language), learning some statistics (because I am gluten for punishment) and re-drawing diagrams for the paper I am writing. I also have three interviews next week, which is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

Seeing as the new academic year has started I thought it was about time that I posted a couple of the photographs from August when my class and I were celebrating finishing our dissertations with some of the academic staff :-)

Publishing

One of the most exciting and memorable parts of my postgraduate research was having recorded results that was worth publishing in a scientific journal. If memory serves me correctly almost every word was agonised over, after the first few drafts anyway. Every table and figure scrutinised and double checked. Hours spent over the best sounding title. Every reference formatted into the journals exact specification. The amount of coffee drank re-reading the text. The printing out and posting (yes, posting at the post office) of the final manuscript. Thankfully fieldwork in Greenland took me away from checking the post everyday.

I still remember receiving the returned manuscript and the anticipation i felt before opening the package, a rejection or an acceptance letter? It was a new experience reading though the comments of two other scientists on what they thought of my results. As "luck" would have it they agreed that the work was worth publishing with a few changes here and there.

When I started thinking of my M.Sc. dissertation this year I was already thinking that it would be great to be able to publish the results of the research. It was with some dismay I found out how much the academic publishing landscape has changed. My plan was to publish in the Journal of Glaciology (from the International Glaciological Society). That plan changed quickly when I realised that they charge £1200 to publish a paper. I was a bit shocked. It seems that they now don't have a subscription fee for the journal, instead they charge the authors to publish and the readers get the material (online) for free. It appears that many journals are turning away from subscription based models towards author charged models. Quaternary Science Reviews (where I published my first article, with Dr Peter G. Knight) is now charging $2850. 

I think this is a disturbing trend. I cannot fathom how an editor can base good research against the requirement of revenue, even though the work is peer reviewed. It also works against the researchers who don't get large grants to undertake research, or in my case, the students that sometimes lay the foundations for future work. To me charging authors for publishing is simply anti-science. I worry about what research isn't getting published that we are missing out on because the author cannot afford to publish.

I do realise that if the publication is then shared via a creative commons licence and that everyone (with an internet connection) can read them then the work reaches a larger audience. But if the science that has been published because the journal needed more revenue that month then what is the worth of the articles? There has to be a fairer way than the current trend.

 

 

 

Short term goals.

Instead of wasting my days between student and employee I thought it would be good to set some short term goals during my 'sabbatical time'.

Statistics: When I told someone that I needed to get some sort of qualification in statistics I was asked why I would want to be involved in that sort of self- flagellation. However, as I have discovered over the last year, my statistical skills are lacking in certain areas. I would like to do a one or two day course in intermediate statistics, or even beginner to intermediate statistics.

Publish: I think that my dissertation research is worth re-formating and perhaps cutting down into a research article for a journal. This may be another exercise in self-flagellation as well.

Photography: Good lord do I need to go into the countryside and take photographs. I don't think I would even recognise my camera if I tripped over it right now. I haven't spent any time in the past couple of months and would love to spend time doing some serious photography. I think a few days in the Highlands is required, perhaps around the area of Strathy (@samchair).

Database: For some reason I would like to build a database driven website. I cannot explain this. Probably a result of the Spatial Modelling course that I did last year. Am sure (hoping) this will wear off. 

Website design: This site has been the same for about a year now, I think a refresh may be in order. A few years ago I thought it would be nice to split the journal into different sections.

I guess it would be a good idea to add get a job in this list too, but I don't want to be too hasty about this, it has to be the right job.

 

Dissertation writing up...

The last time I had to 'write up' a large body of work I had a job in the university library. Actually I had about four jobs in the library, which basically funded my beer, accommodation, and cheesy pasta that I apparently lived on. The jobs I had in the library were amazing, they were never terribly busy and I was always sat at a computer. This allowed me to type up my work, think about my work and run downstairs to the journals if I needed to look something up. Of course now I can find any journal online... Of course, I also served people when it was required ;-)

Still, I miss having those jobs right now as I have been finding writing up more difficult this time, hence being up since 4am (which is when it gets light) having slept very little last night. This dissertation come in two parts, a scientific paper and a technical report. Thankfully the paper section should be finished off for review today and i can start finishing off the technical section next week.

Lake 15

It has been interesting getting back into a subject that has always interested me (Glacial  Lake Outburst Flood's) and it has been great applying new skills learned during the M.Sc. to that subject. My results have been interesting, lots of histograms and images of glaciers with polygons around their pro-glacial lakes! :-)

Well, it's almost 6am and the rain is steadily falling. Time for some tea I think. 

 

Lake 15 Histogram of Lake Area

Lake 15 Histogram of Lake Area