Friday, November 11, 2011

one more month ...

a month more to be here ... now i am mentally organizing my activities as the count down starts. one of these days i really have to sit down and put the planning on paper as time will really be tight. another writing workshop coming up end of this month, and assessment of what i have achieved during my stay here - there are at least 6 expected outputs during the 4 months of stay. (status message, FB, 8 nov 2011)



Writing Workshop 2

Last 31 October to 3 November, we again spent isolated days in Thornhill for the 2nd writing workshop, for our paper 2. It was a bit different from the first one in terms of activities. We did not only read and write but also had sessions on database management and analysis. So during the four days, nearly 50% was spent on data analysis. On the first day our team had a meeting on the structure and contents of paper 2. This meeting was a continuation of previous meetings at the uni on this topic. We finally agreed on what research questions and framework we should follow in writing up the 2nd paper. We also had individual meetings and consultations regarding data analysis esp on the access database from integrated surveys and SOS workshops. It was tough for me coz I have just arrived on 30 Oct from a long trip across the Atlantic. So I was sleepy and sleepy ... I had to drink lots of coffee which I did not like at all. Our upstairs room was a tropical zone and the warmth and quiet were so conducive for sleeping! Somebody did make use of the sofa at the end of the room. I tried sitting there as well with a paper to read, and I dozed off a bit, the 7-minute power nap! It was quite effective.

Setting up our work stations

In action ... except the pet on the stairs...