The World According to Magners
It has been a hot and sunny week over here in Londonland. Which has made it very difficult, nay, impossible to complete my mission of not failing my future exam!
It is very difficult to focus your mind when the weather is so nice. They really should have exams in, say, February when it is too cold and wet outside to be distracted. When the idea of sitting in a library all day isn't quite as repugnant. This May nonsense is ridiculous!
Anyways, I recovered from Monday's scary lectures. Tuesday I started sending out emails like mad to my case study supervisor and people at the Newberry who I needed information from to write my case study. Thankfully they all got back to me, like, immediately. Although, I don't have much time to deal with that right now with the exam coming up!
Wednesday I figured it was time to get serious, and went to the library for hours of reading fun. Of course, someone went and hid all the things I needed to read, so that didn't work very well! I got a bit done, though. Chad was going to meet me later on in the afternoon for a lecture, but fell off his bike, so that didn't work out. I went to my lecture alone then. It was all about how impossible it is to keep up with archiving digital materials, and how quickly the technology changes. Scary stuff when you think about how much information could be potentially lost because of blase attitudes or lack of funding. And then what does get archived being useless because nobody uses laser discs anymore!
Anyways - it ended up being entertaining because of the man who got into a very heated commentary about how crap Microsoft is. It was a bit scary really!
I got a call from Claire, and after my lecture I met her down in Leicester Square. It was a very warm, lovely evening. The sun is already staying up past 9, so it didn't feel nearly as late as it was. We had falafels at a little cafe, and then went down the street and shared an ice cream sundae outside at Bella Italia. How in the world is one supposed to study when this is what you can do instead? Afterwards, we hung out a bit in a bar, and then headed home.
Thursday I had an interview at a little library very near my flat. I didn't really want the job, but the lady was persistent, and so I figured I'd give it a shot. A lot of my classmates are also interviewing for it, and she literally told me she was probably going to pull a name out of a hat. It didn't go extremely well, so I'm pretty sure it's not mine. At least I got practice, and got a nice walk over there in the sun! While money would be nice, it would interfere with writing my dissertation and with volunteering at UCL, which is ultimately more relevant to my CV.
In the afternoon, I met Chad for our raincheck. He was bringing along the reading materials that I couldn't seem to locate at the library so that I could actually, allegedly, get some studying done. We hit the Dublin Castle in Camden Town, and once again sat in the sun, people watching and drinking cider and chatting.
As you can see, if this is the alternative, I'm going to have a very difficult time concentrating on "important" things this summer!
Yesterday I cleaned my flat and spent a few hours in Special Collections finishing up my metadata entry. They are really frustrating me with their attitudes. Yes, maybe I am young and eager, but metadata is what makes this stuff relevant. And if no one bothers to do it properly the first time, then what gets digitized is useless! Chad and I were discussing this Thursday (so it wasn't a complete waste of time!)...that it's like when you got to a museum and look at the paintings. To most people, without the context of the little writings they include, the painting is generally meaningless. Yes, it's pretty, and you can interpret things about it because it is a picture, but without knowing who painted it, what it is, and even why, what are you really taking away? Context is important.
So without including proper information about the files they are digitizing, what is the point of UCL spending all the money? You're just going to be looking at pictures of things that have no relevance. Useless to researchers.
So when I come to them and say I cannot find all the information they want to include, and they're like "Oh well," that is not good enough for me! I'll research it if you want me to! I just need to know where to look! Man, what an incredible potential waste of funding.
Anyways - so that's what I did yesterday.
Today I have to finish cleaning my flat, and get some grocery shopping done. Exciting! I've also been invited on a pub crawl in Soho, and Fields are playing Frog at Mean Fiddler, both which I really, really want to do, but I don't know if I'll be able to manage. I should get SOME reading done.
Tomorrow I have a friend visiting, and I think prepping for that that will have to take precedence. Although I've just gotten a text about the pub crawl tonight. Hmmm....
Then next week the weather better be superduper crappy, because I have tickets for two concerts, and that is more of a social life than I can really afford right now!!
It is very difficult to focus your mind when the weather is so nice. They really should have exams in, say, February when it is too cold and wet outside to be distracted. When the idea of sitting in a library all day isn't quite as repugnant. This May nonsense is ridiculous!
Anyways, I recovered from Monday's scary lectures. Tuesday I started sending out emails like mad to my case study supervisor and people at the Newberry who I needed information from to write my case study. Thankfully they all got back to me, like, immediately. Although, I don't have much time to deal with that right now with the exam coming up!
Wednesday I figured it was time to get serious, and went to the library for hours of reading fun. Of course, someone went and hid all the things I needed to read, so that didn't work very well! I got a bit done, though. Chad was going to meet me later on in the afternoon for a lecture, but fell off his bike, so that didn't work out. I went to my lecture alone then. It was all about how impossible it is to keep up with archiving digital materials, and how quickly the technology changes. Scary stuff when you think about how much information could be potentially lost because of blase attitudes or lack of funding. And then what does get archived being useless because nobody uses laser discs anymore!
Anyways - it ended up being entertaining because of the man who got into a very heated commentary about how crap Microsoft is. It was a bit scary really!
I got a call from Claire, and after my lecture I met her down in Leicester Square. It was a very warm, lovely evening. The sun is already staying up past 9, so it didn't feel nearly as late as it was. We had falafels at a little cafe, and then went down the street and shared an ice cream sundae outside at Bella Italia. How in the world is one supposed to study when this is what you can do instead? Afterwards, we hung out a bit in a bar, and then headed home.
Thursday I had an interview at a little library very near my flat. I didn't really want the job, but the lady was persistent, and so I figured I'd give it a shot. A lot of my classmates are also interviewing for it, and she literally told me she was probably going to pull a name out of a hat. It didn't go extremely well, so I'm pretty sure it's not mine. At least I got practice, and got a nice walk over there in the sun! While money would be nice, it would interfere with writing my dissertation and with volunteering at UCL, which is ultimately more relevant to my CV.
In the afternoon, I met Chad for our raincheck. He was bringing along the reading materials that I couldn't seem to locate at the library so that I could actually, allegedly, get some studying done. We hit the Dublin Castle in Camden Town, and once again sat in the sun, people watching and drinking cider and chatting.
As you can see, if this is the alternative, I'm going to have a very difficult time concentrating on "important" things this summer!
Yesterday I cleaned my flat and spent a few hours in Special Collections finishing up my metadata entry. They are really frustrating me with their attitudes. Yes, maybe I am young and eager, but metadata is what makes this stuff relevant. And if no one bothers to do it properly the first time, then what gets digitized is useless! Chad and I were discussing this Thursday (so it wasn't a complete waste of time!)...that it's like when you got to a museum and look at the paintings. To most people, without the context of the little writings they include, the painting is generally meaningless. Yes, it's pretty, and you can interpret things about it because it is a picture, but without knowing who painted it, what it is, and even why, what are you really taking away? Context is important.
So without including proper information about the files they are digitizing, what is the point of UCL spending all the money? You're just going to be looking at pictures of things that have no relevance. Useless to researchers.
So when I come to them and say I cannot find all the information they want to include, and they're like "Oh well," that is not good enough for me! I'll research it if you want me to! I just need to know where to look! Man, what an incredible potential waste of funding.
Anyways - so that's what I did yesterday.
Today I have to finish cleaning my flat, and get some grocery shopping done. Exciting! I've also been invited on a pub crawl in Soho, and Fields are playing Frog at Mean Fiddler, both which I really, really want to do, but I don't know if I'll be able to manage. I should get SOME reading done.
Tomorrow I have a friend visiting, and I think prepping for that that will have to take precedence. Although I've just gotten a text about the pub crawl tonight. Hmmm....
Then next week the weather better be superduper crappy, because I have tickets for two concerts, and that is more of a social life than I can really afford right now!!
posted by Lauren Matson | 12:19 PM
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