August is for writing

After a couple of weeks of weather in the mid 30s (celsius) I'm mostly used to it, but the humidity here is killing me. It makes everything more difficult to move through. Plus, I'm having one of those slightly shocking mornings when I realise that I've way more work to do than I anticipated.

I'd like to write a short essay about my single greatest challenge during the BNMI residency: understanding how "research" is differently defined and practiced by social scientists and artists. I think this has interesting implications for collaborative work, and for how we approach creative interventions and technological innovations.

In other news, I'm teaching a new 2nd year undergrad course this year: "Power & Everyday Life." I'm currently working on the syllabus and deciding whether or not to assign textbooks or compile a reader myself. And it runs full-year so I have to plan twice as many lectures and seminars and workshops and assignments as I have in the past.

I've got two journal papers due by end of August: one for a special issue on software and space and the other for a special issue on wireless technologies and mobile practices. That's 14000-18000 words currently unorganised and/or unwritten and/or lost in dissertation.

Which reminds me I've also got a dissertation to submit. Because as we all know: "A good thesis is a thesis that is done."

So all things considered, I'm really glad that I'll be home for awhile. I want to make it back to Oslo and London in the fall, and there's the 4S Meeting in Montréal in October, but that's all the travelling I've got planned and it's quite enough. I'm also hoping to have friends (you know who you are!) come visit.

But thankfully summer's not over yet. There are still flowers to smell, dinners to cook, cats to take naps with, novels to read, walks and bike rides to take, and garlic festivals to attend! You know what they say about all work and no play...

Over the past five weeks I...

admired magnificent mountains and stunning lakes; saw hundreds of prairie dogs, a small herd of bison, a dozen mule deer and one elk; visited with a much loved friend; looked out over rolling foothills and down over waterfalls; engaged in countless stimulating conversations; appreciated the moving beauty of barley, flax and wheat fields; attended one family funeral and then, as if that weren't enough, went to one more; drank a lot of red wine; stood impressed by small armies of windmills; hid from thunder and lightning; appreciated hundreds of bales of hay; read one mostly enjoyable book and then a very good one; laughed from deep in my belly and cried from somewhere deeper than that; took in many herds of cattle and one small flock of sheep; spent wonderful days with my mum and dad, and with my little sister and my nephew; contemplated piles of dead buffalo and several tipis; stood in awe of river valleys and big skies; and ate too much good food.

A blessed life, for sure, and special thanks to Andreas Broeckmann and Sarat Maharaj for taking such good care of me.

Johnston Canyon

Today we went to see the falls in Johnston Canyon. Beautiful.

"Anne, I have a question for you about the future...

Will the iPhone become a Mother Box?"

Deep thoughts

"Act as if your adversaries are great teachers. Thank them for how crucial they've been in your education. Consider one more possibility: that the people who seem to slow us down and hold us back are actually preventing things from happening too fast."

Update:
A friend just reminded me of some Leonard Cohen lyrics that seem strangely related: "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

Observation # 457

It is only with artists that I become a scientist.