Warning, completeeeeely Off topic here :-)

Hi friends,

Can you guys please tell me what you think of these greetings and whats appropriate for whom?
say four things:

Hello

Hi

Hiya

hi there


Now which one would you use for say parents, friends, employers, supervisors, colleagues etc?

Depends on rapport I know, but am more generally intrigued by Hiya and hi there... i mean are these way too formal for colleagues, supervisors, employers? or is hi the middle ground....:$

Ahh 10 hrs? ouch... i am moving towards 20 or would starve! (kidding, but close enough hehe)

Hmm, agree with stressed, keep an eye out, broadcast that you are looking (and also what you can offer)... advertisemnets are often tedious and these porjects have people leaving sometimes and need someone urgently without the hassles of advertising for evrry little part time post... word of mouth, contacts etc etc....

good luck!

Hi there

depends. My entire phd is inspired by one of my sup's 'unansweres question/challenges' launched at our field, about 4 yrs ago...

we have a great time discussing these ideas and first yr conversations are becoming a cross-generational dialogue piece at conferences and a journal article in a high up jornal..

she is first on it all. has offered me numerous times, saying 'you are the one taking it all forward' when we first sent it to the first conference..

but I refused every time, for I felt this all starts off from her work, and I *truly* didnt feel at all bothered, she is an extremely inspiring mentor. I delievred the paper in Europe first, then she in London, then again me int he States next month and then we submit for publication, it's fun really and I absolutely want her to be first author!


But depends on the situation, if it is exploitative, then I guess you need to decide, pl dont go by my example, as this is not the norm always.

======= Date Modified 28 Sep 2009 13:59:29 =======
Hiya eska



Hm, through my dept. It gets in a huge lot of funding (the one i am Ra-ing on from Jan 09 to June 2011 is my uni's 2nd largest European Council grant) and all profs do academic work, as well as consultation for policy etc....



hence I guess these things keep coming up, although of course opportunities are limited for instance one big project has only 1 RA role in it, and goes on for 3 yrs...so that way it is tough, but again, these one of a kind chances do exist in this dept..

Hmm, interesting situation.

I will I think differ slightly, for I dont think the PhD is the only thing that counts.

Why? For in a job market as this, where a college in London received 147 applications for an entry level lectureship, you can probably take it that every post doc applicant or applicant for a teaching post will have that PhD or surely be having it in a few months,

What distinguishes you then?

It is that 'dramatically' different CV, plus letters of ref that reflect this.


In any specific situation, it depends ultimately on one thing: will you, as a person, be able to handle other things and do thte thesis on time? If yes, go ahead and dramatically change your CV.

I should say though, that 'elders' and supervisers will always say: thesis first, survival second, and this extra stuff third. Yes, agreed, simply because if thesis goes to hell, and you die of starvation or depression then who wil do the extra stuff? To that extent yes.

But, do not underestimate the value of a clearly multitasking CV, that shows brilliance. (PS; also depends on what kind of extra stuff? If it makes sense on the CV, go for it, if your are able to balance everything)


I shudder to think of 147 applications for a not-so-good uni in London... bloody hell.

I agree with keeping your job and looking for something different.

However, the best way to kill three birds with one stone (i.e. get the money, get acad experience, get CV value) is to look for RA-ships, better if instead of an individual's RA, you can find RA work on projects, research centres etc. They doubtless open up a ready made network, teach you to liaise with academia and other bodies (funders, infrastructure etc) and go straight on the CV. Also these being academics will be different from non academic employers and will know the value of conferences etc when they come. So a photocopying job at the SU may not mean much on a CV (it wil mean something of course) however, RA work, which might involve some or a lot of photocopying will carry more weight,

Job prefs (part time) should be this way I think:

1. RA work with centres/projects

2. TA work of worth

3. Occasional RA ship on one off projects/assignments (depends how much the faculty at your school gets in)

4. RA work for an individual researcher

5. Non academic work on campus (with teaching and learning centres, disaibility offices, halls etc0

6. Non academic work off campus.


The idea is to take what comes, but be on the hunt to prioritise as above, just my two p!

======= Date Modified 27 Sep 2009 21:43:29 =======
You could work part time, for up tp 20 hours a week I think, although some univs prefer no more than 15 during term... Work on campus could be found if not easily but sometime... they add to CV, give work ex, get in money, help you get to know academia, multi task and I think, balancng everything helps build character.

Getting a fee waiver is awesome.

Best.

EDIT to add: You are getting your tuition fees waived, then why does your post say you are self funding? Self funding is when you are paying for your studies out of your own pocket. Partial self funding is when you get scholarships which are not enough to cover all of it, and for the rest you borrow/work/dip into savings etc.

======= Date Modified 28 Sep 2009 16:16:57 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============
======= Date Modified 27 Sep 2009 13:32:32 =======
Leopardi, one word of advice (which I wish someone had given me):

1. You are soon to enter PhD, where distinctions and grades do not exist. It was a rude shock for me when I entered a phase where the 'top' was undefined and being used to aiming for and getting distinctions forever, it took me a good deal of time to settle down. Pl keep that in mind...

2. You write anything less than a distinction will be a total disaster. As a person who has stood and continues to stand in the exact same place, I should tell you, it is better to nip this feeling at the outset. No, a merit is not a disaster, it does not show in/competency and worse, these ideas get in the way of progress by taking up head space.

Both these bullets come from someone who has consistently faield to abide by any of them, and suffers, doubtless. But I am trying and I think anyone should.

Best,

Hi there,

am 24, female...

First, I agree with BHC as far as the question of different interpretations is concerned. That's my whole PhD...how people's interpetations of texts diverge, borrowing from literary aesthetics and transplanting into digital literacy studies.,,anyway getting distracted..

*but* i do not agree with I think the slightly outdated take that social representation/mass mediated texts are in in any way less real, than 'real issues of power' out there. This used to be an argument, at least in media studies, in the 80s ans 90s, but of course, then we all recognized that texts, technologies, representations, in fact the media itself: not only shape attitudes and identities, but remain embedded at the heart of society and societal relationships, and sometimes even constrain/over impact readings.... I think most on here are familiar with this, so not going further into this....

The point is, I think, the above point set aside, that satire has to be done in one of two ways: (a) the first does it really well, underlining with great clarity the ones at whom the finger is being pointed and the ones who are being not patronised/rescued/redeemed but justifiably celebrated. and (b) the second way cannot quite do it right, ends up in a nebulous zone where the joke and the jag are cloudy and where, slightly fleeting interpretations or hasty readings might just get the very wrong sense out of it...

I think this piece, open, like all texts, to endless readings, belongs, regrettably to the second category. he attempts satire (perhaps), does not fo it right and ends up offending.


A nobel laureate Indian poet once, wrote a 5 page poem satiring his own linguistic group of Indians. It intended to awaken lethargic people from their stupor to move towards the struggle for independence. Every sentence was insulting, but it did its job at the time. Some were offended. but overall it has survived as a great text.

That was real satire, well done. This, I fear, made a bit of a mess up.

======= Date Modified 26 Sep 2009 21:15:02 =======
======= Date Modified 26 Sep 2009 21:11:50 =======
Thanks Stressed! Yes, accepted :-)

PS to add an anecdote: My country of origin is a commonwealth country, a former Brit colony (English is our official language and well, my mum's only literacies are in English, for my gramp used to work for the Public Works dept when the Brits were there and she was raised in convents after independence, and then well, she went on to become an English lit prof and i went to one of those private, English girls' schools and the story continued...)

so, for reasons more than one, I felt instantaneously super comfortable in this country. Anyway, last yr, I happened to come across this academic (who hailed from my country) and unfortunately hated anything to do with the West.

They met me after I had decided to do this phd here in the UK to tell me THIS: "How can you? I mean, to subject yourself to imperialism all over again?"

I gaped like a hungry goldfish for a bit and later was to learn that this person intended to say that by being supervised in this country, by a british prof would mean subjecting myself to imperialism.


WTF? Said decision, has been the *best* decision I have ever made, and my sup is the most brilliant of mentors one could ever find. It took me nearly two months to get over that conversation where I tried to them justice by offering them benefits of the doubt a thousand times, but alas!

Coboweb, you speak of puking, toilet seats and farts on here!!! Why, oh why?

What I find the most interesting is BenM's steadfast refusal to answer my questions, individual ones or collated... S/he would have had absolutely no grounds on which to brand me racist (s/he hadn't for anyone here, but could resort to your guys' nationalities and similar).

I asked them three times, to respond to me, for then, they wouldnt have been able to hide from the 'content' of the post by unleashing a litany of same-sounding moans. But, no, nothing!

They continued to rave at everyone on here with the same, same, argument. Did it not strike them, that the very fact that another intl student, and one who doesnt even have funding, and struggles every day, is not only perfectly in accordance with the fee structure and does not in any way feel anything except delighted to study here, shows that their arguments (should I say arguments or rants?) are sevrely misplaced or at least worthy of opposition?

I remain amazed.

======= Date Modified 24 Sep 2009 21:14:35 =======
benm

I will perform a task of collating and synthesizing this now, something I regrettably enjoy, with a fiendish delight. I am collating questions which I feel you should respond to for you are very bothered with this issue, and we are all capable of debate here.

1. Stressed has raised some very pertinent questions which merit an answer given both your discontent and love for argument. (a) if the education system is much better elsewhere, as you feel, why are you here? (b) if your comment on colour was not about racism what was it about?

2. I raised some questions which you do not answer. (a) Why was the uni in my home country charging the French guys 10 times more fees? (b) Why should any country use its money to fund education which could and most probably, in many cases, just return the skills to another country?

3. Questions others have raised: (a) if you are suggesting a partial system of subsidizing, i.e. have bureaucrats and similar decide which thesis is beneficial to the UK and subsidize those, as Magic said, where would lines be drawn, as I think I said, imagine the mess and it strikes me now, the sheer unfairness of it. i.e. telling an intelligent studnet from abroad, that we shal not fund you for studying gender in Taiwan, but we will fund your cousin studying gender in the UK?

4. A general question. If the state of affairs is so bad here, and much better elsewhere in Europe (which I assure you, is a grossly rushed and generalised comment from you) then did anyone drag these international students kicking and screaming here.


Finally, my most important question. UK unis if given a choice where the situation comes down to 1 seat, and having to choose between a meritorious and deserving home student who will get in 3k a yr, and a linguistically challenged, and often even incapable or at least less capable international student who wil get in 13 k a year, will select the latter.

How does that home student feel then? The solution to this cannot be a simplistic make fees equal. I am merely trying to draw your atention to the fact that the home students here have every reason to feel equally uncomfortable about the *implications* of the fee situation. The solution however, is NOT what you suggest.


I am beginning to tire a bit of this debate, but most, because in my year on here, I have made some excellent online friends, who I know for a fact are anything but imperialist, racist and so on. They have been nothing but brilliant when I have complained of pressure, hard work, no life etc etc and to see convoluted arguments implying they are imperialist, racist, biased.. is a little depressing.