Hack is an interesting word. Both verb and noun, it contains multiple (seemingly contradictory) meanings: to cut, notch, slice, chop, or sever to damage or injure by crude, harsh, or insensitive treatment; mutilate; mangle to deal or cope with; handle to circumvent security and break into (a network, computer, file, etc.) to make use of … Continue reading Hacking academia
failure
When a presentation bombs
I gave a short presentation last week that was not as awesome as I had intended. In fact, it would be fair to say it bombed. I have (mostly) recovered, but have been reflecting on the experience of not presenting well. More often than not, my presentations go well enough, but sometimes they (I) go … Continue reading When a presentation bombs
Bad feelings
This post returns to an idea from Rosalind Gill's review of Les Back's Academic Diary. She asks about bad affects: Academic Diary is ... overwhelmingly positive ... Where are the other, less palatable, affects and behaviours? Where is the envy, the rage, the nastiness, the bullying, the bad behaviour, the competitiveness, the mean-spiritedness, the colleagues who dump on … Continue reading Bad feelings
The Slow Academic 