all systems almost go

this site is possible because it is part of final project for a class the “Social and Economic Implications of ICTs.” and of course, getting it to function how i want it too took far more time than should be [but now i know something about php and cascading style sheets].

pivot powers this blog and it is installed on my personal webspace at USC [notice the annoying disclaimer at the bottom]. i hope that knowing something about php, pivot’s template layout and css will allow me to tweak the blogging software to use it more effectively for bibliographic management. we’ll see, pivot is pretty easy to use and hasn’t made me want to throw things at all. as is, i think i’ll actually use this site, which is a very exciting prospect.

- personal - No comments / No trackbacks - § ¶ May 08 06 - 00:35

to do:

damn ... well, now i know alot more about php and cascading style sheets than i did before ... still not quite right though ...

+ exdend to edge, remove outside border
+ fix ie blue line under header
+ be able to rebuild all files! this is important, i get an error in line 33 of a module_parse file...
+ fix archives
+ fix permissions problem with 'db' folder (which should fix .php file creation for new entries)

- personal - No comments / No trackbacks - § ¶ April 30 06 - 13:36

it begins ...

this site is organized by category and thus is not a linear chronological blog, as i plan to go back to entries repeatedly while reading and re-reading books, revisiting concepts and realizing that i had no idea what i was talking about.

somehow it now feels like i'm actually going to do this [dissertation] thing. of course quals are closer on the horizon, but going through the process of thinking how i'm going to keep my thoughts, bibliographies, papers, etc. organized through the whole qualifying exams => dissertation proposal defense => research/writing makes the whole process much more real. yet just as intimidating.

here's how i imagine that this site will help with several of the hurdles in this process:

1) literature reviews. not certain how well it will work yet, but i will use pivot to generate dynamic annotated bibliographies. essentially pivot [this blogging software] will serve as a platform for intermidiary writing in my research process. for more on this [and using citeUlike.org, endnote, graphscholar and other research tool] see the "network society experiment."

2) quals. Aram Sinnerich's "quals blog" Aram Squalls inspired me to use blogging software for organizing bibliographic data. although i'm not certain if i will "blog my quals" [i.e. write about the process of doing my qualifying exams] i will use pivot to collect my thoughts and keep track of my reading lists.

3) general information processing [i.e. thinking]. writing is crucial aspect of my thinking process. i need to [or atleast should] write about talks i attend and articles i read in order to even begin to understand them and work through my thoughts. this yeilds a large collection scribbled notes, random text files, etc. using pivot i hope to keep everything together, accessible where ever there's a accessible connection. this will require keeping some posts private.

4) collaboration. i don't imagine anyone reading this site, nor am i certain that anyone should -- or that i even am comfortable sharing my no doubt foolish thoughts on scholars i respect [and those that i don't] with the few nerds who might bother to read this. nonetheless, i desire better tools for collaborate without the fears that i [and some of my fellow grad students] have about putting our ideas out there, recieving useless or hurtful feedbad, loosing control of our intellectual labor and wasting our time with myopic rambling such as this ...

Pivot team - personal, research tools - No comments / No trackbacks - § ¶ April 25 06 - 14:11