Academic career: two steps forward one step back?

I thought quite awhile about whether I should blog about my latest experience with applying for a professor position, or not. Following up on an earlier of my posts on blogging and academic career (read here), I’d rather like to share my thoughts.

Over the last few weeks I went through my first complete application process for a professor position in the UK, learning a lot about myself, about my motivation. Nobody had asked me so many questions about myself over the last, let’s say, ten years; at least, I think. I asked myself nearly all of the questions when I prepared for my presentation and the interview. But, as each of you knows, the real deal always is different. The context in which you answered the questions for yourself is in many ways different from the context of the actual interview.

Applying for a professor position is a complex process for sure. In order to be successful you need to learn about a new environment, in my case a different university in another country. You have to invest quite some time and—and that is the crux of the matter—emotions into thinking about a place where you perhaps spend a lot of your future. I have to say I was not fully prepared emotionally how much you need to attach yourself to a place where there is only a certain possibility to get the job.

I was quite proud to have made it onto one of those legendary short lists. “This is quite an accomplishment”, more experienced people, who already hold a professor position, tell me. But as soon as you are shortlisted you, of course, want more. You want to win the whole deal, and coming out of the application process second place, even though as a close second … well, that’s nice and great and all, but it will take some time to feel that way.

Join the NEPOMUK Social Semantic Desktop Summer School 1.0

Together with Yngve Sundblad, Siegfried Handschuh, Tudor Groza, and Charlie Abela I organise the First NEPOMUK Social Semantic Desktop Summer School at Hotel Victoria, Sliema, Malta 7-13 September 2008.

Application deadline: 9 June 2008

The NEPOMUK Social Semantic Desktop EU project develops a comprehensive solution for extending the personal desktop into a collaboration environment which supports both the personal information management and the sharing and exchange across social and organizational relations.

The summer school will provide a very good opportunity for postgraduate students to refine their knowledge in a variety of topics such as Semantic Web, Personal Information Management, P2P, HCI or Social Networking, all in the context of the Social Semantic Desktop. It will consist of a range of theoretical and practical sessions taught by leading researchers in the field and combined with a series of mini-projects to encourage collaboration between participants. In addition to the taught and practical sessions, the students will also benefit from and enjoy a stimulating environment through social interactions with the lecturers, tutors, and the other students.

Please visit the NEPOMUK Summer School website for details of the application process and further information on topics, lecturers, and tutors.

5th International Workshop on Philosophy and Informatics WSPI 2008

Already several weeks ago my 5th International Workshop on Philosophy and Informatics took place at the new institute building in Kaiserslautern. The workshop started with a very well received and very well attended keynote talk by Prof. Luciano Floridi on “Understanding the information turn: the fourth revolution”. Luciano presented the coming of the information age as information revolution where we become inforgs, informational organisms, living in an infosphere. The information revolution can be seen as the fourth revolution after humanity moved away from a heliocentric world view (first revolution), learned that humans evolved from common ancestors over time (second revolution), and recognised the power of our unconsciousness (third revolution). His discussion of the effects of this revolution for our future were thought-provoking and left a deep impression with the attendees as I learned in quite a few discussions even weeks later.

The keynote set the tone for the rest of the workshop. Most presentations are available from the agenda at workshop homepage. The proceedings are available online as CEUR workshop proceedings, Vol-332.

Basic design lessons

“Once you can name something, you’re conscious of it. You have power over it. You own it. You’re in control!” 
Robin Williams

No, I am not talking about magic again (see last post), although most magic in novels follows exactly this principle:

“If you know the true name of XYZ you can command it to change form or to show where it is hidden, etc.”, whispered the wise beyond the limits of the Earth wizard <insert your favourite wizard’s name> in a gravely voice.

A few months ago I read the book “The non-designer’s design book” by Robin Williams and recognised just what Robin described in the introduction. Since I know about design and typographic principles I cannot stop noticing where those principles are being ignored or violated. I also think I began to better design documents and presentation. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but (basic) design can be learned.

As the book is for “all the people who need to design pages, but have no background or formal training in design” it was a perfect introduction for me. I learned about C. R. A. P.

• Contrast—Make elements, that are not the same very different.
• Repetition—Repeat visual elements of the design, thus, strengthening the unity of the piece.
• Alignment—Make elements visually connect with each other on the page.
• Proximity—Group related items close together.

Robin Williams illustrates the principles in great detail and—this is the most important part—with lots and lots of examples. The book has now its regular place on my desk where I can grab it easily when I need to be reminded or when I look for some ideas.

Either technology or magic? I say, magic of technology is what we want, err, don’t we?

The recent death of the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke reminded me of one of my favourite quotes:

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (Third of Clarke’s three “laws” of prediction.)

Modern information technology is for many people—and sometimes even for me—indistinguishable from magic. You cast a spell, i.e., interact in a specific way with some user interface, and if you waved your magical wand the right way—and only then—you achieve your goal. Such devices as the Nintendo Wii video game console or the iPhone with their motion detection capabilities allow for completely new interactions with the user and more natural interactions among users.

But there is a big problem with magic: You are required to believe in it and to not ask questions about it. Magic’s dark side is all about hiding, making believe, obscuring, and blinding. I do not say that software developers intentionally engineer obfuscating applications, but from a user’s point of view it often just looks the same.

Of course, there are times where I suspend my disbelief, where I need to suspend my disbelief. Every time I watch a movie or read a novel I am required to do so in order to be entertained. But life is (unfortunately?) not only entertainment. Computer systems need to have beautiful and elegant, easy-to-use interfaces that evoke a sense of wonder like magic does. This just helps keeping your spirits up and makes working more fun. There is no need for dull and boring applications. But interfaces should never be shallow. Systems should help people learn about what is going on in a software system if people want to know. Systems should provide transparency when asked for. Systems should explain their used vocabulary when asked about.

So, my dear developers, keep on providing magical interfaces, but let the interested users have a peek behind the curtains whenever they want.