Responses

This is post is an open response to xyz, who has kindly commented on my recent entry concerning my current job predicament.

Dear xyz,

Firstly thanks for coming by and sharing some of your wisdom. It's invaluable to me, and perhaps others in the same straits. However, I DO have something to say in response to some of your comments:

1) I DO hope that you'll utilise the email link I've provided in my sidebar if you're planning to post long comments. I treasure the feedback, and it'll make it easier for people to read if it's not disjointed. Plus, I can then publish the contents of your comment and my responses (if any) in a blog entry which would definitely save at least some of us the headache. As you no doubt are in academia, I'm sure you are aware of the importance of citing and attribution. Again, by using the email link I can ensure that our conversations actually become something of substance, and by putting your email address (which I ensure you will not be misused) you do yourself and academia credit. Makes sense, no?

2) Being nice? I'm hardly known for being nice at all, xyz. With all due respect, sometimes there is NO option to say no. It's a pretty difficult thing to describe, but trust me when you're interacting with Prof. Datins and the like there can actually be no choice. Believe, me, I've tried.

3) As for finding out exactly how much work the committee work involves, I'd say that's a huge grey area. Usually no one gives out any useful information due to the chain of command that's been around forever, so it's kinda difficult.

3) "Do only high profile low labour intensive comm work." - I have to tell you this. Not to brag, but so far almost all the work I've done for the faculty is high profile. Holding bunga manggar is an euphemism we like to use sometimes, but if you'd like, I could forward you the list of all the things I've been a part of in the past few years. However, the ratio of labour so far corresponds exactly to how high profile a programme is.

4) On research: I agree fully, which is why I'm currently hard at work looking up research possibilities in game theory/design AND also Dr Gordon Rugg's interesting work in his verifier approach (which I've highlighted in another recent blog entry). There are some snags because accessing the journals I need can only be done from the campus, and there is a certain limiting factor of distance there. These are very new fields, and thus aren't really very well known (and again, though I may be a blogger my research interests lie far afield of only blogging and its ramifications, which you've hinted at time and again). Also, there is the issue of funding. Due to my temporary status, I am thus INELIGIBLE for any kind of funding, be it RM 100 or RM 10 000, and as you well know, research needs at least a little bit of money (for a bloody computer that can do some statistics, at least!).

5) Again, on writing I concur that there is nothing else that counts in academia BUT research and publications. As I've said, the areas of my interest are very far removed from just the social implications of blogging and internet use (which are intriguing areas in their own right) and I'm not sure how this is in YOUR institution, but in mine research topics are governed tightly by faculty "policies" and this newer interstitial fields like game theory would nary be given a thought.

5) Additionally, each staff member is allocated a paltry sum of RM 2000 per year to go for training, pay for conference fees and the like. I'm sure you're aware that for IT, even a two-day beginner course can set one at least a couple thousand ringgit, and that's not including travel and accomodations. I did raise this issue during the assessment, seeing that we have to pick and choose our conferences so carefully, usually we have to forgo a later international conference if there's an earlier training session that takes up all the cash. Of course, this doesn't necessarily apply to research grant holders because they can always take it from the IRPA stash.

In closing, it is because of these factors that I'm considering branching out on a PhD on my own after I quit (or rather IF, because things may yet change) and again, thank you for taking the time to share your insights on the matter. I apologise if anything I say comes across as offensive, but please believe they were written with intellectual discourse in mind.

Yours truly,

Ash.ox