Changing Academic Life

Katherine Isbister  is a full Professor in the Department of Computational Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she is a core faculty member in the Center for Games and Playable Media. Katherine talks about her experiences working on the west and east coasts of the US, and in Japan, Denmark and Sweden, and working in industry and academia. She talks about the importance of fit, being an interdisciplinary researcher, and how she lives out her commitment to work life balance.

“Reflect on your productivity and praise yourself”

“Make sure you’re having fun with your research practice”

She talks about (times approximate) …

01:05 Challenges finding a PhD topic

06:10 Post-doc experiences in Japan and dealing with cultural challenges

09:00 Moving to work in a start up in industry, teaching a class at Stanford on the side, and teaching becoming appealing

13:45 Applying for academic jobs, moving to upstate New York, writing a book

16:10 Experience of the tenure process and having wonderful mentors

19:00 Moving to Denmark and dealing with cultural fit and family issues

23:20 Having a baby during the tenure process

26:20 Love of writing papers, wordsmithing, writing tips

29:10 Dealing with different cultural contexts and politics and having a critical mass of people around you

31:30 Challenges of being an interdisciplinary researcher with broad ideas, the value of mentorship, and looking for closure when things don't feel right

34:25 Setting strict boundaries on family time, learning to work within 8-5 and trade-offs

38:05 Week end review, trouble shooting, praising yourself and planning the next week

40:35 Challenges talking to people about how many hours you work

43:50 Final reflections

45:30 End

Final notes:

Clifford Nass https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2trZ2IYAAAAJ

Laurence G. Boldt, Zen and the art of making a living, Penguin 2009. 

Latest book: Isbister, K., How Games Move Us: Emotions by Design. MIT Press, 2016. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/how-games-move-us

Rafael A. Calvo is an ARC Future Fellow, Professor and Director of the Positive Computing Lab  at the University of Sydney. He is also a co-author with Dorian Peters of the book, Positive Computing, published by MIT Press. Rafael describes a fascinating academic journey that spans physics, philosophy, computer science, and cognitive and affective computing. He talks about his current work on Positive Computing and designing technology to support people’s mental health and well being. He also shares experiences in managing his own mental health and well being, that includes some great tips.

“[a setback] was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me”

He talks about (times approximate) …

01:42 His current work and his varied career path – “sometimes they seem disconnected but there is a very strong thread in the middle”

08:30 His work on Positive Computing technologies, impacts of technology on people’s mental health, challenges of email

10:00 Responsibility to design so that we don’t hinder people’s health and well being, changing the mindset of designers to look beyond productivity … with examples eg the psychological benefits of effort in endorsements

14:45 Engaging with psychology theories and working with psychologists and interdisciplinary partnerships

19:18 Looking after his own mental health and well being and the impact of too much travel

20:50 Learning to say no, how you decide what to say yes/no to, email strategies, choosing admin work he can contribute what other people can’t, exaggerated risks of saying no as a young academic

26:56 Looking for opportunities where he doesn’t have technology, blocking times without interruptions, and more strategies

29:40 Keeping use of devices for work and home separate

35:10 End

Final notes:

Book: Calvo and Peters, ‘Positive Computing’, MIT Press 2014 - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/positive-computing

Book: Wulf, Schmidt and Randall (eds) ‘Designing Socially Embedded Technologies in the Real World’, Springer 2015 - http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781447167198

Time Management software: RescueTime  - https://www.rescuetime.com

Paper: Cox et al, Design Frictions for Mindful Interactions: the case for Microboundaries, CHI EA 16 - https://uclic.ucl.ac.uk/content/4-publications/0-design-frictions-for-mindful-interactions-the-case-for-microboundaries/cox.chi.2016.pdf 

Video: Brad Feld on tech and well being - http://www.positivecomputing.org/2016/04/brad-feld-on-tech-wellbeing.html 

Mary Czerwinski  is a principal researcher and research manager at Microsoft Research in Redmond, US. Mary shares some great experiences about her role as a manager and how she plays this out practically in enabling and protecting people, and establishing a culture in a group. She also talks about some of the key insights from her own research work on stress and how to manage stress, from email management strategies, to designing technology interventions as well as some very easy practical interventions that we could all try out. A theme throughout is the importance of getting to know yourself and your values, and of planning– this is the work to do good work.

“How you choose to look at stress...” “Honouring your calendar”

She talks about (times approximate) …

01:45 Her current work and background

04:20 Managing and leading a research group

07:15 Establishing a group culture, dealing with issues, conflict resolution, one-on-ones

11:10 Insights from research on stress, managing email, choosing how you look at stress

17:00 Knowing the rhythm of your day, your priorities, and planning

18:20 Personal interventions, the ‘tools in the toolkit’ e.g., deep breathing, mindfulness techniques, new work on DBT, Pop Therapy

25:05 Challenges now with escalating pace, needing to say no more often, importance of prioritizing based on knowing what are your values

28:50 Wish for the younger generation: prioristing the important things and still having time to accomplish what you want to in work, needing to make time for family and self

30:08 End

Final notes:

Pop Therapy - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/pop-therapy/

Mindfulness – loads of resources https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/mindfulness

http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm

Jon Whittle is a full Professor in the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University, England, and also a Chair of Software Engineering and Head of Department. He covers lots of themes including making career shifts, changing strategies when proposals get rejected, making multi disciplinary work work, creating balance, and leading by example. He lives work-life balance, describing himself as an artist and a scientist.

“You have to give yourself a break” ... “you can do very simple things” that make a difference.

He talks about (times approximate) …

01:15 His varied career path between Scotland, US, India and England

05:40 Changing fields and how to move into a new community/field

12:40 Experience in the US tenure system, difficulties getting grants, and changing strategies

15:20 Working in multi-disciplinary projects, lessons learnt and how to bootstrap multi-disciplinary team work

19:40 Work life balance (WLB) – living it as an artist and a scientist, researching it in the Digital Brain Switch Project

26:00 Being Head of Department, leading by example, structuring time, setting expectations, handling email, giving yourself a break

33:32 Three things to maintain a healthy balance – delegate, learn how to say no, be organised

End 36:40

Final notes:

‘Digital Brain Switch’ project

EPSRC Sandpits

Judy Olson is Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences in the Informatics Department at UC Irvine. Judy reflects back on her career, on changes she has seen particularly the increasing expectations of hiring committees, on common issues people deal with, on blooming where you are planted, on paying it forward, on dealing with imposter syndrome, on the value of good colleagues/collaborators and on her work plans after retirement later this year. 

“What would Olson do? Follow your passion. Hang out with good people.”

She talks about (times approximate) …

01:40 Her career trajectory

06:20 Changes in academia, embracing interdisciplinary work

08:00 Being proud of working 25 years on long distance collaboration and broader impacts

10:10 The stress of getting a job now and the increasing expectations of search and promotion committees; Needing to talk to senior faculty, start a dialogue and collect data to change this

17:00 Common issues she has mentored people about – when you can say no, time management

19:55 The T-Shirt – ‘What would Olson do?’ … finding the things you really like to do

23:20 Bloom where you are planted, figuring out where you fit, what you can do and the choices along the way

25:10 Imposter syndrome, getting nervous before every talk, always rehearsing a talk

27:55 Retiring, getting to like writing grant proposals, and writing about couples who work together

32:10 End

My summary of what Judy says is about being authentic, being strategic, not being afraid to make changes and finding good colleagues.

Final notes:

‘Learning from Notes’ was a CSCW92 paper written by Wanda Orlikowski 

‘Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time’ is a time management book by Brian Tracy, published 2007. 

ACM-W 'Ask Judy' column - example post

Liz Gerber's project - Design for America

Carl Gutwin, a Professor in the Computer Science Department at University of Saskatchewan, describes himself as a gentleman farmer in Saskatoon who happens to be a university professor as well.

"Even with all the bumps, being an academic is the best job in the world"

He talks about (times approximate) …

2:40 How he moved into a computer science degree and PhD program

8:30 How he decided on a faculty position, and the experiences of setting up a new lab, learning how to teach, applying for grants etc

10:50 On being told that “the best part of this job is the flexibility, you can work any 80 hours of the week that you want”

12:00 On working in academia while others were making money in the tech boom and how after 3 years you figure things out more

On always wanting to be a scientist …  where the best thing really is the freedom and flexibility, especially after getting tenure

15:40 On the practical things to help deal with the stresses of early career, on making choices and the advantages of being a medium large fish in a medium small pond

17:50 On first having grad students and moving to the other side of the desk, being a supervisor

21:30 On appearing to be calm, prioritizing work and life – a continuous struggle

On getting the perspective even as a young academic to realize that it really doesn't matter whether you get that paper submitted – there is always another deadline and every paper will find a home

On dealing with rejection and good old reviewer number 2

27:50 On now working more of a regular work week and cycling to work in the snow.

31:15 And how even with all the bumps, being an academic is the best job in the world … make it through those first three years and things do get better after that … we could make institutional changes … we have the chance to change the way it works … and you just have to decide what you want and go and do it!

33:08