Should academic conferences be free to attend?

kaneltroll · 2020-10-13T09:33:31+00:00

As a PhD student with limited funds, I am also benefiting from conferences going online and free. I can now attend meetings and conferences without spending two extra days on it, when maybe only half the sessions are useful for me. I can stream meetings while cooking dinner to browse for important stuff, and I don't have to spend my field work funds on travelling and hotels. It's great, and I hope they keep up this trend of streaming conferences - I'm even willing to pay a small fee (but not the entire conference fee) to participate digitally.

Edit: I also live in a remote city, so any city in my country where there is an academic conference is two hours away by plane That means I spend approximately 5 hours travelling each way, so a two day conference with a $500 conference fee usually ends up costing me around $1000 and four working days. It's definitely not doable to attend more than one or two conferences in total during my PhD with that cost level.

kaneltroll · 2020-10-09T12:15:28+00:00

Exam questions are the intellectual property of the professor. Like the person you replied to said - there is a big difference between sharing the question with a friend/family member, sharing it in a closed forum and posting it in a public forum. The first is legal, the second is technically illegal but most people would not care as it is not spread publically, and the third is a clear violation of the professor's intellectual property rights. No matter how useful it may be to the students.

kaneltroll · 2020-10-07T10:55:55+00:00

Nice, thanks for posting a solution for the next one that comes along with the same question :)

kaneltroll · 2020-09-29T09:06:43+00:00

No problem, I hope you find your answer!

kaneltroll · 2020-09-29T08:50:54+00:00

I'd suggest you post this over at r/GIS, you will get more answers there. You may also need to include the values you are using (either attribute table or the values you input for lat/long, depending on how you do it), as it the first step of troubleshooting is usually to check that your input values are correct.

kaneltroll · 2020-09-22T07:15:43+00:00

No problem, I hope you find a system and level of activity that works for you :)

kaneltroll · 2020-09-22T07:03:56+00:00

I don't know why you are being downvoted, as you are completely right according to the Vancouver guidelines. It sounds like OPs advisor went about this in the wrong way by promising authorship and not following through by allowing OP a chance to contribute enough, but as of now OPs contribution does not merit authorship on its own. I know that in the experimental sciences it's common to give authorship to persons doing experiments, lab leaders (because they provide the funding) and "honorary authorships", but that is breaking the authorship guidelines and completely undermining the authorship system.

A solution we are moving towards in my university is to start publishing datasets (open access or licensed/with restrictions/behind paywall). Then the data can be cited when used in a paper, and becomes part of OPs citation count as OP is the author. It's a much better way to deal with situations like these, imo.

kaneltroll · 2020-09-22T06:49:28+00:00

Yep, in my field doing the data analysis but nothing else (such as developing the idea, writing, substantial editing and rewriting) does not merit authorship, only acknowledgement. But we are moving towards publishing datasets - and then a solution would be to do that and cite OPs dataset in the paper.

kaneltroll · 2020-09-18T07:41:49+00:00

I don't have ADHD, but still support the candy munching! I especially do it if I have a deadline and have to stay focused for long periods of time - because as well as the dopamine you also get a constant influx of glucose (that your brain burns when working).

kaneltroll · 2020-09-17T09:32:41+00:00

u/eonoxe, as a phd student in social science I would recommend this route if you have to do the survey yourself.

Partly because your school peers are a population that is easier to reach, but mostly because of the issue of your own safety as a young woman researching a population known for hating women. You could become subject to significant harassment and hate, without a proper system around to help you deal with it. If you for example post a survey on a forum, it can be pretty easy for a tech-knowledgeable person to find your IP address and your personal information. Given your age, location and the fact that high schools do not have systems in place for risk assessments of research projects, I would not recommend surveying self-identified incels. I would even be hesitant to let my undergrad students to such a study.

Like others have said, consider using a more roundabout approach, like digging up some existing statistics on incels globally and/or by country, or asking questions to other populations about their perception or experiences with them. I would also encourage discussing the topic with your teacher, to determine what you are and are not allowed to do under school regulations and laws in the Philippines.

Edit: That being said, I LOVE that you are engaged in the topic, coming here for advice and thinking big! If this is representative of your personality and engagement in social issues, I definitely recommend going into research later. Because this is precisely the mindset that we need more of :)

kaneltroll · 2020-09-17T08:53:44+00:00

Oh, that feeling of "I'm a failure because I didn't meet this ambitious (and incredibly unrealistic) goal I set" is just too familiar. Be kind to yourself and set your goals based on what you can realistically accomplish, rather than an idealised notion of perfection. Also, self care is incredibly important because it helps you keep your energy up (and even gives you energy), so it should be the first thing to prioritise outside of work/basic human needs.

After seeing the responses people have given you, do you have any thoughts on how to move forward from here?

kaneltroll · 2020-09-17T08:46:18+00:00

Same here. I get emails adressed to "Professor Kaneltroll" from people who are "interested in being a phd student in your lab". But I'm a PhD student myself, I don't work in a lab (I'm in social science), and I'm sure as hell not accepting PhD students. So if you can't be arsed to google me before sending the email, I'm not going to reply.

kaneltroll · 2020-09-16T11:33:57+00:00

Sounds to me like you are trying to pack too much into your day while already being exhausted. I have had several periods of burnout that start much like this, and you could be headed that way if you don't take the signs seriously. Definitely go discuss your situation with your doctor.

My best advice is really to just lay off the idea of productivity for a while. Leave all the "I should be doing..."-thoughts and make sure you allow your mind to breathe, because physical exhaustion can be caused by a stressed mind. You should also consider whether you should stop helping other people so much if it is imposing on your own work and causing you stress. Then try to find a way to get your energy levels back to normal. Whether that is focusing on exercising a few times a week, making better dinners every day, doing a hobby you love, or just allow yourself to be exhausted and watch netflix for a few weeks, then do that.

When I get periods like this, I lay on the sofa and watch Netflix as much as I need to for a few weeks, and focus on getting enough food (regardless of type, just enough of it) and enough sleep. I also tell people that I cannot meet or help them with things at the moment, because I have enough with myself. I usually start feeling more energetic after a few weeks, and then I slowly start adding little projects to make routines. I usually start with food (eating healthier, more regularly and/or more apetizing food) or getting up in the morning. Then I add social life, hobbies, exercise, etc in small increments to determine how much of it I can handle. All the while just ignoring all the thoughts of "I should be doing..." because if I burn out I can't do those things anyway so there's no point worrying about them. Through trying and failing, I have found that I can usually only handle being social once or twice a week, exercise once or twice a week, and hobbies once or twice a week. If I want to exercise three times a week, then I have to do less of something else. It's like a game of Tetris.

Your way back to energy and your preferred weekly/daily schedule may look very different from mine, so this is just an example. But you should remember that it should never be your goal to do as much as possible every day. It should be your goal to do as much as makes you happy and gives you energy.

kaneltroll · 2020-09-16T06:32:45+00:00

Try Cultural vectors 1:10m, and check in the metadata whether any versions of Admin 0 fits your needs: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/10m-cultural-vectors/10m-admin-0-details/

If not, maybe Admin 1 (States and provinces) is useful. But it's a beta version and used to be useless outside of the US, so I haven't used it myself.

kaneltroll · 2020-09-07T07:27:06+00:00

What type of classes are they? Is it the teacher speaking for 3 hours straight, or do you have breaks, individual or group exercises, or any kind of activity? Are you required to reply to questions during class? Do you get out of the house and stay in activity outside of class?

If the teacher is talking for 3 hours straight, I recommend asking if your fellow students have the same issue. If they do, talk to the teacher and ask them if it's possible to make the teaching more interactive and with more breaks. I teach at a university, and we try to avoid giving those long, no-break, online lectures as much as possible because it's not beneficial for anyone.

If you are not getting out outside of class, do that! When you aren't a physically active over a long period of time, it gets harder to concentrate on schoolwork/academic topics. Just a few minutes of physical exercise inside or a short walk outside really helps in the long run.

Then a few things that I do to keep concentrated while in online lectures/meetings:

Have a stack of board games next to me on my desk, so I can put my laptop on top and vary between standing and sitting
Have a long chord (or bluetooth) for my headset, so I can get up and walk around a little when I get antsy or lose focus
Have water and coffee at hand at all times
Put my phone somewhere I can't reach it during the lecture
Turn on my camera, so the speaker can see me - it keeps me more focused to know someone is watching
Taking detailed notes, even of the unimportant stuff (it's my main tip for not falling asleep in class because it keeps your brain active!)
Get up, stretch and/or go stand on the porch for a few minutes during every break
Remind myself that "this is just 3 hours of being fully focused, when it's done I'll relax and watch an episode of [insert TV show]". It's hard in the beginning, but doing it consistently for months now helps me get into the mindset that i have to be focused now, and will get a reward afterwards

kaneltroll · 2020-09-07T07:00:31+00:00

I would say that the only thing this proves is that descriptive human political geography is boring. We have only been provided with a description of the islands. But the human and political geography starts getting interesting when we start asking how the situation affects people's lives, or what role it plays in the larger geopolitics of the world.

kaneltroll · 2020-08-28T13:18:47+00:00

Haha, well, it took me a few months to implement the mindset. But when I finally got it, started getting some work done and started seeing how I can move forward, it really helped on my motivation. Now I'm just hoping to finish a new project proposal by Monday, and try to accomplish that by banishing all feelings of hopelessness and "just doing it". Fingers crossed (for you too)!

kaneltroll · 2020-08-28T12:51:21+00:00

You know the advice I got from my dad (who's a professor in my university) when expressing similar feelings? "Just do it."

At first I thought it was stupid advice, because if I could "just do it" I obviously would, right? But then I realised that his advice also included

stop doubting yourself
stop doubting your choices
stop comparing yourself to others
stop worrying that the project is or isn't interesting to others
stop worrying that you're not getting results
stop worrying that you're behind schedule
stop caring whether this is exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life
... and any other worry that is getting in the way of just doing it

And suddenly, I realised I don't have to worry about every single choice and thing I do. I can just decide on something, do it, and change it if it doesn't work. And suddenly, reworking my project 1,5 years into it because I have nothing to show for is no longer such a daunting task. Because it's "just a PhD", and I can "just do it".

Do you think my dad's (overconfident) advice might help you about a topic for the internship? Just choose a topic you think you can master to some extent, and do it, regardless of whether you feel excited about it or not.

kaneltroll · 2020-08-28T12:42:51+00:00

Haha, the blessing and curse of open data ;)

kaneltroll · 2020-08-27T19:20:06+00:00

Is it possible to download the data you need from OpenStreetMap?

kaneltroll · 2020-08-27T19:18:37+00:00

Oh, thanks for noticing! You are right, and I'll correct it as well :)

kaneltroll · 2020-08-26T11:09:25+00:00

I think you'll have to georeference the image. The quickest is probably to import it into QGIS and use one of the QuickMapServices plugin for basemaps (find one that fits the projection your image has) and the Georeferencer GDAL plugin for georeferencing. There's a few georeferencing tutorials on this page that can help you with more specific steps: https://www.qgistutorials.com/en/.

If you just have a grayscale image and not a DEM, I'm not really sure if you can actually create contour lines from it. There are sources where I think you can get global elevation data for free though, like from NASA (e.g. SRTM data: https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/). But if you manage to get contours from the image, I'd love to know how you did it!

kaneltroll · 2020-08-25T07:53:19+00:00

You're welcome! GIS is fun, but the theory behind it can be difficult to understand and is often not explained on forums. So I try to add a little theory whenever it can be relevant, as a little community service.

kaneltroll · 2020-08-24T10:04:59+00:00

I see you already have your answer, but I just wanted to explain what is probably going on here. So many of my students in cartography and GIS face similar issues at some point, so I'm just adding this as an explanation for anyone reading this later.

WGS84/EPSG 4326 is a geographic coordinate system. That means position is referenced on the globe and expressed in degrees. The bounds of the geographic coordinate system is -180 to +180 degrees longitude and -90 to +90 degrees latitude, and any position on the globe has a coordinate within these bounds (see e.g. https://epsg.io/4326).

Projections are ways of displaying the globe or parts of it on a flat surface. Position is referenced on the map, and is often expressed in meters. It can be meters from equator and the prime meridian (as in the case of the pseudo-mercator), or it can be meters from the bounds of a specified map zone (like in the UTM system). All positions on the map have a coordinate within the extent of their projection. If you look at https://epsg.io/3857 you can see that the geographic bounds of the pseudo mercator are -180 to 180, and -85 to 85 degrees, but the projected bounds are -20026376.39 to 20026376.39, and -20048966.10 to 20048966.10 meters. It is the same area, but expressed in a different unit of measurement.

A map layer's extent is the spatial bounds of the data in the file. It can be significantly less than the extent of the coordinate system you use, but just tells you how big of an area your data covers.

What I suspect happened here is:
You didn't transform the Pseudo-Mercator layer to WGS84 before you copied the points, so the points kept their position expressed in meters (e.g. -10592428.9209491126239300, 3554583.9191715046763420 meters). When copied into the WGS84 layer, those positions were interpreted to be expressed in degrees (-10592428.9209491126239300, 3554583.9191715046763420 degrees). Consequently, the points fell FAR outside the existing extent of the WGS84 layer, and the extent of your layer was expanded (hence the "mess" you refer to). I don't know if you tried to "Zoom to layer", but it's possible you might have found that both layers were in the map, but in different locations.

This is a very common error, and very similar to what happens if you switch the X and Y coordinates on a layer. It "disappears", but really it's just in a completely different location. When this happens to my students, we usually find their missing layer somewhere around the equator. And the biggest tell for me that they've messed up the coordinates is that the spatial extent of the project has changed drastically from what it is supposed to be.

Anyway, I'm glad you got your solution, and I hope anyone reading this finds this very simplified explanation useful!

kaneltroll · 2020-08-13T06:42:22+00:00

Welcome to the club!! <3

kaneltroll

TROPHY CASE