Sunday, May 24, 2009

What's Up With Wojo? (Spring 2009)

Exams are over, and I passed. My major trips, presentations, and essays are all behind me. For the next four months, I can work on my research, travel for fun, and explore new projects and ideas. It's a much calmer time, though throngs of tourists visit Oxford and space in the library is harder to find. Life is different than it was several months ago, so it's time for an update and an overview.

Dissertation and Research

My academic work is the main focus of my life until September. Data mining cabinet networks, politica bloggers, and organizational affiliations... If you had to tag my life in this area, it would include three big ones: "Social Networks Analysis", "Machine Learning", and "Mathematical Modelling". I'll post on these topics in a number of blog posts over time.

Politics and International Development

For the first time in a number of years, I find myself without a concrete plan or opportunity to do field work for Five Minutes to Midnight or related organizations. In my defense, I need to spend more time at Oxford, but it's an odd feeling to not have any major plans in this area. As such, I've decided to do more writing on politics, human rights, international development, and technology. If I can't travel and do work abroad, I'll at least keep up to date with developments, and share a few opinions.

So far, I'm hoping to write articles on cyber war, anonymity, network neutrality, and technology-related human rights. Not as much international development as I'd like, but I'm open to suggestions and ideas.

Art and Culture

Now that I have more time to explore England and places further away, I will definitely do so. More plays, museums, events, and so on. No concerete plans yet, but they're coming!

That's all for now... A much more relaxed Wojo, that's for sure.

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