So This is Research

So many reasons why i enjoy doing my PhD study at my school - School of Commerce, University of South Australia (UniSA). While doing research here requires a high commitment and hard works, fun and laughter are around to make it enjoyable. For instance, here are the songs presented by Prof Rick Sarre, Prof. Janek Ratnatunga and Assoc. Prof. Margaret Lightbody for all researchers. Hope you like it.

    

SO THIS IS RESEARCH

~ To the tune of 'So This is Christmas'

~ Lyrics b y Prof. Janek Ratnatunga, modified by Prof. Rick Sarre

So this is research

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun

And so this is research

Another paper done

One Hypothesis proved

Another one debunked

A very sound proposal

And searching questions

Let's hope it's an A star

Without any revision

And so this is research

For the quantitatively strong

But for qualitative ones

The world is so wrong

And so happy researching

For workload points

For ARC and Division Grants

Let's stop all the fights

And so this is research

And what has the School done

Another year over

And a new one just begun

And so this is research

Another paper done

One hypothesis proved

Another one debunked

And so research students

Hope your topic's beaut

May your field work be sound

And your supervisor be cute 

Academics have a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

You'll get supported researcher

Without any fear...

THE PHD BLUES

~ Lyrics by Assoc. Prof. Margaret Lightbody 


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View the first version on the Research Day: So This is Research 

Other songs on the Xmas Party 2011:

~ Christmas Medley Song

~ Imagine

~ School Board

Wishing you a joyous and happy festive season.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 !

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Here is the food for thought for this weekend.

I got this story from Professor Lee Parker.

Prof. Lee Parker
when crowned as Supervisor of the Year 2011
in Division of Business, Univ. of South Australia

Lee read this nice story when he delivered a plenary speech in the 23rd CSEAR International Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research in St. Andrews University, Scotland, on 7-9 September 2011. Thanks Lee for sharing this. It was one of the most discussed topics amongst many audiences during the conference, including me!

- - - - - - - -

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, what to do, and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned:
Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm milk and cookies are good for you. Live a balanced of life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon

Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder.

Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that...

And then remember about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest words of all - LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living.

Let's hold hands for a better world

Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.

Or if we had a basic policy in our nation, and other nations, to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes.


And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Stay Close to My File(s)

Have you ever experienced loosing important files? I accidentally spilled a glass of green tea onto my laptop when I did my research during my master degree. Bummer! Fortunately, I could retrieve all the files after I dried it up using a hairdryer and a fan. I always remind my self to back up, back up, and back up! since then.

But what if you really loose your files? A while ago, my bloke lost his laptop with all his PhD works in it. What a disaster! Well, anything may happen... You may also loose your external hard drive.

In the age of cloud computing, where computer-based activities can be done using solely on the internet, i can store my files online. Not only saving my files online, I can also create a document online then share it to my colleague, if  I need to.  As a constraint budget student, i use the free online storage provider, that will keep my wallet happy. Yes, it is completely free to use them, so no more excuses to always back up my data. Here is the online file storage list that I have used.

1. Dropbox
Free user will have 2GB of storage, and once you signed up [go to Dropbox], both of us will receive an additional 250MB. This referral system will give a free user up to 8GB of storage. What I like from Dropbox is the simplicity to save my files. Once I installed the application, I will get a specific folder in my computer. I only need to drag my files to this folder, and it will automatically synchronized to the cloud folder. I can retrieve the files by accessing my account in Dropbox website, or through other computers with an installed application, or even in my mobile phone. Feels like I have a virtual folder. Easy peasy!

2. SkyDrive
As a Hotmail user, I can use Microsoft's SkyDrive up to 25GB of free storage. The new University of South Australia (UniSA) student emails, which now will last forever for each registered student even after graduated from UniSA, are also entitled to 25Gb free storage. So if you haven't used one, just go to SkyDrive and use your student email's username and password. The files should be uploaded manually with a limited 50MB file size each. For files more than 50MB, you may use SkyDrive synced folder by installing Windows Live Mesh.    SkyDrive also enables to create Microsoft offices document online.

3. Use my emails
Anytime I finished working, I always send an email to myself and attach the files. For email-based storage, I use Yahoo and Gmail. Yahoo emails offers an unlimited mail storage, infinite capacity, since May 2007. Using Gmail, which is provided by Google, I can upload an individual file size up to 1 GB with a total of 7GB of free storage to share between emails. While Yahoo email do not provide free IMAP and POP3 so I can not synchronize it using Office Outlook, Gmail and Hotmail are more handy in Outlook. Dont forget to personalised your email setting so any email containing your important files will be stored in the designated folders in your email system.

Now I can stay close to my files. Once I saved my files in cloud computing, I can retrieve them from any computer in the globe [with the internet access, of course :) ]. Offering a convenience in a borderless working space!

All files stored in the internet-based storage above can be shared to your mates. Always remember to adjust and check the setting if the file is confidential.

I often need to share files to my friends. Usually after gathering for an event, we are very keen to share lots of snaps taken. Free online sharing provider that I use:

1. 4Shared  
I may upload up to 500Mb each and a total of 15GB storage capacity as a free user. I will get a link that can be shared to anyone anytime I upload a file. Important to remember, adjust the visibility setting if the file is confidential, go to setting-general-uncheck the box: allow the showing of my files to public search results and do not show related files on the download page.

2. MegaUpload
I use MegaUpload for my blog here if anyone want to send me a file via my blog.

3. Ifileit
Simply just go to the site above and register your account.

If you need more space for your files, you can always go for a premium account in any of the cloud-based file storage provider by paying an annual fee. Let's get the most out of the cloud computing era! Hope you find it useful.