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  • From: "Alan MacHett" <machett AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [internetworkers] Ph.D.s: overspecialization?
  • Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 00:16:52 -0400 (EDT)

In nature, when an ecosystem suffers major or catastrophic damage, the
species first made extinct are those that have overspecialized. In
nature, the generalists are the survivors.

That's a very poor analogy to draw concerning the Ph.D., but it came to
mind. From my previous post I present Danah Boyd, exhibit A:
http://www.danah.org/
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/

"Currently, i'm researching articulated social networks, trying to
understand how people present their digital identity, negotiate social
contexts and articulate their relationships in the YASNS (Yet Another
Social Network Service) Phenomena."
"For my Master's, i studied how people manage their identity presentation
in relation to social contextual information."
"I'm interested in how people manage social contexts and adjust their
presentation of self accordingly; i'm particularly fascinated by the
tension between the social and technology that supports it."

Fascinating.

We humans have studied the world around us. We also have molded and
recreated the world around us. And now we study that artificial world.
And recreate it again. And as our remade world grows ever more complex,
the focus of study becomes ever more narrow.

Nothing against Ph.D.s; I hope to have my own one day. I just... well,
humans fascinate me.

-Alan




  • [internetworkers] Ph.D.s: overspecialization?, Alan MacHett, 06/27/2004

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