• ECC

    Building Bridges: A Study of Coordination in Projects

    by  • September 16, 2009 • Academia, Collaboration, Dissertation, ECC, Organizations, Publications, Research • 0 Comments

    On August 13, I successfully defended my dissertation. Today, I submitted my final, approved version to University of Michigan’s institutional repository. That version won’t be available until after I receive my degree in December, but you’re welcome to read a nearly identical version of my complete dissertation. Dissertation Abstract In our efforts to understand...

    Read more →

    What is an actor?

    by  • June 23, 2008 • Dissertation, ECC, Publications, Research, Writing • 0 Comments

    Some colleagues and I recently submitted a paper to a conference, and last week I sent in our rebuttals to the reviewers’ comments. Our paper introduces some terms from actor-network theory (ANT) to an audience that isn’t terribly familiar with ANT. I like ANT as a method, not really a theory, for helping sort...

    Read more →

    Research is messy

    by  • February 12, 2008 • Collaboration, Dissertation, ECC, Research • 0 Comments

    Last week I participated in a mixed methods workshop with John Creswell. The workshop was quite valuable; we worked through designing a proposal for a real research project. I forget the name of the student whose project we outlined, but he was proposing to study biodiversity sustainability programs in Vietnam and Cambodia. We worked...

    Read more →

    ECC Trivia: slump test

    by  • November 2, 2007 • Dissertation, ECC, Research • 0 Comments

    I spent about 3 hours with the students in the ACE-MRL lab this morning while they mixed and poured some engineered cementitious composite. I learned lots of things, but right now, I’m offering you this linguistic tidbit: slump. In this case, slump refers not to the Hawkeye football season or some other sudden, severe...

    Read more →

    From May – a found post (networks, communities, practice)

    by  • October 8, 2007 • Collaboration, Dissertation, ECC, Research • 0 Comments

    Here’s a little blog post from a couple months ago that hadn’t made it off my laptop and into the world. I’ve edited it a bit, but most of the text is from May. I was reconsidering the communities of practice literature. The project I’m currently funded on is ostensibly about facilitating the implementation...

    Read more →

    Argh. Again.

    by  • September 6, 2007 • Dissertation, ECC, Presentations, Research, Talks • 1 Comment

    I’m having trouble convincing myself that staying involved in big science projects is a tenable arrangement for me. Big science drives a lot of SI’s money, and I’m starting to feel a bit like a puppet. Sure, I think big science is interesting and valuable. Who doesn’t want an anthrax vaccine or concrete that...

    Read more →

    My Dissertation Topic (for real!)

    by  • July 11, 2007 • Dissertation, ECC, Research

    I met with Stephanie today and showed her “my paragraph.” I finally managed to get my dissertation topic into less than 300 words, and it feels fantastic! You might’ve read my other post on Collaboration and Identity, and this topic is something close to that. Obviously there are ambiguities in this paragraph; it’s an...

    Read more →

    That’s a wrap!

    by  • June 8, 2007 • Dissertation, ECC, Research • 0 Comments

    We finally finished shooting around 8:00pm tonight, and now I’m not sure what to do with myself. Some of you got email updates during the filming, and I appreciate you being there to hear my rants and excitement. Filming takes a lot of flexibility and patience, and it was quite an experience. I managed...

    Read more →

    Heat and Hard Hats

    by  • June 7, 2007 • Dissertation, ECC, Research • 5 Comments

    Man, it was hot in Michigan today. Fantastic! Today was quite exciting for this lowly graduate student. I got to spend the day following a documentary film crew who are shooting footage for use in a Discovery Channel show. The shoot is sponsored by the same Office of Cyberinfrastructure that sponsors yours truly’s education...

    Read more →