Skip to content

Tag: PhD

When to Defend Your Ideas (As a PhD Student)

Published by Joni on December 31, 2024

When to defend. Now, there’s a thing with being a PhD student and a supervisor. There’s some information asymmetry: the supervisor has more experience and knowledge. So, should the student do everything the supervisor asks? No. Definitely not, because the supervisor is still a fallible human being. The goal is to somehow surpass the supervisor! (it has to be 🙂…

Continue readingWhen to Defend Your Ideas (As a PhD Student)

Concerns of Complexity as a Competitive Factor in CHI Conference

Published by Joni on September 23, 2024

CHI research has become more complex (but not more insightful). The reason? Complexity is a competitive factor: it helps separate your paper from others. Lengthy papers with more substudies and details are more likely to do better than short but insightful work that might have more relevance for HCI theory and/or practice. Reviewers are instructed to pay attention to HCI…

Continue readingConcerns of Complexity as a Competitive Factor in CHI Conference

The illusion of similarity (in academic research papers)

Published by Joni on August 30, 2024

The illusion of similarity: two papers (A and B) look the same.They have the same structure.They have the same number of words.Both use fluent, nearly flawless English.Both reference the same number of papers.They have the same number of tables and figures. For a layperson, both these papers look the same. Yet, one of them is the worst horsesh*t you’ve ever…

Continue readingThe illusion of similarity (in academic research papers)

List of Research Superpowers (Especially Useful for PhD Students)

Published by Joni on August 22, 2024

Observed myself citing various “superpowers” to my PhD students in occasional emails. So, thought of writing these down (the list might get updated). Currently, I can think of eleven research superpowers [updated: November 11, 2024]. Here they are, in no particular order. 1. SPECIFICITY Be specific. Applies pretty much to any form of communication: Being specific is one #researchsuperpower (but…

Continue readingList of Research Superpowers (Especially Useful for PhD Students)

What are the real benefits of human educators vs. ChatGPT?

Published by Joni on May 14, 2024

Hi! Saw some interesting claims in this presentation about teacher strengths relative to AI: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/CqKZjoSsoTvWoTMB?ref=Link I’m assessing each one by one below. (Btw, if you’re interested in GenAI for bachelor’s level education, take a look at my tips and experiences.) “Teacher Strengths in Relation to language model ChatGPT:” “Artificial intelligence is an efficient tool that can support teachers in many…

Continue readingWhat are the real benefits of human educators vs. ChatGPT?

Thoughts on integrating Generative AI in university education (specifically at bachelor’s level): Good and bad use cases

Published by Joni on May 8, 2024

Sharing some thoughts, based on a discussion with colleagues, on how generative AI (GenAI) should and should not be intergrated into teaching at bachelor’s degree level. (Also, since you’re here, you might be interested in this post about human educators’ benefits relative to AI.) First, in my opinion, teachers should have the final authority to decide if and how AI…

Continue readingThoughts on integrating Generative AI in university education (specifically at bachelor’s level): Good and bad use cases

How to write up machine learning experiments? Here’s a process to follow

Published by Joni on October 28, 2023

It’s sometimes difficult, especially for newcomers, to understand all the steps of a machine learning (ML) analysis. Here’s a practical list of the items I’m myself considering when leading an ML research project. Our use of ML is applied; we do research related to social computing (also known as computational social sciences), marketing, analytics, and human-computer interaction (HCI). Overall, we’ve…

Continue readingHow to write up machine learning experiments? Here’s a process to follow