So I skipped yesterday as far as blogging goes. I’m disappointed in myself. Before that I had been so diligent for nearly a week. I hope I did not lose many from my legions of fans. But seriously, why are you all so demanding!!?? “Josh, you need to update more often,” said one reader. Jeeez! I’ll try. (Aforementioned reader and comment do not really exist.)
It’s seems like one of my classes is damn near ready for an uprising. It seems like everyone is complaining about both its difficulty and relevance. In my opinion, the class is both not difficult and rather relevant to HCI. I mean, if you hope to work with computers and the people who build programs (computer scientists), you better understand how that machine works and how to build those programs, at least in theory. We need to gain respect in this field, not cop out when it comes to the things our colleagues are masters at. It’s important that HCI/Designers take CS classes and CompScientists take HCI/Design classes. This is a major step in leveling the playing field.
The real problem is me. I generally do not like to be part of conflict…you could say I’m a resolution man. But now, when I’m rather alone on a topic, and fearing that people around me are about to blow up, do I really want to piss everybody off by not agreeing with them? On this one, I think I’ll say…maybe. If they want to complain, that is fine with me, but if the class gets any easier I will get suplementary work from the professor so that I can advance my own knowledge.
A potential problem with this blog being public is shown in this situation. If I’m on the other side of the fence with respect to a bunch of people in my program, and I’m posting this opinion online, where they all can see it, then I’m asking for trouble. I’ll have to live with that, because writing about these conflictions is helping me to reflect on my decisions, thereby solidifying them in my mind. Plus, I generally run with a crowd anyway, so being completely alone on something is not likely.
I’ll keep you all updated on the “drama”…
One response to ““Resolution Man””
it’s been my experience that in grad school these things come up from time to time, but generally fizzle out if they dont have any real basis. the prof. has been there long enough to know what he’s doing, and it’s rare that a prof. will change their methods to suit the students whims.