Data management

I learned from the NSF guy last week that one thing that will be required to be on all NSF funding proposals (as of 2010, I think, so it's already there) is a two-page data management plan.  As much of a fluffy pain in the tail this may seem to be, the more I muse on it, the more I hope I take it seriously when that time comes for me.

It has been a lesson in networking for me, being here.  I have learned that it's not just always me at a computer running regressions. It's a lot of finding the person or persons who have already done those regressions, finding who owns what data, digging through files in the FSLs, contacting random people I've never met and remembering, oh this is Dr. So-and-So who studied such-and-such approximately X years ago. I can see now why BRORB says she has trouble with names. It is sort of an onslaught, and our field is dominated by about 75 % males who look.... the same. 

This week for instance, I've got meetings backed up to meetings with meetings.  There's emails floating through my inbox that deal with topics I've never thought about before, and people asking my advice on things I've never heard of. I'm learning that it's okay to say "I don't know" and not try to clarify it with "but you could try this or that." It's sort of just, "I don't know.  I lived in loblolly-land for 25 years and frankly, this is way over my head right now." When I go to foreign countries the first day or so there's always this sense of immersion, and it's kind of like that.  FI in Wales, most people speak Cymraig, and even when they do talk in English, it's really broken and accented. You can't really get anywhere. Now, I can pick up some Spanish or German, but Cymraig is from celtic roots, and sounds completely different.  I remember riding the train from Birmingham to Aberysthwyth, and getting off thinking, I have no phone, I don't know where I am, I've been up for nearly 30 hours, I've been to Cleveland, Newark, London, and Birmingham, now I was on this train for 5 hours and I'm in Wales where no one speaks English, and somehow I've got to walk six miles and find a certain cliff that is outstanding where Chalie will be waiting for me.  Just so we all have this clear, there are a LOT of cliffs in Wales-- in Abers, there's really only one area with cliffs, but Wales overall-- cliff isn't really an outstanding feature. 

So I walked towards the only direction that didn't have hills, which was the ocean.  The whole world was sort of white-- maritime layer and I met for the first time-- but very cold, because there are not really any mountains to stop the wind.  I walked down cobblestone streets.  Every time the wind blew cold rain over those in the street we stopped in our tracks, waiting for it to dissapate.  Shepards brought their sheep through the town.  So I'm marching (in little steps) over cobbles across some random town in Wales, hoping that I'm heading towards the ocean, and really amazed by the beauty and power, but scared, really scared, because I have no idea where I'm going.

It's sort of the same thing here-- it's a big immersion. The language is completely different from anything I'm used to and I can't even really figure out the structure yet. I sort of know a vague end goal-- I know what kind of stuff with be in my dissertation, and I know what problem I will work on for my first article/main chapter.  I know that I'll probably take my Spanish and German written exams this winter to get them out of the way (they are easier than normal exams, it's just reading a few papers in the languages and then writing up a legible synopsis, as well as a timed translation of 2 pages of text).  But I don't know much more than that.

Data management: meta data is used to classify the data into groups that can be (prepare for epic movie reference) "programmed, categorized, and easily referenced." It would be nice if there was some sort of social meta.  But not facebook.  Just a meta for a real network of people and ideas, so that if you thought, well I just need to get general information on say, hydrology, who is the main pivot for this idea, and how, when, where do I find him or her.  (Did you know that males are much more likely to publish than females? I will have to be an OUTLIER).

This morning I wanted to run along a trail someone about.  I thought I had found it (I think I did) but it connects to many other trails, and I ended up the Timber Hill Corporate Forest and on some other county park (Benton has a lot of county parks). At one point, there was a huge, fallen douglas-fir on the trail.  It was probably 40 inches DBH (not old-growth huge, just huge) and I climbed up onto it, laying my body across it, my hands in it's furrowed bark.  I was, actually, hugging a tree.  It felt nice, a little bit less scared or something. I walked up the fallen bole and sat near its top (so the run kind of fell by the wayside at this point).  I couldn't see much distance, but I was sort of secluded in the forest and there were some elk (they looked like elk, at least) bustling about. I'm not really sure what the point of that story was, I guess as I was sitting there I thought, damn, I could probably write a really sick fantasy allegory about this time in my life.  Of course, there would need to be some dragons and stuff added in. But maybe I will.

On a side note, in my 21st century attempts to find solace through Google chrome, I found that it is not so uncommon to live away from those you love: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/fashion/04commuter.html?emc=eta1. It makes me glad to know that other people endure the same (and worse); it reminds me these things are temporary. I lack nothing in the tenacity department.

Tomorrow Bob and I are doing differential equations... at 8 am. I'm hoping the early time will reduce the smartness differential between us and I'll be able to keep up.