Lessons Learned

In the past few months I learned that the Phd journey involves learning several lessons. And I am only at the beginning...
The first lesson I learned is that there is always something missing in your work and it is never complete (specially if you are still doing it). There are always limitations and it is not going to be perfect, even at the end.
Second lesson, is that you can live with the limitations but you do not want to live with flaws. You want to avoid people telling you that you missed one important article in our literature review. So, now I keep in mind that I have the on-going job of rewriting it and adding sources.
Third lesson, when you are designing your project be sure you have the resources you need, namely data sources confirmed and participants agreement. This will help you avoid frustrations and worries in the future.
Fourth lesson, people who don't know you will remember you because of your work and your presentations. I think it helps a lot when you build a positive image of yourself and your work. Is important to transmit passion about what you are doing and engage others in your presentation, so they will be interested and make you questions.

Walking in circles

In the past month I started to have the feeling of walking in circles.
I have been reading many papers and, after my notes, I try to make
connections between readings and my research interests. I end up most
of the times near the beginning point. So I feel that I am too much
focused on seeing only a particular side. Maybe I am in front of a
tree and cannot see beyond it, the forest. As I am very interested
(maybe passionate) about a particular problem, I tend to see the world
in face of this problem and make many connections with this only. I am
biased to see the implications of everything on my particular problem.
Like there is nothing else... Maybe it's time to read something from a
completely different area.

Proposal presentation

A few impressions about the presentation of my thesis proposal. I need to control my anxiety in future presentations because I did not breathe properly... I had done the preparation, with 8 rehearsals to the mirror and to my family, and did not need to check the slides to know what to say next but I was too anxious with the time. At the end, I finished 3 minutes earlier... So, I think I need to breathe more in the future.
I enjoyed the discussion and was prepared to "fight" a little more, but I also know that at this point I am more in a listener position. Nevertheless, it does not feel good when you hear that the design of your project was poor. So, my priority now is to work on the research design. Case study, survey, experiment... I need a clearer definition of what I am going to do.

New year, new thesis theme

After some time reading about services and services economy, I ended up in something different but that makes more sense to me. It all started with product service systems (PSS). With a few more readings and thoughts about PSS, I was searching frantically about dematerialization and sustainability. Then I had a lecture about Technology Acceptance Model and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology where I saw the kind of research that makes more sense to me. So nice that your research can produce something like an explanatory model with relations between independent and dependent variables!
In that moment I realized that I wanted to do quantitative research. About what? Services? Could not make a proper connection of that theme with a quantitative study... A few more clicks and searches about sustainability and I found it: Green Information Systems. What an interesting idea! To use IS approach to the problem of environmental sustainability. And there are so many topics to work here because it is so new... However, there are lots of opportunities and topics to investigate but not as much established facts about this new stream of research. This implies that I have to work with uncertainty but, more important than that, I am working with a passionate theme.

Product Service Systems

This is the topic that hit me after several months reading about services and service systems: Product Service Systems. It hit me because of different things, but mostly: dematerialization, reuse, sustainable consumption.
While many are already moving to the next buzzword, I am still sticking to sustainability. I have heard about regeneration, renewability and thrivability here, but I am still behind. For now I share this video that shows a very interesting perspective in consumption, PSS, and web 2.0. The 21st century is supposed to be the century of collaborative consumption, after one century of incredible overconsumption. This new paradigm focuses on trust, access over ownership, primacy of experience, and is advantageous for the consumer (me and you), communities, business, and the planet. Let it grow!

Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

Creative Need

I am in the need of being creative.
I know that this is not something that you can learn how to do, or follow a formula of creativity. One teacher of mine once said that to stay creative during our life we need to get out of our strong habits and specialty domains.This is easier said than done, of course. She gave us some ideas of how to do that: from time to time, read books in a completely different area. Say you are an economist, try to read a book in psychology. Other idea was to develop some hobbies not related to your job, or join on-line discussion groups, or on-line communities in different areas of expertise. Of course, you need to understand something about these discussions, otherwise it will be useless.
I have noticed from my experience that these suggestions are indeed helpful. I have read so many books lately about education and children' development that I start to relate them to problems I find in my work. I find that these sometimes crazy ideas may become an innovative solution, because it was never tried. Moreover, the on-line groups and communities I belong, such as parenting, ecology and permaculture groups are often a very good source of diverse knowledge, and some videos or texts I find there are great sources of inspiration.
I am in the need of finding a new research problem. I have a research theme, and some research problems already identified by others, but these are out of Information Systems area. If you want to do a Phd in Information Systems the least you can do is to research a problem in the area, of course. The problem does not need to be specifically in technology, it can also be related to information, which, for me, is god.
The thing is that I am really interested in addressing a few questions related to sustainability and servitization, but the problems I identify fall either in the field of ecology or economics.
Technology is important to create solutions, but I am failing to fit Information Technology in this problem.

Post Note: I had the privilege, while writing this text, to add permaculture and servitization to Google dictionary. These are indeed words that should be in an updated dictionary :)

Why to do a Phd

I had already formulated my opinion about why to do a Phd, after reading the book I mention is this post. I must say that after that book I was frightened about the implications for personal life when you are doing a Phd. The part when the authors mention that it may harm your relationship with your family, and that sometimes a Phd ends in family rupture was not very promising.
Recently, we had Prof. Tim Kovacs from Bristol University visiting us and his lecture about Aims, Objectives and Guidelines for Phd Students was inspiring. I was also more comfortable with some issues he mentioned, and, at this moment, feel confident enough to believe I can do it. I can do the Phd.
What I thought might be a non valid reason for doing a Phd ends up being a good one. Thus, I love to learn and I am also curious, though I do not see myself as creative, and I am not so much optimistic that I can contribute with something valuable to the world. About challenges, I think it is desirable that we have some in our life, but I am not very comfortable in being challenged all the time. Sometimes I feel I need inner peace, and when I have a challenge I cannot find that peace.
What I noticed was that the first reason I had for doing a Phd has changed, as I feel I have somehow matured this question. When I first met the Coordinator of the Doctoral Program with my previous supervisor, I was not sure that I really wanted to endure in this task. This aspect was clear in me, though I did not know, and the Coordinator caught me immediately. He asked me, "So, you want to do a Phd?", and my answer was, "I think so". He replied, "You think so, or you want to?", and it was my supervisor who rescued me confirming that, "She does want".
She did not know by then, but I was really insecure in my purpose. Or maybe she did know... by that time I was trying to find what I would like to work on. Teaching, banking, mothering?... I did not know what I wanted to do in my life.
When I submitted my proposal to get funding from FCT, I was more enthusiastic about my reasons for doing a Phd. I had been at home with my son almost 9 months, and finally started to have my own life back. On the other hand, we had recently moved from Portugal to Boston, and this had a great impact in our family life, with my husband being present more often. Still, I was not completely engaged with my objectives for the Phd. I had a few entrepreneur ideas that I wanted to try, so if I did not get the funding I would be very happy with my entrepreneurial projects.
It was only when I really started working in the Phd, after December 2009, that it struck me: "Hmmm, I really like learning. I like to understand things. I feel great when I learn something new." Then, maybe it is not such a bad idea to do this thing of Phd...
Professor Tim Kovacs highlighted some aspects that I had not thought about. Working in a Phd brings you freedom. You have the privilege of having time and freedom to follow your interests, and a Phd is about a journey, not about a destination. It is a common error to think that the goal is only the destination. It makes the journey a big frustration, a big sacrifice, and we will not enjoy this at the end. Many researchers do not recall their Phd years as a positive experience. I am determined to make this not happen. I had enough of work I did not like in my first working experience, which lasted for 5 years!
Other great idea from Prof. Kovacs is a form to help students thinking about what they need to improve in their researcher skills. This form lists the activities and the objectives they contribute to in order to provide evidence of lifelong learning, seeking feedback, and developing transferable skills. I already have some ideas of activities to fill in this form, but first need to clarify my research question.