The Spark of New Knowledge

Today I attended a Doctoral Forum organized by the Student Learning Center of the University. Its central theme was around the issue of originality, and few sharing sessions with some of the panel experts from the exam committee, and recent graduates who won the best thesis award.
Well, according to one of the speakers, "originality is hard to define". There is always a problem when it comes to define whether certain work being carried out is really original. Dr Barry mentioned that somehow our work is a kind of replication. We replicated unintentionally. Yes, I agree with that very much. Our research is usually based on work that previous people have done, and we might investigate the same thing but from different perspective or perhaps applying different methodology for measuring something. He also stressed that, its okay to have negative results or outcomes from the experiments. It simply because the negative outcomes can also be something very valuable. So do not perceive negative results as a failure.
He also said that its important to ensure our work is something publishable. One of things that examiners like to ask is the value of our research work. In other words, what are the significant contribution or outcomes we had discovered or found from the studies.

To recall back the advice given by the panel of experts from the exam committee, Assoc Prof Mavis Haigh stressed that what she really expect from a thesis or dissertation is the "clarity of arguments". She said that "do not let the examiners struggle try to understand the arguments in the thesis". Thus, I presume this is very important piece of advice I received and learned today, that it is very very critical to make sure that we organized the whole idea of the thesis. My head started to thinking the action that should be taken before engage into writing up a thesis. The whole story of the thesis must be clear enough, thus providing linking in between of chapters is significantly important. Put the story all together in a coherent manner. She mentioned many times that the "organization of ideas" is very very important. The examiner would like to see the whole thing of the thesis like a story that have a clear background and purpose, and that the author has presented critical analysis of what have been done before. Prof Ross adding by mentioning that the studies should open up a new questions for future exploration. That is really interesting. It reflects back to my experiment in the previous semester where the results we obtained did not support the projected alternative hypotheses. It was quite sad, but when I rationalized back the whole thing, I understand the possibility of some intervening factors that might somehow have rather greater influence as compared with the factor we're investigating. So, the first experiment rather than giving only the results, at the same time, it open up a few more useful aspects for future investigation, which is indeed sound interesting to the researcher :-)

Well, those are the things I captured from the sessions. There was also a discussion about turning a thesis into books. The speaker are editors from recognized publisher in NZ. They mentioned that if you're interested in producing a book from the thesis, make sure we clear about who will be the "audience". The audience is the target reader of our book. So that once we clear about that, we can be sure of the use of style, the structure, and expectation of knowlegde of the author. Its always important to talk or communicate with the publisher at the early stage (It can be as simple as just sending them an email! mentioning your intention and possibility of publication) It doesnt need you to prepare the whole lot of thing because if they;re interested then only you will know what is the expectation, and the target submission of manuscript, and everything will be detailed in a contract. Writing a book is more into engaging into finding who will read your book when it get published? Therefore you really need to know your market!

Hmm at this point of time, I personally haven't given serious thought about it. Maklumlah..Phd pun lum abis.. but it;s really a good thing for promotion or recognition purposes. But I think at this stage, first things first. Get this Phd done first, and later when you got your title in front of your name you perhaps will consider an opportunity for writing a book! InsyaAllaah.

Wish you all (& me) the best of luck!

Coromandel in May

Sempena kedatangan kak lili from Sydney, we all bawak dia gi Coromandel. yay..! What a beautiful place, amazingly beautiful. SubhanaAllah!

Qasida Burda

"Oh yes he doesn't need that title anyway"

It does not matter, really. He has fan all over the world, including me :-)
From the first time I saw this guy singing that "Mad World" song, I can see that he is really different than any other contestant, he is unique, very unique. To me he is a real rare and is amazingly truly performer with a very beautiful voice. I personally feel he deserves to win the contest because he definitely a classi in his own league. Oh yes despite of that sexual issues that people have been talking over the net, its his choice, the point is, like Simon Cowell said, he really can sing, not only can sing very well with that great vocal range, but really an entertainer!he's soooo talented, I can;t wait to see him on tour to NZ.. ahh.. no point to feel sad about the results.. hahaa..

2nd Year Anniversary (21st May 2007-21st May 2009)

Owh that's not about wedding anniversary - it's just a reminder to me that I've been in Auckland exactly two years on today. So, now I'm stepping into the final stage of this PhD, can I believe it, oh yes please. Man... Time really flies!
I'm scared now I've got so much things to do..erggh. Shouldn't complaint ya I knew that. I am just getting tired and bored doing with this experiment thingy. I can't wait for the semester to end so that I can relax on Saturday and doing things I liked. I am anxious though looking forward to meet my real good friend - kak Lili who will be coming to Auckland next Wednesday. I really can't wait to see you kak lili, there r lots of things to catch up with you :-)

NZCSRSC'09 is coming to Auckland!

Salam and good day,

Welcome all graduates & postgrads Comp. Science students to this inaugural event of NZCSRSC. It will be held this year (6-9 April) at The University of Auckland, NZ. Registration is now open. Please visit: https://nzcsrsc09.auckland.ac.nz/registration

See you there!! :-)

Musim Perletakan Jawatan

Hari ni kecoh dlm inbox mail pasal orang2 yang dilantik menerajui Mapsa sibuk nak letak jawatan (orang2 tu termasuklah aku!!) ISH..memanglah..rase nak pelangkung je sapa yang gatal undi aku.. Bukan apa, memang bagus ada persatuan, tapi bab2 siapa nak pegang jawatan,walaupun dibuat secara undian, kenalah ikut sukati tuan punye badan..pegang jawatan ni kena sukarela, bukan paksa-rela.. lain lah utk misi2 kritikal contohnya mcm menerajui negara atau yg sewaktu dengannya. So, berbalik kpd cerita letak2 jawatan tadi, sebenarnya dan seeloknya kasilah peluang kpd kami2 yang senior ni utk menumpukan perhatian pada pelajaran..maklumlah tak lama lagi nak masuk finl year (adoi seramnya!!!) maka sedar2lah diri tu.. so, mmg patutlah dan sesssuaailah bagi yg junior pulak pegang jawatan mapsa tu.. sedangkan dlm agama pun takde paksaan, apatah lagi ni pulak dalam persatuan yg tak seberapa mcm.. (erm paham2 la). Simpati jugak kat presiden baru, dok sibuk nak pulun provisional dah kena suruh buat meeting cepat2.. sabarlah ye tuan presiden baru! Ape2pun, pada pendapat saya, tak payahlah kecoh2 sgt psl persatuan ni, sbb tujuan dtg sini pun nak belajar..hal2 lain yg tak berkenaan tu boleh letak ke tepi dulu, hidup ni kena ada priority!