Study Aids

I have a theory that it might have been easier to get a dissertation done before the Internet became the must have home accessory. For starters, buying a good phone to talk to supervisors and the like is a lot cheaper than a good stacked-with-goodies computer. But then again, I guess you still needed a PC (or a mac. I always wanted one of those box like old school macs, before they went all organically shaped). And then there is the romantic notion of actually going to a library to browse the periodicals, instead of toiling over online databases that only the database developers can work to a high level...

But there are a few things that I would like to declare key aids, in this age of technology.

1. Last.fm
I have to have music on when I study. Like, have to. If I don't, I notice every sound going on around me, and if that means someone else who may be in the vicinity, then it's war. The act of studying makes my hearing so super-alert so that if you so much as breathe then I tense up, stress out, and begin to think more about how I could silence you (AKA kill you so you don't breathe) when what I really should be thinking about is organisational theory. So, when I am studying at home I flick on the Last.fm application and enter in an artist or a 'tag' that I feel like listening to. And voila. It goes for hours, generally with music I want to listen to and I am only irritated when it occasionally adds in a track it should know I dislike, or one that I haven't heard and am so instantly in love with that I need to check what it is. You can take the music geek out of the record shops... if you haven't got it, you should download it, it really does make a difference to listening over and over again to your own collection.

2. Facebook (more specifically the countdown application)
"Whatever!" I hear you yell in your best chav-tastic accent! You think I lie! But no! Every time I see that god damn countdown on my page I get a pang of guilt that I am on that site, extolling the virtues of it to whoever 'finds' me that day, and telling every single person who happens to be in London that we should totally meet up. Umm, no. No, I just looked at my countdown. I really should get some work done before we do coffee. So sorry to muck you around.

3. Cleverer people than me writing cleverer blogs
I get excited by wit and intellect, especially when it relates to my field of study (Arts Management, remember? Oh wait, did I tell you?). So when I need to find some inspiration, a light bulb moment if you will, I turn to my friend the bookmark on Mozilla Firefox, and click away to infinitely better crafted posts than mine, with exciting links you can follow, and thus take up at least an hour reading up on things that actually do come in handy! It's procrastinating, but it's not! Astounding!

My favourite is an ArtsJournal Blogger, Andrew Taylor. The Artful Manager always brings fascinating tidbits from a man who seems to be a very good lecturer in this field. I haven't looked at any of the other blogs linked on the site, but his is enough for me. Another good one that comes from someone working in a Theatre, rather then Andrew Taylor's academic sidings, is Butts in the Seats. It is wide ranging, and has interesting stuff, not quite as witty but hey if you listen to the academic writing coaches you shouldn't have personality when you write dissertations anyway. Oh god. And while not quite a blog, or really that Arts Management focused, the NZ mag Idealog inspires me to keep going, and be a clever clogs, because it is the New Zealand way. Or so I tell myself in those moments of not doing any work... which I should go do now.