A year ago, I joined a very active PhD board. I loved it because if was packed full of people doing PhDs so you could count on pretty insightful board messages, but above all it was also very understanding of the challenges of writing a dissertation and pretty welcoming of every other aspect of life as well. Very often, participants have sent in calls for help which they wouldn't share with their friends and family to the anonymous 24/7 crowd on the boards, and I never cease to be amazed at the level of creative support being offered.
Just five minutes ago, a pseudonymous Canadian saved my formatting ass in real time when I was struggling with footnotes not keeping to the set margins. Basically, I've been able to send in almost any question into that board and get about fifteen great answers almost instantly. Astonishingly, a woman logged in to say that she was getting married today. We sort of knew it because she's mentioned it recently, but I found it odd that she would log in on her wedding day to share it with us, who, at the end of the day, are just a bunch of pixels. Or are we?
1 comment:
What a great idea! I bet it also helps people not to feel isolated, which is the emotional state of most PhD candidates.
You are doing the formatting bit? I positively hate that part!
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