Rite of Fire

Well, I ‘ve just experienced a rite of passage that every researcher goes through at some time: a loss of alot of data. Since I’ve moved interstate I’ve been trying to get my data off an old Linux server. Finally, last night, the system had enough and for some uncanny reason purged the one database I needed. It is gone. It is not all my thesis research, just a part of it. I created a cross-media wiki last year and had been pouring references, stats and ideas into it for months. I used it as a quick way to pop in info as I found them and then intended to transfer it to a bibliography program and my main thesis. Well, it is all gone now. 🙁

At least it wasn’t all of my thesis and I’ve learnt my lesson now. I’m backing up everyday. 🙂

Update: 2nd March: Some of my data has been retrieved!! Very happy indeed. Thanks Gary. 🙂 🙂

2 thoughts on “Rite of Fire”

  1. Interesting that you RETRIEVED ‘lost data’ Gary. I have never been able to…
    What I am interested in learning more about is, how on earth do I MERGE ‘fiction’ (the creative) and the exegetical?
    I can’t find any info on HOW TO DO this AT ALL – and that’s a loss of data to me!
    Can someone help/advise?
    Lola
    EX-OZZIE IN U.K.

  2. Hello Lola, that question is a good one. There isn’t much information on the subject because it is a highly contentious area of academia. There are so many ways one can integrate the two (theory & prac). In the end only you can choose a relationship that best suits your research (your method) and your intuitive investigative style. Here is the way I’ve integrated my creative work with my thesis:

    There are two stages in which the creative work is present during the research: during development of the narrative model and during the testing of it. The role of the creative work during the development of the narrative schema is to:
    a) Identify limitations of current narrative grammars, the software, the programmer and the writer;
    b) Test narrative designs;
    c) Stimulate decisions, approaches and problem-solving techniques only triggered by the creative creation process;
    d) Provide informal micro testing of the human response to the schema employed.

    Good luck with your research journey Lola! I’m enjoying mine very much and I hope you do too. 

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