How many of you really read a thesis or an academic project report? I have attempted few out of sheer interest in the topic, but frankly, I couldn’t read anything more than a couple of pages. Don’t you think it is so every irritating to read them, with all those superscript asterisks and numbers and all sort of funny notations which silently says “ Hey there, now stop reading this and bring your eyes to the bottom of this page, if you ever want to make heads and tails out of what follows”. Now we take a detour to the bottom of the page, printed in the finest of the prints or worse to the end of the chapter or even worse to the so called Appendix, get that clarified and get back to where we left.
By the time we get back we lose track of what ever we read and we might need to start from the previous paragraph.
This continues more or less like a cycle (like the infinite IF..THEN loop), until we finally get what the author means with the help of those references. These footnotes occupy about one fourth (if not more) of the page. When we proceed to the next page, after an hours struggle with the current one, there will be a reference to the Fig 2.1.4 (a). Now we will have to halt there and search for that horrible figure which might be in any of the pages. Same with the Table 1.34.4 and Illustration 17(w). The next sentence says ‘ As already mentioned in Chapter 2, Page 3, Sentence 14..’, which takes us to the said sentence and make us get back. Incase if the reader is still awake, there comes another reference in form of a superscript numeral, which makes us sift few pages to the end of the section.
By the time you finish the first few chapters, you would not be wondering how did you manage to pull out few strands of your own hair.
Seriously, if the real intention behind a research is sharing the newly found knowledge and for the benefit of he majority of the society, why on earth can’t it be in simple language? Why do academicians want to insist on following the above fashion? Mostly because, “Well, it has been always done this way”.
On second thought, may be those reports are made in such a way that only the deeply dedicated and genuinely interested people go through it completely, and still be sane.
Don’t you think this need some refinement and make it more readable?
With the advent of putting up research papers on the Internet as web pages, this could be reduced to a great extend. Those horrendous detour symbols can be replaced by hyperlinks, which could also have some pop-up (like a tool tip) on hovering the mouse over the link. Long live www.
Showing posts with label Computer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computer. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
My Key bored
As always while I was whiling away my time at office browsing through odd blogs and websites, suddenly my keyboard stopped functioning. I infact did not have know when it stopped working, until I tried Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V option (obviously trying to copy and paste something from a blog, sorry not plagiarism, just a decode business). Alas!, the keyboard went into a sleep mode and refused to paste the contents into MS Word, blank document.
Well, as any other person, I tried hitting the keys hard, trying various combination keys, typing out asdf etc, but no way. I thought now I have to seek the help of professionals to get it working or may be replace the keyboard. I checked with my colleague, what was the number of the technical support team, which he shared. There goes, I started trying and trying and trying.. No luck. I felt like a housewife making frantic calls to ‘Dial A Song’ programme in Kiran TV.
Armed with my engineering degree, I thought I will check out the issue. I heard from experts that most of the issues with the computer get solved if it is restarted. So I did. I restarted the computer, and it did restart too. But no, the little LED on my keyboard still didn’t glow up. Instead I got a message on my screen that ‘Keyboard not detected, Press F1 to continue’. “Err.. well may be the computer is a super genius and only the F1 key might work”, I thought, and gently pressed the F1. Hell.. nothing happened.
So there again, I started making calls to the help desk, where no one bothered to take my call or all what I got it an engaged tone (which sent shrills down my cochlea). So I decided to go and meet them, salute them and plead for help. I climbed the stairs and went to the floor above mine and met those revered people. There were about four of them, and I wondered why no one bothered to take my call. I did not make a fuss out of it. I politely informed them that my keyboard is not working. One fellow (who turned out to be a helpful chap later) asked what my cubicle number was. Well, does the cubicles have numbers here..while was I feigning to recollect, another guy announced that it was ‘5’. Oh my ! I never knew I was this famous, that people even noticed what my cubicle number was. I wanted to ask if he knew my bank account number as well. But as the person who required help, I thanked him and turned to my savior. He asked me to go back, while he would come to my seat in some time. When I was about to leave, he called me back and asked me to raise a ‘call’ (A call is a service request an employee is supposed to raise to get a problem resolved. It helps in better tracking.). ‘ May be I haven’t really heard what he said’ I thought and asked ‘What?’. He repeated. Well it is my keyboard which is not working, and please beg your pardon dear highness, I will not be able to type out a ‘call’ without my keyboard being functional. He quickly understood my dilemma and said ‘Ok, Ok. Need not raise the call, I will come’. I thanked him and went back to my cubicle number 5.
He came in few minutes as promised carrying a keyboard along, in case my present one needs to be replaced. He did what I did, tried hitting odd keys and pulling the cord etc, and then he read out the instruction which was still on my monitor ‘ Keyboard not detected; press F1 to continue’ He tried hitting it too, as if he has some magical touch and the computer would recognize his touch. But boy, it worked !
It took 9 seconds for me to close my mouth which was wide open in bewilderment and embarrassment and mixed feeling of lot other emotions.
It was a loose contact and he just touched the cable and lo! It worked!!
Do you know any place where I can surrender my engineering degree and get back 4 years of my life?
Well, as any other person, I tried hitting the keys hard, trying various combination keys, typing out asdf etc, but no way. I thought now I have to seek the help of professionals to get it working or may be replace the keyboard. I checked with my colleague, what was the number of the technical support team, which he shared. There goes, I started trying and trying and trying.. No luck. I felt like a housewife making frantic calls to ‘Dial A Song’ programme in Kiran TV.
Armed with my engineering degree, I thought I will check out the issue. I heard from experts that most of the issues with the computer get solved if it is restarted. So I did. I restarted the computer, and it did restart too. But no, the little LED on my keyboard still didn’t glow up. Instead I got a message on my screen that ‘Keyboard not detected, Press F1 to continue’. “Err.. well may be the computer is a super genius and only the F1 key might work”, I thought, and gently pressed the F1. Hell.. nothing happened.
So there again, I started making calls to the help desk, where no one bothered to take my call or all what I got it an engaged tone (which sent shrills down my cochlea). So I decided to go and meet them, salute them and plead for help. I climbed the stairs and went to the floor above mine and met those revered people. There were about four of them, and I wondered why no one bothered to take my call. I did not make a fuss out of it. I politely informed them that my keyboard is not working. One fellow (who turned out to be a helpful chap later) asked what my cubicle number was. Well, does the cubicles have numbers here..while was I feigning to recollect, another guy announced that it was ‘5’. Oh my ! I never knew I was this famous, that people even noticed what my cubicle number was. I wanted to ask if he knew my bank account number as well. But as the person who required help, I thanked him and turned to my savior. He asked me to go back, while he would come to my seat in some time. When I was about to leave, he called me back and asked me to raise a ‘call’ (A call is a service request an employee is supposed to raise to get a problem resolved. It helps in better tracking.). ‘ May be I haven’t really heard what he said’ I thought and asked ‘What?’. He repeated. Well it is my keyboard which is not working, and please beg your pardon dear highness, I will not be able to type out a ‘call’ without my keyboard being functional. He quickly understood my dilemma and said ‘Ok, Ok. Need not raise the call, I will come’. I thanked him and went back to my cubicle number 5.
He came in few minutes as promised carrying a keyboard along, in case my present one needs to be replaced. He did what I did, tried hitting odd keys and pulling the cord etc, and then he read out the instruction which was still on my monitor ‘ Keyboard not detected; press F1 to continue’ He tried hitting it too, as if he has some magical touch and the computer would recognize his touch. But boy, it worked !
It took 9 seconds for me to close my mouth which was wide open in bewilderment and embarrassment and mixed feeling of lot other emotions.
It was a loose contact and he just touched the cable and lo! It worked!!
Do you know any place where I can surrender my engineering degree and get back 4 years of my life?
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