Research Paper 3 – Thoughts, Background and Final Version
That’s it – no more! Yesterday and today became the ‘final straw’ with my research paper! Why? Because yesterday my ‘dying’ on its ‘last legs’ MacBook Pro decided that it was going to literally lose all of my research papers and drafts. I know it’s somewhat unbelievable but this actually happened! Months of hard work seemed to have disappeared in front of my eyes. The files were no longer there! I tried opening programs that I had used to construct the last version of my paper, but it was always the same message ‘File cannot be found’. I even convinced my self that there was some evil hacker trying to sabotage my work, that’s how upset I was. At one point I even thought I must be having a nightmare and that I would wake up soon.
As I had been editing the document in Adobe’s PDF editing program I thought to myself, ‘Ha’ there will be a copy stored in Adobe’s creative cloud. So, feeling somewhat smug, I looked at my recent documents there, only to discover that on opening my research paper it gave an error message saying ‘bad gateway – error saving document’. Then to add insult to injury a little box popped up saying ‘send error report to Abobe’ or ‘Ignore’.
Luckily, having experienced multiple computer failures over the last few months I had the presence of mind to save a hard copy. Although this was not the most recent version, it was still a complete paper. The only downside was that there would be no live links to follow and I’d have to scan in each page.
So, there was only one avenue left to me and this was the hope that the document had saved in my cloud storage on Apple. I cannot even put into words how I felt as I nervously looked for my research paper document. The sheer weight of relief I felt on finding it was unbelievable!
I quickly opened it, checked it and sent a hard copy to myself. On opening the PDF I began to proof read it. Unfortunately I was above the word count. This meant a lot of editing. Adobe’s PDF editor is not great and when I tried to covert it to a word document it didn’t work. Then, when I tried to copy and paste it into word for easier editing all of my tables and images disappeared. Therefore I was stuck today battling with Adobe’s less than ideal PDF editor!
But it’s done now! It’s over! No more! My mental capacity just like the storage on my MacBook has completely disintegrated! This journey (more like the 12 labours of Hercules), has now well and truly reached the end! Please see below for my final research paper. Underneath the paper I have also included links to all of the work that was carried out behind the scenes. It has been a pleasure talking to Janet Waring Rago! I’d like to thank her for all of her suggestions especially the one about asking ChatGPT to assume the role of an academic reviewer while reading my paper. This gave invaluable insights into my writing, which I took on board. I hope you enjoy reading my research paper, as much as I hated compiling it (spell checking, layout, bibliography appendices etc.)! The journey in between however, I have to say, was both informative, fun and interesting. It was in my view a very worthwhile activity and hopefully will help to inform my work going forward.
Karyn Easton – Research Paper
Please click the ‘Karyn Easton – Research Paper’ link to access the final research paper. The title above also points there. All of the links in the research paper are live, however depending on device or screen used, it may be necessary to lightly tap on each link and highlight it ahead of it loading.
Behind the Scenes
Please see below a list of links to all of the resources and behind the scenes work and research that was carried out in the compilation of the research paper above. The links are in chronological order starting at the beginning of the journey with later posts towards the end.
- Research Paper Journey #1 – The start of the research paper journey with lots of free writing exercises to help craft an initial research question.
- Research Paper Journey #2 – Enlisting the help of ChatGPT3 to explore thoughts about ‘Information Overload’ and whether this might form an appropriate research question.
- Research Paper Journey #3 – A change of direction and a move from the topic of ‘Information Overload’ to thoughts about AI and AI art generation.
- Research Paper Journey #4 – Taking a look at various tips and techniques from our zoom meetings to help with the research process.
- Research Sources and Notes – The establishment of a central point to store any interesting research sources, ideas, notes etc.
- Research Paper Timeline – The establishment of a ‘Research Paper Timeline’ to ensure a sensible flow of research and see what needs to be done and when.
- Research Paper Proposal – The formulation of a ‘Research Paper Proposal’ which refines the research question. This has formed the basis of the final research paper all or most points covered in the final paper.
- Supervisor Meeting #1 – This was the first meeting with my Research Paper Supervisor Janet Waring Rago. A really useful meeting to reflect on how depth could be added to the paper.
- Pause in Proceedings – This was a deliberate pause in research to move to a 21 day activity in order to come back refreshed by some physical doing or making.
- Action Research – A full program of non-stop 21 day focussed research to ‘kick start’ the research programme again.
- The Robots are Here – The AI generation of 70 or more robot characters to visually head up each page that is connected to the Research Paper. This is to help tie each element of the Research Paper together.
- Image Polls – The establishment of a space to place and collage all of the image polls and responses identified as being relevant to the research paper.
- Word Count Checks Document – The establishment of a working blog document, set up solely so that word count checks can be undertaken on a periodic basis.
- Research Paper Proposal 2.0 – The second draft of the research paper proposal with 2,500 words due for submission. This was a full draft of the paper.
- Supervisor Meeting #2 – A final meeting with Janet ahead of the Research Paper Submission. This meeting incorporates ChatGPT3’s thoughts on the paper while playing the role of an academic reviewer.
- Karyn Easton – Research Paper – The final product and the culmination of all of the above activities.
