Aidnography

Hello all,  This was a good week for interesting and in many cases very 'down to earth' finds for my link section. I really enjoyed the photos and reflections from Uganda or the question whether and how UNCTAD is still relevant for economic debates. The Global South Development Magazine and the Peace Journalist magazine are great alternative readings-actually, the Peace Journalist magazine is probably my 'pick of week' for positive, forward-looking stories on peace and development. There's much more, of course, including a call for the next round of reflective practitioners who may want to join IDS for an exciting action-research oriented MA programme on participation, power and social change. Enjoy! New on aidnography Possibly the coolest fake academic journal I've seen so far Actually, this is another homepage of a new 'online journal' based in India...it's really gaining momentum as a new 'business model'... Beyond Kony: Rebuilding Li

Dear Dr., Professor and Scientist, 1. Arctic Journal of Business Administration 2. Luca Pacioli Journal of Commerce We are charging only $3[= in any currency] per page, which is very cheap when compared to some money oriented journals. Further we request you to withdraw your paper from other journals keeping in view of high page charges. You can submit your research papers to our online journals. We consider papers in all areas of Commerce, Management and Business Administration.. ==================================================== More Journals on MANAGEMENT coming soon. Submission e-mails: 1. Arctic Journal of Business Administration  [Submission e-mail:   [XXX]@yahoo.com ==================================================== 2. Luca Pacioli  Journal of Commerce [Submission e-mail:   [XXX]@yahoo.com ==================================================== Journals Website: XXX Sincerely Yours, I have commented on the perils of the online academic

Hello all! Time to catch-up with some development and academic issues after the break! My two 'picks of the week' are WhyDev Brendan Rigby's archaeology of my professional identity in development , 52 reasons why you shouldn't date an aid worker and possibly one of the earliest academic rants on the status of academic writing from 1926 (!). Enjoy! New on aidnography The four stages of ‘hottie research envy’ – a response to the Thesiswhisperer Evelyn Tsitas wrote an interesting post about research envy just before Easter. She is reflecting on her experiences of research envy and it inspired me to reflect on my own PhD journey. My addition to the debate is that I believe ‘research envy’ changes over the course of your PhD and has different stages, four of which I will outline in my post Development Development as Shakespearean theater....and more South Sudan has wept enough, it is time to tell stories, sing songs, dance, recite poetry and shed tea

Do you ever suffer topic envy? I did – I still do. From designers, writers, animators and dancers to computer geeks, nano particle engineers and bio-scientists: there’s an incredible spread of research here at RMIT. I am forever hearing about amazing PhDs and sometimes thinking “I wish I could do THAT one!”. Evelyn Tsitas wrote an interesting post about research envy just before Easter ( I’ll have what she’s having: hottie research envy ). She is reflecting on her experiences of research envy and it inspired me to reflect on my own PhD journey. My addition to the debate is that I believe ‘research envy’ changes over the course of your PhD and has different stages, four of which I will outline in my post below. My post is also a cautionary tale of finding the right balance between a ‘sexy’ research topic and disciplinary academic conventions that are still very powerful and should be taken into consideration if academia is a professional option for you. So here is my four-stage m

Hello all, A day earlier than usual to give you time to read, bookmark and/or download interesting stuff for the long weekend, I am happy to share my weekly link digest today. Two impact studies on policy briefs and child sponsorship make the start, followed by a few interesting articles from the 'humanitarian industry'. But there's also space for anthropological insights from an afternoon at Starbucks in London and for reflections on the benefits and challenges of engaging with book reviews. If you celebrate Easter-have a peaceful and calm long weekend and for everybody else a hopefully sunny pre-spring weekend ahead! Development Should think tanks write policy briefs? What an RCT can tell us ‘I’d rather change policy than write a blog!’: When it came to what sort of follow up actions resulted from reading the brief, simple actions like passing it along, or telling someone about the findings were most likely. The least likely action cited by respondents was to write a bl

Welcome to my 101st blog post! In addition to stories that have caught my attention elsewhere in the past week, there are two new posts available here. My reflections on the notorious Kony 2012 documentary and how it became a pop-cultural phenomenon venture more into a 'creative writing' space than usual. And my book review of Lynda Gratton's 'The Shift' about the future of work tries to link her main themes to the question of whether and how the 'development industry' is already representing the 'future of work' for many of us. This week also features a few links to posts that deal with 'writing' more generally-how to deal with rejections from publishers, reflections on (bad) book reviews and a few more thought on the 'how to' of blogging development. My featured 'long read of the week' is a fantastic essay by Arundhati Roy (HT: Andrea Cornwall) on capitalism in India and elsewhere featuring one of the most brilliant poe