vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Still on operation reduce the piles of books around the house, giving most to charity. Managed to find 20 more books to donate in a couple of short bursts this evening and just now. Had set myself that target today. Plus a chunky limited edition OOP Big Finish Doctor Who boxset. Going to Oxfam's.

We still have far too many books I'm not using and won't be able to use even more as my neurological disease progresses. Would like to get some floor space back. At the moment too many places in our bungalow resemble my former PhD supervisor Charles's office, which was filled with book piles too!

Today's book grab was an eclectic range, including book history (journals and academic books), cultural history, roleplaying game books, and comic books. Some alarmingly chunky books among them! Can see a sense of progress in the study. But much more still to clear out. For another time.
vivdunstan: Photo by me of St Andrews Cathedral (st andrews)
Had another dream about my long ago lost PhD this afternoon. This time a viva dream. Though I think it was going well! Anyway it prompted me to blog about the protracted mourning for my lost Computer Science PhD ...
vivdunstan: Photo by me of St Andrews Cathedral (st andrews)
We’re very proud that Martin’s PhD supervisor, Ursula Martin, has been upgraded from a CBE to a DBE in the King’s Birthday Honours. Ursula was an excellent supervisor for Martin, patient and encouraging. She was also a huge help to me, both as an undergraduate computer science student at St Andrews - having a female CS Prof in the early 1990s was gobsmacking for me - but also after I had to drop out of my CS PhD, and more recently.

Thoroughly deserved, and especially good to see given that some of her achievements as a female groundbreaker in CS have at times been overlooked by male colleagues.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Only belatedly learned that the external examiner for my Dundee University history PhD, Prof Stana Nenadic of Edinburgh University, died last autumn. She was a delight as an examiner: meticulous in her approach, with probing questions while still encouraging and a joy to chat to at my viva. RIP.

Here is a nice writeup of her life and work. A memorial conference was held in Edinburgh in the last two days.
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Setting up a new Kindle Paperwhite to replace my rapidly dying old one. Main priority is change font and layout to be friendly for my progressive neuro illness challenged brain. I can read small print in eye tests, but for extended reading find large print vastly better. Big before/after difference!

Brain damage from my progressive neuro disease is why I struggle so much with normal print books now. When I did my PhD on historic Scottish reading habits I was phenomenally envious of many readers I studied and the books they read! Empathised with those who no longer could through age or disability.

vivdunstan: (lord of the rings)
I'm continuing my reread of The Fellowship of the Ring. And the party have just got through Moria. But I was struggling hugely to visualise in my mind the different rooms and levels that the party were going through, especially later on in their time in Moria. But I can remember a time when I could visualise them clearly. For many years. So this seems to be something I've lost since, or can't do now anyway. It's not that I'm not remembering the Peter Jackson movie version. But my image of the journey through Moria was memorably different from the movie I saw in 2001. I remember clearly having "thoughts" about the film's depiction of Moria, and how different it was from how I imagined it looked ever since I'd started reading the book for the first time as a young child. But now I can't really visualise any geography at all as I read.

Relatively recently I tried an aphantasia online test. And scored highly. Which would fit with my struggles to visualise things in my mind now. Including faces. Even very close family! But I'm now wondering after this LOTR rereading experience if it's something that I've developed more in recent years. Perhaps as a result of my progressive neurological illness.

When I was young I could visualise things, and draw from images in my mind. However when my neurological illness started in 1994 at age 22 I quickly noticed my ability to think abstractly diminishing. Rather a big problem for a computer science PhD student needing to program. I quickly lost the ability to program effectively in lots of languages. Though at the time I just coped as best as I could. It's more distressing looking back.

So yup, I wonder if visualisation is another loss with time, perhaps due to my long term illness. It's partly also why I dreaded designing cover art for my latest IFComp game. But hey, got there!

Curiouser and curiouser anyway. I am enjoying my LOTR reread despite this. Next up Lothlorien.
vivdunstan: Portion of a 1687 testament of ancestor James Greenfield in East Lothian (historical research)
Some belated reading with Murray Pittock's groundbreaking "The Myth of the Jacobite Clans". I'm especially interested in evidence from the localities, and the Lowland components of Jacobitism. Also nice to see my history PhD supervisor's work cited and praised. I need to read his relevant book too!

 Book "The Myth of the Jacobite Clans: The Jacobite Army in 1745" (second edition) by Murray Pittock. It is a paperback book, with a blue saltire above a charging Jacobite army.
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Very happily tonight started browsing Stirling University’s Books and Borrowing 1750-1850 database of Scottish libraries, which is now online, including contributions from me of library borrowing transcripts and databases for Haddington and Selkirk libraries.

P.S. The facts and figures section computing over the underlying databases is hugely impressive. Here are its entries for the libraries in Haddington and Selkirk. Scroll down to the very bottom to see some stunning charts over time.
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
For World Book Day a reminder that my Dundee University PhD thesis on "Reading habits in Scotland circa 1750-1820" is freely available in PDF form. I was lucky to be able to research what Scots read back then and how they fitted reading into their lives. https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/reading-habits-in-scotland-circa-1750-1820

Rest room

Sep. 15th, 2023 09:22 pm
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
(As in a room to go and rest in, British meaning, not the US meaning of a toilet)

Was reminded by a post today on Facebook from a uni friend about the “rest room” in Dundee University’s main Tower building basement, that was an enormous help to me during my postgraduate studies and during the year I was working as a research assistant as well part-time. I was battling my progressive and worsening neurological disease, and it was an enormous help to be able to go into this dedicated room with reclining chairs where I could have a lie down for an hour or so. It’s a little known facility but is especially useful for disabled or long term ill students who don’t otherwise have somewhere quiet to go. I used to always ask at the Tower front desk (usually Muriel!) for the key. But later I got my own key to keep and use. Long since returned.
vivdunstan: Photo of me from Melrose Grammar School plus NHS thanks (nhs)
Just found that this year the shingles vaccination programme in the UK is being extended to include severely immunosuppressed people aged 50 or over. That’s in addition to non immunosuppressed vastly older folks. It’s a two part vaccine given over an especially short period to severely immunosuppressed. And not live, so safe for even immunosuppressed to have. So I can expect that this autumn too. Joy. Hoping I don’t get another neuro flare. Though I want the shingles protection. I’ve had shingles twice, including just before my PhD viva. And I was lucky to survive my only run in with chickenpox as a newly immunosuppressed 25 year old in 1998. I ended up in hospital on drips and in isolation for a week.
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Crunching numbers for my end of year blog post looking back at the books I read. I've finished 75 books this year, and am figuring out overall patterns, spread by subjects, highlights, things I might take forward to next year etc. It takes me a while to put this together so starting now! But it is a nice blog post to do each year and see how things have changed over time. I am a very enthusiastic reader. Even managed to wangle doing (and getting) a PhD in historic reading habits!
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Finally installing Python3 on my new Mac so updated my family reconstitution code from Python 2 to 3 (very easy). Running both versions in test sequence produces identical results, core output and GEDCOM file. And the Python 3 runs 3 times faster than Python 2! This is reconstituting nearly 7000 baptisms and 3000 marriages at Melrose parish in Roxburghshire (Scottish Borders) before 1800. Putting children into families with parents, and outputting family groupings as a GEDCOM file for import into a genealogy program. This is the only Python program I've ever coded. I was a computer science PhD student when my neuro illness struck at age 22 in 1994. I had to drop out, and have barely coded since. But something must have stuck! The pseudo code was easy to convert into Python, even for a newbie.

vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Every time I post about my reading I remember how grateful I was to find such records for readers when doing my PhD on reading habits in Scotland circa 1750-1820. Lists of books read and library borrowing records were especially good! My PhD thesis is online. https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/reading-habits-in-scotland-circa-1750-1820
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Been taking part in an interesting Twitter thread today about the problems faced by non affiliated or barely affiliated academics, essentially independent scholars without university support, including financial. It digressed slightly into different funding arrangements for postgraduates. I remembered how during my Dundee history PhD (2003-2010) many Scotland-wide PhD training events were for a long time only open to funded PhD students. I was initially unfunded for my history PhD, but later won AHRC funding. Even then as a part timer I got no stipend, unlike full timers. My PhD supervisor campaigned with others to get AHRC to provide stipends to part timers. This happened in time for me to benefit before the end of my PhD. As a part timer I was also initially ineligible for the Disabled Students Allowance, which at that time could only go to full timers. Fortunately that changed too. To be fair this is a long time ago, and much has changed. But still.

I could also go off on one about the poor support for me as a computer science PhD student from EPSRC when I fell long term ill. But that’s another story ...
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
I’ve just blogged a variety of thoughts about World Book Day, childhood reading and my PhD research into historic Scottish reading habits.

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vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
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