Plenty links to be getting on with today. 

1. Guardian Blogs: Mortarboard – University rankings don’t measure up

[The author, Anthea Lipsett, says that the world rankings of universities are not very helpful.  She states:

“[A] study found that only 133 institutions were shared between the top 200 lists of the Shanghai and Times rankings – four of the top 50 in the Shanghai list did not even appear among the first 500 universities of the THES ranking.”

Do we rely on university rankings too much, or are they still a good indicator of what to expect on various levels?]

2. Lifehacker – Ten Ways to Defeat Brain Drain

[I bet you don’t need these hints what with being at uni, but just in case…]

3. Ideas for Conversations – The Gen Y Forgottens

[Forget uni students…how about 11 year olds?]

4. Lifehack.org – How to take steady steps towards fulfilling your potential

[A strongly written article that send you on your way to getting to where you want.  Take in what the author (Adrian Savage) has to say and act on it.  As he says, “Potential is in the how, not in the what“.

5. Unclutterer – How to store favo(u)rite correspondence?

[Need help in how to store your mementos?  Check these tips.]

6. Intute: Social Sciences – Is your brain half-empty or half-full?

[In-built optimism and different thinking styles…how positive are you and can it be changed?]

7. Study Hacks – How to Use a Flat Outline to Write Outstanding Papers, Fast

[Cal Newport describes a writing technique that isn’t commonly used by students.  I suggest you read it up in full.  But he summarises the technique like this:

1. Don’t build a hierarchical outline. Instead, list the topics you want to tackle in the order you want to tackle.
2. Revisit the library to find sources for the topics that still need support.
3. Dump all relevant quotes from your sources under the topics.
4. Transform your topic-level outline into your paper. Don’t start from a blank screen.

Another great Master Class.]

8. The Register – Amazon Prime comes to Blighty

[Christmas is drawing close (ish) and I felt it important to tell you about Amazon Prime.  For £49 a year, you can get inclusive next-day delivery on as many orders as you like.  You can also upgrade to deliveries before 1pm for an extra £4.49 per order.  But the £49 tab isn’t too bad for next-day deliveries over a whole year.  After you’ve ordered all your Christmas goodies, you’ll then be able to order your study texts throughout the rest of the year and get them all quickly and part of your £49.  That’s if you like using Amazon, anyway!]

9. Open Culture – Listening to Poetry Online

[If you’re studying English or similar, it’s sometimes good to hear poems being read out loud.  It can really open up your understanding and capacity for poems and how they work.  Open Culture has some links here to some poetry podcasts, which should get you going.]

10. Road 2 Graduation – Why should students have a gmail account?

[I must admit at this point that I don’t have a clue how much students use e-mail now.  I really must ask.  But if you’re only using your uni account, you could be missing out on some of the features available through Google’s gmail.  Road 2 Graduation highlights how useful it can be.]

11. Boing Boing – HOWTO Win at Monopoly

[Board games didn’t feature highly on my list of things to do at uni.  I only played them as a last resort, or when it involved blending the board game with a drinking game…how bad of me!  Anyway, board games were enjoyed by some of the students on campus, so here’s your chance to get the upper hand at Monopoly.  See, I really try to cater for everyone…]

12. BBC News – Gaze ‘key to facial attraction’

[Look them right in the eyes and smile.  Do that and you’re on to a winner!]

13. Dumb Little Man – Always Go On A Cheap First Date

[A link like this has to be shared, especially if you’ve mastered that gaze, as mentioned above.  Dating happens regularly on so many different levels.  Not a day went by while I was at uni when someone’s dating news wasn’t being discussed.  If you’re about to go on a first date, this post suggests you do it with as little money as possible.]

14. Digital Ethnography – A Vision of Professors Today

[This made me smile.  It seems light-hearted, but with a serious point.  See what you make of it.]

I had my new post ready and waiting to automatically upload last night.  It seems that, for some reason, it didn’t post even though it said it had.  If you did get to read it, great.  If not, at least it’s up now to read!

Oh well, these things happen.  Anyway, sorry for the delay.  I only just noticed!

Technology, eh?

1. The Guardian – Students tell universities: Get out of MySpace!

[Yes, everyone uses social networking sites.  University staff are frequenting them too.  Are the students happy?  Of course they aren’t!  As Jisc project manager, Lawrie Phipps says, “Students appear to want their cake and eat it”.  So will it be all one happy family, or will something have to budge?]

 

2. BBC News Magazine – The lost art of leftovers

 [It was recently announced that we throw away the equivalent of about every third bag of our shopping.  That’s madness, but I’m not too surprised.  The most dumped foods are:

• bags of salad
• fruit
• bread
• pasta
• cheese

I can totally and utterly believe that.  I’ve been guilty of that in the past.  Not much now, but it can still happen.  Naughty us!]

 

3. Seth’s Blog – The Wikipedia Gap

[A different take on study.  Why can’t Wikipedia be used to get the facts fast?  What’s to say the information on Wikipedia is less accurate than from somewhere else?  While it would be madness to write a scholarly essay based only on Wikipedia, I think it’s great that we can all find out chunks of information on pretty much any topic we want.  Once we’ve consumed the basics, we can get down to the deeper academic insights.  Anyway, the post on Seth’s Blog is definitely one to cause controversy, so see what you think.]

 

4. Seth’s Blog – We accidentally marketed ourselves into a corner

[Another post from Seth.  While based on the American system, I still found myself recognising aspects of what he’s written.  Let’s just say it’s something to allow our minds to wander over.]

 

5. BBC – Productive Arguing

[When I was in the thick of things at uni, it was pretty standard to hear arguing all over the place. Lots of love too, of course, but arguments all the same. The BBC article has some good hints on helping things go a bit more smoothly. The main thing to remember is to choose your words carefully.]

 

6. Time – Facebook more popular than porn

[Nuff said. Some good background info on Facebook.]

 

7. We The Change – 7 Effective Ways to Implement Positive Thinking

[Pep yourself up and pep up others in turn. “Being positive is actually far more realistic than being negative.”]

 

8. Think Simple. Be Decisive – The Secret to Self Loving

[No, nothing rude. Unless you count a date with yourself as a bit risque. This article is all about making time for yourself. You know it makes sense.]

 

9. New York Times – Why Google Turned Into a Social Butterfly

[Google’s new attempt at a social networking web standard has its reasons. OpenSocial will keep things open for the search company, rather than hide social networkers behind closed doors. Major players in social networking are joining in the initiative, but Facebook isn’t. So what’s going to happen?]

 

 

10. Guardian – Upgraded A-Levels still fail campus test

[Seems a bit worrying. The article says that most students who fall into this problem don’t bother taking action because of the cost and time it takes. I don’t know how common this is or why it’s happening, but hopefully it won’t be a normal feature of the uni applications process…]

 

11. BBC News – Energy alcohol mixes ‘harm risk’

[Double Vodka Red Bull anyone?]