Yesterday morning, as I prepared to make a final big push to get a CHI 2007 Notes paper on talk-to-content ratios written for Friday, I made the decision to drop the priority of that project. Standing in its way was a backlog of HCI Seminar readings and summarization, and my continued work on analyzing basketball ball movement as a network. While it is sad that I likely won’t get a solo paper in by tomorrow — part of me is still hoping I can find the energy to pull it off — a huge wave of relief passed over me the moment I made the decision. I wound up with a solid 24 hours of work on the other two things, and even came away with some helpful insights about future research.
The food on my plate is usually more than I can finish, and I have a mental freezer full of zip-lock baggies for open projects to prove it. But I am finally starting to see all of this work in the context of bite-sized chunks that are not only doable but also stimulating, if done right.
I’m also trying to keep some reserve for a Roots Camp for Bloomington in November. It has great academic and community significance for me, and I would like to make that a priority for the next 6-7 weeks. I have a feeling that burning myself out on a short paper at the expense of other classwork would have hampered my desire to take time away from other things to organize.
