Academia Stack

04/16/2021

Apple's hopes of being carbon neutral by 2030 have felt shy of being confident, and this has left them using a rather diligent approach by implicating a kinder sense of attitude towards nature.

10/03/2020

True

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Albert Einstein

05/23/2019

Nothing but the truth.

05/23/2019

There is nothing as rewarding as learning something new everyday.

04/04/2019

Importance of Critical Friends.

Many of us opt to go it alone be it in a school projects, career, personal life projects or businesses. Somewhat this has always been the right thing to do at this age and time where competition is at its finest. Though we should seldom not forget that whatever we endeavor to do may not be perfect in everybody's eyes. We know that part of getting good reviews and recommendation from society should first begin with closest alias. As people in academia, we should find ways to constructively get feedback from our friends before we jump to the next hoop of life.
There are many ways to appreciate feedback in the scope of our everyday activities. Very often in research work, the feedback we receive is from our mentors, trainers, and teachers who guide us through the process of learning.

The Value of feedback and critical friends
As part of being the better version of ourselves in academia and profession, It is always important to get the best from our work by getting corrections that are from how we have planned and implemented any of our projects in our life mission. The best way to do this is to have critical friends who will give you honest feedback however hard it comes. Well, some may dispute this fact and possibly concentrate on their mantras. However, put it as a pointer or safe landing before you end up meeting other parties in the real world who may dismiss your work if you hadn't done so.
As people in academic research, we need critical friends at all stages So who are these critical friends? Critical friends are colleagues whom you trust to read your work (whether that work is a grant application, journal paper, promotion document or research report) and give you rigorous, constructive feedback. They are supportive and invested in helping you develop your track-record.
Criticism is the best way to get feedback and know whether you are doing is right or wrong. Let's just say it is a way to create that perfect work and make you confident to face the rest of the world with uttermost courage.

So how do I get these critical friends?
These are close colleagues who may be classmates, project teammates or people who you deal with in your day to day life activities. They aren't strangers, but merely people you know and who have been with you in your process of life. Well it may be highly advisable you use people in the life circle, however, no one knows your capability and your pitfalls rather than a person who has been within the entire process. Strangers are just a short term interaction and may like depending on who they perceive your personality and your character. Networking is encouraged when it reaches a time whereby you would require a larger audience to market your work. There are very many ways you can network in a social setting but the most open and honest criticism comes close acquaintances who want the best for you in life.

How would I tell if someone is a good critical friend?
There are several ways to know whether someone is a good critical friend.
1. If you have a good mutual cohesion with them and trust their intellectual perspective in the event.
2.If they are honest enough to give whichever form of criticism be it good or bad and will give out recommendations and a couple of steps to improve on your work and yourself regardless of how your work is. In the event, you have no hard feelings on the whatsoever and put the changes.
3. If they are willing to stay by your side and give their side of their project for open criticism. As we all know, nobody is perfect. Any person who is ready to view your flaws and share his is a good critical friend. Life wholesomely is about learning from each for a mutual beneficial cohesion. Nobody can make it in life alone not unless he/she is too self-centered, and in this case still, they may be getting support from an external factor.

What can I do to retain my critical friends?
If you would like to give critical friends on a positive point of view, there are a few things you should remember

1. Give them a thoughtful time frame to always put you a breast for criticism.
As humans, everyone has his own set of priorities in life and in the event, some of us may be engrossed in our life's challenges. Therefore, it is always courteous to inform your pals for any event that may require feedback from them early. This is so as to minimize any conflict of interest in activities that have been planned for earlier on. This is a thoughtful and smart approach to keep such friends. The beauty of it is that when someone has time to give you an honest opinion in a clear and vivid mind, he/she gives you the best from his/her school of thought. Which is a very positive approach.

2. Always reciprocate and give back.
People appreciate if you take criticism positively and correct on the mistakes that have been observed by a third party. Your honest friends will always be there for you even if you have been the most rogue mistakes. And as a result, they would also like to receive the same form of love from you. In short, after criticism, once you have learned from your mistake, always be ready to reach out to society and impart knowledge to them from what you have acquired in the process.

3. Keep track of your course of criticism with them
It is always professional and noble to jot down what you have learned from your critics. People always forget but it takes one with utter wit to remember what he had failed in the past and how he was taken away from such form trouble by his critic. For those with smaller circles, however, it is good to consider when the crucial times might be that you need to call on people versus those times where it'd be nice but not essential.
Building a strong critical friend network takes time, and it's a process that doesn't finish. Having such a network is one of the joys of being a scholar and a valuable investment of your time.

03/28/2019

APPRECIATE KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY

Technology has been seen to evolve for ages. For eons, human beings have been profound craftsmen who have always been trying to solve their problems in every era. Technology has always been in transition and will always be. We have been in very many stages of Industrial Evolution and at each stage, man has been able to come up with to make his life easier and better. Yet as we speak of industrial evolution, it should not be forgotten that at some moments it has come up with its destructive impact on humanity as well. All in all, we are born makers of our future based on our past.
The earliest of technology, being in the stone age was the invention of fire. In as much as fire may seem a natural phenomenon that ever existed, the basic fact that man found ways to produce it and utilize it to serve his purpose is in its way inginuity of the highest form. That being said, the process of him using fire to produce light, heat and use it to cook food and build weapons is technology on its simplest form. Then came the Iron Age, where the man was able to forge artifact such as weaponry and artillery as well as modernized structure. The man became smarter and with the advancement of the rule of government, we had to adapt to be more dominant in order to protect different factions of our society. However this was closely followed by the Industrial Age which was between the 19th and the 20th centuries, and many learned from his past inventions and was lead to be productivity in order to build their nations and empires. The Industrial Age came with its positive and negative sides. With the invention of industrial machines, industry worker was developed. This lead to economic centered society. The development of advanced military artillery that tempted most people to war. In as much as war had a serious impact on worlds, every time a world war staged, the man became smarter. Surprisingly despite its harmful effects due to war casualties and even death, nations have learned from their past mistakes. They have adapted and improved their technology to cater to the generation to come in terms of infrastructure, health care, the rule of government and education.
We have really come a long way. We are now in the fourth industrial revolution. This is the field of advanced technological systems whereby it is totally centered on computing and artificial intelligence. The world of computer intelligence is extremely vast and still under discovery. Tech enthusiasts are coming up with systems every single day. Moreover, the systems keep changing and get improvements. In a bid to be abreast with current technology, we have to constantly educate ourselves and try out new things out of our sleeves. Inventors such as Elon Musk with Tesla and SpaceX program have paved way for this. Well, we don't know which age we are headed next, however, we can have a few specks of predictions of what we might have in the future. Possibly 5th dimension technology, who knows? The future might not be easy to tell. Some may say that we have inherited this inventions from celestial beings from other dimensions. It may sound crazy. All in all, let us fasten our seat belts and enjoy the ride while it last. Technology is here to stay and hate or love it, we should be prepared to face the consequences of it, be positive or negative. But let's just look at where we are at the moment. Amidst all the chaos and confusion that may have been made by past technological mistakes, we are somewhere better than we were like about a century ago. There is more upside to it. Simply put, the number one benefit of technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense, it is all about potential. We have been able to harness most of our deepest creativity and productivity with the current technology.
Thus, we should be willing to apply the knowledge we get from our schooling to be at per with the oncoming technology. Nobody would like to be left behind as the world changes since most of these changes may affect our well being wholesomely. As scholars, we should be willing to give back to the society or in a more broad perspective to Humanity by being in sync in current technology and contributing to it where need be.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
— Albert Einstein

Are you learning something to give to Humanity? Are you abreast with current technology? Keep learning! Never stop learning!

03/26/2019

Why writing every day is essential for productivity?

Writing is a craft that every scholar should utilize often. By bringing your thoughts and ideas to writing, we express ourselves wholesomely. We get in touch with our inner selves and inner thoughts. Well, developing the habit of writing may not be as easy as it seems, it is however prudent that we put something down in form of short notes or even developing a journal that may keep track of your activities every time. A good example will come by the vast amount of books and personal journal that many inventors and artist that were once developed. These are worth mentioning like Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, and many others.

Writing being part of our daily habit has a tremendous amount of benefits. Not only as part of a way of record keeping but also in terms of boosting creativity and increasing productivity. As a writer, I have developed a habit of writing at least three times a week. This is not restricted to any journal or work proposal that is part of my daily work but also writing just for the fun of. I love expressing myself in words and at times I feel that somewhat I'm talking to myself and expressing my thoughts, moods, and intentions in the right form of a channel. Well, I would not like to flatter any of my audience on this but I personally feel that by putting any of our thoughts down we tend to work our brain activity in terms of thought production and creativity.
If you set aside two days a week to write and write on those days no matter what, I suspect you would find the same thing – that you write because it's on your schedule, not because you have a deadline.

What about you? Have you developed a writing habit? Have you ever found yourself writing even though you don't have an impending deadline?

03/25/2019

Education is an unending process of life and it never ends at school. The virtue of school education is to enhance our capability to improvise adapt and overcome through self-education and mastery. Human Beings are in essence the most intelligent beings on earth. From Scientific Research, it is postulated that only 20% of Brain is in utilized mostly normal and cognitive reasoning.

As we all know, through the enforcement of education from generations and generations to come, we have come up with thought-provoking ideas and inventions for eons. This is because we are naturally curious animals. This ability bestowed to us by our creator makes us an edge greater than other beings on the planet. We always wanted to know who we are and where we came from and where we are headed in the future. In hindsight, by educating our selves and our generation, we have actually managed to ravage from the depths of our historical archives and discovered that the knowledge that we were left with may be inherited from our advanced creator was meant to be adapted and implemented to its conclusive self by higher beings like us.

We can borrow a leaf from a typical academic point of view. At the beginning of the onset of our birth, we begin by mimicking words and small activities from our guardians' example our mothers. It is at this onset of early brain development, where we learn to produce words and communicate through speech. We later join pre-school programs where we are trained on writing, reading and doing basic arithmetics. Depending on the academic path one may take be it school-based learning or home-based learning, the early child development forms the most fundamental steps in acquiring knowledge. This may not be compared to the form of apprenticeship that our ancestors groomed their children before the advancement of formal education. Later on, as we grow older and join high school than undergraduate. We identify ourselves with our passions. We discover our talents and are driven to perfect them as they become part of us. Well, we can say that our passion is what drives us to our career path. Though seemingly, this may not be the case to many. As we gain experience through work and self-learning, we forge ourselves to be the perfect version of ourselves in the long run.

Like life, education is a continuous and multi-dimensional process. The school of life itself is not a straight and smooth sailing journey. For us to attain mastery, we must be able to forge ourselves in very many forms before attaining self-actualization. Academic schooling may just be the beginning of acquiring passive knowledge but through putting that education and self-learning to practice, we end up being inventors, implementors and problem solvers to the real world. As of today, following research from recruiters and employers from various fields, the most preferred employees are people who can put their actual knowledge to practice and solve real-time life problems. Also with the advent of Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge-Based systems, it is very vivid that some tasks will be kicked out of the job market. This should be an eye-opener for many who would like to remain in the status quo, but a form of adaptability by learning and acquiring new skills makes one stand out in the race. By engaging in research, we discover the gaps in placing ourselves at the peak of our career. Networking is equally important as education. From getting to meet and engage with people with similar career interest or thus that have undergone the complete process of mastery, we easily share and copy notes from them. People that are actually self-actualized are the better mentors.

Are striving to further your knowledge? Do you want to know more about how the world works? Do you want to be a master of yourself? Keep learning, never give up and enjoy the journey while it lasts!

10/08/2018

TOP TEN TIPS TO BECOME BETTER IN ACADEMIC BLOGGING.

Academic Blogging is an essential part of scholarship. It provides potential results towards academia by engagement and outreach of education. Below find a least of tips that will guide towards being good at academic blogging.

1. Write about yourself and what you do in your life
People are very interested with researchers who put about how they came up with their research. Write about how you go about your life. Your biography gives people a good picture of who you are as a person and what your mission is in life.

2. Get yourself a proper blogging voice
Well, it may take some time but getting yourself a blogging voice eventually gives you a form of identity in the blogging world. Your blog would evolve as you continue to develop your own unique kind of style. You could use long reflective essays or short periodic pieces or whichever.

3. Have a clear motive of what you are blogging for
What are your true intentions in writing for your academic blog? Are your writing about your personal experiences between you and the Universe or are you writing about a specific topic or hobby? Coming up with clear intentions gives your audience a clear understanding of your work. Do a thorough research of what your true motives are in writing your blog.

4. Engage in a little controversy to be Outstanding.
In as much as controversies don't sound right, as a blogger, it gives you an audience to more experts and followers. Coming up with a controversial post that you can easily argue your case for it would give you more audience from a variety of schools. Controversies give you an audience to more senior scholars and intelligent people.

5. Just Be yourself.
Give an honest account of why you are writing your work. Honest opinions bring life to your work. Ensure you are writing for yourself. Make sure that you have a clear motive of whom you are writing for.

6.Blog post as a Publication
When you decide to post on your blog, ensure that the content you show your audience does not reflect your future or innovation. If the work looks favorable for publication, ensure that your work has been patented. Copyrights rights also must apply.

7. Plan yourself on how often you should blog.
If your blog post has gathered an amount of following, it is essential to plan yourself how often you should be blogging. The audience will always be ready for your next post. Always ensure that you have a precise work plan so that you can regularly engage them. The more regular your post, the more hits your blog gets and the more followers you gather.

8 Social Media
Take advantage of social media to promote your work. Nowadays with the boom of the internet and various social media platforms, you can easily market your work to online users. The internet is flooded with knowledge seekers and scholars. Those who are willing to impart knowledge to others. Why not let people online know you and your work online.

9. Let your colleagues know about your blog.
Let your university know your intentions in creating a blog. At least make them aware that you are posting on an academic blog that will be knowledge intensive. This is also a way to market yourself and your content.

10. Blog for fun
Finally, have fun doing this. Try something new everytime and then. Make it be part of your life. Blogging should be fun and educative.