- - - Define my T A R G E T S - - -

"The greater danger for most of us
is not that our aim is to high & we miss it
but that it is to low and we reach it"
- - - Michelangelo

The next thing to do is to - - - Define my Targets - - -
I like to know what I am aiming at - relate this point to my thesis or overall argument
I am a very visual person and need to see my target clearly - this helps me to be focused
If i can articulate what I am trying to achieve (i.e my thesis or argument) - then i can create my road-map to reach my targets

For me it is about asking the right questions

Quality of the questions create a quality outcome

So, for the current chapter:

Translate an oral tradition into a spatial tradition

Mauri ora
H24

- - - the F I R S T S T E P - - -

A few days ago i received an email from a PhD student asking me if we could meet. So, we met on Wednesday when i got back into town. I found out that she was fresh - first year - so we talked about how to approach some aspects of her preparation. In the end i shared this with her:

• Organise a kaumatua committee to keep her culturally safe
• Get involved in the community, particularly with the kohanga her children attend
  
• Start a journal - perhaps even an on-line journal in the form of a BLOG. I could then pop in on her from time-2-time
• Develop significant relationships (cultural, academic, peer etc) to help her on her journey

Then i gave her some names to follow up with
After a couple days of reviewing what i told her, i decided to start my own BLOG

The idea for this BLOG is to track my journey. - - - - How do i do that? - - - -

• set my goals out and track my progress - ON-LINE
  
• hold myself accountable by reviewing my progress - ON-LINE
• clear my thinking and record my thoughts - ON-LINE
• help me to write by committing to this journal
  

Charles Kettering sums it up nicely when he said:

"Believe & Act
as if it were impossible to fail"

H24

- - - Keep a journal or a BLOG - - -

- - Journey of a thousand miles - -

Mauri Ora ! !
A journey of a thousand miles . . .






Well, my first post - and i am going to begin with a quote that encapsulates the objective of my BLOG from the legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau:

"If a man for whatever reason
has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life
he has no right to keep it to himself"


Aotearoa-New Zealand

ko au, ME!!
I am in my final year of my PhD, at Otago University, Dunedin, Aotearoa-New Zealand

Clock Tower, Otago University

Of course you might have heard of our country as 'Rugby' mad - the ALL BLACKS !!

The All Blacks in full flight!!

OR more recently you may have heard of Valerie Vili who won the GOLD medal for the women's shot put at the recent OLYMPIC GAMES in Beijing China


Well, thats my country!!

My Long Journey
My PhD has been a very long journey consisting of many 'ups-&-downs' - the sort that defines who you are, and tests the mettle of your character - but hey, who hasn't had that? Its called "so what!!"

But just to bring you up-2-speed
I am primarily in the INFORMATION SCIENCE department with one foot in the MAORI department at Otago University

So, about my PhD
Well, my PhD is concerned with how 'oral traditions' may/can be represented on or in GIS - Geographical Information Systems. GIS is simply a very powerful database with the capacity for representing that information in a graphical fashion - it can draw some very interesting MAPS that represent the database of information - and then some!

What does that mean?
The final chapters will take the oral information of an oral society - namely Maori - and create a cultural map of that information - thus mapping the cultural extent of their cultural space

The epic poem, the illiad written by Homer the blind - represents his recollection of the Battle of Troy. There are some 'discussions' about where that battle took place - was in Greece/Turkey or was it somewhere else? If we interrogate the poem, we should be able to locate its lands of origin.

Likewise, if i took an epic poem known to Maori as a moteatea, i should be able to trace its origins and create a link between the people and the land of origin.


So, that is what i am working on!!

H24

- - - begins with a single step - - -