Other highlights from Henningsvaer

Hey Rachel, you might not want to read this post. It's got a whale-related paragraph that may make you uncomfortable.

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And now let me take a moment to explain this to everyone else. My colleague Rachel asked me to not eat any whale while I was in Norway. I compromised and said that I wouldn't tell her if I had. So, that said, really if you are uncomfortable reading about a whale ship and a description of what whale tastes like, you may want to skip that paragraph. :)

So, other Highlights from Henningsvaer...

Mountain Climbing

One of the days we were able to end early and take the afternoon / evening (these are arbitrary terms since it's almost perpetually light out this time of year here). On this day, a group of us went out and climbed a nearby mountain. Gotta say, that experience was wonderful and it beat the tar out of me. It turns out that Norwegians make it a nearly weekly activity to go climbing. It is a testament to their athletic nature and the terrain that presents climbing opportunities at every turn. And, my definition of a "path" is very different from the local interpretation. It seemed that, if you can get from point A to B then the route you took, by definition, is a path. Don't get me wrong. I say this with a smile. I had a fabulous time and the scenery was breathtaking, but whooo.... Halfway up the mountain is a small mountain lake and an edge of the rock face that looks out over the water and the village below. I decided that this would be my "top" and while most of the others kept climbing I relaxed by the lake, took photos, and enjoyed the moment. As I relaxed I watched the group climb progressively higher on terrain that grew steadily steeper and was very very content with my decision to chill. Shortly, three of the Norwegian students and my buddy Naddy came by. We hung out for awhile waiting for the others to return until it grew steadily chillier and started to rain. We decided that the time had come to climb back down (also a challenging experience) and hike back to our hotel.

The Lighthouse

On our last day, we went for a short walk to a nearby light house. Once again we were climbing over tall rocks and a bit of terrain to get there. The scenery was beautiful and I got a good shot of a rainbow and took a panoramic shot that included Antonina (from Russia) that I am particularly happy about.

Music Night

One evening, one of our professors (Larry Browning) borrowed the electric guitar of the innkeepers son. He and my buddy Naddy (with Fei Wei --China-- on kazoo) put on an excellent impromtu performance. Larry is a country singer / guitar player (with the song 8-minute ride now on iTunes) and Naddy is the lead singer for a local reggae band (playing Tuesday night August 25th at Momo's). So it was a fun show and a great relaxed pub experience.

Gotta love the sauna and hot tub

One evening, the innkeeper opened up the sauna for us. It was a fun night of carousing where we all got to know each other quite a bit better. One highlight was when several folks from the group ran over to the dock across from our hotel and jumped into the water for a quick swim.

But, the night after got back from the climb/hike we got to lounge in the hot tub. The tub was heated by a wood fire, so controlling the water temperature is a bit of an art form. A highlight was when groups from different nationalities sung their national anthems. Nadia from russia started off with some encouragement and sang her song beautifully with backup provided by the Norwegians. We also got to hear 3 or 4 traditional Norwegian songs. Naddy sang us the anthem of Trinidad and Tobago, again beautifully done. And finally, we Americans stumbled and hiccuped our way through the Star Spangled Banner. It was a treat to explain to the group the "Play Ball" are the lesser known last two words of our anthem.

The Whale Ship

During one of our morning sessions, Jan (one of the Norwegian professors) came in to say that if we had not ever seen a whaling ship, there was one coming in to dock. It had successfully caught a whale that was part of a school of around 200 whales that they heard about earlier that morning. So, we paused so that we could all go see the ship. The whale was in the hold of the ship and had already been butchered (I'm guessing this is the correct term) and prepared for unloading. I did get a few pictures of the ship and looking down into the hold. I ended up having whale 4 times on this trip. In a cream soup, on pizza, whale steak off the grill, and prepared in a sushi-like style (CLIFF & BILL: Disregard my earlier description of whale. That was based only on the soup and my description is very different now, particularly after the steak and sushi). I'd say whale has a taste that's different from other things I've had. It's hard to compare it to something else. It's a red meat like beef that is wetter and tastes like it came from the ocean. It is also a little oilier than beef and has a slight flavor that is part of the mix that I'd have to compare to liver.

Cloudberries and Aquavit

Turns out there is a local berry that Cliff read about called a cloudberry (klodbaer). It is has the shape and texture of a raspberry, except it's jucier and has a taste that falls between an orange and a nectarine. We had this served with whipped cream on a thin pancake for dinner one evening -- delicious. I also discovered during my time a spiced spirit called aquavit. If I read the label correctly, it seemed like it was 45% alcohol by volume. Whew. It was tasty stuff that always seemed to make me fuzzier the next morning. I guess I'd have to compare it to a strong, more high-end, smoother version of spiced rum.

Well, those are some of the highlights from Henningsvaer. There are more stories and adventures. But, I hope this gives you a flavor of the trip. Our trip ended with a prop plane ride back to Bod0, where we stayed the night and then left the next morning for Oslo. Once in Oslo, I stayed the night and left the next morning for Amsterdam. Amsterdam is phase 2 of this 3-phase trip and where the blog will pick up next.

Skal!!!

T--

Time to get down to business

We spent a fantastic week in Henningsvaer. Our mornings would include a series of lectures / presentations on various qualitative research methodologies. Each professor took time on one of the mornings to do this. There were also student presentations on methodology topics. We were then divided into two smaller groups in the afternoons, where we took turns presenting a paper describing our latest thinking on each of our research projects. The group then provided criticism and feedback designed to challenge a person's thinking and strengthen their research plan.

Our days started at 9 a.m. and we finished by 4 p.m. This was followed by an optional group activity / free time and then dinner. The late evening was spent celebrating and carousing and then dragging bleary-eyed into the next day's session. The group activities and late night carousing are where some of the more entertaining stories live, but I thought at least one blog entry should be dedicated to the primary purpose of the trip. I will say that this event was very helpful for me and it pushed me to break through some blocks I had about knowing what my next steps should be. So, a valuable trip indeed.

Below are a few photos of scenic Henningsvaer, specifically around where we stayed and had our week-long conference.

T--

A bit of photographic evidence that we did spend a good chunk of our time engaged in sessions. :)

Three of the students we got to know on this trip. From left to right you have Antonina (Russia), Karl (Norway), and Asef (sp?) (Pakistan).

I don't have my list of students with me so I'm guessing on the spelling of Asef's name -- apologies if I got it wrong -- Asef, by the way, is a fabulous chef and used the kitchen one evening to prepare a spicy dish that was fantastic and shared it with the group. Mmmm....

This was on the deck right outside of our meeting room when we were on a short break. Gorgeous.

Yup, we really were in Henningsvaer. :)

The building on the left is our inn and the building on the right is where we met every morning at 9 to dive into the work.

Permission to come aboard?

After touring the school at Bod0 and grabbing a quick lunch, we all loaded into a bus that took us to the docks. The time had arrived for us to travel to the island of Henningsvaer, which is part of the Lofoten Islands. On the island we attended a week-long camp where we got feedback on our research plans and got a crash course is several qualitative research methods. To get to camp, we were told that we would take a 4-hour ride on a coastal steamer. I think the mental picture I had was almost a century out of date. I was picturing a small boat where everyone dressed in wool coats and thick warm caps, the men had 3-days growth of beard stubble, and the traveling was rugged. Imagine the quick reorientation I had when we pulled up and saw a large 7-deck cruise ship named the Kong Harald. I had time to take a few photos outside of the ship and then we boarded and were on our way.

Once aboard we went fairly directly to a small conference / meeting room where we got to meet the other students going to camp. We truly were an internationally diverse group of students with a range of research interests and we were all in varied places along our path of becoming academicians. After an orientation and introductions, we had a short lesson on how to collect field notes. We were then given the assignment to take our notebooks and in groups of 3 to 4 and collect observational data that will help us to better understand the simple question, “What is happening on board the ship?” Jan (the Norwegian professor) explained that the task may seem light or even banal, but that it will give us exposure and practice collecting field data that we can then later think about how one would code, catalog, and interpret. I have to wonder what all of the others on the ship thought of over 20 people roaming the ship with pen and paper continually looking around and writing things down. J

One of the more memorable moments was when we had to pause our exercise and return to the meeting room so that a member of the crew could give us our safety lecture, which taught us how to find and operate the life jackets and life boats. The name of the cruise line is Hurtigruten. He gave us the history of the Hurtigrueten cruise lines and I had to silently giggle every time he said, “Hurigruten,” because, with his accent, he kept reminding me of the sound of the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show. Later I confirmed that several other American students were having the same thought.

In addition to the academic side of the experience, we also had time to play tourist. We even had a stop at the island Slovaer (sp?) where we had a few minutes to stretch our legs a bit. I got to pop by the bar and enjoy a Norwegian beer and I got to eat ice cream on the deck of a cruise ship north of the Arctic circle.

I have attached a few photos from the cruise experience below.

The Kong Harald getting ready to sail. The distortion in the picture is because I used the panoramic feature to get the whole ship in the picture.

A view from the back of the boat

Gotta love the view of the sky and water from a cruise ship

Hi! It's me enjoying the summer air in the Arctic.

Our safety lecture with life jacket demo.

A 360-degree panoramic that I took while we were docked at Slovaer (sp?)

And so it begins

From 12:30a to 3:30a, I was wide-awake. I was i-chatting with my friend Bill, who suggested that I should try to get some sleep. It was good advice. I managed to get back to sleep until 7:30a. I went downstairs and joined my colleagues from U.T. for breakfast. There was a buffet of wide ranging foods that I wasn’t sure how to approach, so I held back, watched, and replicated the actions of two hungry teenage boys. There were many loaves of various multigrain breads, marmalades and jams. I also had an assortment of crackers with different spreads including caviar (served in a toothpaste-like tube), pickled herring, shrimp spread, and what I think is a salmon-paste.

After breakfast, our group was picked up by a group of 3 taxis and delivered to the School of Business at Bod0. We were given a tour of campus and each of us was given an “official” business school hoodie as a gift. After the tour, we used an empty classroom and officially met for the first time and started to get down to business. We were encouraged to look for opportunities to explore and form research collaborations with other international students. I got the impression that there may be financial and institutional support available for U.S. students to spend a semester abroad, living in Norway, working on a research collaboration. Oooh, that would be fun. I’ll keep my eyes open and see what happens. We had a quick lunch in the school cafeteria, the highlight of which was a waffle with a sweet goat cheese spread.

The group of UT Students posing in the Bod0 School of Business

(The blonde dude next to me is Jan (pronounced "Yan", our host)

My friend Kerk and Professor Larry in the cafeteria

The Business School (love the emphasis on natural light)

Our group getting a guided tour of the school.

It's the little things

Got sleep... That's better. The bad news is that it's 1 a.m. and I'm wide awake. So, I thought I'd bring the blog up to date while I have the opportunity and a window of internet access. I realize the challenge is that every moment is filled with new discoveries and observations that it's hard to succinctly capture the experience in this format. That said, I think a series of stream-of-consciousness bullets of the highlights is the best way to go...

It was a looo-o-o-o-ooong series of flights. But there were highlights of the trip, like...

• Having a pint at the Guiness Pub in the Newark airport watching a Yankees Boston game and sharing a table with loud and excited Yankees fans. When I left, the Yankees were up 3-0 at the top of the 8th :)
• I found a currency exchange station across from the gate where my flight to Oslo boarded. So, I managed to get Kroner (Norwegian currency) before leaving the States.
• At the gate, waiting for the flight to board, is when the dominant language being spoken around me shifted from English.

I'm happy to report I managed my first experience in an international airport where English is not the primary language well. From the moment I got off the plane I was struck by the little things (to reference Pulp Fiction)...

• The Norwegian airports don't have carpet. In fact that seems to be true almost everywhere. Everything is open spaces with a lot of natural light with hardwood floors and tile.
• The airport snack and magazine stand had fresh fruit and vegetables available and it was no big deal. A welcome difference from the preserved and packaged land of the States.
• Should have slept more on the plane, but once we flew into daylight (even though I was conditioned to think of it as the middle of the night) I was awke, up and full of vim & vigor.

It's been rainy / foggy so far. The temps have been (I'm guessing) in the 50s. I met several classmates in the Oslo airport and we were met by another student who has been here (and will be at the camp as a Fellow, I believe) and we got a ride to our hotel. They drive on the right side in Norway, but it was interesting to look over at the driver's side and see a speedometer in kilometers. The nice thing is that I bet that car could do close to 200 easily. :)

I'm loving our hotel.

• Again, hard wood floors.
• The complimentary coffee comes from a cool machine that grinds and makes fresh (and strong!) coffee. Not the in-a-pot on-a-burner complimentary coffee you see in the States.
• It took me a LONG time to figure out how to turn on the lights in my room. It turns out there is a slot where you have to insert your electronic key card in order to make the lights work. That way, as you take your card when you leave the room, you won't leave lights on unnecessarily. I spent some time unpacking in the dark using the light from my iPhone until I figured that out. :)

Four of us then spent the afternoon walking around the area near our hotel, trying to stave off sleep as long as possible. Highlights included...

• Grabbing a bite at a local eatery. We ordered what we thought was a light meal for the four of us, but by the time the food arrived, it looked like we had enough to feed 8-10 hungry people. Whoops. :) Looks like we need more practice with this.
• The culture does indeed seem to be quiet and reserved. In the restaurant, everyone was eating very quietly and speaking in soft tones. There weren't the typical American TVs or piped-in music playing that we're accustomed to. We were all self-conscious as we talked in our usual "eating out in a group" levels of volume and realized how much we stood out from the rest of the crowd. It was very peaceful as we adjusted, but different. If this continues to be the norm, it will take time to adjust from the sensation that one is eating in the library.
• I did a double-take when I went to the restroom. I saw the male / female icon on the door, which to my experience means there is a second set of 2 doors on the other side, or it's a 1-person capacity restroom. Nope. Not in this case. :) Just a truly unisex, multi-user restroom. When in Rome... :)
• Our hotel is right on the water where there is a marina.
• Physical activity is very common here. One doesn't have to avoid 100+ degree temperatures, for starters. :) There was a constant flow of individuals and families out walking and biking around.
• I had fun going into and navigating a couple of the little shops that were open (imagine a small store that is part drug store, part convenience store, except fresh food and produce is more dominant than anything packaged and preserved).

One of my fellow students said that Bod0 (where we are staying tonight) has a population of about 40,000 and the island where we are going for camp has a population of about 500.

And on that note, I'm going to take another crack at getting a bit more sleep. But, I leave you with an amalgam of some of the photos taken so far. Some may lack a bit of context without reading the entry above. (I'm thinking of the photo of all of the food that arrived at our table and the photo of the fresh produce at the airport, for example). Also, on the note of photos:

• I have a feature on my iPhone that lets me take panoramic photos (thanks Rob Czysz!) I attached a couple here and will take more. Note that, thanks to the magic of Panoramic photos, all 4 of us appear in the same photo- We each took turns standing in the space of the next shot in the series. My favorite part is that Kerk & Naddy weren't actually standing next to each other in real-time. The magic of photography. :)
• The other folks you see in the photos are typically fellow students. Conversely, they also took photos of me. We'll send each other our photos. So, I'll eventually have and post Tom photos here as well.

Group Panoramic Shot

Panoramic shout in front of our hotel

A lot of food. :)

Produce at the Airport

Oslo Airport

It's a bit cold and rainy today. :)

Arrival

I am happy to report that I have arrived. I am in Bod0, Norway where I will stay the night. Tomorrow morning we travel to the Lofoten Islands and camp begins. It is 6:15p here (11:15a in Austin) and I am falling asleep at my keyboard. I am trying to get over jet lag and staying up as late as I can before I crash, but I think I am about to give up the ghost and crash. So, I'll wait to make a more coherent post until after I've had a few hours of shut-eye. In the meantime, attached are 4 quick photos I snapped when walking around my outside my hotel with 3 of my classmates.

Cheers,

T--

I

Wheels up in 11 hours

A quick note to say that I am busily packing and getting ready. Internet access for parts of the trip (especially the first part) will intermittent at best. I'll keep entries and post them when I'm able.

T--

Viva....

I was having lunch the other day with a couple friends and we were discussing the upcoming trip. They pointed out that I was flying back to the states on a Thursday and asked why I thought I should stop traveling once my flight landed in Austin. I was assured that if I kept going and flew from Austin on to Vegas, a reception of folks would be there to say, "Welcome Back to the states."

The plan was made. And now I, along with 4 others, will be spending the weekend in scenic Las Vegas before this whole odyssey comes to a close. After all, where better to recover from jet lag than leaning over a Craps table with a free cocktail in hand. :)

Oslo Hotel & My Itinerary

I just booked the hotel that I'll be staying in for a night in Oslo, Norway.

http://www.clarionhotel.com/hotel-gardermoen-norway-NO070

That said, I thought I'd spell out my itinerary a bit (for my own head as well as y'all):

August 8 at 10:30 a.m. — Flight Leaves Austin (fly through New York and Oslo to Bodo).

August 9 at 12:15 p.m. — Arrive in Bodo

August 10 — Take a coastal steamer ship out to the Lofoten Islands and attend Qcamp.

August 15 at 2:25 p.m. — Flight leaves Bodo, going to Oslo.

August 15 at 3:55 p.m. — Arrive in Oslo and spend the night.

August 16 at 10:30 a.m. — Flight leaves Oslo for Amsterdam.

August 16 at 12:20 p.m. — Arrive in Amsterdam.

August 20 at 10:10 a.m. — Depart Amsterdam

August 20 at 1:30 p.m. — Arrive in Houston (gotta love the travel time illusion provided by time zones).

From Houston?? <> :)

Notes, Directions, and Advice

A few nights ago the UT students attending qualitative camp met at the home of Dr. Stephens, one of our professors and trip leads. She has been to Norway a few times as a guest instructor and gave us background information about where we are going and advice for the trip. Below are bullets taken from my notes and advice from Brittany, a fellow student who is in Norway ahead of the group conducting independent research related to her dissertation. (If you are interested in checking out her blog, check out: http://steveandbrit.wordpress.com. The bullets below are in no special order and are essentially stream-of-consciousness notes about the coming trip:

• The style of the day will be very casual. Jeans and long sleeves at best. We were told several times that we really don't need to bring anything other than super-casual clothes, we just won't have an occasion to wear them.
• It's critical that we limit ourselves to carry on luggage and not check anything. Our professor practically guaranteed that we will either miss our connecting flights and/or arrive without our luggage if we try to check something through. Apparently there are points where we need to clear customs and would have to retrieve our own luggage and re-check it before catching a connecting flight. Most of us have an hour between flights at some point and can't expect to make it if we don't have all of our luggage in hand.
• It rains quite a bit where we're going, so "bring a rain jacket" we were told. As far as umbrellas go, we can bring one, but most people in this area simply don't use umbrellas for the most part.
• There is a mountain in the center of the island. We will have opportunities to do some mountain climbing. We were told to be prepared because this is a physically challenging experience.
• On that note, we were told that the people there are physically fit and active. Also, that people are light eaters and if we are used to eating heartily, we will have a hungry period of adjustment.
• Apparently. many of the people of Norway are hearty drinkers and this is a part of the culture. We were told that if we are invited to take part in a drinking contest, we should think twice. And if we accept the challenge, we should not expect to win or even put up much of a challenge. (The part of me that LOVES to rise to challenge may need to be kept in close check on this trip. On that note, we should expect a beer/wine/drink to cost between $10-$15. (whooo!)
• I will need to buy a converter (white, dual switch Hi/Low voltage), particularly for my computer. But we were cautioned to not buy one at Wal-Mart. A couple folks reported that concerters bought from there have somehow decided to fry themselves.
• The pace of life is much slower and people are more relaxed and understated. Apparently a fairly typical American style of fast-paced talking with a lot of animated speech and gestures will be way out of the norm. Chill...relax...be mellow are the watchwords of the day.
• Apparently, many other countries assign a pin code to credit cards. Many places will ask for a PIN code when we try to use our credit cards. It seems that it often works if you explain that American cards don't have pin codes, but I sould avoid situations where a credit card is the only form of cash I have handy, just in case.
• We are invited to bring a swim suit because the hotel has a hot tub!!! On that note, we were also told that a cultural difference is that people tend to be less modest than in the U.S. (apparently this extends to swim wear) and that sex is much more common and casual topic of conversation than in the States.
• Common footwear that is different from the States is a pair of Birkenstocks with socks.
• There will only be a scant few hours of dusk/dark at night. At midnight, the sky in Lofoten will look like the sky in Texas at 8 p.m. That is, the first signs of dusk. That said, we were cautioned that it will be very easy to be engaged in conversations and not even realize that it is past midnight or 1 in the morning.

We also talked about the academic side of things.

• We will each have time to present our paper to the group. We are strongly encouraged to prepare a paper related to a research topic that we are working through and figuring out for future work. This will be an opportunity to brainstorm and have our thinking challenged on ideas we are working through. It will be vastly better to bring something in a rough and more embryonic stage of thinking rather than something polished and more finalized.
• From the time we're on the boat heading to the island and beyond we will have a chance to practice different qualitative methods of data collection.
• Although some students will have had classes on qualitative methods already, others will be at the beginning of their academic career and this will be a first exposure to these methods.
• We will have an opportunity to learn how PhD programs in other countries work. For example, in Norway, I am told, the students follow something akin to an apprenticeship model, rather than the individually-driven classroom-style of the U.S.
• We will have ample opportunities to talk to other students and professors about our ideas and research directions. So, be prepared to describe our work and engage in discussion and debate that will challenge our thinking and stretch our ideas. Likewise, we need to be prepared to provide this feedback and challenge for the others.

That's the collection of notes, directions, and advice for now.

More to come,

--Tom

Booked a room in Amsterdam

So, I arrive in Amsterdam on the 16th and leave for the US on the 20th. This gives me 4 nights in Amsterdam, during which time I will be staying at the Hotel Artemis. Here is a photo of the hotel and a link to their web site. Ultimately, I decided to go more upscale on the Amsterdam Hotel because I want to have a comfortable base of operations and a reliable concierge service as I execute my days of tourism.

http://www.artemisamsterdam.com/

students of 7 nationalities

I got the list of the 21 students participating in qualitative camp this year. We represent 8 different nationalities, which are:

1.) China

2.) Iceland

3) Norway

4) Pakistan

5) Russia

6) USA

7) Malaysia

8) Trinidad and Tobago

It should be noted that some students are representing multiple nationalities (Iceland/USA for example).

Cool!!

T--

Time is flying

The time of departure is drawing close. It's about 2 weeks until the trip. The above photo is a picture of the islands where we will be staying from the vantage of a mountain that is part of the island. The group of UT students going on the trip met recently over dinner and drinks and I learned a lot about what to expect and what I need to do to prepare for the trip. I'll make a post shortly about what we learned. In the meantime, I want to share an e-mail (and the above photo) that were recently sent to the students about the trip. And it's in this e-mail that I have confirmed that the paper I need to prepare is due on August 1st.

Dear all

Time is flying, and soon we'll be together at Qcamp 2009. I have attached the list of participants, included room preference. Please indicate if you would like a single room (those of you with a ? in the last column) ASAP. Note that the cost for this is 200 NOK per night.

Also, any dietary request - please let me know. The kitchen usually has other alternatives, so just talk with Roger and Liv (the owners) when we get there.

Please bring some good hiking shoes, or at least some good running shoes. There is a good mountain close by that we usually hike, and you don't want to miss that (see attached picture). Also, there is a wooden hot tub, and we might fire that one up, so bring some swim gear.

Be aware that the internet connection has not been very good at the hotel. I'll bring a computer (with my own line) but do not expect any heavy internet use during the week.

While the weather is normally very good, across the fjord to the islands, please bring sea-sickness pills if you have experienced getting ill on a ship before. (the ship is big, but the rolling waves get to me at times as well :-) )

We start the program on board the ship at 2pm sharp. Please be there at least 30 minutes prior to get you ticket and check-in. You can store your luggage in the conference room, and I will have a key to this room. Please bring a notepad. Note: the boat does not leave the harbor until 3 pm. I also suggest that you eat a big lunch before getting on the ship. We'll serve coffee and a light snack on the ship, but the next meal will not be until we get to the hotel at about 10pm. You can also buy food on the ship at own cost.

More last minute info will follow later, including an updated program. I'll be sending out proposal/paper on August 2nd, the day after your deadline. Please let me know if you have any questions.

See you soon,

Jan

Readings, Papers, and Presentations

I received a series of e-mails with background readings on qualitative theory attached that we are to read before arriving at the event in Norway. I printed them out 2-sided and had them coil-bound with a durable cover. The articles ended up making two volumes. So, I've got a fair amount of reading to get through in the near future.

Most of the students attending took qualitative research methods with Professor Browning this last spring. I recently got an e-mail from Professor Browning with whom I've taken a couple of classes and is also one of the coordinators of the event. He writes:

I'm having the qual students present the papers they wrote for the spring qual course. Since this scheme does not work for you, what would you like to present and get feedback on in Norway? It could be a proposal for a qual project, for example. Let me know.

At the moment, I am looking over the papers I've written in the last two years that relate to my main research interest and thinking about the best way to present a paper and get feedback from the other participants that will help me with my future work, particularly around my dissertation. FYI, my main research interest right now is on physical space and the affect a physical environment plays on organizational and group communication, particularly in this era of instant electronic communication.

So, bottom line, I've got a lot of reading, thinking and prep work to do between now and August 8.

Cheers,

T--

Maybe not exactly in real time...

I got an e-mail from Jan-Oddvar Sørnes, Ph.D who is the Vice-Dean and an Associate Professor at the Bodø Graduate School of Business at Bodø University. He is also one of the primary coordinators of the qualitative camp. He writes:

I've received a question about Wifi access at Camp. The answer is yes, there is one, but in our experience it has been very unstable. So, expect the worse, and be happily surprised if things have improved. In any case, I'll have my cell connection that you can use.

So, I may be recording blog entries, but only updating them as internet access is available.

Stay tuned,

--Tom

Tom is going to Norway

Hi everybody,

OK, here's the deal. I am going to spend the bulk of August 2009 in Norway. Many of the people I tell this story to tell me that I must keep a blog on this trip. It will serve as a diary of the experience and give friends and family a way to follow along on the details of the trip in something resembling real-time. Fair enough. Here's the back story.

I was recently invited to attend a week-long camp for PhD students. Our focus will be to learn more about how to conduct qualitative research, particularly in cultures that are foreign to us. There will be 21 students attending, representing 7 different nationalities.

The Government / University of Norway is picking up most of the tab in the form of a scholarship. This covers the round-trip flight from the U.S. as well as most of my room, board, and travel expenses. On August 8, 2009 I fly out of Austin to Bodo (pronounced boo-dah) Norway. There I will spend a day recovering from jet lag and then travel by coastal steamer ship in the Norwegian Sea to an island in Lotofen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lofoten_islands). I believe the primary industry on the island is cod fishing. We will spend a week presenting papers, learning more about qualitative research practices, and also learning more about the nature and culture of PhD programs in other nations.

Once we complete this experience, we will return to Bodo, where I will travel by plane to Oslo. I will spend about 20 hours in Oslo and then travel by plane again to Amsterdam. I will then spend time in and around Amsterdam until it is time to travel back to the U.S. I will then arrive in Austin on the 20th of August.

As I said, my plan is to use this blog space to track the highlights of the trip, post photos, etc. A key part of some types of qualitative research is to journal and record one's observations. I imagine I will be keeping a much more intensive record of the trip and my experiences, but I doubt I'll use this space for that as I think it would bog down the site and make it unmanageable for those who want the briefer highlights of the trip. If you are interested in reading the more intense stuff, let me know and I can forward you those files separately.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post more as I get closer to travel time.

Cheers,

T--

Success

Success! All 3 objectives are met. That means it is time to actually start populating this blog with content. Soon, more to come.

T--

Testing Testing... Is this thing on?

OK, with a cracking of knuckles and a shake of my head I am making an attempt at figuring out the logistics of starting and maintaining a blog. This is not real content, yet. This is pre-content. Primordial content if you will. It is the biologically active ooze from which my content will later emerge.

This is the first test. My objectives are:

1) Create a blog space.

2) Enter text that is accessible by others.

3) Upload 3 images that are also accessible by others.

To test this third objective, I'll wander over to my iPhoto library and select 3 benign images that are good for testing. Let's see, pictures of pets are always a crowd pleaser...

processing...

Cat

Cat (to the side of image)

Dog

Another Cat

OK, that was a bit awkward to manage, but they seem to all be here. Getting the hang of inserting images.

Well, that's it for this entry. Now to sign off and see if this entry remains intact or fades into nonexistence.

T--