Good job, and I wish you all the luck in your endeavors! I think the format of the journal could benefit from adding something like a quantitative assessment of how much you have done compared to what you planned to do. It would (hopefully) help you calibrate, state clear and achievable goals, ease readability, and, in addition, help others calibrate which tasks are harder or easier.
Thank you!
I agree about the value of quantitative assessments, but assigning numbers based on vibes feels hokey to me, so I'll only do it if I can find quantifiable metrics that seem valuable. I think "do task x on y number of days" seem quantifiable, so I may include more goals like that.
I definitely want to improve clarity and readability. I have a bit of animosity towards "achievable goals" I'm the sort of person who wants to set goals I want regardless of if they're achievable, and then stubbornly keep trying on my impossible goals until I make progress, but as mentioned in "A Pragmatic Vision for Interpretability", separating those kinds of "impossible" or "north star / guiding" goals from the object level goals I expect to actually achieve is probably a good idea. I'll put some thought into that.
Thanks again for engaging. It means a lot to me : )
[Epistemic Status: This is an artifact of my self study. I am using it to remember links and help manage my focus. As such, I don't expect anyone to fully read it. If you have particular interest or expertise, skip to the relevant sections, and please leave a comment, even just to say "good work/good luck". I'm hoping for a feeling of accountability and would like input from peers and mentors. This may also help to serve as a guide for others who wish to study in a similar way to me. ]
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Review of 3rd Sprint
My goals for this sprint were:
So how did I do?
Daily Worklog
Th, July 24
- We, Aug 13
For the rest of August through September and October I got various combinations of too busy, distracted, and depressed to continue proper documentation. Within that time I:
I continue to find it surprising how easy it is to lose large amounts of time and how difficult it is to treat a self managed project with the same seriousness of a full time job.
Sprint Summary
Overview
During the past months I neglected focus on any of my chosen goals in favour of ad-hoc applying to fellowships. This both that my goals are not in alignment with what I think is really important, but also that I have difficulty prioritizing overhead organization and documentation, which I think are valuable, so I would like to improve and get back to doing this journal work.
SSJ--1 -- Write
I still like the idea of doing an AIA Terminology Review. I am less convinced by the value of discussing Math in my AIA goals specifically, rather, multiple people have suggested I should focus on writing and communicating about my "Theory of Change" both focusing on the importance of my (potential) role and the importance of my agendas. I would also like to try putting together better article to briefly explain my OIS concept based on various conversations and thoughts, and finally write the MAAT article I was planning to write.
SSJ--2 -- Read
I started skimming this but didn't really engage and then got busy. I think it may be a good resource to be included in my AIA Terminology Review.
SSJ--3 -- Math
I didn't actually practice any linear algebra. It's much harder to do so when I'm not handing it in to a professor for marks. I did however pick up my copy of C.Kosniowski's "algebraic topology" which I find engaging. The concepts may or may not have value for my thinking on semantic spaces. I think I still have a shallow understanding of topology which I would like to deepen towards a solid understanding of manifolds.
SSJ--4 -- Go through Transformers From Scratch.
This still seems high value. I still haven't started.
SSJ--5 -- Literature review on MI Tooling and Etc...
I didn't focus on this. I'm torn between wanting to jump in and begin implementation work, however, a review beforehand is probably quite valuable.
SSJ--6 -- Social
The focuses in this section may have been of higher benefit than applying to the various fellowships I have applied to. Additionally, I often got an email about a fellowship deadline, worked on an application before the deadline and then submitted it and moved on to something else. This approach seems somewhat aimless and disorganized. I would like to be keeping a better track of which fellowships I have targeted with what levels of effort and also have a better sense of what fellowships are out there and what other options I can consider.
Goals for 4th Sprint
The Goals:
Well. The last sprint went of the rails. Somewhat disappointing but I am wishing myself luck getting back on track.
List of common acronyms: