So I've been seduced by micro-blogging lately instead of doing much writing over here. It makes me think of the trend away from test match cricket towards the twenty-20 variety ...
Anyway. I have to say that I've been enjoying getting into it. Follow me over at twitter: @jlizier
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Writing up
Well, that came around much more quickly than I was expecting. The last three and a half years doing my PhD have been really enjoyable, so on one hand writing up my thesis makes me a little sad to be finishing up. On the other hand, it's quite exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing the bound, finished product.
Anyway, I'm well on the way at the moment, with about 4.5 chapters out of the 6 technical chapters done. And I'm only just hitting the writer's block stage; well that's an overstatement, I'm just having a little trouble getting the right tone on this chapter. Nothing serious. I'm still on track for a pre-Christmas submission. As I said to my supervisors, the only risk is that they won't provide the feedback fast enough :).
I'm looking forward to a nice holiday over Christmas and January, then who knows where I'll end up next year. I put my first post-doc application in last week, I'm working on another one, and planning to put in a local application early next year. Watch this space.
Anyway, I'm well on the way at the moment, with about 4.5 chapters out of the 6 technical chapters done. And I'm only just hitting the writer's block stage; well that's an overstatement, I'm just having a little trouble getting the right tone on this chapter. Nothing serious. I'm still on track for a pre-Christmas submission. As I said to my supervisors, the only risk is that they won't provide the feedback fast enough :).
I'm looking forward to a nice holiday over Christmas and January, then who knows where I'll end up next year. I put my first post-doc application in last week, I'm working on another one, and planning to put in a local application early next year. Watch this space.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Neural Computation discussion group
Today I'm just going to run a quick advertisement for a new series we're starting in our discussion group on"Neural Computation". It's on Fridays @ 2 pm at CSIRO Marsfield (north-west Sydney), but is open to anyone from outside who is interested.
More details, including the schedule of talks, is available at http://www.prokopenko.net/entropy.html
As it happens, stumbling upon a link for these talks and subsequently coming along to them is how I met Mikhail which led to me starting my PhD. So if you're interested in the area, do come along as you never know where it might lead you!
More details, including the schedule of talks, is available at http://www.prokopenko.net/entropy.html
As it happens, stumbling upon a link for these talks and subsequently coming along to them is how I met Mikhail which led to me starting my PhD. So if you're interested in the area, do come along as you never know where it might lead you!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Funny stunt
Here I was thinking that I was procrastinating about writing up my PhD. Not as much as these guys:
http://dataphiles.blogspot.com/2009/09/machine-learning-protest-at-g20.html
One of the funniest things I've seen for a while ...
http://dataphiles.blogspot.com/2009/09/machine-learning-protest-at-g20.html
One of the funniest things I've seen for a while ...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Information, computation and complex systems workshop
A quick post to advertise the Information, Computation and Complex Systems satellite meeting, which is part of ECCS 09.
From the workshop page:
Submissions are apparently open until Mon 24/8/09, hope to see you there.
Update 1/9/09 - my submission "Coherent local information dynamics in complex computation" was accepted, so I'm now looking forward to presenting at ICCS. The schedule has been posted.
From the workshop page:
This workshop will bring together mathematicians and scientists to discuss methods and applications of information theory to complex systems. This includes the perspective of complex systems as computers.I think this will be a really interesting workshop, as it directly relates to the focus of my PhD. The invited presentations should be quite good. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to present my own approach of the local information dynamics of distributed computation in complex systems, and hope to meet some people there with the need for this kind of approach.
The question of good measures of complexity alone is vital for complex systems research. Many proposals have been made, quite a few based on information theory. The workshop addresses the following topics:
- Mathematics of information theoretic tools for complex systems
- Information theory applied to complex systems
- Complex systems as information processors
The workshop will provide a forum for discussing the various existing information-theoretic and computation-theoretic tools, and their use in complex systems.
The focus will be on the mathematics of information and computation theory applied to complex systems. We encourage both theorists and experimentalists to attend, with either an information theoretic approach or a need for an information theoretic approach.
Submissions are apparently open until Mon 24/8/09, hope to see you there.
Update 1/9/09 - my submission "Coherent local information dynamics in complex computation" was accepted, so I'm now looking forward to presenting at ICCS. The schedule has been posted.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Ashes 2009
Tonight (Australian time) marks the start of the 2009 Ashes series in the UK. For the uninitiated, The Ashes is the "trophy" for Australia vs England cricket series. These series occur roughly every two years, with a series hosted by each country each four years. For an Australian player or fan, an Ashes series in England is as good as it gets.
To say I am looking forward to the coverage is an understatement. I would really love to get to England for the series one day. I'll be nearby in Germany during the last game of the series this year, but unfortunately all of the tickets are sold out.
As I'm sitting here watching the first few overs, I've been thinking about how I can almost mark progress in my life by what I was doing while watching the Ashes from England every four years. In 1989 I was just finishing primary school. I hadn't been interested in or playing cricket for long, but it sure took up a lot of my thinking. In 1993 I was mid-way through high school, and by this point was taking my studies fairly seriously as I had realised what I could achieve academically. I remember watching the games up late after coming home some of the first times I was allowed to go out with my friends at night. By 1997 I was a couple of years into uni, really enjoying engineering. I was also going out with my wife (then girlfriend) by then and my enduring memory of that series is watching it at her place after everyone else was asleep. 2001 was a big year for growing up: first full-time job, moving out with my girlfriend and thinking about getting married. It was nice watching that series late at night in a place I could call my own. Much better was 2005, when I could watch it in an apartment I owned rather than rented. By this time, we were married, and I had established myself at work though I was thinking a lot about how to go about doing a PhD as I was watching the games. This time, I'm sitting in our own house, am writing up my thesis, and my wife has begun her PhD studies. This time around I'll be occupied by what I/we are going to do next year once I'm finished. I wonder where I will be in four years time?
To say I am looking forward to the coverage is an understatement. I would really love to get to England for the series one day. I'll be nearby in Germany during the last game of the series this year, but unfortunately all of the tickets are sold out.
As I'm sitting here watching the first few overs, I've been thinking about how I can almost mark progress in my life by what I was doing while watching the Ashes from England every four years. In 1989 I was just finishing primary school. I hadn't been interested in or playing cricket for long, but it sure took up a lot of my thinking. In 1993 I was mid-way through high school, and by this point was taking my studies fairly seriously as I had realised what I could achieve academically. I remember watching the games up late after coming home some of the first times I was allowed to go out with my friends at night. By 1997 I was a couple of years into uni, really enjoying engineering. I was also going out with my wife (then girlfriend) by then and my enduring memory of that series is watching it at her place after everyone else was asleep. 2001 was a big year for growing up: first full-time job, moving out with my girlfriend and thinking about getting married. It was nice watching that series late at night in a place I could call my own. Much better was 2005, when I could watch it in an apartment I owned rather than rented. By this time, we were married, and I had established myself at work though I was thinking a lot about how to go about doing a PhD as I was watching the games. This time, I'm sitting in our own house, am writing up my thesis, and my wife has begun her PhD studies. This time around I'll be occupied by what I/we are going to do next year once I'm finished. I wonder where I will be in four years time?
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