Category: 1.1 Research (General)
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The case for German university outreach to china
On my research group’s blog I make the case for German University Outreach to China. I argue that my employer, the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, is well-positioned (and well-advised) to tap into the Chinese education market. In a nutshell, German engineering universities provide excellent education almost across the board while being comparatively cheap (no or…
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Definition of write-only journal
I thought it is a common term by now but apparently it is not. Here is my definition of “write-only (research) journal”: A write-only research journal is a research journal that publishes papers but is never read (hence write/publish-only). Its purpose is twofold: to (a) give a researcher some reputation return on their work by…
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Plagiarism on the rise?
I recently reviewed a paper where, a few paragraphs into the introduction, the words seemed strangely familiar. After some cross-checking, I realised that the author of the paper had copied about two paragraphs verbatim from one of my papers. After a bit more digging, I found other places in the paper where the author had…
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Rigor vs. relevance, or: What is the size of a dissertation?
While listening to a colleague’s talk the other day, I got an idea for a Ph.D. thesis (grant proposal). I wrote up a short summary and sent it to him. He thought it was fine but commented that it might be a bit “thin”. This made me wonder: How do we determine sufficient size of…
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Why I’m interested in computer games research
Just before my inaugural lecture at University of Erlangen, a broad panel of scientists was debating the merits of computer games. Except for a computer games researcher and a games professional, all participants thought that computer games are of no particular interest. When I asked: “But isn’t there anything to learn from computer games?” I…
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A broader notion of computer science
A recent article in the CACM complained about the dominance of reductionists’ views in computer science research. “We are sorry to inform you that your paper has been rejected, due to the lack of empirical evidence supporting it.” [1] The author goes on to discuss other views of science, suggesting that the focus on empirical…