Notices by Cat Hicks (grimalkina@mastodon.social)

I got an interesting accusation that providing science education stuff for free is devaluing the work and suppressing the fair payment of scientific/research labor

It's like a lot of concepts that I believe are real in general but arranged into an argument I strongly disagree with and believe is pretty unkind to level at a single individual using her energy in the way I use mine

I distinguish very carefully between things I consider gifts and services I do not

I feel mildly angry that people seem to so often think what I do is by accident and that I need Jobs 101 explained to me rather than the possibility being considered that I have a strategic point of view on this

I value my work so highly that I KNOW the tech community often can't afford it actually, but none of us really can "afford" each other. Science is a societal gamble on something else, a collective good. And if you can't understand that some of us see a path to creating an ecosystem in which *different jobs will be possible* then that's a gap in your vision.

"People will believe x is too abundant" is a problem that's way downstream of "people believe x actually exists at all"

I face this animosity from other scientists sometimes because I explicitly say I work with software teams and to them, it's like, how on earth could the richest industry around possibly be a place that needs scientific compassion and generosity?

What they don't see is that I really don't care if 100 people who didn't "deserve" to get a thing for free get it as a side effect of the fact that one person who really NEEDED it does get it when they're trying to fight some battle we don't know about

By the way if you're struggling with your faith in humanity due to ~ the horrors ~ I do highly recommend blackmailing yourself into committing to some tangible effort to supporting what you want to see more of in your community. Action > avoidance, always!

Technical blogs: "for 230k words and ten months I have focused on the blippert pipeline and its many nuances. But now, a word about teams! Dysfunctional teams are bad, don't do it. No blippert can thrive on a bad team. Thank you."

Technical communities: give this man a keynote immediately!!!!

@whitequark it's a made-up term to make a joke, standing in for an esoteric and specific tech area of specialization

Not gonna lie this is a scary trial with a significant time and invasiveness component that I do not think most people would consider committing to.

With all that science has given me & my loved ones, and all the extra support I have from actually KNOWING scientists who run RCTs, I am in a more privileged position than most to take this kind of thing on with less fear.

Sharing out loud about this because I feel it is the decent science education thing to do & maybe interesting to people

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I pass the automated first round eligibility clearance AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Because I know all that goes into recruiting and running a study like this I would never start the process without seriously thinking through my commitment to becoming an important datapoint that could help other people's lives.

That includes committing to staying the course if you're in the control group because that's where they really struggle to keep people in!

That being said it'll be interesting to navigate the decision making & risk process on the other side if they do reach out

Omg I have been on the candidate pool lists for some long covid RCT clinical trials for nearly three years and I just got a serious eligibility inquiry for a super exciting RCT, cross your fingers for me that 1) I get selected 2) I get assigned to the treatment condition !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

picture a Mythbusters series but it's about developer productivity

I honestly think it would be a super fun way to learn about methods limitations and research design

I want to drag Ashley into this so bad you have no idea

I have a cursed research idea which is that we should all get together and buy one of those bad off the shelf EEGs and I'll do any study on software developers and find support for any possible conclusion, including ones in opposite directions, with the Community EEG

Getting stuck in exactly that kind of work was always my nightmare and I correctly identified I'd need to create my own jobs to get away from it

And unfortunately it's obvious when big teams farm out the theoretical positioning to some poor analyst in their first tech job after the PhD with a manager in their ear nonstop yelling about simplifying and marketing. Citations to single pop science books? Embarrassing if you're claiming rigor

The reality is a lot of parts of a research project are determined in the *design,* not in the analysis.

That's why serious projects have lit reviews and unserious projects have "our stakeholders liked these words"

Ok I finished a research study proposal that's had some really tricky pieces to figure out and I am happy about it 🥰🥰🥰

Some day (SOON!!!) I shall rest