Bright Woman Blog

Last week I finished what is hopefully my last long semester at UT as a PhD student. In addition, it marked the end of the “Advertising on the Internet” course I have been teaching all semester to around 150 undergraduate students. As I presume most people do, when things end, I tend to think about how they begun and what has changed, good or bad, since that time. As such, many memories have come to mind over the last week …

In the Fall of 1995, I came to Austin to pursue an undergraduate degree in Communications from UT. I was required to take a course from each department and elected to begin with a radio, television and film (RTF) class on digital media. The course was taught by a woman named Aviva who was a PhD student in the RTF department. She seemed to have equal parts of smarts and sass and thus I was naturally intrigued. I ended up working on a special project for her class with several other students and we met at the ACT Lab in the Communications building on campus. The ACT lab was a small room with about 6 desktop computers, black walls, no windows, and two bare light bulbs that hung down from the ceiling on coiled wires. We had our meetings there to discuss computer security and crimes, web design, networking, etc. … and thus, my fascination with academic research was hatched.

After that first Fall semester of college, I went on to finish my degree while starting a business with my brother, Ben. Then, after graduation, I happened into a job at a start-up in town and figured I would give that a shot. After becoming a “dot com millionaire” did not come through and the business tanked, I decided to go back to graduate school, liked it and decided to get my PhD.

By the time I made it through my coursework as a PhD student and was assigned to teach a course, I had not thought about Aviva in years. Then, on the first day of class this semester, I walked into the same class room that she taught my class in thirteen years ago and realized that I was now the crazy, exhausted PhD teacher lady. Walking into that auditorium to teach all semester put a smile on my face because I was constantly reminded of how far I have come and the things I have accomplished in the last decade.

I contemplated telling my students about my full circle moment on the first day of class but resisted. On the last day of class, I told them my little story and got a few laughs and claps … they seemed to enjoy knowing that I was in their shoes at some point ;). So, Aviva … if you are out there, thanks for inspiring me to teach, do research and be a crazy PhD lady.

It’s been months since I have had the time to sit down and right something here … and, alas I have found time as I sit fumbling through all of the material for my first comprehensive exam on Monday morning. It’s funny how easy it is to find time for other things as I prepare for what appears to be my largest academic milestone to date. At UT, comprehensive exams come in fours so I will be whittling away my time preparing for them for the next four weeks, or until my last one on August 13th. By all accounts, it is going to be a both interesting and exhausting process. I can’t wait to be finished!

In other news, the last five months have proven to be both trying and exhilarating at the same time. I taught my first solo class in the Spring (Advertising on the Internet), secured my first journal publication (due out next year), managed to make it to several conferences, both for presentations and just to attend, and was able to secure three fellowships that will pay my way as I complete my dissertation next year. I flew back and forth across the US several times, to San Francisco, Las Vegas, Panama City Beach and Burlington, and came home relatively unscathed, minus the cracked rib from a nasty fall down a rain-drenched flight of stairs in the Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. I hadn’t experienced that degree of physical pain in quite some time and have since made an effort to slow down, especially when dealing with stairs. Oh, the things PhD students do to get more presentations on that vitae!

This summer has been good so far … some how we have reached the end of July without breaking 100 degrees in Austin which has to be some kind of record. It has been raining on an almost daily basis, bringing to life plants and fungi that I have never seen in Austin before … it truly is a jungle out there. In addition, it has brought all sorts of rodents and insects out of the woodwork which has proved to be interesting and slightly revolting at the same time. It will be nice when the water subsides and all of the little creatures can find their homes again … which are hopefully not inside my house.

For now, I am making it my job to enjoy the rain and cool weather while I try to prepare for my information science exam on Monday. I’ve managed to flip my mental switch into getting things done mode, finally, so I believe I am ready to sit in a cubicle and write for four straight hours on how user-generated content is impacting both usability and advertising life cycles in the interactive environment. Sounds pretty interesting, eh?

Just think, by the time I am done with these exams and the oral defense of them, I will be well on my way to turning 30 and getting my dissertation underway. Boy am I ready for a new decade … this one is getting a little old … no pun intended!

Btw, if you are reading this and have something brilliant to contribute to my thoughts for Monday, don’t hesitate to send me an email ;). My horoscope has advised that I beware of gaining knowledge without character … so, if you’ve got a good usability story, please pass it along for me to add to my collection!

This will be my last of the ‘This letter stand for this’ series of posts … and a (no pun intended) good one to end on as well. I received an email this morning letting me know that I was accepted to present a poster session at the upcoming IA Summit in Las Vegas in March. Although I don’t much care for Nevada, I am delighted that my thesis re-write finally made it in to a conference and will see the light of day … the leather bound book on my office shelf was becoming a bit too dark and confining for it :). I am doing my best to coax my friend BA to meet me at the conference to enjoy the glitz and glamour of Vegas and help me traverse the waters of an information architecture conference. I will be posting more here as things start to unfold.

For now, I am faced with preparing for my class in the Spring … it will be my first time teaching my own class and the topic area is “Advertising on the Internet”. Albeit I know quite a bit about interactive advertising, it has still been difficult to step back and start from zero with all of the concepts and ideas. I have been trying to get into my 18 year old frame of mind and remember what is was like to know nothing about advertising and the Internet … so far, all I can remember is that I didn’t have a cell phone and social networking still meant going somewhere to meet someone in person. Alas, I see the generation gap unfolding before my eyes.

Alas, I have received my first rejection for a conference paper … they always say you remember your first time at everything and I doubt I will be forgetting my reviewers words anytime soon (wince). I got the email on Friday morning of last week and it has taken everything I’ve got to sit down and write papers all weekend. There is something about having your writing critiqued that doesn’t really give you the gumption to crank out 30 pages of fabulous prose for papers with looming deadlines. Oh well, time to just grin and bear it.

So, to get out of my “you are a miserable human being” funk, I have taken up residence this fine Sunday morning at the new coffee shop in my neighborhood. It is called Thunderbird Coffee and the logo they have reminds me of a pair of silver Thunderbird earrings my Grandmother gave me years ago … they were some my Grandfather had bought her on his first trip ‘Out West’ in the 1940s. Thunderbirds are a common site out there and, in my hometown of El Paso, Texas, the iron deposits in the mountains make the shape of a thunderbird. Fascinating stuff, I know ;).

Ok, back to the real world for now. Time to get papers written, finish my coffee, and quit staring into space. For someone who lives and breathes all things interactive, I find it disconcerting how hard it is to write about the Internet today … I wonder, will it be better by tomorrow? Unfortunately, that will be too late.

Back to burning the mid-day oil for now and cursing my lack of time management skills.

On a somewhat breezy yet hot night in late July in Austin, I am writing from my new office setup at the house. It was a much needed change and I am quite content in my new, decidedly girly southern gothic surroundings. Much has happened since my last post … a cousin’s wedding, my grandmother’s funeral, a summer school stats class, the completion of two very long papers, several excellent concerts, countless dog walks, a few dips in Barton Springs, and many delicious meals. To say the least, it has been an interesting couple of months around the Bright family … here are a few things I have learned along the way:

1. When going on a family “vacation”, pack an extra since of humor … or two, or three … you will need to start unpacking them by day two.
2. There is something magical about a tumultous thunderstorm on a hot Summer day and I absolutely never tire of them.
3. If you’re having a bad day and all else fails, have a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich and a fizzy drink to make yourself feel better.
4. When reason doesn’t work, kill them with kindness.
5. The phrase ‘Life is for the living.’ is one of the most comforting things to think of when someone passes away.
6. Some mistakes are too fun to only make once.
7. Watching the World Cup with a Brazilian soccer fan is hilarious fun.
8. Sometimes the best thing to do is just sit back and watch your brain work out all of your fascinating contradactions and see what wins.
9. The only thing consistent in life is change so it is a good thing to know how to manage.
10. The Clash really is one of the best bands of all time.
11. And, last but not least: how to conduct experiments, analyze data, and interpret results for experiments containing more than 2 groups :).

So, we know for sure that Summer school paid off … as for the rest, we’ll just have to see. For now, I must prepare a presentation for a conference in San Francisco next week. Grace and I are presenting and my Mom is coming to join us so it should be a fabulous time. We’ll get to see Greg and Beth Anne, shop, eat good food, and drink wine … sounds like just what I need right now. To boot, my horoscope has advised that it’s high time for me to untame myself … (insert cat noise here) … woohoo!

Well folks, I am excited to report that today, after days of stressful anticipation, I met with my PhD Course Committee for the first time and was able to get my program of coursework approved without a hitch. This was exciting for several reasons, the most important being that my schedule is now set in stone and I will be done by the Summer of 2008. It seems like a long way off now, but in the grand scheme of things it is but a few months of what has come to be my late twenties. By the looks of it now, I will be Dr. Laura Bright before my 31st birthday. Woo-freaking-Hoo!!

On another exciting note, Grace received news that she will get the big doctoral fellowship from the Communications School to work on her dissertation next year. This means, among other things, that she can rest assured knowing that rent and bills will be paid as she writes, reads, and writes some more. It appears that the stars have aligned for the both of us on this 13th day of April, 2006.

For tonight, Grace and I will head up to my place for a nice dinner and bottle of wine to celebrate that things are great for today. Brian is cooking a nice piece of fish for us on his new grill. And, I’ll be pouring wine and listening to my favorite Willie Nelson CDs until I’ve turned in to a good hearted woman myself.

Well, it has come to be that time of the semester again where project deadlines are oppressively looming overhead and a beach vacation to Florida in May is the carrot dangling in front of me, coaxing me along the way toward my completion date of May 10th. Of course, it is not my ‘I’m done with school’ completion date, but it does mean that I am done with another semester of coursework and that is always a good thing.

This time of year always gets me to thinking about how I got through it the last time, how I can improve my process, and what shape I will be in when it is all done. As you can imagine, this reflection can be painful at times … remembering sleepless nights and the agony of never having enough time to get things perfect is never pleasant … but alas, that is what it takes sometimes to get things done. It makes the reward that much more fabulous in the end, right?

Of all of the things I remember most during these times, it is those ridiculous rants that I tend to go on to my husband, brother, best friends, etc. when I get totally stressed out about this academic life that I am pursuing. During a particularly fierce moment last December, as I was standing on the tallest soap box that I could find, my husband just looked at me, smiled and said … ‘Academia … isn’t that a parish in Louisiana?’. I laughed at him … and then at myself for a very long time.

So, with that thought in mind, I venture off to finish off another semester in the best way that I know how … sense of humor in check, loud music on the speakers, and visions of sparkling white sand and blue water on my mind. With any luck, I’ll be checking my brain at the Florida border come May 12th!

I woke up late Monday morning, after a long flight in from Reno, Nevada on Sunday night, thinking that I might have dreamt the last four days of my life. The smokey haze of the casino and constant ‘Ding Ding Ding’ of the slot machines has left me in a weird state. For the most part, the trip went well. The presentation went off without a hitch and we had 30 people in attendance which was a remarkable amount if you ask me ;). On the flip side of that, the mauve velvet bedspreads and room of mirrors that Grace, Katherine and I stayed in left much to be desired. I had Katherine photograph the railyard and scrap metal pile outside of our room … just in case any of us had any thoughts of ever returning to Reno again! For now, we have Burlington, Vermont to look forward to for next year’s AAA conference. In the meantime, I’ve got a few papers to get together.

If I’ve learned anything about casino towns it’s that no matter how much you win, you always leave with empty pockets.

And … a side note … who knew I was playing in Reno this weekend?

http://www.waldenscoffeehouse.com/performers-JKL-LauraBright.shtml

Well folks, tomorrow I head to Reno, Nevada for the American Academy of Advertising Conference where Grace and I will be presenting a paper. It is a presentation on racial portrayals in Brazilian advertising and has gone over well during our two practice rounds in front of faculty and students at UT. I’m looking forward to presenting on Friday and then enjoying a weekend in Reno!

For now, I am going to hit the sack since I have to be on a plane at 6 AM. I’ll post more from the conference …