Lessons learned: Evading ersatz elevators; building better bibliometrics

This week's guest lectures took place at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, just a short train ride from Hotel Baan. Surrounded by a neighboring park and nearby ponds, the university's buildings were rather plain and utilitarian. Although anyone would expect such a facility to have proper working conditions, this wasn't the case with their elevators. En route to the first guest lecture on Tuesday, more than half of our class boarded the elevator to save the effort of climbing up four flights of stairs. Suddenly, a warning bell went off upon the closing of the elevator doors… and we were stuck there like ducks. A few students started to panic, some went into the fetal position, and others that checked their cell phones were left disgruntled at the lack of reception. One thing was for certain: the temperature of that elevator rose significantly with all of the body heat, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Fortunately, we were rescued ten minutes later by a couple of staff janitors who pried open the elevator from the other side of the doors. It was safe to say that most people avoided that elevator for the rest of the afternoon.

Neighboring ponds around Erasmus University.

The lecture following the elevator incident was given by Dr. Andrea Scharnhorst, who evaluated the different uses of bibliographic databases. She went into heavy detail about the current research and information retrieval methods. One of the issues that piqued my interest was the topic of "impact factors" in academia. These factors indicate the average number of scholarly journal article citations. Scharnhorst elaborated on people's tendencies in academia, like how the first thing many professors do when they wake up in the morning is checking if anyone cited them in an article. Today's lecture made me question if I want to pursue a Ph.D., where the "publish or perish" mentality might consume every waking moment of my career.

Erasmus University.

Our guest lecture on Thursday at Erasmus University was given by Dr. Marieke van Erp, who presented the topic of text mining for cultural heritage. She presented a captivating visual on natural language processing and how machines can use algorithms for named entity recognition. I was really taken into the linguistics side of the information sciences. Her collaborative work between Dutch museums, libraries, and other information gateways through the MITCH and the Agora Project instantly impressed me. Semantic analysis aside, she made a very strong point on the importance of data cleaning, especially in an age of information overload. She concluded that "digesting" a heritage institution was complicated: it's best to not try and tame the text. Information can speak for itself. [download presentation file in PDF here]

Getting caffeinated before the lecture.

Survival Guide Tips:  Elevator Emergencies

11. Even though Dutch elevators claim they can hold at least 20 people, that may not always be true.

12. Press the emergency button as soon as possible. An operator should be standing by for assistance. If you have reception, try calling for help.

13. Try to help calm down anyone claustrophobic. Meditation, deep breathing, and muscle relaxation are techniques proven to reduce anxiety and clear the mind of unwanted thoughts and concerns.

14. If all else fails, relax. Realize that you will get out one way or another, especially for high-traffic buildings.

15. Take the time to thank your rescuers. After all, they took time out of their work schedule to get you out of a jam. It's the least you can do.