a comment about the role of phd comics in grad culture

i sent a mail to Jorge Cham, our very own phdcomics artist. i am still considering to throw a shoe at him (figuratively speaking) when he comes to heidelberg next week.

Dear Jorge Cham,

I am a PhD student of Astronomy in Germany and as understandably, a
fan of PhD Comics. I believe your strips not only describe and
crystallize the situation of a PhD student but brings the students
together in their anguish. As the career development guy says[*], the
strips resonate with PhD students all over the world, due to the
common adversity. But make no mistake this mail is not simply a fanboy
expression of admiration but rather a hate mail aimed at you as an
artist who is the most important representative of the graduate
students in contemporary culture.

Your strips decipher what we care about most dearly and fear the most;
to sacrifice of our personal lives, the insignificance of our very
specialized research, built upon this shaky ground the competition and
the pretense surrounding it. This simply means, what PhD Comics does
best is to expose the exploitation in the "industry of science."

You are an artist who depict the reality in such a way that the crowds
find it compelling. This certain group is the main "labor force" of
the "industry," and should be the most educated minority of the
community but nevertheless they look at your strips when they feel
frustrated and then continue with their depressing routine and then
take some. Sometimes these are so terrible things that they don't even
make their way in your strips; like mobbing, sexual harassment or
being plagiarized by your superior.

What makes this mail an actual hate mail is my feeling that you
overlook your responsibility as an artist and even worse (again as the
career development guy says[*]) normalizing the miserable existence of
the graduate students. Your depiction of the PhD student is subaltern,
inertial and in most cases disempowered which, I agree, is not far
from reality and almost an exact description. The problem is, this
kind of crystallized depiction only furthers the learned helplessness
of the individuals. I was involved in arguments where PhD comic strips
were shown as evidence to keep the graduate school and the University
as it is because it is as it is, hence normal and acceptable.

Currently we are profiting from the glimpses you present of the big
gears that drive the science industry. These are things that we,
students do not have the opportunity to experience personally, your
work in exposing the inner workings (like the science vs. nature
strips) is highly appreciated. But keep in mind there are small and
almost unknown struggles happening in different cities and campuses in
the name of local grad students, be it for unionization or fair
employment, or to struggle for a just set of rules for graduate
school. I realize personally, it is our responsibility to point these
things to you, to the public and basically make them more visible.

In the final analysis I can neither judge you or suggest you a road
map. But what I could tell is having a political structure in the back
of an artist mind makes all the difference between pure entertainment
of daily ordeals or art that shifts the perception of the spectators.
Like the difference between contemporary hip-hop which barely will be
remembered and Gil Scott-Heron's spoken word which will echo over
generations through his words "the revolution will not be televised."

Have nice travels, and hopefully see you when you come to Heidelberg
(if I can find a spot in the auditory).

Ferayebend, Heidelberg**


[*] "The message of the presentation really resonated with our
students. The graduate school journey can be extremely isolating, and
Jorge Cham's presentation and comics normalize the experience and
provide solace and humor.“
-John Nonnamaker, Graduate Student Career Development, M.I.T., from
"the PhD lectures" testimonials http://www.phdcomics.com/speaking/

** i used my real name in the actual mail, of course.

a critique of economy of intellectual property, an introduction

it is time, as we the scientist need to acknowledge the fact that there is an economy behind our rather solipsist defined "search for reality" practice of science. Not only a whole industry of "tool building," is out there what is worse, our intellectual property gets owned by scientific journals so that they can sell subscriptions.

this discourse is motivated by a recent phdcomic.



they argue that they are providing the important service of deciding what is "cutting edge research." imagine the journals that affect you getting a job, continuing research are basically setting the "contemporary trends" in contrary to what most of the scientists think of as the science they need to pursue. i don't know what my molecular biology and biophysics friends think but my astronomer and physicist colleagues are fed up and disillusioned by the choices these highly regarded magazines make.

and get this, they are getting paid for this. be they are non-profit organizations or not.

here comes another challenger, called Public Library of Sciences. they support ideologically all articles should be publicly accessible and they publish online journals. they emerged from a very effective public relations stunt, which was triggered by a boycott of journals to make their archives public.

now they are considered to be a new business model in which they rely on scientist charges and do almost the same kind of editorial "filtering" that the high brow journals do.

i became interested in the progress of scientific publishing which not only affects but defines most of our lives. and this is a first post in this series. and i want to finish with a post from phdcomics phorum.

If I had any editorial input at The Onion, I would do an article about Nature announcing a new spin-off journal: Nature Horseshit. There'd be quotes from Nobel laureates about all the horseshit research they had that would be perfect for the journal, etc, etc.