Writing about Informatics

My pledge to frequently blog has withered. It is certainly hard to write consistently. In working on behavioral informatics projects, I have realized that projects and the papers that come from them are quite different, and how you manage them must also be different.

Informatics projects are like pets, you have to take care of them. They have to be fed and watered, they like attention often times. But, they often take on a personality of their own and do not like to be pushed too hard. If you do not take care of them, they often have a way of notifying you - they might tear up you slippers or soil the floor.

Papers are different, they are like plants. Papers can sit on the shelf and slowly wither with time, dying a slow, quiet death of neglect. They do not bark or notify you that you are neglecting them. To get writing done, you do need a different approach.