Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

In my own mind I often compare my own career to that of a musician. Such a career is a mixture of hit songs, near misses, duds, and even periods where nothing seems to be happening at all. And it's very relative; I've never had a gold record, but I could, but it isn't up to me, and doesn't really reflect my work in any case. And this randomness isn't just me; it rules across the board. "We used a given work's number of citations (as provided by the Web of Science), auction price, and IMDB rating, respectively, as measures of quality and impact. We find that across these diverse careers, the random impact rule holds firm." So what's the lesson? "As long as you keep putting work out into the world, one project after another, your hot streak could be just around the corner." Or not. But it doesn't matter. Do the work. Keep researching, keep digging, keep developing. What happens, happens.

Today: 10 Total: 15 [Direct link]


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 06:02 a.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes