One of the most significant challenges that creative individuals and teams face involves the decisions they make about their projects. These choices include, but are not limited to, what projects to pursue, whom to work with, which methodologies and techniques to use, how to execute these projects, and where and how to present them to a wider audience.
Each of these decisions, whether conscious or unconscious, involves a series of cost-benefit calculations.
That being said, it’s easy to fall into the trap of going for what seems like the “low-hanging fruit.”
In the academic world, this often translates into working on tasks like developing teaching resources, and researching and writing conference papers, opinion pieces, letters to the editor, encyclopedia entries, book reviews, and chapters in edited scholarly books.
At first glance, these types of projects can seem rewarding. They may provide temporary personal satisfaction, including a sense of accomplishment, and with most of them the joy of finally seeing your ideas and work in print. Moreover, when anyone asks you what you are working on, at the very least you probably won’t look or sound dumbfounded.
And, in the early stages of an academic career, these material items can serve as essential building blocks for establishing a scholarly publishing track record.
Undoubtedly, many scholars, especially those early in their careers, invest substantial resources on topics and with projects that don’t necessarily help them achieve their goals of securing an academic position, earning tenure and promotion. Engaging in this kind of work is sometimes akin to indulging in comfort food—it feels good, but you know it’s not it’s not good for you.
However, as academics progress in their careers, especially if they are working in highly ranked institutions of higher learning, these types of projects may not significantly advance scholars careers. Why? In most academic circles, (short of the views expressed by adherents to Scholarship Reconsidered), these products are not as valued as articles published in high-status peer-reviewed journals.
Spending one’s resources on low hanging fruit can lead to frustration, missed opportunities, and, in some cases, even depression or job stagnation or loss. Thus, in academic research, it’s essential to go through a conscious decision-making process that makes sense to you. Yes, you can publish in venues where the bar to admission is not that high, but it’s also wise to consider your predicted return on investment and “Who is the audience for your research?”
Just like the student or colleague who tells you, “But I really worked hard on this paper,” you too might spend countless hours on a project, even getting the work published in a highly ranked journal, but if your target audience doesn’t truly care, it may not yield the desired meaningful (scholarly) impact.
Conducting scholarly research is all about making cost-benefit calculations. There are undoubtedly better and worse subjects to write about, methodologies to employ, and venues where your work might appear in print.
In conclusion, making informed choices in academic research involves more than just picking low-hanging fruit. It’s about evaluating the real value and potential impact of your work, considering your intended audience and long-term goals, and making decisions that align with the academic journey you want.
Photo credit:
Photographer: Donyanedomam
Title: Group of Rhesus macaques eating bananas stock photo
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/iStock-518257198-scaled.jpg17072560Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2023-11-12 15:43:122023-11-12 15:43:12Some low hanging fruit is just rotten
Graffiti and street art have been a constant presence in the long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and the Occupied Territories (i.e., West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights) and Gaza.
Not only have Israelis and Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories and Gaza engaged graffiti and street art (e.g., Know Hope, El Mac and Retna), but well-known outsiders like Banksy, Blue and Swoon have produced iconic and powerful images and messages on various surfaces, including border walls that separate Israel from the West Bank and elsewhere.
That being said, graffiti and street art connected to the conflict has never been confined to the war zone. We have seen all manner of this form of political communication in urban public spaces in major cities worldwide.
This brings us to the current conflict. On Sunday October 7, 2023 Hamas forces kidnapped almost 200 people (mostly Israelis) and killed another 1,400.
Almost immediately, Nitzan Mintz, (a visual poet) and Dede Bandaid (a visual artist), Israelis temporarily living in the United States (with the assistance of graphic designers Tal Huber and Shira Gershoni), quickly created posters/flyers featuring the images of the kidnapped individuals. These were rapidly disseminated worldwide. A veritable army of sympathizers downloaded this content from the web and started affixing these posters in public places in large cities. In many ways, these posters of the kidnapped Israelis, served as a compelling form of agitprop, likely to evoke strong reactions from a wider audience.
In many respects, this activity has historical precedents. For example, starting in the 1980s, American street artist Robbie Conal, regularly produced posters with unflattering hand drawn images resembling caricatures of dictators, corrupt politicians, and tyrants, accompanied by disparaging text. Numerous volunteers quickly affixed these posters to utility poles, building walls, street signs, etc. throughout the United States and around the world.
But the postering of kidnapped Israeli citizens took an immediate turn when Israeli Defense Forces started bombing of Gaza, leading to significant property destruction, injuries, and civilian casualties. While the painting of swastikas on lots of surfaces, including Jewish cemetery tombstones and properties owned by Jewish individuals have been marked with Stars of David appeared to increase, the posters depicting the kidnapped Israelis were no longer tolerated.
Despite the fact that most street art is low-level vandalism and an act of property crime, we are now seeing the posters of the kidnapped Israelis torn down not by public works departments, or ghost buffers, but by individuals who are unhappy with the Israeli response to Hamas.
What lessons can be learned from this case study? In short, it highlights the potential risks and complexities associated with street art as a form of activism. It also underscores the idea that even when street artists have good intentions and aim to raise awareness and provoke moral outrage through their work, there is no guarantee that the public’s reactions will align with their objectives. Ultimately there is an inherent unpredictability of public perception and the limitations of an artist’s control over their message. While graffiti and street art can be a powerful medium for social commentary, it comes with inherent uncertainties and challenges.
In sum, even a well-orchestrated effort to create and disseminate street art designed to raise awareness, garner sympathy, and moral outrage can backfire. Experienced graffiti writers and street artists know too well that once they have completed their work, reactions to it are beyond their control.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Oren Rozen
Title: Posters in front of the Kirya, calling for the return of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2023-11-04-at-9.47.45-AM.png7151074Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2023-11-04 17:17:232024-09-22 12:19:37When street art provokes moral outrage?
A great example within this genre is the 1985 comedy Tampopo, directed by Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami.
This movie (clocking in at 115 minutes), with performances by actors who are now household names in Japan, consists of a series of vignettes that explores Japanese food culture, but mainly ramen cooking.
Although the film weaves various storylines together, delving into themes of love, power, and sexuality, its primary focus is on the central narrative of Lai Lai, who owns a struggling ramen restaurant, assisted by Goro, a good looking, relatively young itinerant trucker, to find and perfect a recipe to create the most savory ramen noodle dish.
This sets off a hero’s journey type quest.
Although Goro knows a thing or two about cooking, it’s not necessarily ramen. For example, he instructs Lai Lai on such things as sizing up the customer, or how ramen chefs analyze the customer experience, to see how they react, this kind of knowledge is not sufficient.
It’s also not completely clear why Lai Lai wants to perfect making ramen. It raises questions about whether it’s driven by Goro’s critical remarks about the quality of her ramen, or a deeper affection for him, even though their relationship lacks overt physical connection, which contrasts with other vignettes in the film.
Despite its comedic nature and the presence of various subplots, Tampopo imparts valuable knowledge about Japanese food culture and mastery of Japanese cooking. These lessons can be ranked in order of increasing significance:
In the realm of food preparation, it’s essential to uphold etiquette, but equally vital is the decorum surrounding the act of dining. This decorum often involves a deep reverence for rituals.
In pursuing a goal, like perfecting the cooking of ramen, it’s important to not only pay attention to detail (such as the ingredients that one purchases, uses, their type and quality etc.), but it’s also crucial to be highly organized.
In skill acquisition, its necessary to not only suggest and provide solutions to challenges (and not simply give up), but to also anticipate needs (e.g., proactive assistance). This is demonstrated when Goro goes out of his way to offer creative solutions to Lai Lai’s challenges.
It’s crucial to minimize mistakes as they erode trust in your audience, customers, co-workers, etc.. The movie highlights how over time when chefs and restaurants make mistakes with their cooking they lose clientele. Thus it’s essential to be thorough and committed to excellence.
In order to perfect one’s craft it’s essential to learn, be given, or discover detailed information and explanations about techniques and ingredients.
Ultimately, Tampopo encourages its viewers to prioritize skills and knowledge over faith in individuals of high status or authority. This message is embodied in Lai Lai’s (and to a lesser extent Goro’s) journey as she learns from a diverse group of individuals. Similar to Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the movie also reminds viewers that the quest is not simply to improve one’s ability to make something (in this case ramen), but to perfect it.
Although learning from a movie about ramen making has its limitations, and regardless of its subject domain, it is one extra way we can benefit from improving our craft.
Photo Credit
From the movie Tampopo
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2023-10-28-at-8.09.04-AM.png7171271Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2023-10-28 15:48:522024-12-08 05:28:52The timeless wisdom of TAMPOPO
Some low hanging fruit is just rotten
/by Jeffrey Ian RossOne of the most significant challenges that creative individuals and teams face involves the decisions they make about their projects. These choices include, but are not limited to, what projects to pursue, whom to work with, which methodologies and techniques to use, how to execute these projects, and where and how to present them to a wider audience.
Each of these decisions, whether conscious or unconscious, involves a series of cost-benefit calculations.
That being said, it’s easy to fall into the trap of going for what seems like the “low-hanging fruit.”
In the academic world, this often translates into working on tasks like developing teaching resources, and researching and writing conference papers, opinion pieces, letters to the editor, encyclopedia entries, book reviews, and chapters in edited scholarly books.
At first glance, these types of projects can seem rewarding. They may provide temporary personal satisfaction, including a sense of accomplishment, and with most of them the joy of finally seeing your ideas and work in print. Moreover, when anyone asks you what you are working on, at the very least you probably won’t look or sound dumbfounded.
And, in the early stages of an academic career, these material items can serve as essential building blocks for establishing a scholarly publishing track record.
Undoubtedly, many scholars, especially those early in their careers, invest substantial resources on topics and with projects that don’t necessarily help them achieve their goals of securing an academic position, earning tenure and promotion. Engaging in this kind of work is sometimes akin to indulging in comfort food—it feels good, but you know it’s not it’s not good for you.
That being said, some colleges and universities, adopting the “something is better than nothing” approach, give the production of these types of publications and resources equal weight in tenure, promotion, and merit decisions.
However, as academics progress in their careers, especially if they are working in highly ranked institutions of higher learning, these types of projects may not significantly advance scholars careers. Why? In most academic circles, (short of the views expressed by adherents to Scholarship Reconsidered), these products are not as valued as articles published in high-status peer-reviewed journals.
Spending one’s resources on low hanging fruit can lead to frustration, missed opportunities, and, in some cases, even depression or job stagnation or loss. Thus, in academic research, it’s essential to go through a conscious decision-making process that makes sense to you. Yes, you can publish in venues where the bar to admission is not that high, but it’s also wise to consider your predicted return on investment and “Who is the audience for your research?”
Just like the student or colleague who tells you, “But I really worked hard on this paper,” you too might spend countless hours on a project, even getting the work published in a highly ranked journal, but if your target audience doesn’t truly care, it may not yield the desired meaningful (scholarly) impact.
Conducting scholarly research is all about making cost-benefit calculations. There are undoubtedly better and worse subjects to write about, methodologies to employ, and venues where your work might appear in print.
In conclusion, making informed choices in academic research involves more than just picking low-hanging fruit. It’s about evaluating the real value and potential impact of your work, considering your intended audience and long-term goals, and making decisions that align with the academic journey you want.
Photo credit:
Photographer: Donyanedomam
Title: Group of Rhesus macaques eating bananas stock photo
When street art provokes moral outrage?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossGraffiti and street art have been a constant presence in the long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and the Occupied Territories (i.e., West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights) and Gaza.
Not only have Israelis and Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories and Gaza engaged graffiti and street art (e.g., Know Hope, El Mac and Retna), but well-known outsiders like Banksy, Blue and Swoon have produced iconic and powerful images and messages on various surfaces, including border walls that separate Israel from the West Bank and elsewhere.
That being said, graffiti and street art connected to the conflict has never been confined to the war zone. We have seen all manner of this form of political communication in urban public spaces in major cities worldwide.
This brings us to the current conflict. On Sunday October 7, 2023 Hamas forces kidnapped almost 200 people (mostly Israelis) and killed another 1,400.
Almost immediately, Nitzan Mintz, (a visual poet) and Dede Bandaid (a visual artist), Israelis temporarily living in the United States (with the assistance of graphic designers Tal Huber and Shira Gershoni), quickly created posters/flyers featuring the images of the kidnapped individuals. These were rapidly disseminated worldwide. A veritable army of sympathizers downloaded this content from the web and started affixing these posters in public places in large cities. In many ways, these posters of the kidnapped Israelis, served as a compelling form of agitprop, likely to evoke strong reactions from a wider audience.
In many respects, this activity has historical precedents. For example, starting in the 1980s, American street artist Robbie Conal, regularly produced posters with unflattering hand drawn images resembling caricatures of dictators, corrupt politicians, and tyrants, accompanied by disparaging text. Numerous volunteers quickly affixed these posters to utility poles, building walls, street signs, etc. throughout the United States and around the world.
But the postering of kidnapped Israeli citizens took an immediate turn when Israeli Defense Forces started bombing of Gaza, leading to significant property destruction, injuries, and civilian casualties. While the painting of swastikas on lots of surfaces, including Jewish cemetery tombstones and properties owned by Jewish individuals have been marked with Stars of David appeared to increase, the posters depicting the kidnapped Israelis were no longer tolerated.
Despite the fact that most street art is low-level vandalism and an act of property crime, we are now seeing the posters of the kidnapped Israelis torn down not by public works departments, or ghost buffers, but by individuals who are unhappy with the Israeli response to Hamas.
What lessons can be learned from this case study? In short, it highlights the potential risks and complexities associated with street art as a form of activism. It also underscores the idea that even when street artists have good intentions and aim to raise awareness and provoke moral outrage through their work, there is no guarantee that the public’s reactions will align with their objectives. Ultimately there is an inherent unpredictability of public perception and the limitations of an artist’s control over their message. While graffiti and street art can be a powerful medium for social commentary, it comes with inherent uncertainties and challenges.
In sum, even a well-orchestrated effort to create and disseminate street art designed to raise awareness, garner sympathy, and moral outrage can backfire. Experienced graffiti writers and street artists know too well that once they have completed their work, reactions to it are beyond their control.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Oren Rozen
Title: Posters in front of the Kirya, calling for the return of Israeli hostages taken to Gaza
The timeless wisdom of TAMPOPO
/by Jeffrey Ian RossSeveral recurrent themes are present in Japanese films. One of them is references to food, cuisine, or washoku (i.e., traditional Japanese cooking).
A great example within this genre is the 1985 comedy Tampopo, directed by Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami.
This movie (clocking in at 115 minutes), with performances by actors who are now household names in Japan, consists of a series of vignettes that explores Japanese food culture, but mainly ramen cooking.
Although the film weaves various storylines together, delving into themes of love, power, and sexuality, its primary focus is on the central narrative of Lai Lai, who owns a struggling ramen restaurant, assisted by Goro, a good looking, relatively young itinerant trucker, to find and perfect a recipe to create the most savory ramen noodle dish.
This sets off a hero’s journey type quest.
Although Goro knows a thing or two about cooking, it’s not necessarily ramen. For example, he instructs Lai Lai on such things as sizing up the customer, or how ramen chefs analyze the customer experience, to see how they react, this kind of knowledge is not sufficient.
It’s also not completely clear why Lai Lai wants to perfect making ramen. It raises questions about whether it’s driven by Goro’s critical remarks about the quality of her ramen, or a deeper affection for him, even though their relationship lacks overt physical connection, which contrasts with other vignettes in the film.
Despite its comedic nature and the presence of various subplots, Tampopo imparts valuable knowledge about Japanese food culture and mastery of Japanese cooking. These lessons can be ranked in order of increasing significance:
In the realm of food preparation, it’s essential to uphold etiquette, but equally vital is the decorum surrounding the act of dining. This decorum often involves a deep reverence for rituals.
In pursuing a goal, like perfecting the cooking of ramen, it’s important to not only pay attention to detail (such as the ingredients that one purchases, uses, their type and quality etc.), but it’s also crucial to be highly organized.
In skill acquisition, its necessary to not only suggest and provide solutions to challenges (and not simply give up), but to also anticipate needs (e.g., proactive assistance). This is demonstrated when Goro goes out of his way to offer creative solutions to Lai Lai’s challenges.
It’s crucial to minimize mistakes as they erode trust in your audience, customers, co-workers, etc.. The movie highlights how over time when chefs and restaurants make mistakes with their cooking they lose clientele. Thus it’s essential to be thorough and committed to excellence.
In order to perfect one’s craft it’s essential to learn, be given, or discover detailed information and explanations about techniques and ingredients.
Ultimately, Tampopo encourages its viewers to prioritize skills and knowledge over faith in individuals of high status or authority. This message is embodied in Lai Lai’s (and to a lesser extent Goro’s) journey as she learns from a diverse group of individuals. Similar to Jiro Dreams of Sushi, the movie also reminds viewers that the quest is not simply to improve one’s ability to make something (in this case ramen), but to perfect it.
Although learning from a movie about ramen making has its limitations, and regardless of its subject domain, it is one extra way we can benefit from improving our craft.
Photo Credit
From the movie Tampopo