[Philosophy of Technology PhD programs?]

What about the MA program at Virginia Tech? Joseph Pitt works primarily in philosophy of science and technology. I believe Michigan State is also friendly to this sort of research, though perhaps from a more environmental angle.

 

You might also look at interdisciplinary programs that suit your interests and are housed at institutions with strong philosophy departments. NYU's PhD in Media, Culture, and Communication springs to mind; for ethics and technology (esp. values in design), Helen Nissenbaum is amazing. Science and Technology Studies programs could also potentially be a good fit. Rensselaer has a very good one, though admittedly I don't know anything about the philosophy department there. I think Cornell's STS program is also strong.

 

One last suggestion: look up authors of the more recent publications cited in the SEP Philosophy of Technology entry. This can be a good way to get the lay of the land, department-wise.

[Rejection thread]

Again, this issue is not necessarily about the quality of lamparem's comments, which most of us can agree (I hope) are either trolling or indicative of someone extremely stressed. It is about the ungrounded responses to those comments that completely condemn lamparem's ability as a potential PhD student in philosophy. No one is asking to tolerate lamparem's comments. But we are asking that preposterous or inoffensive comments should not be met with exaggerated acrimony and unnecessary hostility. Offensive comments should be ignored and/or disregarded because they add nothing to the dialogue or discussion. In what way can offensive responses to offensive comments be justified and contribute substantially to the current discussion? 

 

What's the difference between ignoring an offensive comment and tolerating an offensive comment?

[What was your experience like in LIS school?]

 

Hi everybody! I got an email this weekend from the LIS program chair letting me know that I was accepted to the MLISc program!

 

I've been obsessively trying to read about library school, but I haven't found anything very useful. My program only requires me to take classes and pass an oral comprehensive exam at the end (with an option to do a thesis instead). I can't relate to most grad students because they talk about PIs, doing research, running experiments, and writing theses/dissertations.

 

So,

1. What was graduate school like for you?
2. Was it easy or hard? Did it consume your life?
3. How close are/were you with your advisor? Did you get to choose your advisor?
4. Did your program require a thesis? If so, was it difficult to write?
5. What were your classmates like?
6. My curriculum has a LOT of group work. Did you have group work? Did your group members actually pull their weight?
7. Were there any differences between your undergrad experience and your grad school experience?

Sorry for all the questions. I am just really excited/apprehensive about this!

 

Congratulations on getting accepted! I'll put in another plug for Hack Library School (the Hack Your Program series is especially useful if you want to get a better sense of current students' impressions of their programs). You might also try getting in touch with students or alumni from your program to see what they say about their experiences.

 

On to your questions...

1. I really enjoyed doing my MLS. I learned a lot, and was able to undertake a specialization program that matched my interests.
2. Not sure I have a straightforward answer to this one. I think the difficulty varied a good bit from semester to semester. I also took some courses offered during the shorter terms (winter, summer), and those were all fairly demanding.
3. I worked pretty closely with an advisor, but that was probably due to shared research interests and the structure of my specialization program. From what I could tell, the level of communication with an advisor depended a lot on students' preferences and individual programs.
4. Nope.
5. A lot of my classmates worked full-time, but I noticed as I went through that the number of people enrolling straight out of undergrad increased. Many of my classmates were current library paraprofessionals, some were making career changes (teaching and journalism seemed to be among the most popular first careers), and still others were working in another field entirely. They represented lots of different life experiences, perspectives, etc.
6. My core classes stressed group work. People mostly pulled their weight. There were occasional miscommunications, but nothing that wasn't easily resolved. Also, we did a lot of our group work remotely and coordinated via email, which (at least for me) made it more manageable.
7. Yes! So many! They're really completely different beasts.