Ethics, Ranking and Games in Research

Today one of a senior and very ethical researcher in my lab forward us this link and warn us of the embarrassment that can cause if we buy the biblometrics,  research articles or use any other unfair means in research. By reading this article many questions came in my mind.  (1) Whether the biblometric tools are the gold standard for measuring and ranking the relative importance of an article, author, journal or institution because it is always questionable as in my little experience I have found that the number of earned citation is quite less as compared to the number of citation gained by swapping citation with acquaintances. (2) The transparency of Thomson and Reuters as to my understanding it is not a non profit organisation it seems insane that a business oriented organisation is ranking the stuff related to academy, further where $$ cames the conflict of interest automatically born and in ranking there are so many conflicts one conflict is the question of the above linked article. I would rather say that if it is about ranking according to Thomson and Reuters than it is game and play it as Thomsons and Reuters designed the map and game play and as the King Abdul Aziz University plays the game very well and result in a win win situation. A solution for the ranking could be the creation of a ranking consortium in which all the bodies which produces the ranks index collaborate and produce an aggregate index based upon the combination of all the members index, in addition with introducing other metrics which is based upon practicality, impact on the human race, expert opinions, experience and many others. (3) The ranking is bullshit because no body in the world can measure the knowledge, intelligence, intellect of somebody else as these things are relative and vary in situation no absolute tool exists for measuring such things. Some people would argue that there are tests like IQ, interviews, focused questioning, examination but the answer is still these thing are relative because the human mind is so sensitive that it can be distracted on single pen drop noise or headache, or any other physiological or environmental distraction resulting in a bad exam, test or interview. Some people will say these methods still have a strong point which is the provision of the same laws and rules given to the contenders. In conclusion the program of King Abdul Aziz University to me is not an under cover secret program it is openly known and they offer salary for the players(scientists) to help in playing the ranking game.

Consitency is the key to success

The lack of consistency sometimes leads to jack of all trades situation which is a state of ineffectiveness. Sometime I found it very common the peoples become inspired from jack of all trades by quoting he is very fast, he knows many things. But when things came in business and job the are totally failure and the reason is there capabilities of handling many trades which divert there focus because when they saw somebody else working his job there mind start thinking about the other work as he knows that work a bit also. Another aspect  is the decrease in level of confidence due to jack of all trade scenario and the reason is no mastery no confidence . How it can be cured is something relative for any individual. But counselling at early ages can really change this scenario and it would be only possible if you analyze the behavior of your kids on time to time to know what is going on in their minds. Further to this silence can help you in building. 

The Inner Peace

A man who has peace inside his heart can get the concentration and focus needed to successfully execute and finish any work or task that is needful and lies under his duties. Other than that it is very difficult for man to do so until he has a strong will power to control his mind and activities.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

I will quote a saying of Mark Twain which according to me is the said for finding the inner peace when you find the destination the concentration and focus becomes easy.

Facebook Social Network Graph

It is very interesting to investigate the insight of your facebook social network graph. By visualizing the social graph you will be able to see the different clusters in your friend list.Inter and intra cluster bondings, strong ties, weak ties, and centrality. I have attached a picture of my facebook graph in this post. If you are in my friend list you can find your self and see other interesting patterns such as outliers. You can generate this type of graph using a facebook app called TouchGraph.

My Facebook Scoial Network Graph Visualization