Writing Explanatory Tripnote
I read somewhere (but never stored the link) that people should add a more lengthy description in their trip notes (or vacation messages or whatever people call it) and decided to try it. Usually, I have only added a very brief message about when I return, but I think the point of adding a longer one is to explain why one cannot be as accessible as one usually may be.
One can no longer excuse oneself with a message saying no internet connection. Even in the remotest places in Norway, we have 5G these days. So technically speaking, I will have (too) good internet all summer. However, I still need to check my e-mail from time to time. Being a university professor with Ph.D. students about to submit their dissertations and as a center director responsible for around 50 people means that I need to be available over the summer. However, being available for some signatures and emergency messages differs from replying to all sorts of things during summer. Thus, I think it makes sense to explain that when I take two months “off” during the summer (from mid-June to mid-August), it is not because I do not do anything but because I do other things than when I am in the office (almost) every day.
Thus, for this summer season, I have made this trip note:
Hi,
Thanks for contacting me. We have entered the summer season, so I spend less time reading and writing e-mails and more time on other things. My now-list includes spending more time with my > family but also the completion of some projects:
- finalizing an anthology called Sonic Design based on an [international seminar](https://www.hf.uio.no/imv/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences/2022/> sonic-design/index.html) we organized last year.
- completing the first draft of my new monograph Still Standing. This involves standing still 10 minutes per day this year. Follow the progress on > Mastodon.
If you want something to read this summer, check out my book: Sound > Actions, available for free to download.
Also, don’t forget that we have three active courses running on the FutureLearn platform: Music Moves, Motion Capture, and > Pupillometry.
Happy holidays!
Best,
Alexander Refsum Jensenius
Professor, Department of Musicology, University of Oslo
Director, RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time, and > Motion
Director, fourMs Lab
Feel free to e-mail me, but don’t expect a quick reply.