Interdisciplinarity

I have previously explored how NotebookLM can generate ERC-style CVs based on publicly available research information. Now, I was curious to see whether it could also make a complete CV following the guidelines of the Norwegian Career Assessment Matrix (NOR-CAM). The NOR-CAM principles Creating a CV that follows the NOR-CAM principles is less about listing dates and more about telling the story of an academic career through a balance of quantitative data and qualitative reflection. If you are interested in learning more about NOR-CAM, have a look at the full report. Here is a 4-minute video introduction to the system: ...

While part of the group that developed the Norwegian Career Assessment Matrix (NOR-CAM), I strongly advocated for the development of an “automagic” CV system. This was based on the fact that I (and many other researchers) spend too much time working on formatting our CVs for new templates. All funders have their own CV templates, which often change from year to year. Copying and formatting the same information over and over is (literally) a waste of time, so there is room for improvement. ...

One of my main goals while teaching MUS2640 – Sensing Sound and Music last semester was the integration of perspectives from musicology, psychology, and technology. The main point is to introduce the basics of music psychology and music technology, two disciplines that are quite distinct in most places, but which we at the University of Oslo have a tradition of combining. In this post, I explain the rationale. Three “logies” One of my main arguments is that we should consider the three “logies” involved in this course: ...

I have visited the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Coimbra over the last couple of days. During two packed days, I got to hear exciting presentations by various researchers, present how we work at RITMO, and engage in lively discussions about how best to organise interdisciplinary research activities. The “coffee machine” philosophy Many people are curious about how we run RITMO, which brings together around 60 researchers from musicology, psychology, and informatics to interact on a daily basis. There are not many centres around that are as “radically” interdisciplinary as us, to use a term commonly used by the Research Council of Norway to describe research activities crossing between the arts and humanities and the social and natural sciences. ...

Some years ago, I was heavily involved in the development of NOR-CAM (Norwegian Career Assessment Matrix), a framework designed to support the assessment and recognition of a broad range of academic activities and competencies. This work aimed to promote more comprehensive and transparent evaluation practices in academia. One thing is developing high-level policies; another is trying these things in practice. I am fortunate enough to direct a research centre (RITMO), which involves a significant amount of career development work daily. I was therefore pleased to be invited by the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) to discuss my experiences with the NOR-CAM principles in an interdisciplinary setting. ...

This semester, I have taught a new course at the Department of Musicology at the University of Oslo: MUS2640 – Sensing Sound and Music. Since I have been “bought out” to run RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion since 2018, I haven’t taught a regular class in many years. However, all my colleagues were busy with other things, and I thought it would be fun to engage with bachelor’s students again on a regular basis, so I took the challenge. ...

This text was written for the festschrift for the symposium on 6 September 2024 celebrating Marc Leman’s achievements as professor of Ghent University and marking his retirement. In his seminal book Embodied Music Cognition and Mediation Technology, Marc Leman (2008) drew up a theoretical framework that has influenced a whole new generation of researchers, myself included. Building on a long tradition of systematic musicology, combined with ecological psychology and modern technology, he convincingly set the direction for a fresh approach to scientific studies of musical experiences. In the following, I will reflect on some concepts raised in his discussion and also point out some that he did not address completely, but that have been left for others, like myself, to explore in more details. ...

I notice that the two terms methods and methodology are often mixed up. It is actually quite simple to remember the difference if you consider the etymology. The “-logy” part suggests that “methodology” concerns the knowledge of methods. Here is a quick run-down of how to differentiate between them in academic writing. A methods section in a paper In a conference paper or journal article, you typically want to describe the method you used. What data collection approach did you employ? What equipment did you use? What did you ask your participants to do? A methods section in a paper describes such things with a level of detail necessary for others to understand what you did. ...

I continue exploring how ChatGPT can be used meaningfully in my daily life. Today, I have looked at how it can help me rewrite my bio. Whenever I do some public speaking, I typically need to submit a bio for the event page. Often, the organizers ask about a particular number of words (60, 100, 200, etc.). This falls within the category of “publicazione con variazione”, and is mainly an annoying and time-consuming task. ...

I am supervising several PhD fellows at the moment and have found that I repeat myself in the one-to-one meetings. So I will write blog posts summarizing general advice I give everyone. This post deals with what a PhD dissertation should look like. The classic Ph.D. dissertation Dear PhD fellow (in Norway, PhD fellows are employees, not students): All dissertations are different, yours included. You can write it however you want as long as it is good! It will be evaluated by people like me—experts in the field—often with long experience in supervising and reviewing dissertations. There is no right or wrong; go for something “safe” unless you feel incredibly confident. Your dissertation is not the place to experiment with weird things. ...