Day One: Social Isolation Starts

Today, the New Zealand government has increased Alert Level 3 in response to COVID19 outbreak. The Alert Level will further be increased to Level 4 on Wednesday. This means that everyone needs to stay at home! We can still go out for walks, but it is encouraged to minimise social interaction with those outside your household. So... don't meet up with friends in the park, don't invite your neighbours over for lunch! The good thing is that essential shops (supermarkets and pharmacies) will remain open.

I'm frankly a little bit afraid, but also hopeful that we are doing the right thing. I knew this total lockdown would happen. But, now that it is happening, I feel like things are so surreal! I don't think I have yet quite cognitively and emotionally processed what this means for how I go about my day-to-day.

Despite all of this, my life as a researcher continues. I am currently working on two projects: (1) low-cost community-engaged Earthquake Early Warning systems, and (2) high-impact weather citizen science. Today, I worked on both. Just going to lay down my accomplishments to feel good about myself:

• Sent out new invites for the EEW virtual workshop that is planned for 3rd of April
• Created a run sheet for the workshop
• Worked through with Emily on the agenda items for the workshop
• Coordinated a group call with HIWeather Citizen Science working group

There also seems to be a list of things I need to work on:

• Coordinate with the speakers for the workshop
• Send more invites for the EEW workshop
• Test ZOOM capabilities for the workshop
• Draft email to be sent out to the participants
• Work on the guidance note
• Write up minutes for QuakeCoRE and HIWeather calls

It all still seems quite busy for me. It may be a good thing, to keep busy! But I got to make sure I also take it easy on myself.

Also, I want to share some lighthearted stuff here (might need to create two separate posts in the future).

Day 1dinner: Stir-fry vegetables with rice:

My Problem with Problem Solving

"In problem solving, we often leap to a favourite or preferred solution without disciplining ourselves to diagnose the problem more deeply, mapping causes and consequences, generating real alternatives, and remaining truly open to the criticisms and refinements offered by others. Existing 'mental models' (about major cause-effect relationships in our world) tend to limit the range of our thinking about solutions to new problems.(Boxall & Purcell, 2011)"

I do tend to be very limited and un-creative when finding solutions. I hope I can overcome this in my dissertation.

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Boxall, P. F. & Purcell, J. (2011) Strategy and human resource management. 3rd. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

It's about Capacity Development

I read this in an online article on economic development ranking in the next 50 years...

" “If we step away from the cyclicality, there are two ways economies can grow; either add more people to the production line via growth in the working population, or make each individual more productive,” the report says.

In other words, demographics – the size of your working population – along with the opportunities to flex that muscle help determine long-term economic trends. Big factors on the back half of that equation: Education opportunities, democratic governments or strong rule of law (a caveat that explains China and Saudi Arabia’s high placement).

“We openly admit that behind these projections we assume governments build on their recent progress and remain solely focused on increasing the living standards for their populations,” the report says. “Of course, this maybe an overly glossy way of viewing the world.” (Voigt, 2012) "

Capacity development is about the strengthening of capabilities at three levels: individuals, organisations and societies (UNDP, 2008). In order for Philippines to really rise among the nations, it needs to continue to build on its infrastructure to develop capacities for its people.

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UNDP (2008), Capacity Development Practice Note. New York
URL: http://www.undp.org/capacity/library_policynotes.shtml

Voigt, Kevin (2012), World's top economies in 2050 will be...
URL: http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/12/worlds-top-economies-in-2050-will-be/