thoughtcrumbs

Grad school blogs

Lately, I've been investigating the grad programs in HCI and design at several universities, and agonizing over the decision of where to apply. Like the kid in the nerdy candy store, I'm thrilled with the choices, but am having trouble deciding what I want. Web socialization patterns? Accessibility tool development? Hands-on interaction design? I've read scores of papers and talked to a dozen grad students (thank you guys! If I end up in your city, the beer's on me).

If any of the Ph.D. committees are reading this post, be assured that I know exactly what I want to investigate should I enter your program and promise to bring the department heaps of acclaim. And puppies. I'll bring puppies.

Several blogs have been helpful by detailing the day-to-day life at these schools. From photos of group projects, to effusive praise of inspiring professors, to gripes about the student health insurance, they color in the lines adumbrated by the official university pages. The following sites have been particularly useful:

• O Danny Boy - Dan Saffer's description of CMU's Interaction Design program. A favorite quote:

  Locker room talk: The talk in the men's locker room at CMU is seldom about women: it's about nearly everything else. I've overheard conversations about everything from testing Unix servers to the acting techniques of Stanford Meisner.

• Brightly Colored Food - Chad Thornton's blog about the same program. Chad now works for Google.
  
  
• Accretions - Morgan Ames, in SIMS at Berkeley. She has particularly good commentary on the connection between computers and ethics, and a great summary of the recent electronic voting talk at Grace Hopper.
  
  
• Sociable Thinking - Blog of the Sociable Media Group at MIT Media Lab. The Wikipedia visualization created by one of the members floored me at CHI.