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Friday, Oct 23, 2009 - 03:04 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Ad Libs

Another day, another assignment completed, another (mostly) random topic.

After discovering that this blog has been inadvertently shilling for a book by the founder of Scientology, thanks to the wisdom of Google AdSense, it seemed apropos to list out some of the advertising-related items of interest that I've come across lately (not that I'll try to block that ad, disagree but defend right to say [and pay] yadda yadda).


Ads

Alright, first up, Yahoo! Singapore at the ITE Dover bus-stop (opposite the NUS track):


Revealing campaign


Chalk one up for participation, even if I didn't kope one of those squares of plastic in the end. A neat idea all-in-all.

Following that, 137infinity.sg . They had rather heavily saturated the local online adspace, to the extent that they even showed up on the Garena client. Was it a music album, a movie, or an online game (in their own words)? No, it's Singapore's very own third-generation army (and navy, and air force)! 1 SAF, 3 Career Schemes, 7 Core Values, Infinite Possibilities! Reminds me of ditloids: Quick, what does 52 C in a P (W J) mean?

Not signing on anytime soon.

Moving slighty further afield, Facebook popped up with this beauty, for O'Bama's Irish Sandwich Bar, and yes, Obama does have Irish ancestry. Is there any way he could be more cosmopolitan than he already is? He does have a freakishly universal smile, for one, and it may yet be prudent to judge a man by his face.

On an even more global scale, the Catholic church is making it easier for Anglicans to convert (wait, aren't they of the same flock? Well, not quite it seems). True, this isn't profane, material advertising, but (cough) if one isn't pleased with women and gays playing larger roles, for which they are eminently not meant to fill (cough), well, do we have an offer!


Lib

Among this trip's selection was University Inc: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education by Jennifer Washburn. Easier to summarize than most, the book is essentially one example after another of how money is influencing universities. In truth, money does influence many things, but many do believe in the ideal of college being where badly-dressed academics can argue wholeheartedly about the finer points of some abstract theory that is of little practical significance, without filthy lucre polluting their immaculate and vigorous debates.

Well, in the fields where the "little practical significance" part holds true, if only in the immediate and monetary sense (i.e. most of the liberal arts, and perhaps pure mathematics), the academics are mostly untouched; but where big bucks come in, most noticeably in biotech where a successful new drug can earn hundreds of millions, but also in other areas of science and engineering, money talks in their labs and lecture halls. Loudly.

The condensed liturgy of ills is more or less this: A star professor is hired, on the condition that he doesn't have to teach too many sniveling undergraduates, so that he can focus on research, which is what brings in grant money and gains prestige. Actually, this is not bad in itself, since in reality many graduate students might be competent in tutoring the average undergrad in Calculus 101, but not many can create new theories and push the boundaries of human knowledge. (Of course, this is the worst case - some great researchers also love to teach)

The professor then sets up a lab with the money, which may come from benefactors and the government (as is traditional) and students (whose rising tuition fees show no sign of slowing), but increasingly from private industry as well. He who pays the piper calls the tune, and the companies have, among other things, been known to set directions for research, prod researchers towards favourable (and dishonest) outcomes, claim ownership and patents on the results (despite being partially publicly funded!) and disallow publication and sharing of new knowledge, which is just about the antithesis of what being an academic is supposed to be.

Universities haven't been shy about getting into the act either, and they have been known to invest heavily in start-up companies run by professors and alumni, sometimes hitting the jackpot (as Stanford did, with a near US$200 million windfall from Google back in 2004). Again, it is unclear if institutions that are supposed to be impartial in the pursuit of truth should be doing this, but with endowment, facilities, quality of personnel and status going hand in hand, the attraction of a solid financial base is palpable.

What is startling is that the list of the accused reads like a survey of America's top universities, but when reconsidered, that only makes sense; If outside investors want to get rich from innovation, would they approach an average state community college, or go direct to the pillars of the establishment, the Harvards, Yales and Princetons?

Though not the primary focus of the book, there are some observation on the implications of rankings, with gaming the U.S. News & World Report being widespread (the tongue-in-cheek University of Poppleton being a recent winner).

Where does all this leave me, as a newly-minted graduate student? First, I'll need to have some cash thrown my way. Joking aside, I've always leant towards applied research - not for me the elevated sensibilities of G.H. Hardy and the like. I'll cross bridges when I get to them.


A Final Note

It has come as something of a dismay that a number of my acquaintances have been deleting, password-protecting, hiding, or simply letting their blogs die a lingering death. Come on, people, is the going that bad? Let free expression live!

(Disclaimer: If someday, any of you get into trouble with your significant other/social circle/boss/colleague/constituents for something in your blog, remember, you wrote it. It had nothing to do with me.)



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