East End to Östermalm

After 3 years with no one graduating, last Friday was the first of 3 consecutive Friday dissertation defenses at the department.  Like my arrival, the defenses were originally scheduled for January then delayed due to Omicron so they could be held in person. The process of defending a dissertation varies remarkably across countries, at least based on my personal experiences in the US, the Netherlands, and the UK where I've seen 3 very different models.  Sweden is now a 4th model. At Pitt, the committee consists of 3 departmental faculty and at least one outside member (often a faculty from another department at Pitt).  The candidate sends us a draft document at least two weeks in advance.  The student gives a public one hour presentation followed by an open question session, then there is a private QA with the committee.  After that the committee decides if the student passes, and usually the student is asked to make some writing and sometimes even new research ...

 I now have a  KTH computer account and keycard access to get into the Division of Speech, Music and Hearing (TMH)  (left) and Digital Futures (right) buildings.  The campus is quite nice and has lots of interesting outside artworks (like Thor). People are definitely sun workshippers like myself, even when it is only in the 30s (Fahrenheit)! Inside TMH, there is a room for fika .  We had three this week, one for the official semla day, one for a birthday, and one for the regular Friday event. Here is my office, and the building's spiral staircase from the lowest floor.  Interestingly my office key opens ALL offices within the department (which you need to first swipe to get access to).  Here is the main campus library.  Before a dissertation, the manuscripts are bound and displayed in the library.

Today I went in for the weekly meeting of the Division of Speech, Music, and Hearing .  My host, Joakim Gustafsson , is the head of the department. I'd say about half of the people were at the meeting in person and half attended via Zoom.  No masks.  After being hermits back home and not going into Pitt except to teach, being back in an office is pretty strange, particularly where no one is masking.  The Covid situation seems similar to the US so I am trusting the new CDC guidelines that masks off indoors is now largely okay.  I am still wearing my mask when I go into a store but Mark has thrown caution to the wind. I have a very nice office which I am sharing with someone who is currently on parental leave so it is basically private, and they have provided me with a mac desktop and huge monitor. I also went to meet the Digital Futures people who are paying for my visit, who greeted me with a chocolate cake.  I am the first of the 6 Scholars in Reside...

Well 7 years have passed so it is time for a new sabbatical blog! Diane is a Digital Futures 'Scholar in Residence' at KTH Royal Institute of Technology . After delaying our January arrival due to Omicron, we finally arrived in Stockholm on February 24. Sadly this turned out to also be when Putin arrived in Ukraine :-(  Today is our fourth day and we are settling in and slowly recovering from jet lag. Diane has been using Duolingo for over 60 days now to learn Swedish.  Although she was not convinced about the utility of some of what she was learning (e.g., moose), she has been very excited as she is indeed recognizing words both verbally and in writing.  Of course there is Google Translate which is the true lifesaver.  We live in a 2 bedroom apartment on campus in Drottning Kristinas väg 34B and 36A . Think graduate housing with minimal furnishings by Ikea.  The outside is the photo to the right; click the links above for the inside.  The place seems c...