h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ping! We can continue the conversation here, if you like...

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Of course, I like to.

So yes, it seems as if you are pretty quick about everything. And getting married at age 21 is pretty early in Germany, too. But in the end it's about if it feels right and if it does...

If you say you want to make some money first - do you mean just getting some job or something with computers?

Methos

It does feel good, aye. It's definitely the right decision!

I've already got myself a job at a Manchester company doing software engineering, so that'll keep me occupied for a bit, and earn me some money...

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You've already got yourself a job for when you have finished at university (how do you say that properly in English?)? God, and here I am in my sixth year at university with not much of a plan about what to do after.

Methos

The word for finishing at university is "graduating".

Sixth year? Is that a PhD or something?

Graduating, right! Thanks.

Erh, PhD? What's that? Actually you should graduate in 4 years plus another half a year for your final exam paper called "Magisterarbeit" but most students need longer than that.

Methos

PhD is a doctorate - one of those degrees that allow you to be called "Dr Owl" instead of "Mr Owl"... the "Ph" stands for "philosophy" ... it's something to do with writing a thesis on something new. They're very long courses indeed ... usually three years for graduates (so 6 in total). Undergraduate degrees, the type I'm doing, last three years in most places, although there may be a year in industry, making four, and in Scotland they're usually four anyway.

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Ah, a doctorate. And no I'm not doing that but studying for my "Magister" which is the title I get for studying four - or more - years and writing that paper. And in Germany, too, you are not expected to have new ideas of your own until you doctorate which I think is just tzottaly iditotic. I mean, who wants to just write ideas and arguments of other people together?

Methos

Magister? That sounds like it could be similar to the UK's "Master's" degree, which is an extra year of study on top of your "Bachelor's" (undergraduate) degree.

I think it's probably a good idea that it's only the Doctors who do new research... if everyone did it then there'd just be nothing left to research...

>>I think it's probably a good idea that it's only the Doctors who do new research... if everyone did it then there'd just be nothing left to research...<<

Well, unfortunately it's like that in German literature anyway. That's what I love about Mongolian studies - pick a topic and you may very well be the first one to write about it in German - or at all.

Methos

Hmm, yes I can imagine!

There's an awful lot left to research in my field. An AWFUL lot. I might go back to uni in a few years and do a PhD in something to do with the Semantic Web. Or whatever it will be called by then.

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Erh? The semantic web?

Methos

See if you're really interested...

Imagine a Worldwide Web that was aware of context... instead of searching for "hitchhiker", you could let the search engines know whether you want stuff to do with hitchhiking a holiday, or the hitchhiker's guide book, or h2g2... instead of following links people have put there for you, you are able to click on any word in a document and find more articles about it... you'll start to see web stuff like this in the coming years...

The Web is only ten years old, and look how far it's come in that time. Imagine what you'll have, semantically (ie not just _text_ but _context_), in ten years from now!

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Really, a web like that is the future? That would be great. You would no longer have to guess how to phrase something you type into a search engine...

Methos

It is! The future is bright! Well, as soon as ontology frameworks are sophisticated and fast enough to provide context...

The W3C's Web Ontology Language abbreviates to OWL (not WOL) ... so it must be a sign!

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Please keep in mind that I don't know anything about computers or the internet beyond how to use it.

So, what is the ontology framework?

By the way, is it awyfully hot in Manchester, too? In Berlin it sure is.

Methos

An ontology framework is a semantic (ahh.... you know that word, you literature-student...) database, if you like. It's a way of representing context for things. It's all very complicated and I don't really understand it myself, but it's fun!

And yes, it is far too hot. We only have two kinds of weather in Manchester... wet&windy (90%) and boiling (10%).

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And today it's boiling, I take it. Here too. And okay, I admit I was complaining about it beeing no real spring and wanting to have a real summer again- but this is too hot.

Methos

It's hot today, but a bit drizzly too, which is nice. And I know how you feel about wishing for summer! Happened last year around commonwealth games week too...

So, do you have to do any more exams or are you done?

Methos