Viva voce

Interesting that although it’s called ‘viva voce’ [live voice] (and I admit that I did choose to speak), my viva was conducted in both speech and sign…  It makes me wonder whether we should look further down the list of definitions for voice… have a look at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/voice for example… numbers 1-5 are typical, but these are more interesting.

6 – something likened to speech as conveying impressions to the mind

8 – the right to present and receive consideration of one’s desires or opinions

It’s rather like the re-work of ‘silence’ that I did a few years ago, where I defined silence not as a lack of sound, but as a lack of information presented in a form that can be perceived… ‘captured’… it’s interesting how well this links into Amartya Sen’s work on ‘Cap-abilities’… but that’s a post for another day.

Anyway, the viva went well… I’d like to thank Steve Emery and Mike Heffernan for the opportunity to discuss something that I’m passionate about for a whole three hours…  I am now Dr Gulliver (I’ve been reliably informed that I have the right to use it as soon as the decision is announced… and it’s proved to be remarkably useful in getting Mortgage Advisers  to take us seriously even though we have more-than-fragile incomes) and I begin the slow process of finding a full-time, long-term research position… not easy for a wide variety of reasons.

I’m currently working as a computer help-desker, with some additional research work at the Centre for Deaf Studies.

At the moment, a tenured lectureship seems a loooong way off.