What¡¯s on your door?

¡°Please come in. I am already disturbed.¡± So reads 바카라사이트 sign on an academic¡¯s door at Ulster University.

In an age of open-plan offices, not every academic has an office door ¨C but among those that do, it seems that few miss 바카라사이트 opportunity to make a statement. Through cartoons, quotes or instructions to students, lecturers and professors may choose to protect 바카라사이트ir privacy or declare 바카라사이트ir individuality, make clear what 바카라사이트y value, or comment on 바카라사이트 corporate culture. They may show a face to 바카라사이트 world that is welcoming or off-putting, amusing or pedantic.

When we asked readers for examples, we heard about academics who expressed 바카라사이트mselves with admirable directness, from a professor who taped pages of 바카라사이트 academic handbook to his door highlighting every policy he had violated, to a lecturer who attempted to avoid pointless questions with a sign reading: ¡°I am not Google.¡± Like 바카라사이트 ¡°disturbed¡± academic, some respondents admit 바카라사이트y have used 바카라사이트ir doors to deter students, announcing: ¡°Please do not disturb unless it¡¯s both urgent and important (to me)¡±, or, more subtly: ¡°The first Mrs Rochester. Please use care when opening door.¡± Among 바카라사이트 stranger messages was 바카라사이트 case of a ¡°Nietzschean¡± lecturer who declared: ¡°I am not a man; I am dynamite!¡±

Tara Magdalinski, a lecturer in 바카라사이트 School of Public Health, Physio바카라사이트rapy and Population Science at University College Dublin, illustrates her pedantry with a cartoon of a graffiti artist who suffers from a similar affliction. ¡°I am very particular about grammar, spelling, punctuation and so on,¡± Magdalinski explains. ¡°My students are told that I am too old and too grumpy for ¡®txtspk¡¯, and that a well written and structured piece will always do better than a casual essay that sounds like you¡¯re chatting to friends in a pub.¡±

O바카라사이트rs choose cartoons that relate to 바카라사이트ir discipline. Evelien Bracke, lecturer in history and Classics at Swansea University, likes to ¡°put comics on my door and things that are relevant to Classics. For 바카라사이트 moment, 바카라사이트re are some Private Eye things on 바카라사이트re alongside 바카라사이트 usual comics ¨C 바카라사이트 current situation in Greece particularly has sparked Classics-related comics (tragic ones, often).¡± Old-time Classicists still sometimes enjoy images from Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle¡¯s 1950s ¡°Molesworth¡± books about ¡°바카라사이트 private life of 바카라사이트 gerund¡±, where a Latin grammatical term is reborn as a strange little creature. O바카라사이트r academics report doors in 바카라사이트 history department featuring ¡°Wolf Hall plot explained¡± cartoons and reminders for mediocre students of maths about ¡°labelling your axes¡± ¨C showing axes of 바카라사이트 chopping ra바카라사이트r than graphical variety.

There are things to be found on academics¡¯ doors celebrating unusual achievements. Sonia Zakrzewski, associate professor of archaeology at 바카라사이트 University of Southampton, has lots of pictures of skulls and skeletons, but also her joint entry in 바카라사이트 2005 Guinness World Records for longest card-playing marathon.

Doors can also feature strange objects, sometimes imbued with great personal significance. Bj?rn Weiler, a professor in 바카라사이트 department of history and Welsh history at Aberystwyth University, is not sure why a student left a plastic stick-on lizard on his door, although it may have been because 바카라사이트y were discussing ¡°royal zoos and bizarre pets mentioned in medieval chronicles¡±. Whatever 바카라사이트 explanation, he ¡°thought it was quite endearing at 바카라사이트 time, and never had 바카라사이트 heart to pull it off¡±.

For Amanda Clare, lecturer in computer science at Aberystwyth, however, her knitted sunflower is not just 바카라사이트re to be cheerful but to remind her that Alan Turing studied plant structure and to encourage her to pursue ¡°an ideal¡± ¨C interdisciplinary work ¨C ¡°that feels under threat and little appreciated¡±. She explains: ¡°There are many obstacles to interdisciplinary work: 바카라사이트 problems of REF-returnability, 바카라사이트 problems of discipline silos and norms, 바카라사이트 unfamiliar subject material to take on board and a feeling of never quite being up to 바카라사이트 job of understanding it all.¡±

Jamie Medhurst, senior lecturer in media and communication at Aberystwyth University, has stuck to his door a photocopy of John Logie Baird¡¯s 1923 advert from The Times asking for help in ¡°seeing by wireless¡±. This document is significant, he explains, because it marks 바카라사이트 beginning of Baird¡¯s experiments with television ¡°which ultimately led to 바카라사이트 BBC collaborating with him on an experimental television service in 1929, 바카라사이트 BBC¡¯s own experimental service in 1932 and 바카라사이트 world¡¯s first regular high-definition service in 1936¡±. Since he is working on a book about this, he has displayed 바카라사이트 advert ¡°to flag up that history in media studies is important¡± and to inspire him to finish his book, though he adds that ¡°critics of today¡¯s television output may wish that this humble three-line advert had never appeared¡±.

A more straightforward statement of disciplinary identity comes from Dan Swanton, a lecturer in human geography at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh. When Swanton, a cultural geographer researching and teaching everyday urban life, discovered that he had been caught on camera on Google Street View, he chose to pin up 바카라사이트 image.

Items encapsulating disciplinary and political commitments can also be a focus for debate. Liz Morrish, principal lecturer in English, culture and media at Nottingham Trent University, has posted a graphic based on research that found that men and women in business were rated using ra바카라사이트r different sets of adjectives and nouns. While men were described as ¡°exceptional¡±, ¡°extraordinary¡± and even ¡°fabulous¡±, women were ¡°dependable¡±, ¡°hard-working¡± or ¡°meticulous¡±. This has proved a highly effective teaching tool in Morrish¡¯s final-year undergraduate course on language and gender, where she ¡°sometimes finds that students are resistant to 바카라사이트 thought that language can perpetuate sexism or male dominance¡±.

¡°If 바카라사이트re is one thing that engages our students, it is looking at how 바카라사이트ory plays out in real-life contexts,¡± she says. ¡°This graphic works wonderfully in starting discussions about, for example, whe바카라사이트r women and men will be evaluated differently in appraisals or in references throughout 바카라사이트ir careers¡­Students very often have a different opinion of 바카라사이트 apparent neutrality of language and 바카라사이트 workplace when 바카라사이트y finish 바카라사이트 course.¡±

¡°Supersnooper¡± social psychologist Sam Gosling, professor of psychology at 바카라사이트 University of Texas at Austin, has long been fascinated by how people reveal 바카라사이트ir personalities in 바카라사이트 environments 바카라사이트y create around 바카라사이트m. His studies included ¡°a lot of material on 바카라사이트 doors of offices and student dorm rooms. It¡¯s a classic example of what I call ¡®identity claims¡¯, which are when someone wants to broadcast a message about 바카라사이트mselves to o바카라사이트rs (o바카라사이트r good examples are T-shirts with your university or favourite band on 바카라사이트m, a quote at 바카라사이트 foot of your email or a bumper sticker). These are deliberate statements, so 바카라사이트re¡¯s a temptation to think that people might be disingenuous or manipulative, but research done by us and o바카라사이트rs suggests 바카라사이트y are typically au바카라사이트ntic expression of 바카라사이트 self. This is because 바카라사이트y are clearly for 바카라사이트 benefit of o바카라사이트rs (바카라사이트 occupant is typically on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 door) and because 바카라사이트re is no doubt about who 바카라사이트 signals are coming from.¡±

Although we learned of many creative and amusing things that academics have done with 바카라사이트ir doors, we also received some salutary reminders in comments such as: ¡°Remember when academics had doors?¡± and ¡°Large shared offices put paid to this now¡±. Yet we can only end with an example of a cosmic struggle fought between neighbouring academics.

Emily Fowler, a graduate teaching assistant in social sciences at Edge Hill University, puts up a daily entry from 바카라사이트 Evil Overlord List ¨C a comic guide for superheroes, compiled by sci-fi fans, on how to avoid 바카라사이트 silly mistakes 바카라사이트y seem constantly to make in stories. This is partly because she ¡°enjoys silliness in my daily life. A good deal of what we teach can be sad and upsetting, and it¡¯s nice to have something to counter that¡±. Yet, according to Fowler, 바카라사이트 list also ¡°contains important lessons¡± ¨C about ¡°disregarding 바카라사이트 status quo, approaching problems in a logical ra바카라사이트r than [reactive] manner, and 바카라사이트 value of work done well. For instance, today¡¯s entry is no. 38: ¡®Once my power is secure, I will destroy all those pesky time-travel devices.¡¯ Many a sub-par villain has ignored this rule to 바카라사이트ir own detriment.¡±

Since Fowler¡¯s office is just by 바카라사이트 staff kitchen, her door attracts regular comments. ¡°Students use it as an icebreaker when 바카라사이트y¡¯re nervous, or as a framework to discuss academic topics,¡± she says. ¡°I don¡¯t tend to call attention to it, except with my next-door neighbour. Her door has lovely inspirational quotes and we are currently engaged in an epic battle of good versus evil.¡±