Devon Whittle » Education

Mathemagic by Arthur Benjamin TED Video

devonwhittle — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:42:34 +0000

If you like maths or people being awesome with numbers, check out Arthur Benjamin over at TED Talks. He squares three digit numbers faster than calculators can, but most interesting was him ‘thinking out loud’ while squaring a five digit number – he seemed to use variables to store calculated values to come back to later. A great 15 minute video.

Mathemagic by Arthur Benjamin TED Video is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

New book on Africa and International Law

devonwhittle — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:36:34 +0000

I would love to get this new book edited by Jeremy Levitt. It’s called Africa: Mapping New Boundaries in International Law and tackles issues of international law from an African perspective. I liked this quotes from reviews: “The book signals a major shift from the study of Africa as a basket case to a normative market place.” – Akua Kuenyehia, Vice President, International Criminal Court.

New book on Africa and International Law is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Datamining with Devonthink Pro OFFICE

devonwhittle — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:19:51 +0000

Last semester I once again was extremely grateful for having Devonthink to help me out with a research paper.

For those that don’t know Devonthink is a personal database you keep on your Mac. You throw your pdfs, documents, links, e-mails into it and leverage it’s powerful AI and search technologies to help with research and writing. It looks a bit clunky, and kills my Powerbook’s CPU, but is an invaluable program if you do any amount of research.

I had a public policy research paper that required me to investigate the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, and determine whether policy networks were at work in relation to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (they were but weakly).

There was a Senate Select Committee and Joint Standing Committee report on the FTA, the submissions of which would have been an absolute gold mine for researching the positions of various players and their connections. The problem? There were over 700 separate submissions, some of which were just scans of letters.

Thankfully, I had Devonthink to help me out.

First, Devonthink allows you to take a URL and it will automatically find and download all the links on that page.

So I fed it the Committee site that had links to all the submissions. Devonthink then went to work downloading over 700 pdfs for me.

Second, Devonthink Pro Office has built in OCR software, so despite the best efforts of Parliament to make their documents unsearchable, after running the OCR I had a massive searchable database of submissions.

Third, I used Devonthink’s search function to limit my enquiry to only those submissions that mention the PBS. This cut back the number of pdfs to only around 200 – down from 700! Quite a time saver.

Finally, I also used the search function to see if any of the players were mentioning each other in their submissions. Allowing me to establish if there were any links between the different groups.

All of this cut down on the amount of time I had to waste trawling through submissions manually, giving me more time to actually think about and write the paper. I ended up getting a good mark thanks to being able to quickly find all the relevant documents and linkages between them.

Now if only I could figure out a good referencing program (that actually saved time not made more work!) my student life would be made a easier.

Datamining with Devonthink Pro OFFICE is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Introduction to the economics of taxation

devonwhittle — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:59:14 +0000

Tim Haab has a two great posts over at Environmental Economics on how tax works. Part 1 and Part 2.

Introduction to the economics of taxation is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

GoJIL International Student Essay Competition

devonwhittle — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:43:01 +0000

GoJIL has recently launched their International Student Essay Competition. The topic is Human Rights in Times of Terrorism, word limit 3000, due date 15 June 2008. GoJIL International Student Essay Competition is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com. Related posts:GoJIL Call for Papers: Third International Law Essay Competition Corporate Social Responsibility Essay [...]

GoJIL International Student Essay Competition is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Reading for armchair development economists

devonwhittle — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:46:32 +0000

More reading for my ‘when I’m not insanely busy’ pile, this time Development Economics. It’s a whole list of resources, online and dead tree, for people interested in development and economics. I’ve said to before, and I’ll say it again, Melbourne University you irk me with your rigid subject requirements.

Reading for armchair development economists is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Development Tourists – good, bad or ugly?

devonwhittle — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:46:28 +0000

Three must read Blattman posts and comments for anyone considering a “one month stint in Africa”. First, so you want to go to a post war zone, then development tourism, and finally development tourism, revisited.

Development Tourists – good, bad or ugly? is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Why do the ELSA WTO Moot?

devonwhittle — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:07:32 +0000

As you may have already known, my moot team recently came back from Adelaide after competing in the South East Asia Pacific round of the ELSA WTO Moot. Since last November we have been working extremely hard on our submissions. Many late nights were spent in the library, many bad dinners were eaten, some of the team even welcomed in the new year from the fifth floor of the law building. Even after our writtens were handed in we continued to practice our oral submissions and refine our arguments.

At Adelaide we enjoyed the Oaks Plaza in Glen Elg and all its beautiful facilities, in between further work on our oral submissions – some hastily printed out at the last moment. Ultimately though we narrowly missed out on moving through to the next round. We came away with best written submissions for the complainant, respondent and overall. We also went into the Grand Final ranked first, but in the end the team from Wellington went away with the victory.

So why work for over three months straight, holed up in the library with three other self-confessed ‘law nerdlings’ on very technical, non-sexy WTO trade law – apart from a uni-paid for trip to beautiful Glen Elg?

Learning the Law
Well, it teaches you the law. After completing the ELSA WTO Moot my knowledge of WTO trade law has exponentially improved. Not only the narrow area of telecommunication covered by the problem, but even a more general understanding of WTO dispute settlement and overarching concepts such as national treatment, market access and ‘likeness’. While some of the team never want to see a WTO dispute again, I’m excited at what I’ll be able to do with this knowledge in the future.

Learning Skills
Taking part in the Moot will hone your writing, presentation and administration skills. I learnt quite a bit about working in a team, cutting down on a word count, ‘dinner diplomacy’, cutting out excess words, oral presentation, cutting words, and general research/organisational skills. Not to mention putting all this in the context of an extremely tight deadline!

Experiencing the Law
Apart from straight-up learning, the Moot also made me feel a little bit of what it would be like to actually be working in WTO law. Having to know the facts intimately, and how the legal issues would play out, really made me feel personally invested in how things were going. Debating with the team as we disagreed about particular arguments we were running added to this realism.

Meeting the Team
One of the absolute best things about doing the Moot for me was spending time with ‘Odawg’, ‘Jrae’ and ‘Email Elimy’. We had an insane time preparing our submissions and an awesome time in Adelaide. I don’t know if I’d see the Moot as quite as worth it as I do now if it wasn’t for the great atmosphere the team had. Not to mention getting to know our great coaches Andrew and Tania, who went far beyond the call of duty in helping us out.

Meeting People
Finally, the Moot gave me an awesome opportunity to meet some really interesting people. Eminent trade lawyers, academic experts, barristers and WTO appellate body staff – I was amazed at the range of people I met, all of whom were willing and open to share how they got to where they were.

So all in all I would highly recommend you take part in the WTO Moot if you get the opportunity. Especially if you know some crazy cats that you’ll be doing it with! Even if you don’t get to Geneva you’ll have a smashing time and if worse comes to worse, as much as I hate the phrase, “it does look good on your resume”. So maybe, Jessup here I come?

Why do the ELSA WTO Moot? is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Free economics textbooks online

devonwhittle — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:51:34 +0000

Melbourne University wouldn’t let me do macroeconomics (unbelievable), but Blattman’s got some good pointers to online textbooks that are free. Free economics textbooks online is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com. Related posts:Reading for armchair development economists Free CFL lightbulbs and lo-flow shower heads Economics 101: Moral Hazard Defined

Free economics textbooks online is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.

Marglin Book on the Dismal Science

devonwhittle — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:13:21 +0000

A new book by Stephen A. Marglin looks interesting. It’s called The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community. I look forward to giving it a read, especially as economists are rapidly taking over many different domains.

Marglin Book on the Dismal Science is a post from: Devon Whittle. You can contact the author at devonwhittle@gmail.com.