Graduated again

In September I graduated again, this time from the Faculty of Computer and Information Science of the University of Ljubljana. My graduation thesis, "Analysis of Slovenian politics activity on Twitter" (in Slovenian "Analiza slovenskega političnega prostora na Twitterju") is available on-line and the code used to get the data is available on github.
In my thesis I analysed the Slovenian political activity on Twitter, both on a party and on a deputy level. I tried to find a correlation between election results, activity (tweets per day), number of tweets and number of followers, the lexical diversity of words, hashtags and mentions used in tweets and the connections between the followers and the parties/deputies.
While researching the connections I created a few maps of Slovenian politics on Twitter. The first one depicts the parties (coloured circles) and their followers (grey circles).

The second map is similar, but this time it shows deputies (same colour as their parties). instead of parties.

The other maps show only the followers of the deputies from the same party. You'll find there's no maps for two parties, as one has only one tweeting deputy and the other one doesn't have a connection between the two tweeting deputies.

DL deputies

NSi deputies

PS deputies

SD deputies

SDS deputies

I generated the graphs using the code available on github and the pictures using Gephi.

New semester

It's been two weeks since the new semester has started. Before it started we got a timetable that was full of bugs (overlapping classes, two courses in the same classroom in the same time), so these first two weeks were like some kind of beta testing, where we, the students, were beta testers and the school issued some patches. Now we finally got a (more or less) stable version, which is not very user friendly (twice I have classes almost the whole day, once only one hour).
I have five new subjects this semester: Linear algebra, Databases basics, Programming and algorithms, Computer communications and Human-computer communication. I am mostly excited about the latter one, as it combines psychology and computer science.

Update! Dusting off the blog

It's been almost two years since my last post. It's not like I totally forgot about it, I actually thought about posting here and there, though the posts would be something like "Oh I haven't posted in soooo long, I should do it soon", making me that kind of blogger, which I don't want. Anyway, now I'll try to post more regularly.

Here's what happened in the past 2 years in a nutshell:
After graduating I started looking for a job, first in Nova Gorica and surroundins. Unfortunately I was cought in the "experience magic circle" (you can't get a job because you lack experience, but you can get experience if you don't have a job) and the "no money for internship excuse". See, many of the jobs I could do with my degree require me to first finish a year of internship first (in case someone who wants to go to FSD reaches this blog: BEWARE! It's really tough getting a job as a social worker!).
Then in September (still 2009) I moved to Ljubljana with my girlfriend as she started school here. I started looking for a job here, I even went to some interviews, but got nothing. Towards the end of the year I enrolled back to my old school to upgrade my degree to a university one (as opposed to the college one), which I got in February (2010). Now my full title is "Rok Gomišček, univ. dipl. soc. del". After that still no luck with getting a job, though I got better at Guild Wars at that time...
In the middle of Summer luck seemed to be about to change as finally there was an official call for 200 internship places by the social chamber. The protocol was as follows: get in touch with an organisation (no list given), they send an application form for you and in the case of more than 200 applicants, you get scored on various criteria. As I found out about this somewhat later and I was at the sea at that time, I started sending emails to various organisations whether they'd take me for the internship. I got a few replies back that they wanted to meet me for an interview, but I also got a reply from MDMB, with an internship plan and no need for interviews, just signing the papers. To cut a long story short, I didn't get the internship, because this organisation falls under the education chamber and not under the social chamber.
Then I decided to go to school again, as it's better than just sit and wait for a job and do nothing else. I applied for psychology and computer science, didn't get in the first one, but got accepted in the latter. I'm happy there, doing fine, just finished the first semester.
Oh, and we finally got a Wii :D

That's about the bigger changes in the past two years. Stay tuned for new posts ;)

PS: If you check the previous post, I got another wish granted (about the next pokemon generation) :)

Rok Gomišček, dipl. soc. del.

I did it! Yesterday I finally graduated!
Even though I had been somewhat nervous the previous day and had a terrible night (two graduation related nightmares), when I got in front of the blackboard to defend my thesis, I felt good and gave a good presentation. After that my mentor gave some comments and asked me a question I didn't totally understand, but somehow I answered her. The other two teachers just gave "short" talks and no questions. After a bit of waiting they told me I got an 8 for both the thesis and presentation. I was disappointed as I expected at least a 9... Anyway, my overall grade is so still a perfect 8, which I always considered my lucky number.
After graduating we (dad, Ana and me) went to a Mongolian restaurant in Ljubljana, where we had a great all-you-can-eat lunch. The waitress found out that I graduated and gave me a tie to match my shirt ^^
Later, in the afternoon, the adrenaline subsided and tiredness came. :)

School rant + No more exams

This is sort of a continuation to this blog entry.

So, I was at school in Ljubljana yesterday (Thursday) for my last exam. But although the exam was scheduled only at 4 o'clock pm, I was there already at 11 o'clock am, because I needed signatures from my teachers in a small student booklet to show that I've passed their exam. The thing is, I have all my grades on-line and that's stronger proof than some writing on some paper. And what's more, the generation after me doesn't even need to get the student booklet filled, the on-line grades are enough!
Before leaving I had to find 7 teacher.
I made an appointment with one of them but she emailed me the day before that she won't be able to make it on Thursday.
One was supposed to be giving a lesson to the 4th years, but at school I found out they have their practical work now, so they are without lessons. And no teacher.
Another one was supposed to be teaching that day, again the 4th's, so he wasn't there for the lecture, but he should've been there for his "meeting hours" (when he's supposed to be at school to meet student - too lazy now to find a better word). Nope, he wasn't there. No notes. Just a locked door.
And the last teacher had a note on her door stating that she won't be able to have "meeting hours" that day.
The only consolation is that I met a teacher I hadn't planned.
At the end of the day I still have to find 6 teachers.

I really didn't mean to be writing all of this at first, so I changed the title of the post a bit, added something :D

Anyway, to the happy part.
Me and a schoolmate had our presentation on the topic "how do Slovenian centres for social work e-communicate". I'm the kind of guy who gets stage fright quite easily, so as the exam hour drew nearer, I was getting worse. I played some Harvest Moon to keep relaxed when there was still a lot of time left, but when my classmate arrived to rehearse one last time I was concentrating on trying to relax. Anyway, in the end it turned out there were just 5 of us doing the exam, which helped a bit, since I wouldn't have a big croud. Plus one of the was also a schoolmate, which also helped as I prefer known faces. Still, my palms were sweaty, even though it wasn't hot and I tried wiping them. Yeah, I know, probably not the right assets for a minister candidate... But I digress. The slides were well made content-wise, I think. And they looked perfect, all thanks to Ana, because she helped with the background. Kristjan, my so-presenter, did a good job with his part, he added nice things in the presentation. I think my part went well as well. I was trying to speak slowly and clearly.
But we got only a 9... :P As I said in an earlier post, I needed at least a 9 and I got it. My overall grade is now 8 and I can get into postgraduation programs... after I graduate. Which, well, is getting closer. But that's a different story. For now I'll enjoy the feeling that there's no more exams (at least in pregraduation). But tomorrow I have to go to Ljubljana again, to find 2 professors.

Last exam

Today I mailed (not e-mailed) my research papers which are the main part of my last exam. The other part of the exam is the presentation which will be next week. And after this I only have my graduation left.

But I need to get at least a 9 for this exam (the best grade is 10). Then my overall average grade (from all the years) will be 8, which means I can sign in post-graduate studies. Namely this will be firstly a semester of school to get a university degree (now I'll get a college one). And after that I'll get a psychology major. I don't know yet from which field of psychology, but there's still some time to decide. And I also haven't decided about my doctorate. I just know that at some point I want to be minister for social affairs and since ministers usually have doctorates, I'd better get one myself as well.

But before that future becomes present (and past), I still have to finish my thesis and next week start preparing for the presentation. I really need a 9 at least!

Tired

Uhhh, it's been two weeks since my last post. I can't believe it how time flies. There I am studying about blogs and how a post a week should be a minimum (for professional blogs) and I don't have time/will to blog...

For the past couple of days I've been writing two pages daily for my thesis, reaching 32 pages yesterday of raw data, that means without pictures, indexes and all the editing. I feel that now I've really reached the point when I ran ot of any major ideas what else to write about. All I can think about are minor edits here and there.

I've been at school today to see my thesis mentor. I handed the papers to her and she said she'd read it and that I should phone her next week. I wonder what she'll tell me... In the meantime, I'll keep doing work on my thesis, though today I'm hella tired. It'll have to wait till tomorrow.

Yawn...

Not everything is dark :)

If one were to judge by my previous posts, one would think things are pretty low. But worry now!, as there have been also many nice things :)

For starters, last week I got a new dancepad and turned on Stepmania after a long break. My old dancepad is actually still functional, but it's a PSX one. At first I had an adapter that worked well for the serial port, but after changing computers I didn't have a serial port anymore. I bought a psx-usb adapter, but it wasn't compatible with dancepads. The new dancepad connects directly to usb, so no problems there :) Plus it's a really great one ^_^

Then I downloaded Ultrastar, a PC clone of Singstar, and a bunch of songs. Singing is fun :D Imagine a game, where you would have to dance (ddr) plus sing (singstar). And for the hands maybe Guitar Hero XD

I also did school stuff :D I finished writing my report about the use of web in social work centres in Slovenia. Well, I'll still write some more and edit it so it'll look very fancy, but it's done. Now I'm working on my thesis again.

In HM:IoH I finally managed to get three wonderfuls and equipped them to my hoe. Now I can make trips to the bottom of the mine with no stamina consumption (except for what I spend hammering). And with two oranges and a green on my hammer I'm looking into lots of money XD

I tried HM: Shining Sun and Friends (a rom, not the proper game). Because I don't know Japanese all I did was try the gameplay and see the graphics. I must say that I love how they made it possible to move with the directional pad and kept the same tools usage system. I also like the new shiiping bin, where you tap on the bin and a new screen shows where you drag stuff in the bin. Very time saving. Later I also read that getting wonderfuls and determinating the colour is much more complicated.

I found an ebay seller who sells what seem authentic HM for gba copies, both versions! At first she wouldn't ship to Europe, but after my big plea she decided to do so. I'm really so glad about that :)

And today a professor emailed me back and said she would be my thesis mentor. I'll go see her on Tuesday so we can start the serious work.

Introduction

Hi and welcome to my blog :)
I already had a blog, but it was in Slovene and it's also been a while since I've posted anything in it.
Firstly: my name is Rok, I live with my girlfriend in Solkan, a small Slovenian town, I'm 25 and a student.
To start off this blog I decided to write a bit of about my interest, so you can see what I'll may be writing about.

School
I'm a social work undergraduate with a few months to go till my graduation. I'm planning on graduating in January. I'm currently writing my thesis and a research paper. Both are dealing with social work and web applications, specifically how can social workers use them in their work. This field isn't covered much in my language, so I'm quite excited about writing about this. That's what also got me into blog researching.

Video games
I like to play video games ^^ From September 07 to spring 08 I mostly played Guild Wars, maximizing some titles. I maxed 13 and had a few more in the work, but then I got frustrated over something and stopped playing altogether. Now I slowly started again a bit, finishing a HM mission.
After having stopped playing GW I started playing my DS. At first it was Digimon, then Mario Kart, Professor Layton... Now I'm juggling with three great games: The World Ends With You, Final Fantasy IV and Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. I've actually already finished TWEWY, now I'm just mastering my pins and doing the after story. FFIV and HM:IoH are both at the beginning, but halve both already captivated me.
Other stuff I like to play: Pokemon (I also run a website in Slovene), Super Smash Bros., different RPG/FRP, building games.

Series
I like to watch (american) tv series, but because I live where I live, we either get them later than in the USA (usually a year later) or not at all. That's why I download them, to keep myself up to date. But not all. Some series I watch when they air over here.
Things I watch downloaded: Heroes, House MD, Supernatural, Smallville, Lost. They are all great, except for Smallville, which I keep watching because.... not really sure, actually...
Things I watch when it airs: Desperte Housewives, Ugly Betty, all CSI, Cold Case, Without a Trace.

Anime
Me and my girlfriend love anime! Or at least we used to. There was a time when we downloaded more than we could watch. Then for about a year we completely stooped. And now we started again. First we looked at AniDB to see what new stuff is cool and from there we got to AnimeReactor and started to watch the awarded anime of 2007. So far we watched Death Note, Seirei no moribito and Kanon. Kanon is from the same people as Air and one can really tell almost immediately, as the graphics and music are very alike. But, unlike Air, Kanon has a good story!

That's it from me for now, see ya ;-)