During the past few weeks, I tried having a “worliday.” It’s an idea described in an article that someone sent me (read it!). The pitch is to not go absolutely cold-turkey when you leave work (causing: worry about what is happening in your absence, the infinite pile up of e-mail that eats up so much time when you return), but instead to do a little bit that keeps you afloat each day - it claims to be particularly suited for people who have jobs that are “result-based” rather than “time-based.”

In my case, this meant making sure the inbox didn’t overflow, reading some papers, pitching in on last-minute changes to a paper that was submitted and, moreover, taking time to think. I would get online briefly once or twice a day, when it was too hot to be outside, instead of having a siesta.

My experience? Some aspects of this method don’t work so well. Being (as) brief (as possible) in emails comes across badly. Trying to remotely manage a project doesn’t work; it seems unclear to others as to whether you are away or not, and how to go about decision making in the mean time. Others are definitely great: I’m back and blogging!

Here are a number of highlights of the time I’ve spent catching up on tweets/posts:

• The papers that will be presented at ACM Ubicomp (September) and ACM RecSys (October) are online.
• The KDD Cup workshop schedule is online.
• A paper (and data set) with ratings from an online dating web site.
• Listen to someone put their foot in their mouth regarding the London riots (as well as rap!). Some amazing pictures are online as well.