Yep, that sounds cheesy, I know. However. Today I decided to change not only the layout of my personal blog but also to add some extras to it.  The blog will now more or less serve as my personal website which is why you find some new elements or pages here, e.g. my publications, talks etc. The simple reason for that is that I’m currently working on my CV because I want – or need – to apply for a scholarship in the next weeks (which means that I have to write an exposé of my Ph.D. project – this really freaks me out!). The simple reason for that is that the awesome research project for which I have been working in the last two years will end in March 2014. While re-working my CV and this website I realized what a wonderful, exciting and insightful ride the last two years have been for me. Not only in the sense that I was able to add a certain amount of papers to my reference list. Basically because I  met soo many brilliant people and went to many interesting events and locations – all of this taught me a lot about the profits and perils of academia. I couldn’t have made these experiences without the help and (financial) support of my wonderful colleagues at the Hans Bredow Institute and the Graduate School for Media and Communication here in Hamburg. And, of course, I have to thank my family, particularly Florian and Levi who always encourage me to move on and give me the strenght to do the things I do (or do not).

In some months these exciting times will be over – and other times will begin. Although I do not know what will happen after the research project is finished at the moment I am quite positive and looking forward to the things to come. For one because I have many plans: there is this obscure Ph.D. project that wants to get started and (hopefully) finished within the next two years (wow, that sounds … ambitious?). I also plan to conduct the first (national) survey among online researchers regarding ethical issues of their research practices. Moreover, there are some Podcast ideas in the pipeline – so stay tuned for more information on that :) And, of course, I will keep on promoting the topics media ethics, internet research ethics and Code Literacy where/whenever I can. Regarding my private life I have a lot of things to discover and to take care of, too. Most importantly I want to get hands on the Stasi documents of my father, Frank Heise, who has been a free minded, overly creative musician and composer in the DDR (and beyond) but also suffered from manic depression (or bi-polar syndrome). If I have the possibility to gather more material – from his musical friends and fellows as well as my family – I would like to write something non-academical about his life. Let’s see how far that goes in the next years.

Well, as my beloved and wise grandmother puts it: There are always things to do. And hey, an end is always the beginning of something new…

Ahoi from Hamburg