It is Cyber Monday and the gift-purchasing season started sometime last week; it is now even more unclear to me when Black Friday actually starts. It has been a few years since my previous entries in this series and the circumstances of 2020 warrant a new list as the demands of our profession have changed. Even with the hopeful resumption of normal in-person classes by Fall 2020, the ability and demand for remote teaching is going to be higher in 2022 than it was in 2019. To see the previous entries in this series, see years 2010 and 2013.
Home Office
As our home spaces have become work spaces, it is important to have better equipment to record lectures, record other kinds of content, or host synchronous sessions with students. So, there are a few things that you or your political scientist can do to up your game. Some of us may have university funds to help procure these items while many of us may have to dip into our own budgets
New Microphone – There are quite a few options on the market for microphones. Having a good microphone that you can control the volume of, have an external mute, and use either a physical or virtual mixer can be essential in producing distraction-free content for your students. I upgraded from my old Yeti Blue Snowball that I used for podcasting and I am now using a Yeti X. Directional sound, noise cancellation, frequency filtration, and adjusted treble/bass levels can provide a boost to audio content. I also have an arm mount for my microphone to better pick up sound and provide better directional pickup for my voice. Overall, an upgrade over an internal mic can go a long way in being an audio “green screen” of sorts to get rid of background noises. Speaking of which…
Green Screen – This may be less important for you (or your political scientist) if you have your own space or if your camera pointed at a wall; however, if you have a busy home with multiple working adults, children learning remotely, and/or other clutter you want to hide, then being able to chroma key your background and project an alternative setting, transparency, or solid color is an important part of your video content toolkit. I originally used the webaround for years as it is reasonably priced and easy to store. I have since upgraded to a more consistent option here. My animated Dr. Strangelove background has been my standard backdrop since March.
Lighting – If you are using a green screen then lighting is very important. If you are not using one, then lighting is still important, but it might be more optional. A few options for these include a tripod with a ring light, some other form of ring light to attach to your desk or monitor, or, on the higher end, getting one or two of these lights. Eliminating shadows and fully lighting up your face (and background) can offer better videos and conference calls.
Webcams – Many of you are probably fine here as this is a minimally necessary equipment that everyone probably has at this point with their stock equipment. I am a fan of the Logitech c920 series, but I don’t think too many people are in the market for these at that moment. If given a choice between upgrading from a stock microphone or a stock webcam, I would recommend the microphone first. However, if your content is mostly just a video of you (not slides/other people talking), then the camera may take priority.
Games
Table Top Simulator – I have historically recommended board games that illustrate important political science or social science concepts. However, getting together to play board games is more difficult and generally a bad idea right now. Table Top Simulator allows you and your friends (or co-workers) to use a virtual table (VR is not necessary, but is an option) and play with people from across the globe. The workshop for TTS has a robust collection of board games and contains many of the games I have suggested previously.
Civilization VI – I have recommend Civ V in the past, but VI, with its newest expansion, offers you the opportunity to play just one more turn (in perpetuity) as you put your civilization building skills to the test. If you haven’t played a Civ game before, you are missing out. You can get it on other platforms besides PC, but the game is a resource hog in the late game and best, in my experience, with a mouse and keyboard.
Dungeons & Dragons – I have been playing since AD&D Second Edition and, with the release of fifth edition and the pandemic, I have found myself playing D&D more than any other time in my life. Finding someone both willing and capable of being a good Dungeon Master is difficult, but being able to explore worlds, dungeons, interact with local and global politics and economics, shape international relations, and basically do anything you can imagine in a fantasy setting is a good exercise in collaborative imagination backed by statistical decision-making. Both of the campaigns I regularly play are in the context of macro-level political drama and help define the options available to our party.
There is a starter kit aimed for brand new groups, while more experienced player should look at the core books for playing the game (DM”s Guide, Player’s Handbook, and Monster Manual). There are reference manuals for adventures, campaigns, worlds, and items. Additionally, there are lots of 3rd party content to expand your adventures further. Additionally, there are quite a few options for playing with people online. Roll20 is probably the easiest to use, but both Fantasy Grounds and Foundry offer robust interfaces for those that need much more powerful tools in world building.
Two additional notes. D&D Beyond is a handy resource to get all of your books digitally and reduce the clutter. Also, Table Top Simulator (linked above) can also be used to run D&D campaigns!
Mahjong – Again, unless you can get three other people to play it in your household, this is a harder game to do in person at the moment. Also, no, it is not the solitaire game where you just pick up tiles from a pile. Some see it as a predecessor to Poker and a few of the Texas Hold ’em pros in the mid-2000s came from various Mahjong scenes. The game is rather intricate, relies quite a bit on reading information, and playing strategically. So, while poker is the go to analogy for strategic decision-making, whether between legislators or states, Mahjong has more to say about offensive and defensive strategy. If you get the basics down, there is even an International Relations scholar that has written an entire book on intermediate level strategy and introduces people to Tenhou, a popular online site to play Mahjong. Of course, this does not actually offer anything for you to buy the political scientist in your life as both the book and Tenhou are free to play. A physical mahjong set is an option, but you would likely already know if a person in your life is interested in the game enough to want a set.
Office Distractions
These are mostly whimsical entries and have been on my shortlist for a bit now. They make for good office toys, but lose a bit of purchase if you are the only person that can interact with them. They may be the academic equivalent of a fidget spinner.
A different world map – The Mercator projection is unsatisfactory for so many reasons and there are plenty of alternatives (relevant XKCD). I really wanted to get a copy of this map for my office, but my one attempt to order from overseas failed.
However, there are plenty of pedagogically interesting projections you can buy. The upside-down Mercator is an option. A 1922 and 1988 Van der Grinten is available. A more current Gall-Peters can be had. There are several different styles of map projections and some poking around on the net may yield you the projection of the world you desire.
Globe – A typical way to signify you are, indeed, a worldly professor. A global projection is better than a 2-dimensional one, but
Hourglass – Another potential professorial signifier, but it can be a way to mark your jam writing sessions and when you start looking at your email again.
Galton Board – A simple way to demonstrate normal curves to those that stop by your office hopefully later in the year.
Books
The Foundation – I will always recommend this to political scientists (and perhaps formal modelers/quantitative researchers broadly). This book’s fictional academic discipline seems to mirror what was budding in political science in the 1960s. As I wrote previously, “this foundational science fiction book by Asimov creates the social science theory of `Psycho-History;’ a study of groups of people and has the ability to predict their behavior. Psycho-history cannot predict individuals, but can predict the movement of large bodies as if they were unitary actors. The parallels between Asimov’s fictional social science and what we do should be obvious. This seven part series is a must-read for any political scientists interested in science fiction”
The Forever War – Most scifi shows do not properly deal with the relativity issues of traveling at near light speed (or faster), but this book offers some very useful implications of having wars with such travel possible. Probably mostly for IR scholars who like science fiction but less relevant to those outside of that intersection.
A book on R – I reached out to my co-editor and frequent co-author Michael E. Flynn for a recommendation on a good R book. I “grew up” learning Stata and had used R previously, but not consistently enough at this point in my career. So, this item is more of a personal inclusion. His recommendations for R and statistics are: Wickham’s R for Data Science, Baumer’s Modern Data Science with R, and McElreath’s Statistical Rethinking. I have so much work to do.
Streaming Services
In previous years, I recommended particular shows or movies, but people buy far fewer DVDs when much of that content is available through services. Of course, a gift card/1-year subscription can be a welcomed gift. So my top picks:
Disney+ – I have written about the implications of Civil War research on A New Hope previously (both in a book and on this blog), so having access to the full catalog of Star Wars is a plus. I think Mandolorian has less to offer in terms of political science, but there is some elements of state building that are useful.
CBS All Access – Star Trek. Discovery and Picard have both had their detractors, but both are finding their own space within the Star Trek Universe. If you are up on your Trek through the latest movies, Lower Decks has several in-universe references that are likely to amuse those who want a less grim-dark trek. Discovery and Picard both have several discussion points for political scientists, but I will leave that for a later post. Of note, the emotional intelligence of Discovery seems to be higher than previous Treks. People with an emotional or psychological problem are not an aberration to be solved in 45 minutes, but an ongoing struggle for a crew constantly experiencing difficult events with little room to recover or reflect. In some ways, Discovery has moved on from the Star Fleet officer as an ideal type trope and is giving us the Star Fleet officer as a human (or humanoid).
Netflix/Hulu: These are obvious, but a 1-year subscription can make a good gift regardless. Netflix (and HBO) have access to the West Wing, but that show feels like a distant memory these days.
Cold Hard Cash
It’s the economically efficient gift, but we apparently value fun in our utility function, this is probably not the right gift to give, but likely depends on your relationship with the person.
Bonus Challenge: Masks
I decided to see what the market looked like for political science masks. The two top entries where this one and this one. Surely, we can do better.
