Dissertation: Why is it so hard to think of a good topic?

The summer of 2017 is about to end, and for few more days, I will enroll Dissertation 1 at the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) for the Doctor in Information Technology (DIT) program. A common problem for every student enrolled in subjects such as capstone project, thesis and dissertation is to look for a good topic to focus. It becomes more difficult for us, as we have to consider a publishable topic. It is indeed true that looking for a problem really is a problem.

Though I still have no concrete direction as to what I intend to focus on my dissertation, few ideas catch my attention while I had an immersion at Southern Philippines Medical Center. I became interested in teledermatology as I was preparing my research a part of our requirement in our subject Industry Immersion. While doing my research on the said subject, about teledermatology, I learned that it was not a new method to deliver healthcare services to humanity most especially to those in remote, rural and underserved communities. Focusing on the challenges and lessons learned by countries who had engaged with teledermatology, one of the common issue cited was security and privacy of patient’s health records. With this, I became interested in looking into the details of what needs to be done to address the issue which I think would be a good topic for a dissertation. Another idea that came to my mind is to apply digital image processing on images taken, to provide initial diagnosis automatically for a dermatologist to validate. It became one of my interests as I discovered that the normal practice was to send images taken from the patient to the dermatologist for diagnosis. In so far as my readings, I have not seen such development or maybe it requires a more intensive search for me.

The other topic that I am also interested is about Internet of Things (IoT). The idea originated when I was doing my research for the subject IT Protection and Security. While digging the internet and reading published research journals and articles, “security” was the primary concern with this new technology. Secure network access, secure data communication, and identity management were among the major security concerns of IoT which I think will also be a good, publishable research topic.

Regardless on which particular topic I will be focusing on in the coming days, what is for sure is it would require me more readings. Though I have not decided yet on which area to consider, what is important as of this writing is I have something to search for which I am looking forward after submission of all the required deliverables for the subject Industry Immersion. I felt mixed emotions while I am about to enroll the subject Dissertation because I heard from my colleagues and friends that this is the most difficult part of earning a degree, in all aspects including financial.