text:
Why shouldn't I take a risk to make my thesis have better design?
I am making a final dissertation for my graduation. I want it to have a better design than the boring traditional. When I read this and this, I think that the downside is because it makes the thesis more clearer, any good or bad thing will be crystal clear. However, a default Word 2013 theme is easily to get and takes you not much effort. I don't want my thesis to be colorful so much, but I also don't want it to be monochrome. Elegance isn't necessary to be black and white.
My university requires me to have the format in form, but I think it's boring. Should I take a risk to make my thesis have better design? If not, why? I need a reason.
Do I really want to graduate? Of course I do, if not, I will happily take that risk immediate. I know that's a risk, and you may have to pay for that. My inspiration is coming from Dance your PhD. Of course I won't dance on my defense day, I just want to say that bad representation is wasting time. You can say, "it's all your choice". I just want to make my choice to be right.
What if I losing point from this? I hope that people will think again when they do a thesis. If they do, then I'm willing to lose my point.

Why does the font need to be Times New Roman, not Calibri?

"Why shouldn't I take a risk to make my thesis have better design?" Why should you take a risk for that? Do you care so much about what format your thesis uses?

Also: "When I read this and this, I think that the downside is because it makes the thesis more clearer, any good or bad thing will be crystal clear." I am not sure how you got that from the answers to these questions.

Which part of "My university requires" do you not understand?

@DavidRicherby What I don't understand is, why I have to do that? I know that the thesis need to be clear, but will it be accepted if it is clear and pretty? I don't want to make a revolution or something, I just need to know why the requirement exists. If I understand that, I'm willing to accept it. For example, why does the font need to be Times New Roman? Why not Calibri?

@xLeitix I am willing to take the risk because I can't find any downside of losing, just winning. My supervisor has advised me many times that this will make me lose point in formatting. I just want to say that old formatting isn't bad, it's just not as good as I think the new one has. I think that scientific papers should be intuitive, clear and attractive. I don't blame it's boring, I just claim that you can make it better.

@xLeitix, I get on this: http://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7952/14341?stw=2. I know that this one isn't chosen by the asker, but it is one of the best answer.

@Ooker We do not know why they require the things they require: it is not we who are doing the requiring. Meanwhile, you seem to be confusing the concepts of "need to know" and "want to know". Probably, they specify a font because it's easier to say "It must be Times New Roman" than say "It must be a sensible font" and then spend time arguing with students about which fonts are sensible.

@Ooker It's clear from your comments that you've already decided on your course of action so I'm not sure why you bothered to ask about it here.

You are right. My question maybe better if I ask "why must it be Times New Roman?", it's just there are many of them. I am asking because I want to make a right decision. I have asked many people, their answers are exactly like @Tim. I don't think it's a good explanation.

@Ooker I'm with you on this. Unfortunately, many people in administration of academia (and beyond) do not like questions like this, feeling like they question their power and authority. "Ugly but uniform" principle, as we say.

@Ooker You're expecting some sort of argument based on reason or esthetics, but you're not going to get one.  The fact is this: If you do not follow the university's thesis formatting rules, the university will not accept your thesis. This is not something you, your advisor, or even your department head can change.  The fact that the university-sanctioned format is boring or ugly is completely irrelevant.  The reasons for this requirement are completely irrelevant. Hold your nose, give the bureaucrats what they want, and give everyone else something you're proud of.

(And yes, I have seen theses rejected for stupid formatting reasons, like a page number being 1/16" too close to the margin, or the paper having the wrong weight, or the umlauts in the student's name being added in pen to the approval form that was required to be typed. In the last case, the student successfully appealed by asking the thesis office for a typewriter with an umlaut key; they caved when they couldn't find one.)

@JeffE: you are right. I have to ask deeper to see if it will be reject or just losing some points. In the former, I will absolutely hold my nose; in the later, I will consider to keep it. I'm not stupid (hope so), I only fight if I can see the chance of winning. If the cost is too high, I won't take. Anyway, thank all of you. I see that my problem isn't about the risk, it's about why do it have "traditional", or "why does the font need to be Times New Roman, not Calibri?"

@Ooker You have received some very sound advice. Go ahead an ignore the advice, but please come back and post your outcome.

@Ooker Calibri is a sans serif font. You're a fool if you think you're improving the design of a printed document by using a sans serif body font. Times is okay, but unless it's strictly mandated I would recommend Palatino.

@Moriarty: I know there is a rule that you shouldn't use sans serif font in the body. But why Microsoft let it be default in body? Anyway, I'm not a designer, I just feel that the default theme is pretty enough. I'm not trying to make art in my thesis though.

@Ooker Sans-serif fonts are more readable on a standard resolution computer monitor because they are less detailed (HiDPI, or "retina", screens are generally good at rendering serif fonts). Most Word documents are probably never printed. Word is not known for high quality typesetting - you could look at using LaTeX if you want to have better quality typesetting while staying within the rules of the university.

Thanks @Moriarty. I have used LaTeX for nearly two years, seeking for nice packages but still unsatisfied. So as I understand, Word isn't chosen to be printed (in large scale) because of the technology? If so, then I just print my thesis in four copies.

@BrianP: I am freely to chose my style, as long as it still keeps required information :)

If you want to improve your Universities recommended/required thesis formatting, you should go ahead. But, submitting a differently formatted thesis, just to spite them is not the right way to go. And it will not accomplish anything.
All scientific publications have a required format. You submitted to a conference that prescribes double column, but your paper is single column? Automatic rejection without reading the paper. You don't like the formatting of the journal best suited for your work? Tough luck. You submit a 10-page paper to a conference with 8-page limit? Reject.
It is simply how scientific publishing works. If you want to publish your original content, you have to follow the well-established guidelines.
If you really think that changing your Universities required formatting is a worthy goal, and want to do it for non-selfish reasons, for all the generations to come, you should do it in a proper way. Try to use proper channels, and do it like a responsible adult with an idea, not like a child doing things out of spite because they don't like the way the world turns.

Some things you might try:
Make examples of a sensible new format. If there is any current templates, make some for your own formatting. If you can find some proof that your formatting is better, that's good (e.g. it is proven that some fonts are more readable and better than some others). Find the right person, in charge of that. Try meeting with them, and leading a sensible, non-heated discussion. Argument you opinion and proposition. Explain why you think the current design is outdated and why and how you think the new one will be an improvement. Offer your help in implementing the new system and offering new guides and materials. Finally, if you succeed in changing something, you can feel content you did something good for future generations. If you don't, at least you know you gave it your best try, and you tried to do it in the way with best chances of success.

Are you interested in receiving your degree?  Then submit a thesis meeting all of the university's requirements. If you think the formatting is so terrible, feel free to post a differently-formatted version on your website or whatever.

Most of the restrictions for thesis formats came from the years when theses were transferred to microfiche storage. Standardizing the format made sure that the reproductions would be as legible as possible.
Similar issues are still in effect, except with respect to electronic scans and the like. Choosing consistent designs and formats makes life easier for everyone. Even though it may not be your personal preference, you should follow the guidelines. The university can choose not to accept your thesis if its format strays too far from the official guidelines, which will force you to spend valuable time (and possibly money) preparing a revised version.

I see. This is something like QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts. QWERTY is best for typewriters, Dvorak is best for nowadays keyboards. It is a problem from history, am I right?

What is good or bad is not easy for anyone to judge. Typesetting a document, including selecting fonts, is in essence a profession which through technology has been put in our hands. This has resulted in significant downgrading in quality although some enlightenment has also occurred. The problem is that it is easy for someone to chose a type face and set it as you see fit without actually knowing how it appears to the reader. This is why it is common to come across thesis and reports that are quite awful in type-setting and therefore unnecessarily difficult to read.
Times-Roman, is a type face developed to be space saving. This means it may not be the prettiest but it is easy to read and you can fit more text per page. There are other similar fonts that are less condensed and more easily read such as the popular Garamond. Sans serifs are relatively commonly seen in texts, despite the fact that they were not designed for such use. The are generally no well suited for large volumes of text. There are hybrids such as Optima that works a little better but using Sans Serifs in the text body is not a good idea, typographically speaking. You can pick up any book on type-setting and type faces to learn more. A good example is perhaps Robert Bringhursts The Elements of Typographic Style. Hartley & Marks Publ.
When it comes to colour in a thesis, it can easily be stated that colour improves readability of diagrams and illustrations. The downside is that the colour is poorly reproduced in a B/W copier or when printed on a B/W laser printer. There is thus still incentive to be selective when using colour. unfortunately all plotting software (from things like Excel to R and Matlab) provides colour as default and so turning multicoloured plots into B/W involves extra work. Part of being professional is, however, to make such decisions and simplify. I think this can be seen as part of your professional development through graduate school and shown in your thesis. What must be colour should be colour, nothing else.
So trying to provide some direct feedback. To redesign what you see as boring may sound simple, you comment on choosing some built in Word does not sound very thought through. I believe you should approach the layout of your thesis as professionally as you do your science. You therefore need to get yourself familiar with a little bit of typography and graphics design. The latter can be done by looking at the books by Edward Tufte, particularly his The visual Display of Quantitative Information. If you just put your thesis in the hands of software designers, you have no control over what you actually get. You need to assess what is better or worse in typography and graphic design. The alternative is to be boring and stick with the standard thesis format and I would actually suggest that if you want to save time. In addition, you of course need to figure out what the university allows, there should be some guidelines available.

Regarding serif and sans serif font, the conventional wisdom is that serif fonts are easier to read (especially on paper).  This argument is often used to justify the requirements. Of course, another related factor is just the desire to have all theses be in a uniform style--it looks neater! There seems to be no conclusive evidence that serif fonts are actully easier to read, but I must admit that I strongly prefer a serif font--Times New Roman or Cambria being among my favorites.  In a similar situation, I recently had to submit a paper in Calibri, which was a strong insult to my aesthetic sense. My personal post of the paper is in Times New Roman!--but I submitted per the guidelines.
Others claim that sans serif fonts are better for reading on a screen (note that this site is entirely in sans serif!). However, there is apparently no empirically valid data to support either claim. Alex Poole does a nice job of reviewing the convoluted history of this dispute.
So although there seems to be no clear evidence that either type of font is actually better, you are bucking conventional wisdom, tradition, and university policy by advocating for sans serif font in your thesis. I'd say use the serif font for the official version, and then, as JeffE and Tim suggested, post a 'prettier' version everywhere else. If you are determined to try to change the status quo, follow penelope's excellent advice.


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Reporting a student who may be psychologically disturbed
Yesterday, a colleague from my school's history department brought me a student's final project from her history class. The assigned project was to produce a "creative" project dealing with a historical figure/event covered in the time period of the class (20th century United States). One student wrote a short play about the Great Depression. Another student designed a simple computer game that he ran on a Macintosh Classic II from the 1990s.
However, the student in question here (whose project I was shown) wrote a diary for a famous American serial killer.  The diary graphically details the killings this man performed, including hand sketches of female genitalia, clippings from some porn magazines, and (as far as we can tell) splatters of real blood. It is a horrifically disturbing piece of work.
The student did technically fulfill the parameters of the assignment. He produced a (seemingly) historically accurate project on a historical figure from the 20th century in the United States. (Neither my colleague nor I really wanted to fact check every detail of a 200 page diary written in scrawled handwriting and splattered with blood and sketches of vivisected women). The writing is decent, albeit rather repetitive and somewhat simple. My colleague is likely going to give the student a fairly high grade on the project.
However, the graphic and disturbing subject matter, alongside the frighteningly realistic psychopathy, have brought my colleague to wonder if she should show the project to department or university administration. We were not sure if this student just had a distinct (and disturbing) gift for creative writing or if he was actually writing from personal experience (or something?). Is it a cry for help? Is the student a serial killer (unlikely)? Does he enjoy fantasizing about vicious crimes?
We are not psychologists, so we are not going to try to psychoanalyze this student from a professional standpoint. We also want to tread lightly around punishing and censoring a student for "thought crimes." However we also do not want to become part of history ourselves by being "that one professor" who saw potential signs of a violent criminal and opted to just give the kid an A- and be done with it.
Should my colleague show this project to university administrators?

Addendum
There have been a few questions about the structure and reasoning behind this class.  This is a class that emphasizes history through the lens of "creativity." The thesis of the class is essentially that historical figures were highly creative and that we can learn a fair amount about history by examining "creativity." The class is usually taken by STEM majors as a general ed requirement. I took the class (years ago) and it actually was very interesting and I learned a lot about history.
There have been questions about the grading on the assignment. I do not know the specific metrics for grading the project. I said that my colleague may give an A- on the project as just a hypothetical filler grade. I do not know what she will grade the student on specifically. I guess it comes down to how creative we think writing the F-word 200+ times in a pornographic notebook splattered with a bloody substance is. Let's not act as if all violent porn is to be elevated to the pedestal of artistic acclaim just for the sake of radical liberality. I'm not the grader of the assignment and I ultimately cannot answer how it will be graded.

In my experience, the department under the Dean of Students often has staff that receives reports about students with mental health concerns. The staff in that office would know how to proceed, and what university procedures should be initiated. Your university probably also has some sort of threat assessment team that assesses potential threats to campus. The Dean of Students office (or similar) may turn over the documents to that team.

Serious question: are you a fan of horror/slasher films?

"The assigned project was to produce a project dealing with a historical figure/event covered in the time period"  Can you identify a specific historical figure or event from the diary?  It may be less disturbing if he is recreating something that happened rather than making it all up himself. The tricky thing is to figure out if you have a Steven King or a serial killer. Don't forget to have a written trail of who you inform.

@J.ChrisCompton There is a specific serial killer that this student wrote about about. He is a "historical" figure.

@pmf Historically, disturbing imagery has been associated with nascent hostile intentions and been a valid cause for concern, potentially saving lives. Are you sure you don't want to associate with that ideology?

This sounds like the diary of the main character of "American Psycho", Patrick Bateman. Although I wouldn't use this as an argument to disregard your concerns, perhaps the student is making a reference to this? You can find a screenshot of a scene in the movie here, second to last image. Be warned the site contains screenshots of the movie, which is R rated.

(I had a similar experience myself with a friend. We had to write a story for our Language class based on a book we read. He wrote a story where the main character was a very disturbed man, the story revolved around sexuality and suicide. The teacher was naturally concerned and called his attention, but my friend really had no ongoing issues at all, and was rather 'having some fun'.)

How do you know the blood is real? Did you test it?

A simple phenolphthalein based test suggests the possibility of the substance being blood. We have not tested it further than that. Nor do we plan to.

This question depends on the institution, and I suspect will not generate high-quality answers. In my experience, universities have a formal policy, contact, office, etc., for suspected cases of student disturbance. If you're not cognizant of what that is at your institution, definitely ask your manager/chair for clarification.

I'd point out that the precise event - like when we get questions about harassment, abuse, etc. - isn't really under askance here.

If nothing else, can you go to the police over being handed something covered in potentially real human blood? Seems like it might be illegal to get pathogens all over?

That sounds like a helluva piece of interesting work. I wonder if it will be available in some form, maybe as a scan, to include the blood and all that.

What kind of history course is looking for creative projects with arts and crafts parts (computer programming, stage plays, fake books)? What kind of degree is this for? Is this a university? From a European perspective this assignment seems very weird - is this a usual thing in the US?

I second @marco13. I like the idea and would like to read that work if there's any quality there.

@bukwyrm This is a class that emphasizes history through the lens of "creativity." The thesis of the class is essentially that historical figures were highly creative and that we can learn a fair amount about history by examining "creativity." The class is usually taken by STEM majors as a general ed requirement. I took the class (years ago) and it actually was very interesting and I learned a lot about history.

I third @Marco13, if there's any possibility to make the work available I'd really be interested in taking a look (with the author's permission, needless to say).

"if she should show the project to department or university administration". I once came across some writings on a midterm quiz I was grading that suggested the student may be in need of psychiatric or other help. The word "administration" doesn't sound like those who are competent to help with that. But I immediately brought it to the attention of someone who was technically "administration", not because she was an administrator but because I knew she had broad and lengthy experience with the variety of non-routine things that happen. She said I should notify the......

....student's faculty advisor immediately, and she looked up his name. So I did. With a photocopy of what the student had written. The advisor thanked me and took it from there. I seem to recall the student dropped the course.

+1 For the edit. It's odd how many people are praising this assignment without seeing it or the rubric, assuming it's good just because it's edgy. The question isn't about the grade ...

+1 for the edit, especially this sentence: "Let's not act as if all violent porn is to be elevated to the pedestal of artistic acclaim just for the sake of radical liberality."

Your colleague is female, and the male student's "victims" were all female? If it's repeated, even in small ways, it might be taken to be harassment. Accepting that awkwardness can be misconstrued as creepiness, have there been previous unusual incidents of creepiness from this student? Victims of stalking are often periodically fed this type of "art".

@LightnessRacesinOrbit There are lots of things associated with hostile intentions, including gender, race, income, religion, etc. Shall I also report financially disadvantaged students for possible domestic violence, because that demographic is statistically most likely to commit that crime? I mean, it could save lives, right?

@Clay07g Slippery slope arguments won't work ;) Obviously you don't just report anyone for anything. But there is a limit at which common sense kicks in. To go to the other extreme, if someone says they want to kill someone, you're going to say something, right? Or are you going to give them a pass because we don't want to dob people in based on statistical likelihoods of violence?

@LightnessRacesinOrbit Actually, it probably depends on the context. Usually, when I hear "I'm going to kill [X]" it's pretty clearly a joke. Of course, there's nothing illegal about wanting to murder someone. If I sensed that someone was serious about it, I would recommend they seek help, and even go as far as to help them get help. Reporting them is quite useless, because 1. wanting to kill someone is not a crime, and 2. you can't force someone to get help against their will if they're an adult, unless they actually commit a crime. Reporting is for threats, such as school shootings.

@Clay07g Definitely agree that context is a relevant factor to consider. For what it's worth, I don't currently have a strong opinion on what the OP should do in this particular case.

@LightnessRacesinOrbit per my colleagues in the psychiatry department, the thing to worry about is ACTUAL violence, rather than imagined violence. This is also what I was taught when working in a child psych research lab before medical school. Disturbing drawings = not worrisome; torturing animals = worrisome.

@DeNovo I think that the issue is that by the time there's been actual violence it's too late. But attitudes regarding this vary hugely around the world as far as I can tell (which makes sense)

@LightnessRacesinOrbit it depends on what you consider too late. The idea is that actual violence escalates. Hence, a child who tortures animals: intervene before they escalate their violence to another child or person. Too late for the tortured animal, not too late for the other child. Imagined violence (in a story, drawing, or other imagined fantasy) does not predictably escalate.

"It is a horrifically disturbing piece of work." - In other words you asked the student to do something creative, and they did.  Effectively.  Don't quash their creativity by making them feel like a nutcase for being creative.

@J.ChrisCompton The edits seem more incongruous than praiseworthy.  For instance, the original version describes "a 200 page diary", which the edit then recharacterizes quite negatively as merely containing "the F-word 200+ times".  If both statements are true, then that means on average there's only about one obscene word per page. Which makes the latter (implicit) criticism that the work is uncreative because it makes excessive use of an obscene word seem more like the OP's personal opinion/bias than an objective interpretation.

@aroth "Incongruous"? In the original he says, "The writing is decent, albeit rather repetitive and somewhat simple." I haven't seen the work, but I think if I did my opinion would be that using the f-word more than two hundred times in a single assignment is repetitive - not creative.

@aroth It is not just the use of obscenities that make the work repetitive. 70 or so entries that are verbatim copies of one another serve to do that.

@J.ChrisCompton 'More than 200 times in a single assignment' is moot when the assignment was 200+ pages long. Counting words misses the point; unless the point being made is that even an actual serial killer wouldn't swear so much. Imo the criteria for judging the work are 1) does it accurately capture the acts of its subject, 2) did the subject keep a diary and was it consistent with the work, 3) did others from the timeframe keep similar diaries? History isn't always pretty; it's possible that realism demands some repetitive obscenity. I'd check that first before dismissing the effort.

@aroth You were criticizing the edit, and that is what I was responding to.  Your comment regarding the "the criteria for judging the work" is off topic as the OP clearly stated (in the addendum you criticized) that he doesn't know how it will be judged.

@Vladhagen Can you give an update on how this things were handled?

The "administration" is probably the wrong place to look. Instead, see if you your institution has some mental health staff, whether just associated contacts, or counselors, or even a dedicated behavior concerns advice function, to get proper advice. If the university is well-organized enough to have one of the latter, chances are they've also established policies requiring you to pursue this. And such an advice line would be well suited to tell you how to go about it. If your university doesn't, figure out where to report it.
Note that, unless your institution is highly dysfunctional, reporting concerning behavior and having a professional talk to the student in question shouldn't be considered a punishment, but a safety net.
As Buffy points out in a comment, the law may further require you to do some things, and avoid doing other things. While one would hope that the mental health support staff are well-informed, contacting the legal staff (University Counsel) may be useful. That said, as a non-lawyer person, I imagine most legal pitfalls concern naming the student when you shouldn't. Your initial inquiries need not include the name of the student, until you're convinced that you should.

The "administration" is probably the wrong place to look. - That said, when in doubt about things like this, talking to your chair is often a good thing to do.  I think my chair is considerably more knowledgable about various resources for faculty than I am.

I'd add that Deans and Chairs can be approached to determine the proper mechanism, while still maintaining the anonymity of the student.

By alerting mental health staff the OP would be making some serious presuppositions. I don't think that the case is obviously a mental health thing (without seeing the actual diary). As a student, getting contacted by mental health services over an assignment would make me extremely uncomfortable in class. As a department head, I would not appreciate not being consulted before invoking such a dramatic step involving a student.

@Spark: I certainly agree that the OP should be very cautious about triggering any kind of action/intervention, and should consult their Dean/HoD before doing that.  However, contacting mental health staff first doesn’t seem at all unreasonable: they, not the HoD, are the people most qualified to assess what level of concern (if any) the assignment really warrants.

The problem is that once you do that the department relinquishes some of its control over the process. This may or may not be a wise move, depending on what the content of the assignment actually is. Even a very disturbing work can mean nothing on its own, which is why it’s important to find out whether there are other signs before labeling the student as a psychological case.

It just goes to show that different institutions and departments are run very differently. I've had a former department head make it very clear that he was the wrong person to talk to for matters like these, and that he would not know what resources were available. As far as labeling goes, it's indeed unfortunate if reporting/discussing concerning behavior leads there automatically. That would not be the case at the institutions I'm familiar with, except if there's a immediate threat to the safety of others or of suicide.

Speaking as a chair, PLEASE tell your chair about this even if they are not the primary fixer.  Yes, student health/behavioral services is best suited and will likely be the ones to intervene, but having a chair in the dark about such things is a bad idea.

Not to be dismissive of this, but to be honest he sounds like the average "edgy" teenager/young adult. Maybe he's a fan of horror/slasher movies/history or just interested in serial killers specifically. I'm very interested in this type of things myself, and I'm not violent in the slightest. I also did some questionable school projects when I was younger, not only because of my interest in these subjects but also partly for shock factor and to stand out from the other works (which seems to have happened here).
That being said, there's always a chance he could become a serial killer or show signs of violence, etc., but anyone in your class could without explicitly demonstrating it. If anything, show it to your superiors or talk to him about it just to clear your conscience, and if you notice any other worrying signs maybe suggest an appointment with a mental health specialist.
Grade wise, I do think he deserves a high grade if he did a good/accurate and detailed work, independent of opinion or personal taste on the matter.

By far the best answer. There's no reason or need to do anything in this situation. Let the kid express himself.

I'm not sure this sounds like an average "edgy" teenager/young adult. Are most young adults you know into fantasizing about women being murdered and raped? If so, might I suggest that you examine what type of young adults you hang out with?

I agree, I made a poster of 'meat is murder' with some pretty disgusting gore. We had to design a 'memorable poster', people still mention it 8 years later (teacher failed me though). Just checking won't do any harm, most likely he'll just have a good laugh out of it.

@Nathan I'm not seeing the equivalency between a campaigning poster with an unambiguous message of "killing is bad" and the work described in the question. Would you care to expand on this?

I'm not sure that 200 pages of anything is "average" among students. Even the edgy ones.

I doubt the average "edgy" young adult - certainly the average edgy college student - would go to such lengths. If it had been an essay on a serial killer, then fine, I'd buy your argument.

@DC541 What about horror movies, slasher films, death metal, detailed serial killer documentaries etc.? These genres have popular appeal, perhaps not mainstream but certainly a significant following, that glorify such things. To me, working months on a gory movie, creating hundreds of prosthetic props of severed limbs, and writing characters that have a mind of serial killer is not altogether different from what the OP has described, just a different medium. It's hard to say without knowing more details but I don't see why it couldn't be either edgy or creative expression.

@DC541 "Fantasizing" is an incredible hyperbole. Obviously fantasizing about murder is atypical, but no one here has evidence that would suggest the student does so. If depicting a murderer is the same as fantasizing, then I suppose every horror book author, every movie director, writer, and perhaps every documentary creator is also into fantasizing about murder and rape. Someone better call up George RR. Martin to tell him how disturbed he is.

Even so, fantasizing about these things is not as uncommon as you might think, people usually just aren't very open about it, understandably so. Still think there's a long way from thinking about something, even writing 200 pages about it (which is admittedly a bit much), to actually doing something or having true intentions to do so. That being said, even the most normal-looking person in class could have a body in their trunk, and those would probably keep away from showing any "worrying" signs.

@DavidRicherby Similarly to the student in question I handed in a project that shocked my teachers/peers for the sole reason of having a laugh.

Totally agree. It would be different if that person was otherwise "acting weird", but as far as the project is concerned, I'd give it a definitive "A" for making something stunning and definitively-not-mainstream, definitively-not-expected which is nevertheless 100% within the requirements. Which is pretty much the definition of "creative". Those people who shoot 20 children in a school typically wander around mumbling "gonna kill everybody" for weeks and post about it online, and are still being ignored. A single "creative work" alone surely isn't alarming without other signs.

[A student wrote] a diary for a famous American serial killer... graphically detail[ing] the killings this man performed, including hand sketches of female genetilia... [The student will likely receive] a fairly high grade on the project.

It seems like the student should be commended for their account of historic events.

It is a horrifically disturbing piece of work.

That seems like an excellent portrayal of a serial killer.

(as far as we can tell) splatters of real blood

You've acknowledged that it might not be real....
I'm left thinking: The student should be commended. That said, I don't have the full picture and you certainly "do not want to become part of history ourselves by being 'that one professor.'"
The OP has been commended (in comments, e.g., by Nic) for acknowledging that they feel somewhat out of their depth. So, this seemingly isn't an issue that the OP should deal with alone: I recommend delegating responsibility to your department head. This isn't shirking; it is the right thing to do. (At least in my opinion.)
There are also ramifications to consider: As commented below, "[I]f it all blows up, you can point fingers. If you don't, and it all blows up, fingers will be pointed at you."

Dumping the whole thing on a more senior member of staff sounds like a wonderful idea. That way, if it all blows up, you can point fingers. If you don't, and it all blows up, fingers will be pointed at you.

If I was the student and this project was entirely a creative exercise, I would consider being offered psych council for the disturbing content of the journal to be the highest form of praise.

-1 for the suggestion to "pass the buck".

@einpoklum Why? (It's surely outside the scope of the OP's responsibilities, not to mention their pay grade.)

It's within OP's (colleague's) responsibilities as a teacher and as a human being.

@einpoklum I disagree. The OP has been commended (in comments) for acknowledging that they feel somewhat out of their depth. (At least, that's my interpretation.) Hence, I believe the OP's responsibility is to delegate, not to solve it themselves. That said, my above phrasing is a little cold and partially focuses on the wrong aspect -- I'll edit.

@einpoklum If you lack the necessary expertise (especially, as in this case, in health-related matter), passing the buck is the only responsible thing to do.

@KonradRudolph: 1. OP's colleague has experience others don't: The experience of teaching the student and going through his submission. 2. Passing the buck is not the same as ensuring the student is receives attention from a well-intentioned trained oerion.

@einpoklum "passing the buck" is compatible with "ensuring the student...receives attention" and it doesn't exclude the OP from providing valuable input, it merely passes responsibility. In this instance, to someone more able to help.

@user2768: "Ensuring" means keeping responsibility.

@einpoklum I don't understand your reasoning. Surely, to ensure student health one must delegate responsibility to a professional, rather than keeping responsibility and attempting to handle the situation one's self. Perhaps you mean that one can only ensure student health by remaining involved? I don't dispute that, but delegation is still necessary.

@KonradRudolph That assumes that you have someone responsible to pass the buck to. It's perfectly possible to not feel you have the personal skills needed to handle a situation, but also have good reason to think that passing it on to the supposedly proper authorities would be a disastrous idea. If I were in the US and found some black teenage males scaring innocent people in the street with a fake gun for fun, I don't think I'd be great at diplomatically handling that situation, but I certainly wouldn't call US cops on them. Better to try your best than risk an institutional overreaction.

@KonradRudolph And in this specific case, we're talking about the US education system, which is fond of "zero tolerance" policies and nonsense like expelling kindergarten students for biting a sandwich into the shape of a gun. It'll depend somewhat upon the individual staff at his institution, but the OP here may have very good reason to assume that escalating to anyone whose official job it is to deal with a situation like this will automatically have life-damaging consequences for the student involved. I feel this gets wrongly glossed over by almost everyone answering or commenting here.

@MarkAmery Universities are surely require to "have someone responsible to pass the buck to"? I suspect not doing so would open the university to litigation, especially in the US. More practically, there must surely be someone in the university that can take responsibility, even if they aren't in the chain of responsibility.

@user2768 I fear you're missing my point. Yes, there is almost certainly someone whose official role is to take care of cases like this. In a perfect world, that person would do so thoughtfully, "responsibly", and with respect for the rights of the student. In reality, it seems more likely to me that reporting to them is the single most irresponsible thing a teacher can do, and will automatically result in the student's suspension or coercion into therapy, without regard for their welfare or whether such punishment will serve any purpose, just so that the school can say it did something.

@MarkAmery I understand your point. I'm just struggling (perhaps optimistically) to believe that there exist many universities in which there is no such person -- not necessarily the person who is officially responsible -- to delegate to. Is that true for many of the institutes you've worked for? I'm struggling to think of a single institute, that I'm aware of, where no such person exists.

@user2768 "Is that true for many of the institutes you've worked for?" - I haven't worked for any. I'm not an academic - just a Stack Overflow user who got here through the Hot Network Questions.

@MarkAmery Do you have any experience on which to base your comments? Or are you speculating?

@user2768 No personal experience whatsoever, but one doesn't have to look very hard to find media stories about serious (and defacto punitive) measures being taken against students for revealing mental health issues - even in cases far more morally unambiguous than this one where the student has harmed nobody and presents no plausible threat to anyone but themselves. Here's an article: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/college-mental-health-services_n_5900632. It's not speculation when it's a documented practice that colleges openly admit to engaging in.

@MarkAmery Sure, there exist cases. But, again, I don't believe malpractice is widespread.

Should my colleague show this project to university administrators?

Yes. It's lunacy for the instructor to try to handle this alone as a purely academic issue. The student should know a priori that submitting what sounds like hundreds of pictures of mutilated women and what appears to be real blood is out-of-bounds for a college class. The fact that this is not the case suggests very deep problems.
At any institution I've experienced, there is some well-defined path for reporting and getting students appropriate help. For example, at my college we have an Assessment and Care Team (ACT) whose mission statement includes "Initiating appropriate intervention without resorting to punitive measures", etc. Reportable behaviors include "Material, written or spoken, in coursework suggesting possibly self-harm or harm to others", etc. Among the members of this team are the Dean of Students, Public Safety, Counseling and Health Services, etc.
The fact that you and your colleague don't know what the recognized process is at your institution indicates that you're pretty far out of your depth. Ask your manager/chair immediately what the correct contact is. I'll close with one more quote from our college's ACT document for faculty, which I think is top-notch advice:

Know your limits: Only go as far as your expertise, training, and
  resources allow and trust your feelings when you think an individual's
  problem is more than you can handle. If you are unsure how to respond
  to a specific student, consult with Counseling Services or a member of
  ACT.

Yesterday, a colleague from my school's history department brought me
  a student's final project from her history class. The assigned project
  was to produce a "creative" project dealing with a historical
  figure/event covered in the time period of the class (20th century
  United States).

What a strange university level type of history assignment ! Why would you want a student of history to get creative ?

(Neither my colleague nor I really wanted to fact check every detail
  of a 200 page diary written in scrawled handwriting and splattered
  with blood and sketches of vivisected women)

200 pages with drawings ? That seems overzealous, way too much work for an assignment, doesnt it ?
Although it's not your job to put a diagnostic on the student, it is possible that you dont find in the institution anyone whose job it is. In that case, you still gotta do something as a citizen.
The teacher can interview the student about the essay under the guise of finding it interesting and unusual, but with the real intent of probing the student. A paranoid/guilty student wouldnt submit such paper. I suggest the interview focuses on discerning the fantasy part in it and possibly concludes with a counselling offer if suitable.
The interviewer should ask questions as an amazed reader wanting to know more about the genesis of the work, this is well within the scope of teacher student interaction
-is this real blood? Is it yours ?
-did you write the thing on a word processor before handwriting it ?
-what sources did you use ? Did you get creative ? Where ?
-how did the idea come to you ?
-how much time did you spend on it etc....
Now if the student says it's his blood (shows you the cuts), wrote all by hand without word processor, intertwined a lot of fantasy with few historical detail, and has always been fascinated with such things then it is certainly worthy of spending extra effort finding shrink help for the student.

"200 pages with drawings ? That seems overzealous, way too much work for an assignment, doesnt it ?" taking into account that another student made a computer game running on an ancient machine, I suspect that the assignment asked to spend at least gazillion hours on this project...

u are right, regardless, I cant tell in which cursus all these assignments  are supposed to fit together.

TL;DR - if you're worried, contact the department head and recommend that they keep an eye out for further signs.
Let's start with the obvious: if you think that there is a clear and immediate threat to you, the student, or anyone else - contact the authorities.
I don't think that this is the case here though. The most reasonable explanation in my opinion is that this is a student who wants to be edgy/different, and has a thing for horror. Some of the things you point out do not sound too outlandish to me (at the risk of sounding crass, you can get a pretty good idea of what genitalia look like after 5 minutes on the web), but you are a better judge of that.
If you feel like this is unusually weird, and it raises red flags in your opinion, I would the department head. Your reaction needs to be measured when you present the case. The student committed no crime and took an unusual approach to an assignment. If you start a whole thing involving psychological services etc., it may turn out to be nothing, and may be construed as 'thought police-ey' (your department head may -rightly- think that you're overreacting). Just state that the work made you uncomfortable, and that its content may be indicative of some underlying issues. There is no ethical issue with showing students' work to colleagues (including department heads). Your department head will be in a better position to make a call - they'll be able to find out whether the student has been showing other disturbing signs in other classes, or on campus.

There are several good answers here already, but I would still like to add a humble option: talk to him, without assuming he is disturbed.
"This is a dark topic, and you have obviously spent a lot of time with it. How do you feel, now you're done?"
If you think the work might be a "cry for help", such a discussion will probably help you assess whether there is any cause to worry.

You should do nothing, for the following reasons:
(a) The student did an excellent project and should be rewarded for that.
(b) Morality is attached to actions, not character. The act of killing someone is contrary to ethics, but character traits that allow one to not be grossed out by the idea of killing someone is not contrary to ethics.
(c) People are horrified by different things. For myself, I am very squeamish and discomforted by apparently "moderate" depictions of misuse of power. Yet to most people, these depictions are just harmless entertainment. See point (b).
(d) If the existence and availability of certain cultural materials is psychologically harmful, the responsibility falls on society to legislate appropriately. The responsibility does not fall on nonexperts to act on their highly fallible guesses about the empirical facts pertaining to the psychological effects of cultural materials.

First thing's first: Handle potential immediate danger
Your colleague should contact the student - most preferable in person if she knows she will see him / pass him by somewhere; if not that, by phone; otherwise by email, but also possibly through known friends of his.
When first contacting, your colleague should not be overly alarmist - so as not to make him break contact. She should commend him for his effort; casually sneak in a question about whether he is on campus, taking his exams, or whatever it is he's supposed to be doing; and asking him to come in for a talk about the work, to explain some aspects of it (e.g. during reception hours).
If the student cannot be contacted, is incoherent, or suggests that he is in distress - then it's emergency mode. I'm not good at giving advice about interacting with people when they're potentially-suicidal or potentially-homicidal; I'd say Google it or maybe other answers here on the site are relevant.
I'm just saying - don't have your colleague mull this over, wondering what exactly to do, in case the guy is in danger of harming himself or others in the immediate future

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text:
About Ph.D application to US
Suppose a student currently doing Ph.D in an institute wants to leave the institute and apply abroad for Ph.D. Should he/she mention the name of the institute he/she wants to leave? If the universities call the current PI, they will never get a positive feedback since the current institute will never want to lose their student. But the student wants to mention that he/she has work experience. What is to be done in this situation? Can the US universities reject the application based on the current PI's feedback in spite of the candidate having excellent grades and recommendations from previous PIs?

How do you know that the current institute/PI will never give the student positive feedback? Perhaps you're right, but this opinion seems unduly cynical.

Actually from our institute this kind of instances can be cited. So I am a bit worried regarding this.

Should he/she mention the name of the institute he/she wants to leave?

Yes, absolutely.  The application will typically ask for your complete academic history, which would include the institution where you are currently studying.  Leaving it out would be an extremely serious ethical violation that could jeopardize not only your chances of admission but your entire academic career.

If the universities call the current PI

They normally wouldn't call your current PI.  But one of the requirements to apply to a US graduate program is to have letters of recommendation from people who have known you academically.  If you are currently in a PhD program, they would usually expect that one of those letters would be from your current supervisor, since that is the person who would be most familiar with your most recent work.  If you don't have a letter from them, an admissions committee might make the assumption that your current work is not very good, and so you didn't request a letter from your supervisor because you knew it would be unfavorable.
You can mitigate this somewhat if you have a letter from someone else at your current institution, especially if their letter explains why you could not ask the PI.  But your application probably still won't be as strong as if you had a positive letter from the PI.  If you have no letters from anyone at your current institution, that's likely to be a red flag.
Many PIs would have no problem writing a positive letter for a student wanting to make a move, and I think any PI who refuses to do because they don't want to lose the student is being selfish and doing harm to their profession.  But you know your PI better than we do.  So you're going to have to make your own judgment as to the relative risks and benefits of asking your PI for a letter, or seeing if there is someone else there whom you trust.

Can the US universities reject the application based on the current PI's feedback in spite of the candidate having excellent grades and recommendations from previous PIs?

Yes, they can.  The admission committee looks at the entire application, and any piece of it could affect their decision.  At some very competitive departments, any significant piece of negative information on the application might be enough to reject it.  Other departments might be willing to overlook a single negative (or missing) recommendation if other parts of the application are strong.  There is no way to know in advance what any given committee would decide to do.

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text:
How do you write a letter of recommendation for someone who got an A in your class, but who you've never talked to outside of class?
I taught a large class last summer, and one of my students asked me to write a letter of recommendation.  I said yes, and at this point I think it is too late in the application process to change my mind.
The student got an A in the class, but never came to my office hours or talked to me at all before she asked me for a letter of recommendation.  She also hasn't done anything specific to distinguish herself.  At this point I'm really not sure what to write about her, although she did give me a "brag sheet" with information about her interests and previous projects.
How should I go about writing the letter?

Well, start simple. Given the information you got, do you think she can be successful in a PhD programme (or whatever she is applying for)?

Well, she's mostly applying to masters programs in computer science, and she did well in her classes, so I assume she would do well in future classes.

I'd call her an "autonomous student"... There is no point in wasting your office hours if she can understand the material without them.

Did you ask her what she needs the recommendation letter for? You say you don't have any informal relationship with her, this can be in favour or in disfavour for the job she'll be applying for, so maybe you can ask her this, in order for you to know whether or not you could mention this in the recommendation letter.

If you don't know the student that well you probably should not be writing a recommendation letter.

Here's my understanding of the issue: A student, who you do not know very well outside of the classroom, asked you for a recommendation letter, and you said "yes."
So, assuming you thought highly of the student's performance in your course, you write the strongest letter you can under these circumstances.
This means you focus on the student's performance in your course, and compare the student's performance to the performance of others who have taken the course. If your course is particularly challenging in some way, you may also extrapolate on how the student's performance is indicative of some key strengths which are relevant to the student's target grad programs.
There is no need to overthink this, and if the student is not successful in getting into a good grad program, and they think it is because you weren't able to vouch for them the way that they would prefer, then, if they're a fast learner, they'll ask someone else next time.

This is a good answer. I would add that the student's "brag sheet" is irrelevant -- you're only commenting on things you have direct knowledge of, in this case the student's performance in your class and information about what the class is like. Also: I always point out in advance to students like this, who I have never encountered outside of class, that my recommendation letters will be rather minimal, and I encourage them to also (or instead) get letters from people who can add other insights.

The opening "I'm not sure what the problem is" seems a little harsh, and entirely unnecessary.  Especially since you then go on to give a perfectly cogent answer to the OPs question.

Does "I'm not sure what the problem is" sound rude to native English speakers? To me it just sound like stating the fact that he is trying to guess the exact intention of the question. Am I missing anything?

It does to this native speaker.

From a comment by the OP:

Well, she's mostly applying to masters programs in computer science, and she did well in her classes, so I assume she would do well in future classes.

Great, that's an important piece of information.
Now, since you are saying she didn't do "anything specific to distinguish herself," you can probably use more general information to support her application.
E.g.,

How do you assess her intellectual capabilities compared to other students who you've supervised or worked with?
Can you say anything good about how well she interacts/works with others?
What do you think of her commitment to postgraduate study; do you think she genuinely likes the field(s) she is choosing?
How do you rank her ability to organise a workload, resilience, creativity, etc. compared to her peers?

If you are really struggling to write anything else besides, "She is a good student," it may be worthwhile to have a brief talk with her, to discuss how you can strengthen her application.

If you can add anything to back up your assumption, do. For example, have students who received lower grades in your class recently gone on to similar graduate programs and succeeded? If so, saying that in your letter would be very helpful to her application. It could also help to give additional detail about her A that might be indicate a particular strength for graduate school. Was any part of the grade based on a large-scale project, a presentation, or an assignment that was writing-intensive? If so, and she received a high grade on that part, point it out.

The student got an A in the class, ... She also hasn't done anything specific to distinguish herself.

I would say that getting an 'A' in the class might be considered distinguishing enough - unless an unusually large proportion of the class normally gets an 'A'.  You can say that she is an independent learner requiring little support to get to her current standard.  You marked her work: you can comment on its readability, suitability, conciseness and other qualities.  In other words, it shouldn't be a difficult task for you to write an academic recommendation for an 'A' student! (or what's the point of the student getting the 'A'?)

Mad Jack already covered most of the content you should include in your letter, but I'll add an extra point that you can develop.
You could explain why your recommendation actually matters.
Any student can ask for a letter from a professor and will most likely get one. Explain why your letter is a big deal. An example : "This Class is one of the most challenging in the entire College, as it is the best way/one of the best programs to enter [Category of job the student is looking for]. I only accepted to write [Your question seems to imply One] letter for all [100 ? Add the exact size of your class] students, since this person has shown special capabilities/talent." Then you can discuss the person's quality, as per Mad Jack's answer.

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How to get a postdoc without publications in "top" venues?
I am a Ph.D. student in computer vision at a North American university. I have a very hard and limited problem in my thesis and I could not publish in top conferences such as CVPR, ICCV, PAMI,... I published 3 IEEE conferences and I submitted 1 journal (under revision) in PRL. I was very autonomous (99%).
I am looking for a postdoc in north America, Japan or Singapore. I remark that all positions demand that the candidate should have published in top conferences or top journals.
So, can I have a postdoc opportunity or I have to forget it and  look for an industrial post?

Your advisor will have better insight into what postdoc employers in your specific subfield will be looking for.  Talk to your advisor.

@NateEldredge Thanks for your comment.  I write this question to get more advice and more point of view

@NateEldredge As the OP is saying that he was autonomous, that means his/her prof. was not involved. Now, what can exactly he/she can discuss with the prof.?

@BetterEnglish What is your long-term goal? These days it can be tough to stay in academia without a strong publication record even through your PhD years.

In reality, it's not unheard of for people to state specific conference/journal requirements in a job ad, and then be more flexible in practice if there are other reasons to believe that you're useful. Putting requirements like that in a job ad gives people something "objective" on which to base the rejection of weaker candidates; it doesn't mean that they're going to reject good candidates out of hand (it wouldn't make sense for them to do that). In reality, most sensible professors will look at individual people who are applying and assess them on their merits.

@Coder even if the advisor knows little about her or his student, (s)he does/should know the field, and can thus advise on what expectations are reasonable.

@Coder, thanks so much for your comment and analysis

If your CV is weak and you are worried about being filtered out based on that, you can ask your advisor to contact people and recommend you directly. Additionally, you could try contacting senior scientists that you met in conferences and were excited about your work.


text:
What does ‘content’ as part of a degree mean?
I have just received a letter of recommendation from my supervisor from two years ago, and in it, they* present me as ‘M.Art.Content’ (magister artium [?]). Searching online for various key words + content, unsurprisingly yields no good results. I know they are highly qualified in Latin, and am sure there is a reason for it.
Currently there is only one good idea (as suggested by @BryanKrause): That it might be a reference to performance, i.e. magister artium contentus (master of arts, satisfactory), similar to the old Norwegian system of laud (from Latin laudabilis). This makes sense. If anyone has more knowledge of how one reports a candidate’s capabilities internationally, and could elaborate on the meaning and tradition of this usage, it would be of great aid.
*Singular (unsexed) they.

Is it at all possible that this is an auto spell correction error? Otherwise I'm also mystified. What country? Norway?

Could it be that they used a generic template and forgot to replace a placeholder? something like M.Art.

You might have to ask them; could be related to 'contentus' but I have no idea how that would apply to a degree or what it would mean.

@Buffy Yes, Norway is correct. The letter of recommendation is ment for use outside of Norway, though.

@Erwan Yes, that could be a possibility, but that would surprise me greatly, considering them being well-known for attention to details.

@BryanKrause You might be on to something. I have edited the question to include your thought.


text:
France national research institutes hinder work by banning foreign online services
I recently started a postdoc in France. I am not French, do not speak any French yet, and I am new to the culture.
It turns out that all national research institutes in France have a rule against using any foreign online service. All research data and communication must always stay on secure government networks and on French territory.  In practice, this means that services like Skype, Dropbox, Gmail, etc. are banned, and we are sometimes reminded of this through the institute's mailing lists (in French only).  An article mentioning Skype: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/France_banning_Skype_from_universities
I find that not being able to use such services seriously hinders my work. I cannot talk to collaborators while at work because they all use Skype, and talking from home is not always convenient (time zones, etc.) I cannot have a shared Dropbox folder with them. I cannot use my online backup service (Backblaze). I cannot forward my emails to a central mailbox (Gmail or other) that I will have access to even after I leave this institute.  The institute does not provide easy to use replacements for most of these services.  The ones that it does provide don't work well, are limited, inconvenient and unreliable.
The attitude of my colleagues spans a broad spectrum, from "I don't give a damn" to scolding me for wanting to use these services. The attitude of our PI is ambiguous (they aren't really a computer person).
Our work does not require stricter security than usual (i.e. we don't collect personal information, medical data, etc.)
How would you deal with this situation? Complying with the rules would be a hindrance for my work, and would waste time.  Not complying may be a risk for me.  I am looking for advice from other people who also work in France. I would like to have opinions form people who work in other labs, and also some "cultural advice", as "rule" doesn't mean the same thing in all countries.  Since this seems to be a national rule, others must have encountered the same problem.

Are you using your personal computer or the institution computer? I have worked in France at two different universities and always worked on my personal laptop, and never had any of these restrictions. But also the other people using the university's computers were using skype no problem.

For what is worth, I m a french postdoc working in Germany, and my institution here frown upon the use of Skype, Dropbox, etc. as well, so it's not exclusively a french policy.

A recent email: "Le transit, le dépôt et l’hébergement de données scientifiques issues de la recherche financée par l'état (français) doivent rester sur des systèmes d'information de confiance au niveau national (INSERM, Universités, EPST, CINES)  ou confiées à des hébergeurs nationaux agréés. Des informations scientifiques ou biomédicales ne doivent, en aucun cas,  être confiées à des hébergeurs hors du territoire français." The Skype ban is still in effect and this was made clear to me on the first week I arrived. I posted the article which I found in English.

Commenting on the "cultural advice" aspect of the question, it seems to me that not speaking French is likely to hinder your work a lot more than any technology-related issue, and in particular will lead to communication issues that will cause many administrators and perhaps even some colleagues to treat you like a second class citizen and to be less inclined to help you with your tech difficulties. So, while your frustration is understandable, it might be useful to acknowledge that the deeper cause of your difficulties is not stupid government policies but cultural and language barriers.

... In view of my comment above, I think I would recommend doing your best to comply with the rules for now, and focusing your energies on addressing the deeper issue I mentioned - learning some French if that is at all possible, or at least learning how to use French software systems, and getting used to French culture and ways of thinking (of course all of those things may not be easy and may require a substantial investment of time and mental energy). And of course enjoying all the amazing things that life in France has to offer.

@Roland he said the alternatives are not reliable. There is sometimes a trade-off between adhering to principles and working productively. If it's the person that chooses the principles, that's fine. But if it's the institution, then the question is what alternatives are there. This is the question of the OP, perfectly valid. Having been at institutions in the past where certain software is being expected to be used, I can completely relate to that.

And I thought it was annoying to have to do all my  professional travel with domestic (American) airlines! But the thought of having to do all my research with French technology...

This being said, there are sound reasons for not using Dropbox of Google Drive for sensitive data. This policy while being based on dubious grounds might actually have good results.

Could you find out exactly where the money for your research project comes from? If it comes from the EU for example (Horizon 2020), I think there's a case to be made that such protectionism is illegal.

@CapeCode: I don't think the OP is saying they have to do all their research with French technology, just that the technology employed has to be running on French territory. Which seems to allude precisely to the "sound reasons for not using Dropbox or Google Drive for sensitive data" you mention, so it would seem the policy achieves exactly what is intended and desired rather than being "based on dubious grounds".

I can't answer on all the issues, but here are my thoughts on your issues and also to some of the comments.
(I'm actually working in France and as coming from abroad I was surprised at the beginning - but it gets better as you get used to it)
So, indeed, in France there is a formal line on what software is safe to be used. So, instead of Skype, for our group meetings we use another system called Visio, which comes with its own hardware (it's a whole TV set with camera and so).
In the same line, we don't have dropbox and I haven't tried forwarding my emails. I can't comment also on scolding, but I suppose that if someone's not used on working with these softwares, i.e. their work does not depend so much on these things, they haven't actually even thought about having them.
However, there are a few work-arounds and some are more or less practical.
Using your personal computer is always a solution, although you might not get it easily connected to the network. If you can get eduroam access, you can most probably connect your laptop. You might face some resistance in getting connected to the wired network though. (In my case it was solved with eduroam and then i realised that just plugging my laptop to the modem did the trick).
If you don't have a laptop or you don't want to bring it or you can't connect it, for Skype there is http://web.skype.com which is in beta at the moment. I haven't used it for calls (although it seems to be working if my desktop had a mic) but it's generally reliable for messages. I know the university is trying to setup a business Skype, but I don't know when and how this will be available.
As a workaround for the files I want to work from home, I was dropping everything in my google drive (from the web page) which was then synchronising with my computer at home. Later the university started having it's own cloud box system, which made everything easier as there was no problem installing it (it is a university app after all). Searching into your institute account might help find out which options are actually offered.
Finally, for the e-mail issue, I have setup the account also at my home computer and I sync all the email with that. I never had a particular problem with that, as all my emails are now located also on my home computer.
Finally, I don't think the PI can really do anything, as these are state guidelines, so it's beyond their power. However, our lab has a couple common laptops which are used whenever a Skype call is the only way (e.g. when talking with partners abroad).
If I think anything else, I will update my thread. Just to say that it's mostly a matter of habit and you will adapt with a few workarounds.

For file sharing, setting up your own ownCloud on a server located in the lab would be sufficient for sharing files with collaborators.

Actually our university has set up an ownCloud server. So, yes, it's pretty easy.

But also our lab has a common server where we share things. But I think the OP meant sharing files with partners outside the lab.

You can easily create group folders in ownCloud.

First and foremost: their lab, their rules.
As long as they is not illegal, immoral, or unethical, the lab or their funders (i.e., the government) can set standards and requirements that you must follow. If you don't like the rules, you can quit. If they catch you willfully breaking their rules, they can easily fire you for cause So I would be hesitant about circumventing their regulations if you like your job.
Second, their rules might have a rationale. Their country, their courts, their laws. European data privacy regulations are notably very strict. American companies not only operate under a looser regime -- but the companies themselves often have fictitious headquarters or locate their servers in regimes that are even looser about data privacy.  Dropbox and Google have cooperated with US courts and law enforcement to give up client data. Skype used to use clients as p2p supernodes, potentially opening up backdoors (or at minimum, using resources without permission) - this caused many agencies to forbid its use. Even leaving aside court orders and malware,  EU privacy laws are such that having something even as trivial as putting the lab's telephone directory (with personal phone numbers and addresses) on a Dropbox might mean that the data might leave the EU  -- and thus violate EU data privacy restrictions. As long as the data stays in France, it's protected by French courts and French laws.
Third, the rules might be designed to support local industry. Just as I am only permitted to "Fly America" when using USA-government funds, it is perfectly reasonable for the French government to encourage the use of their own national technologies. If enough national lab scientists are pissed off enough about not being able to use an American software tool, they might very well come up with a superior French tool. Or so they hope.
Fourth, see rule #1: their lab, their rules. You are new to the country and to the lab. Ask your other lab members what they do. Try to not be the "ugly American" who assumes that their way is always the best way. See which rules are to be strictly obeyed and which everyone largely ignores. Learn the culture and language.

"their lab, their rules" <- Yes, you do have a point, but these are not exactly lab regulations. They are government regulations that apply to all state funded labs and universities. Right after I posted a question I got three extremely upset comments from a French user who said that it's not at all like this in France. Those comments are now deleted (their tone wasn't appropriate), but one thing I learned from them was that in some French institutes some researchers aren't even aware of these regulations ... the commenter actually said that he doesn't believe me and he thinks I'm trolling.

Thanks, I clarified what I mean by "their lab, their rules" by noting that "they" could also mean their funders (i.e., the govt).

@RoboKaren It's true that its their rules and we have to abide with them. Just as a comment, I don't think though that it's an EU thing, because I've been working in other EU countries and there was no problem using any kind of software. As for France, in most of these "issues" there are no french alternatives (and I would be the first to support a local software rathen than a foreign one). As for the privacy, I'm not sure they follow the standards they want to set: they keep using my gmail to send me work e-mails, and they use skype when they can't do otherwise.

@BioGeo I would be the first to support a local software rathen than a foreign one Why? Don't you want to simply use the one that best suits your needs instead?

@CapeCode A local that suits my needs of course... not any local one :)

@BioGeo: "I don't think though that it's an EU thing, because I've been working in other EU countries and there was no problem using any kind of software" - countries in the EU agree upon guidelines, which then have to be implemented in national laws of each member country. While the guidelines provide some minimum requirements and general directions, each country has some leeway for individual interpretation. Therefore, a somewhat privacy-concious and centralist country like France may end up with different laws than some other EU countries.

@O.R.Mapper That's what I meant. It's not a general EU law. France is more privacy conscious, compared to the often more transparent Nordic countries.

@NajibIdrissi: True that, in my native language (German) that's called EU-Richtlinie, with Richtlinie being a translation for both directive and (actually, more literally) guideline, hence I picked the wrong word. In any case, my point was to show the underlying ruleset can very well be "an EU thing", even though the concrete implementation differs by country.


text:
How to compare academic ranks between Australia and North American countries?
In Australia, academic ranks for a balanced position is usually broken down into 5 pay-scales (A Associate lecturer, B Lecturer, C Senior  Lecturer, D Associate Professor, and E Professor), which somehow shows the level of seniority as well as the leadership responsibilities. There might be a few exceptions to this.
I noticed some Australian Level C academics translate their title to a North American Associate Professor title. This is really confusing to me as there is already a more senior Australian title with the same name. The assertion made here is that an Australian level D is similar to a full professorship in a North American country while an Australian level E is similar to a titled Professor in a North American country. I don't understand that as there are already many titled professors, senior professors and distinguished professors in Australia.
What is a correct comparison between the academic ranks in Australia and the North American countries? Is making a comparison even correct?

"Associate Professor" seems to me to be a problematic title (e.g. what are you merely "associated" with rather than a part of?).  I don't they do equate at least between the UK and US, partly because the age/experience profile of the "corresponding" grades are different in the UK and US (c.f. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/172797/how-are-older-associate-professors-viewed-in-academia-in-the-usa-and-elsewhere ).  In the U.K. senior lecturers and readers are both being relabelled as associate professors.  I agree that "politically correct" (like "woke") suggests polarisation.

I suggest you edit this question so it does not solicit opinions about correctness.

By "North America" here it seems that you really mean "US and Canada"?  Mexico's system of academic ranks appears to be rather different, and I think the other Central American countries are too.

The name or title of a position is often confusing when comparing countries. The value/rank/prestige of a position is determined by it's place in a system not its label. So it is perfectly normal for positions with the same name to be different and positions with different names to be the same when comparing countries.

The real difference between ranks is "Non-tenure temporary, non-tenure with a possibility for tenure - tenure - Professor - distinguished Professor. There are analogs of that in academias of all countries (sometimes there are several versions of each rank in different countries) and different tracks too, Say, in France they have CNRS.

@markvs that is not the case in the U.K. we don't have tenure, but posts do have a probationary period for early career faculty (typically three years, but can be concluded early if a high level of competence is demonstrated).  However, when you pass probation, you are still on the lowest "lecturer" pay scale and promotion to senior lecturer typically happens rather later.  There are also fixed term senior lecturer posts now and then.

@DikranMarsupial: I know all that. Some steps can be omitted. In the UK many things depend on the University too. TThe Oxford system is different from Southampton or from Sussex I know this because I wrote supporting letters for their promotional cases..But the principle is the same, I think.

@DikranMarsupial: I think in the UK you do have tenure.  You do not have "tenure track"?

@markvs no, we have permanent posts with a probationary period for new faculty members, but it is very rare for faculty not to pass probation (normally three years, but you can pass earlier if things are going well).  AIUI there are also employment law issues that mean people who have been in post a long time via a series of fixed-term contracts have some additional protection, but I don't know the details.  In the UK you can be made redundant through no fault of your own IIRC (but it would be rare)

AIUI, a permanent/indefinite contract just means that funds are allocated for your post indefinitely in the institutions financial planning, it doesn't mean you have a job for life.  However, I am not a HR specialist, and there is bound to be someone here able to give a more reliable view.

@DikranMarsupial: I know all that. Still your positions correspond to "Non-tenure track", "tenure track", "tenure". "associate professor", "full professor", I did not name these, because the names are different in different countries. There are also major differences with Germany, Austria and France. But the essence is the same. I am not a   HR person either, but I have written many promotional letters.

@markvs, no, they don't equate because there is no "tenure track" AFAICS the difference is whether your post has an indefinite budget, not that you will always be the holder of it.  There is a linear "seniority" ordering, but it is just the labels that can be equated, not what those labels actually mean.

They do not equate, but each of your positions corresponds to one of ours. Even "professor with no salary increase".

These kinds of comparisons are always imperfect. What does 'equivalent' really mean here? It's not even clear within a country: is a Full Professor at MIT 'equivalent' to a Full Professor at Compass Point State College (Satellite Campus)?
I am not sure that the boundaries between US ranks map exactly onto any of the boundaries between Australian levels. As a rough guide, I would suggest:

US Postdoc = Australia A/B
US Asst. Prof. = Australia B/C
US Assoc. Prof. = Australia C/D
US Full Prof. = Australia D/E
US named chair = Australia E/E+

I think this matches both the typical level of responsibility, and the typical 'academic age' (i.e. years post-PhD) of candidates.
Australian academia grew from the historical British model, where there were comparatively few Professors and the title was indeed a mark of significant distinction. In recent years both countries have gradually moved towards a (perceived) parity with the US system, with promotion to Professor becoming increasingly 'normal' for those who survive long enough. This evolution may well be the source of some of the confusion over how titles map between countries.

This isn't completely accurate because promotion to Full Professor is, at many US universities, almost certain to occur.  At Australian universities, it is normal to get stuck at Level D.

The UK system hasn't moved to [perceived] parity with the US system, we have just adopted the labels.  Promotion to full professor is substantially more difficult than it was when I became a lecturer in the mid 1990s (IMHO).

@AnonymousPhysicist: that’s exactly why Full Professor maps to D/E rather than just E or just D.

@AnonymousPhysicist: It is far from certain in my University. A really complicated process (till recently) with an uncertain result. I was the Chair of the promotional committee several times.

@NoahSnyder: There are just very few "full professors" at Oxford math. Each one of them  had been promoted individually with different method. There are several type of Professors. For example, in one of the letters I received, I found :"We are promoting X to professor without increasing salary, please write a supporting letter." I did not write "please, increase her salary" or "she should be fine with her salary".

@markvs: this is a question about comparing Australia to North America. Literally nothing to do with Oxford.

@NoahSnyder: Australia copied the UK. There are no Oxbridge in Australia, but they have Sydney, Melbourne, Monash, Canberra which are similar to Southampton, Warrick and so on. I only wrote  letters to Monash, so I do not know about others. But I expect something similar. The UK was brought up by somebody in the comments.