Doing Science – Page 29 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Circus Ponies Notebook 4

2014-05-26

Review of Circus Ponies Notebook, version 4. tl;dr: For me the best app to keep and sort information, esp. for writing. But there is more ...
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Circus Ponies Notebook Version 4 available

2014-05-08

Circus Ponies have released the fourth version of their notetaking software: Circus Ponies Notebook. Beside buying it from their store and not from the Mac store, not much more.
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Scrivener and Paragraph/Character Styles in Microsoft Word (with a focus on Footnotes)

2014-05-02

Scrivener is -- for me -- the best program to write with. But if you have a lot of footnotes and want to do the final formatting in Word, you need the footnotes as actual footnotes. This workaround is not pretty, but you do end up with footnotes in Word.
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Scanning Books

2014-04-23

The scanner and PDF settings you use then you digitize books matter -- a lot. Not only in quality, but also in file size. Some settings I use. (image on left shows both applications icons)
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Moving from Papers to Bookends (update)

2014-04-22

Some thoughts on moving from Papers 2 to Bookends (which seems well loved), and why Sente is not an option (for me).
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Expert Feedback on a PhD Thesis

2014-04-20

If you do not have a knowledgeable supervisor involved in your PhD thesis, you are pretty much screwed. Here's why (hint: project planning). (image on left from a workshop on scientific writing)
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Using that Conference Poster Session

2014-04-17

Conference posters are often dreaded, as peddling the findings like a beggar on the street. But poster sessions allow for face-to-face interactions in a way no presentation or keynote can -- if you plan it right.
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Laypeople’s access to scientific research when participating in research

2014-04-16

Times have changed in research, esp. in psychological research. Participants can now not only find out what you want to research, but also how you will analyze the data. At least, if you do online surveys.
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Using Videos in Presentations

2014-04-08

Especially as an Academic (and even more if you work with videos), the videos in your presentations should work without a hitch. So here are a couple of tips for using videos in presentations.
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Recommendation: How to Survive a Plague

2014-04-03

Recommendation for a really good movie (DVD cover on the left side) and a few reasons why I think it really is good.
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This is a private blog showing my opinions. If you have an issue with what I write here, either don’t read it or talk to me directly. Don’t waste your time — or mine — dragging my employer into matters where they hold no authority.

The institution I work for, or rather the people officially representing it, have already distanced themselves from this blog. I find this unnecessary, as I’ve clearly stated in the «About this Blog» section that this is a personal blog.

Frankly, I have nothing but contempt for those who lack the backbone to address their concerns directly and instead resort to passive-aggressive tattling to others. Such behavior strikes me as not only cowardly, but also spineless, gutless, and wholly unprincipled. Moreover, these efforts are as pathetic as they are futile.

That said, I might listen if you present compelling arguments and evidence, as constructive feedback is always welcome. Who knows? We might even both gain something valuable from the interaction.

A comment for those seeking to use this site for personal gain: Given the increase in requests, let me be clear. I write on this blog because I want to. It’s my hobby, my playground. Sometimes people point me to interesting products/services and I write about them. But any request regarding ads or sponsored placements ends up the trash without a reply. And if you think something would be of interest, differentiate yourself from the spammers by referring to a posting — in an intelligent way. (I get enough auto-generated mails to identify them immediately.)

BTW, posts can get updated after I published them if I spot spelling errors (not a native speaker) or think a different wording might improve precision and clarity.

This blog is not focused on a single topic, or method. As long as it is relevant to improving creativity (or allowing it in the first place), it's fair game.
Some postings on this blog deal with freedom, as I think that we need freedom of thought, of speech, of association, etc. pp. to solve mankind's problems. Thus, some postings may seem a bit remote when it comes to organizing creativity. Freedom is, however, the bedrock of creativity.
The heterogeneity of the postings can make reading this blog a bit cumbersome, at least if you are only interested in one topic. You can either use the search function (above), or use the categories or the tags to narrow down the postings you see.