infrastructure – Page 32 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Warning: Do not store Circus Ponies Notebook files in DEVONthink

2013-06-19

A terrible bug that makes CPN files unusable. Occurs rarely and I suspect it occurs due to a saving error. (Update: Nope, also occurred outside of DEVONthink.)
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Workshop: Scientific Work — Writing #1 Getting Down to Write

2013-06-10

How do you get your ass in the chair (or where ever you write) and make it a habit? Some suggestions for starting a wonderfully excruciating journey.
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Workshop: Scientific Work — Ideas

2013-06-03

Scientific work needs ideas, but you cannot force them. Instead, prepare for them. Some suggestions, including when you have an idea but it does not fit.
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Todd Lubart’s talk on “Detecting and Developing Creativity in Organizations”

2013-05-22

Listened to a great talk about the factors that influence creativity in organizations and the value of a good diagnostic. Otherwise, you might actually make it worse. Well worth reading.
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How to start using DEVONthink

2013-05-22

DEVONthink is very powerful, but not exactly intuitive to use. Here are some suggestions that might get you going.
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Getting Microsoft Word’s Old Menu Bar Back

2013-05-15

Don't you just hate the menu band of Microsoft Word? Well, there's an easy way to remove it -- and get that old trusty menu bar back. It's still like getting a nice instrument panel of a death trap, but hey, better than one that continuously mocks you.
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Using Technology: Some Golden Rules

2013-05-01

Technology is simple. If follows a few basic rules. Here are the most important ones.
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When do you profit from optimizing a task? Brilliant comic by xkcd

2013-04-29

Xkcd did a brilliant diagram showing you whether it actually makes sense to invest the time needed in optimizing a task. Something to keep in mind in any optimization process.
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Application Links Browser Start Page

2013-04-24

You can easily use the start page in your browser to quickly open the applications you need.
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Another academic workflow visualization

2013-04-17

Visualized my current workflow when it comes to dealing with academic work. Includes references to apps and postings.
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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.