PhD – Page 32 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

The PhD’s New Clothes, or: Anonymous Information regarding Plagiarism

2013-08-22

Are anonymous informants about plagiarism like informers in a totalitarian state? Or aren't they acting in the same way science operates, by looking at the evidence and coming to conclusions? Some suggestions.
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If I would study again (at the university) … this is how I would learn

2013-08-10

A suggestion on how to learn when you are studying at the university. Made possible by today's technology. Yeah. :-)
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“Oh, du weißes Blatt, inspirier’ mich … oder besser nicht!” — Wissenschaftliches und fiktionales Schreiben ohne Inspiration (aber mit Inhalts-Outlines, Scrivener, u.v.m.)

2013-08-07

I've written a brochure about scientific writing. It's written in German and I can only highly recommend it if you are working on your thesis -- and understand German.
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Dealing with (Personal) Infrastructure Failure

2013-08-03

Have you ever tested how resilient your infrastructure really is, or do you leave that to actual failures? Here are some suggestions.
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Even if you quit and leave academia, you take the best thing with you.

2013-08-02

If you are an Academic, you likely draw a lot of your identity from being one. So what happens when you (have to) leave Academia? Things are not as bad as they might seem, here's why.
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Writing

2013-07-24

A look on what makes writing difficult and why content outlines might just the thing.
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Where the heck did I find that image? (also: uh-oh, Cyberstalking)

2013-07-19

If you want to use an image but don't know where you found it (so you cannot cite it and thus should not use it), there's a simple solution for it. Which also works wonders in cyberstalking.
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Reading Digitally (Videos)

2013-07-17

Two videos showing my reading workflow -- how everything I highlight is exported and how it ends up in my topic notebooks. Very comfortable way in dealing with notes.
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“Slap your adviser (and I hope, s/he slaps you back).”

2013-07-10

You do your best in writing a peer-review and then you realize that this person should have a serious conversation with his/her adviser. A very serious one. Best bring a cattle-prod.
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I’m a digital squirrel — what are you?

2013-07-05

My animal totem is a crazed squirrel that went digital, and I love it. Seriously, an information infrastructure that not only works but works very well.
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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.