program – Page 15 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Using InDesign to Layout your Dissertation Thesis

2015-01-28

When you use great writing software like Scrivener to write you thesis, you will likely need another program to create a final version you can submit. Especially if you have to get your thesis printed a couple of times for the university library. Personally, I used InDesign. It's a choice that's not for everyone, but, well, it worked (for me).
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GOG.com — Classic Computer Games for little money

2015-01-15

A shout-out to GOG.com. This site offers classic computer games for little money. Want to play a classic game -- have a look at this site.
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Splitting Folder Contents into DVD-sized Amounts of Data

2015-01-11

If you want to use DVDs as backup, you might end up with folders that contain more than 4.7 GB. Thus, you have to split them up into DVD sized contents. While not being able to split files directly, Folder Splitter is a useful tool for OS X.
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GoodReader iOS App is now able to easily read PDF files to you via Text-to-Speech

2014-11-15

GoodReader is a very good app to display PDFs and other files on an iPad or iPhone. With the latest update, you can even get it to read PDFs and text files to you.
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Recommendation: Mac Power Users 221: Academic Workflows with Aleh Cherp

2014-11-02

Mac Power Users recently had Aleh Cherp from macademic as guest on the show. It's a really interesting episode, not only if you are an academic.
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Using the Computer’s Text-to-Speech Feature as Proofreading Support

2014-11-01

It's hard to proof-read what you have written. You know what it should say, but will you notice when you have written something else? Or whether a construction is too complicated to be readable? The computer's text-to-speech feature can be helpful here.
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Having Text Read to You — for free

2014-10-05

Something Apple did right ... very right, even with the buggy iOS8. The ability to have the OS read articles (e.g., on websites) to you.
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yEd — A free and powerful program to create diagrams like flowcharts

2014-09-28

A comment in another blog referred to this powerful program and judging on my first impression -- waow.
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Updated Academic Workflow 2014

2014-09-03

My academic workflow has become relatively stable over time ... luckily. Here's the current version with apps used along the way from literature to paper.
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Using Circus Ponies Notebook to collect and sort information for your thesis (or article)

2014-09-02

Someone asked me whether it is possible to use Circus Ponies Notebook to "code" papers for a thesis. Here are some answers on how to use CPN to make sense of the material for your thesis.
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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.