skills – Page 3 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Even Without the Barrier, a Mountain is Still a Mountain

2014-07-30

Some comments on quotas, sex-specific assistance measures, and the like and having a career.

[Picture: "Everest-fromKalarPatar". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Everest-fromKalarPatar.jpg]
[show the article]

How to Succeed in College

2014-07-16

Coursera has an interesting course online about "How to Succeed in College", which seems highly interesting.
[show the article]

Why “great” ideas need a reality check

2014-06-04

Argument for the tedious task of learning about the domain you are working in. With a link to a beautiful video that shows what imagination without knowledge can produce: nothing pretty.
[show the article]

Clear Communication in Engineering and Science (including the social sciences)

2014-06-01

Why clear communication between engineering/science and others is so important. Emphasizing the role of visual communication and using the Challenger Disaster as example. Definitely not a light topic.
[show the article]

Making sense of scientific news stories

2014-01-15

If you stumble upon a report of a scientific study, e.g., in the news or on a blog -- can you trust it? Here are some criteria to evaluate news studies, esp. when they contain assertions about human behavior. Based on an one-page I wrote for another blog (image left) and translated into English. Highly recommended.
[show the article]

There is no perfect text — ever.

2013-11-30

In writing, don't strive for perfection. It is not possible, for a simple but probably not obvious reason. Read this article if your perfectionism stops you from writing -- or submitting.
[show the article]

The Incompetent Whore Strikes Again (Gilmour posting 2)

2013-09-28

Having people to pay for art that does nothing for them is bad enough. But it can get worse -- being told you should like bad art. Since when does political correctness triumph over aesthetics, or even worse, over personal preference?
[show the article]

Scientists and Programming

2013-09-27

An argument for scientists learning to program -- for all sciences, not only for the mere automation. Highly recommended.
[show the article]

CourseTalk and other things to evaluate MOOCs

2013-09-10

There are countless MOOCs available, yet time is limited. How can you pick a good MOOCs? Some suggestions.
[show the article]

“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.
[show the article]

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.