social – Page 27 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Reactions to Really, Really, REALLY bad MOOCs

2013-09-09

MOOC participants are not students at a university, okay, not only students at a university: They speak up if the course is bad. Looking at a really bad MOOC, there are three counter-arguments against speaking up -- and valid rebuttals of these counterarguments. Also: One of the worst excuses for bad presentation I have ever read.
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Coursera Course: “Creativity, Innovation, and Change” started today

2013-09-02

Coursera Courses are often interesting and this one deserves a look.
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MOOC Participants vs. Regular University Students

2013-08-30

MOOCs are not university classes. Participants demand more -- and they are not afraid to demand it. So lecturer's and university administrators: take care. But what might sound negative actually has one very big advantage ...
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Scientific Misconduct: Truth and Power (& Stupidity)

2013-08-27

Scientific misconduct does not happen here. Really? You're in good company then ... Some comments about a typical replay to scientific misconduct. Also: A serial killer.
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Turn your Home Art into an Exhibition Piece

2013-08-17

I recently did the label design of a small art exhibition of a student conference. It's based on an artist statement of an Coursera course and turned out to be nicely. It might be something for your home, actually ...
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Beauty and Thick Skin

2013-08-10

If you are a visible public figure, you get a lot of criticism. Instead of moaning about it and making it about sexism, how about growing a ... thick skin? Also: Donglegate.
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A “Strange Days”/”Google Glass” Like Perspective on Sexism/Gender

2013-08-01

"Tests" whether something is sexist or not -- e.g., whether men have to deal with it -- not only do not work, they are incredibly arrogant. But perhaps a change of perspective might help. And there might soon be an app for that.
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Comedians

2013-07-21

A few comment on the role of comedians in society. Also: Pressure release valves.
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PRISM – A Bug On Every Person, A Camera In All Places

2013-07-20

Let's look at an analogy of what PRISM would mean in the offline world -- which gets smaller and smaller now that most people have smartphones. Also: The real problems of surveillance states.
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Recommendation: TED Talk by Zara Swindells-Grose: “The Epidemic of Over-Seriousness”

2013-07-10

And another highly recommended TED talk :-)
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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.