How Geniuses Think

Great Article by Michael Michalko | Apr 28, 2012 on The Creativity Post at: http://www.creativitypost.com/create/how_geniuses_think

 
“How do geniuses come up with ideas? What is common to the thinking style that produced “Mona Lisa,” as well as the one that spawned the theory of relativity? …”

What can we learn from creative genius?

“In his 1904 study of genius, Havelock Ellis noted that most geniuses are fathered by men older than 30; had mothers younger than 25 and were usually sickly as children…”

Academics also tried to measure the links between intelligence and genius…”

To read more visit the link above.

Related articles:

• How Geniuses Think (creativitypost.com)
• Cultivate In-House Geniuses to Inspire Innovation (openforum.com)

Why can't learning respositories be more like Slideshare

Reblogged from e-LiME:

Over the past year we've been migrating our online learning content for the early years of our undergraduate curriculum from Blackboard to Wordpress.  This move to using Wordpress for our learning portal (VLE) was made after a series of pilots led to a bit of a snowball effect with growing numbers of our clinical teachers calling into the office and asking if they could have a Wordpress site for their areas of the curriculum. 

Read more… 855 more words

Synaesthesia, migraines and creativity

Interesting piece by Doug Belshaw on the topic.

“It was only about two weeks ago that I found out I’m a bit weird. I was listening to an episode of BBC Radio 4′s All In The Mind (listen), part of which was dedicated to synaesthesia. I didn’t realise that something I experience all the time actually qualifies as a mild form of the condition!

But what is synaesthesia? Nature defines it in the following way:

An unusual ‘mixing of the senses’ in which a stimulus in one sensory modality (for example, a sound) elicits a percept in another modality (such as visual perception of a colour).

All In The Mind explained that this definition can be widened to include something both I and my mother experience: conceiving of time as being physically and spatially located. It’s difficult to explain this in words, and my perspective and view on time changes depending on the period I’m ‘looking at’. “

Read more at: http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2008/07/17/synaesthesia-migraines-and-creativity/#.T5zuDquJQ0E (Accessed 29/04/2012).

Related articles

• Synaesthesia and the Drummer (darkmuseministry.com)
• Synaesthesia: Smells like Beethoven via The Economist (stoweboyd.com)
• NeuroScience: Synaesthesia (taxi-dog.com)

Evaluating Learning in the Workplace

Evaluating learning – article from Personnel Today

“Richard Paul Griffin, associate director at the Institute of Vocational Education at London South Bank University, presents a new way of approaching evaluation based on a review of how organisations currently evaluate learning in Workplace learning evaluation: a conceptual model and framework (registration required).

His model of workplace learning is based on five elements: a pre-learning stage; the “trigger” (need) for learning; the learning event; application of learning; and the impact of learning.

His aim is to provide what he calls a “scientifically robust but practitioner-friendly framework for workplace learning evaluation”.

Griffin’s approach may provide some new focus on the best ways evaluate the impact of learning interventions.”

Image from Training Assessment Education: http://www.logicoolsolutions.com/learnDoMasterChallenge/?p=1305 (Accessed 28/04/2012).

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2012/04/23/58483/measuring-the-impact-of-learning-quick-fire-links.html (Accessed 28/04/2012).

This framework in my view is very useful. Check out the model here:

http://lsbu.academia.edu/RichardGriffin/Papers/1003499/Workplace_learning_evaluation

Related articles

• Workplace Learning (skillsservices.wordpress.com)
• Maximising Learning Transfer in the Workplace: (learniversalism.wordpress.com)
• Workplace learning professionals who blog (janeknight.typepad.com)

Overcoming the Destructive Power of Passion

Reblogged from Leadership Freak:

• 

Image source

Passion drives all success but it also stands in the way.

The dark side of passion:

#1. Independence: Successful leaders never succeed alone, they inspire others. Passion may motivate you to focus on your actions while neglecting the power and importance of others.

You’re all jazzed about YOUR impact. Effective leaders, on the other hand, get jazzed about the impact of others.

Read more… 172 more words

The new rules of creativity: nine mind hacks to boost your brain

Article from Wired Magazine – great ideas by Jonah Lehrer - This article was taken from the May 2012 issue of Wired magazine.

“According to a recent survey of 1,500 chief executives from all over the world, the most important skill they seek in employees is creativity. New ideas, after all, are the ultimate source of economic growth.

But this only raises the question: how can we generate more creativity? How can we inspire people to have more new ideas? If we designed a workplace that was all about maximising innovation, then what would that workplace look like? What follows is a short list of scientifically tested ideas that can boost the imagination, transforming the typical office into a wellspring of creativity.”

Go here to read more: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/05/features/the-new-rules-of-creativity

Related articles:

• Jonah Lehrer: The Man With The Big Ideas | David Gelles | FT | 14 April 2012 (ft.com)
• Thursday Night Video – Jonah Lehrer on Creativity (polentical.com)
• Jonah Lehrer Writes New Book on Creativity (imaginationnow.wordpress.com)

Collaboration Workflow 101

From Brave new Org - http://www.danpontefract.com/?p=2386 (Accessed 27/04/2012).

A Nordic revolution: The heroines of Reykjavik

Iceland was the first place to suffer the fallout from over-zealous (male) bankers. Now the country is back on its feet. Why? Because women took over. Article by John Carlin on The Independent:

Read more it is very interesting:

“There’s a great big, beautiful, black glass building on the shore in Reykjavik, on a spot where three years ago there was only empty space. I know because I was there three years ago, a time of despond in Iceland, a country ruined by testosterone-crazed bankers, the first to succumb to full-on recession, the one that fell hardest of all. Tiny, desperate, broken Iceland (pop 320,000) presented, as we saw it back then in those tender early months of crisis, a vision of Armageddon for the big nations of western Europe. Yet now, today, there stands that spanking new building, a vision of opulence and modernity as striking as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, grandiosely out of place in this nordic Lilliput of brightly painted fishermen’s houses…”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/a-nordic-revolution-the-heroines-of-reykjavik-7658212.html (Accessed 27/04/2012).

Related articles

• Reykjavik (Iceland) en route to Constable Point (Greenland) (macintyregreenland.wordpress.com)
• Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference: An Extraordinary Experience (seomoz.org)
• Iceland and the Reykjavik Arts Festival (killtheboredom.com)
• Former Iceland PM Spared Punishment Over Role in Financial Crisis (theepochtimes.com)

Victorian Lace & Pony Hair - A vintage clothing resource for true geeks.

Reblogged from Rue Verte:

• 
• 

My stepmother recently gave me a some gorgeous pre-1930s vintage clothing pieces, including several Victorian lace undergarments and sleepwear:

I'm shooting to have them all for sale in my Etsy shop this week.  The gems of the crop, in my opinion, are the black 20s flapper dress with rhinestone facets and feather trim, the deep blue silk /olive velvet dress, and the wool embroidered Native American frock with horsehair.  

Read more… 161 more words

Finding Light at Night

Reblogged from per Z pective:

"Night time is really the best time to work. All the ideas are there to be yours because everyone else is asleep."

Catherine O'Hara

Truly unique, night photography is special.

It has a place in its own. It's far different from getting at any time during the day. Whether it's creating long exposures of the stars, collecting whatever little light remains under the moon and stars, or finding creative ways of capturing the city lights.

Read more… 362 more words

Higher or vocational education? A conversation on TED.com

Reblogged from Job Market Monitor:

In the last years the idea that higher education can actually be considered a bubble took shape and is increasingly brought to debate. In more and more countries there are dozens of students graduating and instead of entering the workforce, they go straight to unemployment.

With some notable exceptions (like Computing, Medicine etc.) there are a lot of degrees that hold little value for the student after graduation, especially in developing countries (I am including here Romania, my country).

Read more… 207 more words

How One Website Fights Hunger with Gourmet Goodies

Article from Mashable – what a great start-up idea – article by Alex Fitzpatrick:

“Name: Love With Food

Big Idea: It’s a subscription-based online food gourmet delivery service that sends tasty morsels directly to your door. For every box of treats it delivers, Love With Food donates an equivalent amount of money to a local food bank.

Why It’s Working: Smaller food producers often have trouble affording marketing and distribution services, and one in every five American children are going hungry. Love With Food is helping to solve both of those problems in one fell swoop.”

To read more go here:  http://mashable.com/2012/04/25/love-with-food-subscription/

Related articles

• LivingSocial: Love with Food Box of Gourmet Goodies Only $7 Shipped (Regularly $14!) (hip2save.com)
• How One Website Fights Hunger With Gourmet Goodies (mashable.com)