Beyond Creativity

The Nerd Test

You must have noticed my interest in quizzes?!

Maybe I will never learn to understand myself, therefore I like to take these tests ;-)
The following test "revealed" that I am social nerd. Am I?

Please, try the Nerd-quiz:

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around.  ^_^
Musician
Drama Nerd
Literature Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Gatekeepers in the Innovation Process

In ECIS Galway in June 2008 Eoin Whelan and I will have a following session:

"Knowledge Diffusion in R&D Groups: The Impact of Internet Technologies"

Abstract:

Knowledge flows are the lifeblood of any R&D organisation. These firms are increasingly
discovering that the knowledge they require is often located beyond their boundaries. In this paper, we investigate how R&D groups acquire and diffuse external knowledge and the role Internet technologies play in this process.

The focus of our study is on the technological gatekeeper. Previous studies have found that gatekeepers are key nodes in the innovation process. These sporadic individuals have the skills to identify useful knowledge outside the firm and disseminate this among their local colleagues.

However, much of the seminal gatekeeper research has been conducted over two decades ago. In the time since, there have been huge advances in ICT and especially Internet technologies. These technologies have dramatically altered how knowledge workers source and share their information. Our objective is to advance the gatekeeper theory into an era where the knowledge worker is saturated with information. Using case study methods, we examine knowledge flows in the R&D group of an Irish medical devices firm.

Our results indicate that due to advances in Internet technology, the traditional gatekeeper no longer exists to any great extent. Instead, the modern R&D lab acquires and diffuses external knowledge through a combination of a ‘web gatekeeper’ and a
‘knowledge transformer.’

You are welcome to participate the session or comment the topic beforehand !

Creativity is ... Attitude

In Berkeley, CA, USA, I met amazingly wise and educated street merchants.
Somehow, I just wanted to have  the following sticker:

Ever since I got this sticker, it has been hanging on my door at the university.

Einstein was famous for his proverbs and quotations. I welcome you to take a look at them. If someone knows where these proverbs can found in German, I would be most grateful! (Einstein's English was not excellent, I suppose some of those English quotations are therefore translated from German).

Nowadays I am well known for my polite and still uncomfortable questions. It is a skill that gets better when you practise it a lot ;-)