Relaxing...finally

Have you ever wondered about relaxing in Web2.0? Yes?
Well, just go to the relaxing area (text in German) in Web2.0.

Science Blogs

Will you remember 2007 as the year Open Access Publishing arrived?

Explore the top science stories of the past year in Science Blogs.

Digital Footprints

Internet users are becoming more aware of their digital footprints states a new study by Pew Internet & American Life Project . But most of them are not concerned about the amount of personal data available online.

And of course this raises questions such as: how much of personal data should be available online? Do we need total individual transparency for digitally managing our indentities? Which measures can be taken to avoid open access to our personal data?

More information (in German) at ORF.science.

Critical study on Google

Hermann Maurer carried out a study (PDF, 1.33 GB) on dangers and opportunities posed by large search engines, particularly Google. There is more (in German) at ORF.science.

I'm very happy ... well, I have to say proud for succeding to get an interview with Hermann Maurer for my PhD thesis (dissertation).

The rise of the implicit

Listen to the Defrag talk on the implicit by David Weinberger. He is the author of various "fantastic and outstanding" books focusing on the way the Internet is changing knowledge acquisition, communication, human relations and society.

Why are blogs such a big deal?

The following video, a commoncraft product, is a response to the previously asked question.

Nietzsche was just another monkey?

Visiting Bora Zivkovic's ScienceBlog I came just across this video. It's really worth watching.

Some of the monkeys read Nietzsche. Some of the monkeys argue about Nietzsche...

CitationRank

"Citations are the currency of research", argues Erik Duval in his post on citations in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning.

In this respect he raises the following questions:

• which of your papers has been cited most often?
• who has cited you most often?
• which papers cited a particular publication of yours?
• whether more and more or less and less people are citing you over the years?
• whose citing behavior is close to yours?
• which conference or journal contains most citations of your papers?
• which conference or journal contains your cites most often?

Moreover he discusses some Searching Tools for scientists:

• PubMed


• arXiv


• Web of Science


• DBLP


• Google Scholar


• Bibisonomy


• Citeseer

A Vision of Students Today

Another fascinating video by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

The video shows a summary of the main characteristics of today's students.

What makes a Great Presentation?

How often did you lose your interest before the speaker had even come halfway? Was it because of the subject of the talk? Was it the way the speaker presented it?

Actually, a great presentation is a combination of several elements.

You may download my files Presentation I (pdf, 82,0 kB) and Presentation II (pdf, 79,3 kB) for more information on successful presentation skills.

Don't miss this talk in German by Prof. Dr. Beger.
I consider it a great presentation.

... and there's another one by Prof. Dr. Boltz.

GMW Congress Hamburg

The motto of this year's GMW congress, 12 - 14 September 2007 in Hamburg was : reinventing learning - rethinking university.

After two brilliant opening keynotes by Prof. Dr. Beger and Prof. Dr. Boltz aspects of - didactic imagination, creative forms of evaluation and quality development, Higher Education reforms: approaches, strategies, concepts - were being dealt with from different perspectives of learning, teaching and organization.

More in German...

One of the highlights was the Medida-Prix-Award in the categories "Digital media in academic teaching" and "Academic development with digital media".

Prof. Dr. Rolf Schulmeister was honoured for his scientific work and I just did it my way. I honoured him in acryl, 120 x 90.

Cyberscience

"Cyberscience - it is already taking place - will be different from traditional science. "

Michael Nentwich, director of the Institute of Technology Assessment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, describes and analyses in his book the usage of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in science.

This book not only draws a portrait of "Research in the Age of the Internet", but also assesses the various impacts of the New Media on academic activity and discusses the impacts for future research policies.

So we`ve already got some answers to the questions I posed in my previous article.
But the digital world is a rapidly changing one. Isn`t it? ;-)

Science in a Digital World

In this respect the following questions arise:

• In which ways are scientists influenced by the so-called digital world?

• How do they respond to this digital world in general? Fears and expectations?

• Do they change their modes of communication with other scientists? If so, for what reasons and how?

• Which digital techniques of communication have already become part of their daily routine? Why?

• What do they consider benefits derived from the digital world?

• Do online tools meet their expectations?
  

Weblogs

Jan Schmidt, a German scientist on communication, analyses and discusses various practices of blogging in different areas.

Web 2.0

Today I came across the following video as a response to Web 2.0 on YouTube.

It is really worth watching.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a service provided by Google.

It offers a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources. One can identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.

Concerning the ranking of articles Google Scholar aims to sort articles the way researchers do.

Features for ranking articles:

• weighing full text of each article
• author
• publication of appearance of article
• number of citations
  

The most relevant results will appear on the first page.

More on Google Scholar.

I consider Google Scholar as a highly effective searching tool for scientists. But what about scientists who are still prioritizing on non-digital forms of publication? Which "page" will they appear on? Do they have to turn into what I'd call "digital natives" rather than "digital immigrants" in order to keep or gain reputation in the scholarly world?

Google Society

Literature Tip:

This book discusses various aspects on the digital change of knowledge.

Lucky Day

07.07.2007 was supposed to be people's lucky day.

LIVE EARTH The concerts for a climate in crisis took place.

World Database of Happiness

What makes human beings happy? Are there any differences according cultural diversity?

Ruut Veenhoven, professor of social conditions for happiness at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, developed the World Database of Happiness - an ongoing register of scientific research on the subjective enjoyment of life.

More...

Who are the happiest people in Europe?
"It's grimmer down south" states The Economist.

Internet and Personality

At the moment I am reading this book on Internet and personality.

It deals with a broad spectrum of issues on personality features and the different types of using the Internet.

A world of connections

Wireless technology is progressing very rapidly. According to Kenneth Cukier, Technology Correspondent of The Economist, it will be tremendously useful that new wireless technologies will link both people and lots of objects. But: it will be tricky getting there.

Wireless communication tools will certainly cause a major change in our daily lives. Are we prepared for such changes? How can we adapt ourselves to this ongoing process?

Technical aspects of multiculturalism

Don't miss this week's issue of The Economist. A highly interesting 14-page special report on the coming wireless revolution is awaiting you.

From my personal perspective the title "When everything connects" involves the merging of cultural diversity as well.

Communication Styles

Interacting and communicating with other people involves different styles of communication.
In general there are three basic styles of communication:

1. aggressive
2. passive
3. assertive
   

Schulz von Thun differs eight communication styles:

1. bedürftig abhängige Stil
2. helfende Stil
3. selbst-lose Stil
4. aggressiv-entwertende Stil
5. sich beweisende Stil
6. bestimmende-kontrollierende Stil
7. sich distanzierende Stil
8. mitteilungsfreudig-dramatisierende Stil
   

Models of Intercultural Communication

I have just finished reading this book on Intercultural Communication. The authors discuss different methods, models and examples of intercultural communication.

Moreover, they demonstrate how different models and methods of communication psychology such as the Kommunikationsquadrat, das Innere Team und das Wertequadrat can be used as an effective tool for intercultural communication issues.

Intercultural Communication

This photo ("Multiculturalism" by Ingrid Bergner) represents the positive aspects of multiculturalism. It is possible to build highly effective bridges to other cultures, to establish common ground as well as mutual understanding.