Yancho

Review of Jenni's design blueprints : I think the scope of what you’re wanting to do is good and I see it as clearly adding value to the Digital Dialog tool. Having a profile image is valuable for adding depth and presence to the online interactions. A couple of things I see that you might want to consider: First, when you are in the profile screen, you have a link to upload a new photo under the image. In the settings window, you have a link to the edit profile page under the image. It might be better to move the edit profile link elsewhere just so you can be consistent with your menu options. Also, you said that all the changes would be saved without needing a “save” button. I think that’s great, but you might want to consider a little message that appears letting the user know it has been changed successfully. I think your project will be a good addition to the Digital Dialog project.

I created my design blueprints in Prezi, so here is a link to the Prezi online. Prezi

Here's something I struggle with: Skimming. Most people I have heard talk about literature review advocate a plan of skimming and diving deep -- gloss over some literature and delve into other literature with more depth. I struggle with this because I feel that if I cite an article that I haven't read in its entirety, it is tantamount to cheating. In high school, a teacher could tell if you didn't read the material -- you would draw false conclusions, give inaccurate descriptions. You'd get a talking to. I got accused of watching the movie of a book rather than reading it for one of my undergrad courses and had to meet with the professor after class. (It turned out the professor had not read the book in a decade, so he was mistaken in his memory of certain things.) I understand it's pretty accepted practice to skim articles. It just doesn't feel right. Most of the time in graduate school, we only manage to get the cliff notes version of so much we read because

Here are a few quotations from Keith Sawyer's Group genius: The creative power of collaboration along with my thoughts pertaining thereto. "There's no creativity without failure. Since group flow is often what produces the most significant innovations, these two common research findings go hand in hand." p. 55 Failure is an interesting concept. Not succeeding in a particular undertaking can be seen as failure, but in reality it can become a building block for success -- a lesson learned. In this view, learning can be seen as a series of failures until you succeed. The process of failure could almost be conceived of as synonymous to learning. Once you have stopped failing, you have learned. Which thought brings to mind an image of an education system that defines success as good grades and failure as bad grades. If the grading system is inconsistent or arbitrary or based on inaccurate or problematic assessment methods, you end up with people who learn to succeed

The funnel shape of an introduction to a dissertation or research proposal represents a broad statement about a topic that then becomes increasingly focussed toward the final question of interest in the particular research proposal. Here is a possible funnel to my question of interest: Americans seem to have embedded in their collective conscience the image of the rugged individual rising to the top through sheer force of will and on their own merits or because of their lone genius. But current research suggests that lasting innovation and successful businesses result from effective collaboration of many people together rather than from solitary contributions of brilliant individuals. As a result, many organizations espouse a growing need for people in the modern workplace to be able to work in teams in order to innovate solutions to rapidly changing problems in myriad disciplines. Research from the last decade or so has shed new light on the attributes of group creativity an

I'm involved with Dr. West's research into innovative communities and so I am dealing with a more direct here-and-now research study that seems to have a more ready question than the one I have been batting around thus far. It's an area that intrigues me, but I'm not certain whether or not it is something that can consume my interest long-term. I am hoping getting my feet wet with Dr. West will help me know better. Here is a question we are interested in answering and I hope to perform the exercise on it to see where it can go: What [characteristics], [strategies], and [methods] [distinguish] [effective] [leadership] within an [innovative community]? What [characteristics], [strategies], and [methods] [distinguish] [effective] [followership] within an [innovative community]? What [characteristics], [strategies], and [methods] [represent] [ineffective] [leadership] within an [innovative community]? What [characteristics], [strategies], and [methods] [distinguis