Knowledge and Learning In The News - 7/23/2005

Human Brain's 'Mastermind' Located Humans attempt to do many things at the same time, such as driving and chatting on the phone, or working and listening to music, and now research suggests why such multitasking may be possible: the brain appears to have its own control center. Training Top 100 for 2005 Training magazine's annual ranking of organizations that excel at training and development. Driven to distraction by technology The typical office worker is interrupted every three minutes by a phone call, e-mail, instant message or other distraction. The problem is that it takes about eight uninterrupted minutes for our brains to get into a really creative state. The result is a situation where the digital communications that were supposed to make working lives run more smoothly are actually preventing people from getting critical tasks accomplished. Systems Thinking There are some myths surrounding systems thinking. The most common is the 'Input->process->output' archetype. Podcast with John Thackar Thackar is the author of "In the Bubble -- Designing in a Complex World." He says that "if we can design our way into difficulty, we can design our way out."