Creativity & Innovation
Changing the world...
Creativity:
One can define creativity as the mental phenomena, skills
and/or tools capable of originating (and subsequently
developing) innovation, inspiration or insight. Pop
psychology generally may associate it with right or
forehead brain activity or even specifically with lateral
thinking.
For many people, the word creativity most immediately
conjours up associations with artistic endeavours and with
writing; some have also linked creativity with science
since at least the heyday of the muses of Ancient Greece.
Since the time of Graham Wallas and his work Art of
Thought, published in 1926, some have considered creativity
a useful and effective response to evolutionary changes.
The psychologist Robert Sternberg has proposed to apply the
name creatology to scientific studies of creativity.
The scope of creativity
Within the different modes of artistic
expression, one can postulate a continuum extending from
"interpretation" to "innovation". Established artistic
movements and genres pull practitioners to the
"interpretation" end of the scale, whereas original
thinkers strive towards the "innovation" pole. Note that we
conventionally expect some "creative" people (dancers,
actors, orchestra-players ...) to perform (interpret) while
allowing others (writers, painters, composers ...) more
freedom to express the new and the different.
Today, creativity forms in some eyes the core activity of a
growing section of the global economy — the so-called
"creative industries" — capitalistically generating
(generally non-tangible) wealth through the creation and
exploitation of intellectual property or through the
provision of creative services.
The word "creativity" can convey an implication of
constructing novelty without relying on any existing
constituent components (ex nihilo - compare creationism).
Contrast alternative theories, for example:
• artistic inspiration, which posits the transmission of
visions from divine sources such as the Muses. Compare
invention
• artistic evolution, which stresses obeying established
("classical") rules and imitating or appropriating to
produce subtly different but unshockingly understandable
work
Professional "creatives" do not have a monopoly on the
concept of creativity. Problem solving in general may
require a creative mind. Employers may value lawyers,
accountants, people in sales, and others more highly if
such people can use a "creative" approach to their work.
The phrases "thinking outside the box" and "thinking
outside the square" express this idea.
Analysing creativity and creatives
One can analyse creativity by where it
arises. Different ways exist whereby something creative can
happen:
1. Generating something wholly new
2. Combining ideas in a new way
3. Finding new uses for existing ideas
4. Taking existing ideas to new (different) people
5. Combinations of the above
The first of these occurs comparatively rarely.
In The Act of Creation, Arthur Koestler (1964 and various
imprints) lists three types of creative individual, the
Artist, the Sage and the Jester. Paul Birch and Brian Clegg
(Crash Course in Creativity, 2002) have called the three
types of creativity that result "aaahhh", "ah ha", and "ha
ha". The Artist creates beauty or challenge (aaahhh). The
Sage creates ideas or solutions (ah ha) and the Jester
creates humour (ha ha). Believers in this trinity hold all
three elements necessary in business and can identify them
in all in "truly creative" companies as well.
Attitudes to creativity
Creatitivity, rather like motherhood and
apple-pie, gets much praised in principle, but much derided
in fact. Popular legend sees creativity serve as a refuge
for the outsider with imagination - a stable society
prefers the majority of its citizens to respect convention
and not to "rock the boat". Similarly, a manager of
employees may sing the praises of creativity and innovation
while showing reluctance to implement radically different
and potentially disruptive ways of operation.
Some of the ambivalent attitude to creativity may stem from
seeing the creative process as parallelling or suggesting
the ingesting of drugs to generate visions; or simply from
viewing creativity as eccentric behaviour outside of
mainstream conventional mores and habits.
Genrich Altshuller introduced approaching creativity as an
exact science with TRIZ in the 1950s.
Fostering creativity
Some see the conventional system of
schooling as "stifling" of creativity and attempt
(particularly in the pre-school/kindergarten and early
school years) to provide a creativity-friendly, rich,
imagination-fostering environment for young children.
Compare Waldorf School.
The professional community (which professional community?)
has a consensus that one can learn to become more
"creative". Several different researchers have proposed
several different approaches to prop up this idea, ranging
from psychological-cognitive, such as:
• Synectics
• Purdue Creative Thinking Program
• lateral thinking (courtesy of Edward de Bono)
to the highly structured such as:
• TRIZ, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving
• ARIZ, the Algorithm of Inventive Problem-Solving
both developed by the Russian scientist Genrich Altshuller.
See also: creativity techniques.
Some people even believe that one can "learn" creativity by
practice.
Source: Wikipdia
Creativity and Innovation
Creativity and
innovation
are often key to the success
of a business, particularly when ... Creative thinking and innovation are particularly useful during
...
GTD Information
Getting Things Done is an action management method... of course sometimes creativity needs management ;)
Mind Mapping Software
A lot of resources for Mind Mapping. Excelente for search software for mind mappings.
Mind Mapping Software Tutorials on video
16 videos with tutorials, demos and guides about software for mind mapping.
Mind Machines & Mental Games
Reviews and description of Mind Machine productos. Neurofeedback, biofeedback, Audio Visual Stimulation Technology for creativity.
Toys for Creativity and Smart Kids
Information about toys and creativity. Educational toys. Some information about creativity, intelligence and imagination empowered by toys.
Brainstorming Software
Resources, tools, applications for brainstorming. You can dowload demos and free apps for creativity.
Research about Creativity and Innovation
Success factor in business. New results of new scientific research about creativity & innovation in business.
Handicrafts, Creativity and
Art
A lot of resources about creativity, tutorials and books
about handicrafts, art and crafts.
Creativity and Innovation in Science and
Technology
Creative and
innovative solutions to
problems in Science and Technology by using Creativity and Innovation. We also
provide consultancy and training. ... Creativity and Innovation
to solve your
problems? Creativity
and innovation for
solving problems and implementing ... Creativity and innovation
within the science
and technology area is ...
Creativity and Innovation
in Business
tips on finding the creative individual, tools,
and how to transform to that environment.
Creativity and Innovation Resources
Creativity and innovation resources to stimulate your
imagination and
build your skills. ...
Creativity and Innovation.
This collection of creativity and innovation
resources features Web sites
... differently" approach that utilises creativity and innovation
to get you there as ...
Center for Research on Creativity and Innovation
Conducts research and consulting services with
organizations that want to improve the creativity of individuals and teams. Located in
Colorado Springs, CO.