CoCreatr

Jan 27, 07:38 PM

Yes. My creativity is different, too, as the case may be. Mindmapping comes to mind. Some concepts do not fit a tree topology that well and call for <a href=“http://cocreatr.typepad.com/everyone_is_a_beginner_or/2010/04/mindmap-conceptmap-prezi.html”>concept mapping</a>.

When I envision a 3D structure, it is a drawing, or using designer’s CAD software. Or build a model right away.

To get from data to action I find @rbgayle’s DIKW model useful. Data, Information, Knowledge (can act), Wisdom (know where to act).

Marko (Futureful)

Jan 28, 03:36 AM

I’ve been reading less and less print (books, magazines, newspapers) over the years to the point where i basically only touch the stuff if I’m on a plane. I’m still a bit nostalgic and remorseful about not taking the time to dive into a good book, but I’m pretty much over it. Other mediums just seem so much more compelling that I can’t see myself going back.

Like you say, its easy to chalk that up as me getting stupider and my attention span decreasing (true & true), but I think the key dynamic that’s driving my changing consumption is not only that digital offers the unlimited choice of on-demand and always available… but that digital mediums are more efficient at transitioning from consuming information to taking action on it. Socializing info is one part of that, but also in all the other ways we hash out our thoughts – as you describe above.

Learning is doing, doing is learning.

Noah

Jan 28, 12:40 PM

Nice post. The critical factor behind the value of reading and writing (for me), is time.

Too much of my life is spent “force-marching” reports, analyses and ideas. Writing alone isn’t sufficient for me; that’s too much like my day to day professional life.

Having time to actually reflect and explore, through unpressurized writing and reading, now that is creative gold!

I hope 2011 will actually be a year of less activity and more reflection, thereby producing more genuine enjoyment and value for us all.

Best,
Noah

Udo

Jan 28, 02:22 PM

The Dalai Lama has a nice philosophy that fits this case:

“In spiritual growth, it is important to avoid imbalances between academic or intellectual learning and practical implementation. Otherwise there is a danger that too much intellectualization will kill the more contemplative practices and too much emphasis on practical implementation without study will kill the understanding. There has got to be a balance.”

So read, write and do!

Daniel Durrant

Jan 29, 09:25 AM

There is great power is reflecting upon your life with forgiveness and creativity. I’m one to believe that our identities are not essentially fixed, but can become flexible when we exercise our imaginations.

The written word can awaken us to possibilities previously thought of as ‘too scary’. By engaging with the words of fellow adventures, we can begin to get a grasp the map to our boldest futures.

Through words we can affect each other and ourselves. Sometimes our words fall short of exemplifying the person we are to become and can reify ‘old selves’, but that is part of the reflective growth process.

Creatively reflecting upon the words of our past can help us better understand how a limiting self narrative restricts the adventures of our futures from embracing our lives in the now.

OSSI KUITTINEN

Feb 1, 10:22 AM

Creativity is one thing. What is the aim using our creativity?
Every human act takes place in language. Every act in language brings forth the world created with others. Linkage to human to human is groundwork of all ethics. The ultimate aim of creativity and thence technology must not be merely the enhancement of biological functioning but the increase of the goodness of human living and the actualization of the higher needs of human beings.

Jarno M. (Futureful)

Feb 1, 06:40 PM

@CoCreatr, thanks for the link and thoughts. There are lot of interesting “tools” and methods that help us to process our thoughts into meaningful actions. We need to choose them wisely to get from data to action. That requires both personal and shared reflection (e.g. curation, peer-review).

@Marko, very glad to see you here. :) When reading or writing, creation/interpretation and reflection form an engaging/activating cycle. As you say, in digital environments we can more easily make the results of this process VISIBLE. Blog posts, online videos, articles and status updates can be commented, liked, shared and rated for others to see almost in real-time.

Like yourself, almost all of us are spending more and more time in interactive digital environments. Many interesting questions emerge: Is there less time for deep reflection when visible and shared actions are appreciated more than internal contemplation? What happens when we have to be more efficient and faster in digesting/reflecting/reacting?

@Noah, grateful for the feedback. Obligatory reporting or forced brainstorming creates more noise than valuable signals. We need our time for exploratory moments, wandering without a set direction. That kind of moments are necessary to get out from the worn out paths, to open up and expand our future horizon. We need to develop environments that support personal and collective exploration. The search for personal/shared relevancy requires “unpressurized” reflection.

@Udo, thanks for bringing the eastern wisdom into play. Balance matters.

@Daniel, great to see you joining the conversation. Agreed! By reflecting and engaging with others we challenge ourselves to go beyond our current selves. Through active discussion we expose our thinking/actions to shared reflection.

We recreate ourselves through reflective engagement.

@Ossi A relevant point indeed. By supporting creativity we support diversity. By supporting personal and collective reflection (engagement and discussion) we support transparency. And by supporting diversity and transparency we support the creation of solutions that help us to “increase the goodness of human living and the actualization of the higher needs of human beings.”

Spiro Spiliadis

Feb 2, 03:27 PM

Though I do agree that we all have our own creativity, in essence creativity really doesn’t fit the description of thinking…

There’s a difference between creative thinking, and productive thinking…

Creativity involves reading, writing, speaking, listening, engaging, and silence,

Productive thinking involves base models that support the flow of creativity…

As Cocreatr said, tools such as mindmaps provide you with the ability to create, but how productive is it going to be…

In my own work I have a method, that’s been observed on two basis…. how I flow and how productive that flow is in relation to still allowing me to be open to creativity…

In today’s digital age, what develops production is momentum, not future..

The future is in the moment, the future unfolds with moment-um…

When we tweet, when we share a post, or anything of the sort, this is a momentum that is creative in itself, yet can be productive, that is why when we use things like twitter, build lists, categorize, form, reform, etc etc…

It’s putting us in a position to read, write, engage and take action daily by unfolding the future each moment and keep moving forward.

But here’s the issue, most are overwhelmed because not of information, but because of lack of clarity in things such as serendipity, sync, timing, these combined with the ability to form your thoughts to be productive and at the same time use your creativity…

Jarno M. (Futureful)

Feb 5, 11:42 AM

@Spiro, thanks for sharing your ideas!

Creative process doesn’t necessarily has a fixed endpoint, or lead to a defined result or product. It can lead to productivity but it’s not its sole purpose. Finding the balance between creativity and production depends on one’s intentions and goals.

Future exists in the present as an unexplored potential, a set of virtual possibilities. Creative thinking explores that virtual potential, the realm of possible, probable and preferable futures.

Momentum doesn’t exist without future-orientated thinking as momentum emerges from a tension between the past and the future. Seizing the momentum requires that we have a certain vision related to the (preferred) future. Recognized momentum helps us to turn our ideas/intentions into actions, to make decisions that can bring a desirable future into being.

Marko (Futureful)

Feb 13, 02:06 AM

“Your imagination contains every possible story, every possible understanding, and any book can only be one tiny portion of that potential world.”

http://bit.ly/fYHdun