On the Hunt for Creativity

Our modern time (is that redundant?) is filled with free and fast access to information. This leads to discussions on the distinction between information and knowledge, the latter being a more cryptic term. Dictionary.com's second definition for knowledge is "Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study." Knowledge is more than just a collection of facts.

How does the above distinction apply to creativity? We devote time to assimilating information, collecting facts, and gaining/forming knowledge. Where does creativity fit in? Is creativity the step after knowledge? I'm sure some people would take issue with that. Is creativity the bridge between information and knowledge? Maybe. Or maybe creativity belongs to a wholly different context. If so, what is that other context and what are its other inhabitants?

In continuing this line of thought I will be so bold as to say that your knowledge is my information. I can not gain knowledge from you, only information. It is up to me to place the information in my own mental folder and, hopefully, glean knowledge from its interaction with other bits of information in my mind's filing cabinet. Only then can I gain knowledge.

Enter inspiration, another tricky subject. One of the definitions for this term is "arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity." Creativity comes from inspiration. Where does inspiration come from? Another's knowledge? Nah. Another's creative work? Possibly. We need not hearken back to the big bang and ask "so where did the first strike of creativity come from?"

Am I getting anywhere? Am I not making any sense? What do you think?

A very selfish reason for embarking on this intellectual journey is GAZM.org, and the upcoming release of a totally new design and backend. Different from sites devoted to information, news, interesting links, etc., GAZM is devoted to creativity. But how exactly do we encourage and support creativity, act as a source of creativity and be a repository and soapbox for creativity? There are already sites for sharing interesting links and weird news, how do we make GAZM the "intellectually stimulating" forum to share creative and intellectual pursuits in a way that inspires, provokes and nurtures the community's members? It is a never-ending journey.

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Blogger's Speed

We use the language of speed in very interesting ways.

James Gleick points out in Faster, the book I am currently reading, that the blessing "'God speed' didn't mean 'May God hustle you along.'" Funny how "speed" has changed in implication. Likewise, getting a "rush" is not necessarily a good thing. And finally, "Computers became practical only when semiconductors made them powerful enough (defined as fast enough)..."

Human speed is not necessarily a good thing. Do you work better if you work faster? "...treating time as a mere status symbol. And a negative status symbol at that: the less time, the more prestige. The more time you have on your hands, the less important you must be." We truly believe we are busy. We want to be busy. God forbid we have nothing to do but ponder the meaning of life, or stare at a starry sky, or listen to an unabridged piece of classical music (pauses and all).

Coincidentally enough, the Good Doctor and the Good Teacher have been having their own blogversation about time. I particularly like David's line, "mastery often requires tedium" - something we seldom indulge in.

Do we save time to have more leisure time or to have more work time? Do we strive for efficiency to get more done or to indulge in the tedium needed to achieve possibly greater goals than whatever immediate business goal is at hand?

By the way, is a "Fast" company a good company? How many "Fast" companies have gone out of business in the last 2 years?

While driving back from my class today (the students did very well, by the way) I was cruising the radio dial, bruising for some swell tunez, and stumbled upon WNYC. They are in their pledge drive right now. I am not a frequent listener but something the guy said grabbed me. What follows is my horrible paraphrasing of his plea:

You may think music is the product of other radio stations.
It is not.
You are the product of other radio stations.
They sell you to advertisers.
Music is merely the medium through which they sell the product, you, to advertisers.
Here, at WNYC, the content is the product.
You are the "buyer" whether or not you pay for the product.
Won't you please help us by supporting our ability to continue to provide you quality content/product?!
Pledge $50, $60, whatever.
Eight people have already pledged over $1,000.

Way to go for them. That's an awesome way to conceptualize the difference between WNYC and other radio stations. The same can be said of most "corporate-run content websites." The site is the medium through which the product, your eyeballs, get sold to advertisers. The content need be only compelling enough to get your eyeballs "stuck" for the time it takes to deliver an ad impression. Blogs and smaller sites operate very differently. They focus on the quality of content to nurture loyal readerships, regardless of how (if at all) money is made. They too put up "tipjars" and ask for support in paying for hosting fees, for example, so they may continue delivering high quality content.

Hmmmm. Gets you thinkin....

Since the beginning of February I have been teaching a weekly class at my old high school on the topic of entrepreneurship. Students aged 15-17 make up the class. I've been meaning for a while now to blog some thoughts and notes from the class. These are marketing-based thoughts. In a few days I will post other thoughts in different topics.

A conclusion: most directors of business development and vice presidents of marketing are 15 year old high school students. I am continually amazed to see my students come up with the same exact strategies and ideas that so-called professionals come up with. I am not saying they are good ideas. I'm saying they are the same ideas. A recent idea included debuting a free service and then switching to a subscription model. Hmmm.

A seeming contradiction: in addition to mainstream bad ideas (like the above), the students are keenly aware of horrible practices. Every week we begin with a new list of annoyances and bad marketing techniques. These include pop-up ads, ambiguous ads and a new AOL-imposed delay before signing off to view ads.

In trying to solve this seeming contradiction I began thinking of their "bad" ideas as "uneducated" ideas. This puts the onus back on the "professionals" to realize that uneducated high school students are coming up with the same strategies that high-priced "fully integrated solution provider" consultants are coming up with.

A possible trend: In brainstorming their own ventures, most students came up with business ideas that were intensely focused on serving or selling X, with extreme levels of customization, personalization and customer satisfaction, to a very specific market segment, as determined by in-depth market understanding. They know who they are targeting with their personalized services and plan on doing so with a focus on making them happy. Seems obvious. Seems like good business practices. Seems to be lacking more and more in the "professional" world.

User Interface Design Questioned

I would like to meet the engineers and crack team of designers who created this:


enhanced and modified to better display the item and its markings

Yes. The coffee cup top. Available in most delis throughout New York (and elsewhere). Most of us in the online world are constantly faced with creating interfaces that are use-able and understandable. Perhaps someone out there can explain to me the series of markings on the standard coffee cup top. Do these mean anything to anyone?

Help.

Thank you.

There is something fulfilling about a day that is gloomy, cold and disgusting. Let me explain. Humans have instincts: hunting prey, climbing trees, conquering lands and worshiping the sun god. When outside feels like crap we are more likely to stay in doors - taking a break from our instinctual impulses (I guess that's a redundant phrase). When it is gloomy outside we can be more comfortable doing what we are more comfortable doing - setting aside instincts and responsibilities and just chillin' or takin' it easy or slacking off. Eh, it is so crappy outside, I don't feel like working. Even if I don't have any meetings, or other reasons to leave the home office, on gloomy days, I feel empowered, freed of my impulses. Since I am not such an athletic man I occasionally feel guilty for not taking a walk (yuk) but when it is raining, cloudy and cold, I am freed.

Rock on!

I hope everyone on the east coast is enjoying this truly crappy day!

"What difference is there, do you think, between those in Plato's cave who can only marvel at the shadows and images of various objects, provided they are content and don't know what they miss, and the philosopher who has emerged from the cave and sees the real things?" -Erasmus

Jordan Cooper found a very cool article on "The Cave" - a modern-day Holodeck - named after Plato's allegory. The article delves into much more than a technological marvel. Many compelling issues arise from the improvements in imaging and information display. What makes you feel that you are someplace? Is the thing important or only when accompanied by surrounding factors (smell, noise, etc.)? Read the article here, from the National Post.