Lesson 2 - Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention

The creative person is one who generates new ideas while the creative process is how these new ideas, solutions, and inventions are produced. It is said that, we are all naturally creative. From poetry to building a house, from computer programming to humour, from music to science, creativity is manifested in a variety of different ways. The aim is to understand the complexity of creativity and to comprehend its mystery through a structured program of learning.

(Reference: Lesson123__Lecture_Notes_Cs.ppt)

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There are 4 types of creativity. Creative people fall into these 4 categories:

(1)   Aesthetic Organizers.

(2)   Boundary Pushers — those who take an existing idea and push it a little further.

(3)   Inventors — those who take existing knowledge and create new ideas — the Edisons of this world.

(4)   The rarest group: Boundary Breakers — the Leonardos and the Copernicuses.

                                              A paraphrasing of Elliot Eisner (1933-), American art educator.

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Bill Gates

Picture above is Bill Gates, a very rich guy. Father of Microsoft, perhaps? Yes, indeed as he is the founder of Microsoft. 

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman^[3] of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect. He has also authored or co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman.

(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates)

This guy is really an inspiration. He started from young and now he is super successful.

Lesson 3 & 4: Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and writing.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map)

Example of a mind map:

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map)

 Tony Buzan suggests using the following 10 guidelines for creating Mind Maps:

1. Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors.
2. Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your Mind Map.
3. Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.
4. Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.
5. The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker, organic and flowing, becoming thinner as they radiate out from the centre.
6. Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.
7. Use multiple colors throughout the Mind Map, for visual stimulation and also to encode or group.
8. Develop your own personal style of Mind Mapping.
9. Use emphasis and show associations in your Mind Map.
10. Keep the Mind Map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.

(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map)

What I think of mind map:
- Interactive
- Easy to understand
- Easy to remember
- Colorful
- Mind map has 2 types:

(1) Logical Mind Map

The Logical Mind Map is directly connected to stereotypes & comprises of solely stereotype words. Which means that every word or image that is put within the mind map is directly related to the central subject through its links.

Example:

Picture taken from 

http://living.blogg.se/2008/september/mindmap-your.html

(2) Associated Mind Map

By using an associated mind map we are able to generate random words & also show the links between words that seemingly have no connection.

Example:

Picture taken from 

http://www.google.com.my/imglandingq=logical+mind+map&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbs=isch:1&tbnid=1GCuVeuqfgnulM:&imgrefurl=http://moncr8tive.blogspot.com/&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgQJiB8rwduDxUzY6veYvliD7hEuT3Cmw86YcPwvcAVTZKJ_nCXq7k7__3BOV4XaMh2RN_SN3ETDuhYteeCSvEtNafW0LrUSlT9v18wxA87dCHrRO38ZBtgZQ9lmsCRLizh1q1cClnIo/s1600/Picture2.jpg&zoom=1&w=1293&h=828&iact=hc&ei=cFEATf__HIGc

What I did in class:

On my scanned paper above, the mortar symbolizes female while the pastel is the male.

Lesson 7: Random Word / Image Association.

Random word is an idea generation method which allows students to systematically generate new ideas though fixed formula.The whole premise of Random Association is to use a Random Word to provoke a reaction from the brain.




"Chances come to everyone but not everyone see it because they not have the knowledge."
"Chances only come to the people who have knowledge."
"Without knowledge we wont find the chances"

We always have our motivation,just like a donkey have a carrot to make it move.

The carrot of us maybe is money,or anythings.

...but how we get away from the carrot?

When to use it

..Use it to stimulate open and divergent thinking and seek creative new ideas.

..Use it to re-ignite creative thinking when you are running out of ideas.

..Use it to get people out of a rut when their thinking is still rather conventional.

(Source: http://creatingminds.org/tools/random_words.html)

How to use it

1. Find a random word

Find a random word that will be used as a stimulus for new ideas. You can do this in a number of ways, including:

• Look around you. What can you see? Can you see any words? What about things? What else is happening?
• Open a book at a random page. Run your finger around the page and stop at a random point. Look for a suitable word near your finger.
• Ask the people you are with to give you a random word.
• Select a word from a prepared list of evocative words (fire, child, brick, sausage, etc.)

Good random words are (a) evocative and (b) nothing to do with the problem being considered. Ambiguity also helps. Nouns are usually best, but verbs and adjectives can also be used effectively.

2. Find associations

Think about other things about which the word reminds you. Follow associations to see where they go. Think openly: associations can be vague and tenuous (this is creativity, not an exam!).
When working with a group of people, you can write these down on a flipchart as people call them out. It can be useful (but not necessary) to leave a space after each associate for use in stage 3.

3. Use the associations to create new ideas

Now create new ideas by linking any of the associations with your problem. Again, the linkage can be as vague as you like: what you want is ideas!
Write the ideas either next to their associations from step 2 or on a separate page.
If other people give ideas that trigger further ideas from you, then you can go off down that route to see where it goes.
As a variant, you can do stages 2 and 3 together, finding an association and an immediate idea from this.

Example

I am seeking a way to reduce discomfort for passengers on trains.
With a group of passengers, we look out of the window and see a school.
Associations from school are learning, bullying, exams, playtime.
Ideas include teaching the rail company how uncomfortable the seats are, taking a firm stance in this, giving marks for different trains and seats and having games on trains so passengers do not notice the uncomfortable seats.

How it works

Random Words works in particular by making you go elsewhere for ideas, and hence pushes you out of your current thinking rut. It uses the principle of forced association to make you think in new ways and create very different ideas.

(Source: http://creatingminds.org/tools/random_words.htm)

Lesson 5&6 - Juxtoposition

Juxtoposition. Such a wierd word for me, words cannot describe of what I feel about the word. Well, anyway, juxtoposition can be defined as placing two variable side by side, however, similarity are shown through comparison. Many creative processes rely on juxtoposition. By it objects or words next to each other, the human brain will automatically associate or transfer meaning. Usually 'turning' something familiar to something less familiar of vice versa. This, however, what was lectured in class.

VISUAL PUNS
Creating an artwork in which several visual form which look alike are connected and combined so as to bring out 2 or more possible meaningful. Visual puns are lower version of visual metaphor

METAPHOR
In a figure of speech in which 2 different things are linked by some similarity. Comparison that are obviously are not consider metaphor. Therefore, metaphor occur, when 2 different ideas are being connected in imagination and agreed to be dissimalarity at first

SIMILES
Using as/like

Example : Life is like cooking. It all depends on what you add and how you mix it. sometimes you follow the recipe and at other times, you are creative. Life is like a maze in which you try to avoid the exit.


ANALOGY
2 or more things agree in some respects.
is a comparison of things that are essential dissimalarity but are shown throught the analogy to have some simililarity.A form of logical inference or an instance of it, based on the assumption that if 2 things are known tobe alike in some respects then they must be alike in other aspects.

This week as part of the creative studies activity work in class this what I did:

 Chili as symbol of love???

                                           Just like a red hot chili pepper as you are,
                                                       You are red, You are hot,
                                                       You are a red-hot person,
                                       You spice things up every day on every night,
                                     As I like to taste you a lot as you tasted like chili a lot,
                                                       Yummy yummy you are a lot,
                                                                  Just like a chili.

Week 1 - Creativity

For this week, assingment is about creativity. Through the internet, this is what I found:

-Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby something new is created which has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as "valuable" is similarly defined in a variety of ways.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity)

-"Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being...creativity requires passion and commitment. Out of the creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness-ecstasy."
- Rollo May, The Courage to Create
(Source: http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/whatis.htm)

To me, creativity is something that is:
- Thinking out of the box
- The ability or power to create creative art works and with a lot of imaginations.
- Ability to create something out of the box.
- Crazy thinking but is useful in the end.

That's all as  I can't think of any!