Old + New = New?

So okay, in Lesson 2, we briefly talked about what Novelty is, what is defined as Creativity and Innovations, and who are the Inventors.

Novelty
From the slides and the lecture, I kind of understand that Novelty simply means having/creating something 'new', or original. But 'new' is still depends on the context and the perception. Creating new patterns in a common process could be considered as original or "novel" but it might as well be just another old pattern used in a different way.

Here's an example :

that is an example of a modern mind-map. Modern Mind Mapping was introduced by Tony Buzan as a method to trigger new ideas, as an evolved version of brainstorming. And this "new" brainstorming method is considered as a Subjective Novelty as it has contributed to the society and accepted by the audience as a conventional thinking method.

Innovation
Its the process of creating something new, or making improvements on something that has already exist. I can't think of anything else but this :

I have one of those. haha. Since Kinect was announced by Microsoft couple of years ago (formerly known as "Project Natal") , everyone from the industry just knew that this piece of technology would take off and change the face of video gaming experience. Back in the days using our body as a remote control has always been something that we could only see on sci-fi films.

But when it came out, people realize its true capabilities and potentials not only for gaming purposes. Here are some of the guys who hacked their way to seek Kinect's true abilities :

Just amazing what they can do with technology these days :)

Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention

Alright, we pretty much covered the "creative" definition, so in the next lesson, let's take a look on how Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention has everything to do with Creative Ideas. Here are some notes from the slides :

Defining "Novelty"

"When a child stains paper with colours or rhymes words delighting his parents by his creativity, these activities are original only in the sense that the child learns skills that are new for him."


Novelty is the quality of being new. Although it may be said to have an objective dimension (e.g. a new style of art coming into being, such as abstract art or impressionism) it essentially exists in the subjective perceptions of individuals.

and also, there divided into 2 groups :

Subjective Novelty - is the perception of something as being new by an individual person or a group of persons;

Objective Novelty -  is something that is new for all humanity in its development through ages. It is unlikely, however, that even the most knowing and knowledgeable person boldly say that he knows everything that was before and take liberty to judge things from this standpoint.

Originality is not a decisive feature of creative work and Novelty in creativity is always based on what has been created before.

Now let's take a look at..

Defining "Creativity"

The generation of new ideas or a new way of doing things. Yeap. We've talked about it. Which leads us to...

Defining "Innovation"


Innovation is the process of making improvements by introducing something new, the realization of a creative idea in a social context. It could be a new technology, a new way of doing things, or an improvement of an old technology with better system and less use of human energy for example.

They are divided into 2 main group, there are evolutionary innovations and revolutionary innovations. 

 and finally :

Defining "Inventors"

Inventors are those who take existing knowledge and create new ideas.




There are four types of creativity. Creative people fall into these four catagories:

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.)

so which one are you? :)

What IS "Creativity"?

So during the first class, we discussed on the definition of the word "creativity" itself, and it has always been associated with words such as: newness, ideas, artistic, innocence, post-modern, process etc. There are too many words that can describe/associate with it, but generally, "creativity" is generation of ideas, to have new way of doing things.

Hmmmmm...
In English, to 'create' means to bring into being something that wasn't there before. 

So...someone who can 'create a mess'. That means bring into existence the mess that wasn't there before. Can that someone be considered "creative"?

We hasten to add that what has been brought into existence must have value. So "creativity" is bringing into existence something that has value. 


Anyway, here is "Creativity" according to Edward De Bono :

Let Owl Jolson Sing-ah !

Its Owl JOLSON.

    You're probably quite unfamiliar with the name, but if you're into Warner Bros' classic cartoons, that name would ring a bell. He's not as famous as Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck, but the reason why the header title of this blog is named after him was because of the impact it gave to me as a child. He made me believe that some people, even the ones close to you, will stop you from believing in your dreams.

Anyway, meet Owl Jolson :

   Prof. Fritz Owl is a classical music teacher, expecting all of his kids to be doing the same thing he desired them to do, but NO JAZZ. But suddenly, his youngest, Owl Jolson started to sing JAZZ right after his egg hatched.

Owl Jolson was rejected by his father for being different.


   It's kind of reminding me of our very own society. When were babies, we were like little scientists, trying to look for answers for everything. We would ask questions like "Mommy why is the sky blue?", "Why do birds have two wings?", "What makes our skin go 'pruney' after a long bath?". We would play with our food out of playfulness and curiosity. But our "creativity" were being suppressed when someone said "stop".

"stop playing with your food!"
"stop asking all these unimportant questions!"
"stop making all these mess!"
STOP!

And then our education system comes along. I've always believed that school is essential to let kids explore their potential through making new friends, curricular activities, art and sciences, but its NOT necessary. I think the problem with the academic system is that its always about finding the right answer instead of looking for good questions that would trigger an idea lead to solution for students to explore.

And this guy has something to say about this :

I believe that its never too late to unleash the creativity within us.
This blog is to record my progress as I go through series of "creative studies", by sharing my discoveries and artworks that inspire me, and hopefully it would inspire you as well :)

Nabil Zamanhuri