Technology as creative expression

Nice job today in class with practicing creative expression! Across both sections, literally hundreds of new ideas — some simple and practical, others audacious and out there — emerged into the world. Wow.

Imagine what you can do in your groups with a bit more time??

The Humble Paperclip

I wanted to share a short video clip about that little object known as the paper clip:

Certainly the people who invented the paper clip (many varieties, even) had to take a creative leap to see the potential for technological innovation in a simple piece of straight wire…

…and then convince other people that they had a brilliant idea…then manufacture it…market it… all of which required more creativity.

What we Accomplished Today

Remember what we discussed about letting go of self-doubt and worry of being judged by others. In fact, you’ll probably see a lot of similarities between what we did today and this video from TED of Tim Brown at IDEO:

But why is creativity so difficult? Well…

Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers [emphasis added]

We’ll talk more about Robinson and his views on creativity this semester. Sarah already posted one of his talks (with animation!) on her blog. Check it out!

Discussion Prompt

So what do you think about this idea of technology as creative expression that we talked about today? In what ways does a technological innovation reflect its designer(s)? What leaps of creativity do you do to come up with innovative ideas to problems you experience?