Beyond Creativity

Robert O. Becker: Cross Currents + Off-line June-August 2009

For all medical doctors, engineers, researchers and (e)inventors I have a book recommendation:

  Cross Currents from Dr Robert O. Becker. 

Dr Becker early understood  that a human being is an electromagnetic entity. The first edition of this book was written in 1990 and now it is more actual than ever.

For example: The healing of wounds and bones is based on electric currents inside of us. Our cells communicate with electricity. Our body functions and rhythms (including circadian) are based on changes in natural(!) electromagnetic fields. Becker also showed how acupuncture and many other alternative treatments work.

Artificial electromagnetic fields and mobile devices/basestations/powerlines distort this communication inside of us. Being concerned about life on earth, Becker tried to inform military and industry about safer technologies (without immediate success).

A nice short review of this book is written by Andrew Eriksen. Still, remember, by reading the whole book you will get the Heureka! moments ;-)

 

In case you have difficulties in getting the 'Cross Currents' book, try Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden’s earlier book Body Electric in eBook, PDF-format.

Update 18th June 2009: Talking about environment: The chapter called Maxwell's Hammer is worth reading. I hope that soon the environmental discussion will focus on the bombardment of ionosphere + abnormal growth/changes caused by microwaves (before it is too late). Hopefully Green Party(ies) and Greenpeace will finally get it: climate change is NOT only about increased CO2-levels. Constantly growing powerline grid and dense base station network has an effect on weather, nature and ionosphere.. Not to mention the risky HAARP installation in Alaska :-( (Update 26th July 2009: The following document of professor Ulrich Warnke describes those mechanisms of harm in detail : "Bees, Birds and Mankind - Destroying Nature by Electrosmog")

Becker was twice nominated for Nobel prize in medicine. For very good reasons.

It would be great to hear your comments about Becker’s books.

+++

I will be off-line writing in June, July and August. Time to ... read books and write. So, please, in the meanwhile do not expect quick answers from me ;-)

Meta-Model of Creativity

Creativity or creativities? That is what Robert J. Sternberg asked in 2005.

Defining creativity is a difficult task. Sternberg suggests to start this by asking... more questions:

Starting year 2009 - Book and music recommendations

Thank you for reading this blog and commenting it in 2008. 

I will start year 2009 with  ... music and book to recommendations :-)

MUSIC

Seal has a new CD, Soul. It is all about soul music. Soul is very much about interpretation and 'feeling'.

As an (amateur) singer, I find German Lied songs challenging and enjoyable. Propably the best master is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Still,  Ian Bostridge is really good as well. I recommend his Schumann Liederkreis & Dichterliebe -album.

I am also famous for my 'bad' taste. I am so glad that lovely Britney Spears is performing again :-) I have not yet listened her newest album, Circus, but I still dare to recommend it. The Wizard of Sweden, Max Martin, writes usually her best songs. If you don't like Britney, at least her performance does not leave anyone ... indifferent ;-) Lately, she has been kind in promoting Finnish Sauna for free :-) (What is the real Finnish sauna? An orthodox explanation.).

BOOKS

Bodil Jönsson: Ten Thoughts about Time. Some years ago, this small and simple book changed radically ways how I consider time and spent time . Nowadays:
-  I don't wear a watch ("Western people are slaves of digital time")
-  I am not reachable and available all the time ("We should have time to "stop and stare")

... and my wife is desperate ;-)

I remember when I was in 2003 walking with professor Mike Sharples and his father Alan on a hill, north of Birmingham, UK. In the highest spot, Mike took ...  a kite from his bag. I was surprised and Alan commented "Every true scientist has a kite". In winter time, you can not always fly a kite.  Therefore, I recommend this Kid's Paper Airplane Book. You can always fly a paper airplane indoors ;-) I am so clumsy with miniature models, so this is good building exercise as well. And it always nice to build together with my children :-)

This current recession can be (perhaps) explained with terms of Peter Drucker?! His book 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship' could explain the Dot.com -bubble 15 years ahead in 1985.

- "Systematic innovation therefore consists in the purposeful and organized search for changes, and in the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes might offer for economic and social innovation. "

His '7 sources of innovative opportunity' are always worth reading and thinking ;-)

FUTURE

As you might have noticed, I am (we are) working with disruptive innovation and paradigm shift ala Kuhn. Year 2009 will be interesting, even revolutionary. Stay tuned!

But now: Happy New Year!

    Mikko

Strategic Intuition by William Duggan - A Positive Reading Experience

Intuition? Nonsense!

First I was really sceptical about the whole concept. 

But after reading some pages of 'Strategic Intuition' I was forced to change my mind (which is always ... tough).

Duggan illustrates human achievements across time (Kopernikus, Napoleon, Buddha etc.). His introduction of history of science is thoroughly and interestingly written. Additionally, his brain research chapter explained me many cognition and learning related open topics.

All is centered around the concept of Coup d'oeil. It is like strike of the eye: a glance. This consists of 4 phases:

1. Intelligent memory. Expert intuition relies on your own experience, while strategic intuition draws on the experience of everyone else in the world as well. You don't just search the shelves of your own experience - you search out examples from history far and wide.
2. Presence of mind. You clear your mind of all expectations and previous ideas of what you might do or even what your goal is.
3. Flash of insight. In a free mind selected elements from various past examples come together in a new combination.
4. Resolution. This means resolve, determination, will.

After introducing these steps, Duggan goes to the world of business. With examples from Google and Microsoft he shows how strategic intuition works in commercial settings.

So far, a fascinating book. I need to digest a bit more ;-)

Update 22nd December 2008: At the end of the book Duggan had some critical comments about creativity and especially CPS (Creative Problem Solving). I enjoyed the following comments:

"These ... techniques reveal the common misunderstanding that creative ideas come from wishes, the subconscious, or the five senses. None of these methods directs you to examples from history as the source of creativity. And they do not encourage presence of mind. They are forms of concentration, not clearing your mind."

"The best way to think out of the box is to look in other boxes"

What about creative workplaces? Duggan nicely critisizes the hyper-social-express-yourself-environments:

"The playful environment certainly make them feel more creative, but feeling creative and producing creative results are not the same thing. " ... A practicioner of Zen could make the opposite argument: the most creative work environment is a bland, empty box"

Hmm, wait a minute: I and my architect brother Timo are currently involved in designing healthier, creative, more focused working environments and spaces. Maybe we should talk to William :-)

Still, one thing was missing in the book:

What happens if you think that you are using strategic intuition and you still fail? Can the failure then be ... enormous? What are those automatically correcting mechanisms?

Please, check also the related website: http://www.strategic-intuition.com

Creative Collaboration - Emotions Involved

Vera John-Steiner's "Creative Collaboration" is a fascinating book. It is a study of dyads and teams.

To my mind, creativity research has had difficulties in explaining  intellectual, aesthetic and emotional aspects of creativity.

"Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together."  - Anaïs Nin

This weaving process is not a simple one. It is hard to find people who share our dreams but can also challenge us and disagree with us.

According to Vera John-Steiner creative collaboration of dyads often contains following elements:

• Care - Conflict
• Fusion - Separation
• Trust
• Partners'  negotiations about the ownership of ideas.

These elements may get complicated and even tear us apart :-( Creativity is sometimes about living on the edge.

Or, we may just take things too seriously and selfishly ;-)

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." - Henry Miller

The 'Creative Collaboration' book ends in the following conclusion:

"There is a deep and interesting paradox in productive collaboration. Each participant's individual capacities are deepened at the same time that participants discover the benefits of reciprocity. But the achievement of productive collaborations requires sustained time and effort. It requires the shaping of a shared language, the pleasures and risks of honest dialogue, and the search for a common ground."

- Vera John-Steiner (204, 2000)

Intermediaries - 5 Challenges

"Being an innovation intermediary is not an easy business", writes Henry Chesbrough.

His Open Business Models book introduces 5 tough challenges:

1. How can the intermediary help its clients define the problem that needs to be solved. This definition must be sufficiently clear to outsiders that they can recognise whether they know enough to answer the problem, without being so clear as to reveal sensitive client information.
      
2. How to manage the problem of identity: whether  and when to disclose the identity of  one party to the other party.
   
   
3. How to demonstrate the value of their service to their clients. Other processes, beyond the control of the intermediary, must occur in order for an idea or technology to become valuable, so how can one measure the contribution for the intermediary to whatever value was subsequently created?
   
   
4. How to create or access a two-sided market, with lots of buyers and lots of sellers.
   
   
5. How to establish a strong, positive reputation early on in the company’s operation

                                                                        Chesbrough (2006, 139-140)

The best part of this book is when Chesbrough concretely illustrates these challenges in InnoCentive, NineSigma, Big Idea Group, InnovationXchange, Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Exchange and Ocean Tomo.

Would you like to add an extra challenge element to the list above?

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun - Improving your creativity

How to change your life? How to improve your creativity?

I have been counselling young adults who have had some obstacles in their life and in their creativity.  Occasionally, I have wished that I could show them something inspiring that makes them think about their lives from different perspective.

In that sense, I really like the video "The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun".

This video-animation looks psychedelic and simple, but it is based on results of creativity research!
If you want to know more about the personality of creative people: check my booklist below: books by Alane Starko and Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi. Additionally, look at the research done by Donald MacKinnon in the 60's and 70's.

Note: The Flash-movie starts immediately when you click the link.

(Acknowledgements: Thanks to Joyce Wycoff and her wonderful blog for great insights :-)

Political and religious media - suppressing creativity?

Have you been a subscriber of a magazine with a very strong political or religious message?
Where only limited feedback is allowed and opposite views are neglected? 

This reminds me of Richard Dawking and his memes thinking, viruses in minds. Susan Blackmore puts it: "Conformity, not creativity, is the hallmark of the human condition". I hope that this is not the case.

I would like to provide here an example.

The local newspaper (Ylöjärven Uutiset) was rather unwilling to publish my request to change their editorial line. In my note to the editor, I asked him, why the front page of the newspaper was about bishop's inspection, why the 3rd page was filled with church news and why the 4th page was full of parish election announcements. It was very difficult to read just basic, local news from this kind of newspaper. This request (reader feedback) of mine was never published. When I called the editor in chief, he was very hostile, even though I asked him very kindly to publish my note. Three weeks after that incident, the newspaper changed it's editorial line a bit, not much. I guess I was not the only one asking, companies paying for advertisements were not happy either ;-)

In that sense, citizen journalism and freedom of speech are great liberties. "We are the Media, said Dan Gillmore and I truly believe that he is a visionary thinker. When there is a topic that can not be discussed, the discussion finds it's ways.

Well, Finland seems to be number one in Press Freedom Index. Still, we still may have lot to improve in reader opinion management ...

Zotero - Networked Creativity for R&D + Connections to del.icio.us

What does networked creativity mean? With Zotero's network model are close to Roger Schank's definition of creativity: search and alteration processes. Research results and sources will be more and more searched...and altered from one area to another. Wait a second a second, what is Zotero?

Zotero is a revolutionary Firefox 2.0 extension that enables you:

1. To store (download) full reference information to your machine. Supports library databases, Amazon, journal databases etc.
2. To save time tremendously, because you don't need to type those references. Additionally, typos are minimised, because those professional librarians can do the job more accurately ;-)
3. Update: To do internet research, Zotero allows you to take snapshots of WWW-pages and create a reference.  Similarly, a piece of text on screen can be highlighted and with the right mouse button stored as a reference.
4. To organise those downloaded references to a bibliography on your machine. (Works also off-line!)
   
5. To export your whole bibliography or parts of it in APA or other formats. (Works also off-line!)

A video demonstration of Zotero was useful for me. Although Zotero is in 1.0 beta phase, I have found it to be rather stable and reliable.

Zotero is a production of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. It is funded by the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Actually, it is a very large open source software (OSS) project and indicates how powerful those OSS communities are.

The new OSS-developed Mozilla Firefox 2.0 browser is a pre-condition to use Zotero.

A good reason to abandon your MS Internet Explorer ;-)

Many of you are familiar with del.icio.us. It is an extensive social bookmarking service, nowadays owned by Yahoo!. If you are a user of del.icio.us, please, ask my del.icio.us address and let's get networked!

I and my colleagues working with social media have been wondering, what is the connection between del.icio.us and Zotero. There is no data exchange or interoperability between these services (yet). Still, del.icio.us can be modified to include 'Tag Bundles'. One such tag bundle could perhaps be the Personal Library, with links pointing at your exported Zotero bibliography in HTML-format?

It won't take long before Zotero enables us all to share our bibliographies. This will definitely chance the our conception of research (and R&D). These activities will become more and more networked in nature. Update: There are many things happening in the Web 2.0 research and educational scene. Solution Watch has a nice overview of latest services and information systems.

BTW, What will happen to services like Citeseer, will they disappear or become some sort of aggregators?

Does Technology Prevent Creativity?

    
Thanks to Lowell Monke, I am getting rather critical about tools and technology supporting creativity. In many cases technology distracts our concentration, causes problems to our social network and interferes with our natural rhythm of life. Monke's "Breaking Down the Digital Walls" is an interesting book and I am looking forward to read the forthcoming book. In the meanwhile, please take a look at his thought-provoking article "The Human Touch" . Just to give you an example of Monke's thinking: "What 'Information Age' values tempt us to forget is that all of the information gushing through our electronic networks is abstract; that is, it is all representations, one or more symbolic steps removed from any concrete object or personal experience".   

Another wake-up call came, when I read an interesting report from National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop about Creativity Support Tools. There were some guidelines for these Creativity Support Tools introduced . To me they are like from an HCI manual and similar to Shneiderman's  "Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies"  - you remember those 4-phases: Collect - Relate - Create - Donate.

What bothers me is the concept "Social Creativity" described the report. This concept and the related research is to me very inconsistent, it is mostly based on communities-of-practice research, not creativity research. I noticed it already when I participated a social creativity session in the HCI International (UAHCI) conference in Las Vegas.

What is missing from those guidelines? Maybe time management, off-line working and reflection support?! Guidelines could also emphasize when n-o-t to use electronic tools (:| Being social in the Internet is valuable, but what we need is perhaps time to think and have personal experiences, not artificial ;-)

Hey, I am still researching creativity support tools. No doubt about that :-)