Beyond Creativity

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 ;-)

To be continued...

The Nerd Test

You must have noticed my interest in quizzes?!

Maybe I will never learn to understand myself, therefore I like to take these tests ;-)
The following test "revealed" that I am social nerd. Am I?

Please, try the Nerd-quiz:

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around.  ^_^
Musician
Drama Nerd
Literature Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Creativity is ... Attitude

In Berkeley, CA, USA, I met amazingly wise and educated street merchants.
Somehow, I just wanted to have  the following sticker:

Ever since I got this sticker, it has been hanging on my door at the university.

Einstein was famous for his proverbs and quotations. I welcome you to take a look at them. If someone knows where these proverbs can found in German, I would be most grateful! (Einstein's English was not excellent, I suppose some of those English quotations are therefore translated from German).

Nowadays I am well known for my polite and still uncomfortable questions. It is a skill that gets better when you practise it a lot ;-)

Breaking Boundaries - Participating a Pilates Class

When you learn to laugh at yourself, there is no limit in entertainment :-)

A year ago I got interested in Pilates. It all started when I received an Inch-Loss Pilates DVD as a Little-Christmas present. I adore you, Lucy Knight :-) Ever since I have been a living room practitioner (only). Pilates seems to be advantageous for my breathing and body.

In April 2007  I had a research trip to Berkeley. There were too many meetings and too much sitting in the Innovation in Services -conference. So, I made a brave move and participated a  r-e-a-l Pilates class in the fabulous Claremont Resort hotel. There I was, the only man in a company of 8 amazingly talented women. Uhh, how gawky and uncordinated I was compared to them!  Somehow I felt like Wally in the Dilbert cartoon, but the reality was so different ;-) I am not so sure if I will participate public Pilates classes in the future *:o)

Riverdance - Creativity in Motion

As a long-time fan of Ireland, I managed to see the latest Riverdance show.

Wow, what a combination of great elements!

The video above provides only a glimpse of this phenomenon. Being in the actual show makes you feel The Sound Wall. Actually, these rhythms  make you move for days ;-)

Nowadays Riverdance includes Irish dances, Flamenco, Russian Folk dances  and American Step Dance.

Purists may not like it, but I and my wife did. Great dancers, musicians and singers. I happen to own a Bodhran but I never will learn to play it that well ;-)

Highly recommend !

Ethics of Innovation 2 - Recommendations for Sustainable Mobile Inventions

Previously I examined ethical problems and health risks related to mobile devices and wireless networks.

Now I will list some recommendations to make inventing and innovation more sustainable. (Updated, 27th December 2007 and 29th May 2008).

In the global level:

- Start talking about ethics and consequences of inventing within engineer communities. Why don't forums like Wimax Forum , UMTS Forum , Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) , Symbian and Open Handset Alliance have discussion about ethics (including radiation risks)? Why can't International Telecom Union (ITU) initiate this discussion?

- Raise awareness among device manufacturers and teleoperators (carriers). Why is it so difficult to discuss openly about these issues? Every company nowadays has their 'Values' and 'Code of Conduct' and 'Sustainability Policy', but these documents / web sites are are not talking about ethical risks of innovation. Can business risks be handled by denying ethical problems?

- Separate financial benefits from mobile device development. There is a long history of denying health risks, e.g. with tobacco, when money is at stake. Would there be needed an international treaty like with tobacco?  (Please, note: I am not suggesting here a total ban of mobile devices and networks, more like independent control and re-invention)

- Put more resources on longitudinal, medical studies of mobile phones and mobile networks use. Do doctors, engineers and researchers talk enough with each other?

- Reconsider the "burden" of landlines maintenance for carriers. Now carriers are trying to get rid of their landline subscribers, but at which cost? What if people using landlines (corded phones) are eventually more fortunate (healthier) than those who abandoned them? Why do parents give up landline and buy mobile phones to children as young as five years? Are there inequality questions involved in development countries where Wimax is the only possibility?

In the local community level:

- Start discussing about 3G + Wimax base stations and their locations. Why are there base stations just 50 meters from schools and hospitals? Why can not teleoperators (carriers) consult citizen organisations and healthcare professionals where these masts are installed and how their antennas  are equipped? (Now the 'formal' discussion is mostly about aesthetics ;-)

- Rethink the scale of those WiFi City Programs. Are these programs really sustainable with hundreds of antennas? Do people really become 'free', 'creative ' and 'innovative' through WLANs and ubiquitous computing? Are people are asked any permission when their offices and apartments are WiFied? How sustainable is FON in a longer run?

-  Reconsider WLAN use in schools and in homes. The state of Bavaria just recently recommended schools not to proceed with WiFi because of health risks. How do these kind of recommendations affect programs like OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) ? When will the mobile learning community discuss about these topics? Is 24/7 WLAN as risky as frequent GSM calls?

- Find out what can be done with materials that protect from radiation. How can spaces be built and designed in another way?

In the technological design level:

- Re-think the construction of masts, antennas and software. How optimised is for example W-CDMA from sustainability perspective? Which frequencies are the most harmful? The biggest risk seems to be that standards are based only on thermal effects, not biological ones. Please, check also the background info how ICNIRP guidelines were "democratically" set. OK, the views of Don Maisch may be harsh, but I am afraid there a seed of truth in his document. Who dares to change ICNIRP staff and guidelines?

- Focus more on sustainable hands-free design. Is Bluetooth really the answer with additional radiation? I would recommend air-tube or similar solutions.

- Redesign speaker-phone functionality in mobile phones. Now only expensive mobile phones enable you to have talk with the mobile phone on the table. When will somebody re-invent mobile phones with excellent conference phone functionality?

- Be prepared for the rebirth of corded phones and their design.

-  Enable more devices with off-line functionality. Make calendar, alarm clock, notepad etc work even when the connection (transceiver) is switched off. Would this be useful for time-management as well?

- Put more focus on client-software and it's functionality (Mobile Java + Symbian's newest release with enhanced DB + Lotus Notes ).  See also MIT Technology Review and awarded Offline Applications . Why do mobile portal software and mobile web servers require continuous connection to the network/server? Can this piece of software be designed to support timed, scheduled data transfer?

- Think about synchronisation and replication.  Where are those good practices gone with PDAs and their synchronisation / docking stations? Can replication be used between devices and base stations?

 

Prediction:

The first mobile device manufacturer and the first carrier opening the discussion about radiation risks and changing it's innovation and design policy will most likely be the biggest winners in the business in the future.

Why? That move would be advantageous for their brand and sustainability counts among consumers.

End note: According to philosopher John Mackie: "Within ethics there are no objective values. Morality can not be discovered, it must be made."

Question: Do you have a recommendation to share?

Ethics of Innovation - Health Risks in the Mobile World

How responsible are those people and companies inventing the latest mobile devices and wireless networks?

What if these devices and wireless networks are like cigarettes: after prolonged use some people get seriously ill?

I took my time investigating:

- "Results from present studies on use of mobile phones for >10 years give a consistent pattern of
increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma (brain tumors)". This study of Lennart Hardell & Co investigated two cohort studies and 16 case control studies. The paper was published in April 2007 in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Journal. 

- "... found no evidence for an association between tumor risk and cellular telephone use among either short-term or long-term users." A Danish study inspecting adults and their use of mobile phones in 21 years time period. Published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

- "Children should not place computers on their laps while they are using wireless Internet connections because of potential health risks" . Says professor Lawrie Challis, who also leads the committee on mobile phone safety research in UK.

- "Blue Angels mobile phones  for children should not be provided by teleoperators and dealers, since their SAR rate is above 0,6 W/kg . Children are recommended to use  corded phones in their daily communication. (Translation from German)  This statement was made by the German Government Bureau of Radiation Protection (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz). Similar concern was expressed here.

These kind of results, although controversial, make me...worried. Remember: our generation started using mobile phones when we were adults. Younger generations start using mobile devices and wireless networks in their early childhood and they will be exposed to various sorts of radiation much longer than our generation.

What does this has to do with ethics and innovation? The following incident 'woke me up':

In February 2007 I was attending a seminar in Helsinki and was listening to one of the inventors of Apache Mobile Web Server. In terms of ARPU this kind of server in the mobile phone means more traffic and more income from data transfer to operators. From ubiquitous computing perspective user may carry all services with himself/herself (in the mobile phone) and have them easily accessible.

During his presentation I asked that inventor, an engineer, whether he and his partners have thought about implications on health of people using that server in their mobile phone (in their pocket) 24/7. He did not answer my question, more like he continued to explain how fantastic technologically this invention theirs is.

I find this kind of behaviour (and answer) irresponsible. These  mobile pocket servers will most likely multiply the amount of radiation to the tissues of the user. Is it really ethical to innovate if we do not pay close attention to possible health effects already in the invention phase? How much have we tested these services' health effects before launching to market / releasing in a community? What does sustainability mean in the mobile business? I am glad to hear your comments about these topics.

UPDATE 13th January 2008:  Check also the next part of this discussion: "Ethics of Innovation 2 -  Recommendations for Sustainable Mobile Inventions".

After word: There has been some good 'ethics of innovation' discussion before. Please, look at here and here and here. 

The Creative Cities - A visit to Limerick and Galway

On the week 42 I will be visiting LERO ( The Irish Software Engineering Research Center) and NUI Galway.

Previously I wrote about Dublin as a creative city - in terms of Richard Florida. I expect Limerick and Galway to be even more interesting places and represent the soul of Ireland. Ireland has had tremendous development and growth during the last 20 years. Definitely I will be blogging about (Irish) creative environments after my trip.   

Meetings with professors Brian Fitzgerald (open source software, information systems )  and Brian Donnellan (information systems, innovation, knowledge management) will be fun and interesting.  In the LERO I will have a public talk about intermediaries and innovation marketplaces as well.  Let's see what kind of comments and feedback I will receive ;-)

Creative Gaming - Human Tetris

In pervasive games  gaming activity continues from the video screen to physical surroundings. My colleagues doing games research have lately investigated also casual games and their future perspective. One of the first casual game in the world was ... Tetris !

I have often dreamed about playing my favourite games in real life settings.

Japanese are inventive people and their TV shows are really funny. I welcome you to watch the following video called 'Human Tetris'.

I am sure Alexey Pajitnov (Алексей Леонидович Пажитнов) would be proud of this :-) The Japanese TV variant is closer to Welltris than Tetris ;-)

P.S. Thanks Ari (Heinola) for this idea.

Creativity and Television - Part 2 - Joost in focus

Remember how sceptical I was about digital television and it's effect on creativity?

Some months ago I was invited to test Joost - a Web-TV.

15,000+ TV shows, 250+ Channels . With image and sound quality that is better than I expected.

And I got hooked. How embarrassing ;-)

Maybe my style of watching TV made curious about Joost. I like to watch TV when I can, not when a program is scheduled to run. I also like non-mainstream programs and Joost is full of them. Like Atlantis Science Fiction Channel, Western Channel and History Channel. So, the ability to select the shows that others don't watch may be advantageous to my creativity. (What a weak explanation ;-)

Joost provides also community features (who is watching the same channel at the same time etc.). Interacting with other Joost watchers might be better than watching traditional TV passively. Remember, emotionally engaging tasks and work has a positive effect on creativity, as pointed out by Christina Ting Fong. Question: When will users be able to produce directly programmes to Joost's channels?

After my positive comments, Joost deserves a word of warning:

- Commercials. When you start watching a show, a 10-20 s. ad of a sponsor is broadcasted. I can understand that. But, this is not all. Thereafter may pop up a widget or a questionnaire on top of  your screen. And it hard to get rid of them :-\ After about 10 minutes starts another commercial in the middle of the show. Without warning. And you need to watch it before the show continues. A tip for Joost: users would be willing to do customer support and extra free work just to get rid of those commercials popping in the middle of the show.

- Security. Joost is founded by same people who brought us Skype. So, your machine is mostly connected with a closed client, not an open source one. Luckily, Joost does not use peer-to-peer networking but it may suffer from bandwidth problems. Therefore, I never leave Joost idle or minimized in the Windows taskbar. Maybe I am too suspicious here?!

- User interface. It is not intuitive. I have difficulties in remembering how to mark my favourite channels or how to switch from one programme to another. Basic stuff, but so clumsy. Check yourself below.

- Addiction. With over 250 channels there is always something interesting going on. This kind of Web TV may be even worse than traditional TV for our health, eyes, body and weight. You can spent many ours just hopping from one channel to another.

What am I complaining here? I get a Web-TV for free, right?

Any comments about creativity within Web-TVs?