Breaking Free: Creating and Innovating Like No One Else Maria Gini, Urvashi Mishra University of Minnesota Joann Ordille Avaya Labs Research

Questions What is creativity and where does our next great idea come from? Is there anything we can do to spark creativity? When writer’s block hits are we doomed or is there a way to free flowing words and ideas?

Creativity “Creativity comes from an ability to see unusual connections, find unusual ways to combine things, and make remote associations.” Creative people have an open-minded style. They observe and absorb information about the world. They enjoy “bumping into things.” Less creative people have a judgmental or closed- minded style. They make quick judgments and stop observing the world sooner, because they have decided. Adapted from Al Siebert, “The Survivor Personality.”

Quick Creativity Exercise Find a word that has these words in common: – stoolpowderball Answer: foot Exercise adapted from Al Siebert, “The Survivor Personality.”

Quick Creativity Exercise Do this exercise and also observe how you do it: – bluecakecottage – madecuffleft – motionpokedown

How did you do the exercise? Who tried a lot of variations until they hit upon the right one? Who found that the idea popped into their head when they looked away?

Creative Styles Creative Process (Jacques Hadamard) –Preparation  incubation  illumination  verification Intense Mode –Illumination comes from trying lots of possibilities, brainstorming, working with others Casual Mode –Illumination comes after an intense period of preparation (absorbing information, generating ideas) when you look away

Creative Experiences Form small groups Share something creative that you’ve observed or experienced

Unlocking Your Creative Genius Capacity Posted on June 19, 2008 in: Academic Success, IQ Matrix Maps, Life Success Academic Success IQ Matrix Maps Life Success

Tools to Help Creativity Search Engines Collaboration Tools Rapid Discovery Process Data Visualization and Analysis Tools Concept Mapping Tools

Toolbox Internet Voice and Video Internet Search Database Integration Structured/Unstructured Data Integration Facebook Skills from Using It

Save the Diamondbacks Diamondbacks live in salt marshes on the US East Coast Females leave the marsh to lay eggs in high ground Females are killed on roads blocking their way People patrol roads to help turtles across, and to harvest eggs from turtles who die. There are statistics on location of turtle deaths. Eggs are hatched at a temperature that creates only female turtles, but the population still tragically declines Turtles are tagged, so you can track their movements Experiments are underway to create barriers so turtles won’t cross the road Use your toolboxes in your group to propose a creative aid to the turtles More info: Video:

Restore Coral Reefs Coral reefs only grow in certain temperature ranges and light conditions Risings oceans and global warming threaten coral reefs worldwide The Reef Ball Foundation restores coral reefs by planting specially made concrete balls on the ocean floor There are thousands of projects around the world that need volunteers to help make, place and plant reef balls The Reef Ball Foundation provides a list of projects by geographic area Use your toolboxes in your group to propose a creative aid to getting volunteers together with projects in need More info: Video:

Breaking free Thinking is key to being creative. Limited thinking inhibits creativity. Thoughts know no bounds, so should creativity be boundless! Let creativity flow freely…

Just for fun! Source:

Resources Ben Shneiderman, et. al., "Summary: Creativity Support Tools: Report from a US National Science Foundation Workshop," International Journal of Human Computer- Interaction, 2006, 20(2) pp See Workshop-CST2006.pdf. Workshop-CST2006.pdf "Computational Creativity Support: Using Algorithms and Machine Learning to Help People Be More Creative," Workshop at CHI 2009, April See D. Saunders & P. Thagard,“Creativity in computer science,” in J. C. Kaufman & J. Baer (Eds.), Creativity across domains: Faces of the muse. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, See: “Unlocking Your Creative Genius Potential,” map/unlocking-your-creative-genius-potential-mind-maphttp://blog.iqmatrix.com/mind- map/unlocking-your-creative-genius-potential-mind-map Al Siebert, “The Survivor’s Edge: Subconscious Resources,” Chapter 7, The Survivor Personality, New York: Perigree Books, 1996.