Creative

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Although I can't understand what they are saying, but this is great! =D
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A Quick Review

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Lesson1:

Creativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. An alternative conception of creativeness is that it is simply the act of making something new.

It can be understood in many ways. creative people also have an ability to invent something which did not exist before. For example, Bill Gates who invented Microsoft makes him the first richest man in the world. Creative does not only developing something new to the world, it’s more about developing something new to ourselves.

Lesson 2:

Novelty is the quality of being new. Create or modify using your own idea and creativity such as a souvenir, gift and many more. For example, a new style of art coming into being such as abstract art or impressionism.

Creativity is using imagination rather than imitating something else. Generation of ideas, images and solutions. This is very important for individual to develop their creative skills so they can be able to think creatively in solving problem, studying and many more situation can be applied.

Innovation is the act of starting something for the first time and introducing something new which means doing something in a new way. A distinction is typically made between Invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully.

Invention is discovery or creation of a new things, device, or process. Some inventions are based on existing models or ideas.

Lesson 3:

Mind Mapping is an idea generation and brainstorming. It enhances both side human brain and widely used in taking notes, research, generate new idea. Create interest to the individual and also to the viewer. This is an effective way to generate idea and remember all the points.

There are two types of mind mapping which are:

Logical Mind Mapping - Draw a mind map only based on one topic. Then, find several subtopic related topic. Use only one or two words. Drawing is necessary to help u remember and make it interesting.

Associated Mind Mapping - It similar to logical mind mapping. The difference, associated mind mapping is using more then one mind mapping such elaborates subtopic.

Lesson 4:

Juxtaposition is an act of comparing two random things, especially in a way that suggests connection between them and turns it into one meaningful form. For example, turns word -> image.

Stereotype is someone’s perception of first impressions: The behaviors that presumed by a group of people judging with the eyes ones outer appearance to be associated with another specific group.

Analogy

Definition:

1. An analogy is a comparison of certain similarities between things which are otherwise unlike.
2. a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump.
3. similarity or comparability: I see no analogy between your problem and mine.
4. Biology. an analogous relationship.
5. Logic. a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.
6. Linguistics.
7. the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shown was re-formed as shoes, when -size is added to nouns like winter to form verbs, or when a child says foots for feet.
8. a form resulting from such a process.

Discussion:

1. In education, teachers commonly use analogies to introduce something new to students. They compare the new material to something the students already know and understand.
   

Example:

1. A street light is like a star. Both provide light at night, both are in predictable locations, both are overhead, and both serve no function in the daytime.
   

Metaphor

Definition:

1. A metaphor is the expression of an understanding of one concept in terms of another concept, where there is some similarity or correlation between the two
2. A metaphor is the understanding itself of one concept in terms of another
3. A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.”
4. Something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

Example:

The following sentences illustrate how the metaphorical understanding of anger-as-fire is expressed:

1. Your insincere apology just added fuel to the fire.
2. After the argument, Dave was smoldering for days
3. That kindled my ire.
4. Boy, am I burned up!

Similes

Definition:

1. a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose.”
2. an instance of such a figure of speech or a use of words exemplifying it.
3. A simile is a comparison between two things.
4. It is signaled overtly; in English, a simile is expressed by the words like or as.

Example:

1. He had a posture like a question mark.

Lesson 5:

Random Association is an idea generation method which allows students to systematically generate new ideas through a fixed formula. The whole premise of Random Association is to use a Random Word to provoke a reaction from the brain.

References:
http://redridinghoodmlc.blogspot.com/
http://milky-cocoa.blogspot.com/
http://creativealys.blogspot.com/
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Lesson 5: Random Words/ Image Association

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How to start

Like what I said, creativity can be learn. But how?

To make your life easier, we have one skill call random words and image association. It is an idea generation method which allows students to systematically generate new ideas through a fixed formula.

How to Use it

1) Find a random word:

Find a random word that will be used as a stimulus for new ideas. You can do this in a number of ways, including:

-Look around you. What can you see? Can you see any words? What about things? What else is happening?
-Open a book at a random page. Run your finger around the page and stop at a random point. Look for a suitable word near your finger.
-Ask the people you are with to give you a random word.
-Select a word from a prepared list of evocative words (fire, child, brick, sausage, etc.)

Good random words are
(a) evocative and
(b) nothing to do with the problem being considered.

Ambiguity also helps. Nouns are usually best, but verbs and adjectives can also be used effectively.

2) Find associations

Think about other things about which the word reminds you. Follow associations to see where they go. Think openly: associations can be vague and tenuous (this is creativity, not an exam!).

When working with a group of people, you can write these down on a flip chart as people call them out. It can be useful (but not necessary) to leave a space after each associate for use in stage 3.

3) Create New Ideas

Now create new ideas by linking any of the associations with your problem. Again, the linkage can be as vague as you like: what you want is ideas!

Write the ideas either next to their associations from step 2 or on a separate page. If other people give ideas that trigger further ideas from you, then you can go off down that route to see where it goes. As a variant, you can do stages 2 and 3 together, finding an association and an immediate idea from this.

Example:
I am seeking a way to reduce discomfort for passengers on trains.
With a group of passengers, we look out of the window and see a school.
Associations from school are learning, bullying, exams, playtime.
Ideas include teaching the rail company how uncomfortable the seats are, taking a firm stance in this, giving marks for different trains and seats and having games on trains so passengers do not notice the uncomfortable seats.

How it Works?

Random Words works in particular by making you go elsewhere for ideas, and hence pushes you out of your current thinking rut. It uses the principle of forced association to make you think in new ways and create very different ideas.

Now, for a little exercise, we gonna create something scary using this image: a kitten.

Words: Kitten
Associations:
- Claws - Sound - Die - Fur - Always trap on trees - Cat palms - Eyes - Smelly

The Ideas:

Hand with scratches

"The research focuses on how the brain creates new ideas and how this is related to associations and memory.As the participant works to combine the two disparate concepts to create a novel idea, brain-imaging techniques are used to observe how and in what order different parts of the brain respond to these word pairs."

By research conducted at the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania."

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_Association
http://wordassociation1.net/wordassoc.html
http://creativealys.blogspot.com/
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Lesson 4.2: Juxtaposition continues

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Images to words

See how cacat I am.. =X

Theme: Candle
Topic: Life

Days by days, we creeps in this petty pace
falling slowly, in the hands of time
But look! All of our yesterdays have lighted the darkness

Life's but a walking shadow,
that struts and frets his hour upon the stage
But with the love that we can go,
we lighted up the meaning of life.

Theme: Time
Topic: Happiness

Its sound like two planets in different orbits
both estranged.
But you never realized
the happiness is when my heart is watching you
at all the time.

Theme: Coffee
Topic: Love

It is not the coffee mate that makes the coffee tastes nice
But it is you, who sit opposite me that turns the coffee to heaven like.
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Lesson 4.1: Juxtaposition

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Today lesson will be creating words from images. Lets say we are given a picture of lion and goat, we need to create another animal using the characteristic of these two animals. Quite interesting, but somehow I am stuck. ><

But just like what Alys said in her blog: nothing is impossible to be done. As long as we pin our brain.... Squeeze the brain juice... there's some pop up...

Back to our lecture, the lecturer asked us to combine two creature that is impossible to be. And lets see what I created:
1. Lion + Cow
2. Fish + Chicken

Well, it look cacat. =3=

Then, the lecturer ask us to create a poem using a picture of chili.

Great! A disaster for me! ><

Here is the "poem" that I created:

Should I compare thee to the red hot chili?

Thou art more temperate and hotter.
Every time we quarrel, I feel like I am eating nasi goreng cili api.
But thee should know
Sometime too hot the chili tastes
It is never going to be nice.
That's why I prefer nasi goreng biasa without chili.
Love is like chili.
Some can stand with it, some can't stand with it.
If you can't survive with this, I advise you to eat cherry.

Speechless..... =X

I bet if xin lin saw this, I gonna being tear by her. =D She is chili, a big and spicy one. =.="

The lecture continue with picture of mortal and pestle. And guess what we gonna describe now? Women! Great, another disaster!

Women are stubborn, cause their otak keras macam batu lesung.
But they are tough, even being hit by pestle continuously, they didn't break.

Women are noisy, cause they make lot of noises macam batu lesung.
But they are hardworking, every time you heard the sound from mortal and pestle, you know someone is working.

Women are violence, cause even we put cili padi into mortal and pestle, cili juga akan jadi samba.
But they are useful, without them, we wont even have samba to eat.

Another cacat poem from me. =D
It proved one thing, my forefather wont be William Shakespeare. =D
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Lesson 4: Juxtaposition

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What is juxtaposition

Juxtaposition means turn something familiar to something less familiar or vice versa.

It is the idea of putting two contrasting ideas side by side. For example, Michael Moore uses juxtaposition in Fahrenheit 911, when he plays the song "What a Wonder full World" while playing scenes of war and violence.

Analogy

Analogy divided into two: metaphor and similes.

In metaphor, two different things are linked by similar things. On the other hand, similes use words such as "like".

There are lots of stuff surrounding us which use the concept of analogy. Lets have a look on some real life examples:

Kamu sudah potong? Saya belum. =X

Sometimes the juxtaposition can be done by mistake where there are two different pictures or frames together or side by side but they still convey a message intentionally or unintentionally. Most often though the placement of frames articles and pictures has a certain order or preference to associate or categorize the item. Lets the pictures do the talking:

Hey, we already have the culprit here!

Reference:
http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/Skspre/Juxtaposition.html
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Lesson 3: Mind Map

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Who say studying must be boring?

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea.

Wikipedia

I believe people are successful when they are being the best that they can be. An athlete is said to be successful when they win the most prestigious awards. A successful entrepreneur is one who brought positive changes to the society, usually with a business which produces quality products and services.

So, how about a student? If we are staying in school, we seek to score good marks during exam. Therefore, we need to find the way we learn best. To be able to understand and memorize better, we will need to engage all your senses.

Hence, a mind map will be a great alternative. Instead of reading only words, try to summarize what we read into charts or graphics. Repeat drawing the same picture a few times and definitely, we should remember it for quite some time. Remember, graphics do help us to understand and remember better.

The logical mind map that I did during class. It is about 7 tips to fight against bookworms.

I always find it helpful to summarize the whole chapter in a single page of A4 paper. This has many uses, first it makes you feel secure knowing that chapter isn't that much after all. Second, you do not have time to read the whole chapter when exam is 24 hours away.

Make it a point to summarize everything in the form of pictures, you will remember much better. Summarizing the chapter in a limited space requires some skill. To develop this skill, I recommend you practice often.

Think out of box, you may gain something.

Understand, do not memorize.

Let me get this straight, I am really against memorizing just for exams, or even worst memorizing the whole speech for presentation. Instead of memorizing, find out why is it so. Understand why is the real learning process, and it is more fun than memorizing.

In mind mapping, you have to think out of box to gain more and more ideas. If you fail to do so, you are being trapped in your mindset.

"Mind maps provide an effective study technique when applied to written material. However before mind maps are generally adopted as a study technique, consideration has to be given towards ways of improving motivation amongst users."

Farrand, Hussain, and Hennessy (2002)

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map
http://heidycs.blogspot.com/
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Lesson 2.2: Innovation & Invention

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"Innovation . . . is generally understood as the successful introduction of a new thing or method . . . Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.

— Luecke and Katz (2003)

Invention is an evolutionary act which leads to an outcome that is outside of the norm; norm meaning what is known, thus yielding, creation.

— Jonathan O'Neill Barnes- Apr. 19, 2009.

Innovation is not invention. But for me, they are two different things in similar field. Inventors are those who take existing knowledge and create new ideas. On the other hand, innovators add in idea in existing things, making improvements by introducing something new, the realization of a creative idea in a social context.

Since most of us are business students, then allowed me to share some of my opinions on entrepreneurship education which required creativity, innovation and invention. Broadly defined, entrepreneurship is actually the function of interaction occurring between the human nature and the environment. The most renowned concept suggested which clearly distinguishes the role of entrepreneurs in a society is as given below:

no entrepreneur, no innovation, no dynamics, no evolution

I suddenly realized that in this fast paced, globalized world, there will be a grater need for our children and us to have entrepreneurial skills and abilities to enable them to deal with life's current challenges and an uncertain future.

Bill Gates: Creator of Microsoft

Mark Zuckerberg: Creator of Facebook

Back to our topic, I always think that invention is good but what about innovation?
According to wikipedia, the goal of innovation are:

1. Improved quality
2. Creation of new markets
3. Extension of the product range
4. Reduced labour costs
5. Improved production processes
6. Reduced materials
7. Reduced environmental damage
8. Replacement of products/services
9. Reduced energy consumption
10. Conformance to regulations

Since we just need to add one product's value, then it considered our product. But what about others copyright? What about their trademarks?

I not sure if it is moral to do so, but personally I don't like it. Yes, I do agree that innovation is good. But innovation using others ideas, I doubt it. This does not means that I disagree all, using others ideas is OK for me if it does not treat others in term of financial and non-financial benefits.

I will defend my idea using the some real life examples:

The video basically shows the Japanese reporter compared their snacks with Korean's snacks. He used their nation products and randomly ask a Korean citizens to taste it. Surprisingly, all the Korean thought that was their Korean's snacks! Then the reporter went to the Korean factory which produced the snacks to have a short interview on this phenomena, but guess what the producer say? The Korean producer claimed that the two products are not same because their products have one more line at their packaging compare to Japanese's product!

Great! With one extra line in packaging, you WIN everything. There is no way for the Japanese to sue you! What a wonderful world it is?!

Ha~ That's why I not really like Korean. =X

Finally, to conclude this part, I highly recommend you guys to develop more in entrepreneurship skills. Think creatively, and perhaps someday you can be the next innovator or inventor.

Prepare for ascension.

Reference:
http://www.innovationtools.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation
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Lesson 2.1: Novelty & Creativity

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Novelty & Creativity:

Novelty means new, or something unusual. Creativity is thinking of something different although seeing the same thing as everybody. These two things can be same but also can be different. According to Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi's theory, creativity can be divided into big "C" and small "c". The big "C" have effect on others and is being accepted by the masses. Meanwhile, the small "c" serves personal satisfaction and fulfillment.

Force to Be Forced:

Just like what I wrote on the previous post, creativity is achievable. In fact, I always think creativity as an attitude. The world is such a beautiful place because we are blessed with different types of people, each using their unique gifts to make the world a better place. Or would you prefer a world where everyone is the same? How boring.

However, our education system does not work so. In school, there is a lot of focus on proficiency of language and mathematical abilities. The focus on academic education is to produce students who are able to read, write and calculate.

I agree on the importance of these subject. But there should be more! Language and mathematical abilities won't changed you to be a creative person unless you learn to create your own language or you use a creative way to cheat in exam.

Above are some different categories of intelligences under Gardner's theory. Besides verbal-linguistic, we have all others of intelligences. But, too sad our education system is only being set to teach us to be person who has ability to read and write. You will seldom have the chance to develop your creativity!

Art of Education

My friend's brother, who was eight returned home one day with an incomplete drawing of a flower in his school bag. His class was asked to draw a gigantic lower on their drawing blocks and to paint it accordingly.

That evening, I told him to finish up what he has started. He said that he was so tired of drawing flowers and butterflies in arts class that he now hates arts class itself! I asked him why, guess what he answered? He replied by stating that "boys like us feel irritated drawing flowers, butterflies or fruits in a basket, repeatedly. We prefer to draw robots, comic superheroes, ninjas and we're even extremely creative at creating our own cartoon plots on paper. So, why flowers and butterflies?"

I bet you've guessed the answer, it's the system. But do teachers have a choice? My friend's brother never score excellent in his art class, but when he back home, he's an excellent artist. He draws creatively, using his imagination, transforming it into visual arts pasted proudly on the walls in his room. Yet, he always scores a C in his art exams? Why?

His "flowers & butterflies" painting that he hate most

Your Choice Your Creativity

Doesn't this same scenario happen in your campus? When was it your last time that a lecturer asked you to choose your own assignments based on your capabilities and interests? Or ,when was the last time that you know you can do better within your own imagination and creativity, and not within your lecturer's imagination or creativity? One of the greatest minds, Thomas Edison was labeled as "having learning difficulties" by his teacher. Thank god he did not give up in life or we would have lost a great inventor.

Creativity needs imagination, and you will need motivation to do so. Some of us study because of parents, or they do not want to work early after graduated from High School. But there is also some of us who study because of their interests and they want to learn.

Of cause, I not saying that not obeying the lecturer's rules is good. But, only break the rules after you know all the rules.

Only by doing so, you can turn your novelty into creativity , and swap yourself from small "c" to big "c".

Creativity isn't magic, it's achievable.

Leland.N 1990

For the next post, I will talk about my opinion on the innovation and invention. Stay tuned...

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty
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