The Vancouver Sun is publishing a series of articles called “20 Big Ideas” about the trends and phenomena that defined this decade.
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Part 2: Technologies are enticing, but it is harder and harder to wean ourselves away from them.

When I e-mailed Gloria Mark to ask if she would be available for an interview, I wasn’t expecting a quick response.

That’s because I knew that as a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and author of The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress and other studies on multi-tasking, she set a schedule to avoid digital distractions by checking her e-mail only twice a day.

That makes her a bit of an anomaly in a relentlessly wired and wireless world, which is starting to weary some to the point that uni-tasking or mono-tasking could come as a welcome relief.

“I can only guess that multi-tasking has increased over the decade because we’ve got a lot more devices and applications available to us,” said Mark. “For example Twitter — it wasn’t around 10 years ago and now it is one of the top applications being used on the Web.

“We’ve got a lot more technologies available that people seem to enjoy, like Twitter, Facebook and social networking sites that didn’t exist 10 years ago. There is a lot more to offer people but at the same time, it is distracting.”

Read this article from The Vancouver Sun.

The Vancouver Sun is publishing a series of articles called “20 Big Ideas” about the trends and phenomena that defined this decade.
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Part 1: Big ideas: Trending forward, but looking back

“The question is: Will we be able to move beyond this decade of anxiety?

The new millennium looked as if it was off to an edgy start in 2000 with mass paranoia about the Y2K bug infecting the world’s computers.

After that scare fizzled out, an actual disaster struck, driving panic into the hearts of many in the West: The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

The collective mood of the first decade of this millennium has been, in some ways, coloured by the reactions to this unprecedented attack on U.S. terrain.

Fear has been the decade’s dominant emotion, leading leaders in many countries to use technology to expand their military might, their spy networks and their “security.”

With 2010 arriving next month, many are wondering whether the “war on terror” and all that’s gone with it has accomplished much.”

Read this article from The Vancouver Sun.

“In the two earlier posts in this series, we talked about the need for innovation, the importance of imitation to help develop early artistic successes, and the differences between imitation and plagiarism. Now, we’ve come to the real meat of this topic: How do you build innovation into your creative process? What can you do to put your artistic voice into a project?

For this post, I’ve collected a list of techniques that I use in my own design process. If you’re a new artist, these suggestions should provide a solid foundation for exploring your sense of creativity. For everyone else, I hope you’ll find these methods a perfect complement to your existing processes and add them to your private bag of tricks.”

Read this article from Grim Visions.

“Louise Nevelson is quoted in “Awe Manac” by Jill Bodonsky as saying “If you have creative work, you don’t have age or time.”

I have to agree with that statement. Many days when I am writing I lose track of time. Time seems to melt away when I am involved in a creative activity.”

Read this article from Albert Lea Tribune.

“Should we wait for the apple to fall on our heads?” The opening line by Shiva Subramaniam of Tata Consultancy Service and Founder, The Paper Clip, at the CRN creativity workshop, set the ball rolling for an engaging session on structured creativity.

Held at Interop Mumbai today, the session saw an expert in Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Subramanian focus on innovation, creativity, Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking and cross-cultural skills.

“It’s time we have Chief Creativity Officers,” Subramanian insisted. According to him, for the IT industry to truly prosper there needs to be a conscious effort towards formalizing creativity. “Creativity should be a compel, a mandate.”

Read this article from CRN.

“”Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”"

Why did Apple’s ad resonate so well with you? After all, how much time do we spend disagreeing. Admit how happy it can make you when your manager praises you for executing well on an assignment. I know I feel it. No “think different”. More like “think excellence”.

But that Apple ad. It was damn good, wasn’t it? Seemed to reach inside us to something else beside the praise we get for doing an assigned job well. It was celebrating some thing in each of us.”

Read this article from Cloud Ave.

“But why is it that whenever we, as people who wish to be creative, wish to be inspired, we always look to things around us? You always see poignant scenes of artists searching for inspiriting muses, of photographers waiting for perfect moments in time, of writers chasing for new topics and ideas. We constantly look around at our surrounding hoping to find someone or something that will spark new sparks of creativity and allow us to create monumental pieces of work. But why is it that when we want to be creative, we always look to things around us? And never INSIDE of us?”

Read this article from Fuel Your Creativity.

“A major factor causing procrastination is lack of creativity. This find its roots deep in a freelancer’s own life, and specifically in the freelancer’s head. I have discussed the twelve bitches of life which cause me to lack inspiration from time to time. These are the dirty dozen who should be avoided at all times!”

Read this article from FreeLance Shack.

“No sooner had I posted yesterday’s version of this exercise, than James Sherrett of AdHack sent me Google’s presentation from Advertising Week. While much of it doesn’t fit the true definition of social (community, conversation, sharing) it offers some great examples of what you can do with the many platforms, APIs and technology available to us all.

It’s also evidence that in the world of advertising and marketing you better make sure you have plenty of developers in the midst of your “creative” department. And always be thinking in terms of participation, not messaging. The story isn’t the story you tell, it’s the one you inspire. Here are some favorites.”

Read this article from Edward Boches.

“Most of us know what a creative idea was in the days before social media. The TV spot epitomized it: a clever message that got your attention, etched itself into your memory (at least temporarily), and maybe got you to take action. But it was a one-way message, controlled by the sender, void of any role for the viewer.”

Read this article from Edward Boches.