because he can

why would josh want to put so much effort into this? www.joshmillard.com/2007/10/04/retro-histo-making-an-image-fit-your-histogram/

clearly, because he can. And I for one celebrate it :-)

guerilla art

what a lovely idea that we might create small works of public art that has nothing to do with making money, or listening to the ego.
Keri Smith has written a book (or maybe its more of a guide) on the subject of becoming a guerilla artist. check out www.kerismith.com/funstuff/guerilla.htm
I love the idea of leaving little suprises for random strangers and im particularly drawn to the idea of seed bombs - and that people would wake up in spring to find little clusters of lovely flowers growing on their front lawn :-)

mines more of a twig

I am still laughing out loud.
I should be crying - im getting increasingly angry with the amount of spam that i get in my email these days. I remember listening to a "futurist" only 3 years ago who predicted the death of email which would come about due to 1) people feeling overloaded by CC'd tasks, and 2) the increasing torrent of spam. his solution was to charge people to send email. At the time that seemed an outragous proposal as surely the whole idea of email and internet was the freedom and freeness of it all. Sadly i'm starting to agree with his thinking. I wonder what difference would become of our work day if we were charged say 5 pennies for each email sent?
One thing for sure it would dramatically reduce the amount of spam we'd recieve.

I must recieve currently about 50 spam emails per day (and i know some people recieve many more) any suggestions for spam filters gratefully recieved :-) and what confuses me is just how unimaginative it all is. Can it really be true that the only thing that requires spam attention is rolex watches, stocks, software and penis patches? and as for the sales pitch, im guessing that the copy is being thrown together by some dropout schoolboys who dont have english as their first language. And so ive been getting very bored and frustrated with all this garbage coming into my inbox.... until today!.....
At last some spammer somewhere has got a grasp of the situation and engaged me.
His email contained no more than a hyperlink that said "our site" and the best ever one line sentence that is still making me laugh....
"your penis will make more shadow than a tree"

raising my expectations

I made an email enquiry the other day about something fabulous that i want to buy (well, i got some money for my birthday ;-) and i couldn't find the exact details on the website, so i sent them an email......
and then i waited for their response.... 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour ... what sort of company was this, that didnt respond imeadiately to my email? by the end of the day i still hadnt had a reply from them and had decided that they were clearly a flakey two-bit outfit that obviously werent capable of fulfiling my needs. I really felt quite let down by them

itsnt it interesting how my expectations were so high? was it because i have grown to expect that people sit glued to their laptops and blackberrys or was it because i was so excited about potentially owning something fabulous and i wanted it "NOW"

I had a nice reply from the company the following working day, and they have exactly what im after, so all is cool-in-the-gang again, and i shall order this amazing thing from them.... now lets just look at the delivery date.... "3 DAYS!.. I cant wait THAT long!"

ive been distracted

Im back. I havent made a posting to my blog for nearly 2 months. What does that say about me and my ways? I get easily bored and distracted and i dont break old habits easily.
I could list here all the reasons for not writing, but that would simply sound like i'm trying to excuse myself. There is no excuse, Ive simply been distracted.

The distractions have been very good though :-) i might even draw on some of my new experiences to write about in forthcoming blog entrys :-)

So what have i learnt about myself and blogging during this time?

• Blogging needs time (it might well only need a tiny bit of time, but it nevertheless needs it and it needs it regularly)
• Its very easy to think that you dont have enough time
• when working abroad (or even away from your normal routine) the effort to create blogs is even greater
• Even when simplifying the process by posting entrys by mobile phone txt messages, this is not always as simple as you'd hope. I thinking particulary here about working abroad and in remote places
• Blogging needs to be habitual; a way of life. like trying to do more frequent gym visits, the moment you let your efforts slip, it is all too easy to drift back to your old habits. However...
• Like trying to do more frequent gym visits, you might fail a number of times but you can always start again. and so this is me - recognising that frequent blogging is a tough challenge - starting again

Commenting

It wasn't so long ago that if you wanted to communicate something to another person, you simply had to talk to them. The telephone helped to eliminate the need to be in the same geographical location as that other person. And if talking wasnt an option you could always write a letter.

Mobile phones introduced us to expressions like "text me" and skype created the new verb "to skype", and recently I noted with interest that my youngest teenage daughter was talking about "commenting" her freinds. I enquired further and have learnt that there a whole new world of communicating has evolved.

I thought that when she was on the computer "talking" with freinds that she was using MSN messenger to IM "instant message" (theres another new communication activity), but i now learn that MSN is old hat.... now "we comment each other in MySpace"
MySpace aparently doesnt have an IM feature, so freinds leave comments for each other and converse back and forth from there.

Now, on one hand this seems mad to me. Why dont they use MSN IM if they want to talk? But on the other hand i rather like this idea - it gives people time to reflect on a previous comment and time to think about thier "thoughtful" response.
If only people would take that thinking time in thier real-time conversations, it might just be the case that misunderstandings could be a thing of the past

let the talent free

I thought this was a nice idea - http://www.doodlelong.com/ its the longest continuous doodle in the world! - and you can contribute to it. theres already over 12,000 contributors
I wondered just what might happen to the output? wouldnt it be great if you could unravel it and roll it up into one big ball of doodle - i bet it would be too heavy to carry and certainly too black to see. bet you cant find my contribution

so why do people 1) create these things, and 2) contribute to these things. I guess the answer to both those questions might be "because they can"... and so that makes me wonder why we cant have such enthusiastic and dedicated creators and contributors in our workplace?.. what would happen if we simply allowed people to create something they like for thier work "because they can" and see who joins in "because they can".
There must be so much energy and talent in our workplace that simply doesnt see the light of day while were at work - what a waste

dont do it now

Dont do it now - but have you ever tried clicking on the "next blog" button at the top of a blogger blog?
I used to wonder why they put that click up there - why would anyone want to go to a completely random blog? what on earth would be the point?

Well I did click it - and its opened a new world to me. Not only is it addictive, but its insightful and interesting too. And if we are trying to develop our capability to be more creative,.... and if one way to help that is to gather different experiences and perspectives - then clicking through random blogs is an excellent personal development activity

And so i feel quite comfortable now to spend my working day reading random blogs - "but boss, its good for my personal development - I'll get the strategic plan to when ive finished reading about 'the abstract hand embroidery by Takashi Iwasaki. So free and imaginative!' "

excess living

Ive just come back from the cinema. (if your looking to see a great feel good movie - see 'Hairspray' - i loved it :-) We're regular cinema goers in our family and as such every now and then our loyalty card gives us a "free" something. Todays was a large drink and popcorn. I love popcorn me.

As the vendor gave me my sack of popcorn, she informed me that I could get free unlimited top ups! Free topups? crikey, it was already the size of a sack of potatoes! My imeadiate idea was to go into the cinema theater and announce to the collected audience that the popcorn was on me!... which lead me to wonder how much popcorn could i get to feed the hungry homeless outside the cinema? Now i didnt quite go that far, but it didnt take long to realise that if we pinched some of the paper bags from the pick and mix sweet stand, we could fill individual bags for all our family and go back get a refill and some more bags and give popcorn to our freinds there too. lovely!

Now heres the point of my story..... clearly the popcorn costs next to nothing to the cinema, if they can give it away so freely (so why do they charge so much for it in the first place??) As a result of this, the audience eating it dont value it as much (and dont really need as much as they take) which is clearly evident after the movie is over and the audience has left the auditorium.
I am always slightly disgusted at our species when i see the mess left behind us at the cinema.

Now here REALLY IS my point..... why dont they put bins in cinemas? why are we content to leave / throw our unwanted popcorn (and drinks cartons, sweet papers, nacho boxes etc etc) on the floor or seat? what pigs we are.
So heres a thought.... if I was to invent a nutritious reciepe using popcorn as the main ingredient then it would be in peoples interest to take home their left over popcorn to use in tomorrows dinner!

or maybe the cinema could sell popcorn that would make great garden fertiliser? (hmm might need to think that one through!)

on to something? or on the gravy train?

Is it all simply marketing gobbledegook or is there something in this? http://www.vespanomics.com/index.cfm
Vespa (the moped manufacturer) seem to be onto something here by tapping into the New Yorkers new interest of carbon emissions and all things Gore. VESPANOMICS seems to have all the environmental facts and stats you could ever want, to make you want to buy a Vespa.
But the really interesting thing i think is their investment in providing free parking spaces for vespas.
No longer does Vespa see itself simply as a manufacurer of mopeds, now Vespa is becoming a guardian of the environment..... which im sure they hope will help them sell more Vespas

and i still remember the days when all they had to do to make me drool with aspiration for a Vespa was to have a picture of a cool dude (cigarette essential) propped up against one in the sun while he casually chats up a local Bella in a miniskirt

Now if they can convince our mail service to transport everything in Piaggio Apes - then Im convinced about vespanomics

Applied Creativity / Everyday Creativity

Ask audiences if they are "creative" and in my experience, only about 10 % of people will raise thier hands. Why is this? For some, they think its a little arrogant to think of oneself a "creative" - thats OK I guess, we dont like arrogant people, but i dont see why people cant celebrate their creativity. For the majority of people with their hands still in thier laps, it seems that they REALLY DONT think they are creative.

This must come down to thier personal definition of creativity, and the context within they view their creativity. For sure if you are good freinds with Thomas Heatherwick (designer, among other wonders, of the roll up bridge) http://www.thomasheatherwick.com/ you might find it difficult to consider yourself "creative" like him. But if you think about the way you might get through the day of hassles and niggles - you might start to impress yourself with the way you creatively duck and dive to solve problems and make quick fixes. Your solutions might not get you in the center spreads of the sunday glossys, but there can be no doubt that you are exersicing your everyday creativity as much as Thomas might be.

For me this picture is the very essence of applied everyday creativity - this person had a problem - no hot water to wash his hands in. He didnt moan about it, he did something about it. And this touches on another potential block to our belief that we are not creative.... our belief that solutions must be perfect, that creative people create beautiful solutions.

Lets start the campaign now... "perfection tomorrow - something now"

otherness

Sometimes things are not quite as they seem, and sometimes things are far more than they might seem

I skipped over this photo when i first saw it on http://www.pizdaus.com/ thinking it was just a quirky font style- and then i realised what it was composed of. - look carefully.

Now i dont know if these pictures are genuine or photoshopped, but it did make me think that there must be hundreds of things we see every day, that if only we werent so limited by our "functional fixedness" (our inability to see beyond the original function or purpose) we might be delighted by the wonderful otherness of our surroundings

can you see what it is yet?

can you scribble? sure you can scribble. We ALL can scribble.
All we have to do is put the scribbles in the right places
check out this fabulous display of scribbling



and if you would like to have a go, you might find it interesting to investigate a technique developed by Betty Edwards ( www.seedsofgrowth.com/have-you-tried-turning-it-upside-down )to help us see more clearly what ACTUALLY is, and not what we THINK is.... an absolute fundamental in becoming more creative

SMIRTING

SMIRTING - I think thats what it was called.. apparently its the new flirting opportunity in pubs now that smoking is no longer allowed inside ... Asking if she wants to come out for a ciggi (even if you know she doesnt smoke, its a perfectly plausible way to ... well, quite literally... ask a girl out)

You see, it just goes to prove that out of every change, comes new opportunity if you are quick and alert enough to sieze it

If its not SMIRTING, maybe its FLOKING ?

All talk - No walk?

So for all this thinking about my thinking - am i becoming any more innovative? I am sure that I am becoming more conscious of my internal voice (or is it whittering?) asking me

"why do they do this?..."

or "how do they do that?..."

Often its "Wow, thats great, I wish i could...."

or simply "thats interesting"

Certainly i am becoming more in tune with my thinking (hmm thats an interesting expression as if "I" and "my thinking" are 2 seperate entities, 2 seperate beings?? Spooky. which one is control? and which is the real me?) but for all that... is this improving my creativity or innovation behaviour?

Ive just been chatting with a friend who was interested in my new office. I was explaining the construction and the trials and tribulations over the past few months, when he commented on my desk - its just a work space that i threw together from some scrap materials as i was running out of time and money, and needed to get into the office and get working - his comments made me stop and look afresh at my creation.

Hes right, its pretty cool. Its made of some left over office timber and a redundant robin reliant windscreen. it cost me less than 2 pints of beer and took less time to create than the return trip to Ikea. However in the rush of getting it done and the gabble of conversation going on in my head, i kind of missed the fact that innovation and creativity is manefesting itself all around me

As great as it is to get focused on thinking about your thinking, it might be useful sometimes for that thinking to just "SHADUP!" so that we can sit back in peace and recognise some of our creative outputs

Assumptions and presumptions of the Old World

I remember the time when to renew your passport, you had to get your passport photograph verified as a true likeness of yourself by a respected and trustworthy member of the community; A policeman perhaps or a teacher or doctor.
What a jolt then to our deeply embeded assumptions that a terrorist attack could be lead by a bunch of doctors - as appears the case in the recent Glasgow airport incident.
In this new world, no longer can we simply assume that some people are to be trusted and some not. Maybe this is why Harold Shipman could carry out such a long campaign of horror - maybe no one could accept that a doctor could be capable of carrying out such acts of murder - it simply does not compute in our assumption-lead heads
So if the assumption that a doctor is a person of respect and trustworthyness no longer holds true, what creative opportunity now opens up for some creative thinking individuals?

There is nothing like trying new things and setting yourself a challenge to keep your creative juices on the boil. These new perspectives on the world are the very source of bright new ideas. I wonder how my employer is going to benefit from a bright new idea inspired by my latest new insights????

when does an idea come to being?

I was working with a lady the other day who was great fun and we enjoyed creating some interesting work together. We bounced ideas between us and seemed quite productive.
Later in the day she made a comment that made me think. she said "we make quite a good team, you and I. I come up with the ideas and you develop them"
This suprised me somewhat because I didnt think that she was coming up with "ideas" and nor was i "developing" them. The way I saw the situation was that she was talking about odd things, and I kept finding interesting connections and ideas. She stimulated my thoughts, but i didnt think that she was creating ideas. Interesting!

So if A metions something funny, and B says "Hey! that makes me think of.." is A the ideator and B the developer? or is B the ideator stimulated by a comment of A?

I guess at the end of the day - who cares?! as long as an idea breathed some life for a moment..... but what if B went on to make a million from the idea? Does A have a claim?

a matter of economics

Ive just had to fit a bracket to something; and to do the job well i needed a couple of spacers. After failing to find anything suitable in my garage, my first thought was to dash off down to B&Q and buy a couple of big washers.

.... but then I stopped and thought.....

As much as i love to go to B&Q, it is very expensive.... those 2 washers were bound to be close to a couple of quid, and then there is the petrol cost of getting there. And I was short of time too. I thought about how easily i would accept spending a couple of quid to get me out of a fix.... and then it struck me, a couple of pound coins would do the trick beautifully! and so 2 fat ones were drilled!

Now i know that defacing the queens coinage is against the law... but i figured so was the speed that i was going to have to drive at to get to B&Q in time.... and this way meant no one gets hurt and i save the cost of petrol

You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties

Ive been doing it for years.... and now someone has launched a product and called it "innovative"
http://www.springwise.com/style_design/white_goods_morph_into_whitebo/index.php

fridges make great drywipe communication spaces - and its right there, right now - where all the juicy conversation and debate happens - in the kitchen!
bigger and better than that is the patio windows - great planes of writing space - there simply is no excuse not to scribble out ideas with each other.
And for those ideas on the go, i love to use the windscreen in my car!

a quick word of warning - check that your existing fridge and other whitegoods are drywipe pen compatible - some powder coatings are porus and drywipe pens become permanent! so you'd better make sure its a damn good idea that you scribble up