Creating New Realities

No session this week, but will have a film and pizza evening next Wednesday (9th December) and was thinking of showing the film Life of Brain – as I did refer to the film in some of the sessions. Meet at 6pm in B0.01 as usual. Please come along if you can make it.

AdSpark™ uses interactive Metaphorix® animations as a shortcut to consumers’ emotional responses -alongside rational questioning – picking up underlying shifts in brand engagement that would otherwise be missed.

Amazing article on a modern day version of the kings new clothes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/middleeast/04sensors.html?_r=1

A few people have talked with me about the session on Values, so I thought I would share the values I initially came up with for myself – as I called them: My Ten Commandments (i.e. they are for me, and not necessarily for anybody else)

I SHALL: Create, Be free, Be open, Have courage, Be still, Take action, Be gracious, Be strong, Be true to myself, Be at peace

But then when I reflected on the ten values I felt they were all too serious, so I have added two more – Play and Have Fun. I am sure I will change my mind again, but it has been a good exercise for me.

I have just come across this article which talks about a conference that has just taken place, that looked at the potential for Collaborative Innovation Networks.  I havent had chance to read it all yet, but it sounds along the lines of the Wisdom of Crowds topic that we have discussed during the sessions.  Hope you find it of some interest:

http://www.core77.com/blog/news/coins_2009_reflections_on_the_first-ever_conference_on_colaborative_innovation_networks_15086.asp

Following on from the exercises about what you want in life, have a look at de Botton’s philosophies on happiness and it might change your mind:

http://www.alaindebotton.com/

I added a new video link to a Google Talk by Dan Siegel on the Minds, Brain and Mindfulness training and how mindfulness training has a direct affect on the front, middle area of the brain – and the implications on mental health and behaviour. I also added another video link to a Google Talk by Mattieu Ricard on how meditation affects the mind and brain,

I wanted to post this link to John Davitt’s keynote from the WISE KIDS conference I was involved with last year. If you scroll down on the right and click on the John Davitt keynote it’ll load up. There has been quite a bit on education and creativity so far, and although not directly about creativity, this talk does touch on some of this by talking about new web tools and education. I really enjoyed the talk when I saw it, and I think the broader message of becoming active rather than passive is relevant to taking your own personal (well my own anyhow!) creativity forward. I also think the point he makes of making better use of new tools, group working and learning are just as relevant outside education and are important to think about on any project.

Plus his suggestion of checking your positive eBay feedback to give yourself a boost on a rough day has been a great help in times of trouble …

Alex

ive always thought of meditation as my secret weapon, a tool that i would break out in case of an emergency. I learnt it when i was 16 but the time i failed to see the need to do it twice a day as i was taught. instead i used it infrequently, maybe once a week and when i was stressed or couldnt solve a problem.

in my experience it gets rid of all the white noise thats going on in your head, allowing you to free up more brain power for your work. for the past few weeks ive been designing a mechanism and its an area of design i have little experience of. i spent most of a day staring at the piece of paper in front of me, hoping that a flash of inspiration would enable me to sketch out the answer. but it didnt happen. i was too busy thinking about other things and wasnt actively trying to solve the problem at hand. So i meditated and then went back to the same piece of paper, ripped it up and turned it into the exact mechanism i required using split pins to act as the pivot points. its difficult to describe the feeling you get from doing it and im now using it twice a day as recommended and finding that the duration of clarity that you get from doing it is increasing day by day. a huge regret i have is that when i was younger i was too irrational and immature to see the potential in it.

id urge everybody to try it, it will have a massive impact on your life.

I have uploaded an edited version of the audio recording of session 2 (on the 14th October 2009) along with the session 2 slides onto the sessions page.