Notes from Creativity class Friday February 21

Late Starters: What to do for the Creativity course(s):

A. What to do to catch up:

• Essay 1 (and Quiz 1 if you are taking AGS 3340)
• First three postings (Introduce yourself, What about creativity is interesting, creative people we know.)
• Turn online grade reports ON by filling out Online Course Information Form and changing GradeReports to Yes.

Late Starters especially, but a reminder for everyone:

B. What to do every week to keep up:

• Weekly report
• Reading
• Postings (33 during semester for ISP 5660 + 15 more if you are also taking AGS 3340)
• Check email
• Check Online Grade Report

Difference between flow and creativity

• Flow – internal state, no external creative product
• Little c creativity – smaller, scale, affect people around you
• Big C – affects the whole culture

Creativity is not equally spread over time and space

• Ancient Greece
• Africa and Middle East during Middle Ages
• France (artists) during middle of 20 th century

So - creativity involves more than the individual

Creativity – relationship between

• The creative person
• The field (other people doing same kind of work)
• The domain (the area of work, such as Physics, Art or Business

The field introduces the creative person to domain (teachers, fellow artists, museum guides, etc.), gives him/her the reputation for being creative – there could be a conspiracy to unfairly lock the creative person out, but such a conspiracy is difficult to keep going, difficult to keep everyone in line, since the field doesn’t even all know each other, and they have very different interest. Also, the field knows very well that if they do not bring in the most talented people, that those people can very well create a rival group, and then the first field loses its prestige. So the field, even if it wants to keep power, understands that it must bring in the most talented people, or risk losing everything. Can the field form a conspiracy? It has happened, but never for very long, unless the creative person just walks away from the field. But how can someone change the field, without working with the people in the field?

In Corporate Creativity, business has an advantage over other forms of creativity, and that is to recognize an innovation and bring in resources such as budget, experts and staff. Usually, the creative person has to do all of this spade work themselves, but Business want to do things faster, because innovation often means profits.