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Creativity FAQ
Subject: Creativity FAQ
This message was originally addressed to Leo Elliott [76440.1416@COMPUSERVE.COM]
and a carbon copy was sent to you.
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This message was from Rousseau Paul to JIM MCNELLY
and was forwarded to you by JIM MCNELLY
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Dear creative colleague
Following are the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
suggested by you, i.e those who voted for the newsgroup misc.creativity.
As you can see the task before us is huge, not to mention
the difficulty we will have in agreeing to the "correct
answer" for each of the questions.
A Proposal
First, thanks to all of you who submitted questions. I did
some editing since there were many repeat questions, and this
may explain why your particular questions may not appear here.
I doubt if the over 300 people who are receiving this post will
be have the time or be interested in working on answering these
questions.
So, what I want you to do is to decide if you want
to continue to develop the FAQ.
IF YOU WANT to join the misc.creativity "FAQ Team", send me
a note to that effect, (with subject line Creativity FAQ Team)
You will then receive further instructions.
If you do not, ignore this and I will not correspond with you any
longer concerning this matter. Nothing personal, I will just drop you
from my group alias. If you want to get back to me later, drop me a
note).
To help you decide, here is my plan for developing the
FAQ.
1. A limited number of related questions are sent out to the
FAQ Team (probably beginning with the ones under resources) and
team members develop the answers.
2. Answers are sent back to me. I collate them, leaving conflicting
viewpoints intact, check for spelling and post the FAQ, version 1, to
misc.creativity newsgroup.
3. Another set of questions are then sent and the process
starts again, ending with the posting of an updated and
expanded version of the FAQ.
4. This continues until the questions end (probably never :-))
So there it is. Please do not feel guilty for not responding.
You don't even have to say no, just do nothing, except continue
to read misc.creativity. However, if you want to be part
of the misc.creativity FAQ Team, act quickly so we can get this off the ground
as soon as possible.
BTW, I intend to list the names of the Creativity FAQ Team
on the actual FAQ. Tell me if you do not want to have your
name listed.
***********************************************************************
General
What is Creativity?
How do I know if I am, or could be, creative?
Is creativity a natural trait in humans?
Can people really learn how to be more creative?
Isn't creativity found in a few people, like inventors or artists?
What practical value does creativity have for the average person?
Where do ideas come from?
What's a good diet for increasing my creativity?
How does the environment affect creativity?
What adaptive advantages or disadvantages (in an evolutionary sense)
might creativity have?
Resources
What are some Books, Journals, Films, Audio Recordings, Software, Magazines,
and on-line Resources (lists, newsgroups, e-magazines)
that discuss and promote creativity?
What are the major conferences and annual meetings related
to creativity?
Who (people and organizations) does creativity training and
certification?
What are the main professional groups in the field of creativity?
Mental Health
Is there really a correlation between madness and creativity?
Was Freud right in stating that creativity and neurosis have a lot
in common: both are unable to accept the world as it is.
What is the relationship between creativity and insanity?
Is creativity dangerous to your mental health?
Can my creativity help or hurt me in my day-to-day life?
Consciousness
What do dreams have to do with creativity?
What states of mind are most helpful, i.e. meditative, desperate?
What's the consensus on drugs and creativity? (witness Coleridge,
Huxley and Hemingway)?
What is the relationship between the conscious and unconscious
mind and creativity?
Age
Is it really more difficult to be creative went we get older?
Are children more creative than adults?
Right-Left Brain
What is the interplay between right brain and left brain in the
creative process?
Do I have to learn how to access my right brain to be creative?"
Physiology
What is the source of the tangible "rush" or exhilaration that happens when
you're creating? Is it physical?
Interpersonal
How or why is our creativity sparked by contact with other people's
creativity?
How can managers foster creativity?
In what ways might I make the creative talents of the people around me
socially beneficial?
Techniques and Methods
What can I do to increase my creativity?
What is brainstorming?
What is mindmapping?
What is storyboarding?
What is fishboning?
What is brainwriting?
What are some successful methodologies for improving one's own creativity?
What are some steps/actions that a person or group can take to
"improve their creativity" or creative ability?
What do people need to learn in order to systematically enhance their
individual and collective creative competencies?
What training has been designed to facilitate the development of
enhanced creative competencies?
Which software tools are available to organize ideas, pieces of
knowledge, in a visual oriented inspiring way?
Evaluating Ideas
How do you go about evaluating ideas for execution (once one has
brainstormed a large set of ideas, what good rules are there for narrowing the
focus)?
How can we better manage the balance between new ideas and old realities?
Groups
How do I get a group to generate more and better ideas?
Do groups help or hinder the creative process?
Blocks
What are some of the barriers to creativity?
What are some exercises to overcome a lack of creative thought, e.g..
writer's block?
What are some of the main things which hamper creative thinking or
creative processes in general?
How can one cope with the distractions of daily life that inhibit or
deflect creativity (for example, child care, elderly parents care, dull
job, ill health, etc.)?
History and Research
What did early studies of creativity produce? Who conducted them?
When was the term "creativity" first used and by whom?
What is the relation between creativity and intelligence?"
In laymen's terms, how does the creative part of the mind work?
Selling
What are some ways to demonstrate the practical value of improved
creativity (particularly in the world of business, where decision makers
frown on the idea of "fun and games" without any payoff)?
Invention
What's involved in the invention process: product development,
patents and marketing)
Odds and Ends
Isn't it true that left-handed people are more creative?
Are there any differences between creativity and new ideas
or there are the same?
What are the differences between different and creative?
Jim~ McNelly
ReSourceNet and GardenNet 612-654-8372, 656-0678 v.32bis
jim.mcnelly@granite.mn.org
---
* May 4th - Some men's lives are too noble to be merely successful.
cc: Michael Million [MM24681@UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU]
Byron Belitsos [71055.3435@COMPUSERVE.COM]
Dan Massey [massey@world.std.com]
Lawrence London [LONDON@SUNSITE.UNC.EDU]
Dick Prince [rfprince@netcom.com]
Phil Calabrese [CALABRES@COD.NOSC.MIL]
Pat McNelly [PMCNELLY@LIBERTY.COM]
Subject: NEWS: Organic Cotton: A Growing Future
Date: 10 Jul 92 03:51:38 GMT
[Greenpeace Press Release from Greenbase -- Redistribute Freely]
ORGANIC COTTON: A GROWING FUTURE
Greenpeace Urges Textile Industry's Switch to Clean Production
VISALIA, California, March 10, 1992 (GP) Cotton growers and
the clothing and textile industry must convert to organic cotton
-- not only to eliminate dangerous pesticides, but also to meet
the growing demand of consumers for more environmentally sound
products, Greenpeace says.
On March 11, environmentalists will join farmers,
manufacturers, agricultural scientists and health experts at the
First Transitional Organic Cotton Conference in Visalia, Calif.
With participants drawn from all over the United States, Europe
and Australia, this is the first international conference to
address consumer concerns for cleaner cotton -- and how growers
can meet the challenge.
Greenpeace, an international environmental organization with
offices in 27 countries and more than 5 million members, has made
a commitment to offer only organic cotton in its merchandise as
soon as the market can provide adequate supplies. At the Organic
Cotton Conference, Greenpeace will outline the principles of
clean production and their implications for the textile industry.
"Preservation of the environment and the health of our
communities must be the most important factor in cotton
production -- from seed to shirt," said Lisa J. Bunin, a
Greenpeace Toxics Campaign policy advisor who will address the
conference Wednesday.
"Clean production is non-polluting, it conserves
energy and materials, and it meets the consumer's demand for non-
toxic products. Because of the United States' growing conditions,
scientific expertise and strong environmental market, U.S.
farmers are uniquely positioned to supply a growing worldwide
market for organic cotton."
In the United States, 25 percent of all insecticides are
used on cotton alone, and in many developing countries, over half
of all pesticides used are applied to cotton. Among the dangerous
pesticides widely used is the deadly poison paraquat, which is
sprayed on cotton as a defoliant.
The widespread use of defoliants in California's Central
Valley agricultural region has been linked to health problems,
including respiratory ailments.
Cotton is grown primarily as a fiber, not as a food. But in
fact, cotton seed, which represents about two-thirds of the crop
by weight, is widely used as animal feed and to make cooking
oils. The intensive spraying of pesticides on cotton right up to
the time of harvest raises concerns that the poisons could be
entering food supplies undetected.
Greenpeace is campaigning for a conversion to "ecological
agriculture" -- farming methods that are not only environmentally
sound, but socially just and economically viable. Bunin pointed
out that Greenpeace's "clean production" campaign has already
achieved significant success in the pulp and paper industry,
helping to convince "Time" and "Der Spiegel" magazines to switch
to chlorine-free paper.
"Conversion to chemical-free organic cotton is a major step
forward, but unfortunately it doesn't resolve every environmental
problem facing agriculture," said Bunin. "The real significance
of this Organic Cotton Conference is that it marks the beginning
of a new partnership between farmers, consumers and
environmentalists in the search for lasting solutions to these
issues."