new ways of thinking

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facing the future

New ways of thinking

The structure of the web is designed to allow links to be established in a very flexible way between bits of information (web sites, images, words, books, reports, news etc. etc.) - this has been described as ‘associative thinking’ rather than the more traditional linear or sequential type of thinking.

When we search for something, anything containing that word has the potential to be ‘found'. It is a computational process, not one which is controlled by editors as in traditional print media, or organised by librarians in a book filing system.
For instance ‘yellow' might lead not just to shades of yellow, but to a wide variety of results - from a car, to a leaf, a song, objects, textures and patterns, Yellowstone Park, The Simpsons, interesting yellow things made by people you have never met or heard of. In fact the process is even more unusual in that the items at the top of the list will be those that have the most ‘hits’, or even those the computer thinks you might be interested in based on your search history. So if a yellow helmet was in the news for some reason (a celebrity wore one, or a failure to save a life in a massive car crash) then that can suddenly be at the top of the list. You can direct the content by adding a few key words such as: yellow news, yellow hazard, yellow party, yellow egg or yellow animal… and you get different content if you select ‘images’, ‘shopping’ or just all general webpages.

In the past if you wanted a picture of a leopards spots or butterfly wings you might be lucky and have one or two images in an encyclopaedia, or some in your children books. If not you would have to go to a library or a bookshop to find an image.
Now you can access thousands on the internet - the sheer volume of images available at a touch of the button is amazing, and has the potential for ideas to develop much more easily, and in widely different directions.

We also talk about items that have gone 'viral' - individuals sending info to their friends and then on to friends of friends, and this goes on and on. It could be crazy stuff, cute stuff, political protest, or just a particularly lovely seasonal photo.

Training to think and see differently
This new kind of ‘associative thinking’ has long been a method used by creative people as a means of generating ideas and problem solving. Making use of serendipity (accidental discoveries or thoughts), thinking ‘outside the box’, or ‘lateral thinking’ as Edward de Bono termed it in the 1960’s.
who is this? > Edward de Bono

Art and design students learn how to look as part of the creative process - seeking interesting combinations, different views of an object, exploring what happens if colour backgrounds are changed, if things are grouped together, turned upside down etc. A form of visual play and exploration, all done to develop an enquiring mind open to novel ideas and finding new ways of expressing them.

These are methods for thinking used by many different professions where ideas play and important role - in science, mathematics, literature, design, management etc.

Steven Johnson, in his book ‘Where Good Ideas Come From’ (publ. 2010) writes in great depth about the nature and value of serendipity. The power of random, accidental connections in the development of ideas:
“Serendipity is built out of happy accidents, to be sure, but what makes them happy is the fact that the discovery you have made is meaningful to you. It completes the hunch [idea], or opens up a door…
Serendipity discoveries often involve exchanges across traditional disciplines. If you visit the serendipity page of wikipedia you are one click away from entries on LSD, Teflon, Parkinson’s disease, Sri Lanka, Isaac Newton, Viagra and about two hundred other topics of comparable data…
No medium in history has ever offered such likely trails of connection and chance in such an intuitive and accessible form.”
resource link > Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From

Instant access via the internet combined with associative thinking and serendipity is the fundamental difference between a few thousand privileged people accessing information and freely interacting, to millions of people doing so.

what do we mean - thinking by making?

• there is special knowledge and understanding to be gained by making things

• childhood plays a vital part in this innovative process

a historical perspective

• evidence from the past

• art and decoration

• observation, trial and error

• origins of maths
• patterns and geometry

facing the future

• living in a digital age

• how can this be creative?

• new ways of thinking