Creativity and Brainstorming Everyone is creative to some degree, but some people seem to have more ability to use their creativity than others. Creativity is most often hampered by previous habits and judgmental thinking. Unfortunately, many of us inhibit our creativity by judging and stifling our own ideas before we can fully express them. We may be afraid of appearing foolish, or we may fear criticism or failure. We may be trying to please someone else, or attempting to come up with some preconceived "right" answer. All these habits block our ability to think creatively. Brainstorming is a technique for generating ideas and promoting creative thinking, based on the idea of suspending judgment and producing as many ideas as possible in a short time. At the beginning of a brainstorming session, you should have in mind the problem or project to be addressed. This subject should be clearly defined and simply stated. If necessary, it can be broken down into subtopics, so that there will be only one focus at a time. During brainstorming, all ideas are welcome, and no judgments should be made. Every idea is written down. Remember that there are no "wrong answers". Quantity is encouraged, because the more ideas you come up with, the more likely you are to find a good one among them. "Wild" ideas are encouraged. "Sparking", or building on ideas as they come up, is encouraged. Let yourself have fun, making playful associations, linking ideas in unusual and imaginative ways. During brainstorming, ideas should not be explained or analyzed. They should not be categorized, labeled, or judged in any way. Prioritizing and editing are performed after the brainstorming session is finished. Brainstorming can be done alone or in a group. In a group, it's good to have a leader or moderator who ensures that everyone participates, that all ideas are recorded, and that the more dominant personalities do not take over. A computer program like The Electric Mind can be an excellent brainstorming partner for many reasons. The program has no prejudices. It has no preconceived notions of "right" answers. It doesn't worry about being criticized. It stays focused by sticking to the material you've given it, and puts your ideas together in ways you might not have thought of on your own. You can work at your own pace -- the computer can keep up with you when you're moving quickly, and it won't get impatient when you slow down. It will faithfully keep a record of everything in the session. When the session is over, the text files you've saved are ready for editing and organizing. Remember that creativity software is only a tool. It doesn't really make you more creative, but it can help you discover your creativity and use it more productively. When used correctly, it can help you break old habits, and find new solutions faster. The human brain is highly skilled at pattern recognition. It will find patterns even where they don't really exist. That is why conspiracy theories are so popular. It's why we can look at the sky and recognize images in the clouds. It's why we love so much to sort and classify things. Our ability to find and create patterns is a wonderful survival skill, and it's also a great aid to creativity. However, at times it can also interfere with creativity, if we find ourselves looking for, and depending on, familiar patterns and categories, rather than spotting new ones. Some people may find it difficult to deal with the ambiguousness or seemingly chaotic quality of the material generated using this kind of program. If that's the case, it may be helpful to work with the more structured activities, such as Wired Words and Switchboard, and to start by generating only small quantities of text at a time. And remember -- don't be afraid to unleash your imagination and have fun with whatever you and the software produce. When the brainstorming is finished, the real work begins! Now you must dig through all your ideas to find the buried gems. Start by eliminating duplicates. Then you can begin to place related ideas in groups and prioritize them. Expand and clarify ideas that need more detail. Decide what should be eliminated. Clean up the grammar. Make changes. See what you can use. You may find it useful to refine some of these ideas further by using them as the topics of additional brainstorming sessions. If you've been working alone, now may be the time to consult with others who can help you develop your ideas in greater depth. Or it may be time to do some outside research and information gathering, finding practical ways to implement your new ideas.

Links Charles Cave's Creativity Home Page is a very interesting site with a great deal of original material as well as links to other sites. The First Electronic Church of America celebrates inventors and innovators as its saints. Moyra is an artist whose online musings provide some insight into the mind of a creative person. Think on purpose with Thunderbolt Thinking. The Psychology of Creativity at Cal State Northridge. Creativity in Young Children < Encouraging Creativity with gifted and talented students Books on Creativity Software