Filed under: arts and creativity, innovation, social media | Tags: innovation, serendipity, social media, steve jobs, wikipedia, wired
photo via wikipedia
In an article for Charlotte Viewpoint about social media in Charlotte, I hinted at a downside of relying solely on one’s networks to mine through an ever-growing plethora of information. We risk being too narrow in our interests and lose the potential to discover something completely new, whether that be a new author, a new product, or a new recipe for dinner.
Though sometimes it’s difficult, I always advocate trying new things just for the sake of it. You never know when you might call that experience to inspire a new idea.
Everyone has their own way to introduce serendipity, but my boyfriend Brian has a painless way to do it at his own desk. When he needs a diversion from a hectic workday, he’ll poke around wikipedia for a few minutes just to see what’s there. They’ll have a featured article that’s different every day, and you never know what it’ll link you out to, and that helps create a bigger pond for you to fish ideas from.
Thought it’s old, I offer this Wired interview with Apple’s megamind Steve Jobs. Towards the end, he describes the value of new experiences in innovation:
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”
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