Big ideas or smart ideas?

The idea generation phase of ideation reflects the volume and velocity of ideas whereas the idea development and communication phases reflect the veracity and value of ideas, or the quality and usefulness of the ideas generated. How to deal with great volumes of ideas generated at highs speed, as is typically of, say, a "idea brainstorming" session, can be a challenge both in terms of capturing and managing the ideas as well as appreciating the quality of the ideas. In this sense, lots of ideas generated at speed may be counted as big data (volume and velocity) whereas the quality of ideas (veracity and value) would be the equivalent of smart data. Ideation then deals with "big data" in the generation phase, and "smart data" in the development and communication phases. Now, in the digital age, when so many ideas are generated and spread quickly, and notably on the web, having lots of ideas is not enough. But how then sort out which ideas are, in information terms, merely "noise" and which are of real value in helping to find design solutions? In other words, how to turn lots of ideas (big ideas) into valuable ideas (smart ideas)? This is where the designer's analytical and creative skills and experience come into force, that is, to understand, interpret and contextualise the ideas for their quality and usefulness.