Ideation and text mining

Of the four main categories of ideation tools, viz. words, sketches, models and computing, words, spoken and written are often overlooked or underestimated as an ideation tool despite the fact that language is the main means of human communication. Therefore it should be no surprise that words play a key role in generating, developing and communicating ideas. But the word choice is also important, as shown by analysing texts in a large number of ideas across different domains (text mining). In identifying common patterns in ideas that were considered creative, researchers found that if the idea was too familiar the text mining software offered words that made it more novel. Conversely, if the idea was too novel, the algorithm offered words that made the idea more familiar. In other words, it was found that what makes an idea creative, as judged by both consumers and business executives is a mix of words that includes a balance between words that commonly appear together (familiar combinations) and words that do not (novel combinations). This suggests that using text mining software may help ideators improve their ideas.  * https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109134131.htm