Ideas in context

Experience by itself, like raw data, teaches nothing. Similarly, ideas have little or no meaning apart from their context. But even when the context is known, ideas are no substitute for hard work. Ideas well thought out and communicated, however, may save many hours of hard work. Indeed, robust ideation may help foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.

Lost in translation?

The linguist Guy Deutscher argues that our mother tongue does affect how we think and, just as important, how we perceive the world. Now if language affects thought it would impact ideation too because language is the main mode of human communication. But what happens to ideas generated in non-English mother tongues when communicated in English? Assuming that ideas, or first thoughts, take colour and cultural value from the mother tongue, might ideation get lost in translation?

Ideation as learning

When we ideate we learn too. And when ideas are concrete rather than abstract, for example, when we generate ideas through hands-on engagement with modelling or drawing material, ideation becomes experiential learning. That is, learning from experience or discovery rather than taught or rote learning. Experiential learning is manifested in ideation workshops where conceptual skills are developed and improved on. http://www.ideation-workshop.blogspot.com/

Sleep on it

So you've got a few ideas for a given situation. But which one to choose?

Psychologists from the University of Amsterdam devised a series of experiments to test a theory on "deliberation without attention" and found that once you have the information, you have to decide, and this is best done with conscious thought for simple decisions, but left to unconscious thought - to "sleep on it" - when the decision is complex.

Moreover, and according to the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, lack of sleep affects areas of the brain that respond to novelty. That is, without sleep we are unable to take on new information, think innovatively or respond intelligently to changing circumstances (while we sleep we process information too).

Furthermore, research at the University of British Columbia found that too much reflection could be detrimental in some decsion-making situations. To decide which idea, then, suggests we engage in (conscious) reflection but don't make a major decision without sleeping on it.

Ideation worlds

Ideation tools include digital applications. The advent of interactive graphical systems raises possibilities for new forms of collaboration of designers and computers in the creative process where computer programming supports the creation of dynamic, real-time, story models. The experience of ideation as storytelling, then, could be enhanced through interactive simulations of computer-generated story worlds.

Zero tolerance?

In our enthusiasm for all that is new, unusual, and avant-garde, we might be less concerned with objective viewpoints and explanations, and more concerned with "self-expression" and the need to be creative and unique. But how realisable are our ideas if we gloss over the more realistic points, details, flaws in circumstances and of people? Yet for our ideas to be spontaneous and direct - "blue sky thinking" - how much constraint should we tolerate? Is ideation then about egos and instant gratification - wow! - or the first step towards bold yet sustainable change - Aha?

Ideas (c)

OK, so you've got a brilliant idea. Should you protect it? Well, if your idea is worth copying it might be worth protecting it under Intellectual Property rights, IP. But it depends on a number of factors including the nature of your idea. For example, is it artistic, say, a conceptual sketch, or a three-dimensional object such as a chair? One basic form of protection is to use a confidentiality agreeement before you disclose your idea to others. Or if defending your IP rights prove too difficult or expensive, say court action, you can try "naming & shaming" those who infringe your IP rights. If you write a contract, try to retain all intellectual property rights and let the client only receive a licence to use what you have created. But above all, your idea must be clearly expressed, not just reside in your head, and you have to prove ownership of it. For IP legislation see http://www.ipo.gov.uk/