Most things grow best in particular kinds of places. Crocus bulbs don’t flourish in Dixie rivers–baby crocs don’t enjoy cold Yankee gardens.
Creativity? Well, the answers aren’t so clear….
The exhibit “Cultures of Creativity” at Stockholm’s Nobel Museum features films on a bunch of environments where Nobel laureates and other creators flourished–Paris cafés in the 1920s–the colleges of Cambridge–Berkeley–Basel–Budapest….
The funny thing is how much every one of these places reminds you of blogging:
- “Informal meeting places for spontaneous, unplanned discussions”–a nice description of blogging, don’t you think?
- Enough colleagues to inspire you, but a world small enough that your own efforts can be heard.
- Real feedback, including real criticism, helps even newbies steer clear of obvious bullshit.
- Time and space to think and re-think your ideas.
So, what am I hoping to get out of BloggerCon? (Aside from the pleasures of actual F2F visits.) Ideas to make our blogging ecosystem even more fruitful–for us and for people who haven’t yet shared the fun.
There’s a handsome book based on the exhibit–Cultures of Creativity: The Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prize,
Ulf Larsson (Editor), ISBN: 0881352888, $29.95 at Amazon.
Here’s an excerpt reprinted in American Scientist:
What allowed Barbara McClintock to see farther and deeper than her colleagues? Again and again, she stated that a researcher must take the time to look, have the patience to “hear what the material has to say to you,” and be open to what is in front of you….Some of McClintock’s fellow researchers felt that research on corn was far too slow. At best, corn can be harvested twice a year, while microorganisms reproduce in just a few minutes. For Barbara McClintock this was an advantage, since it gave her time for the analyses and insights necessary for a deeper understanding of her work.