SXSW Day 4: Saving the world with creativity

| | No Comments

SXSW.jpgBy Rob Meldrum, innovation director, Naked Communications, UK

I applauded Tim Berners-Lee today. You know: the inventor of the World Wide Web. I applauded him not because he was a good speaker (he wasn’t), nor because of the content of his speech (although interesting) but because if it wasn’t for him this connected, collaborative place we now live in would never have existed. He fundamentally changed the world. The whole world! Now, if that’s not worth clapping, I don’t know what is.

<!– /* Font Definitions */@font-face {font-family:"MS 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}@page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} 

But he’s not what I’m going to talk about. The theme of the day for me, the one that’s got me most, is all about creativity. It’s a topic that is present in almost every session – whether it’s big-brained scientists from MIT showing off their new robots, or Pete Cashmore discussing how he manages a lightning-paced tech company full of attention-craving Millennials.

 

Adam Savage (the one with the goatee from Mythbusters) spoke of the disciplines of Art and Science. He suggested that we shouldn’t view these two as opposites – if anything the scientific method is inherently creative. Scientists go through the creative process every single day. Questioning everything. Pushing everything to its limits, and beyond, is a fundamental part of both the creative and scientific processes.

 

Up next was a fantastic talk from Chase Jarvis, CEO of creativeLIVE (among other things). He pointed out that the educational system is fundamentally flawed. “It just does not cultivate creativity” he exacerbated. “Creativity is the thing that solves ALL problems”. And he’s completely right. If we’re not teaching our children how to be creative, how will we solve the world’s problems?

 

sxsw2.jpgHe’s adamant that creativity should be the new literacy. And he’s right. We should be encouraging and teaching our kids how to be creative; this will be the only way we can advance as a human race. He encouraged everyone to be creative. “Do something creative every day. Take a picture. Join a needle class.”

 

Now I’m not going to join a needle class any time soon, but I am off to go and do something creative…