The Creative Impulse

Guest blog written bij @JohnSchop (follow him on twitter!)

Of course I should never have tweeted that I would write a blog post for anybody, about any subject. Because within minutes, @CreativeImpulse asked me to write something about co-creation. Of course I was too proud to just say I wouldn’t do it, so here I am, writing about ‘co-creation’, something I’ve never thought about before, and a subject I would’ve never come up with myself. But here we go:

To understand what co-creation is about, we should go back to the origins of it. Co-creation has of course been around for years. I’m pretty sure Neanderthals already worked together to a common goal, maybe by pure instinct, learning lessons along the way. There are however examples of co-creation that go ever further back than that. To really get to the essence of co-creation, we should look at the inventors of it, that have perfected the art over millions of years: Ants (arguably you couldal so say ‘bees’, but for the sake of this blog post I will keep to one insect, if you don’t mind)

Ants are a beautiful example of co-creation. One ant can’t get a lot done, they need to work together. How do they do it? A clear common goal. Although the goal of the sub-groups in an ant colony might bedifferent, eventually they are working towards the same goal. One group might be focusing on getting food, another nursing the infants, but everything they do is helping towards their main goal, to keep the colony going.

When people co-create the goal usually is not to keep the group alive, but what we can learn here is that there should be a clear, common goal that everyone is working towards. Division of labor. An ant colony is divided into a bunch of sub-groups. They have workers,soldiers, drones, one or more queens, and there may be more groups,depending on what species of ant you look at. These sub-groups have specific tasks, and do nothing but that task. They might not even know there are other tasks, and they don’t care. This is also how human co-creation should work. At the start of the project, the required labor should be divided into specific tasks, and these tasks should be assigned to someone, or a group of co-workers.

In reality, people will always try to get involved in someone else’s task, or criticize  what the others are doing. This should be kept to a minimum. Do as the ants do! Communication. Ants have means of communication. They communicate with chemical signals, called pheromones. This is not recommended for people, but what we can learn here is that communication is very important when trying to co-create. Use everything you have access to: E-mail, phone, social networking, online docs (the cloud). There are endless possibilities here, but make sure that it is clear from the start which medium is used for what, to avoid issues.Communicationis good, but there needs to be somebody on each end of the line for it to work, so make sure there are clear instructions for communication channels.

Learn. Ants can learn from each other in all kinds of ways, but it is sure that they understand the concept of interactive teaching, like for example the process of tandem running, where knowledgeable ants lead other ants to new discoveries. This concept can almost be carbon copied to use in co-creative processes.

No mercy. Ants are notoriously merciless. If the weaker ants in the colony need to form a dam in a body of water so the workers can get to the other side, it will be done without question. No dear readers, I am not saying you should slaughter the less productive people in your co-creative group, or follow orders like a division of Waffen-SS soldiers. What we can learn from this, is that sometimes it isnecessary to leave people behind that can not keep up with the pace of developments. If you want to be a successful co-creator, sometimes you will have to change the team, get new people involved, and leave behind weaker links. I know this sometimes goes against human nature, but remember how the ants do it. There is a goal, and it will be reached, it does not really matter how.

Keep in mind that a co-creative process should have a ‘Queen’ (yes, this could be a guy as well). The Queen will have to make decisions. Divide the labor, set goals, make rules for communication, and show no mercy.

Voor mijn bedrijf Insperion moet ik een bedrijfsplan schrijven. Het moet, maar het past niet binnen mijn 'out-of'-the-box' ideeën in mijn werk.

Een Bedrijfsplan heeft een vast format en al kun je spelen met hoe je de inhoud verwoordt, je moet toch aan alle eisen van dit plan voldoen. Ik wil dit dus vanaf de basis anders doen.

Via Twitter wil ik mijn bedrijfsplan vorm gaan geven en ik heb hierbij de hulp van mijn volgers en hun volgers volgers nodig.

Heb jij tips, mooie uitspraken, bijzondere werkwijzen en/of creatieve manieren die een strak corporate stuk tekst laten sprankelen, stralen en vooral boven de massa uitspringen, doe dan mee.

• Insperion is een bedrijf dat vooral bezig is met gedachtenvormgeving. Van idee naar concept, van concept naar product. 
• Insperion vindt voor jou de kern van jouw idee.
• Insperion maakt jouw idee compleet.
  
• Insperion gaat van droom naar creatie.
• Insperion verzorgt taalworkshops (corporate, creatief, literair, journalistiek) en innovatieworkshops
• Insperion ontwikkelt (concept)spellen (3D en hardcopy) voor bedrijven en onderwijs.
  

Help jij mee om Insperion op de Co-creatieKaart te zetten? Meld je dan aan via het contactformulier op deze site om inzage te krijgen in het googledoc wat ik speciaal hiervoor heb geopend en twitter mee via @CreativeImpulse met de hashtag #CCBP (co-creatie businessplan)

Al mijn lessen, of het nu gaat over schrijven, literatuur, Engels, innovatie of welk onderwerp dan ook, staan altijd in het teken van beleven. De opdrachten die ik bedenk hebben altijd de insteek studenten leerstof te laten ervaren. Niet de informatie er inpompen, maar ze het laten opzuigen. Ik ben dus altijd op zoek naar nieuwe rietjes. Grote glazen, sponzen, teiltjes, onderdompelmanieren.

Enige tijd geleden werd ik actief op Twitter. Ik kreeg volgers, ik volgde zelf mensen, maar ik miste de connectie, het samengevoel. De Twittertaalbeleving hield me toch online. Het spelen met 140 karakters samen met de vele persoonlijke karakters van mijn volgers en gevolgden zorgde dat het toch interessant bleef. Maar ik wilde meer, ik wilde beleven, verbinden, creëren. Samen!

Ik wilde de twee combineren, een onderdompelmanier vinden om Twitter voor mij nog leuker te maken. Ik kan erg genieten van het zien samenwerken van mensen, reageren op elkaar, samen iets nieuws bedenken, samen heel veel lol beleven. Met mijn lessen in mijn achterhoofd bedacht ik #Twidioom. Een taalspelletje dat niet alleen woorden combineert, maar ook mensen met elkaar verbindt. Althans, dat was de bedoeling.

Soms krijg je waar je om vraagt...

Na begonnen te zijn met #Twidioom kreeg ik meteen redelijk wat respons. Ik had nog niet zo heel veel volgers, maar mijn goede vriend Hans had er ook een paar en samen bedachten we de opgaven en kozen we de winnaars uit. Dit hielden we een tijdje vol, we probeerden een paar verschillende vormen uit, maar het originele idee bleek toch het sterkste. #Twidioom was geboren.

Na een geboorte is alles spannend, volgers kwamen op kraamvisite, lieten cadeautjes achter in de vorm van nieuwe associaties en na een week kwamen ze weer even kijken of het kindje al kon lopen. Ieder cadeautje hield ik netjes bij op een lijstje. De ene week kregen we er twintig, een andere week 40 en richting zomer had iedereen door dat het kind even wat rust nodig had.

Voor een korte tijd stopte #Twidioom, vakantie, werk en alle plichtplegingen genaamd 'leven' hadden even voorrang. Na de vakantie kwam de visite weer op gang. Mama Jolanda mag #twidioom buiten komen spelen, we willen graag afspreken!

Dus #twidioom werd wakker gemaakt, afgestoft, zijn beste kleding aangedaan en er werd een nieuwe start gemaakt. Hij kon nu lopen en zelfs hinkelen.

Steeds meer mensen kwamen vragen of hij buiten kwam spelen en woensdag werd #Twidioomdag. Mensen die mij op dinsdag al vroegen wat de opdracht voor morgen zou zijn, mensen die ongeduldig twitterden dat het bijna 21.00 uur was en dat #Twidioom zou gaan beginnen. De lijst met cadeautjes was niet langer bij te houden. Van de veertig in het begin, gingen er nu gemakkelijk 400 in de speeldoos.

Maar daar stopte het niet. Waar ik dacht, dit is een hype, morgen gaan ze weer allemaal rolschaatsen, werden de woensdagavonden alleen maar drukker bezocht en raakten steeds meer mensen betrokken. Eén speler vroeg mijn toestemming om een versie te maken op zijn website, ik was heel erg trots op de ontwikkelingen van mijn kindje! Maar daar bleef het niet bij, ik kreeg allerlei tips om #Twidioom te laten groeien/ontwikkelen. Er werd een website geclaimd en aan mij gegeven. Er werd nog een website geclaimd en aan mij gegeven. Er werd een programmaatje ontwikkeld om alle cadeautjes toch in de speeldoos te krijgen, om iedereen van elkaars inzendingen te laten genieten.

Tijdens een van de woensdagavonden zaten een paar deelnemers in vergadering. Zelfs daar aan tafel (tijdens het diner) werd er getwidioomd. Iets wat bij mij al een zaadje plantte om het een keer echt met een grote groep aan tafel te gaan doen. Toen ik daarna ook nog de vraag kreeg van een aantal mensen om eens in een echte tuin te gaan spelen met elkaar was ik helemaal om.

#TWMU is nu onderweg geboren te worden. Het kleine broertje van #Twidioom. Het is een heel mooi kindje, we hebben de echo al gezien. Het wordt 19 maart verwacht in de Musketon in Utrecht. Ook deze bijeenkomst kwam tot stand door het samenwerken van een aantal #twidioten. Iemand wist een Theater, weer een ander bood aan te sponsoren... De ideeën vlogen over de virtuele tafel.

Iets wat ooit begon als een klein idee, is uitgegroeid tot een complete familie. De Twidioten. Ze spelen graag met elkaar, helpen elkaar, stimuleren elkaar en genieten van de intensiteit van het spel. Samen!

#Twidioom haalt nu op woensdagen de trending topic lijsten. Het meest besproken onderwerp op één na... ons kind is inmiddels nummer 2 in Nederland. Ik hoop dat het kleine broertje #TWMU net zo succesvol zal zijn als mijn eerste kindje. Touwtje springen met woorden, knikkeren met letters en voetballen met zinnen zullen tijdens het kraamfeest de beleving compleet gaan maken. Samen!

Alle Twidioten enorm bedankt voor dit immense cadeau dat jullie me iedere woensdag geven!

#TWMU wordt georganiseerd op zaterdag 19 maart 2011 van 15:00 tot 18:00 in Utrecht in theater De Musketon. Uiteraard gaat het om het meedoen en niet om de knikkers, maar dankzij een sponsor (Van Duuren Media) worden er toch knikkers beschikbaar gesteld. Je kunt je via het contactformulier inschrijven. Wees er snel bij, het aantal plaatsen is beperkt.

Jolanda Verleg

Do you know the feeling of having words in your head but you are not able to voice them? Words balancing on your front lobe, bumping against your skull, bouncing away without any aim whatsoever. I can tell you, it is bloody annoying to say the least.

It is odd, feeling that if I tilt my head a bit too far, the words would fall out of my ears and leave a trail of letters behind me as I walk the streets. My thoughts, scattered about, like Little Thumbkins breadcrumbs, would be blown away by the wind, or eaten by birds. I wonder if they would stick enough to help me discover my way back. And by finding them, I hope I am able to put them back together to a meaningful tale.

I doubted very much I would achieve this task, mostly because I had no clue about the words that were already in my head to begin with. How would I be able to put them back together again? So I kept my head straight, keeping the words in. I didn’t want to lose out on what I hadn’t found yet.

Totally tight assed I kept going about my daily routine, trying to tighten my mind as much as my posture. Besides it causing me a colorful headache, it also didn’t release my thoughts. I had to let go, so I went looking for some Tupperware. A nice translucent container could capture my words as I would tilt my head (or sneeze a bit too hard). My words would not get sprinkled about like marbles on shiny tiles, but would be nicely wrapped up inside my little box. Easy to access, easy to keep track of.

Relaxing my muscles, caused my neck to bend, my head to tilt and my words to tumble out. All caught in obscure plastic. A huge smile came to my face, I had succeeded in not losing my thoughts, but captured them in my little box. Though pebble porridge is not simply read. Nicely contained, yes, inviting, no. I had incarcerated my words and still had no clue what I wanted to say. All was stacked up and not even neatly, the translucent box was showing some, but most was blurred.

Frustrated I put down my Tupperware on the table a bit too hard and saw my marbles flying through the sky and then jumping around on the floor. I caught a ‘listen’ and I caught a ‘touch’, then I caught ‘the’ after which I was able to pluck ‘self’ from the floor. Words, visible in my hands and many rolling on the floor. (probably laughing)

After all the bouncing energy settled down, I saw my words. Some in my hand, a few underneath my table, some rolled up against my fridge and a few escaped towards the hallway door. I could read them, crawling on my knees, not having a clue in which order I should be doing it. But the more I read, the more I could assemble, relate, combine and eventually unite.

Losing my marbles was the way to go. Being tight assed and scared only kept my ideas inside. The way to conquer your own thoughts is by letting them out randomly at first. Let them flow, let them bounce, let them scatter. Create your own puzzle and keep away from containing boxes. Change your perspective when you look at things, you will see and understand more. After spreading, you might not find the set path, but many many new ones.

As anyone with any writing skills, or at least the knowledge of how to use the alphabet in no specific order, I am about to write something regarding the new year. Of course I like to follow the pack by doing this, but also I would like to stand out in this, though I am not sure how to do that yet. But wisdom will come to me during writing I am sure.

Wisdom came to me this year too, it knocked on my door quite loudly in January. It came through me you can safely say as my heart got a jolt of just that right after new year. My doc told me to lower my stress levels, which was easier said than done. But my body told me he was right and I decided to listen. I have listened all year long and I am still listening. For the first time I felt I had gained something over myself and new possibilities arose.

After my scare in January I lost a very dear friend of mine in March, suddenly his life stopped as mine had just been rebooted. Life can be odd, more strange than Alice could imagine after falling down the rabbit hole. My Wonderland started even more clearly after my friend passed, a bigger trigger to start to enjoy life is not possible. All I knew in life got into a changing mode, work, social life, health and last but not least, my view on myself. I am worth it L’oreal would say.

2010 brought me more than I could wish for and it has opened many doors towards 2011. New health, new projects, new friends, the confirmation that infact I am a Jill of all trades, that I am bright in the dark when I want to be, that I am a connector, a thoughts visualizer  and that I am bloody worth it! A game I started is the proof of the pudding,  a co-creating game that has touched many people on Twitter (#Twidioom) and brings a huge smile to my face every day after seeing the effort people put in. How it connects people and how it creates new lines of communication.

This post might not contain all the wisdom of all the other new year posts on the net, but for me it mirrors my feelings and hopes for next year. I wish you all a wonderful 2011 and I hope you will all find your own mirror to reflect upon and enjoy the view you are given. Don't be scared to see your own Wonderland.

Jolanda

A special thanks to my very dear friend Hans for always being there to hold up the mirror and replacing it after I broke it...

Serious Request van 3FM zet zich dit jaar in voor de aidswezen.

Ook ik wil daar graag aan bijdragen en heb me daarom aangesloten bij het initiatief van Jan Willem Alphenaar bij Seats2Meet in het Eindhovense Klokgebouw op StrijpS.

Mijn bijdrage zal bestaan uit het geven van een workshop creatief schrijven. Serious Poetry genaamd.Het schrijven van een gedicht dat op een bijzondere manier tot stand komt.

Laat je uitdagen door de woorden en laat je inspireren door het goede doel. Doe mee!

23 December om 14.30, Klokgebouw StrijpS S2M

Via deze link kun je inschrijven.

When someone passes away, you feel the world should stop turning and you are very amazed that all just keeps going. The busses keep their schedule, the trains are still late, people are walking their dogs, the sun shines, kids fight over who gets to play on the Wii and neighbours still play just that kind of music you never liked way too loud .

When someone passes away and they were living in another country, it's even more surreal. You cannot go over there to see him or say a personal goodbye. You cannot touch the person that touched your soul. You will have to close your eyes and travel in your mind to say farewell. But how do you find the words to do that? Are there words suited enough to express your feelings, are there words suited enough to express your loss?

Are there answers for the questions a death raises? Are they to be found in church, a synagoge or a temple, or are they only to be found in the memories you build with the one that passed away? Personally I think that the latter is the one to go for. Believes can help you cope, but only your memories can keep the deceased alive and in your heart.

Meeting a person will always change you. You will always be touched by the one you met. Even if it's only a small change in your life, it will affect you always. In the past two months I have experienced two losses, losses of people that didn't affect me only a little bit, but both made a huge impact on my life. Both changed my life for the better and their memories will stay with me.

My life changed the moment they passed away, my future will be different than I had planned, but they will remain with me in my memories.

Stephen and Dolf, both will be greatly missed. I will not say goodbye as Stephen really had trouble with that. I will say... see you later...

As a feather touches people,

kissing their,

minds.

Souls and hearts are

filled,

memories made.

Remember them.

Some initiatives are worth mentioning multiple times.

For a long time I have been searching for special business cards. Cards to which I can add a personal touch, cards that I can 'design on the go' and fitting for the one that receives it.

Of course I was clever enough to design my own cards and leave the back blank for any added comments, drawings or just a personal message. But they never seemed to have enough room to put down my creative thoughts. Which are there in abundance.

As of late I came across a designer, Gijs de Werker, and he has designed just those cards I needed. Business cards, but flexible, nicely designed, but still open enough to fill with my own ideas, over and over again. The cards are called USEM and are promoted through the website that you will reach through the link.

There are nine different kinds of USEM cards, you will always find one that suits your creative mind.

Get yourself a box of cards, support this creative idea and with it, express your creative lifestyle.

Gijs is also using Twitter. His accountname is @GijsdeWerker.

(the picture came from his website and is not my creative property)

I know, i have said it over and over, do not buy at IKEA. You will save money on your new furniture, but you will not gain any peace of mind, nor will your car like the fact it will have to drive you back to the store several times for replacement items after buying the stuff you thought you needed.

IKEA lures you in with trendy designs, low prices,bulk goods, all on stock and easy to transport. But it’s all a facade, a gimmick to get you started on Diazepam or Valium by the gallon. IKEA is a smart move of the pharmaceutical industry to get us to buy more tranquilizers. They cooperate with the holiday industry to get us all so worked up over Billy, Besta and Malm that we will book a leisure holiday in one the most expensive *we already saved so much money on the new furniture* resort in existence.

Well, i fell for it yet again. A bed, a cabinet and curtains. After lying in my living room for at least 2 weeks, 19 packages and a mattress finally took their journey up to the third floor. The 3-way rail system *very trendy* is telling me it is very easy to use. So overcome with good spirit I start cutting fabric, gluing aluminum strips to the material and then screwing in headless screws to tighten the lot so it will all stick together whilst hanging. The screws, being headless, allow themselves to be screwed in too far. Instead of fastening the frame it pushes it open to the other side. That is not good! That is not what i had in mind and it doesn’t look appealing either. But, smart as i am, i learn from my mistakes. I screw the screw a lot less tight *pun intended* and all is secured.

Whilst screwing *love that word in this context* i had to add an extra thingy to the upper side of the curtain. A nice plastic grey blob with a hole in it. Of course i follow all instructions and add the ugly bugger as said in the instruction manual. When i have finally finished the six curtains, i am ready to click them onto the very sophisticated rail system. A few clicks and i should be ready to go. I should be, but i am not. Of course not, it’s IKEA. I will have to start over at least 4 times and swallow a lot of curses before i am even able to think i can be done. When i try to close my curtains, the little grey plastic thingy with a hole in it, blocks all movement for all curtains. My IKEA curtains can only be closed, no light allowed in the room. Of course this is for environmental purposes, the curtains will now fade equally and will not have to be replaced that often cos of silly sun bleached stripes. And of course it prevents my new floor from fading, my room to heat upand my windows to open. All and all i would like them to be able to move so i can let the light in, which is carbon neutral smart, cos i wont have to switch on the lights.

I detach all curtains and remove the holed blobs.Reattach the lot again to see that one of the curtains is longer than it’s siblings. Again, it has to come off, detach the lower aluminium lining, cut to the right size and reattach the aluminium lining again. Click it onto the very nice looking rail system and then see that all is straight, the curtains can move but they hang in the wrong order.

Taking them off again, placing all in the right order and then sit to watch the result. Oh, no, i cant sit yet. The KOLON floor protector that has to go UNDER my chair was not in stock. I can’t sit down yet to indulge in my hard work and look at all this beauty hanging in front of my windows.

I will have to wait another few days, until IKEA gets a new KOLON, to sit and see the fruits of my hard labour. A bed and two cabinets are awaiting assembly. At the top of my to do list screams an entry at me: “Call your shrink and take your meds!” followed by ‘Monday IKEA’, ‘TuesdayIKEA’, ‘Wednesday Loony bin’.

Vandaag zijn zes van mijn gedichten gepubliceerd in het tijdschrift (nog echt op papier) Schoon Schip http://schoonschip.skynetblogs.be/post/7862232/schoon-schip-nr-2--2010

Onder het hoofdstukje Poëzie heb ik de gedichten ook op deze site vermeld.

De volgende gedichten zagen het papier:

1. Afspoelen   

2. Een leven   

3. Hendrik   

4. Leunen   

5. Mist   

6. Wij