Writing as cognitive tool

It is amazing how much has changed the technology applied to writing in 150 years, from writing with a goose feather dipped in ink which allowed ideas flowing on paper to typing ideas on a screen.

Technology of writing has not changed too much if we think about it, feathers were used so many years, and then during century XIX fountain pen began to be develop by several inventors who made few changes to the original designs and the ball point pen was issued at 1888.

During century XX most of us learned to use a pencil or a pen and when we had enough things to write down, we changed and began to try with a keyboard, pressing keys, wasting paper when we had a mistake at any part of the page, but not many years later, computers came with screens added to keyboards and now, here we are touching letters on a screen. It seems writing is easier, and there is no doubt taping on a screen and hand writing need different skills.

Typing on a screen made life fun to some persons, for example, it is very obvious when a left-handed child write by hand, because their body needs a particular position, if they can’t find it their writing is a disaster. On the keyboards or touch screens, position does not matter; they are designed to use both hands. 

In case we need to appreciate even more the computer tablets or smart phones, they are fun and attractive to children, it seems they have a kind of magnetic glue specially designed for children hand, maybe that’s the reason parents buy them to give more exposure than never before. In a study conducted in The United States, parents said that having kids give them extra justification to buy devices.

The article entitled the writing on screen shares a historical tour around the development of writing, and remains the value of handwriting as a personal characteristic, because things can be said based on the way we draw every idea, through our personal inspiration using words.

At this particular point, it’s important to highlight, while handwriting requires specific movement to outline each of the letters, which means the motor and visual recognition of every letter, this is not need in so sophisticated way with keyboards, but no matter, we must differentiated every letters and the space to write. Of course, typing only makes recognition of keys but it’s not necessary to pay attention to space into the sheet because applications do it automatically, and some persons actually don’t need to see the keyboard, even we know this can produce the common finger’s error.

 

However writing it’s much more, it’s a process that can be highly specialized, with basic needs like having an idea to share, conceptual thinking, the transfer of knowledge, judgment, critical analysis, sometimes induction, deduction, attention to details, troubleshooting and empathy to mention just a few needs.

We can’t deny devices make our writing easier since there are application to correct spelling (when the word is in the dictionary) and sometimes helps with the syntax, and this add to writing a complete new perspective; furthermore keyboards allow a speed of writing hardly reachable by the hand writing, (except in the case of doctors, whose writing is incomprehensible), and also allow the use either hands, or just a finger, unlike the handwriting.

But no matter if we write with a keyboard, a pen, or a pencil, the most important skill will be to have a clear idea about what to share, because writing is much more than just unites letters. I know most of us started our writing copying letters on a sheet, writing is a deeper cultural tool which needs to develop ideas and write them correctly having on mind a reader. Writing is trying to take attention of a person for a moment and at the end of our ideas leave something to think about.

Writing can be a knife on our neck or an award, persons judge us by the details of our writing; strictly speaking, the modeling of the letters on a surface could be a reflex of the character of a person and talking about learning, depending on how the brain processes the information, words can be a door to our inner world.

Now more than never before, authors require being very careful how they share their knowledge, especially with publication is online, since words can have different meanings at other contexts or cultures, and this determines the impact of a simple phrase.

I can’t avoid saying that technology has changed the way we say things. When we were students, our favorite teacher was who allowed us to write just few pages, and it was even better if he or she added the phrase: what matters are the ideas and not the number of words.

Now we hate Twitter by the restriction that involves, how is it possible to explain to someone the theory of multiple colors in black and white if you only have 140 characters?. 

Facebook?, how can we write a simple idea when there are 3 thousand people saying things at the same time? What I said is pushed to the bottom or pushed high if by any reason my comment opens a door to more than one meaning and begins a debate.

How can our words touch to readers? Or even more: how can we develop a joy for writing and share ideas on others?. I have two ideas around this topic:

            1)    Writing is a cultural tool, beyond the device we use, it’s much more than unite words   

                          2) As a tool, it must become a need, not an obligation.

Writing must be a used as communication tool, from simple task to complex, like a to do list, a text message to ask simple things, a letter to Santa Claus, a short story. Have you tried to say a story with 5 words?; children must learn to write, unless you want to read the complaints of teachers, and no desire to upset anyone, I think children never do it by themselves if we don’t invite them to do it, if writing is not seen as a cultural need, it will see as a school torture.

Let’s stop saying people don’t know to write, let’s find strategies to make them write, and every step counts, from text messages, twitter, facebook, that’s the beginning for a book, let’s stop saying: you don’t know, let’s say: that’s a cool phrase!.

Handwriting and the writing with the keyboard are complementary, following the rule more is better, so it does not reason to drop skills, but combine them. Children feel more attracted to screen than a pencil, that’s why every day there are new apps trying to emulate handwriting on the screen, and, we never know, some can feel pencil is interesting, at the end the device is just a tool.

Instead of saying that someone has bad spelling or that his or her writing is incomprehensible, and that person is not enough intelligent, we should spend a minute and appreciate even one logic sentence, make it fun, open other channels, for example for some few persons like how the ink smells,  some pens are more fun than others. Personally my hands have typed so much than using a pen is painful, but the most important is find a way to open of opportunities and discover a nice reason to share ideas, without forgetting, however, that there are more than one eloquent means of expression, whatever the way you decide, handwriting, typing or taping, are just a mean the goal is not drawing letter, but telling ideas.

I want to thank to the wonderful spanish artist  Antonio Alonso Lopera because his drawings are illustrating this post. He gave us a good example of creativity because he draws with a Pen Bic, sometimes words come in images. You can enjoy his art at his facebook page Antonio A L Arte or enjoy his blog: http://arteaal.blogspot.com/

Alma Dzib Goodin

If you want to know more about my writing, please visit: http://www.almadzib.com

References:

Barragan, MA. (2012) Thinking in the internet age. Aeromexico Clase Premier. 3 (35) 78-80.

Bells, M. (W/D) A brief history of writing instruments. Available at: http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa100197.htm

Casanova  Cardiel, H. (2012) México, con mayor número de analfabetas que hace poco más de 10 años. Boletin UNAM-DGCS-550. Available at: http://www.dgcs.unam.mx/boletin/bdboletin/2012_550.html

Dzib Goodin, A. (2011) Reading, and writing: more than just unite letters. Available at: http://talkingaboutneurocognitionandlearning.blogspot.com/2011/11/reading-and-writing-more-than-just.html

Dzib Goodin, A. (2011) The difficulties with the process of reading and writing. Available at: http://talkingaboutneurocognitionandlearning.blogspot.com/2011/12/difficulties-with-process-of-reading.html

Historic Connection (W/D) The history and development of writing. Available at: http://historicconnections.webs.com/historyofwriting.htm

Martina, E. (2012) The writing on the screen. Available at: http://ivichiesays.WordPress.com/2012/02/11/the-writing-on-the-screen/

Moses, L. (2012) Data points: wired child preescolers have more exposure to electronics than ever. Available at: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/data-points-wired-child-143732

 NHS Choices. (2011) Does typing make learning harder? Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/News/2011/01January/pages/writing-versus-typing-for-learning.aspx

Creativity, when a + b is equal to innovation

 Creativity is related with art generally, so when schools says it has to be included as curricular ingredient, thought runs through activities such as painting, music or theatre. But in the world of business, creativity plays an important role, beyond of the knowledge required for a job, a creative person solves problems, and earns thousands of dollars to the company that hires that genius.

Thinking about business, innovation is the key, the difference between continue to grow in the enterprise vortex or close the door of a company regardless of few years has needed to make it grow up to certain level.

A search between Linkedin comments reveals that human resources departments have this ability as the most desirable among employees. I remember only one of the thousands of comments that I found with a search, and he was a person who was looking for a high-level position and he said that after two hours of interview, the CEO of the company asked him, in a disturbing manner and without nothing to do with the position description: how many are two plus two?, and fast this person replied: whatever you want it to be… and he got incredibly the job with that single answer.

There are various explanations of what creativity is, but basically is the ability to generate ideas or thoughts that arrive at original solutions, and can be applied to all areas of life.

Various concepts associated as wit, talent brainstorming ideas, inventiveness, originality, intuition, inspiration, imagination, serendipity, art, intelligence, flexible, divergent thinking, innovation, problem-solving, capacity for analysis and synthesis, inventive, original thought and ability to change the environment.

Neuroscientists studies point to front cortex as the head of creative ideas, however, most of the researches have been developed linking artistic activities, in a way such that has found that this area processed musical tasks, and visual and verbal creativity (Fuster, 2008; Runco, 2007).

However it should be noted that creativity, beyond art requires flexible thinking and adaptability to the requirements of the tasks, divergent thinking, and problem solving, which is why Damasio (cited in Runco, 2007) explains that the brain hierarchy with regard to this kind of task would be given by the relationship between the macro systems, neural networks and molecular processes, because creativity is the sum of many functional processes, since it must be dotted with motivation, expertise in the subject, knowledge of the field in which ideas, is being developed which involves a representation and diversification of ideas to find one among many that is appropriate, innovative and adequate to resolve the issue in which you wish to innovate.

People usually say that children are particularly creative, and this is the reason that many skills must begin to develop from very young, for example artistic activities and is thus in part because they are not afraid to do or say things or social criticism. Pablo Picasso said that "all children are artists, the problem is that they lose the genius when they grow up" how happens this?.

One explanation is that the pre frontal cortex, takes place during the first years of life, but eventually grows and expands in density and volume as part of the normal development of the adult brain, and has resulted in the adult cognitive quality of control of momentum and attention, but at the same time, inhibits the ability of isolated thoughts, and this does grow self-censorship and due to environmental molding, so the adult learn to stop due to critical social (Fuster, 2002; Lehrer, 2010).

And it is here where begins the social paradox which leads to many people, especially young people to the frustration and others to glory, because even if it’s socially requested, we applaud innovation and generating ideas, but on the other hand, inhibits this feature in schools. This is the reason why Europe,  has tried to integrate creativity as part of academic and cultural policies since some years (Robinson, 1999).

The problem is that culture change at an accelerated pace thanks to the technological revolution where every day there are new applications and ways of interacting and as mentioned by Robinson, (2011) change is never linear, and cannot be predicted that there is around the corner, while the traditional curricula, has not achieved the leap and stop thinking that all students should learn the same rhythm (Dzib Goodin 2011) by what the interaction between creativity and curricula must be if one of the two allows the other to find the squaring of the circle.

Allow flexible thinking implies that there is not only one right answer, but in any case, different approaches to the same problem, without falling into another error of education, which is put in competition for the best, which minimizes the largest part often tolerance to frustration and creates negative emotions (Akinol and Mendes, 2008). Recent research shows that there is a tendency on the part of most creative people to dishonesty, due to the pressure to be the best and find the best options to solve a problem (Gino and Ariely, 2011).

However, creativity must be developed for everyday life, not just art, science, or big business, flexible thinking can be the answer to many situations of daily life, combined with the creativity would allow using various tools (Ionescu, 2011) and not just the most popular ones, or use them more effectively.

And perhaps the question is: what is the best way to teach creativity?, if those words are searched in Google, the answer is at  4 million 600 thousand entries, and gives the impression that there is no doubt that it is possible to teach this gift so valuable for enterprises, however, even though it is not a skill that may only have some elected, it seems that the experts agree that there must be certain conditions as the stimulation of the environment, motivating to resolve challenges, knowledge of a topic, a certain level of knowledge in the area to develop, practice, motivation and let each learn to recognize the moments of illumination (DiChristina, 2008).

The experts also explained that this creative thinking stems, not necessarily listening muses, it arises from the reading, observation, interaction with the world, which causes a slow but deep incubation of ideas, and that when you are in the process, should be avoided in the best possible way the distractions, because they sometimes miss an idea, which can be difficult or sometimes impossible to recover. Been looking for the least amount of sophisticated ideas, to avoid frustration, and learn to listen to criticism, unless it is hit too to the ego, then this will be whoever is winning when arises the idea of one million dollars (Johnson, 2010). And it is worth mentioning that originality is not enough for creativity, because we must also consider the usefulness of the idea as a variable (Runco and Jaeger, 2012).

Is why Pablo Picasso once said that "inspiration exists, but has to find us working", so there is no an easy recipe that produces innovative ideas, moreover, must be considered environments, because while some need solitude and calm to create, others feel inspired listening a brainstorm  of ideas within work teams with multiple points of view and ways of thinking.

But you must consider that the modern world offers advantages of communication without precedent, for example, international work teams meeting virtual conference rooms or in video conferences, with the possibility of sharing of multi-cultural influences and knowledge, which is why the creative possibilities can be multiplied.

At school level, there are areas where creativity and innovation are basic, regardless of the field of education. That's why that school programs not may leave out, but while there is a curricular change, and leave aside the idea that everyone should learn the same, at the same rate and in the same way, creativity is not an input. And many lose the passion and probably the possibility of developing talent (Dzib Goodin, 2011).

Therefore, the invitation is to enable that innovation and creativity are an item and ability in daily life, in all areas of society, to find black square circled of colors  and allow that talent to flourish, because in the end the school work, should be helping the search for talent and younger you find it, it’s best.

 Alma Dzib Goodin

If you would like to know more about my writing you can visit my web site:
http://www.almadzib.com

References:

Akinola, M. and Mendes WB. (2008) The dark side  of creativity: Biological vulnerability and negative emotions lead to greater artistic creativity. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 34 (12) 1677-1686.

DiChristina, M. (2008) Let your creativity soar. Scientific American Mind. 19 (3) 24-31.

Dzib Goodin, A. (2011) The search for talent: the holy grail. Disponible en : http://talkingaboutneurocognitionandlearning.blogspot.com/2011/12/search-for-talent-holy-grail.html.

Fuster, JM. (2008) Prefrontal cortex. Elsevier. Oxford. UK.

Fuster, JM. (2002) Frontal lobe and cognitive development. Journal of Neurocytology. 31.(3-5) 373-385.

Gino, F. and Ariely, D. (2011) The dark side of creativity: Original thinkers can be more dishonest. Harvard Bussiness School. Working papers. Disponible en  red: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6613.html.

Ionescu, T. (2011) Exploring the nature of cognitive flexibility. New Ideas in Psychology. 30 (2) 190-200.

Johnson, S. (2010) Where good ideas come from: The natural history of innovation.  Penguin publisher. USA.

Lehrer, J. (2010) Childish creativity.  Disponible en red: http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2010/03/childish_creativity.php.

Robinson, K. (1999) Culture, creativity and the young: developing public policy. Council of Europe Publishing. Belgium.

Robinson, K. (2011) Out of our minds. Courier Westford. Westford, MA. USA.

Runco, M. (2007) Creativity theories and Themes: research, development and practice. Elsevier Academic Press. USA.

Runco, M. and Jaeger, GJ. (2012) The standard definition of creativity. Creativity Research Journal. 24 (1) 92-96.