In the last newsletter, I talked about having the confidence to create. In this one, I will explore the difference between creation (or creating) and creativity.
To start, can every creation be considered creative?
The answer to this question will depend on which creativity researcher you ask. Some researchers will defend creativity as an everyday event, where every small thing we create is somehow a potential creative expression, for the minor it can be.
Other researchers will argue that there is no such thing as creativity -at least not how we normally think about it. Creativity is not something that you own, therefore nobody is creative. Creativity is a socially distributed phenomenon, and we play circumstantial roles to participate in it.
To further examine this difference, let’s take a look at the biggest creation playground: the World Wide Web.
Our current social model revolves around it, where a huge amount of information is created and consumed online every day, in the form of text, images, video, and sound (In 2022, we created more content per day than all the content we created from the Middle Ages until 2013).
Its users are in constant contact with various materials made available through the internet, which end up influencing their way of thinking and interacting with the world, and which eventually serve as raw material for their creations. One of these environments, the internet, has proved to be conducive to three major types of manifestation, changing the way people communicate and interact.
I will explore these three types in a moment. But first, to better understand these dynamics, it is necessary to understand the environment in which these materials are found and how their users relate to them, and then the dynamics of Creativity and the creative process.
Henry Jenkins, professor of Communication and researcher of Media Culture, proposed that culture is moving towards a more participatory model, where users are no longer mere spectators and consumers of content, but agents for creating value and meaning. Many companies already changed the way they communicate to improve their relationship with their consumers. Users have the power to spread ideas and opinions, and the Marketing, Advertising, and Publicity sectors, in particular, had to readjust to this new reality.
Another example is the theory of Diffusion of Innovation, proposed in 1962 by the sociologist Everett M. Rogers, which points out that the influence and decision-making of users have changed dramatically. Back then, companies focused on the majority (Early and Late Majority), where you can find most consumers. After the Internet, companies’ focus shifted to those who are really open to the new (Innovators and Early Adopters). This shows that, since users can communicate with each other in a more fluid way, they can impact consumer behavior -what we call today Influencers.
With this growing power of consumer opinion, the idea of personalization has also grown, where users themselves contribute with products and services that best suit the needs of each social group. If something doesn’t exist or isn’t available, people come together to make what they need a reality, to solve their problems or satisfy their needs or both.
CREATION OR CREATIVITY?
In the early 1920s, two researchers from Columbia University, William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas, published a list of 148 independent inventions which they called multiples, most of which occurred in the same decade. They realized that the inventions were built with parts of existing ideas, the combination of which expands (and sometimes contracts) over time. Some of these parts are conceptual, like ways of solving a problem. Others are literally mechanical parts.
Have in mind that, when they did this research, creativity wasn’t a formally introduced concept. In other words, nobody talked about it and rarely used the word in the way we use it nowadays.
Now let’s look at the three types I mentioned:
Reconfiguration
Reconfiguration proposes that all previously existing elements will continue to be present but in a new function, arrangement, or sequence.
A great example of reconfiguration is memes, which in themselves already have a meaning, which is reconfigured depending on the message you want to convey. Reconfiguration is the most common type found on the internet. Once most users do not have advanced editing tools, software, or artistic skills, but want to communicate somehow, they end up reconfiguring ready-made elements to construct their messages.
Reference
Reference can imply various elements that have accompanied the creator throughout his or her life.
Reference can be a simple word, a phrase, or an entire project, depending solely and exclusively on the meaning it has for its creator, as well as its use in creation. Reference can also be interpreted as inspiration or influence, where the creator has ideas to create something.
Remix
Remixing can be interpreted as where the creator, based on their previous knowledge and acquired influences, proposes a new vision of something that already exists. This type is often found in films, music, and art.
Remixing is similar to referencing, but its elements are reduced, and we can quickly identify them. Works of art that use the obvious trait of an artist or cover songs, for example, are a form of Remix.
ARE CREATIONS (AND CREATIVITY) INEVITABLE?
To illustrate all three types mentioned, I would like to share Kirby Ferguson’s documentary, Everything is a Remix, which clearly and interestingly explains our relationship with creation and creativity. His TED talk is also full of examples.
Patterns end up repeating themselves, depending mainly on how each person combines or resignifies them. These available patterns can be of the most varied forms, messages, and concepts, but there are two main messages here:
First, our creations necessarily must come from something that already exists. There is no creativity ex nihilo (from nothing).
Second, the biggest mistake during creation is thinking that you need to reinvent the wheel when all the materials you have are already available. There is no “outside the box”.
Would you rather own creativity or participate in it?
How do you think this view influences your creations?