Computer Aided Creativity (CAC)

The advent of computers and their integration in society occurs on every level.  Actually using computers for something besides email, gaming, and writing is still a novelty for the normal person.  Engineering was revolutionized with the advent of computer aided design (CAD) and engineering (CAE).  What people generally don’t experience and use to their advantage is Computer Aided Creativity (CAC).

Creativity is a confusing beast.  Some say it’s completely natural, and if you’re a natural at being creative then you’re called artistic or a genius.  If you’re not considered creative you’re just a normal minion.  One aspect of creativity is creating new ideas.  But more important day to day is the ability to use old ideas for new purposes.  The problem arises when you try to bring everything together, and that’s where CAC is needed.

Using creativity means combining inspiration with some useful output.  But here’s the crux: If you have an awesome idea for a new car body design, it’s worthless unless you can communicate it (draw a picture) for others to see and experience.

You can have an awesome book in your head, which becomes completely jumbled when you try to capture it in writing.  The reason is that you have to actively translate the feelings from your imagination to the real world – which is not intuitive.  No one can read the book you were never able to write.  The real problem with being "creative" is getting into a workflow where you are able to organize your ideas and communicate them to other people.

If you can organize the thoughts in your head you can play the role of a genius.  What can computers do to help us less fortunate folks?  Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing about some essential computer programs which can help you bridge the gap – taking a creative idea and efficiently releasing it outside of your imagination for others to experience.

As prelude, the main topics are going to include using Computer Aided Creativity (CAC) for:

Developing an Efficient Writing Workflow
Mind Mapping Your Ideas

In the mean time think about this:

What do you consider to be creativity?
Do you think you’re creative?
Can creativity be learned?

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