The creative web

We are caught in the web. It envelopes us, motivates us, thrills us, enrages us, destroys us, liberates us, controls us, inspires us. The web and the internet are the most fundamentally world-changing innovations of recent decades. What role are they playing in continuing the innovation, in creating the creativity we need for this challenging and risky 21st century? This short piece outlines a few interesting websites devoted to innovation and creativity in one way or another, in domains that are general in nature, or focused on education, or business-oriented. These sites may be helpful as resources or a starting point for an understanding of one of the most needed psychological qualities of ours or any time—creativity. The list was developed as part of a Temple University course on innovation and creativity, and is not an exhaustive list but one with some interesting and useful sites. Some sites may be for-profit, others not. Some sites may espouse particular perspectives or viewpoints, others not.

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From left to right, Frank Farley, Jean C. Allison, Thomas. A. Dixon, Ashir Karim, Joseph A. Kumi, Shamima Sultana, William Tanguay, and Cathy Washington

General Sites

• Big Think: Focuses on the most important ideas, including their significance, relevance, and application.

• Creativity Pool: Global participation in sharing ideas across a wide range of topics.

• The Creativity Post: How to spur creativity by sharing the “very best content on creativity, in all of its forms.”

• Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts: Covers the gamut of creativity and innovation and publishes one of the best journals in the field.

• American Creativity Association: The International Association for Creative Professionals: Hosts conferences and provides professional resources.

• Kickstarter and IndieGoGo: Provides crowd-sourced funding for creative and innovative projects.

• Brain Pickings: Creatively “connecting the dots” across ideas and disciplines globally, with the goal of producing new ideas and concepts.

• Serendip Studio: Thinking for oneself, posing new questions, new directions. “dialogue based learning, public teaching, and special projects in community-based digital publishing.”

• TEDx: Community-level talks on a wide variety of frequently creative topics.

• MacArthur Foundation: “…supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.”

Education-Related Sites

• The Creative Education Foundation: “To engage and develop the next generation of creative thinkers and innovators.”

• Education Scotland—Learning, Teaching and Assessment: Incorporating creativity into learning environments.

• Creativity and Education: Strategies, questions, ideas for creativity and motivation.

• My StoryMaker: Carnegie Mellon University—An “online story creation tool” that offers creative approaches to authorship.

• PsycCentral—Learn, Share, Grow: Resources for developing creativity and innovation. Many links.

• The Partnership for 21st Century Skills: “…advocates for 21st century readiness for every student.” Includes “critical thinking and problem solving; communication, collaboration; and creativity and innovation.”

Organization/Business/Leadership Sites

• Creativity at Work: Developing organizational creativity, innovation, leadership.

• Business Innovation Factory: Among other initiatives, “each year BIF hosts a Collaborative Innovation Summit that brings crazy cool people from all walks of life together for two-days of storytelling, innovation and connection.”

• Y Combinator: Supports and funds innovative collaborations between start-ups and industry professionals.