Journal # 3

My creativity level has flourished and my innovation level has raised since starting this class. My personal goal is to utilize the knowledge I have gained. I believe my creativity is at a 10 and my innovation level is at a 7. I still have a ways to go to become a 10 in innovation. I believe I have gained some milestones in innovation. I do exercises with my mind by looking at everyday household things and work on finding what else it could be or how else I can use them. I have had a lot of fun thinking about what I could make out of them. As far as the barriers go, I am still hurdling them. As I grow with the innovation, the barriers will become non-existent. My idea for our project that we didn't use was to use a cell phone that could project holograms. The phone would be used for medical personnel so that when they went to a crash site, the hologram of the Dr. could literally walk around the patient and diagnose what is wrong. It would be just like the Dr. was there at the site. He would be able to touch the patient and bend down to the patient. This would enable the medical staff responding to get a more accurate diagnosis and possibly save more lives. I think this could be possible in the future with the way technology is advancing all the time. This is the type of thinking I need to encourage in myself and use innovation in my future job. I will remember how to have fun while doing this and remember there is always more than one way to do things. If I go into manufacturing, there are endless possibilities such as finding a new way to make a product that is more efficient and less expensive. Being creative with new packaging is another way to be innovative. I could find a way to advertise our business in an innovative way. There are so many possibilities for being innovative. The list could go on and on. I know now that I will never look at an item in the same way again.

Individual Innovation Journal 2

After the first three classes, I find myself looking at things somewhat differently. I think about how I could make it better. I think about what it would be if I just add this or that. I think about how many right answers it could have.  My creativity is blossoming into a more open fashion. I am experimenting with more colors in my paintings and my writings are more creative and "out there" as opposed to a few weeks ago.
Our group has been working on our project and I think we can come up with some more innovative ideas as to how to present it. We have taken a common object and we are giving it a new twist. We are all working on developing our wiki and I think it is coming along fine. We are still working on the wiki and we are finding new ways to define it.
The barriers I faced in my last journal entry are still there but I feel they are loosening a bit. It will take time for me to become completely innovative and I don't know if I ever will, but I am working on it and I think I am making some progress.
Since I am not working at this time, I looked up what could be innovative ideas in manufacturing. I find it is a way to present a product, finding new markets for said product, or finding a new use for the product. Innovation helps find new, lower cost materials that deliver the same if not better results. Innovation is allowing your employees to come up with ideas for doing things better and for seeing the ideas through.(http://www.suite101.com/content/innovation-management-for-business-survival-a164571...)
The activities in class are helping me think about items in new ways and how we could change an item or enhance the item. I find innovation to be stimulating and gratifying. I am enjoying and learning new things in each class each week.

What types of innovation are occuring around you?

Some of the new innovation ideas are using Google and Bing for Marketing. People use the search engines for quick and efficient searches. Google and Bing along with others are using the search engines as a marketing tool to get their ideas out there. Millions of people use the internet and businessess are finding it a quicker way to get a jump on competition and reaching a whole new age of buyers.
Along with the search engines, we have cell phones that can receive the internet and social networks on the phone.
Look at the fax machines we have at school. Thousands of words are transferred over many miles to a single sheet of paper by the press of a button. Innovation is all around us if we just bother to look.

Innovation Journal #1

9/30/10
Discuss your level of creativity and innovation skills as of today. How would you rate yourself? Why are you creative? Why not? Why are you innovative? Why not?

I believe I have a high level of creativity. I think of myself as a person who has talents in certain areas. I like to draw, write, and oil paint. Each thing I do takes practice and more practice. I know I am not up there with the big time artists but who cares. The things I do make me happy and contented and that is all I care about right now. I do think I am at least a 7 or 8 when it comes to creativity.
Innovation, well I don't believe I am that innovative. I would say maybe a 4 or 5 when it comes to innovation. The reason I believe that is because it takes me a very long time to come up with ideas. I am not an analytic person and I really have to try hard to see something other than what it appears to be. One of the barriers I face is my own thinking and rethinking until I think it to death. I guess I am my own worst enemy when it comes to coming up with new ideas. I also think my self worth has a lot to do with it. I worry about being the one who thinks out side the box. The reading in our text confirms that this can definitely be a barrier to innovation. I am one who will have to try very hard to change my way of thinking.
I think the readings and activities we do in class will be a start for me to change my way of thinking. I think I will learn how to view things differently. Understanding innovation is becoming easier with the more I read about it.
(See next post for what types of innovation are occurring around you)