My Seventh P of Creativity

Definition of PROVOKE (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/provoke):
1 aarchaic : to arouse to a feeling or action b: to incite to anger
2 a: to call forth (as a feeling or action) : evoke b: to stir up purposely c: to provide the needed stimulus for

Based on the article 'The internet and Malaysian politics: The perils of modernity" (http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10854822) no one can undermine the influence of the Internet- not even the government. It was reckoned that close to 60% of Malaysia flooded the internet with "an unusual combination of high internet penetration and pliant mainstream media" and influencing the 8th March 2008 elections. The internet is indeed a powerful tool to provoke people to take actions.

As a platform for community building, the internet informs, arouses curiosity and drives some people to action. Through a more interactive Web 2.0, human knowledge is expanding so rapidly students today leverage on it for endless learning at their finger tips with search engines like Google, Alta Vista, and Ask Jeeves. Ironically, many too becomes inundated with the flooding of emails and with increased time to process at rapid fire type of response needed with each mail. This invitably, creates within some an invinsible wall of apathy leading to a resistance of new ideas. While some may be provoked to making a creative difference, others nonchalently are provoked to the other extreme - indifference.

Mel Rhodes articulated the 4 P’s of creativity- Person, Press, Product, Process (1961). Simonton's 5th P-Persuasion, plays an integral part in a product (the physical manifestation of an idea) being adopted into a domain of the press. Runco (2006) identified social factors that can support, undermine, or do neither for its acceptance into a given domain. For product to gain acceptance into the domain, it then integrates as part of the press, where it becomes either internalized by the person in the form of a value or a perception of the press or as a tangible tool. (note: Runco advocated the 6th P as Potential)

Building on Simonton’s Persuasion as the 5th P, I am conceptualising the idea that Provocation may be a possible 7th P- to effect beyond persuasion to 'buy-in' an idea. To me, Provocation connotes a higher level of persuasion that strongly forces individuals to take action. This is becoming even clearer with the practical instantiation of the shift in new technologies that permit individuals greater control over the creation of content and interaction with others not confined by geographical boundaries.

On a personal 'provocative' exploration, my interest in blogging stemmed from as a journal of reflections (http://john-yeo.blogspot.com/) and propagated to several domain areas- each serving a different purpose/audience. I find blogs as an excellent way of sharing information and useful platform to build communities. As a change agent for creativity, I was glad that my workshops for creativity have built a community of teachers who are keen to learn more and for this reason, http://think-learn-grow.blospot.com/ was created. To share on innovative practices, ‘http://create-teeth-buzz.blogspot.com/, generated some energy where people were beginning to look deeper into how we sustain innovation within organisations.

Edward de Bono contributed greatly to the provocation by re-branding creativity. Yet, being dissatisfied with the term “creativity”, he reasoned that it was too broad and had a biased value judgement to what it means. He redefined creativity as a way of Lateral Thinking, which was an ability to look at things in different ways. He coined the term PO as technique to directly & deliberately provoke lateral thinking. He intended PO not just for suspending judgement, but to allow one to jump outside judgement system and conscious call to “shift” thinking. Though simply just a word to announce the desire to shift from the current track of thinking, the use of PO vocally provokes creativity.



In conclusion, I read with great interest a recent report on 'REDEFINING PEDAGOGIES FOR THE FUTURE' on how Provocation is key to impact education of tomorrow. The report was derived from a group of Singapore educators who embarked on a project to explore teaching approaches and teacher competencies necessary to engage students of the 21st century. Led by Mrs Lim Lai Cheng, Principal of Raffles Junior College, they studied the characteristics of what makes a Creative Society tick. I quote from the report

"The world, they said, has moved from being static to dynamic, from mass media
to masses of media, manipulation to relation, objective to subjective,
professional to amateur and consumer to participation. Before, we were
consumers of political messages. People these days want to participate. The role of producers and consumers has changed. In the last 5 years, trust has shifted from authorities such as media and government, to peers like you and me."

The emerging provocative forces from globalisation, transnationalism, increased connectivity with technological advances and a shift towards becoming an innovation driven economy, liberates the motivation of the creative individuals to impact new changes. From an educational angle, the above report provides evidence that Provocation will accelerate educational reform since its driven by the changing dynamics of classroom participation in this Knowledge Age.

Pictures from http://www.friendster.com/photos/38502027/1/360060383#pic=01217992268