Assignment 2
Creative Spark – Where does creativity hide?
Victor Serna
PHL/458
02/16/2015
LANCE M. PRINCIPE
Assignment 2: Creative Spark – Where does creativity hide?
In February 2008 during TED2008, Amy Tang discussed the sources of creativity in the TED talk “Where does creativity hide?” In the video, Tang explained how her own personal experiences led her to become a creative person. The stages in the creating process are clearly described in the video as Tang shared with the audience that there is a reason for everything and there are many questions that we should ask ourselves in order to be able to create ideas. These questions also encourage imagination and creativity. Despite the differences in our jobs, Tang being a Writer and me being a Product Manager, I can relate to her concepts and believe they have inspired me and other people to become more creative and to question the world in which we live in.
Amy Tang’s TED talk examines where her creativity comes from. In her talk, it is clear that it was Amy’s habit to be constantly searching for challenges which is the first stage of the creative process as per Ruggiero (2012, p. 104). This is observed when she talked about her experiences and her reactions to these; her B- writing papers, or her family’s plans for her to become a doctor or a pianist and also how her family passed away. She questioned all of these and asked the audience to question their own experiences which led to the second stage, expressing the problem or the issue. This is where Amy asked the questions “why things happens? Or how I make things happen?” Amy’s questioning regarding how she creates things from nothing and how she made her own life after writing a book, bring us to the third stage in the creative process. She started to describe how her writings come to life. She explained that is all about observing and evaluating her past experiences and the whole world around her that allows for creativity to take place which is what this third stage is all about (Ruggiero, 2012, p. 104). As for the final stage of the creative process which is producing ideas, Amy reminded us that there is always intentions in all of what we do. We question what we should do, then we think about our possibilities and then some action those and some don’t. This is where we face those obstacles of the fifth stage of the creative process. Either take the easy way and go for the things that are common or to stop creating ideas. In this TED talk, the speaker reminded the audience that there is always uncertainty in everything and that that is a good think because we just need to use your imagination, be curious and be creative for things to happen.
Some of the methods described in the video by Amy Tang are similar to the way in which I take many of the decisions in my current job and also in life in general. Although it might be that many of the events that trigger or inspire writers’ ideas are different from those that spark a mine, her methods are shared by both of us for my personal as well as my job as a
