Creativity is an elu-sive state of mind.As some one put it

‘we can’t tell you what it is,but we know it when we seeit’. Even though it can beargued that everyone iscreative and it exists invarying degrees, the rela-tionship between creativi-ty and information-seek-ing behaviour of creativepersons help us to under-stand it better.

A lot of information isconsumed by creative per-

sons as input to their cre-ative process. A few ge-niuses may be exceptions.An important characteris-tic of creative persons isthat they tend to accumu-late an over abundance ofdata and information withwillingness to ultimatelydiscard. It is this willing-ness to discard theamassed information thatdistinguishes them fromordinary persons. Manycreativity techniques likebrainstorming, brainwrit-

ing, synectics, bionics,morphological analysis,etc. generate enormous in-formation and it is a cre-ative person who can copewith the problem of infor-mation overload.

One of the habits of suc-cessful creative thinkers isthat they are at ease inmaking strange things fa-miliar and the familiarstrange. In other words,the accumulated informa-tion and knowledge is, atchoice, disowned and theycan easily slip selectivelyinto a ‘no knowledge’ zone.

In fact, the cardinalprinciple of synectics is‘trust things that are alien,and alienate things thatare trusted’. One of thethree basic principles ofeven directed creativity is‘escape’ (the other are ‘at-tention’ and ‘movement’).In other words, they are in-volved in pitting them-selves against the un-known. Among the foursurrounding ideas whichyield solution to a creativeproblem (propounded byBrace Wands in his bookDigital Creativity) ‘Immer-sion’ and ‘Isolation’ (theother two being ‘Inspira-tion’ and ‘Iteration’) alsoindirectly talk of havinginformation and at timesdistancing from it.

If ‘immersion’ requiresadequate research andgathering information andmaterial, ‘isolation’ refersto the opposite of informa-tion to clear the mind ofeverything and allow ideasto enter. It is like meditat-ing and working in an ‘al-pha state’. Sleeping is con-

sidered to be an extremeform of isolation.

Even other characteris-tics and habits of success-ful creative thinkers, di-rectly or indirectly, indi-cate that they are differentin their ways of handlinginformation. For example,it is very difficult for an or-dinary person to resistpassing judgement and/ orcriticism on any idea orthing if his informationand knowledge demandsso.

On the other hand, cre-ative persons tend not tocriticise any idea prema-turely but suspend theirjudgment. It is creativepersons who can tolerateambiguity in informationand material gathered.They not onlytravel and listento ideas with anopen mind butuse reading as astimulus for cre-ative thinking.They like thechallenges pre-sented by contra-dictions, excep-tions and appar-ent disorder.Normally, thehuman memorystores new infor-mation by associ-ation. Ordinarypersons rejectcontradictoryand ambiguous informa-tion, which fail to fit intoneatly developed cate-gories already in the mem-ory.

On the other hand, cre-ative persons not only holdambiguous and contradic-tory information, but lookat it as a source for theircreativity. Yet anothercharacteristic of creativepersons is to challenge theassumptions. Rejection of

conformity in thinking istheir hallmark. They keepon struggling for freedomfrom fixed ideas. In thisprocess, they go beyondthe boundaries of theproblem as well as the areaof specialisation by ex-panding their span of at-tention and relevance.This is the tendency to-wards what are called‘cross fertilisation’ ofideas and ‘hanging loose’.A noble laureate says that‘any normally brilliant fel-low who allowed himselfto be sensitive to creativeideas could, by being in theright lab at the right time,luck into some awesomelysimple insight and it wasjust a matter of hangingloose’.

In their information-gathering pattern, cre-ative persons don’t waitfor inspiration, but keepworking with constant up-dating of their knowledge.This process often leads towhat are called ‘accidentalor chance acquisition’ ofrelevant and useful infor-mation. Such ‘lucky acci-dents’ have great serendip-ity value and creative per-sons try to practice

serendipity by welcomingchance intrusions and byholding a broad area of in-terest always alive in themind.

The creative process isnot a comfortable thing asit involves urge and pres-sure, i.e., some kind ofstress application on theperson. Creative personstend to have a unique set ofvalues, which may attimes, be at loggerheadswith immediate goals ofemployed organisation.They are also charac-terised by broad interest inintellectual activities, rea-soning, intelligence, com-mon sense, analytical abil-ity, curiosity, sensitivity toencouragement, divergentthinking, initiative, enthu-

siasm, excitementand preparednessto undergo hard-ship. Despite exten-sive knowledgethrough formal ed-ucation and train-ing, creative per-sons most enduretheir self-acquiredinformation,knowledge and edu-cation. They arequite open to the ‘ir-rational’ in them-selves. They arealso great optimistswith a high degreeof self-confidence,which at times may

reach the point of objec-tionable arrogance.

We cannot think of acreative person without in-formation and knowledge.That is why the creativeWilbur Wright, the inven-tor of the airplane, oncesaid that ‘it is possible tofly without motors, but notwithout knowledge andskill’.

M S SRIDHAR

Creativity and information A hallmark of successful creative thinkers is the ease with which they can make strange thingsfamiliar and the familiar strange.