Project John Naisbitt

I have to rush a book review / critique of John Naisbitt's High Tech High Touch by 1st June. eee!!!! i don't like to read the book! No offence but i just think that John Naisbitt seemed to exhaust most of the arguments for and against High Tech... then where do i come in? what can i possibly comment on? Argue for the sake of arguing?

I don't understand why i am made to do such a thing for school project. It's just like the class situation where many people talk for the sake of talking; it's all thanks to this thing call "class participation" marks. Come on lah! This mainly encourages half buckets - 半桶水 - to make noise! it's okay if they only waste the class time; the thing is they made me so angry with them, with the professor, the system and everything else related to the school. Hmm.. sounds like an irrational frustration huh!

If i take a step back, probably the reason why i can't seem to think of anything to argue against John Naisbitt is because i am stupid? or i am not creative enough to come up with arguements?

I don't know which is a better excuse.

I remembered when i first entered my university, one of my first modules is Creative Thinking. I was so amused that creativity can be taught. (besides creativity, the school trid to teach me ethics in a very "business-school" manner. I though ethics can't be taught that way? It's just like Primary school's moral education sessions are meant for monkeys to play a fool! i learnt whatever ethics i have through watching, listening and experiencing! Never studying!) Anyway, the professor turned out to be a total b***h. But there are a few things that i learnt from her.

• Osborne's checklist

Osborne's idea spurring checklist is simply a comprehensive list of questions about ideas and problems which can be used either individually or in groups.
1. Adapt? What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest? Does past offer parallel? What could I copy? Whom could I emulate?
2. Modify? New twist? Change meaning, colour, motion, odour, taste, form, shape? Other changes?
3. Magnify? What to add? More time? Greater frequency? Stronger? Higher? Larger? Longer? Thicker? Heavier? Extra value? Plus ingredient? Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate?
4. Minify? What to subtract? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Narrower? Lighter? Omit? Streamline? Split up? Understate? Less frequent?
5. Substitute? Who else instead? What else instead? Other ingredient? Other material? Other process? Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice? Other time?
6. Rearrange? Interchange components? Other pattern? Other layout? Other sequence? Transpose cause and effect? Change place? Change schedule? Earlier? Later?
7. Reverse? Transpose positive and negative? How about opposites? Turn it backward, upside down, inside out? Reverse roles? Change shoes? Turn tables? Turn other cheek?
8. Combine? How about a blend, an alloy, an assortment, an ensemble? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals? Combine ideas?

based on this checklist, i had to transform a block of wood into something "creative" for project submission. i remembered that i was so miserable because i had to be a student-turned-carpenter, because i had no money to pay a real carpenter to finish the project for me *unlike other integrity-less rich students that i know* I wanted to make a rotating, extendable, display lamp that has a shield which can be used as a small notice board but i had no idea how. erh, my concept sounds complicated but i managed to finish it with some help from my uncles (one of them is a plumber, the other one is an electrician!) It's a pity that i don't have a picture of the lamp now 'cos back then i didn't have a digital camera. It is because of this incident that made me invest in a Canon A60 camera which i am still using now.


• Fishbone diagram

It's just the typical diagram that everyone must have used at some point of their education. Here's a sample that i stole from the internet Fishbone Diagram


• forgot its name!

This problem solving method is interesting. Assuming we have a problem at hand which we can't solve, from there, we detach ourselves from that problem to think of other "problem(s)" which is more manageable. After generating some solutions for the other problem, we can try to draw parallels between the 2 problems and adapt the solutions from the second problem to the original one!


• Wayang

yes, wayang = dramatic performance
to score in a crappy course like creative thinking, one has to resort to gimicks if she doesn't look appealing to a straight-female-professor.
Creative Thinking course hurts my ego. I can't believe that i had to act like a clown in front of the class each week just to get cumulative marks for the project.

whatever it is, it's over. Now i still have to mull over John Naisbitt. argh!