Education and the Death of Creativity

Today at lunch everyone sat around the board room and watched videos from www.ted.com. 

The video that hit me the most was a speech by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity and the education system. 

Check it out. It’s 20 minutes, but definitely worth it. 

 

I find what Sir Robinson is saying to be so true. Children are taught to sit still, think logically and never to be wrong. This environment is toxic to the growth of creativity in young minds. 

Children who can’t sit still should not be scolded. They need to be provided an outlet to express themselves through movement, art, sport or music. 

Anyway, I thought I would share this clip because it really is a great speech with an intelligent and valid point regarding the importance of arts education in the public school system.

Foursquare

I know, I know. I’m a little late on the whole Foursquare thing,

But I just can’t seem to get into it. I’ve set up an account and I see other people using it on Twitter, but for some reason it just doesn’t interest me.

Probably because I don’t have a smart phone

This popped into my head recently because my supervisor asked me to research Foursquare and brief her on what it’s all about.

As I was looking into the relatively new social networking site I discovered a few creative uses for it that I found quite intriguing.

For example, Jimmy Choo recently held a contest using Foursquare where shoe lovers in London were involved in an online treasure hunt for a free pair of Jimmy Choos.

The contest was called the “CatchaChoo” race (cute). A picture of the shoes was taken in a location publicized on the Foursquare Web site, where a company representative waited with the shoes on display.

To win the shoes the player had to race to the location, approach the representative and say: “I’ve been following you.”

Very creative. I wish I lived in London at the time I would definitely start using Foursquare for that kind of contest.

Starbucks also recently held a contest using Foursquare.

Mayors of individual Starbucks stores can now unlock the Mayor Offer and enjoy discounts nation-wide.

…Also creative, except I wouldn’t participate in this one since I’m not a fan of Starbucks.

I <3 Spell Check

Yesterday I took a quiz on one of my favorite websites, http://theoatmeal.com/ 

Apparently my spelling skills aren’t as amazing as I thought they were. I’m pretty sure I’ve been spelling ‘definitely’ wrong on every single tweet I’ve sent out.

In my humble opinion, Twitter should really think about adding a spell check function. 

Yes. I know I should be able to spell a simple word without the need for spell check, but it would make my life so much easier. Plus I wouldn’t have to read horribly misspelled Tweets from other users. Sometimes I can’t even understand what people are trying to say.

But I guess that’s the result of a generation raised on spell check. Take it away from us and were left with tweets like,  ”‘OMG! r u gonna c that movie? I wuz late n missed the beginning…FML ” 

See which commonly misspelled words your mistweeting at: http://theoatmeal.com/quiz/twitter_spell

Gift Cards come to Facebook

This is a pretty good idea.

A new app has been added to Facebook called Friendgiftr. 

The app allows users to send real gift cards to their friends on Facebook.

This is such a genius idea because gift cards are easy and generic. Perfect for a distant relative at Christmas time.

Pretty much everyone communicates through Facebook these days, so why not start giving gifts!? I think this could be quite a success.

Here is a link to the Mashable article: http://www.google.ca/reader/view/?tab=oy#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.mashable.com%2FMashable

This is a big Fu*cking Deal!

This is a perfect example of how when a video goes viral, it’s pretty much everywhere!

In the past week you’ve probably come across a video of Vice President Joe Biden telling President Obama that the pass of the health care reform is a big f’*ing deal. If you haven’t yet, here is the link:

Well it seems as though the growing popularity of the video has sparked a trend. Not only has the video inspired its own twitter feed, website and haiku contest, you can now purchase ”this is a big f*cking deal” swag.

Yes, that’s right. Now you can purchase you’re very own “this is a big f*cking deal” t-shirt, underwear and even cooking apron.

Why would someone spend the money to buy such items you ask?

Well you’re asking the wrong person because I have no f*cking idea.

The fact that the video has become so popular shows how the world has changed as a result of the internet and the rise of social media. Every action one takes these days is on display for the world to see.

Before the rise of social media, and video sharing sites such as YouTube, only a few people would have caught Joe Biden’s words of encouragement.

But, these days anything  can go viral, from an exchange of words between two world leaders to a young man lip synching in front of his web cam.

And THAT my friends is a big f*cking deal.

This just in….

Mattel announced Barbie’s new career today.

No. She’s not a Public Relations Professional (I guess they didn’t read my last post)

She’s a computer engineer!

Interesting! …What do you think?

Barbie: PR Pro

Barbie needs your help.

Facing these tough economic times she’s out of work and needs a career in a new direction. But what to do? I mean really, what hasn’t Barbie already done?

Well Mattel wants you to vote on what you think Barbie’s next career should be. Will she be an environmentalist? a surgeon? or maybe even a computer engineer?

It’s all up to you to decide. 

Okay… so voting on Barbie’s next career move is  a little silly, but in my opinion it’s an interesting move for the Mattel PR team.

One thing I’ve learned during my time studying PR is that two-way communication is a good thing, and this accomplishes just that. Why not have a say in Barbie’s career? So many of us looked up to her throughout the years, and new generations are discovering her as well. We ought to have a say…I think we’ve earned it.

Fans can vote online until February 10 and the choice will be unveiled February 12 at the Toy Fair in New York. Mattel has given voters 5 options: surgeon, computer engineer, environmentalist, architect and news anchor.

So as Mattel embarks on a long and grueling job search for everyone’s favorite blonde, I would just like to make one suggestion… Let’s add Public Relations professional to that list. I think she’d make a perfect PR pro.