Twitter forces us to be creative at times.

This just fits right in line with Daniel Pink’s take in A Whole New Mind. As Jen says, we need to foster the skills of creativity, a healthy curiosity and willingness to explore then share our explorations with others.

Sometimes putting a limit on yourself spurs a new fit of creativity. We are all familiar with the Project 365 of posting a photo a day. I completed that project a few years ago and found that it really did make me a much better photographer because I had to work within my rather small environment to find new and interesting photo subjects as opposed to being on vacation somewhere exotic where all was new and different and ready to a subject for my photography. I truly admire the fellow who limited himself even further and allowed himself to only take one photo a day while he was on an extensive hike…on the Appalachian Trail, I think. I cannot imagine how he was able to decide when to take that one shot and then not worry that he might have “wasted” it when something else comes along later that day. But, the limits he set were not confining in the art he created.

Thinking outside, inside and with the box itself allows you to explore all the angles and find the best way to meet your goals – educational, artistic, productivity, and so on.

I’ve been wanting to go to SXSW for the last few years.

I like the idea of being on the edge of interesting things outside of education and then thinking of ways to apply them. Rather than watching the rehash of things from w/in education or from vendors which is mainly what I see at conferences like NECC.

I might have to call on you as a witness for the educational legitimacy of my plan! :)

I attended SXSW last year and got more ideas for conferences and creativity than any other event.

Not to be “that guy” but I wrote something about using 6 word stories and Dan Meyer’s 4 slide sales pitch that might be of interest to you.

The SXSW idea of battledecks also really appeals to me. Jim Groom managed to get them to do it at the last UMW get together and it was great. I’d love to do it in a class. Oddly, I ended up finding out about battledecks from this image

If I were to think old school, I’d say that most of the older poetic forms (haiku, sonnets, etc.) get at this same idea of restriction in a variety of ways.