Does technology make us more creative?

One of area of culture that has been in the vanguard of exploring the relationships between humans and digital technology has been the arts and literature. Modern technology provides more opportunity for everybody to participate directly in the making of art. Duchamp (1957) said that All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act. What Michael Duchamp said is become more relevant in today art context.

Another fact shows differently about the use of technology and creativity in working environment. Research conducted by Economist Intelligence Unit (2013) describes that Contrary to popular fears that the advance of technologies such as data analytics, machine-to-machine communications and robotics are circumscribing the influence of humans on business activities, new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit suggests that future human-technology relationships are much more likely to be marked by harmony rather than acrimony. Nearly three in four respondents (74%) to a global EIU survey, for example, dispute the notion that technology is making it more difficult for employees to be more creative or imaginative. Almost six in ten (58%) say increasing technology-intensity has made employees more rather than less creative in developing ideas both for new product ideas and for new or improved business processes. And little more than one-third believe that technology is stifling open discussion with their organization (36%).  

Furthermore, how we use technology and our purposes behind it have influence to our creativity, for example in learning and teaching activies. In their discussion on technology and creativity, Banaji and Burn (2010) point out that the use of technology does not necessarily mean that teaching and learning becomes more creative, but suggest there are affordances of technology which can facilitate creativity, such as provisionality,  interactivity and the particular functions of software programs.  They point to research that has identified that whilst technology can promote creativity, what is important is not using technological tools for their own sake, but to pursue meaning-making in projects that enable pupils to develop their ideas over time, with opportunities to both complete carefully structured tasks and engage in open-ended experimentation.

Reference

Banaji, S. and Burn, A. (2008) Rhetorics of Creativity. (2nd ed.) London: Arts Council. Accessed 5/11/12 at: http://www.creativitycultureeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/rhetorics-of-creativity-2nd-edition-87.pdf

Digital Future in Teacher Education. The relationship between technology and creativity. Accesed 09/12/2013 at: http://www.digitalfutures.org/topic/3-2-3-referenceslinks-to-further-resources/?table_of_content_post_id=87

Duchamp, M. (1957) THE CREATIVE ACT. Accessed 09/12/2013 at: http://www.wisdomportal.com/Cinema-Machine/Duchamp-CreativeAct.html