"Idea Tourism" - To visit and see yet learn nothing?

From Seth Godin today, the idea of 'Idea Tourism'.

"It's possible for a tourist to visit Times Square in New York City, see nothing new or unexpected, and leave the city unchanged. I don't think there's a lot of point in that. If you want to truly understand Darwin, then go to a lab and do some experiments. If you want to understand a gun lover, go to a shooting range for an afternoon. If you want to see how social networking will actually change the way ideas spread, go use it. Intensely, and with a purpose in mind."

I had a client recently who only wanted to buy 2/3rds of a project. The part they left out, they said they'd do themselves. It was a social media project.

"Only when we try the idea on for size and actually use it do we understand it. With more ideas offering visitation rights than ever before, learning how empathize with an idea is critical."

My particular client wanted to tour social media, take a photo, and then go back to business as usual. Sadly, little was learned and business is, sadly, back to usual..

Another project I'm involved in has that risk for some as well. Many will be familiar with the aSaigon/CreativeMorning initiative I work on with a small group of other like-minded creative business people. What we've seen in three sessions is a great deal of people who sign up, but never show up, and another group, who come only once - sort of missing the point entirely. Buts what's left is becoming a good core group of interested pioneers who really are beginning to use the sessions to foster ideas and friendships and like visions. I was asked recently if it was possible to 'teach' creativity, and my response was that I didn't think so. But if one practices enough, on a regular basis, they might learn something - more than all the tourists learn who have a photo of themselves in front of their favourite world monument.

D a v i d E v e r i t t - C a r l s o n

-------------------------------------------------

Find me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Read my blog: The Wild Wild East Dailies and keep up on our efforts with aSaigon/CreativeMorning.