Comments on: Computers vs. Creativity

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:19:41 +0000

Totally. It could also be your metronome, give you piano lessons, maybe even gauge accuracy via the microphone.

I look forward to educational apps.

By: ginevra

ginevra — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:20:24 +0000

when sitting at the piano with a colleague last night, we agreed the iPad would be awesome for sheet music. No more shuffling of pages or relying on whatever you have lying around.

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:56:54 +0000

That's a great point. So much of the current desktop computer paradigm is about *managing* your computer discovering features: “look at all the shiny toolbars!”

Some writing apps like Omwriter and Writeroom are a response to this.

By: David Lantner

David Lantner — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:08:58 +0000

Computers also muddle administrivia; take your “sit down at a computer to write something” example – I often do that and get prompted to upgrade software or I get distracted by the filesystem (where should I place this file? Wait, who put that folder there? Let me take care of this…) or distracted by something else – Alex Payne nailed it in his post: “Gone is the ability to endlessly tweak and twiddle towards no particular gain.” Endless tweaking and twiddling has its place but I'd wager most people are interested in creative productivity.

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:14:35 +0000

Exactly. And the fun part of creativity is mostly front loaded: whiteboards, daydreaming, sketches, jamming with musician pals, etc.

Today's computers muddle creating, editing, and styling. They put you in detailed finish mode before you actually create.

Thought experiment: What if the number of features and toolbars gradually increased in software as the document or design got more resolved?

By: Jin

Jin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:56:18 +0000

iPad replaces the napkin, not a desktop.

I think when people are saying it's not for creating, they mean the final implementation phase(Photoshop, CAD, IDE etc). But the creating process starts long before that, it starts with a doodle, a flowchart, a few notes, etc. This is where the iPad will shine.