What is Creative Technology?

Point

Creative technology is a broadly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field combining computing, design, art, and the humanities (Wikipedia). Creative technology has been defined as "the blending of knowledge across multiple disciplines to create new experiences or products" that meet end-user and organizational needs (Wikipedia) A more specific conceptualization describes it as the combination of information, holographic systems, sensors, audio technologies, image, and video technologies, among others with artistic practices and methods (Wikipedia).

Supporting Argument

• The field of creative technology encompasses art, digital product design, digital media or advertising, and media made with a software-based, electronic, and/or data-driven engine (Wikipedia).

• The central characteristic is identified as an ability to do things better (Wikipedia)

• Many organizations are recognizing the opportunity to fully integrate technology into their processes, developing e-courses, podcasts, and communication methods designed to integrate into their receivers' lives. 

Why It Matters

• Creativity matters in today's information-heavy age

• Consumers receive 6 - 10K brand messages per day and have up filters

• Empathy and understanding their pain points become paramount

• Leveraging Technology and a Creative Discipline can impact the value you can provide others

• Complex systems, like organizations, companies, or schools, make it a bit difficult for the average user

• Imagine yourself in a new environment where you’re responsible for a job

• The number of tools, resources, people, and information you’re responsible for can quickly get out of hand

• A creative technologist's job is to leverage that pain point of being overwhelmed, to contextualize and process the information a user is responsible for in a variety of media, formats, and creative messaging, that will allow them to learn at their pace, while quickly getting them up to speed for the important first 90 days

• Gone are the days when you can push your message onto the receiver

• Understanding and having empathy for the amount of content your customers are responsible for is the best way to ensure the successful delivery of the message

• Enter creative technology, which allows you to get creative with your messaging and leverage technology to efficiently get the job done

Point

Professionals who work in the field of creative technology tend to have a background as developers and may work in digital or entertainment media, with an advertising agency, or in a new electronic product development role.

Supporting Argument

A creative technologist has skills as both a creative thinker and a technical problem-solver, however, you may be more creative or more technically inclined. As a creative technologist, you are responsible for developing web projects, mobile applications, and other related digital media efforts. Depending on the company you work for, you may be part of new product development, beginning with the original concept, design, and development, leading up to an industry-wide product launch (ZipRecruiter). 

Why It Matters

We’re currently seeking a mass Exodus as a result of political turmoil, changing economic dynamics, and the rapid adoption of technology to do jobs that typically took humans hours to complete. As technically and creatively minded individuals find themselves no longer working for Silicon Valley organizations, it becomes important for (a) local businesses to hire and integrate these members into their organizations, creative technologists further develop their skills and begin applying their methodologies to organizations who desperately need their services in the areas of product development, content creation, digital transformation, and integrating software platforms and applications like SalesForce, Odoo and more. 

Point

While this is difficult to identify, you typically see Creative Technologists combining classical disciplines such as writing, drawing, or counting, and incorporating cross-disciplines to help solve problems. You Might see Job Descriptions like Creative Technologist, Digital Success, Digital Operations, Product Officer, Product Manager

Supporting Argument

My favorite example of this is Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs studied Calligraphy yet was able to help found and lead one of the most important technology companies of all time, all while developing an iconic brand. 

“A creative technologist is someone who tackles solving problems utilizing a mix of technology and design. They work in the space of connecting dots (ideas) that weren’t previously connected. I’m reluctant to make any more generalizations to the definition because within the world of creative technology, there are countless specializations that one can pursue, but overall I feel that this is what most creative techs I’ve talked to feel about their jobs.” (NYU | Future Reality Lab)

Why It Matters

As tools and technology become more important to our lives, we have to remember the greatest tech, still requires a human element (for now). This is why it is important to embrace creativity in technology. The coders I admire approach software and technology development as not just a matter of 1’s and 0’s, but refer back to the logic of their choices rooted in their approach to solving a problem. There’s always more than one approach to solving a problem, creative technologists combine creativity and technology with doing just that!

Creative Technologists come in all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. If you have an interest, consider what you're most organically called towards: do you find yourself stronger in your creative or technical passions? Consider which of the two categories you might need to level up your skillset in. Then start thinking through what types of problems you’d like to solve through your creativity and technical prowess. 

Point

Creativity and Technology, The Art of Science of Things Have Always Been Married. We Have Creative Technologists because all creativity with no technical understanding doesn't work, and all technical functionality without the form of creativity doesn’t work either. By combining and complementing the two schools of thought, we’re able to offer solutions and approaches to solving problems. Solving problems allows for greater productivity, collaboration, and capacity. 

Supporting Argument

The STEAMy Relationship Between Art and Science (EBSCO). EQ vs. IQ: Which One Is More Beneficial? (Healthline). Forget Resolutions, Make 2019 the Year of Better Choices (Terence Latimer)

Why It Matters

More often than not, we’re encouraged to pick a lane and stay in it. While I mostly support specialization, my recommendation is contextualizing your skillsets concerning what others are good at. Identifying complementary functions facilitates beautiful form and vice versa. 

A recurring theme of this post at this standpoint, I hope that we understand that the balance of emotional intelligence and cognitive processing are skillsets we all require. Creative Technologists, not exempt from this rule, apply design thinking methodologies to create human-centered solutions. 

The beauty of problem-solving is that there is no one correct way to do it: while one’s approach to solving problems might be more technical versus a creative solution created by someone else, the real magic is when the two sides complement one another in the spirit of collaboration. In my opinion, collaboration allows for the creation of a more impactful solution design. 

Point

We See A Lot of Creative Technologists in the tech industry, specifically in tech centers like Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Austin, and Shanghai. Due to the Digital Migration that can be seen as influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work, and the war in Ukraine, we’re seeing creative technologists pop up in rural towns and communities. There is a creative technologist in you that you just might not be aware of. 

Supporting Argument

• The Future of the Creative Economy (Deloitte) 

• Revenge of the Nerds: The Rise of New Creative Tech (Little Black Book Online) 

• The Rise of the Internet’s Creative Middle Class (The New Yorker) 

• Sam Keene: Creative Technologist

• A new perspective on technology-driven creativity enhancement in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Wiley Online Library) 

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Why It Matters

While major tech centers have been responsible for cultivating creative technology, the growing importance of these users will increase in alternative markets. Think of places like St. Louis and [XXXX] in the Midwest. Particularly as we pay attention to the mass exodus of technology workers in recent weeks, I expect many of those creative technology professionals will begin to invest their sets of skills in regions that have more slowly adopted or integrated technology into their businesses. A continuation of this process will include a deeper requirement to participate in the Creator Economy, an online world where data: qualitative and quantitative information, combines with the community and the exchange of value in the form of digital products, services, and events. Pretty soon, we're all going to need to be online to function most freely within our changing society. 

As we integrate new versions of technology and apply them to established disciplines, e.g. the integration of AI into AR / VR and even social media, it becomes that much more important for individuals to have a firm grasp on the fundamentals while also choosing to test and explore their creative and technical understanding to new technologies. Writers, in my opinion, should learn how to work with AI versus against it. 

Point

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. The oldest Creative Tech academic program as such is the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California (https://ict.usc.edu/) established in 1999 and funded by the US military. Military technology with a focus on capitalism allows for instance deeper human communication and innovation.

Supporting Argument

Forecasting change in military technology, 2020-2040 (Brookings Institute). Army's Institute for Creative Technologies advances research to reality (US Army). The US must harness the power of Silicon Valley to spur military innovation (TechCrunch) 

Why It Matters

During peace times, the dominant power leverages art, science, innovation, education, technology, and ideologies to maintain institutions of power. Creative technology, like many services and products in our collective value streams, has some roots in the military. Our recent understanding of creative technologies can be seen heavily influenced by the US Army and USC. 

The creative disciplines of filmmaking, music, and software development are both arts and sciences responsible for the inclusion and integration of these disciplines into broader and existing markets. 

We can all acknowledge the influence Silicon Valley has had on the world's definition of innovation and technology.

Point

Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Core Values. SWOT Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Impact Reports, and Technical Analysis. Organizational Charts, Roadmaps, People Operations, and Enterprise Resource Planning

Supporting Argument

Creative Language to Manage Your Business. Technical Language to Manage and Scale Your Business. Second Brain. Plugging in Creative Technologists to Influence how this brain operates in the market for cognitive and emotional intelligence for decision-making

Why It Matters

Your reputation, mission, core, core values, and vision combine to create a brand's personality, and the people and teammates responsible for personifying that brand in the market, a is very important for creative technologists to understand as they go about the process of solving problems on behalf of brands. Core values, mission statements, vision, and team structure communicate the contextualization of the problems facing the organization.

Dedicating time to understanding the technical details that will allow for the actual work to take place to build your organization helps provide the technical framework to empower the creative technologists you work with.

Developing a robust Internal System for managing one's creativity and technology is rooted in understanding your requirements, resources, and goals. Enterprise Resource Planning Software is an opportunity to facilitate the integration of both creativity and technology into your organization on your path to understanding the creative technologist within you.