Find change – and not just beneath the sofa cushions

Creativity happens on a lot of fronts and, these days, all of them are important. With another Election Day facing us in the U.S., all registered voters here have the opportunity and duty to make sure that needed change takes place in our different levels of government, local communities and larger society.

Everyone who is eligible should vote – it’s one of Americans’ most effective ways of helping new ideas and policies take shape.  Today in Seth Rosenberg’s blog, “Inexact Possibilities,”  you can find out about key races around the nation and the new directions to which they may lead. 

But infinite other paths to innovation exist, as well, and you can explore some of those right here. Read  Matt Charboneau’s blog, “Arts-Entrepreneur Resources,” to find out how social networking offers the fresh, creative means for artists to publicize and promote their work, and Will Limkemann’s “The Constant  Entrepreneur” to learn useful and imaginative tips on managing small business of all kinds.

Take a look at how scientists’, artists’ and your own personal work or business products can be affected by evolving fair-use law, which Peter Friedman examines in “Ruling Imagination“  with perspective on the lawsuit brought against the ’80s Australian rock group Men at Work for allegedly using the music from “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” for their hit song  ”Down Under.” 

And keep an eye out for fresh posts from Terrence Spivey on the just-concluded National Theatre Conference in “Theater of Change“; Charlie Eby on a just-released electronic game in “Media Man“; and Len Steinbach on the latest connections between art and technology in “Culture-Tech Verite.”

You can change the world – it’s happening right now.

New blog coming Oct. 1

I’m happy to tell you that, starting this Thursday, Oct. 1, Geniocity.com will introduce a new blog about the cutting edge of electronic and traditional mass media including gaming, film, photography and more.

Called Media Man,  it’s written by Charlie Eby, an avid wielder of cameras and digital-game controls who is Geniocity.com’s 2009 intern. His  easy-going personality and fresh, funny take on the universe of screens and images are going to be great  additions to our blog roster and must-read fun for you.

I hope you’ll keep an eye out for Media Man starting Thursday and welcome Charlie into your view of the creative frontier.

Live fast, die shallow?

Interesting research about how humans develop a sense of morality has come out of the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute this spring. 

A study issued in April found that feelings of admiration and compassion, two prerequisites for a functioning moral compass, develop only with time and reflection -  the very process our hyperpaced digital culture discourages. Apparently, the human brain can quickly register information about other people’s physical pain without it having much emotional impact, but to absorb and appreciate another person’s virtues or social pain  requires a few more seconds. The effect lasts longer, too. 

The implication is that, the more we get our information from the stream of  news briefs on TV and the internet, the less likely we are to completely experience the emotions we need to feel in order to develop moral principles and make sound moral choices.

This sounds like corroboration of the suspicion many of us have had that, when heavily used, electronic media distance us emotionally from one another – one,  because we directly interact with each other less, and two, because those media expose us to a torrent of intense information about physical pain (crime news, true-life and fictional violence, accidents and disasters) that eventually numbs our ability to empathize with suffering. 

Read more about the study here.