media – Page 26 – Steven Savage

The Originality/Unoriginality Barrier: Gradual Evolution.

February 1, 2011 by Steven Savage

(Not done writing about originality yet. Regular poster Serdar noted that my ideas addressing originality suggested that highly original people can and should address using their ideas via gradual evolution, and that gradual evolution of media was an ideal. I want to address that).

I've been writing a lot about originality in media lately. This is entirely understandable because originality is a big topic in media – in an age of remakes and the shockingly innovative it's going to be something prominent in people's minds. It's also an important subject because people feel very passionate about it – as I noted there are many psychological/cultural factors to a love of originality.

My conclusions actually were that originality is actually not a prime driver in media consumption – socializabitility is. People's interests in media were often heavily influenced by what they can share with and enjoy with others. Originality, in turn, was most important when it helped with that social factor.

Socializing Your Media

January 26, 2011 by Steven Savage

The last two posts were pretty heavy ones on the nature of creativity. So I'd like to go back to the idea that spawned them all – the idea that people use media to socialize and that's why originality is not always a factor in their choice of media. With that conclusion, I want to close up this not-quite series with a look of ways people can make their media more "socializable."

Keeping Originality In Perspective

January 25, 2011 by Steven Savage

Last post I explored why people are obsessed with originality to dysfunctional degrees. I noted that there were factors of individuality, a desire to be industrious, a sense of property, a desire for notoriety, and a focus on making a contribution. All these factors lead to an emphasis on originality in media work in my opinion. Let me also note that I think all too often originality gets over emphasized.

Yes, in short I am saying that people and groups and cultures can take an emphasis on originality too far. That may sound strange, but an obsession with something good does not mean one puts it into practice properly. I feel fear of unoriginality crushes people's creativity, destroying the very thing they're seeking.