Creative Inputs Research Articles

Economic Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of creative markets. It has a dual nature and it can be considered both as an input and as an output. As an input AI presents a technological solution, which in its interaction with other creative inputs can be transformed into economic outputs with the characteristics of creative products. The economic life of these products is shaped by intellectual property legislation and practice, as creative markets are basically rights markets. This dual nature of AI suggests that AI acquires economic functions and characteristics, which have major consequences in terms of demand and supply, value generation, efficiency gains and productivity. While AI creates numerous opportunities it disrupts traditional creative markets and widens the digital divide. AI becomes an area of strategic importance to governments and companies.

DANCE AS MIRROR OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE: A PEEK INTO MANIPURI PERFORMANCE HISTORY

The paper attempts to highlight significant moments in the history of Manipuri dance and their implications on the dynamics of social and cultural developments of the time. The dancing body is now no longer a simple reproduction of historically created style of human movement that seem to continue forever as symbol of people’s tradition and culture. The dancer’s body is now read as sign, as discourse, as platform for human experience and the structure and formulations of movements in time in the body do inform particular thoughts, ideas, emotions and affects that were involved in the creation of a language of dance. By analyzing the kind of dance produced in creative people’s history, we shall be able to provide hints on the structure of power, knowledge and the world views of the society of the times. No doubt technology, utilization of resources, spiritual and religious influences and power exercise do impact on social and cultural change. But the kind of dance style also do inform on the very nature of the creative inputs of society that had been necessitated in the production of the dance. Reading dance can also be as pleasurable as reading literature.We shall study the pre – Haraoba, the Lai Haraoba dance and its transformation into the 18 th century classical dance of the Raas Leela during the conversion of the Manipuris into Hinduism. The introduction of colonial money economy and structural changes in the society and culture and its impact on dance shall be explored. Globalization and its impact on dance traditions shall also be indicated. As we go deeper into the semantic field in the structure and form of dance, operas and performance in different stages of history, we are able to discover the manifold transformation in the realm of peoples’ and rulers’ ideas on life, relationships and processes in response to the challenges of the time. The challenges no doubt come sometimes from outside of the realm in which the people thrive. Foreign conquests and introduction of new ways of life and action also impinges on the traditional equilibrium in society. There are times of turmoil and unease. Livelihood and art are in moments of crisis. But the response to the crises is unique, as the culture of the time indicates the resilience of that society in culture. Manipuri dance history relates this experience.

Board cultural diversity and firm performance under competitive pressures

AbstractWe examine the impact of board cultural diversity, based on directors' ancestry, on firm performance conditional on product market competition. We argue that culturally diverse boards foster critical thinking and offer creative solutions that help firms thrive in competitive environments. We document that culturally diverse boards are associated with superior performance for firms operating in highly competitive industries. To address potential endogeneity issues, we use a quasi‐natural experiment of the U.S. import tariff cuts. The positive impact of board cultural diversity on firm performance in competitive markets manifests itself in firms that innovate more, require creative inputs, and face heightened predation risk due to their high interdependence with industry rivals, in line with culturally diverse boards effectively performing their advisory role. Lastly, we find no evidence that board cultural diversity is associated with enhanced monitoring as its benefits fade in the presence of powerful CEOs.

Fluffy cuffs: SME’s innovation in alliances with buyer firms

Supplier firms, especially the more resource constraint SMEs, form alliances for product innovation. Supplier firms can try to push in creative inputs while needing to align them with the overall solution of the buyer. Our study zooms in on this push and alignment balancing act. Our theoretical model is informed by the attention-based view. It considers two centralization mechanisms, relationship intensity and formalized specifications of the buyer firm. Our dependent variable is innovation of the SME supplier. The model hypothesizes linear and non-linear effects by relationship intensity and the buyer’s detailed and formalized specifications (e.g., functional principles, features, and design elements). Data collected from 279 European supplier SMEs reveals that moderate levels of “post-formational specifications” proposed by the buyer firm are associated with greater product innovation of the supplier. Interestingly, less product innovation results when the specifications of the buyer are either minimal or high. Stronger relationship intensity allows greater product innovation as it enables partners to capture more benefits from the post-formational specifications as they constructively work together.

Assemblage Art's Visual Stimulators Based on the Recycling of Musical Instruments as an Experimental Approach to Design

Assemblage, doubtlessly, is a special form of art that still holds a culture of rapid age which shows a big change in an artist’s attitude towards the society he lives in, as well as his persistent desire to change and experiment. It was started when Schwitters added discarded objects to his “Merz” series manifesting reality to his artistic plain. Meanwhile, Picasso was taken by deconstructing shapes and re-embodying them in cardboard. Perhaps the visual appeal motive of recycling used materials has a lot of passion and joy unexpectedly resulting each time a new life is given to throwaway objects. According to the Art Education culture and its dedicated objectives of recycling and achieving sustainable development of artwork, in addition to the fact that Design is a fertile field to employ many types of art, this paper and research utilized used and damaged musical instruments as creative inputs and starting points to Artwork Design Composition.

Permacinema

This article charts the contiguity of farming and film, blending permaculture and cinema to advance a modality of sustainable film theory and practice we call “permacinema.” As an alternative approach to looking and labour, permaculture exhibits a suite of cinematic concerns, and offers a model for cinematic creativity that is environmentally accountable and sensitive to multispecies entanglements. Through the peaceable gestures of cultivation and restraint, permacinema proposes an ecologically attentive philosophy of moving images in accordance with permaculture’s three ethics: care of earth, care of people, and fair share. We focus on work by Indigenous artists in which plants are encountered not only as raw material or as aesthetic resource but as ingenious agents and insightful teachers whose pedagogical and creative inputs are welcomed into the filmmaking process. By integrating Indigenous epistemologies and cosmologies we hope to situate permacinema in the wider project of cinema’s decolonization and rewilding.

Innovative Environment Within Organization’s Structure- Case of Oman

In today’s age of modernization, the concept of innovation is considered as one of the key factors for organizational growth. At the same time, organizations are expected to adapt culture and environment where innovation can continue to develop. It requires a coordinated efforts by different actors in organization in making sure that the activities and integration process meets the conditions for an effective application. In order to put together the various moving parts of an innovation integration, the organization also needs to evaluate its structure in order to ensure that the activities entailed in the innovation process are not interrupted by organizational bureaucracy. In the case of Oman, the conception of an innovative environment is challenged by a prevailing organizational structure that constitutes hierarchical attributes. The problem with hierarchical structure is that innovation and development are slow. In addition, there is not enough room for creative inputs to be recognized because the decision points rely on the center of authority within the organization. This empirical research highlights the concept of innovative environment within the organizational structures in Oman.

Employee behaviours beyond innovators in internal crowdsourcing: What do employees do in internal crowdsourcing, if not innovating, and why?

Firms increasingly implement internal crowdsourcing to access the creative inputs of their wider crowd of distributed employees. Although internal crowdsourcing initiatives have attracted increasing attention from research, there is still a limited understanding about employee participation in these platforms. Previous studies have mainly focused on the participation of employees as innovators, disregarding other forms of employee participation occurring in these interactive platforms. Building on the literatures on employee‐driven innovation and motivation, the main goal of this study is to investigate the behaviours performed by employees to support and refine others' ideas and their underlying motivations to do so, thus going beyond the role of innovators. Based on data collected from an internal crowdsourcing platform of a large European organization, we combine cluster analysis, social network analysis, interpretative content analysis and qualitative interviews to explore the content of employees' supporting behaviours in these initiatives and their underlying motivations. Overall, by looking at what employees contribute in these initiatives and why, this study contributes to generate a more comprehensive understanding of how internal crowds can be leveraged not only for idea generation but also for the support and refinement of others' ideas. Implications for innovation management research and practice are discussed.

Innovation and diversity in the digital cultural and creative industries.

The cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are increasingly being recognised in South Africa, as in other countries, as wealth-creating, given appropriate investment, rather than primarily a non-market subsidized sector. However, national innovation policy is still predominantly focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skillsets and related product markets. This paper analyses how the CCIs in the Cape Town cluster innovate by combining digital technology, creative inputs, and workforce diversity. Based on a similar study conducted in Brighton, UK, a cluster of innovative CCI firms was identified that are to varying degrees “fused”, defined as combining digital technology and creative design in production. Fused firms have higher levels of innovation in business processes, goods and services. Fused firms were also more likely to employ demographically diverse people, adding insights from the South African mix to the UK studies on disciplinary diversity. While fused creative-digital firms employ greater diversity, a qualitative analysis of SA gaming and animation firms nevertheless demonstrates the challenges for improving diversity in a developing country context.

Authenticity, Self-Invention and the Power of Storytelling: Sam Shepard’s Postmillennial Work

The article reflects upon Sam Shepard’s playwrighting in the opening decades of the twenty-first century, paying particular attention to his last play, A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations), written specifically for the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture celebrations in 2013, and originally produced by the renowned Field Day Theatre Company. The article seeks to offer an insight into Shepard’s mature multilayered text, which, in many respects, looks back upon almost fifty years of his artistic creativity and, at the same time, expands his vision. It also addresses the realisation of Shepard’s play in performance and the significance of his text in an interplay of multiple creative inputs involved in the production process.
 While revisiting the familiar landscapes and themes, Shepard’s most recent work negotiates the boundaries between the actual and the fictitious, raising debates about the persistence of myths, mortality and the haunting legacies of the past. Richly intertextual and conspicuously metatheatrical, it grapples with questions of authenticity, performativity and storytelling – the narratives that are passed down, and how they form and inform our lives. It also engages with, and further problematises, issues of personal and cultural identity, which constitute Shepard’s most durable thematic threads, revealing both the dramatist’s acute concern with fateful determinism and commitment to self-invention. Significantly, while Shepard’s postmillennial output highlights the author’s ongoing preoccupation with instability and frontiers of various sorts (from those topographic, temporal and sociopolitical to those of language and art), it equally intimates his attentiveness to correspondences between times, lands and cultures.

Exploring the Future of Universities Through Experimental Foresight

Throughout 2018/2019, The Futures Lab, Inc. (TFL) was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive foresight study on the potential futures for universities in Norway. For the most part, the project followed the full, TFL comprehensive six-stage foresight process and a number of customized approaches that leveraged the specificities of the Norwegian Education System. The foresight project covered two future time horizons, namely 2025 to 2030 and 2031 to 2040. Rather than focus here on the Future of the University project itself, this paper considers five experimental foresight methods that produced an extra edge to the creative inputs to this project and delivered some unexpected and critical insights that became decisive platforms and framing cues for the ultimate seven futures scenarios that were delivered, and for which strategies and action plans were created. The term experimental foresight is interpreted as freeform thinking, testing the boundaries, incorporating unorthodox, disparate approaches, tools, artifacts and environment, and real-time improvization, it is about testing new techniques and repurposing and updating older ones. Experimental foresight is closely allied with and some would claim often indistinguishable from experiential futures, which has become prominent within foresight. We distinguish the two insomuch that experiential refers to the way the foresight is conducted, whereas experimental is what is conducted. The paper describes the five experimental foresight methods and techniques based upon theory, practice and proprietary development processes, reflecting various approaches to creative thinking. The paper outlines the design and architecture of each method as well as how it was applied to the Future of the University project, the outcomes, values and benefits. Where appropriate examples of the outcomes have been used to explain or underpin the purpose and benefits of the method under discussion. The methods selected are always harmonized with the more linear, mathematical and modeling applied in the practice of foresight.

Role Differentiation in Creative Processes: A Configural Approach to Team Creativity

To achieve team creativity, team members must engage in various processes, such as problem construction, information search, idea generation, and idea evaluation and implementation. In this paper, we propose that teams may develop a pattern of role differentiation, defined as the specialization of team members in different creative processes. It is proposed that role differentiation allows teams to achieve creativity effectively and efficiently, and will positively relate to team creativity especially when resources are scarce and when teams have sufficient decision making authority (i.e., low centralization). In both a lab study and a field study, we demonstrate that role differentiation is positively related to team creativity, and that this positive effect is stronger when teams have fewer resources for creativity. The field study further showed that this effect is contingent on low centralization of decision-making. These results point to the importance of structuring distinct creative inputs of team members to achieve team creativity, and suggest that not only the amount of attention that is given to different creative processes matters, but also how they are distributed among team members.

Materializing opportunities for NMR of solids.

Advancements in sensitivity and resolution of NMR of solids are opening a bonanza of fundamental and technological opportunities in materials science. Many of these are at the boundaries of related disciplines that provide creative inputs to motivate the development of new methodologies and possibilities for new applications. As Boltzmann limitations are surmounted by dynamic-nuclear-polarization- and laser-enhanced hyperpolarization techniques, the correlative benefits of multidimensional NMR are becoming more and more impactful. Nevertheless, there are limits, and the atomic-level information provided by solid-state NMR will be most useful in combination with state-of-the-art diffraction, microscopy, computational, and materials synthesis methods. Collectively these can be expected to lead to design criteria that will promote discovery of new materials, lead to novel or improved material properties, catalyze new applications, and motivate further methodological advancements.

HIV/AIDS Collaborative Governance and the Role of an Annual Retreat in Fostering Health Services: The Palm Beach County Experience

The complex HIV/AIDS conundrum calls for innovative approaches to tackle associated challenges. The multifaceted nature of the problem and the enormous burden on various sectors of a country’s economy warrant a cross-sector stakeholders’ engagement for effective and sustainable solutions. This research examines the use of an annual retreat involving interviews of key stakeholders involved in health services CARE Council as an avenue for collaborative governance within a local system context in the fight against the epidemic. The results highlight how inclusive and strategic preparation can result in judicious allocation priorities for various service categories. The results also convey how relevant capacities and competencies are jointly developed through creative inputs, outputs and/or outcomes to target populations. The apparent role of facilitative leadership and the embrace of cultural humility promote mutual commitment among the stakeholders toward purposeful ends. The case represents the viability of collaborative governance as a feasible postmodern alternative to mainstream governance and service delivery to various publics, especially in this contemporary era of complexity and volatility. Keywords: Health Services, HIV/AIDS, Annual Retreat, Target Populations, CARE Act, Collaborative Governance. DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-22-08 Publication date: November 30 th 2019

New initiatives: A psychiatric inpatient facility for older adolescents in India.

Context:Almost 1/5th of the adolescent population suffers from mental morbidity. In older adolescents, clinical challenges are accompanied by unique psychosocial and developmental needs. Recent legislations in India – the Mental Health Care Act, 2017 and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 – mandate specific arrangements and provisions for evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents. A separate inpatient Adolescent Psychiatry Center (APC) was started at National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, in 2016.Aims:(a) The aim of this study is to present the need for, development, infrastructure and workforce at APC; (b) to describe clinical profile of adolescents admitted to APC and (c) to identify clinical and psychosocial challenges in the management of older adolescents.Setting and Design:The paper covers consecutive inpatient admissions over the first 7 months of APC.Materials and Methods:Data were gathered from a review of hospital records, staff meetings, and case files.Statistical Analysis:Qualitative data, such as clinical management challenges, are summarized under major emergent themes. Quantitative data are summarized as means with standard deviations and frequencies with percentages.Results:Males, from urban, nuclear family background constituted the majority admissions. Family stressors and risk behaviors were prevalent. Unique clinical challenges included – risk behaviors, issues related to autonomy, conflict with family and conflict with the legal system.Conclusions:Older adolescents need to be treated in an environment appropriate to their age and developmental stage. Restructuring of spaces, routines, and creative inputs to interventions strategies must be made for healing environments for youngsters. APC could be a model for the development of other similar centers.

Greekἀρχιερεύςin Gothic translation

AbstractOne of the most remarkable examples of variation in the Gothic Bible is the translation of the Greek compoundἀρχιερεύς‘chief priest’, accorded as many as seven different Gothic renderings. By examining the distribution of the Gothic examples and the contexts in which they occur, this paper challenges the traditional assumptions on the variation and argues that the variants are due to the exegetical and creative inputs of the translator. It is improbable that the variation was brought about under the influence of pre-Vulgate Latin and unlikely that the different renderings were introduced by putative post-Wulfilian revisers of the Gothic text. The findings call into question the traditional narrative of Wulfila’s single-handed translation of the Bible into Gothic.

On to the Next One: Transitions in Project Entrepreneurship

How does the level of success of the latest project impact the resource sets and decisions of a project entrepreneur? As they move from one project to the next one, project entrepreneurs are faced with the need to rewire and redeploy a variety of resources repeatedly. Even though such project-based enterprises are common a variety of industries, we know little about transitional dynamics of entrepreneurs situated in these industries. In this paper, I employ novel measurements and methods of causal empirical identification to investigate the impact an important determinant of resource sets available and decisions regarding future projects: success of the latest venture. In particular, using difference-in-differences methods in a film industry, I show that success in terms of resource sets, financial inputs are largely unaffected by the level of success, access to creative inputs increases disproportionately for entrepreneurs with prior connections in the industry. In terms of choices of subsequent projects, high levels of success leads artist entrepreneurs to take lower creative risk, while embeddedness and high levels of success both lead to the choice of projects with disproportionately lower levels of popularity. I end with a discussion on the contribution of the study to entrepreneurship theory and practice.

The theory of the managed firm (TMF)

Abstract The economics literature on the ‘theory of the firm’ is extensive. But it fails to address Coase’s 1937 ‘killer questions’, his pointing out that we have no rigorous theory of the firm that can explain or justify their existence. In particular we have no theory of how real people, as opposed to computational devices, fit into notions of the firm that can address Coase’s critique. This is surely a problem for those teaching firm management in business schools and elsewhere - albeit an elephant that has been swept under the carpet. This paper sketches a theory of the firm that stands on the managers’ creative judgments that their reasoning supports but does not dominate; hence the ‘theory of the managed firm’ (TMF) rather than merely the ‘theory of the firm’ (ToF). Along with Adam Smith, I presume human judgment is the source of all new economic value and so see the managed firm as democratic capitalism’s principal apparatus for channeling creative inputs into the socio-economy. Thus managers have both economic and political functions. Firms generate value as managers contribute their judgment in the course of shaping their firm’s responses to the Knightian uncertainties (KUs) and bounded rationalities (BRs) met with as the firm’s freely chosen goals are pursued. Under KU/BR, an analysis of managers’ agentic activity and rhetorical practice complements their rational decision-making and helps us see more of the nature of the managed firm. The TMF provides a post-positivist basis for re-theorizing entrepreneurship, business leadership, strategizing, and innovation management. Practice rather than theory is its basis. It also rejects the ‘separation thesis’ of the business ethics literature, and so provides a theoretical basis for an ethics of managing.

The emergence of new networked business models from technology innovation: an analysis of 3-D printing design enterprises

Technology does not have intrinsic value: obtaining competitive advantage from it and transforming it into profits requires a business model based on the application of competencies and dynamic capabilities, and the ability to select and apply appropriate resources. Innovative 3-D printing technology appears to be dependent on a new business model based on the ability to structure and integrate creative inputs, crowdsourcing processes, and market distribution networks. This new business model is being used by design enterprises that employ 3-D printing technology in order to enrich their service portfolio or to inaugurate completely new business lines. This paper analyzes how the use of new 3-D printing technology in design enterprises is coupled with proper business model components. Through a qualitative analysis of three cases - Quirky, i.materialise and Fab-Lab - the authors develop four propositions on a number of factors that contribute to business model effectiveness in design ventures using 3-D printing technology.

Spanning organizational boundaries to manage creative processes: The case of the LEGO Group

In order to continue to be innovative in the current fast-paced and competitive environment, organizations are increasingly dependent on creative inputs developed outside their boundaries. The paper addresses the boundary spanning activities that managers undertake to a) select and mobilize creative talent, b) create shared identity, and c) combine and integrate knowledge in innovation projects involving external actors. We study boundary spanning activities in two creative projects in the LEGO group. One involves identifying and integrating deep, specialized knowledge, the other focuses on the use of external actors as a source of broad, not necessarily fully developed ideas. We find that the boundary spanning activities in these two projects differ in respect, among other things, of how the firm selects participants, formulates problems, and aligns the expectations of internal and external actors, and how knowledge is integrated across organizational boundaries. We discuss implications of our findings for managers and researchers in a business-to-business context.