3) Delphi Technique

The Delphi Technique is a type of creative decision making technique in which the group would send our surveys to each member, in which they would rate and fill out their answers. This way the group does not have to physically come together. This works especially for big corporate accounts in which time is of the essence. This technique allows all the participants to speak out their own opinions and ideas to the rest of the group. Unfortunately, this type of technique requires a lot of work in which the group would constantly have to send out mails and add up survey calculations. Finally afterwards, they would need to send out followup questions unto which would recycle the whole process of the Delphi Technique. I personally think that the best brainstorming idea is by actually having the whole group there. Physical body language can say a lot about the opinions and ideas circling around in the discussion.

2) Problem Solving Collaboration

Out of the many different problem solving/collaboration style, i feel that "compromise" becomes the most effective. Compromise gives both parties what they want out of the situation. Instead of causing more conflict, such as competition or avoidance, the group can carefully try to achieve an agreement by bringing 2 different ideas and applying it towards one solution. An example of when we had to use compromise was for a basketball team I used to play on. The coach was deciding whether to have less, but longer practices, or more frequent shorter practices. Many other players had different class schedules and others rather be home early for dinner. Soon enough an all out debate exploded which resulted to the coach creating a fair even schedule with some longer and shorter practices. All the players were able to accept the new terms by the coach. Compromise a great way to come up to one solid conclusion that makes everyone happy.

1) Group Presentations

Public presentation exists in all kinds of different work and school environments. It is important for the group to express all their feelings about the subject. I personally believe that forum is the best way for everyone to voice their opinions and ideas for the group. Any person has the opportunity to announce their question to whoever is holding the presentation. This is a very common way to have a variety of ideas and solutions to any kind of situation. Especially in a classroom environment, forum can open up an array of brainstorming amongst anyone who has an idea. We were able to solve an idea to present as a gift for our teacher. Everyone was just throwing out different ideas such as a huge card or a fruit basket. We finally created a vote tally in which we decided on making her a huge card and some potluck desserts, Forum is a great way to present an idea to a group.

3) Emotional Barriers

"We often seek the approval of others for our ideas, rather than risk being wrong...Fear of making a mistake often causes us to limit our creativity. In a sense, we have lost our right to be wrong". I believe this statement is true because many people are afraid to be judged by others. Insecurities often make people self-conscious about their actions and ideas. Unfortunately in today's society, many people are looked down upon for having "different" ideas that make them shelter their own opinion. Our culture today is revolved around perfection, thus when someone makes a mistake they are frowned down upon by the people around them. That leaves people to give their opinions and true thoughts less. In sense, "we have lost our right to be wrong." I think emotional barriers create a huge impact that blocks people from expanding and sharing their unique creativity. For example: when a student answers the question wrong and other students seem to look down upon the student's answer, it stops me from answering the question.

2) Cultural Barriers

Five cultural barriers that can affect people are: "a requirement for conformity, an expectation of practicality and efficiency, particular arenas for competition or cooperation, an expectation of politeness and of following rules for social order, a reliance on statistical proofs, a dependence on generalizations, a trust in the power of reason and logic, a belief in either or perspective of an issue, and a reliance on expert knowledge."

Many people feel that it is hard to develop creativity because it is not considered a norm. People nowadays take other people's judgement very seriously. Because of this problem, many people do not want to express their opinion or ideas because they feel there would be negative criticism involved because of their actions. In todays society many people dont think outside the box because they are self conscious of what they create. If the idea is too "weird" for other people to understand, they would be judged differently because of their ideas. I believe that is why cultural barriers definitely affect the creative mind. 

1) Creativity

I have always been a creative person. I have always had a different perspective of how to do things. I love trying to figure out different ways to do things because I hope that the result would  be even better! I remember for my girlfriends birthday, I wanted to get her a sweet card, but instead of going the usual route of buying a card I decided to make her one instead. Making a card is more heart felt and more time and effort would exemplify the fact that I care. For the card I decided that instead of making it flat, I would make the pictures and words "pop" out. Kind of like a pop up book. Not only did I make a fantastic card, but I decided to use a poster board instead of a regular 8x11 paper. The poster board was about 3 feet tall and wide that opens up! This example  was definitely part of my creative side because I feel that the size and creativity of the card really showed how much I care for my girlfriend. Creativity is a personal mental development. The thoughts of creativity are always flowing, but the real question is if you will listen to your creativity and take the plunge to try something new.

3) Social Networking

Social networkings on different applications such as facebook or instagram is the twenty first century of communication. Everyone uses these network sites to communicate with each other because it is a quick response way in direct conversation. Social network sites keep people close together because it is easy to locate everyone. The simple message and comment system always keeps people connected. Since we may see only 5% of our real friends on a normal basis, having a network like facebook will keep a person linked to their 95% other friends online. This communication with distant friends allows all of us to keep in contact with each other. People on facebook usually have a different persona that they like to live up to. Their lives are depicted through their profile pictures with their memories posted in status updates. Sure this idea of life may be virtually fake, but with our ever growing technological society, it still gives people a method to stay connected with each other.

2) Anonymity, Group Size, Proximity = CMC

Anonymity, group size, and proximity influences group CMC communication because all these different aspects encourage members to speak out their ideas. In bigger groups, more ideas are taken in because each member has the same opportunity to make a point or opinion. Also having the benefit of being anonymous allows people to speak out their true feelings and ideas. Lastly, proximity apart from the each other gives people their own personal space which allows them to think better of their topic. All of these ideas all come together to influence a effective group meeting that is done via CMC. CMC allows all the members to participate in the discussion along with the idea that all the members are created equal. This equality allows people to speak positively or negatively about another idea or opinion. Without having to face each other face to face. More people are susceptible to speak the their true feelings and contribute positively to the groups efforts.

1) CMC differs F2F

CMC differs from F2F communication in a sense that context and the entire message may be conveyed differently. I believe that when people are speaking face to face, they are more prone to understand the situation a little better and the severity of the topic. Whereas when people are talking online, emotions are not represented and the context of the subject can be viewed from many different perspectives. Communication through different kinds of media will be interpreted differently by different people. Online conversations are more liable to miscommunication because they are taken less seriously compared to talking to someone face to face. An example of how CMC is different from F2F is the idea of buying and selling online. Bargaining online is next to impossible because if the seller does not want the price, they can simply turn off their communication. Whereas, in person, bargaining is possible because both the buyer and seller are face to face with different emotions. The context of the conversation is better understood when it is in person.