Moleskin

I carry, almost all the tine several means of storing ideas when ever they occur. Mostly I use just two, my iPhone for capture of photo's and book page capture, with still the best utility, Evernote, I don't have to sink, as its on all my devices, and of course my trusty Moleskin, that I use to sketch and note.

I use pencil, pen and marker pens, to highlight and I sketch, it makes no difference what, I have an idea I note it, and if required sketch, the highlighter pen is used to define. Be careful, the marker pens tend to bleed through the paper.

I keep looking at Google Keep and so far it's just no where near Evernote, no OCR, I tend to test this witrh screen grabs i take of ebooks, but to date no OCR on the photos I have taken, But saying this, I tend to copy notes made into google Doc via iFTTT, a free cloud based app that looks and if it see's a new not copies it to Keep,,,,,, just in case

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Ideas Bank

Image by eversion via FlickrIdeas sometimes come thick and fast, some days they just don't come at all, so I now constantly carry with me my iPhone for the camera and notepad, and my moleskin for jotting ideas that I can't put into words.
Currently I can't get the environment out of my mind, its like everything I see has a connection, from material source, to running costs, to maintenance, why oh why do we build houses with such deep and expensive foundations,  the innovation is to develop a simple foundation that allows minimal contact with the ground, I want all of the materials manufactured in a factory and brought to site ready for installation, now you going to say that this is tried and tested technology, and your right, so were is the innovation , simple its in the ground, think of the major building problems, and you think of damp, so if the house is supported on simple piles, and the piles are connected to a lattice of beams, around the perimeter and across the frame, I have the base of a house ready. Walter Segal had this concept nailed years ago, and its never been taken up by large scale house builders, why, is so cost effective. I followed up this idea as a CPD project, you'll find loads of article on my Konstrukshon CPD weblog site. I want to let my mind wander a little on this idea, because I'm sure there is mileage in thinking a little on this, natural cooling, air venting in through a stack system, storage of heat in the winter, battery stores, even light fans making use of the airflow to generate a small charge., small piles auger piles, piles made or waste, flexible couplings for waste and power, site moves made easy, ground sensors for heat and perhaps movement. Why not see your house dry built before it goes to site,

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My book

My book is a jumble, it's a mass of ideas, thoughts, and images, jumbled up in a file, waiting for me to think about it's resurrection, I look at it from time to time and wonder why I started it, then as I get more into the text, I Sudenly remember why certain passages were written.

I use predomantly apples pages! I have tried other software! some built specifically for writers, but I always seem to return to pages, it's what I know and like, and I can allow all my thoughts to centre on the book, rather than how to use the software.

So often I am without any electronic means, and my trusty Moleskin comes out, it rare that I am without it, the older I get, the more I realise my phone does not ring from day to day, so apart from photos and the odd note, why carry it, but my moleskin always accompanies me.

This brings up the problem of attaching the note to my file, something I have not sucesfully solved, although Evernote might hold the answer! with a link on my pages article or book to the Evernote folder, or tag reference.

 

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Innovation & Inspiration

If I sit there, and wait, and think, then ideas come, from where I do not know, but they come, proberly from past experiences, events, or even a book I have read, it might have been yesterday, it might have been months or even years ago, and one thought leads to another, a cascade of ideas and concepts begins to flow, but without the past, without my experiences of life, my thoughts would be empty.

I read, travel and open my eyes to all things, nothing escapes my attention, some things just bore the hell out of me and I suppose they are in the further reaches of my ming, soap operas are proberly there, but every now and then I catch up, with them. Travel allows me to see alternatives, experience things that in the UK I might not get to see or here, sounds that are unthinkable to a brit.

But the point is I feed my imagination, I have experiences that I can dwel on, things that will enable me to clarify, expand and innovate upon.

Why should I not read Swallows and Amazons, its full of interest, and thought, Dickens was a master of thought, watching and writing, for ever improving, I have just read, Sketches by Boz - Hard Times, its a view of life as he saw it. Its another experience I can store into my mind, a vegetable will quickly rot, if not looked after, the mind is not so dissimilar, feed it, nurture it and it will last. but more it will begin to work harder the more you feed it and you might be surprised at what it will yealed.

The language of innovation

Get it straight, right from the start, innovation does not require specialist jargon, corporate speak, it just requires your open mind, and a small book to record your thoughts, no specific way, just one were you can read it back. leave space around each idea, I tend to add more notes and scribbles as time generates more thoughts. Should you use a computer to record these thoughts, Mmmmmm good question, my answer is not yet, develop your technique, may be in the future.

Innovation is just the start

There is no time like the present, no rules, no preconception, just ideas, this is the start of innovation. No item should go undocumented, reviewed, and thought about, without thought the ideas will just die. Sharing of ideas is the basis of collaboration, open and honest, no hidden agendas, no idea is binned, opinion is welcome, once an idea is born, no one owns it it is part of the collective, open to comment and improvement.