NeU and us |
Nuovo e utile is a site for the divulgation of theories and practices of creativity, and is a non-profit organization.
Concept, content and direction are by Annamaria Testa.
Editorial services and graphic design are by Progetti Nuovi.
www.annamariatesta.it
www.progettinuovi.it
Write to the editorial staff of Nuovo e utile at redazione@nuovoeutile.it
For technical problems relative to the viewability and functioning of the site, write to webmaster@nuovoeutile.it
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FAQs |
What is the purpose of this site? |
NeU aims to convey a view of creativity as a style of thought oriented toward the production of original and effective results.
It seeks to make available quality information and tools that are useful for thinking and planning in innovative ways. NeU is targeted at professionals, professors, students, researchers and anyone who has an interest in the theories and practices of creativity.
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Who’s behind it? |
The site is the brainchild of Annamaria Testa, who continues to coordinate and oversee its content. Annamaria has worked in communication and creativity for more than thirty years and has written often on the subject. She is also a consultant and professor at Bocconi University. Her idea was to take her personal archive on creativity and put it online, organizing, integrating and making it available to everyone, including the material she had collected during the two years she served as technical director of a series of initiatives on creativity sponsored by the Region of Tuscany, which would otherwise have been lost. These materials are published with the consent of the Region.
The editing and graphic design of NeU are overseen by Progetti Nuovi, a Milan-based company that develops non-standard communication projects and tools for businesses and organizations.
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How often is the site updated? |
We update the homepage about once a week, almost always on Friday. We update the events section of the homepage more frequently.
The various other sections of the site are updated whenever we find something new and useful that passes the gauntlet of the editing staff.
Newly added links and articles are highlighted for several days with the label “New in NeU”, and are placed at the top of each page, making them easier to find. After a few days we insert them into the existing material in alphabetical order. The opening page of each section lists the articles first, followed by links.
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What are your criteria for selecting material? |
The heart of NeU is Annamaria’s archive and the material that she originally wanted to put online. As for the rest, we read a lot of print and web articles and try to be as rigorous as possible in selecting those that are most relevant and of the best quality. We also carefully evaluate all the suggestions from users and publish the most interesting ones, as long as the links or articles aren’t prevalently self-promotional.
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Can I use the materials published on NeU? |
All the texts that appear on this site are under creative commons license. Use them according to the licensing terms, and please remember to cite the source or, one the web, to link it.
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How can I use NeU for my thesis? |
NeU is a creativity library that is easy to use, updated and always available online. It also has a system of guided paths. After you’ve drafted an outline for your thesis and you know what you need to look for, you can use the various sections in different ways.
The Basic definitions section gives you a range of criteria that can help you frame your subject in terms of creativity. The Models and methods section helps you to read the phenomenon of creativity, whatever the field of application may be. Tools and practices helps you discover the contexts and the ways in which creativity is applied, and orients you among numerous different disciplines.
Reading the abstracts is helpful, for they tell you whether it’s worth the trouble to investigate further, and if so, where to go, thus enabling an immediate comprehension of the site’s logic.
Remember that many of the sites we link to are updated daily, and that many have interesting archival materials.
At the end of every abstract you’ll also find indications of the type of article or site designed to give you an idea of their degree of complexity. Specialized means that the material, in our view, is not easy to understand or to use if you don’t already have a basic knowledge of the argument in question, while Technical is used to signal material more oriented to the professional sphere.
If you write a good thesis on creativity, remember to tell us about it. With your permission, we may even decide to publish an excerpt.
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What do you gain from all this? |
We’re not gaining anything in economic terms. As you can see, the site is completely free of advertising and requires no payment to join. However, designing and maintaining the site is teaching us an extraordinary number of things we otherwise wouldn’t have learned, for it obliges us to stay abreast of a lot of different fields and keeps us in contact with lots of fascinating people.
This is our profit. If maintaining the site becomes too onerous in the future, perhaps we’ll look for a sponsor who shares our vision.
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...I would like to see NeU become a community, where people can discuss creativity online. |
We’re thinking about it, and we’re asking around. We’ll keep you posted on the results. Keep in mind that this site was built on a purely voluntary basis, and that it is for us – who are without specialized web skills – a real adventure. So, give us a little time, and above all tell us about any ideas you have and would like to share.
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Other questions? |
Write to us at redazione@nuovoeutile.it. We’ll reply.
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