Alex Gehlen
Department: Man and Communication
Website: alexgehlen.com
Sevenclicks.org
What: Sevenclicks is a brainstorm tool that allows you to discover new connections between your subjects of interest, creating a pathway that brings you from A to X in seven clicks.
Why: In psychology creativity is mostly defined as combining distant concepts together. Research has shown that broader thoughts are linked to successful ideas. Therefore, Sevenclicks is a tool to stimulate broad thinking by taking the user from his initial topic to unexpected, yet related subjects.
How: The website Sevenclicks.org is a creative research tool that takes the user on a path through the vast and connected knowledge base of Wikipedia. The result is a seven-page glossary, containing the seven chosen topics, which can then be saved or shared with others.
“Browsing through Wikipedia I end up learning things I didn’t search for”