It’s said that there is nothing new under the sun, a biblical reference1 but often echoed throughout history. Mark Twain said, “There is no such thing as a new idea.”2 He called it “impossible” and implies that we merely recycle and reuse ideas, creating mashups out of existing material.
I consider myself a creative person and find myself toying with many ideas daily. I’ll often jump on Google to see if anyone has had a similar thought and always find I’ve been beaten to the punch. So, what hope do we have of ever creating something we can proudly call our own?
Well, I’ve hinted at the answer in the previous sentence. There is a distinction between having an idea and acting on that idea. We all have ideas, thousands of them a day, but on how many of those ideas do we act? Some are simple, such as thinking about getting out of bed and then doing it. I may fantasize about a peanut, butter, and jelly sandwich for lunch and then act on it by actually making the sandwich. These aren’t brilliant ideas but acting on them moves us forward through our day.
But, what about getting the idea that a railing on our front steps would make them safer? Or, wouldn’t it be great if there was a website where students could display their hard work for the world and find short tutorials on how to create new, exciting work?
Even great ideas are a dime a dozen. Would a railing on the front steps make them safer? Sure, it would. Will the idea alone save someone from accidentally falling off those stairs? Not a chance. Acting on a great idea is what gives it worth. Building the railing or hiring someone to do it is what leads to stairs that are safer.
In February of 2018, I had the idea of creating a centralized place where students of Colorado College could go to get quick instruction on questions that pop up over and over. The block plan moves fast, and there is so much that gets lost along the way. I wanted to provide tutorials and even mini-courses or nanoblocks that would provide 24-hour access to information when it’s needed.
I was surprised that this idea hadn’t been implemented already and set out to design the site which was then known as the HUB at Colorado College.
As this idea evolved over many months, we added pages to showcase the excellent work produced by students, staff, faculty, and alumni.
There were live broadcasts of campus events including scrimmages by the new eSports teams.
The HUB also ran regular features and polls which engaged the CC community around campus and online.
The HUB aspired to be a centralized place where we could all go for a quick tutorial, a good laugh, and to contribute to the growing galleries – showing off our work, our community, our campus, our lives.
Ideas come and go. I have no doubt this one has been on the minds of many over the years. And, though the HUB Team put up the infrastructure and fought with design software to bring this idea into existence, we enjoyed working with anyone and everyone at Colorado College to make it bigger, stronger, more vibrant and alive.
In early 2020 the HUB site was rebranded as the DAM site and now focuses primarily on the Digital Arts and Media programs and projects at the college.
Chris Bittner | Digital Arts & Media Technical Director | Colorado College
1. Ecclesiastes 1:9 – What has been will be again, what has been done… Available at: https://www.biblestudytools.com/ecclesiastes/1-9.html. (Accessed: 10th October 2018)
2. Mark Twain. A quote from Mark Twain’s Own Autobiography. Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/843880-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-new-idea-it. (Accessed: 10th October 2018)
