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Thinking Skills for the Digital Generation: The Development of Thinking and Learning in the Age of Information 1st Edition Balu H. Athreya
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Dedication
For Hayley, my favorite nimble thinker.
Acknowledgments
I humbly thank and am indebted to Denise Anderson, Mark Avnet, Liz Blazer, Paula Bosco, Stefan G. Bucher, Kill Cooper, Kaila Edmondson, Dave Glass, Dr. Peter Gray, Scott Francis, Max Friedman, Rei Inamoto, Dr. Mizuko Ito, Sarah Nelson Jackson, Jean-Marc Joseph, Matt Lyon, Denyse Mitterhofer, Mariko Oda, Amy Owen, Josh Owen, Payam, PJ Pereira, Tish Scolnik, Jennifer Sterling, Ashley Stewart, Brian Storm, Patrick Sutherland, Dr. Jeffrey H. Toney, Ria R. Venturina, Steve Vranakis, Jessica Walsh, John Weigele, and Claudean Wheeler for their excellent and generous contributions to this book.
At Kean University, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Dawood Farahi, President; Dr. Jeffrey H. Toney, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs; Prof. Rose Gonnella, Executive Director of the Robert Busch School of Design; Dr. Susan Gannon, Office for Research and Sponsored Programs; the Release Time for Research committee for the research grant; and all of my other esteemed colleagues.
I would also like to thank my dear Robert Busch School of Design students, who deserve nothing less than nimble pedagogy. I hope I have inspired and provided the tools for lifelong learning.
And finally—loving thanks to my husband Dr. Harry Gruenspan and our darling daughter Hayley.
EMBRACING THE NEW CHALLENGES
“Complacency is the number one killer of creativity. Keep moving.”
—STEVE VRANAKIS, Executive Creative Director, Creative Lab, Google
How does one flourish in design today? How does one avoid becoming a person who is out of place, an anachronistic thinker, a fogy—or perhaps worse, someone with limited scope or capabilities?
Technology is progressing rapidly. That’s not a qualitative statement— it’s a fact. Very soon cars that drive themselves will transport us and most of us will be sporting wearable computers. All the rapid technological changes have altered the nature of work, people’s habits and consequently what designers need to be able to do. In the ages past, life was short and art was long. Today, life is long and tech is short.
Employers want to hire nimble thinkers: people who are not only content experts but who also are agile in adapting to new technology and new directions in their fields. With rapid technological changes and globalization, the ability to think creatively and strategically is crucial.
These nimble thinkers not only keep up, but they also better serve people by sharpening their thinking. Steve Vranakis, Executive Creative Director, Creative Lab, Google, believes that “technology combined with creativity can be used as a force for good and allow for people to come up with ideas that change the world.”
“[N]ow, even more than in the past, creativity is a key to economic success. We no longer need people to follow directions in robot-like ways (we have robots for that), or to perform routine calculations (we have computers for that), or to answer already-answered questions (we have search engines for that). But we do need people who can ask and seek answers to new questions, solve new problems and anticipate obstacles before they arise. These all require the ability to think creatively. The creative mind is a playful mind.”
—PETER GRAY, PH.D., Research Professor, Boston College
Embracing Change
If you’re a nimble thinker you can change with the times. If you’re an imaginative thinker, you might be able to disrupt current paradigms or engage in world building (think of the worlds built by J.K. Rowling’s fiction, Wes Anderson’s films, or think of J. Mayer H. Architects’ Metropol Parasol or the Creative Artists Agency Chipotle short films).
If you can fundamentally change a business model, product or service, you can shift the paradigm. For example, packages are supposed to be delivered by the carrier's workforce. As you’ll learn in chapter 1, DHL created MyWays to facilitate last-mile deliveries throughout Stockholm by crowdsourcing to the city’s residents. This new model disrupts the ordinary business model of delivery services.
There’s more than one way to deliver a package, it seems—and nimble thinkers know there are many ways to do many things. For Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, GSD&M, an Austin-based ad agency, developed an app called Avoid Humans, which uses Foursquare data and a curated list of high quality bars, cafes and restaurants to help users find the least crowded places in town.
So is the new creativity a disruptive model? Being forward thinking— what Bloomberg TV calls a game changer—certainly takes imagination, ingenuity and knowledge. Think of Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page,
Martin Cooper and Mark Zuckerberg. Think of creative solutions such as R/GA’s Nike+ platform, Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s “Subservient Chicken” for Burger King, Otto Neurath’s Isotype (the International System of Typographic Picture Education), Saul Bass’s film title sequences, Alex Steinweiss’s album covers, Jonathan Ive’s work for Apple or Google Glass, and Jake Dyson’s LED light that lasts 50 years—or other companies and entities who innovate such as Netflix, Dropbox, MakerBot, SXSW, Twitter and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
There are many ways to innovate or think creatively. One must assess each situation with a creative and judicious mind-set. Patrick Sutherland, Founder of Vidoovy, offers practical advice, “In the end applying any approach to a new situation just because it worked the last time is a recipe for failure. This includes disruption. Instead survey the terrain as it changes and make your best judgment based on probabilities that exist at that moment.”
AN ASSESSMENT GUIDE
Use these topics and questions as you evaluate your work. I’ll also refer to them throughout the book.
CLAR ITY: Will your idea communicate clearly and quickly?
POSSIBLE: Can your idea be implemented?
CREATIVITY: Is your concept inspiring or unique?
FORWARD THINKING: Is your concept a game changer? Does it disrupt the current model?
CRAFT: Does the execution best serve the concept? Is it well crafted?
MEDIA CHANNEL: Are you taking advantage of what the media channel can do? Can you do anything exciting with the channel that hasn’t been done before?
SOCIAL PROPOSITION: Does it benefit people or society? (Imbuing a brand or product design with a social proposition—with an inherent or deliberated benefit to society is logical and requires creative thinking to generate and implement; it serves all involved.)
Creativity is a sudden shift in meaning, context and story using the same information.
—DEEPAK CHOPRA, M.D., F.A.C.P, Endocrinologist, Founder and Chairman of the Board for The Chopra Foundation
Thinking Without a Playbook
What if you did not have a playbook? No conventions or rules? What if you were the first designer to ever design what you’re about to do? Thinking without a playbook frees us from conventional thinking. Every semester, I have to combat my students’ tendency to make their solutions look like what they think a design or advertising solution is supposed to look like— like pedestrian solutions they’ve seen a million times.
Dave Glass (aka Danger) of Hungry Castle, remarks, “There is no guaranteed creative process. Sometimes we start with a problem that needs to be solved. Other times we start with a solution that actually requires a problem. That might sound like some artsy-fartsy crap right there but it’s true.” (See the full interview with Hungry Castle’s Dave Glass and Kill Cooper in chapter 6.)
When I asked PJ Pereira, Chief Creative Officer and Cofounder of Pereira & O’Dell, about the agency's guiding principle, he replied, “We ask ourselves, ‘What if advertising had no history? What if advertising were invented today, the day we got the assignment?’ That approach frees our thinking; it frees us to use our tools to defy conventional categories.” (See the full interview with PJ Pereira in chapter 6.)
Embrace change. In contemporary times, change is continuous. Prepare for it by learning more and broadly and by sharpening your cognitive domain skills, the core learning domain involving the development of critical thinking: knowledge, comprehension, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Embracing daily the goals of being nimble and thinking creatively will trigger the release of endorphins in your brain—and that will feel good.
How This Content Will Help You Be Nimble
Employers want creatives who can generate big ideas: platforms that build community, branded utilities, content as branded entertainment that is so good it competes with all entertainment, disruptive ideas that benefit everyone (client, individuals and society), marketing as service, products that make lives better, and value creation in everything. Here’s what you’ll take away from this book:
• imagination preparation so that original works and ideas can emerge
• critical and creative thinking tools
• understanding of how to create content people will find engaging, relevant or beneficial
• the ability to problem find: to anticipate or foresee a problem and solution rather than only solving assigned problems
• enhanced creativity through executing the book’s exercises
• insights from the interviews with esteemed experts
• the habit of creative and critical thinking and observing
THINKING CREATIVELY
“In today’s rapidly changing world, people must continually come up with creative solutions to unexpected problems. Success is based not only on what you know or how much you know, but on your ability to think and act creatively. In short, we are now living in the Creative Society.”
—MITCHEL RESNICK, LEGO
Papert Professor of Learning Research Academic Head, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Lab
THE CHALLENGE
Generating viable ideas and creating in the digital age presents new challenges for all designers. Employers and clients call upon creative professionals to quickly conceive and execute grand ideas and react nimbly to rapid changes in industries, technology and business sectors. Graphic designers need to be empathetic, interdisciplinary story-makers working across media. They must fully understand what each specific media channel can do and how each channel can be utilized to deliver an engaging brand experience, contributing an integral element of the brand narrative. It’s essential that designers generate concepts for a campaign or program that take various forms related by strategy, voice and design across channels, ranging from print to social films to websites to mobile apps to web platforms.
“Our goal is to design everything so it’s beautifully simple.”
—LARRY PAGE, Cofounder, Google
Many graphic designers, art directors, copywriters, and creative directors face the new challenge of creating relevant original content for brands, causes and organizations to market online and in social media. Part of this challenge entails understanding how people behave online, become cocreators, and use technology, mobile and social media. Unique content must give people a story to tell, one that engages them enough to talk about or share online.
Industrial designers need to address unexpected challenges to meet market needs. They address usability issues and generate design concepts that address social issues facing the global community. Reconsidering what functional objects are all about—whether reinventing the concept of a car or a soccer ball, or wheelchair or eyeglasses—requires keen imaginations that synthesize need, beauty, function and experience.
To face these new challenges, consider:
1. Viewing a design or visual communication problem with a new mind-set.
2. Cultivating your creative thinking and preparing your imagination.
3. Becoming a design expert with additional knowledge gained by keen interest in a broad range of subjects.
A New Mind-Set
Let’s begin to adapt our thinking about design, branding or advertising solutions by thinking of it as content creation rather than as creating an artifact.
Rather than thinking about solving a problem, approach the visual communication goals with an open, experimental mind-set. To do this, set aside the closed conventions of what design or advertising is supposed to be. Instead strive to understand how to make a brand social and create
content and product design that people will find engaging, relevant or beneficial. Ask: Is the idea flexible? Is it entertaining? Is it informative? Does it have value? Will it positively impact society? Does the idea inspire content that people will share? How will the idea manifest and function for the capabilities of specific channels and platforms?
The motto of this new mindset is: Entertain. Inform. Be useful. Do good.
Imagination Prep
In the design professions (graphic design, industrial design, product design, advertising design and interior architecture design), a problem is given and you have to solve it. However, to solve a given problem well, a designer must learn to think like a scientist rather than a detective. My premise goes back to Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld in 1938:
For the detective the crime is given, the problem formulated: Who killed Cock Robin? The scientist must, at least in part, commit his own crime as well as carry out the investigation. … The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.
This holds true in design too. Your goal is to prepare your imagination so that original works and ideas can emerge. This is a developed capacity. We have to enhance our imaginations like fine artists: for instance, René Magritte took the familiar and made it strange and Odilon Redon took the strange and made it familiar.
T-Shaped Connector
A T-shaped creative is a content expert with additional knowledge in a broad range of subjects she’s interested in that gives her thinking depth and breadth. The vertical bar of the T represents expertise and skills in one’s field of study and practice; the horizontal bar of the T represents knowledge in
“If you want to be interesting, be interested.”
—DAVID OGILVY, founder, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
areas other than one’s own, interest in other disciplines, and subject matter and the capacity to collaborate across fields with other experts. David Guest first employed the term (in an editorial in the London newspaper, The Independent, in 1991); designer Bill Moggridge of IDEO made the term popular. Moggridge explains that design creates a bridge between the sciences and the arts. So if designers are to create that bridge, they must think richly and broadly—they must be T-shaped thinkers.
Let’s take this T-shaped thinking further: depth and breadth are enhanced by making connections amidst one’s broad knowledge base, as well as actively seeking connections. It helps to be a meta-thinker (an awareness of or an analysis of one’s own thinking) in order to better understand how one is processing material.
It’s imperative to stay abreast of the latest in technology (in all design disciplines, not only your own), disruptive business models, art, and research in the social sciences (sociology, economics, anthropology and psychology) that directly impact design. Use what you learn to conceive, construct or figure out. Experiment.
Share your knowledge with colleagues and find out what they’re learning. As a resource, start a diverse creative community for cross-pollination. Spread the gospel of the T-thinking mind-set to help designers expand their knowledge base moving beyond their own area of expertise. Innovation often happens at the intersection of two disciplines. To innovate in that way, you need knowledge of more than one field.
DELIVERABLES
The question on most every consumer’s mind is What’s in it for me? Whether by entertaining or providing a utility as a benefit, many brands are answering that concern instead of deploying the faded one-way marketing message of a television commercial or print ad.
This isn’t an entirely new concept, but it is more important than ever. In 1900, Michelin brand published their first Michelin Red Guide. The guide’s website (www.michelintravel.com/about) explains, “André and Edouard Michelin foresaw that for the automobile to be successful, motorists had to be able to find places to refuel, charge their batteries or change their tires wherever they traveled. The MICHELIN guide was therefore created to offer drivers all of this useful information, free of charge.”
Digital channels allow marketers to pull in audiences with entertaining film, free apps, games or other content. BMW and agency Fallon helped usher in advertising content that was appealing enough to pull people in (as opposed to advertising that is pushed at people, such as TV commercials) in 2001 with a web film campaign called “The Hire” starring Clive Owen as the BMW’s driver. The campaign featured films by esteemed movie directors, including John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee and Tony Scott and featured celebrities such as James Brown and Madonna in addition to Clive Owen. More examples of effective deliverables follow to give you an idea of the kind of nimble thinking necessary today to answer the consumer question, “What can you do for me?”
Social Film: The Beauty Inside
Even though he’s the same person on the inside, every day Alex wakes up looking like a different person. When he meets Leah and falls in love with her, “He knows he will see her again but she will never see him.” The Beauty Inside is Alex’s story—a social film Pereira & O’Dell created for Intel and Toshiba. Imaginatively, this romance allows anyone, male or female, to play the film’s lead role of Alex. “Through social channels, Intel and Toshiba invited the audience to play the lead role of Alex by auditioning online. Fans could also interact with Alex on Facebook in between episodes.”
It was directed by Sundance winner Drake Doremus, stars Topher Grace, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Matthew Gray Gubler, and won numerous prestigious awards (including Cannes Branded Content and Entertainment Grand Prix, Grand Clios, as well as a Daytime Emmy in the category of Outstanding New Approaches: Original Daytime Program or Series). “The Beauty Inside” exemplifies the kind of imaginative thinking it takes to create marketing that pulls people in and that’s shareworthy.
Computer Application: eco:Drive
Agency AKQA told the story of Fiat cars’ fuel-efficiency. To engage drivers, they created the Cannes Cyber Grand Prix winning eco:Drive, an easy to use computer application. Fiat wanted to find a way to “tell the story of the fuelefficiency of Fiat cars in a way that was simple, human and fun” (www.mediapost.com/publications/article/158006/the-browser-akqa.html?print).
Users download the application from the Fiat website to a computer, then save it on any USB stick. Insert the USB stick into the Fiat port. Drive. Then plug the USB stick into the computer. The technology evaluates the driver’s style and other data and recommends “how to reduce fuel consumption, and save money and the planet. Fiat sold one million eco:Drive enabled cars. The 30,000 residents of eco:Ville reduced CO2 emissions by 2.6 million kilograms—enough to cook them dinner for 144 days” (www. akqa.com/#/work/fiat/eco-drive/idea).
(See the interview with AKQA’s Chief Creative Officer Rei Inamoto in chapter 6.)
Platform: Nike+
Employers want creatives who can generate grand ideas such as the one behind the Nike+ proprietary platform and design created by R/GA. This platform allows runners to track multiple activities, compare results over time, find better routes, train smarter, challenge friends, describe their day, improve their performances and post their success. The Nike+ platform builds community and the brand as well as providing services. (Learn more at http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus.)
Platform: That’s Not Cool
Another example of the kind of creative solution is the That’s Not Cool digital platform, also created by R/GA for Futures Without Violence, “to help teens get informed, cope with digital harassment, and draw their own digital line separating acceptable from inappropriate” (from www.thatsnotcool. com). To help teens draw their own digital line, the advertising design team created the That’s Not Cool mobile site. “Teens are inseparable from their devices, so with the mobile site, they’re never more than a click away from help. We developed call out cards with quirky yet firm messages that teens could
send to peers, right from the mobile site, to let them know they’re crossing the line. They could also learn about digital abuse, share experiences, and get professional help.”
App: Feedie
The Feedie app from Omnicom benefits The Lunchbox Fund. “Feedie is an app… that transforms your passion for sharing food photos into actually sharing food for those who need it. Simply sign up via Facebook or Twitter, and visit a participating restaurant. When you use Feedie to take a photo of your meal and post it, the restaurant makes a donation to The Lunchbox Fund—a non-profit organization that provides daily meals to schoolchildren in South Africa. Your post thanks the restaurant and spreads the Feedie message!” The app’s creators combined function, social impact and creating thinking in this solution. (Find out more at www.wethefeedies.com.)
Program: Red Bull Stratos
Red Bull’s story is an action story, very fitting for this beverage category. As part of the The Red Bull Stratos mission, supported by an expert team, Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper Felix Baumgartner “ascended to 128,100 feet in a stratospheric balloon and made a freefall jump rushing toward earth at supersonic speeds before parachuting to the ground” (www. redbullstratos.com).
According to Red Bull, “The primary contribution to the science community includes data that could help develop next generation space suits, establish viable escape procedures for passengers and crew in space, and create parachutes with state-of-the-art safety systems.” Red Bull also supports hundreds of athletes worldwide.
Campaign: Dumb Ways to Die
Highly likeable and shareable, “Dumb Ways to Die” ensured that young people paid attention to a message about safety from Metro Trains Melbourne, and it gave those young people something to talk about. “Dumb Ways to Die” (DWTD) became a global phenomenon; it was the most awarded campaign
in the sixty-year history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. According to Metro Trains, the campaign contributed to a more than 30 percent reduction in near-miss accidents.
McCann Melbourne, the ad agency, “understood that early adopters would be key to success,” so they “amplified shareability by creating .gifs from the video animation and shared them via Tumblr” (www.interpublic. com/our-agencies/recent-works?work_id=2510&casename=Dumb+Ways +To+Die).
“After writing the first comment on the YouTube video, which provided the links to buy the song on iTunes or listen/download via Soundcloud, McCann Melbourne… did not engage in the online commentary in any way and have continued to be entirely non-interventional. This freedom has allowed people to create multiple translations that have facilitated growth throughout Asia, Europe and South America.”
Mobile App: DHL MyWays
To facilitate last-mile deliveries throughout Stockholm, DHL introduced MyWays, an original business model that crowdsources to the city’s residents. Deutsche Post DHL’s Innovation unit developed the concept.
The app’s website (www.myways.com) explains it this way: “Don’t have time to pick up your parcel from the DHL Service Point? No problem! All you need to do is install the new MyWays App on your smartphone and add the parcel to the platform. To do so you need to insert the DHL Tracking number, select time and places where you want to receive the parcel and also choose how much you are willing to pay for the delivery.”
Using the MyWays mobile app, DHL customers who request flexible deliveries connect with people (mostly students) offering to transport packages along their daily routes to earn a little extra income. All connections and details are worked out using the mobile app. This innovative model disrupts the ordinary business model of delivery services. In this case, the new creativity is a disruptive model.
THE NEW CREATIVITY PREP SCHOOL
“Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure.”
—ALBERT EINSTEIN
WORKING BACKWARDS THROUGH PROBLEM FINDING AND DECONSTRUCTION
To endow our work with artistry, rather than mimic what has been done before, we need to prepare our minds. Thinking imaginatively prevents the creation of pedestrian solutions. Scientist Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors only the prepared mind.” We need to add to our preparatory practice to free ourselves from conventions in order to be ready to design or create in a wired world. We need to be prepared to create content and design that promotes, informs, performs, serves, solves, entertains, or engages.
Johannes Itten understood the critical nature of preparing in a free way. In Mein Vorkurs am Bauhaus: Gestaltung und Formenlehrehis, Itten explains one of the goals of his Bauhaus Preparatory course: “To free the creative forces and thus the artistic talents of the students. Individual experience and insights were to lead to real work. The students were to free themselves step by step from all dead conventions and pluck up the courage to do their work.”
Whether to serve commerce and brands or to serve human rights and the social good, new preparatory creative thinking is crucial and should be robust.
“Most conversations between a brand and its consumers begin with a piece of content.”
Problem solving is the prevailing paradigm across design disciplines: Designers problem solve. In practice, though, this paradigm inhibits them from behaving like most fine artists who create until a discovery or a direction emerges. Only once a discovery emerges do fine artists use that journey to generate and crystalize a creative problem to solve. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1956 documentary, The Mystery of Picasso (Le Mystère Picasso), sets out to understand the “mystery” of Pablo Picasso’s creative process. In this groundbreaking film, we see Picasso at work. As we watch Picasso paint, we realize his process is spontaneous: each form he paints brings him to another—nothing was preconceived. Five hours into the process, as his free form association continues, Picasso declares that he will have to discard the canvas: “Now that I begin to see where I’m going with it, I’ll take a new canvas and start again.” Picasso used the painting process to find inspiration and direction; he painted to seek an idea. Nothing was planned.
The following methodology uses a discovery-led paradigm that draws upon a fine art creative process coupled with a design directive (a technique, topic, a story starter, a prompt to incite action) resulting in a novel process for designers or any creative visual artist.
Because designers now create unique content for brands or organizations, these exercises aim to encourage T-thinking—broadening and deepening one’s knowledge base—in order to generate unique content and ideas.
After you generate content or designs, you deconstruct what you’ve shaped to determine if it could be used to serve a branded product or service
PROJECT TIPS FOR THINKING CREATIVELY
• Use words or sketches to think. Go old school with a pencil or marker in your hand. Drawing engages most regions of your brain.
• Begin with research. Dr. Mizuko Ito advises: “Finding out about a new interest or seeking an answer to a thorny problem can be as simple as Googling, finding a YouTube video, or lurking on an expert forum. FAQs, tutorials, how-to videos and detailed answers on Q&A forums litter the Internet, created by experts, enthusiasts and hobbyists of all shapes and sizes.” (See full interview with Dr. Ito in chapter 6.)
• Collaborate if you can. Find other discipline experts—perhaps you know a psychologist or IT expert. Or work with someone in the same discipline who complements your mindset or skill set—someone with whom you have collaborative chemistry. (Author Joshua Wolf Shenk builds an argument that one-to-one collaboration drives creative success in his book, Powers of Two: Seeking the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs. Think of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Marie and Pierre Curie, or Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.)
• If you run into a creative roadblock, try free writing or free drawing. Or try mind mapping: Write a word or sketch an object in the center of a page. Extend lines out from that central word or sketch and write or draw whatever comes to mind next.
or a social cause or nonprofit organization, or if it could be used as a design tool or object. Analyze the subject matter, style and suitability. This analysis itself is highly instructive—deconstructing images to understand them, analyzing style for meaning, and finally determining if the original content is appropriate for a brand or organization, on-brand (in sync with the core brand narrative) or off-brand (not in sync with the core brand narrative). When you learn something new, dopamine levels increase in the brain, which is why creative challenges make you feel good. So jump in and try any or all of the following exercises.
Devise and Design a Commitment Device
Yielding to immediate gratification is tempting. Many of us can relate to indulging ourselves even though we know our present actions may not be in the best interest of our future selves. In a TED talk, Daniel Goldstein, Principal Researcher at Microsoft, spoke about “The Battle Between Your Present and Future Self.” Goldstein pointed out that many employ “commitment devices” to aid or enforce self-control, to make a firm agreement with ourselves to deter ourselves from poor judgment later.
Goldstein explains (from www.businessinsider.com/dan-goldstein-tedtalk-2013-5#ixzz2x6WrypOG): “It’s an unequal battle between the present self and the future self. I mean, let’s face it, the present self is present. It’s in control. It’s in power right now. It has these strong, heroic arms that can lift doughnuts into your mouth. And the future self is not even around. It’s off in the future. It’s weak. It doesn’t even have a lawyer present. There’s nobody to stick up for the future self. And so the present self can trounce all over its dreams. So how do we better resist temptation? By imagining ourselves more clearly in the future, as products of our decisions.”
According to University of Chicago economist Steven D. Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner, authors of Freakonomics, a commitment device is “a means to lock yourself into a course of action that you might not otherwise choose but that produces a desired result.”
Let’s say someone wants to ensure she keeps to her workout regimen. She could oblige herself to do a friend’s laundry every time she skips a
“Experimentation, exploration, and social exchange have always been central to meaningful learning. Today’s online world, which includes rich content as well as social media, offers an abundance of opportunity for exploratory and social learning.”
—MIZUKO ITO, PH.D., Cultural Anthropologist and Professor in Residence and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning, Department of Anthropology and Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine
workout. An early example of such a device is in Homer’s The Odyssey. When Odysseus and his crew were sailing home to Ithaca their ship would pass the coast of the Sirens—sea nymphs who have the power of charming those who hear their song. Odysseus wanted to hear their song but to avoid the consequences of being lured by the Sirens he directed his seamen to plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mast and not untie him no matter how he pleaded or tried to set himself free. This commitment device ensured that Odysseus’ ship would stay the course home to Ithaca.
Your commitment device can take any form: digital, object, tool, ceremony, game app, activity, and more. Once you devise it, deconstruct it for relevance to a brand or cause—for what product, service or organization could you use this content? For instance, a commitment device about saving money could relate to a bank or college fund brand known to be family-oriented or, a bit less obviously, to a vacation resort. A diet plan in the form of a mobile game app could be related to the Let’s Move! program (www.letsmove.gov), developed by Michelle Obama to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.
Offer Ten Tips to a College Freshman
Here’s the scenario: You’ve taken a college freshman under your wing. Decide the following stats about your freshman: gender, which college, hobbies and interests, mode of transportation, food and apparel preferences, cultural communities, and reading or viewing list.
Based on these details, present ten tips for navigating college life. Once you have a working list, figure out which brand or group you could use this content for. A university could utilize your list as a promotion, or less obviously, a coffeehouse brand found on university campuses or a ramen noodles brand could use your content for a promotion. Determine how any branded product, service or organization could best utilize this unique content to interest or benefit people and how the content would be distributed to people (social media channels, apps, print [posters, coffee wraps, etc.], mobile notices, wearables, and more).
Here are two examples of lists.
1. Don’t be a jerk.
2. Be active in class—try to talk to people.
3. If possible, don’t procrastinate.
4. Register for classes as soon as possible.
5. Get to school early to find a parking spot.
6. Take the required general education classes early.
7. Find the right balance of classes for you.
8. Take classes you’re actually interested in.
9. Don’t buy the books unless you know you need them.
10. Don’t make college your whole life.
Written
by Caitlin Danko, Mike DeBisco, Sean McCluskey and Stefanie Osmond who are students at the Robert Busch School of Design, Kean University.
1. Manage your time well.
2. Have all your materials.
3. Be on time.
4. Get to know as many people as you can.
5. Get to know your professors.
6. Try to go to activities outside of school.
7. Know your campus.
8. Eat your Wheaties!
9. Check your university email.
10. Study.
Written by Eric Faulkes, Jennifer Hockenbery, Gabrielle Matarazzo and Elizabeth Quattrone, who are students at the Robert Busch School of Design, Kean University
Write Four Enduring Questions
To foster intellectual curiosity and critical thinking, ask questions to wrestle with fundamental issues of human life. The philosopher Socrates advocated discourse in a free community asking enduring (open-ended) questions as a means to pursue wisdom and virtue.
Enduring questions are questions that cross disciplines and have more than one reasonable and interesting answer. The U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) states, “Enduring questions can be tackled by
reflective individuals regardless of their chosen vocations, areas of expertise, or personal backgrounds.” NEH developed the following list of sample questions, which “is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive but serves to illustrate”:
• What is good government?
• Can war be just?
• What is friendship?
• What is evil?
• Are there universals in human nature?
• What are the origins of the universe?
Write your own list of at least four enduring questions. Survey friends and relatives about which questions they think are most compelling. Or pose one question and answer it as best you can by researching influential thinkers.
Perhaps this excercise will prompt an idea for a tangible tool, an industrial design solution or unique content for a brand or organization. Assuredly it will get you thinking about the big picture of human existence and your personal journey. Here’s one of my favorite questions to get you started: Are humans innately altruistic?
Finish the Statement, “I Wish…”
What do you wish for? Do you have big or modest wishes? Personal or global? Do you wish for personal satisfaction or happiness? Do you wish you could inspire social change for the good? Do you wish you had a doughnut right now, or do you wish for something that could ensure your future?
1. Settle on one wish.
2. Do something with it. Could the wish spark an idea for a story in video or motion graphics or an idea for a new method of communication or transportation? For example, I wish I could communicate without speaking or typing. To aid people who couldn’t speak due to aphasia or illness, Professor Alan Robbins and his student team invented The Talk Chart, a communication device utilizing icons and the alphabet, in the Design Studio at the Robert Busch School of Design, Kean University, which is used in 2,000 hospitals in the USA.
Another random document with no related content on Scribd:
el querido no es engañado, ni el cohecho hace bien ni mal. No dudo yo que en la mayor Babilonia permita Amor algún pecho lleno de fe y lealtad, y entre la soledad de los campos alguna intención dañada, para confusión de aquéllos y ventaja de estotros; mas pocos son, y tan pocos que por milagro se puede topar con ellos. Bien probarán los pastores del Tajo con su intención la mía, y bien me acuerdo que el enamorado Filardo, la noche antes quedó en la cabaña de Fidea, con Silvia y Dinarda; pues agora sabed que, recogidas las tres pastoras después de largas y dulces pláticas, el celoso amante, vencido del dolor que le atormentaba, buscó á Pradelio y con palabras graves y corteses le llevó á la falda de un collado, lugar solo y propio para su intención. No se receló Pradelio de Filardo porque sabía que era noble de corazón y de trato llano y seguro, ni Filardo jamás pensó ofenderle, porque de nada le tenía culpa, y junto con esso le conocía por bastante para su defensa. Golpeándole iba á Filardo el corazón, y mil veces en el camino escogiera no haberse determinado, pero ya que no se vino en tiempo de volver atrás, lo más sereno que pudo soltó la voz
y díxole: ¿Qué has entendido siempre de mi amistad, pastor? Hasta ahora, dijo Pradelio, no la he probado, pero entiendo que á mí ni á nadie la puedes hacer mala. No cierto, dixo Filardo, pero si esso es assí, ¿por qué me haces tanto daño? ¿Daño? dixo Pradelio; no sé cómo. Yo te lo diré, dixo Filardo. ¿No sabes, Pastor, que yo amo á Filena más que á mí, y que fuí la causa de que tú la conociesses, y después que ella te conoce nunca más ha vuelto los ojos á mirarme, y yo muero sin remedio, porque sin ella me es imposible vivir? Pues yo, pastor, dixo Pradelio, ¿qué puedo hacer que bien te esté? Mucho, dixo Filardo; con no verla, quitarás la ocasión de mi tormento. ¿Qué es la causa, dixo Pradelio, que huelgas de verla tú? Amarla como la amo, dixo Filardo. Pues si esso te obliga, dixo Pradelio, la misma obligación tengo yo; y si te parece que tú me la diste á conocer, quiérote desengañar, que antes que tú la conociesses la amaba yo. Basta decirlo tú, dixo Filardo, para que yo lo crea, Y aun para ser verdad, dixo Pradelio, y esto nadie mejor que Filena lo puede saber; si tienes tanta parte con ella, que te lo diga. Por gran amiga la tengo de aclarar dudas, y si no estás tan
adelante, no te penes, Filardo, que es la vida breve y inhumanidad gastarla en pesadumbres. Pastor, dixo Filardo, yo no vengo por consejos, que valen baratos y cómpranse muy caros. Tú te resumes en no hacerme el gusto que te pido: Filena haga el suyo, que quizá pararás en lo que yo pararé. Sin duda, dixo Pradelio, tú fuiste muy favorecido de Filena. Como tú lo eres, dixo Filardo. ¿Pues qué se puede hacer? dixo Pradelio. A las mujeres, y más á las que tanto valen, amarlas es lo más justo, y el tiempo del favor estimarle con el alma: y si esto faltare, como el buen labrador cultivar de nuevo, que tierras son que tras los cardos suelen dar el fruto. Mientras tú la gozas, dixo Filardo, poca esperanza dél me puede á mí quedar. Y á mí poco miedo, dixo Pradelio, mientras que tú la deseas. Filena, aunque moza y poco cursada en esto, es de tan claro entendimiento y de bondad tan natural, que lo que contigo hizo y contigo hace, sólo le sale de una condición afable y llana, con que generalmente trata sus amigos, sino que los hombres burlados de aquella llaneza, aficionados á su hermosura, al punto armamos torres de viento y arrojamos la presunción por
donde jamás ha passado su pensamiento. Yo asseguro que si te entendió que no era tu trato con ella tan llano como el suyo contigo, essa fué la causa de sus desdenes, y lo mismo haría conmigo si me desviasse del camino que ella lleva. Gracias te doy, pastor, dixo Filardo, con la buena conclusión de tus bienes y mis males. Si yo no hubiera arado con Filena, maestro quedaba para saberlo hacer. Yo nací antes que tú, Pradelio, y moriré primero; vive en paz con tus favores, que eres digno y muy digno de gozarlos. En estas pláticas se les passó la noche á los pastores, y ya que el alba rompía, Finea y las dos pastoras, desamparando el lecho, guiaron á la cabaña de Filena, por complacer á Silvia que iba intencionada de valer con ella á Filardo en todo lo que pudiesse. Pues como toparon á los dos pastores, Dinarda les pidió compañía y todos cinco caminaron; pero no le parecio á Finea que fuessen ociosos, y vuelta á Filardo encarecidamente le pidió que cantasse y á Pradelio que tañesse. El lo hará todo, dixo Pradelio. Si haré, dixo Filardo, que quien consigo discorda, con ninguno se podrá templar.
FILARDO
Cuando el Amor, con poderosa mano, prendió mi pensamiento, prometióme salud, paz y alegria; fiéme del tirano, y si ve mi contento, por diverso camino se desvía; no espere más, Amor, quien de ti fía.
¡Oh, mala rabia te atraviesse el pecho, porque sientas un poco de lo que siente el que por tí se huía, tu voluntad despecho, tu entendimiento loco, y tu memoria como está la mía, y vengárase, Amor, quien de ti fía!
¿Qué ley del cielo ó tierra puedes darnos, que obliguen nuestras penas á más de padecer en su porfía? mas quieres obligarnos; nuevos fueros ordenas, que llamemos reposo la agonía.
¡Oh, desdichado, Amor, quien de ti fía!
¿Hemos por dicha visto de tu casa salir algún pagado, como salen quexosos cada
día?
¡Oh, mano al bien escassa! ¡oh, mal aconsejado el que se alegra con tu compañía, y más, Amor, aquel que de ti fía!
Pone en sulcar las ondas confianza, en seca arena siembra, coger el viento en ancha red confía, quien funda su esperanza, en corazón de hembra, qué es tu templo, tu cetro y monarquía.
¿Qué fruto espera, Amor, quien de ti fía?
El que de libre se te hace esclavo, en tus leyes professo, morir mejor partido le sería, pues queda al cabo, al cabo, pobre, enfermo, sin seso, y arrepentidos los de su valía; en esto para, Amor, quien de ti fía.
Buena ha estado la lisonja, dixo Silvia; si dessa manera sobornas á todos los que has menester, yo los doy por desapassionados de tu gusto. Pastora, dixo Filardo, quien me hiciesse á mí mudar estas canciones, bien poderosa sería. Yo sé que cualquiera entiende cuán digno es de perdón
el forzado. Cante Pradelio, que como le hacen otro son, podrá llevar otros tenores. Esso no se excusa, dixo Dinarda, y tomando á Filardo la lira la dió á Pradelio, el cual ansí obedeció á la pastora, sin poner excusa: PRADELIO
El tiempo que holgares, Filena, en ver mis ojos de agua llenos, ó los tuyos alzares en mi favor serenos, el ganado y la vida tendré en menos.
Viendo de dónde viene el bien ó el mal que tu beldad me ha hecho, obligado me tiene con un constante pecho á agradecer el daño y provecho.
Tu alta gentileza, tu valor, tu saber, amé primero, subíme á más alteza de un querer verdadero, ámote mucho y mucho más te quiero.
El quererte y amarte proceden de mirarte y conocerte, cada cual por su parte; el amarte es por suerte,
pero por albedrío el bien quererte.
Mis llamas, mis prisiones, son los jardines donde me recreo; tus gustos, tus razones, espejo en que me veo, y en tu contento vive mi deseo.
Á ser sólo dotada, como otras, de caduca hermosura, quizá fueras amada de la misma hechura; mas tu beldad de todo me asegura.
Ansí ciega y assombra mi gran amor, que á todos escurece, y el mundo es una sombra, y cuanto en él parece del sol que en mis entrañas resplandece.
Págame en mi moneda mi amor (si tanto amor puede pagarse), ó á lo menos no pueda con pesares aguarse la fe más pura que podrá hallarse.
No son estos recelos por no entender mi hado venturoso, y tampoco son celos de indicio sospechoso: sólo mi valor me trae medroso.
Tú, mi dulce señora,
primera causa de mi buena andanza, por la fe que en mí mora, si en la tuya hay mudanza, haz que socorra engaño á mi esperanza.
Entre otras cosas que los hombres tienen malas, dixo Dinarda, ésta es una: que desde la hora que comienzan á amar, desde essa misma comienzan á temer Yo te asseguro, dixo Filardo, que si es agravio temellas, también lo es amallas, porque verdaderamente el que no teme no ama, que bien lo dice aquel soneto de Siralvo, ¿hasle oido, Silvia? No, Filardo, dixo la pastora. Pues yo te lo quiero decir, dixo Filardo. Y yo oirle, dixo Silvia, que aunque me tienes enojada, no tanto que no te quiera escuchar. Tú sabes, dixo Filardo, la obligación que tienes á mi voluntad, y ahora óyeme el soneto.
FILARDO
Poco precia el caudal de sus intentos el que no piensa en el contrario estado; el capitán que duerme descuidado
poco estima su vida y sus intentos.
El que no teme á los contrarios vientos, pocos tesoros ha del mar fiado; pocos rastros y bueyes fatigado el que no mira al cielo por momentos.
Poco ha probado á la fortuna el loco que en su privanza no temiere un hora que se atraviesse invidia en la carrera; Finalmente de mí y por mí, señora, creed que el amador que teme poco, poco ama, poco goza y poco espera.
En cuanto dixo Silvia: será para F el soneto. Sólo esto me descontenta de S , ser tan demasiado altanero: en el Henares á Albana, en el Tajo á F ; á otra vez que se enamore será de Juno ó Venus. Amigo es de mejorarse, dixo Dinarda, que aunque Albana no es de menos suerte y de más hacienda, F es muy aventajada en hermosura y discreción. Pues yo sé quién la pide en casamiento, dixo Finea; y si se ha de casar no tomará otra
cosa que mejor le esté. F , dixo Dinarda, no lo hará de su voluntad; y si la apremia, dejará los deudos y se consagrará á Diana, y si considera lo que con tanta razón puede, que es no haber hombre que la merezca, hará muy discretamente. Unas coplas sé yo, dixo Pradelio, que hizo Siralvo á su , aprobadas por dos claríssimos ingenios: uno el culto Tirsi, que de Engaños y Desengaños de Amor va alumbrando nuestra nación española, como singular maestro dellos, y otro el celebrado Arciolo, que con tan heroica vena canta del Arauco los famosos hechos y vitorias. Esso tienen las coplas, dixo Silvia, que por parecer de uno aplacen á muchos; pero si a mí no me agradan, poco me mueve que grandes poetas las alaben, que por la mayor parte gustan de cosas que no son buenas para nada. ¿Qué poesía ó ficción puede llegar á una copla de la Propaladia, de A y F , de las Audiencias de Amor, que todos son verdaderamente ingenios de mucha estima, y los demás, ni ellos se entienden ni quien se la da? ¿Y los dos de un nombre, dijo Pradelio, el Cordobés y el Toledano, y el claro espejo de la poesía que cantó Tiempo turbado
y perdido? No falta, dixo Filardo, quien los murmure, y aun al que por mayoría es llamado el Poeta Castellano, porque hasta ahí llega la ciencia de los que á sola su opinión lo entienden. Esta es la mía, dixo Silvia; dínos las coplas, Pradelio, que para mí no quiero mejor Tirsi ni Arciolo que mi gusto; con lo cual, sacándolas el pastor del seno, las leyó, y decían:
PRADELIO
Si no te he dicho, D , en la estimación que estás, sabe que te tengo en más que á los ojos con que veo; y no es demasiada fiesta, que una prenda tan valida, no es mucho que sea tenida en lo menos que me cuesta. Aunque tú quedaste en calma sin viento que te contraste, bien sabes que me anegaste la luz del cuerpo y del alma, y visto parte por parte, pues solo suples la falta, de todo lo que me falta, por todo debo estimarte. Yo voy ciego, y voy sin guía, por la mar de mis enojos, y tú das lumbre á mis ojos más que el sol á medio día;
no puede imaginación engastar perla de Oriente que esté tan resplandeciente como tú en mi corazón.
Voy á remo navegando, es la imán mi voluntad, y sola tu claridad el norte que va mirando el débil barquillo abierto, sin merecimiento en él, y en el naufragio cruel eres mi seguro puerto.
No espero jamás bonanza en la vida ni en la muerte, mas bástame á mí tenerte en lugar de la esperanza; bien sé que en ti se turbó el sossiego más sereno, mas no hay ninguno tan bueno por quien te trocase yo.
Vengan penas desiguales, y por caudillo desdén, que sola serás mi bien, aunque les pese á mis males. Tú, en la esperanza más dura, tú sola, en el día malo, tienes de ser mi regalo, mi consuelo y mi blandura.
¿No fuiste engendrado, dime, de aquellos ojos beninos por quien quedarán indinos los que el mundo en más estime?
Y en mi pecho concebido, y en la vida alimentado, hijo que tanto ha costado,
¿no es razón que sea querido?
Juzguen el justo caudal que hago de ti por vicio; digan que en este edificio eres arena sin cal; llamen tu hecho arrogancia, sin esperanza á do fueres, que yo que entiendo quién eres confessaré tu importancia.
¡Oh, cuánto me has de costar en cuanto no me acabares! mas cuanto más me costares, tanto más te he de estimar; los daños de aquesta historia, bravos son considerados; vistos no, que van mezclados contigo, que eres mi gloria.
El rato que considero la gracia, la gentileza, la discreción, la belleza, por quien á tus manos muero, no sólo el dolor terrible passo sin dificultad, pero con facilidad te sufro en ser impossible. Quizá dirán devaneas muchos que saben de Amor.
¿Qué es cosa y cosa, amador, deseas ó no deseas?
Responderles he que sí y que el mal que Amor me hace, de mi desventura nace, y el bien y el honor, de ti.
Pues, ilustre D mío, ¿quién te torcerá el camino, si veniste por destino, y vences por albedrío?
Eres una dulce pena, eres un contento esquivo, eres la ley en que vivo, y en la que Amor me condena.
Las coplas me han contentado, dixo Silvia, porque son del arte que yo las quiero; tienen llaneza y juntamente gravedad. En mil obras de poetas he leído á Caribdis y Scila y Atlante y el humido Neptuno, cosa bien poco importante en amores, y que se dexa entender que no le sobran conceptos al que se acoge á los ajenos. Mas ahora, ¿qué hará Siralvo? ¿Es su cabaña aquélla? Sí, dixo Pradelio, vamos por allí, que él holgará de hacernos compañía. Qué fresca es, dixo Finea, esta Fuente de Mendino; pues allí me parece que duermen dos pastores y, sin duda, son Alfeo y Siralvo. Sí son, dixo Finea; y llegando más cerca, al ruido los dos pastores recordaron, y saludándose alegremente determinaron de seguir á Silvia, y ella, que en extremo era graciosa y discreta, los fué entreteniendo hasta llegar á la cabaña de Filena, donde la hallaron vestida de una grana fina, con pellico azul
de palmilla, pespuntado de pardo y lazadas verdes; camisa labrada de blanco y negro, y el cabello, en cinta leonada, trenzado con ella; estaba Florela vestida de verde claro, saya y pellico; el cabello cogido en una redecilla de oro, y un cayado en la mano. Con la llegada de los pastores creció su hermosura y gentileza, y tras breves pláticas supieron que la sin par F iba al templo de Pan, Dios de los pastores, y enviaba por Filena, y tendría mucho gusto de que todos fuessen allá, porque estaría sola con Belisa, la vieja Celia, Campiano y Mandronio, doctíssimos maestros del ganado. Con esta seguridad tomaron el camino del templo, donde en breve espacio passaron grandes cosas. Siralvo supo de Florela cómo trataban de casar á F , y F estaba tan congojada de ver á sus deudos determinados, que se pensaba ir con Diana sin ninguna duda, y porque la tenían la noche antes no se lo había dicho, mas ya estaba declarado por la una parte y por la otra. Este fué agudo puñal para el corazón de Siralvo, y mucho más holgara de verla casada que con Diana en los montes, donde el verla y oirla sería con mayor dificultad; pero certificado de que era su gusto
hacerlo, se consoló con Florela cuanto pudo. Por otra parte, Silvia y Filena trataron de la causa de Filardo y Pradelio, y sin valerle á Silvia sus ruegos ni razones, Filardo quedó excluído y Silvia corrida y triste; llamó al pastor y á Dinarda, y despidiéndose los tres se volvieron, á gran pesar de Filardo y á mayor placer de Pradelio, porque tuvo lugar de irse con la pastora Filena solo á su voluntad platicando. Finea y Alfeo no se hicieron mala compañía; porque si él se desterró enamorado y desfavorecido, ella hizo otro tanto; un mismo dolor los afligía, y una misma razón los debiera consolar; mas agora, de todos seis sólo Pradelio y Finea, contentos, llegaron al templo del semicabro Pan, donde fueron de la sin par F y los que con ella estaban favorablemente recebidos, y sacando la anciana Celia preciosas conservas, por ruego de F , los pastores comieron del desusado manjar y bebieron del agua fresca que en el jardín del templo había; luego anduvieron por él mirando y, entre otras cosas, hallaron, de sutil mano y pincel, la bella Siringa convertida en caña, y el silvestre amante juntando con cera los nuevos cañutos. Adelante, en una
gran tabla, estaban, por letras y números, las leyes pastorales, el tiempo de desquilar, el modo de untar la roña, el talle del mastín, la forma del cayado, el arte de hacer el queso, manteca y otras muchas menudencias más y menos importantes; y por si alguno se acordasse que el silvestre Dios fué de Hércules, por amores de Deyanira, despeñado, quiso el pintor que se viesse la fuerza de su despeñador, y assi puso alrededor del templo sus espantosas hazañas.
Primero, en su concepción, Júpiter, su padre, trasformado en Amphitrión, marido de su madre Alcumena.
Después, en su nacimiento, la madrastra Juno hecha pobre vejezuela y con hechizos estorbando el peligroso parto; pero después, con la astucia de Agalante, está nacido el poderoso Hércules en compañía del no menos valeroso hermano, hijo de su padrasto Amphitrión.
Después desto se veían los muchachos solos, en sendas cunas; el de Amphitrión llorando, de dos culebras enviadas, de la venenosa Juno; pero Hércules, que de soberano poder era ayudado, asiendo con sus tiernas
manecillas las fieras culebras, las tenía ahogadas.
Tras esto estaba, cuando llevó vivo á Euristheo el fiero puerco de Arcadia del monte Erimantho, donde estaba (por maldición de Diana) destruyendo los campos y labores, y matando cuanta gente hallaba ó le buscaba por la fama de su fuerza.
Luego se veía la Selva Nemea, y el gentil mancebo por ella, siguiendo al fiero León, al cual, alcanzado, rompía con sus manos las fuertes quijadas, y después desollándole se cubría de su duríssima piel.
Assí vestido, estaba más adelante en la Laguna Lernea, llena por sus anchas islas de juncos y cañaverales, peleando con la fiera Sierpe Hidra; más viendo que si le cortaba una cabeza, por sola aquella le nacían siete, después que con la espada la tajaba el duro cuello, sobre la misma herida ligeramente le pegaba un hacha de vivo fuego.
Aunque esto se veía vivamente retratado, no parecía menos bien la lucha suya y del gran Anteo, al cual, como Hércules vido que dejándose caer sobre la Tierra (cuyo hijo era), cobraba dobladas fuerzas en sus brazos, con los
suyos le apretaba de manera que, quitándole el alma, le hacía extender el cuerpo, desasido de su bravo y fuerte vencedor.
Adelante estaba, en el Occeano de Africa, matando el fiero Dragón de la Huerta de Atlante. Y después victorioso con las Manzanas de oro. Tras esto, en el monte Aventino, viendo que el ladrón Caco, hijo de Vulcano y Venus, le había hurtado sus vacas, le estaba poniendo fuego á su fuerte cueva, donde con lumbre y humo le procuraba dar la muerte: y al fin salido della, echando por su boca y oídos grandes llamas, procuraba en vano defenderse; pero el valeroso Alcides, teniéndole en el suelo, sin ninguna piedad le ahogaba. Luego sustentando el Cielo con sus hombros.
Después, amarrando al Can Cerbero y sacándole á él y á Proserpina robados, dejaba herido á Plutón, Dios de los Infiernos. No con menos agonía peleaba con el de las Aguas Acheloo, al cual habiendo vencido en su propia figura de gigante, y después de Dragón, cuando le ve hecho Toro, con risa le abate, y quita el Cuerno de su frente.
