Sunday, February 19, 2006

Refining and developing ideas by adding adverbs

Adverbs can be added to ideas to suggest ways to refine and develop ideas. With the following Global Ideas Bank idea:

Lottery entry slips - tick box for 10% to charity

I can add an appendage to the idea:

is done...X

Next I find some adverbs (and/or adverbial phrases) for the 'X'. Here are some possibilities:

Idea is done...prehistorically
Idea is done...in the dark
Idea is done...inquisitively
Idea is done...for tourists

Next I consider each one and see if any ideas come about.

Idea is done...prehistorically

This initially suggests that past winners could volunteer ten per cent of their winnings. Not likely to happen. What if the idea was enforced? The lottery is relatively new in the UK so it wouldn't be possible to track winners further back than ten years 'to prehistoric times'. However, there were other possibilities to win money such as the Pools and Premium Bonds before the lottery. This leads to the idea that ten per cent idea could be applied to the Pools and Premium Bonds.

Idea is done...in the dark

If a lottery slip were filled out in the dark the direct consequence is that the person wouldn't know if they'd ticked the ten per cent box properly. This gives me an idea: maybe a random element could be introduced; the lottery player would 'gamble' and agree that up to fifty per cent of their winnings could go to charity.

Idea is done...inquisitively

There could be an 'inquisitive' TV documentary that explores the direct effect the new income would have on a specific charity. Or there could be a 'inquisitive' study into what goes through a person's mind when they are ticking the box. This leads to the idea that the person could specify which charity they'd like to receive the funds.

Idea is done...for tourists

I'm not sure if tourists are allowed to play the UK lottery. Would this be for tax reasons? If this was the case then a new box could be added that is ticked by tourists that states that they agree to a percentage of their winnings being used to pay tax and thus avoid problems.

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