Talk, Time, and Creativity: Developing Ideas and Identities During a Start-up Weekend

Abstract

This study explores the temporal dynamics of language use, collaboration, and creativity in the case of a start-up weekend. The organisation of interaction in time and the use of temporal indexes and semiotic resources vary over time, not simply because of changing contextual conditions, but rather because of dynamic developments in the flow of time. Interacting in time, the participants appropriate temporal frames and contextualise their actions in and across time. The start-up weekend as a chronotopic frame has a semiotic impact on all local actions. Simultaneously, small, individual actions emerging in the flow of time have a collective impact, which leads to unpredictable, creative developments. The relations between these perspectives are mutually dynamic.