Creating Creativity: User Interfaces for Supporting Innovation by Ben Schneiderman DCS 891C Michael Klein 5/4/2019

Essence of the Research This article offers a four-phase framework that might assist designers in providing effective computer tools which support creativity. “The proposals in this article are intended to support creative, not merely original, work.” 5/4/2019

Three Perspectives of Creativity Inspirationalist Structuralist Situationalist 5/4/2019

Inspirationalist Emphasizes “Aha!” moments – breakthrough magically appears. Believes luck favors the prepared mind – research leads to problem formulation and evaluation. Think…”discovery” 5/4/2019

Structuralist Emphasizes orderly approaches to creativity. Studies previous work and uses methodological techniques to explore the possible solutions exhaustively. Uses orderly methods (e.g. understanding the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, looking back). Uses models. Think…Modeling 5/4/2019

Situationalist Emphasises social and intellectual context. Talks about influence of family, teachers, peers, mentors. Needs access to previous work in the domain, consultation with members in the field, and dissemination of results to members in the field. Think…Patterns. 5/4/2019

The Moral Dilemma “The moral dilemma of a technology innovator remains troublesome: how can I ensure that the systems I envision will bring greater benefits than the negative side effects that I dread and those that I fail to anticipate?” 5/4/2019

GENEX: A four-phase framework Genex stands for generator of excellence. This new framework is built upon two previous efforts. This effort expands on the original frameworks and adds eight activities to the framework. 5/4/2019

Genex Phase Primary Activity (but can be used at any phase) Searching and browsing digital libraries (inspirationalist) Visualizing data and processes (inspirationalist/structuralist) Consulting with peers and mentors (situationalist) Thinking by free association (inspirationalist) Exploring solutions – What if tools (structuralist) Composing artifacts and performances (structuralist) Reviewing and replaying session histories (situationalist) Disseminating results (all) Collect Relate Create Donate 5/4/2019

Searching and Browsing Digital Libraries Need improvements to existing Web search engines (e.g. relevance ranking) Need rapid browsing 5/4/2019

Visualizing Data and Processes Visualization of digital library information (e.g. Spotfire). Visualization of financial information, scientific data, medical histories, Products need smooth integration (e.g. results of web search into a visualization filtered into graphs or pictures placed into a document.) 5/4/2019

Consulting with Peers or Mentors Async (e.g. email, listservs, newsgroups) Synch (e.g. phone calls, videoconferencing, chats, software sharing) Need ways to allay concerns about who gets credit for the work, non-disclosure, withholding of ideas. 5/4/2019

Thinking by Free Association Brainstorming IdeaFisher Computerized thesauri TheBrain MindManager 5/4/2019

What – if Tools Spreadsheets Flight simulators Flow models Weather models Simulation models Need to remember genex framework and requirement for integration and dissemination 5/4/2019

Composing Artifacts and Performances Exemplars Templates Standardized processes (e.g. Windows Wizards) MS Office, Adobe PhotoDeluxe Composition support tools (e.g. spelling and grammar checkers) 5/4/2019

Reviewing and Replaying Session Histories Recording step-by-step user actions. Need to be compact, comprehensible, and useful. Can be used and sold as “Best in Class” solutions. 5/4/2019

Disseminating Results Email, listservs, digital libraries, Web. Readers of papers. Discussion groups. Seminars and Conferences. 5/4/2019

Genex Phase Primary Activity (but can be used at any phase) Searching and browsing digital libraries (inspirationalist) Visualizing data and processes (inspirationalist/structuralist) Consulting with peers and mentors (situationalist) Thinking by free association (inspirationalist) Exploring solutions – What if tools (structuralist) Composing artifacts and performances (structuralist) Reviewing and replaying session histories (situationalist) Disseminating results (all) Collect Relate Create Donate 5/4/2019

Significance of the Work Provides a general framework for creating new tools to enhance user creativity Provides references of predecessor frameworks. Lists shortcomings of the framework. Lists areas for future tool development. 5/4/2019

The Impact of the World Wide Web on Idea Generation by Masseti, White and Spitler 5/4/2019

Findings Categories of items were most relevant to idea generation. User perception was that the WWW was helpful in idea generation. Actually, searching the web led to the discovery of new categories, which caused the users to shift their focus. This caused the belief that the WWW was helpful. 5/4/2019

Future Research Any of the eight listed activities lends itself to future research and development. Create new tools. Revise and enhance the Genex framework. Can machines become creative? What could a creative machine do? 5/4/2019