Creativity enhancement with emerging technologies

Reviewer: Edward Baker James

Though we have been familiar with user-centered research and design in computing for many years, this note introduces an original slant on collaboration with users. The Creativity and Cognition Research studios at Loughborough University in the UK have taken one more step in centering on the user. Users are “doing their thing” as an integral part of the research team. These are rather special users—creative artists. The aim of the COSTART project is to encourage creativity in computer use and to expand the repertoire of tools and toys that can amplify the creative process. There are special problems in providing tools for creative artists, because creative people tend not to like fixed ways of doing things. They are also not very interested in easy-to-use systems. In fact, they may enjoy a “risky” environment and will accept a fair learning curve for a good tool. But a tool which keeps “breaking” can slow down production to zero. The project's objectives are to design technical support systems that can foster creativity, and to explore the impact of digital technologies on creative cognition. Preliminary findings underline the importance of the technical support empathizing with the artist's aims, and understanding clearly that the artist needs to be in control. Artist s value computer support in planning the underlying structure of a work of art, and physical and virtual reality object realization is less important than expected. Many researchers now see computers as assistants to humans in a creative endeavour, rather than as competitors. This work is significant in the area which they used to call artificial intelligence. Read it.