Understanding and Designing for Creative Interactions

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Understanding and Designing for Creative
Interactions

• Tim Coughlan Peter Johnson
• HCI Group
• Department of Computer Science
• University of Bath

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Overview

• HCI / Interaction Design
• Complexity, Creativity and Interaction Design
• Our Research
• A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Creative
  Interactions
• Connections with Complexity

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HCI / Interaction Design

• Human-Computer Interaction
• The study of how people interact with computer
  systems, utilising Social Science, Psychology.
• Interaction Design
• The design of interactive systems from a
  user-centred perspective.

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HCI at Bath

• Collaboration, Communication
• Awareness in Systems (e.g. Aircraft Cockpit)
• Human Interaction with Autonomous Systems
• Mobile / Pervasive Systems
• Support for Creative Activities

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Examples Task-Artefact Cycle

• Carroll et al, 1991

Requirements
Tasks
Artefacts
Possibilities
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Examples User-Centred Design

• Developing techniques to understand and involve
  prospective users in design processes
• E.g. Participatory Task Modelling (ONeill
  Johnson, 2004)
• Facilitate users to produce
• models of their processes
• Identifying areas for new
• and improved systems

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Complexity and Creativity

• Creativity is The Production of Outcomes with
  some level of Novelty and Value
• Ill-Structured (Too complex a space for there to
  be a single correct solution)
• Novelty and Value are Contextual Subjective
• Creativity is difficult to bound, measure with
  validity, or compare instances of.

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Complexity and Creativity

• If humans are present in a system, creativity is
  to be expected. It is essential to human nature.
  (Romer, Craft)
• Creativity is often at its most valuable when
  improvised to the context
• e.g. Impromptu groups forming for disaster
  relief, Italian Earthquake 1980, Katrina (Sawyer)

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Complexity and Creativity

• Creative Ideas Emerge from Associations of
  Existing Items (Koestler, Gabora)
• Chance-Configuration Theory (Simonton)
• An evolutionary description of creativity
• The Chance Permutation of Mental Elements
• The Formation of Configurations
• The Communication and Social Acceptance of those
  Configurations

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Complexity and Creativity

• Collaboration and Social Interaction are key to
  creativity (Sawyer 2007, John-Steiner 2000,
  Becker 1984)
• Ad-hoc development of Social Networks in and
  between organisations is often required for large
  innovations. Characteristics of these are being
  studied (Fischer, Kijkuit van den Ende, Greve)

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Complexity and Interaction Design

• Human Users
• Range of Activities, Varied Processes to Support
• Appropriation to Needs (Particularly in
  Creativity)
• Use cannot be fully understood at design time
• Development and Learning

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Complexity and Interaction Design

• Scalability
• Individual Use, Collaborative Use, Social
  Interactions
• A Designed System Exists in a Wider Context of
  Systems
• How do they fit together?
• How can new systems be developed with
  understanding of the existing context?

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Our Research

• Understanding Creative Interaction
• Developing a conceptual framework to integrate
  this understanding in to the design of
  interactive systems for creative activities

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Our Research Methodology

• Empirical and Design Research Methods
• Observation and Questionnaire Studies
• Understanding the Phenomena
• Participatory Task Modelling
• Validating / Refining our Understanding
• Prototype Design and Evaluation
• Utilising this Understanding and Validating its
  Utility

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Our Research Findings

• For our purposes, Creative Interaction is best
  understood in terms of Three Perspectives
• Productive Interaction
• The production of outcomes through iterative
  cycles of representing and evaluating ideas
• Structural Interaction
• Reflection upon and development of the structures
  in which productive interaction occurs
• Longitudinal Interaction
• The long-term development of a platform upon
  which productive and structural interactions occur

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Findings Productive Interaction

• Cycles of productive interaction involve mental
  ideation and evaluation processes in the
  representation of ideas, their evaluation and
  decision making.
• Decisions affect a conception of what the outcome
  will be.

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Findings Structural Interaction

• Ideas are concrete notions of actions that could
  be performed.
• But the solution space is ill-structured, so
• Tangible Structures are required through which
  these actions can be performed (e.g. an
  instrument)
• Also abstract Conceptual Structures that support
  idea development (e.g. language, goals, genre,
  theory)
• Internal Structures (previously accepted ideas)
  also add structure.

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Findings Structural Interaction

• After a productive cycle, a decision could be
  made to modify these structures. (e.g. change
  tools, goals)
• Alternatively, if the structures available cannot
  achieve the ideas, the conception of the outcome
  may change to something feasible.

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Examples Structural Interaction
Changed Conception of the Outcome (Filmmaking
Observations)
Development of Structure (Music Builder Prototype
Evaluations)
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Findings Longitudinal Interaction

• Longitudinal interactions include interpersonal,
  intrapersonal and representational processes
• These result in relationships, resources and
  associations between these resources that are
  utilised in productive and structural
  interactions
• Interesting replications, such as the production
  of structures for social interaction, and
  structuring resources through associations

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Examples Longitudinal Interactions
Intrapersonal
Representational
Interpersonal
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Our Research Findings

• Along with the three generic perspectives,
  contextual factors must be considered e.g.
• Domain Factors
• What form is the outcome to take?
• Interpersonal Factors
• What interactions occur between people?
• Who and what are the prospective users and
  contexts?

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Contextual Factors Examples

• More collaborators adds complexity to each
  productive cycle
• More people to view and evaluate idea,
  externalise their evaluations and take part in
  decision making

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Contextual Factors Examples

• A common approach is looser collaboration
  (Individual cycles interspersed with
  collaboration)
• Separated individuals generate more, higher
  quality ideas than groups, but groups are better
  at evaluating them (Diehl Strobe 1987, Sawyer
  2007)

But this can lead to disparate individual
conceptions of the outcome
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Contextual Factors Example

• Shared Structures and development of these
  structures can keep conception of outcome closer
  and support coordination.

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Connections with Complexity

• Collaborations are commonly drawn together for
  creative purposes.
• As they grow these form increasingly complex
  systems in which ideas and evaluations are
  shared, and decisions made together.
• Shared development of structures is essential to
  coordination and a shared conception of the
  outcome.

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Connections with Complexity

• Social Networks
• Associations
• Dissemination / Diffusion
• Development of / Interaction in Collaborations
• Interaction Design
• Complex Human Behaviours
• Dynamic Contexts of Use
• Measures of Success

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Links

• Further details can be found at
• http//www.cs.bath.ac.uk/tc225/
• A paper describing the conceptual framework is to
  be presented at the ACM Creativity and Cognition
  conference in October.
• Email t.coughlan_at_bath.ac.uk