There is an almost infinite number of classical methods for enhancing the creativity of a person. Every book store has a number of books about this topic in stock. Most people know some of the best known methods like brainstorming, mind maps or Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. However, due to the technical background of this thesis, only the most common computational methods will be introduced.
Enhancing the creativity of a creator through the support of a computer requires different approaches then the above mention methods. The so-called computational creativity is the attempt to create software which enables the support of creative thinking. It is there- fore related to the field of computational intelligence. However, the amount of creative outcome, produced by this approaches, is still very small. One example is a neurocogni- tive based approach to generate new words and names through combinations of already existing words [39]. In this case, an algorithm is used to find new names for e.g. new products. The words are created through the connection of already existing words, which might describe attributes of the new product.
Other projects use different techniques for example for creative music composition [31] or painting and sculpturing [48]. The majority of the approaches are based upon the same idea of mixing already existing content to create something novel. These projects are facing the problem that they are highly specialised for one domain. There is not a general computational creativity which can cater for all fields. Furthermore, it is doubtful that the software generated output can be considered as creative.
Hence, it is necessary to get a better understanding about what happens during the cre- ation of an artefact and to look behind of what is making people creative. Understanding creativity and the creative process is a difficult task. Therefore, some might ask how it is even possible to enhance the creativity of a person through computer technology.
Hewett emphasizes in his works that:
“We may not yet understand enough about the conditions under which creativ- ity is going to happen to be able to help it along, but we do understand some of the things that make it harder for creativity to happen. Knowing what disrupts creativity makes it possible to figure out ways of staying out of the way and not interfering.” [56]
The term Creativity Support Tools (CST) covers a broad variety of software. Some re- searchers use the term for software, which will allow users to develop creative products. However, this could be said for many applications. A novelist could write a fantastic book with Microsoft Word. Hence, all these software applications are not actively involved into enhancing the creativity of the user. All creativity is initiated by the user himself. In a widely recognised paper, Shneiderman discussed applications and websites like Google Search, Wikipedia or MatLab and Flash as tools to support creativity. However, he also recognised CST as actively influencing applications.
“... A second example of creativity support is the capacity for users to rapidly generate multiple alternatives, explore their implications, or revert to earlier stages when needed” [116]
The support of creativity always requires the knowledge about design processes. A system for the store and exchange of knowledge must satisfy following features [26].
Knowledge modification and evolution.
Accessible and powerful methods for modifying the knowledge base should be pro- vided so that the users can refine existing rules and add new rules incrementally at any time during the on-going tasks.
Evaluation of evolving knowledge.
Support for evaluation of the evolving knowledge in progress should be provided. The user must be able to ask why or why not about the results of any request for evaluation and receive an explanation that is expressed in domain specific terms.
Comparative evaluation of knowledge.
Support for comparative evaluation of the knowledge in the system should be avail- able. The user should be able to create and evaluate selected rule sets with different variables against identical criteria allowing immediate comparisons of their perfor- mance relative to each other and to a standard rule base.
Most of today’s software to support creativity lacks of the above mentioned principles. The focus of current creativity tools lies on visual stimulation and not on the processes behind creativity. These approaches often try to stimulate the creator through a special design of the GUI. The idea is that a different concept for the working process can provide more stimuli to enhance the creativity of the user. The majority of researchers questions the effectiveness of those concepts for following reasons:
The creator will get used to the environment.
People might not like a change of the working environment.
The approach will not have the same effect on all creators and might even hinder the creativity.
2.4.1 Impact of New Technologies on Creativity
Computers and other digital media have changed the way people live today. Creators have access to almost unlimited possibilities of making creative art through digital media and software applications [40]. The internet provides unlimited access to knowledge and information. Furthermore, communication between people became much more convenient. Technologies, like email, instant messaging, but also mobile phones make it easier to contact others. Before, a letter took several days from the sender to the recipient. Emails are now sent and received within seconds.
A problem of the information age is the growing amount of data and the resulting com- plexity of managing it. People more and more often lose the overview about their own data. The efficient management of information plays a key-role for the success of CST. Computer technology can and does support people to find the information they need. Furthermore, technology support enhances the creative potential by providing new infor- mation at the right time [44].
2.4.2 Human-Computer Interaction
The domain of human-computer interaction (HCI) is very wide defined and therefore divided into several sub-domains. It is basically the study of the interaction of humans with computers. This includes input and output devices as well as the design of user interfaces of software applications.
The majority of CST is based on HCI design principles. The goal is the development of software applications which enable the user to be more productive through the usage of a sophisticated graphical user interface. The developer of a software application needs to follow certain design criteria in order to satisfy the requirements of HCI. The following list contains a number of criteria, which are mandatory for development process of software for the support of creativity [105].
Support of Exploration
Possibility to try many different alternatives. Low Threshold
Good software should always be self-explaining and only require a short settling in period.
Support of Variability
The user can choose different ways to achieve the same aim. Support of Collaboration
Provide groupware functionality. Support of Open Interchange
Seamless integration of different tools. Simplicity
Avoiding complex user interfaces through good usability. Careful Choosing of Black Boxes
Determine which ideas users can explore with the tool - and which ideas remain hidden.
Invent Things That You Would Want To Use Yourself
Balance of User Suggestions
Choose a right balance of user involvement. Prototyping
Creation of many prototypes for a constant improvement. Creative Design
Provide creative stimulus for the user. Evaluation
Evaluation is necessary, even it is difficult to achieve.
It was already mentioned that HCI represents the research in a certain number of sub- domains about the usage of computers and similar platforms. In recent years, user interface design has moved from a very strict menu structure to a more flexible mixture of menus and buttons. An example for this is the current version of Microsoft Office, where a new toolbar provides common functions.
The principles of human-computer interaction are very important for the development of Creativity Support Tools. Without these principles, new tools might not empower the creative user. Lately, a growing number of researches have been undertaken in order to understand the nature of creative cognition and to enable the evaluation of CST [27].
2.4.3 Examples of Creativity Support Tools
The presented tools represent the state-of-the-art technology of this domain. Most of the available applications are developed by small companies rather than having emerged in an academic environment. The following list provides a selection of well-known CST.
AXON Idea Processor
The AXON Idea Processor is designed to support the thinking process of its users. The application is implemented in Prolog and therefore follows the concept of using facts and rules to provide answers to a certain question.
The application provides a GUI which enables the user to create complex flowcharts and diagrams. The main focus of AXON lies on the support of brainstorming sessions [15].
The current version provides instant messaging facilities in order to enrich the system with communication and collaboration functionalities.
IdeaFisher/ThoughtOffice
IdeaFisher is a commercial tool set for the support of lateral thinking and brainstorming sessions. It uses a database with words organised by categories. Based on this database, it supports the user to create “mental associations” for a word or a concept. The support itself is realised through cross-referenced database entries.
The creativity support is realised through the generation of new ideas based on word combinations. It automatically records the results on a so-called Idea Notepad. The latest releases of the software are distributed under the name ThoughtOffice [104].
freesound radio
Freesound radio is a collaborative tool for the exploration of music compositions. The tool enables the creation of new music samples, which can be shared with others. The project offers a repository with audio samples, licensed under Creative Commons.
The software itself is fully web-based, providing a simple GUI. The creativity support is realised through mixing sounds and music in a collaborative environment. The results are stored in a central databank and analysed for similarities [94].
RiTa
The RiTa toolkit was created for experiments with generative literature in the domain of creative writing. It covers a number of computational tasks like text analysis, text generation, text mining as well as access to external resources like ontologies. The text- generation is based on Markov chains and grammars [61]. The analyses mainly focus on the structure and composition of text.