A Computational Model of Collaborative Creativity: A Meta-Design Approach

Computational Creativity - A Formalized Notion

Researchers in computational creativity are interested in the underlying process of creative ideation. This fundamental question has led to the definition of a conceptual space of ideas, which a computer program can search in. Creativity that is a result of simply searching the conceptual space for complete or partial possibilities is labeled E-creativity, for exploratory creativity. If the conceptual space is considered bounded by static rules, such E-creativity is often regarded as merely “innovation”, and not creativity. On the other hand, if the rules that bound the conceptual space can be changed with respect to time, then the search for ideas in a continuously changing space is called T-creativity, for transformational creativity (Boden, 1999). This can be mapped to how a human thinker comes up with creative ideas. The mind is a veritable storehouse of ideas and if the mind could be mapped, this storehouse then becomes the conceptual space of ideas. If the thinker does not broaden his mind (by incorporating more domain knowledge, knowledge from other domains, etc.) he or she is just exploring a well-defined unchanging conceptual space producing ideas that may not necessarily be creative. It is only when the thinker moves out of rigid definitions of what-is and what-can-be, thereby modifying the conceptual space of ideas, that creative ideas are born. Kekule’s discovery of Benzene rings, Watson and Crick’s double helix model of the DNA, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater are just three of the many instances where thinkers and conceptualizers broke out of the well-defined mold and produced creative ideas. While what makes some people creative thinkers is a topic of ongoing neuroscience and psychology research, it can be presumed that T-creativity (breaking out of norms and boundaries) requires both an innate ability, varied knowledge and an applicative bent-of-mind.