A8TeamCacti

A8TeamCacti

To-Do

Create a response as a group to the following questions:

1. how and to which extent does the EDC support individual and/or social creativity?
2. which features of the EDC (if any) did you find interesting / impressive?
3. which features are missing from the EDC?

how and to which extent does the EDC support individual and/or social creativity?

The EDC supports individual creativity by allowing one person the free roam of their ideas without them being subject to scrutiny by one person. Instead their creative ideas can be discusses among a group of experts.

EDC looks to move past the physical materials that limit the creative mind. Advances in virtual material can increase the capabilities of these contributors. The EDC looks to combine these new physical technologies with the ideas from the social sciences about collaboration and how the ideas of working together physically can aid in the process.

EDC works towards more collaborative processes. This is done though the input of many creative’s mind in varying fields to get the most information from the broadest spectrum. Getting the input from professionals that are working collaboratively is great way to link the parts and pieces of computer development for example together. There is great divide between the physical code writer, the user interface designer, and the hardware designer. For this to become a more collaborative process these professionals need to be able to interact and share their expertise in the most comprehensible fashion due to the symmetry of ignorance.

The contributor can only control individual creativity. The creativity of an individual is unbounded, as long as there is no limitation in the physical material. In every case there is some time of limitation, but most physical development and design tools are created for individuals.

A large limitation on social or collaborative creativity is that ability to collaborate. So many tools and physical materials are designed for single person users, and therefore are not conducive to collaboration among groups. An example of this was Mr. Rogers the computer game where only one contributor was allowed to interact with the program. While others in the group may be able to contribute they are not allowed to be active and interactive, thus experience a great disadvantage in contributing their ideas for the fact they may not realize issues do to their lack of interaction with the software for example.

which features of the EDC (if any) did you find interesting / impressive?

The idea of "around the table" interaction is specifically quite intriguing. It seems natural, when presented with a physical structure to discuss, to interact and move elements around and among discussion members. Everyone can likely think back on a time in school where they may have worked on a poster or other large visual assignment with a group. The experience probably has many moments of passing supplies back and forth, collaboratively modifying different areas around the poster, and chatting the whole time about the concept as a whole.

The ability to simulate this in a computing environment seems extremely useful, as it can harness all those useful elements while adding in the computer-specific additions like saved state, dynamic interaction, extra information resources, etc. This fits in with a phrase we thought up: "locally sharable computing". With the advent and growth of the internet, we have been able to "share" computing with others across the network, even to the point of live-editing the same document with someone two continents away (Thanks Google!). But, the focus has never really been placed on having multiple users in the same space share a computer.

Working on a programming team often leads to moments where 5 people are all in the same room, staring at laptops and exchanging instant messages with each other because they can copy-paste, rather than talking. This has always seemed to be a very odd communication experience, and one that is often overlooked. By focusing on the "around the table" interaction, the computers are not put between people, as the conduit of interaction, but below them, as a tool to be used during communication. Foremost, users interact with each other, which seems like it would greatly change how they interact with the system.

which features are missing from the EDC?

There are three primary shortfalls of the current research done on the EDC. The first is assessing how group understanding can be effected by trained facilitators or even just experienced users present in during the collaboration. Would this increase the aggregate understanding of the group as a whole? How would it affect the efficiency and the total level of progress for the group? The second area that still needs to be studied is how the use of the EDC in actual, realistic work settings will affect productivity. The assessments of the EDC so far have all been done in controlled settings. It is quite plausible that once the EDC is deployed into a real work environment, the ultimate ramification will be different. And the last major issue that needs to be addressed in the EDC is this idea that people must make a "binary choice". What is meant by this is that people are generally given the option to be either a consumer or a designer. In reality, this should not be the case. There is a sliding scale between consumer and designer, and people should be allowed to fall anywhere on the scale that they desire. In general, this is an issue for the entire HCI community. The paper urges the community as a whole to avoid this.