A Computational Model of Creative Design as a Sociocultural Process Involving the Evolution of Language

The aim of this research is to investigate the mechanisms of creative design within the context of an evolving language through computational modelling. Computational Creativity is a subfield of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on modelling creative behaviours. Typically, research in Computational Creativity has treated language as a medium, e.g., poetry, rather than an active component of the creative process. Previous research studying the role of language in creative design has relied on interviewing human participants, limiting opportunities for computational modelling. This thesis explores the potential for language to play an active role in computational creativity by connecting computational models of the evolution of artificial languages and creative design processes. Multi-agent simulations based on the Domain-Individual-Field-Interaction framework are employed to evolve artificial languages with features that may support creative designing including ambiguity, incongruity, exaggeration and elaboration. The simulation process consists of three steps: (1) constructing representations associating topics, meanings and utterances; (2) structured communication of utterances and meanings through the playing of “language games”; and (3) evaluation of design briefs and works. The use of individual agents with different evaluation criteria, preferences and roles enriches the scope and diversity of the simulations. The results of the experiments conducted with artificial creative language systems demonstrate the expansion of design spaces by generating compositional utterances representing novel concepts among design agents using language features and weighted context free grammars. They can be used to computationally explore the roles of language in creative design, and possibly point to computational applications. Understanding the evolution of artificial languages may provide insights into human languages, especially those features that support creativity

Design Considerations for Real-Time Collaboration with Creative Artificial Intelligence

Machines incorporating techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning can work with human users on a moment-to-moment, real-time basis to generate creative outcomes, performances and artefacts. We define such systems collaborative, creative AI systems, and in this article, consider the theoretical and practical considerations needed for their design so as to support improvisation, performance and co-creation through real-time, sustained, moment-to-moment interaction. We begin by providing an overview of creative AI systems, examining strengths, opportunities and criticisms in order to draw out the key considerations when designing AI for human creative collaboration. We argue that the artistic goals and creative process should be first and foremost in any design. We then draw from a range of research that looks at human collaboration and teamwork, to examine features that support trust, cooperation, shared awareness and a shared information space. We highlight the importance of understanding the scope and perception of two-way communication between human and machine agents in order to support reflection on conflict, error, evaluation and flow. We conclude with a summary of the range of design challenges for building such systems in provoking, challenging and enhancing human creative activity through their creative agency

Agency in Co-Creativity: Towards a Structured Analysis of a Concept

In the Proceedings of the Second Workshop on the Future of Co-Creative SystemsInternational audienceComputational co-creativity is an emerging area of research in co-creativity, that connects to user-centered research in design, human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. A common vocabulary among researchers is critical for advancing research in such interdisciplinary work, but it is often difficult to achieve. The concept of agency is one of the topics of interest for the development of computational co-creative systems. While agency can be broadly defined as a sense of control over the creative outcomes of a co-creative process, there is no shared understanding of how to design systems for and with agency. In this paper, we reflect on the works we have developed over the last five years as a starting point for discussing the definition of agency. Further research will allow us to investigate how agency manifests itself in human-computer creative collaboration, also known as co-creativity. We believe that having a common ground allows for a more efficient process of analyzing and designing human-computer collaborative systems

Design: One, but in different forms

This overview paper defends an augmented cognitively oriented generic-design hypothesis: there are both significant similarities between the design activities implemented in different situations and crucial differences between these and other cognitive activities; yet, characteristics of a design situation (related to the design process, the designers, and the artefact) introduce specificities in the corresponding cognitive activities and structures that are used, and in the resulting designs. We thus augment the classical generic-design hypothesis with that of different forms of designing. We review the data available in the cognitive design research literature and propose a series of candidates underlying such forms of design, outlining a number of directions requiring further elaboration

Designing a Travel Guide to the Un-Natural World: Exploring a Design-led Methodology

The analogy of designer as tourist in the un-natural world is used as an aid for thinking my way into the nature of design research. An exploration of how the design researcher, like a tourist, travels widely through the un-natural world of thought, theory and concept. If we are to design a travel guide for the un-natural world then what would this guide book look like, why do we need it and how could it work? The paper will propose that a ‘travel guide to the un-natural world’ in the form of a design-led methodology is needed for research into sustainable development and is useful not only for the design discipline but for the research community at large. These premises have been derived from the aptitude of the design process and the creative methods it employs to deal with the complex messiness of issues such as sustainability. Such a design-led methodology would be useful for the wider research community due to the integrative abilities of the design process and the trans-disciplinary scope of the tour through the un-natural world. Design-led methodology will be explored using examples from field work in Tumut (rural New South Wales, Australia) Keywords: Design Research, Design-Led Methods, Metadesign, Sustainability.</p

Designing and evaluating the usability of a machine learning API for rapid prototyping music technology

To better support creative software developers and music technologists' needs, and to empower them as machine learning users and innovators, the usability of and developer experience with machine learning tools must be considered and better understood. We review background research on the design and evaluation of application programming interfaces (APIs), with a focus on the domain of machine learning for music technology software development. We present the design rationale for the RAPID-MIX API, an easy-to-use API for rapid prototyping with interactive machine learning, and a usability evaluation study with software developers of music technology. A cognitive dimensions questionnaire was designed and delivered to a group of 12 participants who used the RAPID-MIX API in their software projects, including people who developed systems for personal use and professionals developing software products for music and creative technology companies. The results from the questionnaire indicate that participants found the RAPID-MIX API a machine learning API which is easy to learn and use, fun, and good for rapid prototyping with interactive machine learning. Based on these findings, we present an analysis and characterization of the RAPID-MIX API based on the cognitive dimensions framework, and discuss its design trade-offs and usability issues. We use these insights and our design experience to provide design recommendations for ML APIs for rapid prototyping of music technology. We conclude with a summary of the main insights, a discussion of the merits and challenges of the application of the CDs framework to the evaluation of machine learning APIs, and directions to future work which our research deems valuable

Screen-based musical instruments as semiotic machines

The ixi software project started in 2000 with the intention to explore new interactive patterns and virtual interfaces in computer music software. The aim of this paper is not to describe these programs, as they have been described elsewhere, but rather explicate the theoretical background that underlies the design of these screen-based instruments. After an analysis of the similarities and differences in the design of acoustic and screen-based instruments, the paper describes how the creation of an interface is essentially the creation of a semiotic system that affects and influences the musician and the composer. Finally the terminology of this semiotics is explained as an interaction model

Both Generic Design and Different Forms of Designing

This paper defends an augmented cognitively oriented "generic-design hypothesis": There are both significant similarities between the design activities implemented in different situations and crucial differences between these and other cognitive activities; yet, characteristics of a design situation (i.e., related to the designers, the artefact, and other task variables influencing these two) introduce specificities in the corresponding design activities and cognitive structures that are used. We thus combine the generic-design hypothesis with that of different "forms" of designing. In this paper, outlining a number of directions that need further elaboration, we propose a series of candidate dimensions underlying such forms of design