The longer term value of creativity judgements in computational creativity

During research to develop the Standardised Procedure for Evaluating Creative Systems (SPECS) methodology for evaluat- ing the creativity of ‘creative’ systems, in 2011 an evaluation case study was carried out. The case study investigated how we can make a ‘snapshot’ decision, in a short space of time, on the creativity of systems in various domains. The systems to be evaluated were presented at the International Computational Creativity Conference in 2011. Evaluation was performed by people whose domain expertise ranges from expert to novice, depending on the system. The SPECS methodology was used for evaluation, and was compared to two other creativity evaluation methods (Ritchie’s criteria and Colton’s Creative Tripod) and to results from surveying people’s opinion on the creativity of the systems under investigation. Here, we revisit those results, considering them in the context of what these systems have contributed to computational creativity development. Five years on, we now have data on how influential these systems were within computational creativity, and to what extent the work in these systems has influenced further developments in computational creativity research. This paper investigates whether the evaluations of creativity of these systems have been helpful in predicting which systems will be more influential in computational creativity (as measured by paper citations and further development within later computational systems). While a direct correlation between evaluative results and longer term impact is not discovered (and perhaps too simplistic an aim, given the factors at play in determining research impact), some interesting alignments are noted between the 2011 results and the impact of papers five years on

A Standardised Procedure for Evaluating Creative Systems: Computational Creativity Evaluation Based on What it is to be Creative

Computational creativity is a flourishing research area, with a variety of creative systems being produced and developed. Creativity evaluation has not kept pace with system development with an evident lack of systematic evaluation of the creativity of these systems in the literature. This is partially due to difficulties in defining what it means for a computer to be creative; indeed, there is no consensus on this for human creativity, let alone its computational equivalent. This paper proposes a Standardised Procedure for Evaluating Creative Systems (SPECS). SPECS is a three-step process: stating what it means for a particular computational system to be creative, deriving and performing tests based on these statements. To assist this process, the paper offers a collection of key components of creativity, identified empirically from discussions of human and computational creativity. Using this approach, the SPECS methodology is demonstrated through a comparative case study evaluating computational creativity systems that improvise music

Two-phase model for Black Hole feeding and feedback

We study effects of AGN feedback outflows on multi-phase inter stellar medium (ISM) of the host galaxy. We argue that SMBH growth is dominated by accretion of dense cold clumps and filaments. AGN feedback outflows overtake the cold medium, compress it, and trigger a powerful starburst -- a positive AGN feedback. This predicts a statistical correlation between AGN luminosity and star formation rate at high luminosities. Most of the outflow's kinetic energy escapes from the bulge via low density voids. The cold phase is pushed outward only by the ram pressure (momentum) of the outflow. The combination of the negative and positive forms of AGN feedback leads to an $M-\sigma$ relation similar to the result of King (2003). Due to porosity of cold ISM in the bulge, SMBH influence on the low density medium of the host galaxy is significant even for SMBH well below the $M-\sigma$ mass. The role of SMBH feedback in our model evolves in space and time with the ISM structure. In the early gas rich phase, SMBH accelerates star formation in the bulge. During later gas poor (red-and-dead) phases, SMBH feedback is mostly negative everywhere due to scarcity of the cold ISM.Comment: to appear in MNRAS. 9 page

The Deconstructed (or Distributed) Journal - an emerging model?

Reviews the development of the Deconstructed Journal academic publishing model. The model was first proposed in something like its present form in 1997 and further developed in 1999. Although not actively promoted elements of the model appear to be emerging spontaneously from the general developments in online academic publishing

Implementing feedback in creative systems : a workshop approach

One particular challenge in AI is the computational modelling and simulation of creativity. Feedback and learning from experience are key aspects of the creative process. Here we investigate how we could implement feedback in creative systems using a social model. From the field of creative writing we borrow the concept of a Writers Workshop as a model for learning through feedback. The Writers Workshop encourages examination, discussion and debates of a piece of creative work using a prescribed format of activities. We propose a computational model of the Writers Workshop as a roadmap for incorporation of feedback in artificial creativity systems. We argue that the Writers Workshop setting describes the anatomy of the creative process. We support our claim with a case study that describes how to implement the Writers Workshop model in a computational creativity system. We present this work using patterns other people can follow to implement similar designs in their own systems. We conclude by discussing the broader relevance of this model to other aspects of AI