Spinneret: Aiding Creative Ideation through Non-Obvious Concept Associations

Mind mapping is a popular way to explore a design space in creative thinking exercises, allowing users to form associations between concepts. Yet, most existing digital tools for mind mapping focus on authoring and organization, with little support for addressing the challenges of mind mapping such as stagnation and design fixation. We present Spinneret, a functional approach to aid mind mapping by providing suggestions based on a knowledge graph. Spinneret uses biased random walks to explore the knowledge graph in the neighborhood of an existing concept node in the mind map, and provides "suggestions" for the user to add to the mind map. A comparative study with a baseline mind-mapping tool reveals that participants created more diverse and distinct concepts with Spinneret, and reported that the suggestions inspired them to think of ideas they would otherwise not have explored.Comment: ACM CHI 202

Taking Risk

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Descriptive Aspects of Team Theory: Observation, Communication and Decision Heuristics in Information Systems

To examine the descriptive validity of the economic theory of teams and, more particularly, to study observation, communication, and decision behaviors, sixty business and government executives were asked to make recommendations for the optimal design of a hypothetical sugar plantation information system. Few of the subjects made mathematical calculations; instead they used observation, communication, and decision heuristics which seem representative of behavior occurring in real situations. Ten percent recommended the optimal team theory solution while the remainder exhibited inefficient and sometimes mutually inconsistent heuristics. In some cases too little information was collected and distributed: (1) information expected at particular communication or decision centers was not available at that center, and (2) information observed or communicated was not extensive enough to yield maximum expected net profits. In other cases too much information was collected and distributed: (1) the information, when used, did not yield big enough improvements to cover its cost, (2) the information, when used, resulted in a lower expected gross profit due to interdependencies, and (3) the information observed or communicated was never used. Implications of the results for both theory and practice are discussed.

Stimulating Ideas Through Creative Software

A central task of management is decision making and a crucial aspect of decision making is having good alternatives from which to choose. This paper investigates whether computer-based procedures for idea generation can help individuals to develop solution alternatives more creatively. Our conceptual framework considers creative processes, environments, outputs, and individuals. In particular, generating alternatives is viewed as a process of "making connections" ---internal connections among problem elements and external connections between a problem and its environment. We have developed a computer program (GENI) which incorporates a variety of techniques to assist in making these different types of connections. The program is described and an experimental test with several managerial problems is presented. The results show that use of the program leads to the development of significantly more creative alternatives than does a control treatment. There is an amplification effect in that the performance of the more creative individuals is improved the most. Thus the findings suggest that computerized idea generation leads to more creative alternatives resulting in potentially better managerial decisions.idea generation, creative problem solving, creativity, decision making, computer software

Underground and Overpaid: Equity Theory in Practice

In March 1982 the fares on the London underground and buses were doubled and became the highest transit fares in the world. The preceding October, the socialist-dominated Greater London Council had cut fares by 25 percent and had increased property taxes to cover the lost revenue. This attempt to shift the costs from the relatively poor (users of public transportation) to the relatively rich (owners of property) failed when Britain's highest court ruled that the tax increase was illegal. To make up lost revenues, the authorities at London Transport doubled transit fares. Are the new fares fair

Characteristics of Risk Taking Executives

More than 500 top-level business executives were studied to ascertain the validity of common stereotypes of who takes risks and who avoids risks. We began with 13 risk measures based on theoretical grounds, naturally occurring situations, and attitudes. These measures were formed into seven consolidated measures using factor analysis. Data were gathered on numerous socio-economic variables including ones relating to personal, financial, and professional characteristics. When these characteristics were subjected to factor analysis, four main factors emerged. Linear discriminant analysis was used to address the question of whether risk takers can be differentiated from risk averters. The results were surprisingly clearcut. The most successful executives were the biggest risk takers; the most mature executives were the most risk averse.risky decisions, risk characteristics, stereotypes, executives, success, discriminant analysis

The use of legal rules and interventions in large social systems modelling

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