Skills for creativity in games design

This paper reports on an experimental study to understand further the extent to which academics may differ to practitioners in their conception of skills relevant to creativity within a specific design related subject: in this instance, Games Design. Ten academics, sampled from BA Hons games courses in the UK, participated in identifying what factors they each considered important to creativity in games design, and how, collectively, they rated particular skills, knowledge, talents and abilities relevant to creativity in games design. With the same research methodology, theoretical framework and procedures, the focus was placed on ten games design practitioners’ conceptions of skills for creativity in games design. A detailed comparison is made between the findings from both groups

Amabile‘s consensual assessment technique: Why has it not been used more in design creativity research?

Amabile’s Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) has been described as the “gold standard” of creativity assessment; been extensively used within creativity research, and is seen as the most popular method of assessing creative outputs. Its discussion within scholarly research has continued to grow year by year. However, since 1996, a systematic review of the CAT has not been undertaken, and, within design journals, appears not to have occurred, in relation to design, or more broadly, the creative industries in general. Yet, the consensus of domain judges is a prevalent methodology for design education, and professional design awards. This paper presents the findings from a systematic literature review of the CAT covering works from 1982 to 2011. It details key journals and authors publishing or citing CAT related studies, and highlights the limited number of CAT studies within design journals, with suggestions for why this may be the case

Skills for Creativity in Graphic Design: Testing the relationship between visualisation, written comprehension, and graphic design creativity

This thesis explores the relationship between skills, creativity and domain. It is situated within an evolving topic of design creativity; an emerging field that interfaces between creativity research, which has often occurred in the field of psychology, and design research often associated with the fields of engineering, art and design. Through five interconnected studies, and the domain of graphic design as the basis for experimentation, the research culminates in testing the relationship between creative output and skills considered important for competent performance in graphic design. How to assess graphic design creativity in a manner credible to both the creativity research and design research community has been a core challenge for this thesis. The method selected - the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) - before this thesis had yet to be used as a reliable measure of graphic design creativity in experimental research. For this reason, three of the studies were directed at establishing the reliability of the CAT. • One undertook the first systematic literature review of the CAT in design research; • a second tested the assumption that a graphic design CAT would show acceptable levels of inter-rater reliability (as researchers had found in other domains of design); • a third focused on optimising the CAT to measure graphic design creativity. Additionally, given the wide range of graphic design competencies available, a conceptual framework was developed to prioritise those most important, and suitable, for experimental study. Two were identified (mental visualisation, and written comprehension) and each was tested for its relationship to graphic design creativity. Where other researchers have suggested or found a relationship, in this study, no significant correlations could be evidenced for either mental visualisation or written comprehension with creative output. Such a finding is likely counter-intuitive to many in art and design, thus, the implications of this study impact upon debates within design creativity research, design education, and graduate skill gaps for the Creative Industries

A DigitalCAT: A Fusion of Creativity Assessment Theory and HCI

As a ‘gold standard’ creativity assessment method, it is important to reflect on the digital future of Amabile’s Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT). Over the past three decades, the CAT has given creativity researchers a formal tool on which to build a true science out of the subjective phenomenon of creativity in a vast range of domains. Research practice, however, has relied on primitive paper-based tools or only rudimentary digital technology. As a result, it is high time a more sophisticated, standardized research tool is developed to greatly facilitate future creativity research and assessment - a DigitalCAT - building on expertise from the design research, psychology and human-computer interaction (HCI) disciplines

Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in a UK university identifies dynamics of transmission

AbstractUnderstanding SARS-CoV-2 transmission in higher education settings is important to limit spread between students, and into at-risk populations. In this study, we sequenced 482 SARS-CoV-2 isolates from the University of Cambridge from 5 October to 6 December 2020. We perform a detailed phylogenetic comparison with 972 isolates from the surrounding community, complemented with epidemiological and contact tracing data, to determine transmission dynamics. We observe limited viral introductions into the university; the majority of student cases were linked to a single genetic cluster, likely following social gatherings at a venue outside the university. We identify considerable onward transmission associated with student accommodation and courses; this was effectively contained using local infection control measures and following a national lockdown. Transmission clusters were largely segregated within the university or the community. Our study highlights key determinants of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and effective interventions in a higher education setting that will inform public health policy during pandemics.</jats:p

A Domain Skills Indicator™: Identifying Skills, Knowledge, or Talents Relevant to Creativity Within a Domain

I suspect we each have, or will have, a "one that got away" story; this one is mine. In 2008, A Domain Skills Indicator™: Identifying Skills, Knowledge, or Talents Relevant to Creativity Within a Domain was probably my best work at the time (I gave it everything I'd got). It was a significant collaborative research project, and set the direction of travel for my research in the years to come. Could I get it through review in a suitable journal though? Sadly not. For lots of reasons, it just didn't fit. Other stuff was going on at work, so, I took all the thoughtful feedback from reviewers (which really was some of the best feedback I've every received), sucked it up, and moved on. In the spirit of research gate, today I thought, maybe I should let "the one that got away" see the light of day after all. Enjoy, Karl