Tools in Support of Creative Collaboration
Piotr D. Adamczyk♦†, Kevin Hamilton, Michael B. Twidale†, Brian P. Bailey‡
Division of Human Factors♦, Graduate School of Library and Information Science†
School of Art and Design, Department of Computer Science‡
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
{ pdadamcz, kham, twidale, bpbailey @ uiuc.edu }

ABSTRACT
Creativity support tools are set an especially difficult task
when they are applied to art/science collaboration. Not
because of any fundamental incompatibility between the
disciplines, but because creativity support tools are rarely
supple enough to manage dramatically shifting requirements
at various stages of design or handle the diversity of artifacts
that might be generated. Traditional methods of evaluation of
collaborative support tools may not address these aspects.
This workshop aims to examine three specific areas open to
expanded modes of evaluation; the social aspects of tools and
tool use, how artifacts are created and manipulated in support
tools, and how the expanding contexts of art/science
collaborations may be rapidly changing support tool
requirements.
Author Keywords
Creativity, collaboration, support tools, New Media, art and
science, multidisciplinary
ACM Classification Keywords
H.5.2. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI):
User Interfaces, Evaluation/methodology: H.5.3. Information
Interfaces and Presentation: Group and Organization
Interfaces — collaborative computing, theory and models;
J.5 Arts and Humanities.
INTRODUCTION
Collaboration that involves a diverse set of perspectives is
more likely to generate novel ideas. Creative groups rely on
effective communication across disciplinary boundaries
while maintaining an atmosphere that preserves distinctive
contributions. Given the persistent and newly reiterated
interest [5] in including artists in engineering and science
teams, tools that function well in these domains can make a
significant contribution to creative practice.
Though expanding technologically focused multidisciplinary
teams to include creative practitioners from the arts is an
important step, equally important is how tools meant to
support creative collaboration are able to accurately reflect
relevant aspects of both artistic and technical practice. This
workshop is meant to serve as a forum for exploration of
novel and familiar collaborative tools, experience with these
tools in practice, and an opportunity for discussion of how a
broader understanding of multidisciplinary collaboration can
extend existing techniques, as well as open new possibilities
in research and design.
WORKSHOP THEMES
These themes are meant to immediately inform the practice
of researchers and practitioners, explore extensions in
methodology and evaluation, and suggest how to convey the
value of their collaborations to a variety of audiences.
Social Aspects of Tools and Tool Use
Communication styles and ways of working are in some
ways disciplinarily determined [8, 9]. Are tools that expose
these aspects of creative collaboration helpful in these
settings? Should collaborative support tools include a degree
of awareness of the social roles present in teams? Or perhaps
adjust dynamically to the kinds of communication roles
represented? How do creativity support tools deal with issues
of contested collaboration [10], situations where the value of
a discipline’s contribution is not clearly communicated?
Existing tools provide creative groups with lightweight,
broadcast methods to distribute information to large
audiences. For example, social bookmarking sites provide a
way to quickly explore material and reflect on the meaning
that a given resource has for distinct communities based on
tags. Is social engagement a requirement for effective tools?
Artifacts in Creative Collaboration
Sketching [7] and collaborative writing are the most widely
studied aspects of creative collaboration. However, in many
multidisciplinary settings, the artifacts generated throughout
the process are not only drawings or text. Photographs,
videos, physical models and prototypes, and more ephemeral
or abstract artifacts, e.g. scenarios, experience designs,
models of interaction aesthetics, are common.
How might annotation and versioning be handled with this
expanded set of artifacts? When each contributor may have
different competencies, how can they meaningfully engage
with artifacts from a different discipline? We know boundary
objects are particularly important when trying to create
common ground in multidisciplinary groups. [1, 3] Are the
models for representing boundary objects in creativity
support tools robust enough to accurately reflect practice?
Threshold concepts, described as ideas that define critical
moments of irreversible conceptual transformation in
educational experiences [2, 6], like those that occur in
multidisciplinary collaboration, can be central when
communicating concepts across disciplines. How can

Copyright is held by the author/owner(s).
C&C’07, June 13–15, 2007, Washington, DC, USA.
ACM 978-1-59593-712-4/07/0006.

273