Feature selection in crowd creativity

Abstract

Crowdsourcing is emerging as a wellspring of creative designs. This paper examines the mechanisms that support collective design. A sequential combination system is described: one crowd generates designs, and another crowd combines these designs. Previous experiments showed that the combined designs were judged more creative than the initial designs. The current work extends this previous research by examining the combination process of the designs more closely, looking at how features of the designs were selected and integrated into later designs. Participants preferred atypical features to typical ones for integration, and given a choice, selected practical but less atypical features over impractical but more atypical features. We conclude that crowds attend to both novelty and practicality of the features, and that the presence of atypical yet practical features contributes to the increased creativity of the combined designs. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.