A Model for Information Technologies that Can Be Creative

To contribute to HCI investigation and interface design that develops interactive systems for creative solutions, I attempt to formulate a model of the human capability to combine familiar objects or concepts in an unusual way. Important components of the creative process are feature association, combination, abstraction, selection, integration, and adaptation to establish an optimal fit between two or more semantically remote entities. In the act of creating, the goal is to show (a quantity of) similarity where no one saw it before. The function is knowledge acquisition (also emotionally), to find all the available possibilities in a given situation, (showing how) to find new solutions, new ways to get what you want. The effect of a creation may be surprise as a function of the tension between similarity and dissimilarity between objects and/or concepts. Depending on individual tolerance levels, the balance between similarity and dissimilarity may be satisfying or pleasing. Consequences for representations design are discussed.