Towards Digital Liminality : computational tools for 'beyond average' creative thinking

Renowned designer Kenya Hara writes: "Creativity is to discover a question that has never been asked". These questions are commonly discovered early in the design process; an often ambiguous and liminal experience where new information is explored and considered in non-obvious ways to reveal unexpected associations. 'Intelligent' digital technologies such as machine learning are increasingly employed in tools used in the early phases of the design process. These computational techniques undeniably surpass humans at quickly generating numerous designs and calculating 'optimised' responses, but their average-driven approaches are limited when it comes to embracing the serendipity that can inspire creative breakthroughs. How can we develop digital tools to augment this liminal period of the creative process and help designers discover unexpected ideas?

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Program in Media Arts and Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Mothersill, Philippa (Philippa Jane).

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tod Machover.

• Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/145213

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/145213