Roger P. Knott

The studio as laboratory: combining creative practice and digital technology research

Creativity research is a large and varied field in which the subject is characterized on many different levels. The arrival of digital media and computational tools has opened up new possibilities for creative practice. The cutting edge in the digital arts is a highly fertile ground for the investigation of creativity and the role of new technologies. The demands of such work often reveal the limitations of existing technologies and open the door to developing new approaches and techniques. This provides the creativity researcher with opportunities to understand the multi-dimensional characteristics of the creative process. At the same time, it places new demands upon the creators of the technological solutions and pushes forward our understanding of the future requirements of creative technologies. This paper is concerned with the nature of creativity and the design of creativity enhancing computer systems. The research has multi-disciplinary foundations in human-computer interaction and creative practice in Art, Design, Science and Engineering. As a result of a series of studies of creative people and the associated developments in technology, a strategy for practice-based research has evolved in which research and practice are interdependent activities that have mutual benefits as well its distinctive outcomes. This paper charts the development of that co-evolutionary process from the foundation studies to recent outcomes of a major project in art and technology collaboration. The notion of the Studio as a laboratory in the field is introduced and a new methodology for systematic practice-based research is presented. From the results of the investigations that took place, opportunities for the development of technology environments for creative collaboration are proposed.

A framework for engineering metaphor at the user interface

Abstract Interface metaphors facilitate the learning of new computer systems by supporting the transformation of existing knowledge in order to improve the comprehension of novel situations. However, there is very little guidance for software designers on how to select, implement and evaluate interface metaphors. This paper, which is based upon extensive work in developing metaphors for telecommunications systems, provides a framework for software designers who wish to exploit the use of interface metaphors. The paper proposes a set of six design steps, to provide designers with a practical approach to the application of metaphor in the design of interactive systems. An explanation of the activities required in each step is given and justified from experience gained in developing a number of interface metaphors. A pragmatic model of the use of metaphor in human centred system design is introduced, and a technique for eliciting metaphor characteristics is developed from ethnomethodology. The approach has been discussed with software designers at two workshops, and the final content has been influenced by their input.

The BORM methodology: a third-generation fully object-oriented methodology

Business object relationship modelling (BORM) is a development methodology developed to capture Knowledge of typical business systems. It has been in development since 1993 and has proved an increasingly effective method which is popular with both users and developers. The effectiveness gained is largely as a result of a unified and simple method for presenting all aspects of the relevant model. This paper outlines BORM, its tools, methods and its differences from other similar development methodologies.

Process modeling for object oriented analysis using BORM Object Behavioral Analysis

BORM Object Behavior Analysis (BOBA) is a first stage in a process of object modeling which has proved successful in a wide number of applications. This paper discusses this method and describes a simple application. One advantage of BOBA is the small number of concepts required combined with considerable expressiveness. In this way, BOBA is in the tradition established over the past few years by E-R modeling.

Macaroni synthesis: A creative multimedia collaboration

We describe a collaborative project between an HCI team and an internationally known Japanese artist, based in New York, who was artist-in-residence with the group in the UK. The collaboration resulted in a new performance art work and a new interactive instrument. The research included a full study of the process of collaboration and innovation. We describe the work that was created, the interactive instrument developed and illustrates its use in a performance.

Reflections on the Design of Interface Metaphors

This paper introduces a model of metaphor at the human-computer interface that is grounded in the psycho-linguistic literature. It demonstrates the utility of this model in a number of case studies of the design and evaluation of systems that use metaphor as a strategy in interface design. In doing so it draws on experiences of the design of such systems in order to propose practical set of steps that can be undertaken using this model as a `Tool for Thinking’ about metaphor.

Modern Programming Paradigms as the Step Towards a New Technology

ABSTRACT There are several new programming paradigms arising in todays changing programming environment. In this paper we consider the relevance of such programming paradigms for software engineering. We then describe a computer course as taught at the Czech Technical University based on our approach.

A. I. in the Undergraduate Programme at Loughborough

We have so far only had 8 weeks experience of teaching the new course so it is to early to decide what we have got right and what we need to change. The balance of courses between Software Engineering. Computer systems and other areas like A.I. was a hard fought battle and the outcome perhaps reflects the importance which the computing community in the U.K. currently gives to each of these areas. Certainly those of us in the A.I. area are a little disappointed that we were not able to get a larger slice of teaching. We do however accept the case that most of our future students will follow the path of our past students into the computer industry and commercial sectors. Not until the U.K. computing community start to really take on board the lessons and methods of A.I., can we expect A.I. to play a more significant role in our Undergraduate programme.