Applied Creativity

© Kieran O’Hea 1999

Artists, because of their need to communicate and by the nature of their personal research, have much to
contribute to the development of hardware and software as highly technically skilled investigators. Artistic use
of communications technologies is a source of experimentation and investigation outside the normal
boundaries of industrial activity, but complementary to it through the ultimate expression of the advanced
user.

Creative professionals are accustomed to adopting technology as an outlet for their creativity. They often use
commercially available tools in a more rigorous and unpredictable way than the average user does. They often
develop short cuts or invent completely new tools in order to meet their requirements. Often it is only when it
is in the hands of the creative professional and subject to his or her vivid imagination that the true potential of
the tool, or alternatively its shortcomings, is realised.

Primary research by artists can influence interface designs, databases, VR, groupware, downloadable software,
internet radio, web-casting, online virtual communities, interactive TV, DVD, narrative techniques, interactive
architecture, dramatic syntax, etc.

What is missing is the translatability and transmissibility of creative experimentation into terms that are
understandable and useful for R&D communities. What is needed are mechanisms whereby existing creativity
can be made to play a stronger, more visible role in the ICT development process.

According to the outcomes of the ‘Innovation Exchange Workshop’ (attended by industrial R&D labs, Scientific
research centres and independent cultural media Centres) / Amsterdam February 18th 1999, initiated by the
Society for Old and New Media), the ideal co-operation is one in which parties work on an equal basis,
whether they are carrying out research, developing an idea, concept or product. To achieve this, co-operation
should start at the earliest possible stage of the process. Effective co-operation requires a long period in which
parties invest in each other and become acquainted with each other’s interest and needs.

The role of the creative professional as researcher and/or advanced user has up until now received little
recognition outside of its own community. New tools devised by creative professionals remain undeveloped
because they themselves do not have the necessary technical resources at their disposal to do so.
From a training perspective, novice practitioners need to be made aware of the normative, flattening dangers
of excessively standardised tools as vehicles for tomorrow’s artistic expression. Conversely, they need to be
able to access, compare, and appreciate tools that offer real margins for creative manoeuvring.

The project will establish a communication channel between the creative professional, academia and the R&D
community. Its main objectives will be to examine how technology and content reinforce one another and to
find new ways for collaboration between the European creative community and the industrial and scientific
R&D community.

 Creative professionals tend to develop work 2 or 3 years ahead of the market.

  Creative professionals tend to be cost effective in terms of production costs compared to software
developers and production companies.

 Creative professionals have innovative ways of thinking and develop interfaces and content that
produce meaning.

 Industry is often constrained by current market paradigms and often fails to broaden market
potentials and market gaps.

 Interactive and enhanced TV are not investing in the long-term needs of content provision which
creative professionals are primed for developing.

 Much of Europe’s artistically innovative media experimentation is occurring in countries beyond EU

borders, and this creative energy has become more visible recently thanks to effective networking.

 The 5th Framework Programme provides the opportunity for funding creative professionals to
research and develop work in year 1 and 2 with a view to partnering the developments in a
commercial context in the 3rd or 4th year.

The project will investigate how to specify the basic framework and define the criteria and conditions for
collaboration between industrial R&D labs and research centres and creative individuals and cultural media
centres. The group will specify and carry out Action Research in a ‘Match-bed’ programme, in order to analyse
the experiences and to develop a model for further large-scale implementation.
The project will bring representatives of the creative community and the scientific and industrial R&D
community together in order to:

 Learn from each other’s practices and to define models for collaboration.

 Set up a forum for discussion on Innovation, Creation and ICT.

 Identify the needs of the participants.

 Stimulate the collaboration and sharing of innovative and creative technologies.

The small and large research organisations can learn from each other, can facilitate each other and can achieve
more in the development of innovative ICT through working together. To come to this level of exchange some
barriers must be removed. Most important is the understanding of each other’s (management) cultures and
objectives.