Virtual Realisation: Supporting Creative Outcomes in Medicine and Music

In this article, I describe findings on the impact of virtual realisation on professional skills and creativity, based on observational studies and interviews with surgeons and musicians. I also present a vision of computer-supported creativity in terms of a modular set of virtual and augmented-reality environments based around an explicit model of the creative process. I suggest that by combining these two types of study, the potential of virtual realisation technology can be utilised in a way that transcends physical distinctions of time and place, while reinforcing the cognitive distinctions that are essential for the generation of creative outcomes.