Designing for Creativity in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

We are investigating the design of tools to support everyday scientific creativity in distributed collaboration. Based on an exegesis of theoretical and empirical literature on creativity and group dynamics, we present and justify three requirements for supporting creativity: support for divergent and convergent thinking, development of shared objectives, and reflexivity. We elaborate on these requirements by describing three implications for design to support creativity in context of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW): integrate support for individual, dyadic, and group brainstorming; leverage cognitive conflict by preserving and reflecting on minority dissent; and support flexibility in granularity of planning. We conclude by outlining a future research trajectory for designing and evaluating creativity support tools in the context of collaboratories.