Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 16
Computers and Creativity: The Road Ahead
Jon McCormack and Mark d'Inverno
Abstract
This final chapter proposes a number of questions that we think are im-
portant for future research in relation to computers and creativity. Many of these
questions have emerged in one form or another in the preceding chapters and are di-
vided into four categories as follows: how computers can enhance human creativity;
whether computer art can ever be properly valued; what computing can tell us about
creativity; and how creativity and computing can be brought together in learning.
16.1 Where to From Here?
At the end of the topic it seems important to consider the most critical questions
that have arisen whilst editing the preceding chapters. Throughout the topic, a broad
range of views on computers and creativity have been expressed. Some authors ar-
gue that computers are potentially capable of exhibiting creative behaviours, or of
producing artefacts which can be evaluated in a similar context as human artworks.
Others believe that computers will never exhibit autonomous creativity and that we
should think of computers and creativity only in the sense of how computers can
stimulate creativity in humans. A number of authors even downplay the concept
of creativity itself, seeing other approaches such as training and practice, or social
mechanisms, as more central in understanding the creation of novel artefacts.
Whilst there is some disagreement about the relationship between computers and
creativity, there is a general consensus that computers can transform and inspire
human creativity in significantly different ways than any other artificial or human
made device. The range of possibilities is evident in this volume, which contains
many exciting efforts describing the computer's use in developing art practices, mu-
sic composition and performance.
