Information Technology Reference
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vi The concept of creativity itself has changed significantly over the years. How
will the increasing adoption of computers for creative use change the concept
of creativity further?
IV
How Does Creativity and Computing Matter to Education?
i Computing is not seen as a creative subject by the general public or even
at schools and universities in many countries around the world. How then
can we change the perception of computing, especially in early learning, so
that programming is seen as an engaging creative subject in the same way
as science, music and the arts? How can we then inspire students to develop
their creativity through computing?
ii In asking numerous friends, students and colleagues who are artists and mu-
sicians, and who have mastered both their artistic and programming practice,
whether artistic creation is more or less creative than programming, nearly
all say they are equally creative. Certainly we have never heard anyone say
that playing music is creative but programming music software is not, for
example. How can we use this kind of personal evidence to persuade people
in education and the arts that programming is also a creative act?
iii What kinds of environments provide the right level of feedback, intuition and
control to inspire the idea of programming as a creative act in early learning?
iv Can we find new ways of revealing and explaining computational processes
where the flow of computation is more readily accessible to an audience?
Could that help us in our desire to attract a greater diversity of students into
computing?
v Many companies are now beginning to recognise that they want technolo-
gists who can think like artists. However, traditional methods of education in
mainstream computing that focus exclusively on engineering-based problem
solving will not be sufficient for the new challenges of software develop-
ment. How can we design university computing programs that provide grad-
uates with the necessary knowledge and skills to best achieve their creative
potential?
Undoubtably there are many more questions that could easily be posed here, but
it's clear to us that a better understanding of how computing impacts upon creativity
in all its guises will become increasingly paramount in coming years. Looking back
at the last decade, there is little doubt that the most influential new development with
computers in this period has been their role in enhancing our social and cognitive
space, and it is now social concerns that drive the design of many major computing
initiatives. Looking to the future, whilst it is clear that social concerns will remain
a driving force in the design of software, it also seems clear that many of the next
major innovations in the design of hardware and software will come from attempts
to extend our individual and collective creativity. As we set about building these
future computing systems, we hope that this topic has served to inspire new ideas
on the origins, possibilities, and implications of the creative use of computers.