The proposed research will create environments that go beyond existing Wikis (being primarily focused on hypertext) to permit the integration (not just attachment) of other forms of media ranging from movies and animations, to sharing of datasets, to the creation and utilization of social network information to support community interaction, to conceptual mind-mapping media.
The proposed research will - examine how current wiki-like environments are limited in supporting the different ways in which creative people might represent and contribute to a body of knowledge and study what other types of objects, context and interfaces (beyond hyperlinked text) would be desirable, usable, and useful; - analyze and create specifically the following entities: mind maps, videos, anecdotes/stories and how these could be designed to allow them to be readily and rapidly developed and extended by participants; - explore different (potentially intertwined) "modes" interacting with such an environment (including: face-to-face activities, synchronous, and asynchronous activities); and - utilize new paradigms (such as the emerging Web 2.0 framework) for developing systems that are open and extensible, permitting the inclusion of new forms of information and representation within the community memory.
The proposed research meets specifically the following SGER criteria: - having urgency with regard to availability of, or access to unique opportunities - the opportunity to study the creation and support of the CreativeIT research community, as represented by efforts already undertaken to seed an initial Swiki for the workshop held November 1-3, 2006. The opportunity to study this community building effort and supporting it with a new class of wiki represents a unique opportunity. - ventures into emerging and transformative research ideas - the emerging efforts to establish a program within NSF linking IT with creative endeavors will catalyze the self application of the programs goals to the development of the program. - application of new expertise or new approaches to established research topics - the synergy of a challenging task, the involvement of the emerging research community, and the expertise and experience of the proposing researchers will offer unique perspectives on the creation and evolution of a new generation of web-based tools for community development.
Intellectual Merit. The proposed activity will permit the development of grounded theories and effective architectures for the use of new technologies in this field.
Broad Impact. The socio-technical environment developed will have the potential for broad impact by supporting creative communities, which are a critical resource for the competitive ability of the US workforce. The effort to create a community around the CreativeIT Initiative within CISE provides an opportunity to study the use of community-building creativity-support tools for a community where support for development and sharing of creative ideas is critical.
