This project seeks to support and transform emergent practices of online creative collaboration, making new kinds of creative processes and products possible. Online communication can provide a source of support for creativity and collaboration. On the Internet today, amateur participants are already collaborating on creative projects. We focus on one creative domain: the creation of short, animated movies. In phase one of our research, we are studying existing practice, to gain insight into what aspects of online creative collaboration are challenging. Based on this understanding, we are creating Sandbox, a suite of tools to support creative collaboration online. Most existing practice uses a central creative leader or "auteur" model of production. Our tools are designed to make the leader's role easier, and also to make a new more decentralized/leaderless mode of production possible. By comparing and contrasting centralized and decentralized project structures, we will gain insights into fundamental issues of the creative process and how to support it.
