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This paper presents preliminary findings from our empirical study of the cognition employed by performers in improvisational theatre. Our study has been conducted in a laboratory setting with local improvisers. Participants performed predesigned improv "games", which were videotaped and shown to each individual participant for a retrospective protocol collection. The participants were then shown the video again as a group to elicit data on group dynamics, misunderstandings, etc. This paper presents our initial findings that we have built based on our initial analysis of the data and highlights details of interest.

This paper reports on the design and evaluation of a cocreative drawing partner called the Drawing Apprentice, which was designed to improvise and collaborate on abstract sketches with users in real time. The system qualifies as a new genre of creative technologies termed "casual creators" that are meant to creatively engage users and provide enjoyable creative experiences rather than necessarily helping users make a higher quality creative product. We introduce the conceptual framework of participatory sense-making and describe how it can help model and understand open-ended collaboration. We report the results of a user study comparing human-human collaboration to human-computer collaboration using the Drawing Apprentice system. Based on insights from the user study, we present a set of design recommendations for co-creative agents.

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People are ready to change themselves to adopt more ecofriendly habits such as conserving electricity when they are aware of the possible problems of their lifestyle. In this sense, ambient display, which users experience occasionally without its interfering with their primary tasks, is well suited to provide the feedback of their personal activities in a more subtle manner than direct information presentation. We present the results of user studies with two ambient displays in different visualization styles. Participants showed diverse usage behaviors of ambient displays according to their motivational level of sustainable lifestyle. In addition, iconic metaphor of eco-visualization can trigger more emotional attachment while indexical representation helps retrospective functions. Finally, we suggest design requirements for ambient displays that support different stages of persuasion from raising awareness to motivating to change behaviors and to maintaining desired habits.