Creativity-centred design for ubiquitous musical activities: Two case studies

Abstract

This study is among the first that attempt to define a methodology for creativity-centred software design in educational contexts, more specifically for musical activities in ubiquitous settings. We propose and apply a set of design techniques – the Ubimus Planning and the Ubimus Design protocols – as alternatives to experimental procedures that leave out relevant aspects of social and procedural dimensions in educational research. Two workshops were conducted to assess both technological and domain-specific requirements for support of creative musical activities. The first workshop was conducted with music teachers and school teachers that had no formal musical training. The objective of this workshop was to assess domain-specific requirements for musical creative activities by educational staff. The second workshop focused on technological support for tool development by non-musicians. This workshop yielded two software projects that involved user evaluations of creative processes. Participants in t e corresponding user studies included both musicians and non-musicians. The Ubimus Planning protocol served to raise important questions regarding technological usage by musicians and naive subjects in educational contexts. Non-technical approaches, such as those proposed by traditional soundscape activities, may not be suited for introducing non-musicians to sonic composition. Naive subjects may respond better to technologically based approaches, such as those used in ecocomposition.The Ubimus Design approach proved to be effective to test the usability of musical tools at early stages of development. Prototypes were implemented and usability studies were carried out by undergraduate IT students within a three-week time slot. Sharp differences were observed in the type of requirements expressed by musicians and non-musicians regarding creativity support tools. Nevertheless, both groups of subjects assessed the use of software prototypes within exploratory musical activities as being fun and expressive.

Criatividade em Ambientes Cotidianos: O Impacto do Fator Espacial

“…A relação estreita entre processos cognitivos e pistas fornecidas pelo ambiente dá suporte para os enfoques embasados em cognição ecológica (ecologically grounded, embedded-embodied, grounded cognition) [Hutchins 2010;Keller et al 2010]. 2O trabalho experimental forneceu a oportunidade de testar um conjunto de procedimentos para aferir o impacto de variáveis previamente não contempladas nos estudos de criatividade [Lima et al 2012]. O objetivo da metodologia proposta é superar a limitação descrita em trabalhos anteriores como 'restrição prematura de domínio,' isto é, a introdução no desenho experimental de limitações que têm impacto negativo no processo criativo [Keller et al 2011b].…”

Aesthetic Heuristics in Ubimus

“…This paper introduces a new object of study within ubimus research: aesthetic heuristics. The proposal is closely aligned with recent advances in interaction aesthetics (Keller et al 2014b;Löwgren 2009), encompassing the knowledge gathered through ubiquitous music experimental work (Keller et al 2011a;Lima et al 2012) and taking advantage of the theoretical tools developed in the context of seventeen years of ecologically grounded creative practice (Keller et al 2014c). Aesthetic heuristics concern creative-activity decision making.…”

“…Another approach focuses on the educational and philosophical issues raised by ubimus practice, highlighting the applicability of a dialogical proposal grounded on the Brazilian educational movement (Lima et al 2012) and impacting the area of participatory design (Keller et al 2014a). A third perspective proposes the fusion of creativity studies with ubiquitous music practices, signalling a path toward the application of experimental ubimus research to increase our understanding of creative phenomena in real-world settings (Keller et al 2010(Keller et al , 2014a.…”

Ecologically Grounded Creative Practices in Ubiquitous Music

“…The stereotype of the genius-composer working in his studioisolated from the hustle of mundane distractionsis currently being challenged by ubiquitous musical practices (Keller et al 2014a). The situated methods that have emerged from ecologically grounded creative practices fit well within the context of community-oriented ubimus research (Lima et al 2012;Pimenta et al 2014). While the generation-evaluation model was developed keeping in mind a single participant, ecologically grounded practices have traditionally targeted the integration of the audience as an active shaper of the artistic experience (Keller and Capasso 2006;Basanta 2010;Burtner 2011;Keller et al 2014d).…”