CreEx: A Framework for Creativity in Cooperative Problem Solving

Creativity has become an important factor in recent years, as companies need to be able to quickly adapt to take advantage of new opportunities and handle fast paced changes in their environment. Creativity theorists have proposed models to explain creative thought that go beyond the individual to encompass social aspects of creativity. However, most existing research concerns an individual and doesn’t address group aspects of creativity: interactions between team members that lead to innovative solutions for problems and new ideas. We are interested in computer support for collaborative creativity in problem solving. In this paper, we present CreEx, a framework to foster group creativity. By creating appropriate environments for the exploration of problems and discussion of ideas, we hope to enable users not only to generate novel solutions and capture decisions made, but also to learn about each other’s domains and think differently.