Computers and Creativity · Molly Mielke

Acknowledging that computers themselves are not inherently creative should not come as a surprise. Instead, this truth identifies an opportunity for computers to more fully assume the role of co-creator — not idea-generator, but actualizer.

A common argument against moldability is the increased cost of maintaining integrations or modifications that exist on top of a perpetually changing piece of software. This is a real issue, as evidenced by the fragility of plugin ecosystems such as those of the free content management system, Wordpress. However, this points to the fact that there a... See more

Today, the way that we use creative tools is relegated to the boundaries drawn by the software company who created the tool. However, when considering the ingredients needed to facilitate creativity, a common theme that arises is the need for software moldability, or the ability for the user to tailor their software to better address the problem th... See more

Facilitating collaboration in a digital tool is a key multiplier for creativity.

Ultimately, I will be arguing that to foster optimal human innovation, digital creative tools need to be interoperable, moldable, efficient, and community-driven.

Today, there is next to no standardization between digital creative tool files. While there are sometimes ways to convert one tool's file type to another, the process is tedious at best, unusable at worst. The lack of interoperability¹³ between creative tools means that all work created within a tool is confined to the limitations of that tool itse... See more

Historically, the primary strains of creative tools have been text editors, spreadsheets, HyperText,¹ and Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. For the purposes of this essay, “digital creative tool” will refer to tools that foster creative thought in their human users, whether that be a design, writing, or multimedia tool.

This means that the actions we take with computers are steps that we have already broken down in our head in order to achieve an end result. This is often a highly repetitive process, and makes clear that there is room for computers to become better co-creators in order to make space for human creativity.