Karl D.D. Willis.

Alchemy: Experiments in Interactive Drawing, Creativity, & Serendipity (PDF 572k) – A demo paper presented at the ACM Creativity & Cognition 2009 Conference in Berkeley, USA. The abstract is as follows:
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This paper presents an overview of Alchemy, an experimental drawing application aimed at exploring how we can sketch, draw, and create on computers in new ways. Alchemy focuses on the absolute initial stage of the creative process, to provide an expanded range of possibilities for serendipitous sketching and shape creation. The main aim of Alchemy is to explore how computer based forms of drawing can extend the early stage idea creation process.
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More information on Alchemy.

TwelvePixels: Drawing & Creativity on a Mobile Phone (PDF 628k) – A paper presented at CHI 2008 as part of interactivity exhibition in Florence, Italy. The abstract is as follows:
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TwelvePixels is an interface for drawing pixel-based imagery using only the standard keys on the mobile phone handset. Using an essentially simple drawing method, an extensive range of imagery can be created and shared between users. This paper explores the rationale and details behind the development of the TwelvePixels interface; tracking possible applications for promoting creativity, communication, and content sharing on mobile phones.
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More information on TwelvePixels.

Open Interactions: The Balance of Specification (PDF 532k) – A paper presented at PerthDAC 2007 as part of the Biennale of Electronic Arts in Perth, Australia. The abstract is as follows:
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This paper addresses interactive art within the context of participatory culture, mapping current developments towards more open and creative forms of interactivity labelled ‘open interactions’. The size of the elements within an artwork, the ‘interactive granularity’, is stated as key to the creation of open interactions. The metaphor of conversation is used to explore interactivity and suggest future research/practice directions. It is suggested that the potential for interactivity to propagate further creativity relies heavily on the balance of specification for both interactor and system. Furthermore it is stated that truly conversational interactions are inherently open-ended and can result in both positive and negative outcomes by whatever standard.
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User Authorship and Creativity within Interactivity (PDF 228k) – A short paper presented in the Arts Program of ACM Multimedia 2006 in Santa Barbara, USA. The paper is basically a shorter version of the Light Tracer exegesis I worked on in Sydney during 2005. The abstract is as follows:
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This paper tracks the development of the author’s work entitled Light Tracer, and examines the surrounding issues of user authorship and creativity within interactivity.
Light Tracer is an interactive system which invites the participant to write, draw and trace images in real physical space. The participant is situated in front of a screen reflecting their own image, and by manipulating a series of light sources, marks can be left onscreen such as drawings, messages, traces of physical objects such as faces, hands and bodies.
It is the argument of the author that by allowing the user an optimum level of creative authorship within an interactive work, the user can be successfully engaged with the experience of the interaction and in turn produce and create themselves.
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Creative Interactive Experiences as Production (PDF 380k) – A paper presented to ‘The First International Symposium on Culture, Creativity and Interaction Design (CCID 2006)’ on September 12, 2006 in London, UK.
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This paper examines the shift of interactive art away from user consumption towards systems for user production and artistic creation. Examples of creativity focused systems are examined in the form of the author’s interactive drawing system entitled Light Tracer and Toshio Iwai’s Electroplankton title for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is argued that in order for the user to make a creative contribution, interactive systems must afford the user appropriate freedom to create. Furthermore it is argued that, along with the aesthetic responses of such systems, the moment of interaction itself should be valued and gauged in an expanded definition of creativity and production.
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Research paper completed as part of my honours year study at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, Australia. My research has sought to develop the association between the creative involvement of the user, and successful, engaging interaction. Questioning the importance of a user’s role as an active author, and examining what this involvement contributes to an engaging interactive experience.

Download PDF – User Authorship and Creativity within Interactivity