For the project central to this course I'm going to be working with Kat and Ruth to create an interface to help different groups brainstorm effectively. We chose this option because the other options seemed to appeal less to our specific interests. Ironically, I think what we had the most trouble with was brainstorming ideas about how we should approach this problem.
After meeting last night for over an hour the only thing we really knew for certain was that we wanted an interface that represented ideas generated during brainstorming session with physical tokens and that had some sort central area for ideas to collect in order to be reviewed by a group at large.
We got a lot more out of in-class brainstorming session, which I'm attributing both to being more awake and to a lot of guidance from Orit. What seemed to help us make the most progress was using the whiteboard to map out the process we envision being most productive for people as they try to work collaboratively to come up with an idea.
What we came up with is MUSE. We're designing the interface as a way for groups to plan events or procedures starting practically from scratch. The whole idea of the interface is that people can come up with their own ideas in a social, low-pressure way, and easily share and work with their teammates to refine and combine their ideas. That's why it's called Muse - not only is it about finding inspiration, it's also about finding the collaboration in in an individual's idea.
This whole process would take place around a large touch surface. People would have their own place around the table where, for the beginning of the brainstorming session, they are given time to come up with ideas by themselves. For every idea they have they will be able to grab a token from a pile set up near their workplace, and write, record or draw their idea on the surface. This piece of digital information will be attached to the physical token they have, then set aside. The token will be marked in some way to signify the kind of idea that it represents. People can ultimately follow whatever brainstorming style works best for them, though we envision people first getting their ideas out, sorting them into categories, then refining their ideas before they get shared with the group.
What would happen next is that everyone's ideas are made public to the group. Since the ideas are represented with physical objects, all the "ideas" can be physically placed in the middle of the pile. People within the group are then free to look at ideas that seem interesting. People are given a certain amount of time to familiarize themselves with their peers ideas before moving onto the next stage of brainstorming.
This next stage of brainstorming would be a lot more free-form. Ideally, it would occur at the small-group or individual level. People would take the ideas generated before and have a chance to elaborate or improve on them. For example, if your neighbor had an idea you liked, you could get another token, and copy your neighbors idea into it, then make the changes or additions to it that you think might improve the original idea. Alternatively, maybe two other members of the group are working on the other side of the table and you think your ideas goes along really well with some of their ideas. You can physically take your ideas over to where they are, then share all of your ideas, working together.
After this brainstorming period, the group would then come back together to review the ideas that we still on the table. As a group, they would sort their collective ideas into categories, represented by real-life receptacles such as bowls, then see what was actually feasible for the kind of event or topic that was being brainstormed. Different restriction that applied could be represented, as well. For instance, if there was only time at an event for three speakers, you could get a physical restraint that would only contain three ideas.
When the ideas had been decided on, they could then be captured and given to the relevant people. Ideas would have been generated and the process would be complete.
I think we still have soem details to work out, such as the best token to represent ideas and what kind of restriction we're envisioning, but I think we have a solid starting point to work off of now.
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