Creative Chaos

Creative ChaosLearning Lessons on Inclusion & Innovation

Making the Magic

A Little About Me

• Preface & Acknowledgments

Creative Chaos

• Learning Lessons on Inclusion & Innovation

• Making the Magic

Introduction

• Overview

• Learning Lessons

I. Overview• 1) On the ETC

• 2) On Creativity

• 3) On ETC Research

• 4) On Creativity Research

• 5) On ETC Curriculum

1) On the ETC

• ETC

• ETC Mission

• Art | Technology | Design

• Entertainment Technologies

ETC

• World’s Best Playground

• With an Electric Fence

• Contexts & Constraints for Creativity

• Learning Needs Challenges

• Success Needs Failures

• Creativity Needs Constraints

• Extraordinary Needs Boundaries

ETC Mission

• Mission

• Providing leadership in education and applied research that combines technology and art, to explore learning, storytelling, innovation and entertainment, and to create experiences that educate, engage and inspire.

• Goals

• Applied Research

• Communication & Collaboration across Disciplines

Art | Technology | Design

• College of Fine Arts

• School of Computer Science

• Founded 17 Years Ago

• (as of the 2016/2017 academic year)

Entertainment Technologies

• Games, Animation, Theme Parks, Museums, Augmented Reality, Mobile, Robotics, Interactive Performances, Websites, Film, Cross-Media . . .

• Education, Training, Health, Medical, Civics, Entertainment . . .

• All These and More…

2) On Creativity

• Teaching Creativity

• Creative Production

• Creative Chaos

• Making Stuff

• Making the Magic

Teaching Creativity

• Imagination & Innovation

• Skill & Process

• Individual & Group

Creative Production

• Design & Development

• Communication & Collaboration

• Leadership & Management

• Schedule & Budget

• Trust & Respect

Creative Chaos

• Ambiguous Ideas & Uncertain Results

• Rapid Prototyping & Iterative Design

• Flexible Process & Comfort with Unknowns

Making Stuff

• Intellectual Property

• Not Ideas, What is Created

• Sharing Development

• Do the Work, not What They Want

Making the Magic

• New, Useful, Good

• Design Process

• Applied Research

• Problem Solving

• Critical Creation

3) On ETC Research

• How?

• CMU Tepper Study of ETC

• ETC Study Methods

• ETC Study Measures

• ETC Study Results

• Further ETC Data

How?

CMU Tepper Study of ETC

• Laurie Weingart • Sr. Assc. Dean of Education & Richard M. Cyert and Margaret S. Cyert

Professor of Organizational Behavior & Theory, Tepper, CMU

• Gergana Todorova • University of Miami

• Kenneth Goh • University of Western Ontario

ETC Study Methods

• How Does Expertise Diversity Translate into Innovation?

• 60 ETC Projects (2008-2011)

• Teams Surveyed 4 Times during Semester

• Observations & Interviews

• Independent Ratings of Final Product

ETC Study Measures

• Team Processes

• Conflict & Communication

• Coordination & Leadership

• Faculty Ratings

• Innovation, Quality

• Useful, Usable, Desirable

ETC Study Results

• More Diversity Leads to:

• More Conflict during Process

• and

• More Useful, Usable, Desirable Products

• Higher Quality & More Innovation

Further ETC Data*

• Gender, Ethnicity, Work Experience

• Project Type, Team Size, Instructors

• Familiarity, Leadership, Valuing Diversity

*2014, Anna Mayo CMU Tepper Doctoral Student

4) On Creativity Research

• Granted

• Resonant Research

• Collective Intelligence

Granted

• ETC Study on CMU Graduate Students

• But…

Resonant Research• Data on Diversity

• http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2014/11/179827-the-data-on-diversity/

• How Diversity Makes Us Smarter

• http://www/scientificamerican/com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/

• And so much more…

Collective Intelligence

• Equal Contributions, Listening

• Empathy, Emotional Intelligence

• More Women

- Anita WoolleyAsst. Professor, Tepper, CMU

5) On ETC Curriculum

• Creative Orchestration

• Master of Entertainment Technology (MET)

• Research & Design

• ETC Projects

• ETC Core Courses

• Learn, Work, Play

Creative Orchestration

• Creative Process is Inherently Chaotic

• Failures Happen, On-Going Challenge

• More Diversity is Better and Harder

• Process needs Support

Master of Entertainment Technology(MET)

• Two year professional Master’s program

• Around 160 students (40% / 40% / 20%)

• Diverse Faculty & Staff

• Interdisciplinary Teams

• Project-based Curriculum

• Space & Tech

Research & Design

• Transformational Games

• Innovation by Design

• Interactive Storytelling

ETC Projects

• Types & Roles

• Balance

• Client, Research, Pitch

ETC Core Courses

• Building Virtual Worlds

• Virtual Story

• Improv

• Fundamentals

Learn, Work, Play

• Educational Goals

• Professional Development

• Engaging Experiences

II. Learning Lessons• 6) On Inclusion

• 7) On Collegiality

• 8) On Development

• 9) On Context

• 10) On Support

• 11) On Challenge

6) On Inclusion

• Valuing Diversity

• Inclusion, Fit & Diversity

• Improvisational Acting

Valuing Diversity• Gender, Sexual Orientation, Ethnicity, Socio-Economic, Culture, Religion,

Age, Disability, Expertise, Work & Intersectionality…

• Inclusive & Supportive

• Actions & Words

• Product & Process

• Discuss & Address

• Culture & Community

• Difference & Progress

Inclusion, Fit & Diversity

• Culture, Lifestyle, Field, Career…

• Location, Company, Team, Job…

Improvisational Acting

• Yes and…

• Shaping Experiences

• Comfort with Chaos

• Something from Nothing

• Serve the Story

7) On Collegiality

• People (Can) Suck

• Responsibility

• Comfortability

• Reputation

• Collaboration

People (Can) Suck

• Supervisor

• Client

• Colleagues

• Bureaucracy

• Public

• You

Responsibility

• For the Work

• For Dealing with Colleagues

• For Mistakes, Failures, Regrets

• For What You Don’t Know

• For Being Your Best

Comfortability

• With Responsibility

• With the Unknown

• With New Challenges

• With Failures

• With Yourself

Reputation

• Good Colleague, Good Team Member, Good Attitude

• Not How Smart of Talented, Not Better

• Continual Process, Manners, Warmth

• Actions as Well as Words

Reputation

• Fun to Play With (Not, Have Fun Playing

• Quality, Quantity, Effort

• Be Good, Be Pleasant, Be On Time

• Awful - Average - Awesome

Collaboration

Not So Much

Collaboration

Co-Creation

8) On Development

• Less Talk, More Rock

• Collaborative Jams

• Playtesting Workshops

• Experience

• Transformational Experiences

Less Talk, More Rock

Less Talk, More Rock

Less Talk, More Rock

Collaborative Jams

• Jammers

• Subject Matter Experts

• Jam - Prototype - Product

http://nowigetitjam.org

Playtesting Workshops

• Explore

• Refine

• Persuade

http://playtestingworkshops.com

Experience

• Critical Creation

• Ultimate Design Goal

• For the User, Player, Guest…

• Interest Curves, Flow, Procedural, Interactivies

Transformational Experiences

• Design for Impact

• Creativity for Good

• Changes in Our Daily Lives

Transformational Games

Sabrina Culyba

ETC Creative Good Fund

9) On Context

• Constraints

• Failure

• Doubt

• Curiosity

Constraints

• Creativity Needs Context

• Yes and…

• Sometimes No

• Polish, not Perfect

Failure

• Learn From Mistakes, Resiliency

• Fail Faster, Experiment, Explore

• Rapid Prototyping

• Iterate toward Solutions

First Penguin Award

Doubt

• Question Answers

• Challenge Assumptions

• Work to Understand

• Open to Changing Your Mind

• To be Uncertain is to be Uncomfortable, but to be Certain is to be Ridiculous.

Curiosity

• Ask Questions & Engage

• Lifelong Learning & How Stuff Works

• Problem Solving & Cheating?

• Story Telling & Model Making

• Curiosity was Framed, Ignorance killed the Cat.

10) On Support

• Difficulty By Design

• Creative Teams

• Feedback

• Criticism & Conflict

• Workshops, Seminars & Concentrations

• Life Long Skills

Difficulty By Design

• They Know Engaging, Ask More & Let Them Try

• Provide Context

• Shape Challenges

• Show Connections

• Mastery to Literacy

Creative Teams

• Creative Professionals

• Diverse & Balanced

• Group Deliverables

• Individual Processes

• Life-Long Learning

Feedback

• 10 years worth in 2

• Product, Process, Public Events

• From Faculty, Peers, Alums, Guests

• Daily, Weekly, Milestones

• When you’re screwing up, and nobody is saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up. - Randy Pausch

Criticism & Conflict

• Receiving, Giving & Asking

• Conflict & Praise

• Critical Response Process

Workshops, Seminars & Concentrations• Skills, Process, Strengths, Conflict Management, Playtesting, Aesthetics,

Design, Intellectual Property, Branding, Entrepreneurialism, Public Speaking, Pitching, Interviews, Professional Communication, Portfolios, Resumes, Critique, Analysis, Personal Health, Project Management, Agile Development, Producing, Storytelling, Field Overview, Professional Development, Life-Long Learning…

• Game DesignThemed Entertainment Interactive Storytelling

Life Long Skills

• Collaboration, Cooperation

• Communication, Attitude

• Problem Solving, Adaptability

• Leadership, Management

• Creativity, Curiosity

11) On Challenge

• Hard Fun

• Pleasantly Frustrating

• Challenge Is Good

• Challenge Is Engaging

• Curiosity Literacy

Hard Fun

• Pleasantly Frustrating, Engagingly Compelling

• Difficulty & Mastery

• Agency & Literacy

• Transformational

• Playing & Learning & Creating

Pleasantly Frustrating

• The Challenge

Pleasantly Frustrating

• Not Too Simple

Pleasantly Frustrating

• Not Too Simple

• Not Too Hard

Challenge Is Good

• Not just Fun

• Difficult Challenges

• Fun has a Half-Life

Challenge Is Engaging

• Meet them at their Mastery

• Engage through Challenges

• Give them Agency

Curiosity Literacy

• How to Learn

• Challenge Yourself

• Create on Your Own

• Life-Long Skill

In Conclusion• Orchestrating Creativity

• More Inclusive Diversity Please

• Creative Chaos

• Learning Lessons

• References

Orchestrating Creativity

• Collaborative, Innovative

• Value & Embrace Diversity

• Creative Problem Solvers

• Open to Improve

• Comfortable Doing Things You’ve Never Done Before

More Inclusive Diversity Please

• Across Fields

• Education Leads to Diversity

• Diversity of People & Products

• Do It Together, Make More Magic, Change the World

Creative Chaos

• Diversity is Valuable & Challenging

• Inclusion Leads to Innovation

• Supportive Orchestration

• Making The Magic

Learning Lessons

• Yes, and…

Yes, And…

• New Study on ETC Projects

• Starting in Spring 2017

• Laurie Weingart, Gergana Todorov, Kenneth Goh, Anna Mayo, Dulce Pacheco

• CMU Eberly Center - Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

• ETC Faculty, Staff, Students

Thanks!

• Questions?

• [email protected]

http://press.etc.cmu.edu/content/creative-chaos