Creating creativity: user interfaces for supporting innovation

A challenge for human-computer interaction researchers and user interf ace designers is to construct information technologies that support creativity. This ambitious goal can be attained by building on an adequate understanding of creative processes. This article offers a four-phase framework for creativity that might assist designers in providing effective tools for users: (1)Collect: learn from provious works stored in libraries, the Web, etc.; (2) Relate: consult with peers and mentors at early, middle, and late stages, (3)Create: explore, compose, evaluate possible solutions; and (4) Donate: disseminate the results and contribute to the libraries. Within this integrated framework, this article proposes eight activities that require human-computer interaction research and advanced user interface design. A scenario about an architect illustrates the process of creative work within such an environment.