Evaluating Creativity Support Tools in HCI Research

Abstract

The design and development of Creativity Support Tools (CSTs) is of growing interest in research at the intersection of creativity and Human-Computer Interaction, and has been identified as a 'grand challenge for HCI'. While creativity research and HCI each have had long-standing discussions about---and rich toolboxes of---evaluation methodologies, the nascent field of CST evaluation has so far received little attention. We contribute a survey of 113 research papers that present and evaluate CSTs, and we offer recommendations for future CST evaluation. We center our discussion around six major points that researchers might consider: 1) Clearly define the goal of the CST; 2) link to theory to further understanding of usage of CSTs; 3) recruit domain experts, if applicable and feasible; 4) consider longitudinal, in-situ studies; 5) distinguish and decide whether to evaluate usability or creativity; and 6) as a community, help develop a toolbox for CST evaluation.