Designing improvisational interfaces

This paper examines the possibilities for creative interaction with computers, in particular modes of interaction based on improvisation and spontaneous creative discovery. We consider research findings from studies in psychology that investigate how humans improvise together to see what could be useful in helping us to design systems that provide new kinds of interactive opportunities. We draw on our personal experiences both as computer scientists working across art and music, and as practicing artists and musicians, to examine what artists and musicians would want in any system designed to support creative interaction with a computer. We bring together these different findings to propose a series of working principles which form a basis for designing systems that facilitate collaboration and improvisation with computers in creative domains.