1. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Today Tuesday CS 321 Human-Computer Interaction Paper Prototyping Video: Paper Prototyping Tricks CD Ch. 17-19 “Prototyping for Tiny Fingers” Discussion: Creativity

2. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Creative Thinking Notes from: “A Whack on the Side of the Head: How you can be more creative”, R. von Oech, U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1990 Creative Thinking “is looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different”. Shifting the context in which you think about something Requires an attitude that allows you to search for ideas and manipulate your knowledge and experience Albert Szent-Gyorgyi 1893-1996 Nobel prize winner Physician

3. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Mental Locks/Mental Blocks Mental Locks are attitudes that lock our thinking into the status quo and keep us thinking “more of the same”. Mental Locks prevent ideas from flowing. 1.Habitual Thinking – Doing things or thinking about things in way that is out of habit. Habit reduces cognitive load but can keep your thinking in a rut. 2.The Right Answer – Thinking that there must be only one right answer or the best answer. By being stuck looking for “the right answer” we tend to discard potentially good solutions before we have a chance to explore them. Formal education teaches us the “right answer” way of thinking. This is sometimes called “Gold Plating” 3.Logical or Mathematical Thinking – Logical thinking emphasizes that everything must be explained and there can be no contradictions.

4. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Mental Locks/Mental Blocks 5.Follow the Rules – Thinking that rules must be followed. 6.Play is Frivolous – Business thinking leads us to believe that the bottom-line is about productivity, so any activity that is not directly productive must be unproductive. Sometimes it helps to look at ideas in playful, humorous, or imaginative ways. These can possibly lead to new insights that can potentially be productive down the line. 7.I’m Not Creative – Self-fulfilling prophecy. Give yourself a license to be creative.

5. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Why Do Mental Locks Lock? typical professor’s brain (except for me)

6. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Left Brain vs. Right Brain left: primarily systematic, analytical right: primarily intuitive, associative

7. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. We train you that way! our formal education trains the left hemisphere we learn to suppress the right hemisphere

8. ©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Mental Locks: All left brain (analytical) thinking There is one good answer That’s not logical Follow the rules Be practical Play is frivolous That’s not my area Don’t be foolish Avoid ambiguity To err is wrong