Academics

Faculty, students contribute to new book on human-centric software

To design successful products, technology companies must employ the right mix of creativity and logic. Jack Carroll, Edward M. Frymoyer Professor at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology, delves into the ways that those characteristics interact in a new book that he edited, “Creativity and Rationale: Enhancing Human Experience Through Design.”

“My idea with this book was to explore the tension between creativity and rationale,” said Carroll, director of Penn State's Center for Human-Computer Interaction.

The book, which is composed of 20 chapters written by experts in various areas of information technology and design, is a final report on a National Science Foundation workshop that was held at the College of IST in the summer of 2008. Since then, Carroll said, he has organized two special issues of the journal “Human Technology" -- in 2010 and 2011 -- based  on papers from the workshop. The book includes these special issue papers, plus additional chapters. IST professors Rosalie Ocker and Irene Petrick contributed chapters to the book.  IST graduate students Phil Ayoub and Jing Wang, and former IST graduate student Umer Farooq also wrote chapters.

According to Carroll, creativity and rationale “comprise an essential tension in design.”  The most successful technology products, he said, are “novel but recognizable.”

“Things that are creative also have a logical structure,” he said.

While a new software program has to work properly, Carroll said, it also must have certain intangible qualities, evoke emotion, challenge and surprise people to stand out in the marketplace.

“It has to transform you, it has to provoke you, it has to do something more,” he said.

In many companies, products are developed by teams rather than individuals. In those situations, Carroll said, the product’s “sense of perspective, of authorship can be lost.”

“If you have a very skilled person, like a Van Gogh of software, you’re fine,” he said.

Otherwise, he added, teams must rely on the synergy among its members, who contribute different skills but also may have conflicting ideas. “That’s when somebody better understand the tension between creativity and rationale.”

While “Creativity and Rationale” is the general theme of the book, Carroll said, many of the chapters are somewhat specific to particular product development activities and domains. Software managers would find the book useful in gaining awareness of the potential stumbling blocks in product design, he added.

Last Updated January 9, 2015

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