Using Improvisation to Enhance the Effectiveness of Brainstorming

This is a research paper written by Elizabeth Gerber from Northwestern University.

Summary:

This paper starts by giving a general idea of what most of us consider 'brainstorming' - a popular method used by design teams to generate new ideas. Some keys to good brainstorming she presents are from a book called Applied Imagination by Osborn. They are to withhold judgment, build on the ideas of others, generate a large quantity of ideas, free-wheel, and identify a leader. She argues that these concepts have helped teams of cross-discipline to tackle complex technological problems. She also mentions that when team members are able to break loose from cognitive and emotional bounds they are more likely to produce novel and valuable solutions.

The paper then moves on to discuss using technology to enhance brainstorming. She notes that technological support can help some brainstorming imperatives - "fluid idea expression and the generation of a large quantity of ideas". However, the technology does not allow for help in all parts - "building on each other ideas and taking turns speaking". Her desire is to come up with some form of technology that can assist teams in the keys mentioned earlier from Applied Imagination. To do this, she proposed the idea of using theatrical improvisation - improv.

Her research continues on to explore (in depth) integrating improv with brainstorming to support the keys from Osborn's Applied Imagination: withhold judgment, build on the ideas of others, generate a large quantity of ideas, free-wheel, and identify a leader. She concludes her paper by mentioning that improv fosters a healthy environment for brainstorming. She also tells that brainstorming is a great method by which leading companies can discover innovative ideas for the future - a valuable asset.

Comments:

I thought that the paper had some very interesting ideas about using improv in brainstorming activities. For example, the improv method used for 'free-wheeling' was to start with a familiar object. The group would then pass the object around and come up with alternate uses for it. I think that brainstorming is sort of an improvisational activity to begin with, and that is where I think the research is lacking. Teams naturally use improv to help them brainstorm. The research also seemed to lack a computer-human component. It briefly mentioned how computers can assist and constrict brainstorming, but the research of improv did not really get into CHI.