Performing Collaborative Creativity: Learning from Diverse Experts Interacting in Ireland’s Science Gallery

This paper presents preliminary findings deriving from a larger project investigating the performance of collaborative creativity and is primarily concerned with describing the communication patterns of such performance. Interactions between different domain experts in Ireland’s Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, were observed and recorded over the course of four months in 2011. The interactions have been loosely transcribed using the basic principles of CA. Preliminary findings include three observations. Firstly, creative performances involve a type of content we call ‘idea talk’. Secondly, performances of creative collaboration involve variance, not equality, in participation by individual experts. Variance in participation in group creativity is somewhat in tension with findings from the equality of participation celebrated in the brainstorming literature (Osborn, 1979 ) and reported from research in other collaborative groups ( Sawyer, 2007, Sonnenburg, 2004 Steiner, 2009). Thirdly, the role of the facilitator in creative collaborations requires a flexibility to move between roles of facilitator and participant and the communications skills to summarise and express the ideas of others as well as their own ideas. The character of what we call ‘idea talk’, the variance in paricipation and the multifaceted role of the facilitator may help define creative collaborations and in doing so, distinguish them from other group interactional forms such as meetings, focus groups, brainstorming sessions and other collaborative contexts. ABSTRACT . 2 INTRODUCTION . 4 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND . 5 THE SCIENCE GALLERY: ANALYSING THE CONTEXT OF THE CASE . 7 Science Gallery Collaborations . 7 Science Gallery group composition . 9 Science Gallery physical space . 10 METHODOLOGY . 11 Data Collected . 12 Leonardo Group Collaboration . 12 ANALYSIS . 14 Extract A: Leonardo Sequence . 15 Abstract B: Leonardo session . 19 TENTATIVE FINDINGS AND CONTRIBUTIONS . 25 Finding 1: Idea Talk in creative collaborations . 25 Finding 2: Participation level variance . 26 Finding 3: Role of the facilitator . 27 CONCLUSION . 28 REFERENCES . 31 APPENDICES . 34 Appendix 1: Data Gathered in the Science Gallery 2010-­‐2011 . 34 Appendix 2: Details of Data Captured from Table Talk -­‐ 18/1/11 . 35 Appendix 3: Details of Data Captured from Leonardo session -­‐ 19/4/11 . 36 . 2 INTRODUCTION . 4 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND . 5 THE SCIENCE GALLERY: ANALYSING THE CONTEXT OF THE CASE . 7 Science Gallery Collaborations . 7 Science Gallery group composition . 9 Science Gallery physical space . 10 METHODOLOGY . 11 Data Collected . 12 Leonardo Group Collaboration . 12 ANALYSIS . 14 Extract A: Leonardo Sequence . 15 Abstract B: Leonardo session . 19 TENTATIVE FINDINGS AND CONTRIBUTIONS . 25 Finding 1: Idea Talk in creative collaborations . 25 Finding 2: Participation level variance . 26 Finding 3: Role of the facilitator . 27 CONCLUSION . 28 REFERENCES . 31 APPENDICES . 34 Appendix 1: Data Gathered in the Science Gallery 2010-­‐2011 . 34 Appendix 2: Details of Data Captured from Table Talk -­‐ 18/1/11 . 35 Appendix 3: Details of Data Captured from Leonardo session -­‐ 19/4/11 . 36 Introduction In doubtful and uncertain times, the role of creativity in addressing problems, affecting change and generating value is increasingly prominent. At a societal and cultural level, creativity is claimed to contribute to happiness, leads to new movements, and great works of art (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). More recently, creativity has become a macro-economic imperative claimed as essential to national growth and competitive advantage (Banaji, Burn, & Buckingham, 2006, Bissola & Imperatori, 2011; Florida, 2012). The call for an enhanced focus on creativity in education, and for more creative approaches to socio-political structures, as well as in social justice and equality suggest that creativity is central to addressing the current and future challenges (Moran, 2010; Robinson, 2009; Schlesinger, 2007). The complexity of problems, the pace of change, and the critical need to build and sustain competitiveness associated with these uncertain times, demands a more collaborative form of creativity, that moves beyond a historical reliance on individual creativity and the lone genius, and instead involves diverse groups, networks and societies (Bissola & Imperatori, 2011; Perry-Smith, 2006). Our work here, by focussing on the interactions among a group comprised of diverse experts from different disciplines aimed at promoting the remit of Ireland’s Science Gallery 1 , allows us to contribute to understanding the phenomenon of interdisciplinary collaborative creativity at a micro level. This paper sets out the theoretical literature that addresses the performance of collaborative creativty and identifies a gap in the literature, to which this study proposes to contribute. The perfo