A system supporting the human divergent thinking process by provision of relevant and heterogeneous pieces of information based on an outsider model


The authors have been trying to construct a system that stimulates the divergent thinking process by making an Ňartificial outsiderÓ attend a brainstorming session in a teleconferencing system with realistic sensations. In this paper, we discuss what kinds of information can break human fixed ideas and how an outsider can extract such information. Based on the result of this discussion, we propose an ``Outsider model'' for getting such information and construct a prototype system. Moreover, by classifying the whole information space into four regions from objective and subjective viewpoints, we discuss which region stimulates the human imagination and propose an evaluation method for determining whether a piece of information can effectively stimulate the human imagination. We experiment using a prototype system and carry out evaluations based on the evaluation method. The results show that the prototype system can extract information capable of stimulating the human imagination.