Pilot: Meta4acle - A Software Tool for Generating Metaphors, Stimulating Creativity and Framing Solutions

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By allowing us to understand one concept in terms of another, metaphors enrich our mental imagery and imbue concepts with meaningful attributes. The cognitive juxtaposition provided by metaphors stimulates creativity by allowing us to see a concept from a new point of view, highlighting previously hidden aspects. This project develops meta4acle, a Creative IT software tool to help build creativity, inspiration and communication in design teams through the generation and application of metaphors. The project develops algorithms for assisted metaphor generation to tap into a pool of knowledge significantly larger than that of a single design team to find appropriate metaphors for better framing a design problem and expanding the space of concepts. In this project, variations in the creative benefit of meta4acle will be observed in different user demographics and at different stages of the design process. The project includes the development of curricular modules on the creative use of metaphors for use in design classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of California at Berkeley. Given the social imperative and need for creative solutions for sustainable products, services and building designs, sustainability and biomimicry will be a focus for expanding the metaphor database and will provide the major test bed and case study for implementation and evaluation. The meta4acle tool will be tested with top design firms in the San Francisco Bay Area in order to explore its potential use and impact in the commercial sector.