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

通过让我们用另一个概念来理解一个概念，隐喻丰富了我们的心理意象，并为概念注入了有意义的属性。隐喻所提供的认知并置通过让我们从新的角度看待一个概念，突出以前隐藏的方面来激发创造力。这个项目开发了一个创造性的IT软件工具，通过隐喻的生成和应用，帮助设计团队建立创造力，灵感和沟通。该项目开发了辅助隐喻生成的算法，以利用比单个设计团队大得多的知识库来找到合适的隐喻，以便更好地构建设计问题并扩展概念空间。在这个项目中，元4acle的创造性优势的变化将在不同的用户群体和设计过程的不同阶段被观察到。该项目包括编制关于创造性地使用隐喻的课程单元，供加州大学伯克利分校的本科生和研究生设计课使用。鉴于社会迫切需要创造性地解决可持续产品、服务和建筑设计的问题，可持续性和仿生学将是扩大隐喻数据库的重点，并将为实施和评价提供主要的试验平台和案例研究。Meta4acle工具将在旧金山弗朗西斯科湾区的顶级设计公司进行测试，以探索其在商业领域的潜在用途和影响。

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.