Beyond Productivity Information Technology, Innovation, and Creativity

by William J. Mitchell, Alan. S. Inouye and Marjory S. Blumenthal, Editors, Committee on Information Technology and Creativity
The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. 2003
268 pp., illus. b/w, $35.00 ($28.00 web)
ISBN: 0-309-08868-2
Library of Congress Catalog #2003103683

Reviewed by Bronac Ferran
Director of Interdisciplinary Arts,
Arts Council England,
14 Great Peter Street,
London SE21 8LG, England

bronac.ferran@artscouncil.org.uk

This is a timely and unusual publication from the perspective of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (part of the US National Academies) as well as from the perspective of new media studies. It is the report of a committee established under the chairmanship of Bill Mitchell in 2000 by the CSTB, the leading US computer science policy advisory body, with encouragement from Joan Shigekawa of the Rockefeller Foundation. Its key area of investigation is the ‘dynamic intersection’ between art/design and technology. It tackles issues common to policy-makers, artists, academics and art/technology research institutes across the world. Whilst the specifics of most of its research is related to the United States, many of its recommendations will translate to other geographical contexts and with some careful mediation it could also be usefully employed as an advocacy and communication tool elsewhere. On (p.2) it sets the agenda and context for the report: ‘‘It has now reached a stage of maturity, cost-effectiveness, and diffusion that enables its effective engagement with many areas of the arts and design — not just to enhance productivity or to allow more efficient distribution, but to open up new creative possibilities’’. The book cites numerous examples of projects in the US, and occasionally elsewhere, analysing why certain activities or trends have emerged and suggesting how these might be built on and extended. To ensure that the ground on which it is standing is demarcated the committee proposes a new term — ITCP, Information Technology (&) Creative Practices — to signify the range of its enquiry. Its scope is impressive: it looks at tools; at the influence of art and design on computer science and vice-versa; it considers venues including public outlets; links with commercial labs and studio-laboratories; networks of individual artists; regional and local clusters; links with industry; the emergence of high speed networks and potential for distributed working.

It considers (in one of its best chapters) the role of schools, colleges and universities and also delves into key policy and funding support areas — very helpfully analysing the differences and strengths that one might find not only within the United States but also more broadly, in Europe and Asia. Much of this analysis is sure to be used elsewhere in future. On a slightly less positive note, the text is hard-going at times; a desire for inclusiveness has occasionally buried important points under the weight of detail. While it has real value as a reference text, it lacks an index which is unfortunate. Similarly, the many footnotes carry an enormously interesting storehouse of key references but are hard to read. It was a great relief to find the whole report available online, and easily downloadable in PDF format. For details of this and more information about the CSTB see http://www.cstb.org I shouldn’t underestimate the task undertaken by the committee, particularly the editors. Just achieving the objective of mapping and surveying key clusters of activities will have been difficult. The picture which emerges is inevitably a highly complex one, not readily distilled or easily synthesised into a simple set of achievable recommendations.

The sheer enormity of the gaps between established computer science research infrastructures and the bottom-up, networked trends in contemporary media art need acknowledgement and the report doesn’t pretend otherwise. That the gaps can be bridged though is an initial premise and the report throws up some useful practical observations relevant particularly to academic research. It asks a key question about ‘standards’ i.e. for or against?. It also identifies lack of parity among disciplines in terms of reward structures; absences of validation mechanisms; difficulties of achieving legitimacy and recognition; failure to sustain experimental models with short-termism (an in-built weakness); need for maturation of assessment criteria; need for development of enhanced historical perspectives; challenges of presenting work to panels which are comprised of specialists in singular areas; scarcity of data about emergent trends; benefits of appointing senior figures perhaps on short-term basis linked to ITCP projects within universities to help raise profile and achieve much-needed advocacy.

In the UK soon, research councils are meeting to discuss ways in which they can collaborate around arts/science/technology interfaces. Collaborative fellowships are being set up, as they are in Canada. Both Canada and Australia are setting up cross-sectoral programmes: the trend towards interdisciplinarity within research appears to be unstoppable. This book provides a clear platform upon which further investigations can take place Perhaps this is a good time to propose the establishment of a network of agencies involved in constructing solutions to the challenges so usefully articulated here