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.