Art and the IT synthesized

For some users, the confluence of creativity and computer science is not that new. Jim Andrews is a 50-year-old self-described artist-programmer living in Canada whose works include a software "pen" that draws visual poems. He is currently at work on what he calls a "graphic synthesizer" which will paint pictures according to pre-defined rules. He started out with a degree in English and maths before going back to school, where he stopped thinking of computers as something best suited for a lab environment.

"Rather than just using tools for producing normal visual or sonic work, now my stuff is mostly programmed," he says. "The culture of mathematics and computer science is not really all that oriented towards the arts or creativity. It's more business-oriented, more engineering-oriented. But it's all about putting things together, isn't it, whether it's a creative work or business work?"

And business works aren't necessarily all text, Carpendale notes.

"Our culture is moving more and more to visual information presentation and assessment, of thinking through diagrams," she says. "It's so important, especially when you realize that most people are working through some kind of interface."

Future IT professionals might end up much more well-rounded through these changes in curriculum, but Hunicke says there are ways companies can nurture the artistic impulses of existing employees without bringing in a consultant to run a workshop.

"Video games are about positive rewards and positive feedback and creating a sense of accomplishment. People at traditional software companies can give more hugs, more stars, more points," she says. So can the software itself. "It makes a big difference if your application somehow rewards you for participating in a culture of document creation or photo narration or stock sharing."

To come up with those rewards, Hunicke suggests brainstorming somewhere outside of the IT department. "Getting away from the machine is often the best way to open yourself up to a creative experience. One of the most compelling things about technology is you have direct control over what the computer does," she says. "But we get too excited by that amount of control. You have to learn to step away from the control, from the scientific and analytical approach, and get into a mindset that's much more analogue."