Understanding Creativity: A Case-Based
Approach

Janet L. Kolodner

College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0280
(404) 894-3285
jlk@cc.gatech.edu



Abstract. Dissatisfaction with existing standard case-based reasoning
(CBR) systems has prompted us to investigate how we can make these
systems more creative and, more broadly, what would it mean for them to
be more creative. This paper discusses three research goals: understanding 
creative processes better, investigating the role of cases and CBR
in creative problem solving, and understanding the framework that supports 
this more interesting kind of case-based reasoning. In addition, it
discusses methodological issues in the study of creativity and, in particular, 
the use of CBR as a research paradigm for exploring creativity.
References

1.	Boden, M. 1992. The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms. New York, NY: Basic
Books.
2.	Kolodner, J.L. 1993. Case-Based Reasoning. Morgan-Kaufman Publishers, Inc.,
San Mateo, CA.
3.	Kolodner, J.L. and Penberthy, T.L. 1990, A Case-Based Approach to Creativity in
Problem Solving. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Cognitive
Science Society, Cambridge, MA. August.
4.	Kolodner, J.L. and Wills, L.M. 1993a. Case-Based Creative Design, AAAI Spring
Symposiom on Al and Creativity. Stanford, CA. Reprinted in AISB Quarterly,
Autumn, 1993, No. 85. pp. 50-57.
5.	Kolodner, J.L. and Wills, L.M. 1993b. Paying Attention to the Right Thing: Issues
of Focos in Case-Based Creative Design. AAAI Case-Based Reasoning Workshop.
Washington, D.C., pp. 19-25.
6.	Navinchandra, D. 1991. Exploration and Innovation in Design: Towards a Computational 
Model. New York: Springer-Verlag.
7.	Prabbakar, S. and Goel, A. 1992. Performance-Driven Creativity in Design: Constraint 
Discovery, Model Revision, and Case Composition. In Proceedings of the
Second International Conference on Computational Models of Creative Design.
Heron Island, Australia.
8.	Shinn, H. 1988. The role of mapping in analogical transfer. In Proceedings of the
Tenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Northvale, NJ: ErIbaum.
9.	Wills, L.M. and Kolodner, J.L. 1994a. Towards More Creative Case-Based Design
Systems, to appear in the Twelfth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence
(AAAI-94). Seattle, WA.
10.	Wills, L.M. and Kolodner, J.L. 1994b. Explaining Serendipitous Recognition in
Design, to appear in The Sixteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science
Society. Atlanta, GA.
