1. THE BEST PLAYGROUND
(WITH AN ELECTRIC FENCE)
OR
THE CONTEXT
(AND CONSTRAINTS)
OF CREATIVITY
DREW DAVIDSON

2. A LITTLE ABOUT ME

3. ETC. WHAT? WHY? HOW?

4. PLAYGROUND - FENCE
Context
Constraints
Creativity

5. ETC
Mission
• Providing leadership in education and applied research that
combines technology and art, to explore learning, storytelling,
innovation and entertainment, and to create experiences that
educate, engage and inspire.
Goal
• Applied Research
• Communication and Collaboration
across Disciplines

6. ART | TECHNOLOGY | DESIGN
College of Fine Arts
• Don Marinelli
School of Computer Science
• Randy Pausch
Founded 15 years ago

7. M.E.T.
Two year professional Master’s program
Around 150 students (40% / 40% / 20%)
Diverse Faculty
Interdisciplinary Teams
Project-based Curriculum
Global Education

8. ENTERTAINMENT
TECHNOLOGIES
Games, Animation, Theme Park Rides, Museum Installations,
Augmented Reality, Mobile Devices, Robotics, Interactive
Performances, Websites, Film, Cross-Media . . .
Education, Training, Medical, Civics, Entertainment . . .
All these and more . . .
@wilg

9. ETC CORE COURSES
Building Virtual Worlds
Visual Story
Improv
Fundamentals

10. ETC PROJECTS

11. CONTEXTS
Failure
Doubt
Curiosity
Articulations
Ecologies

12. FAILURE
Fail Faster
Experiment, Explore
Rapid Prototyping
Iterate toward Solutions
• Try Again. Fail Again.
Fail Better.

13. DOUBT
Question Answers
Challenge Assumptions
Work to Understand
• To be Uncertain is
to be Uncomfortable,
but to be Certain is
to be Ridiculous.

14. CURIOSITY
Ask Questions & Engage
Lifelong Learning & How Stuff Works
Problem Solving & Cheating?
Story Telling & Model Making
• The cure for boredom is curiosity.
There is no cure for curiosity.

15. ARTICULATIONS
Systemic
Connections
Associations
Relationships
Transference
Interdisciplinary

16. ECOLOGIES
Learning
Overlapping
Evolving
Interrelating
Connecting

17. ETC
A Playground needs a Fence
Creativity needs Constraints
The Extraordinary needs Boundaries

18. DESIGN PROCESS
Critical Creation
Constraints
Scrum
Experience
• Media

19. CRITICAL CREATION

20. CONSTRAINTS

21. SCRUM
Agile Development
Real Progress Scheduling
Iterative Design
Rapid Prototyping

22. EXPERIENCE

23. INTEREST CURVES, FLOW
PROCEDURAL, INTERACTIVITIES

24. INTEREST CURVES

25. FLOW

26. PROCEDURAL

27. INTERACTIVITIES

28. LESS TALK, MORE ROCK
Superbrothers

29. ETC
Inquisitive
Inclusive
Integrated
Iterative
Interactive
Interdisciplinary
International
Innovative

30. INQUISITIVE

31. INCLUSIVE

32. INTEGRATED

33. ITERATIVE

34. INTERACTIVE

35. INTERDISCIPLINARY

36. INTERNATIONAL

37. INNOVATIVE

38. ETC

39. THANKS!
Questions?
• drdrew@cmu.edu
• etc.cmu.edu