Reference
André, P., schraefel, m. c., Teevan, J., & Dumais, S. T. (2009). Discovery is never by chance: Designing for (un)serendipity. Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition, C&C ’09, 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1145/1640233.1640279
Highlights
Computer scientists, valuing the role of serendipity in discovery, have attempted to design systems that encourage serendipity. However, that research has focused primarily on only one aspect of serendipity: that of chance encounters. In reality, for serendipity to be valuable chance encounters must be synthesised into insight.
the discoverer was able to link together chance occurrences to arrive at a valuable insight
serendipity flow
Indeed, there are two key aspects to serendipity, only the first of which is its accidental nature and the delight and surprise of something unexpected (e.g., the synthesis of copper phthalocyanine). The second is the breakthrough or discovery made by drawing an unexpected connection – the sagacity (e.g., using copper phthalocyanine as dye).
!!! making connections !!! meaning-making !!!
we hope to show that we may be able to help someone optimise the opportunity for insight.
opportunity for meaning-making…
For us, serendipity is: 1) the finding of unexpected information (relevant to the goal or not) while engaged in any information activity, 2) the making of an intellectual leap of understanding with that information to arrive at an insight.
digital information-
Rather, we fully embrace that serendipity is a word, like others in a living language, where meaning evolves and has multiple nuances.
Erdelez [12] found that people were able and willing to discuss past experiences of serendipity, or ―bumping into information,‖ during discussion.
core source
serendipity was widely experienced amongst inter-disciplinary researchers
We asked eight colleagues to review their search history. They were asked to examine clicked results on search result pages and report any clicked results that they deemed to be not directly task related.
way to “measure” serendipity !!!
Serendipity is hard to induce and hard to automatically capture or identify in logs (e.g., via studies of entropy or random clicks). But by looking at it in many ways and confirming from many directions a picture of serendipity can begin to emerge.
serendipity research related
In order to enhance domain knowledge, one aspect is to track existing domain knowledge. In the most automatic of scenarios drawing from life logging literature, one might imagine a system that could develop a fairly comprehensive view of a person‘s domain knowledge. Such a system integrating heterogeneous sources such as: a (set of) courses in a particular domain, the topics covered, reading list exam results, confidence ratings, as well as other related resources from one‘s own writings, publications (and perhaps rejections), would be able to calculate what the current domain knowledge may include. From this, it may be possible to derive gaps around more current literature or programs that may be if not of interest, then relevant.
how is this different from what is the norm now?
encouraging non-ontology experts to create mappings, let alone ontologies, is a significant problem
in information and computer science, an ontology is a formal, structured model of a domain: a defined set of concepts, their properties, and the relationships between them
serendipitous discovery‘ of America
leif erikson
computer science has spent most of it‘s design effort perhaps overly focused on trying to create insight (effect of serendipity), by recreating the cause (chance), rather than on, for instance, increasing the rate and accuracy of proposed candidates for serendipitous insight, or developing domain expertise.
Our approach has been to consider ways where we can enhance the likelihood and potential for serendipity and insight: for example, through surfacing connections, play, enhancing domain expertise, and mechanisms to share discoveries.
artefact idea, brief summary
By taking a broader view of serendipity than simply having a serendipitous insight, but by looking at also what it means to have a prepared mind and an infrastructure to support discovery, we have presented, we think, a more holistic picture of serendipity, and thus perhaps ideas that may improve the creativity, innovation and discovery process.
brief summary
Summary
The paper argues that serendipitous experience consists of two intertwined phases: (1) encountering unexpected but relevant information, and (2) making an intellectual leap that connects the information to something else, resulting in an insight. The authors point out that systems designed for serendipity often address only the first phase, trying to recreate the chance. They emphasise that designers should not forget the second phase: increasing the rate and accuracy of proposed candidates for serendipitous insight, and supporting the “prepared mind” by surfacing connections, play, enhancing domain expertise, and providing mechanisms to share discoveries.
Critical analysis
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| approaches serendipity from several directions (search logs, researchers’ accounts, design ideas) instead of relying on a single measure | the search-history study is small-scale and self-reported, and mostly captures unexpected encounters (phase 1), not insight (phase 2), which is the same focus the paper criticises in system design |
| anticipates the domain-modelling that today’s recommender systems do (written in 2009) | assumes that more accurate candidates lead to more serendipity. current systems suggest the opposite, as knowing one’s domain tends to make encounters less surprising (filter bubbles) |
| broadens the concept of serendipity in digital systems convincingly by distinguishing two phases: the unexpected encounter and the insight that follows | the design ideas are only proposed, not tested, so whether they actually support insight (phase 2) remains open |
Relevance to my research
- accuracy and efficiency (domain expertise and surfacing connections) didn’t deliver serendipity, maybe more friction is needed!