Novelty makes sense: a social semiotic based model of idea generation

This paper aims to contribute to collaborative creativity theory and methodology. Using the theories of social phenomenology and semiotics, the important role of knowledge in problem-finding is argued. An analysis of collaborative work activities showed that the search for mutual understanding and situated interaction stimulates the emergence of problems; the group members, while synchronizing their system of relevance and their expressive routine, are confronted to problematic situations. Problems are structured all along the transformation of knowledge states, by the transference of explication processes from a knowledge domain to another. It is proposed that problem identification and definition stems from the exploitation of irrelevant cognitive structures. The author presents a problem-finding method for making the irrelevant relevant which is based on semantic discovery of knowledge.