Discovery is never by chance: designing for (un)serendipity

Serendipity has a long tradition in the history of science as having played a key role in many significant discoveries. 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 synthesized into insight. In this paper we show, through a formal consideration of serendipity and analysis of how various systems have seized on attributes of interpreting serendipity, that there is a richer space for design to support serendipitous creativity, innovation and discovery than has been tapped to date. We discuss how ideas might be encoded to be shared or discovered by ‗association-hunting‘ agents. We propose considering not only the inventor‘s role in perceiving serendipity, but also how that inventor‘s perception may be enhanced to increase the ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: CANDC
• Authors: Paul André, m. c. schraefel, Jaime Teevan, Susan T. Dumais
• Keywords: Author Keywords Serendipity, CANDC 2009, Chance Encounters, Emerging Technology, Serendipity