Abstract:
Purpose: Using a systems-based approach to creativity and a sociocultural
constructionist approach to learning, this study highlights how creative ideas
emerge within a community and spread amongst its members.
Design/methodology/approach: Using a design-based approach to research, this
study took place within the social media environment, Quest Atlantis. Chat data
was collected from 85 participants and screenshots were taken of the virtual
architecture designed and built by players in the Quest Atlantis environment, in
an effort to explore the nature of creativity and collaborative learning within the
context of virtual 3D architectural construction.
Findings: Findings illustrate the rise and spread of creativity in online
communities and also point to the social and cultural nature of creativity.
Research limitations/implications: As this is the first study of its kind, we focus
on how creativity operates within a single community in order to draw
implications about digital creativity more broadly.
Practical implications: Implications for designing virtual and physical
communities to promote creativity are discussed.
Originality/value: Documenting and analyzing an entire creative system in the
everyday world can be a challenging endeavor. Social media, by contrast, offers
an opportunity to document, describe, and analyze creativity, extend
Csikszentmihalyi’s work into the realm of social media and push back on current
conceptions of digital creativity.
