Using empathy to research creativity: collaborative investigations into distributed digital textile art and design practice

This paper describes the use of practice-based distributed collaborative investigations to examine ways in which digital technology can support creative visual art practice. The development of artworks through digital collaboration has enabled empathy to be used as a tool in the research process. The focus of this study concerns how digital technology impacts upon the creative strategies deployed by art practitioners and the resulting effect on creative cognition. Data gathered through qualitative ethnographic research methods has been verified through a series of practical investigations. Findings from this research indicate the importance of mutual experience and memory in the collaborative process. The investigations demonstrate how shared physical experience stimulates imagination through the building of visual concepts, enabling common values, language and trust to be developed concurrently.