Creative search using pataphysics

Abstract

This paper looks at defining, analysing and practicing how creativity can be applied to search tools. It defines creativity with respect to search and discusses how these concepts could be applied in software engineering using principles from the pseudo-philosophy of pataphysics. The aim of the proposed tool is to generate surprising, novel, humorous and provocative search results instead of purely relevant ones, in order to inspire a more creative interaction between a user, their information need and the application. A proofof-concept prototype is described to justify the ideas presented before implications and future work are discussed.Algorithms; Design, Experimentation. INTRODUCTIONImagine a web search engine that does not quite return the results you expect. For example, imagine you search for "animal" and the top three results are a list of animals in the Emperor's possession, followed by instructions about embalming animals and information on a society for animal training. Google's top search results for this query on the other hand return the webpage of an action sports lifestyle brand, the Wikipedia article and a BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) page about animal videos. While there is certainly nothing wrong with Google's results, they are simply not very inspiring. The first example of search results is adapted from Jorge Luis Borges's Chinese Encyclopaedia [4] which lists several creative definitions of the term "animal". Whilst they might not provide the kind of information we were initially seeking (if we even had a clear idea of the kind of answers we wanted), they are still perfectly valid results for the query and might even provoke a smirk upon their encounter. These are the kind of search results we are aiming for; strange, creative, surprising, inspiring and possibly funny (which some would call irrelevant) yet perfectly valid.Pataphysics can provide some useful techniques that are very suitable for creative computing. Hendler and Hugill first suggested the use of three of its principles: clinamen, syzygy and anomaly, in their "Syzygy Surfer" [15]."The ambiguity of experience is the hallmark of creativity, that is captured in the essence of pataphysics. Traversing the representations of this ambiguity using algorithms inspired by the syzygy, clinamen and anomaly of pataphysics, using a panalogical mechanism applied to metadata, should be able to humanize and even poeticize the experience of searching the Web." [15] In the rest of this paper we will introduce creativity and pataphysics and explain how they are used for our algorithms and the general philosophy during the development. We then discuss some of the implementation details for our proof-of-concept prototype and speculate on users and uses of the tool. We conclude the paper with a short discussion on further work.

'Pataphysical Software

“…Rosenbak [77] used the lens of 'pataphysics to consider smart city design by utilizing lies about cities as a way to imagine urban futures, while also applying 'pataphysics to design processes [78] [79]. Raczinsky and colleagues [75] designed a 'pataphysical search engine as a way to engage with questions of creativity in something as mundane as online search. Further afield Schinkus [81] proposed a visual epistemology based on 'pataphysics to study finance as imagination, while Landis [51] critiqued the scientific orientation of molecular gastronomy through the parody of culinary 'pataphysics.…”