Crowdboard: Augmenting in-person idea generation with real-time crowds

Online crowds can help infuse creativity into the design process, but traditional strategies for leveraging them, such as large-scale ideation platforms, require time and organizational effort in order to obtain results. We propose a new method for crowd-based ideation that simplifies the process by having smaller crowds join in-person ideators during synchronous creative sessions. Our system Crowdboard allows online crowds to provide real-time creative input during early-stage design activities, such as brainstorming or concept mapping. The system enables in-person ideators to develop ideas on a physical or digital whiteboard which is augmented with real-time creative input from online participants who see and hear a live broadcast of the meeting. We validate Crowdboard via two user studies in which dyads of in-person ideators brainstormed with the help of crowd ideators. Our studies suggest that Crowdboard can effectively enhance ongoing brainstorming sessions, but also revealed key challenges for how to better facilitate interactions among in-person and crowd ideators.