fishwick - aesthetic computing (mit, 2006)

edited by Paul A. Fishwick
AESTHETIC COM PUTING
AESTHETIC COMPUTING Fishwick, editor
Aesthetic Computing
edited by Paul A. Fishwick
In
Aesthetic Computing, key scholars and practition-
ers from art, design, computer science, and mathe-
matics lay the foundations for a discipline that applies
the theory and practice of art to computing. Aesthetic
computing explores the way art and aesthetics can
play a role in different areas of computer science.
One of its goals is to modify computer science by the
application of the wide range of definitions and cate-
gories normally associated with making art. For exam-
ple, structures in computing might be represented
using the style of Gaudi or the Bauhaus school. This
goes beyond the usual definition of aesthetics in com-
puting, which most often refers to the formal, abstract
qualities of such structures—a beautiful proof, or an
elegant diagram. The contributors to this book discuss
the broader spectrum of aesthetics—from abstract
qualities of symmetry and form to ideas of creative
expression and pleasure—in the context of computer
science. The assumption behind aesthetic computing
is that the field of computing will be enriched if it
embraces all of aesthetics. Human-computer interac-
tion will benefit—“usability,” for example, could refer to
improving a user’s emotional state—and new models
of learning will emerge.
Aesthetic Computing approaches its subject

from a variety of perspectives. After defining the field
and placing it in its historical context, the book looks
at art and design, mathematics and computing, and
interface and interaction. Contributions range from
essays on the art of visualization and “the poesy of
programming” to discussions of the aesthetics of
mathematics throughout history and transparency
and reflectivity in interface design.
Paul A. Fishwick is Professor of Computer and
Information Sciences and Engineering at the University
of Florida.
A Leonardo Book
Cover art: EPF:2003:V:A:997,141 by Kenneth A. Huff, 2003
new media/cultural studies
“A dramatic and inspiring exploration of computers, art, and design. No one should miss the experi-
ence of entering the portals of this beautiful book to stimulate creative thinking and develop a fresh
way to look at the world, from novel computer interfaces to new social fabrics and communication
methods.”
—Clifford A. Pickover, author of
A Passion for Mathematics and Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves
“Aesthetic Computing brings the exploration of aesthetic experience beyond the representation of
natural processes and technological events, and beyond optimization in mathematics and computing.
Instead, the contributors envision a visual space where concepts of aesthetics from both art and
computing can enhance each other.”
—Anna Ursyn, Professor of Visual Arts, University of Northern Colorado
“
Aesthetic Computing examines the relationship between beauty and computation from a variety of
perspectives. With the advent of digital art and digitally created music, we have come to accept that
computation can be the medium through which beauty is expressed. Less obvious is the idea that
logic has its own inherent beauty and computation a unique aesthetics. Perhaps most intriguing of all

is the artistic presentation of mathematical concepts in computationally produced form. This collection
of essays is a fascinating exploration of the varied terrain where abstraction and creative force meet.”
—Jennifer Burg, Department of Computer Science, Wake Forest University
Contributors
James L. Alty, Olav W. Bertelsen, Jay David Bolter, Donna Cox, Stephan Diehl, Mark d’Inverno,
Michele Emmer, Paul A. Fishwick, Monica Fleischmann, Ben Fry, Carsten Görg, Susanne Grabowski,
Diane Gromala, Kenneth A. Huff, John Lee, Frederic Fol Leymarie, Michael Leyton, Jonas Löwgren,
Roger F. Malina, Laurent Mignonneau, Frieder Nake, Ray Paton, Jane Prophet, Aaron Quigley, Casey
Reas, Christa Sommerer, Wolfgang Strauss, Noam Tractinksy, Paul Vickers, Dror Zmiri
The MIT Press
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142

0-262-06250-X
49418Fishwick 3/14/06 4:02 AM Page 1

Aesthetic Computing
LEONARDO
Roger F. Malina, series editor
The Visual Mind, edited by Michele Emmer, 1993
Leonardo Almanac, edited by Craig Harris, 1994
Designing Information Technology, Richard Coyne, 1995
Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments, edited by Mary Anne Moser with Douglas
MacLeod, 1996
Technoromanticism: Digital Narrative, Holism, and the Romance of the Real, Richard Coyne, 1999
Art and Innovation: The Xerox PARC Artist-in-Residence Program, edited by Craig Harris, 1999
The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media, edited by Peter Lunenfeld, 1999
The Robot in the Garden: Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet, edited by Ken Goldberg,
2000
The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich, 2001

Metal and Flesh: The Evolution of Man: Technology Takes Over, Ollivier Dyens, 2001
Uncanny Networks: Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia, Geert Lovink, 2002
Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology, Stephen Wilson, 2002
Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, Oliver Grau, 2003
Women, Art, and Technology, edited by Judy Malloy, 2003
Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization, Alexander R. Galloway, 2004
At a Distance: Precursors to Art and Activism on the Internet, edited by Annmarie Chandler and Norie
Neumark, 2005
The Visual Mind II, edited by Michele Emmer, 2005
CODE: Collaborative Ownership and the Digital Economy, edited by Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, 2005
The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture, Eugene Thacker, 2005
Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture, Matthew Fuller, 2005
From Technological to Virtual Art, Frank Popper, 2005
Art Beyond Biology, edited by Eduardo Kac, 2006
New Media Poetics: Contexts, Technotexts, and Theories, edited by Adalaide Morris and Thomas Swiss,
2006
Aesthetic Computing, edited by Paul A. Fishwick, 2006
Aesthetic Computing
edited by Paul Fishwick
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
( 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or me-
chanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without
permission in writing from the publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional
use. For information, please email or write to Special Sales Depart-
ment, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142.
This book was set in Garamond 3 and Bell Gothic on 3B2 by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Aesthetic computing / edited by Paul Fishwick.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-06250-X (alk. paper)
1. Computer science. 2. Aesthetics. I. Fishwick, Paul A.
QA76.5.A3393 2006
004—dc22 2005054458
10987654321
To Barbara Jean Fishwick

Contents
series foreword xi
preface xiii
I Philosophy and Representation 1
1 an introduction to aesthetic computing 3
Paul Fishwick
2 goodman’s aesthetics and the languages of computing
29
John Lee
3 a forty-year perspective on aesthetic computing in the
leonardo
journal 43
Roger F. Malina
4 the interface as sign and as aesthetic event
53
Frieder Nake and Susanne Grabowski
5 metaphorical dimensions of diagrammatic graph representations
71

Ray Paton
II Art and Design 87
6 metaphoric mappings: the art of visualization 89
Donna Cox
7 public space of knowledge: artistic practice in aesthetic computing
115
Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang Strauss
8 visually encoding numbers utilizing prime fact ors 137
Kenneth A. Huff
9 from the poesy of programming to research as art form
169
Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer
10 transdisciplinary collaboration in ‘‘cell’’
185
Jane Prophet and Mark d’Inverno
11 processing code: programming within the context of visual art and
design
197
Casey Reas and Ben Fry
III Mathematics and Computing 227
12 aesthetics and the visualization and quality of software 229
Stephan Diehl and Carsten Go
¨
rg
13 aesthetics and mathematics: connections throughout history
239
Michele Emmer
14 aesthetic computing and shape
259
Frederic Fol Leymarie

15 the foundations of aesthetics
289
Michael Leyton
16 aesthetics of large-scale relatio nal information visualization in
practice
315
Aaron Quigley
17 the well-tempered compiler? the aesthetics of program auralization
335
Paul Vickers and James L. Alty
IV Interface and Interaction 355
18 tertiary artifacts at the interface 357
Olav W. Bertelsen
19 transparency and reflectivity: digital art and the aesthetics of
interface design
369
Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala
20 articulating the use qualities of digital designs
383
Jonas Lo
¨
wgren
Contents
viii
21 exploring attributes of skins as potential antecedents of emotion in
hci
405
Noam Tractinsky and Dror Zmiri
about the authors
423

index 435
Contents
ix

Series Foreword
The cultural convergence of art, science, and technology provides ample opportunity for
artists to challenge the very notion of how art is produced and to call into question its
subject matter and its function in society. The mission of the Leonardo book series, pub-
lished by The MIT Press, is to publish texts by artists, scientists, researchers, and scholars
that present innovative discourse on the convergence of art, science, and technology.
Envisioned as a catalyst for enterprise, research, and creative and scholarly experimen-
tation, the book series enables diverse intellectual communities to explore common
grounds of expertise. The Leonardo book series provides a context for the discussion of
contemporary practice, ideas, and frameworks in this rapidly evolving arena where art
and science connect.
To find more information about Leonardo/ISAST and to order our publications, go to
Leonardo Online at hi or send e-mail to
.edui.
Joel Slayton
Chair, Leonardo Book Series
Book Series Advisory Committee: Annick Bureaud, Pamela Grant Ryan, Michael Punt, Doug-
las Sery
Leonardo/International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology (ISAST)
Leonardo, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology, and the
affiliated French organization Association Leonardo have two very simple goals:
1. to document and make known the work of artists, researchers, and scholars interested
in the ways that the contemporary arts interact with science and technology, and
2. to create a forum and meeting places where artists, scientists, and engineers can meet,
exchange ideas, and, where appropriate, collaborate.
When the journal Leonardo was started some thirty-five years ago, these creative disciplines

existed in segregated institutional and social networks, a situation dramatized at that time
by the ‘‘Two Cultures’’ debates initiated by C. P. Snow. Today we live in a different time
of cross-disciplinary ferment, collaboration and intellectual confrontation enabled by new
hybrid organizations, new funding sponsors, and the shared tools of computers and the
Internet. Above all, new generations of artist-researchers and researcher-artists are now at
work individually and in collaborative teams bridging the art, science, and technology
disciplines. Perhaps in our lifetime we will see the emergence of ‘‘new Leonardos,’’ creative
individuals or teams who will not only develop a meaningful art for our times but also
drive new agendas in science and stimulate technological innovation that addresses today’s
human needs.
For more information on the activities of the Leonardo organizations and networks,
please visit our Web site at h oi.
Roger F. Malina
Chair, Leonardo/ISAST
ISAST Board of Directors: Martin Anderson, Penelope Finnie, Michael Joaquin Grey, Larry
Larson, Roger Malina, Greg Niemeyer, Ed Payne, Anne Brooks Pfister, Sonya Rapoport,
Beverly Reiser, Christian Simm, Joel Slayton, Tami Spector, Darlene Tong, Stephen
Wilson
Series Foreword
xii
Preface
This book concerns aesthetics and computing with an emphasis on how the former affects the
latter. Aesthetics is defined as sense perception and the associated cognitive state of a person
who is under the influence of the aesthetic experience. One speaks of a ‘‘beautiful sunset’’ or
an artist’s painting. Most would agree that the experience of nature is part of aesthetics,
whereas art is a subset delimited by intentional and creative acts. The line between aes-
thetics and art may be blurred, however, if one imagines that the organic state of the brain
during the aesthetic experience would actually be a form of creation on the part of the recipient,
if only we possessed sufficiently advanced technology capable of rendering cognitive state
(i.e., art through brain activity). Nevertheless, we use the term aesthetic rather than art to

define the broadest possible array of effects of art and design on the field of computer
science, or computing.
We are entering a remarkable period of time when advances in technology—3D
displays, tangible and pervasive computing, and the ability to extend computing to the
realm of other senses (i.e., sound, touch, smell)—have the potential to radically alter com-
puter science, and possibly its formal foundation: mathematics. We have the aesthetics of
the arts on one hand, and the criteria for optimality in mathematics and computing, on
the other. Could aesthetics in mathematics and computing be more than a search for the
optimal condition, and art rather than simply a client of computing, actually be contribu-
ting to it? The authors in this volume write about such possibilities, and in this sense, this
volume is groundbreaking in its attempt to redefine aesthetics in computing and art
simultaneously. Familiar objects such as automobiles and houses are true blends of design,
art, and utility. Is it surprising, then, that the artifacts of mathematics and computing
would be any different?
The book is divided into four sections: (1) philosophy and representation, (2) art and
design, (3) mathematics and computing, and (4) interface and interaction. Aside from the
observation that the general usually precedes the specific in an explanation, the sections have
no particular ordering. The first section deals with the raw concepts of aesthetics, comput-
ing, semiotics, and representation. Fishwick espouses the need to expand the definition of
aesthetics in computing to borrow from design and the arts in an attempt to progress be-
yond the idea that aesthetics is primarily about optimality. Lee employs Goodman’s theory
of art-as-symbol-system, as a way to successfully critique symbol use in aesthetic comput-
ing. Malina covers a wide swath of art and computing within the context of the history of
the Leonardo foundation. He defines the weak and strong claims for aesthetic computing.
Nake and Grabowski make the striking observation that, ultimately, aesthetic computing
brings subjectivity and quality into an area that has traditionally known mostly perceived
objectivity and quantity. Paton tells us that metaphor is at the heart of aesthetic computing
in the way representations are used as interfaces between human and computer.
The second section covers how artists are shaping and expanding the field of computer
science. Cox emphasizes the importance of metaphor in visualization as the primary vehi-

cle by which we make sense of data, and she stresses the importance of the social fabric of
aesthetic computing—renaissance teams. Fleischmann and Strauss bring about new interac-
tive spaces as both artistic exhibits and progenitors of new ways of doing human-computer
interaction (HCI). Huff has created a series of artworks that emphasize deeply mathemat-
ical concepts within an elaborate visual space that pays special attention to color and tex-
ture at many levels of detail. Mignonneau and Sommerer reinforce the notion of artist as
inventor of interfaces, pointing out that both types of aesthetics (optimal condition as found
traditionally in programming and visual and sensory, as found in art) can coexist. That is
to say—we can do both in aesthetic computing, without sacrificing one type of aesthetic
for the other. Prophet and d’Inverno define what it means, in a way consistent with Cox,
to have effective transdisciplinary teams composed of artists, designers, and scientists. She
points out that the effects of such collaboration are manifold—affecting the fields of com-
puting and art, as well as the way in which team participants view their own work. Reas
and Fry invented Processing, which is an open source code effort with a vibrant community.
Processing has the distinct potential to do two things: give designers and artists new ways
of communicating, and give computer scientists new ways of attracting people to their
field through design as a catalyst. The code becomes the artist’s material.
The third section represents the core of mathematics and computing, and how aes-
thetics are interpreted. While aesthetics and mathematics have been covered within the
same context before, there is significant room for elaboration on exactly how aesthetics
are defined, and these authors provide seminal views for these definitions. Diehl and
Preface
xiv
Go
¨
rg describe how the visualization of software and data amount to defining computer
scientists view attributes in software such as beauty and elegance. Emmer walks us
through the entire history of aesthetics of mathematics, with descriptions on how mathe-
maticians view the aesthetics of their field. Leymarie exposes us to the beauty of shape to
discover why we find certain forms pleasing and others displeasing. He introduces the

shock scaffold as a means to that end. Leyton boldly defines a view of aesthetics in terms of
two new geometrically grounded principles: maximization of transfer and recoverability.
Quigley makes a detailed and comprehensive statement of how aesthetics are defined with-
in information visualization, a topic of significance in computer science. Vickers and Alty
introduce the relatively new modality of sound and music to computing. They inject mu-
sic into the task of programming as a way to improve debugging and analysis.
The fourth section emphasizes that the task of aesthetic computing confronts the
computer-human interface—the ways in which humans interact with computers. Bertel-
sen creates a view of the interface as a study of primary and secondary artifacts, and of tertiary
artifacts that stress HCI as an aesthetic discipline. Bolter and Gromala use the optical meta-
phors of transparency and reflectivity to define how we view the human-computer interface.
For a particular task in computing are we attempting to see beyond (i.e., see through) the
interface or reflect on it? Lo
¨
wgren illustrates how our current view of human-computer
interaction is lacking unless we take into account a new set of qualities. He defines nine-
teen new ‘‘use qualities’’ that go beyond the traditional utilitarian HCI perspective. Trac-
tinsky and Zmiri present an empirical study of skins (i.e., used to design the ‘‘look and
feel’’ of actual and virtual control devices). They note that HCI, while traditionally focused
on task efficiency, plays a significant role in evaluating the importance of emotion and aes-
thetics in the interface.
To form a new area, many people are required both to define the area and to enable it to
flourish. There are numerous acknowledgments to be made, so I’ll begin with thanking
the people at MIT Press for their encouragement and making this book possible. In par-
ticular, I would like to thank both Doug Sery and Valerie Geary, as well as Roger Malina
who directs the Leonardo foundation, and its associated journals and activities. The topic of
aesthetic computing had its beginnings at a small workshop in southwest Germany: Dag-
stuhl, which is directed by Reinhard Wilhelm. This event, Dagstuhl Seminar 02291,
served as a landmark occurrence for fleshing out core issues in aesthetic computing. I
would like to thank my workshop co-organizers, Roger Malina and Christa Sommerer, as

well as all workshop participants listed in alphabetical order by last name: Olav Bertelsen,
Jay Bolter, Willi Bruns, Annick Bureaud, Stephan Diehl, Florian Dombois, Achim Ebert,
Ernest Edmonds, Karl Entacher, Susanne Grabowski, Hans Hagen, Volker Ho
¨
hing,
Kristiina Karvonen, John Lee, Jonas Lo
¨
wgren, Jon McCormack, Richard Merritt, Boris
Preface
xv
Mu˝ller, Jo
¨
rg Mu˝ ller, Frieder Nake, Daniela-Alina Plewe, Jane Prophet, Rhonda Roland
Shearer, Steven Schkolne, Angelika Schulz, Neora Berger Shem-Shaul, and Noam Tractin-
sky. Without their active participation, there would be neither an area nor a book. This
work was sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation under grant EIA-
0119532 (Anita LaSalle) and the Air Force Research Laboratory under contract F30602-
01-1-05920119532 (Alex Sisti). Our research group is grateful for their financial support.
I would also like to thank all of my students for the past four years in the Aesthetic Com-
puting classes at the University of Florida: they have helped validate this area, and con-
tributed their combined computing and artistic craft. In particular, Kristian Damkjer,
John Hopkins, Taewoo Kim, Hyunju Shim, Minho Park, and Jinho Lee were active grad-
uate students who contributed to concepts in dynamic model representation during the
editing of this book.
While this book answers many questions on how aesthetics can be applied to comput-
ing, it also raises some key questions that will need further elaboration by the community.
We must carefully address these in the years to come:
9
To what extent can the traditional definitions of aesthetics in computing and art be
interrelated and connected, with each informing the other?

9
What roles can quality, subjectivity, and emotion play in mathematics and computing
as ways to achieve a balance between form and function?
9
What are effective social frameworks in which artists, designers, mathematicians, and
computer scientists can collaborate in teams or in distributed networks?
Preface
xvi
Aesthetic Computing

I
Philosophy and Representation

1
An Introduction to Aesthetic Computing
Paul Fishwick
In this brief introduction to a new area of study, aesthetic computing, we first define the ter-
minology, then position the area in the context of related fields that combine art, mathe-
matics, and computing. Aesthetic computing is concerned with the impact and effects of
aesthetics on the field of computing. This text is divided into two primary sections. The first
section we discuss aesthetics, art, and the motivation for defining another hybrid phrase.
The attempt here is to capture the field by historical context, definition, and a graphical
illustration. The close relationship between aesthetics and art (i.e., aesthetics being the
philosophy of art) is justified with citations to recent literature, to the point we can use
the two words interchangeably. In the second section, we describe research on novel rep-
resentations created locally at the University of Florida, in the aesthetic computing class
and the simulation and modeling research laboratory.
To help spur a discussion in aesthetic computing, an attempt to bring several key
researchers and practitioners to the same table prompted a meeting in Dagstuhl, Germany
(Dagstuhl), in mid-July 2002. We held a week-long workshop, organized by Roger

Malina, Christa Sommerer, and myself. More than thirty representatives of art, design,
computer science, and mathematics attended the workshop, which was cosponsored by
Dagstuhl and Leonardo (Leonardo). The purpose of the workshop was to carve out an
area, or at least to see whether this was possible, based on the notion that aesthetics and
art could play a role in computing disciplines. A manifesto was created on the last day of
the workshop as a preliminary definition for the area, and was recently published in Leo-
nardo (Fishwick 2003).
Aesthetics and Art
Aesthetic computing is the application of aesthetics to computing. The goal of aesthetic com-
puting is to affect areas within computing, which for our purposes, will be defined broadly
as the area of computer science. With respect to aesthetics, this goal also includes the idea
that the application of aesthetics to computing and mathematics, the formal foundations
for computing, can extend beyond classic concepts such as symmetry and invariance to
encompass the wide range of aesthetic definitions and categories normally associated with
making art. One might, for example, represent structures in computing using the style of
Gaudi or the Bauhaus school. The words aesthetics and computing need further discussion
before we proceed. ‘‘Aesthetics’’ stems from the Greek aisyhtikh
´
aisthitiki, derived
from aisthesis (i.e., perceived by the senses). Plato’s aesthetics revolved around his forms,
and Greek society stressed mimesis (i.e., imitation, mimicry) as central to art’s purpose.
Within the continuing history of aesthetics, prior to Kant’s Critique (1790) and including
Baumgarten’s (1750) introduction of aesthetics as the science of the beautiful, art and aes-
thetics have not been well connected. Art was generally not associated with aesthetics,
and aesthetics as an area within philosophy was not focused on art. Since Kant’s treatise,
aesthetics has been expanded to encompass both the logical and the perceptual. The Ox-
ford English Dictionary (2003) contains the following two definitions for aesthetics: (1)
the science that treats the conditions of sensuous perception; and (2) the philosophy or
theory of taste, or of the perception of the beautiful in nature and art. In the Encyclopedia
of Aesthetics, one of the most comprehensive references on the subject, spanning four vol-

umes, Kelly (1998, p. 11) in his preface, states
Ask contemporary aestheticians what they do, however, and they are likely to respond that aes-
thetics is the philosophical analysis of the beliefs, concepts, and theories implicit in the creation,
experience, interpretation, or critique of art.
Kelly proceeds to highlight the goal of the encyclopedia, which is ‘‘to trace the genealogy
of aesthetics’’ in such a way as to integrate both its philosophical and its cultural roles. The
word ‘‘art,’’ in the sense in which Kelly discusses aesthetics, is defined broadly enough to
combine logical as well as material aspects, or computing and art. Thus, an elegant com-
puter program and a sculpture are both forms of art. Furthermore, one may speak gener-
ally of aesthetics in terms of symmetry and harmony or, more singularly, in terms of the
aesthetics of the artist Dali, for example, or the surrealist movement as a whole. Other
definitions of aesthetics, as found in Bredin and Santoro-Brienza (2000) and Osborne
(1970), also emphasize the close relationships between aesthetics and art. In summary, aes-
thetics provides a philosophical foundation for art in theory and practice.
Paul Fishwick
4
While the previous discussion provides close connections between aesthetics and art,
the term art has yet to be defined. There is a huge literature base for those wishing to de-
fine what art is; however, we will refer to Dorn’s overview (1999) in which he characterizes
art in two dimensions. First, philosophically, art can be defined as an idea, form, or lan-
guage. Second, psychologically, one can define art with top-down and bottom-up concep-
tions. Art may also be characterized in terms of alternative perspectives, which tend to be
highly correlated with specific historical and cultural contexts. Adams (1996) and Free-
land (2001) take a more categorical approach to art theory. For example, Adams em-
phasizes the following contemporary interpretations: formalism, iconography, Marxism,
feminism, biography, semiotics, and psychoanalysis. In terms of art practice, Wilson
(2002) presents a large number of areas, examples, and contemporary issues that affect
the artist. Edwards (1986) and Edmonds and Candy (2002) advocate a pragmatic role for
art, seated in creativity.
Computing

While attempting to define aesthetics and art can provoke numerous debates, defining
computing may be a little easier. Within the academy, computing is referred to by an as-
sortment of names such as computer science, computer and information science, and com-
puter engineering. Each of these subareas may have a slightly different strategy, but we
will associate computing with computer science without sacrificing clarity or scope. Com-
puter science incorporates a large number of areas, some of which are evolving fairly
rapidly. In general, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Com-
puter Society (IEEE-CS) have numerous special interest groups and technical committees
that give us a handle on the breadth of the discipline. Subareas include discrete mathe-
matics, theory of computing, programming languages, data structures, artificial intelli-
gence, computer–human interaction (also known as human–computer interaction or
HCI), operating systems, computer graphics, computer simulation, and computer vision.
When we speak of aesthetic computing, we therefore apply aesthetics to one or more of
these subareas.
Recently, Denning (2003) suggests a new high-level taxonomy based on application
domains, core technologies, design principles, and computing mechanics. While on the
subject of computing, it is important to stress the relationship between mathematics and
computing. Computer science is founded on core elements of discrete mathematics; thus, we
can view aesthetic computing as encompassing a number of mathematical concepts, espe-
cially areas involving formal grammar, language notation, geometry, and topology. Dis-
crete mathematics forms the early core of most computer science curricula, along with
An Introduction to Aesthetic Computing
5
the algebraic extension to automata theory, which is generally studied in one’s senior year
at university. The importance of mathematics to computing cannot be overemphasized; it
establishes the formal infrastructure in which mathematical concepts and abstractions can
be related to basic computing concepts. Thus, much of aesthetic computing corresponds
naturally with mathematical formalism.
Aesthetic Computing: An Overview
We are now in a position to combine two words aesthetic and computing . We define aes-

thetic computing as the application of the theory and practice of art to the field of computing.
While this definition lacks the nuances and scope of Kelly’s earlier definition of aesthetics,
it defines it more concisely for our purposes. Aesthetic computing relates to the following
sorts of sample activities: (1) representing programs and data structures with customized,
culturally specific notations; (2) incorporating artistic methods in typically computing-
intensive activities, such as scientific visualization; (3) improving the emotional and cul-
tural level of interaction with the computer.
Generally, aesthetic computing involves one of two types of aesthetics applications:
analysis and synthesis. Analytic applications tend to evaluate artifacts of computing and
mathematics from the perspective of classical aesthetic qualities such as mimesis, symme-
try, parsimony, and beauty. Synthetic applications tend to employ aesthetics as a means of
representation of the artifacts. The word ‘‘representation’’ is broadly defined to encompass
the concepts of interaction and interface, rather than simply static presentation.
Aesthetics and computing are therefore rich in both practical and theoretical taxonomy,
categories, and encyclopedic knowledge. One aspect of aesthetics that may at first seem
tangential is considered central to aesthetic computing: plurality (Goodman 1978). Most
references to art cover aesthetics from a multitude of cultural aspects, genres, and historical
episodes. Plurality therefore appears to be a critical component of aesthetics as it applies to
computing, lest we imagine that only traditional aesthetics associated with mathematics
(Plotnitsky 1998)—parsimony, symmetry, and so forth—are relevant. In fact, one of
the goals of aesthetic computing is to facilitate the expanding role of aesthetics in mathe-
matics, and by extension, computing. This plurality must encompass both body and
mind, the material as well as the mental. This suggests aesthetic diversity (Fishwick
2002a), and perhaps that more traditional aesthetics of mathematics and computing are
subsets of those found in art (e.g., minimalism, symmetry, the harmony of the golden
ratio in architecture).
Reviewing the numerous historical approaches to art, and the contemporary cate-
gories for facilitating critiques, one generalizes about aesthetics’ concern with cultural
perspective—that is, the idea that an object can be viewed and considered from many
Paul Fishwick

6