Consensus-making support system for creative problem solving

This paper proposes a computer-assisted method of consensus making for creative and cooperative problem solving. The creative problem solving we treat has a process which constructs appropriate evaluation structure interactively and chooses the optimal alternative plan rationally. In this problem solving, the problem is complicated because each participant in the group has his own sense of value which may be different from the others'. We expect the problem can be solved effectively by integrating Various techniques such as creative techniques, decision support techniques and groupware techniques. Our major concern is to inspire the creative thinking of the participants by introducing some creative thinking methods into the consensus-making process. In this paper, our consensus-making support method and its implementation example are described. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.