Abstract
In this project we aim to analyze “honest signals” between Jazz musicians by using sociometric badges with the goal of identifying structural properties of self-organizing creative teams. In particular, we are interested in the pre-requisites for “flow,” the state of work where “time flies,” and workers are at their most-productive best. We extend the concept of individual “flow” as defined by Csikszentmihalyi (Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper Row, New York, 1990) to the group level (Sawyer in Group creativity: music, theater, collaboration. Psychology Press, Oxford, 2003; Group genius: the creative power of collaboration. Basic Books, New York, 2007), trying to identify some of the conditions indicative of the group flow state. We speculate that a band of Jazz musicians is particularly well suited to study group flow, because they are an archetype of a self-organizing creative team, involved in highly creatively work while passing leadership of the tune for the solo part from one band member to the next.
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Acknowledgements
We are deeply indebted to the members of the “Big K and the Solid Senders” Jazz band for their spontaneous agreement to collaborate in our experiment, by wearing the sociometric badges during a live concert. We also would like to thank Daniel Olguin Olguin for providing support and guidance in using the most recent version of the sociometric badges.
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Gloor, P.A., Oster, D. & Fischbach, K. JazzFlow—Analyzing “Group Flow” Among Jazz Musicians Through “Honest Signals”. Künstl Intell 27, 37–43 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-012-0230-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-012-0230-3