PhD Dissertation Defense by Vincent MACK Zhi Wei | Combinatorial Creativity: Knowledge Graphs and Idea Generation in Crowdsourcing Innovation

ABOUT THE TALK

We examine the relationship between combinatorial creativity and technology-driven innovation in the context of knowledge management systems supporting online crowdsourcing platforms. First, we explore how unstructured text can be transformed into knowledge graphs through developing a Conceptual Dependency (CD) theory inspired approach, converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge representations. A natural language parser was developed to identify and extract conceptual relationships, forming "conceptual molecules." These were then organized into knowledge graph triples using algorithms. Specific graph queries demonstrated the utility of the knowledge graph for information retrieval and supporting the generative stage of combinatorial creativity, underscoring the effectiveness of CD theory in designing unsupervised, rule-based knowledge graph construction systems. Second, we explore how the network connections within knowledge graphs facilitate access to existing knowledge, moderated by the content characteristics of the knowledge graph nodes, can foster the creation and exchange of successful ideas in a crowdsourcing environment, mediated through the idea refinement phase. Third, we delve deeper into the idea refinement phase, focusing on the interactions between ideators and evaluators within crowdsourcing platforms. An analysis of discussion forums uncovers the dynamics of how ideators respond to feedback, and how their engagement strategies affect both idea success and community involvement. The empirical work is conducted using TVTropes.org, a collaborative wiki where users identify and document various tropes, providing a rich dataset for analyzing the structural and semantic impacts on the success of crowdsourced ideas.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Vincent previously worked at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) before commencing his PhD journey, supported by the A*STAR Computer and Information Science (ACIS) scholarship. He holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the National University of Singapore, along with master’s degrees in International Political Economy from Nanyang Technological University and Information Technology in Business (Analytics) from Singapore Management University. His research spans several areas including combinatorial creativity, wisdom of the crowd, data visualization, knowledge representation and discovery, panel data analysis, and the applications of machine learning and GenAI in management and information systems design. His work has been recognized at notable forums such as the International Conference of Information Systems and the ACM SIGSPATIAL workshop on Geospatial Humanities. In his spare time, Vincent practices Wing Tsun and develops games.