Customized Visual Computing: The Aesthetic Computing Method

Abstract

Aesthetic computing is defined as the application of art theory and practice toward the field of computing. This chapter introduces Aesthetic Computing and its approach for the task of multimedia representation of formal structures. We chose the structure of a simple computer program to illustrate the method. Examples used to represent the program illustrate how we may customize formal structures—such as programs—to allow users to employ visualization and human interaction as means to achieve a variety of diverse presentation artifacts. To date, the method has been used in education, to promote creativity in computing and model building, and as a technique for bridging the arts with computer science.