Within the framework of the “Digital Era Framework”, the term “creation” refers to all processes in which information is generated by an author of his or her own accord. Creation comprises the processes of intellectual formation of information that are not directly related to an analytical handling of pre-existing information. In the nomenclature of the “Digital Era Framework”, “creation” is one of the seven modes of information application.

The notion of “creativity” is used as a point of departure. The mode of “creation” includes in particular achievements of intellectual production based on imagination.

Creation is to be distinguished from the mode of “exploration”, in which the new information emerges from an application of existing information in the form of analysis and abstraction. The term “creation”, on the other hand, refers to processes of information genesis in which information emerges from intellectual process without direct relation to preexisting information. The demarcation can sometimes be difficult, since even a free intellectual creation is always at least indirectly based on previously perceived information. The criterion for differentiation is therefore in particular the immediacy. “Exploration” is the conscious and direct examination of given information. Creation comprises the processes of intellectual creation that are not directly related to an analytical handling of information.

A typical example of creation is the composition of a melody, which can be either a composition or a improvisation. Composition and improvisation are acts of a free intellectual creation that are (usually) not directly based on existing information, such as previous works.

Disciplines that deal with the theory and practice of “creation” in the sense of a free intellectual creation of information are in particular the fine arts.