2021
Postface: Exploring the Material in Institutional Theory
This article examines the relationship between materiality and institutional theory. Jones, C., 2019. Postface: Exploring the material in institutional theory. Materiality in institutions: Spaces, embodiment and technology in management and organization, pp.383-395. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97472-9_14
2021
The Tree and The Room: Co-Designing DIY WiFi Networks with Emergent Local Metaphors
"The use of metaphor for communicating conceptual models of interactive systems has a welldocumented history in Interaction Design practice. Although metaphors can primarily be understood as linguistic devices, designers incorporate them into the design process in order to make abstract ideas more concrete and tractable. In this paper we present two case studies where resident researchers worked with Greek village communities to explore potential uses of a “do-it-yourself” WiFi networking technology platform. "Smyth, M., Helgason, I., Lapidge, L. and Hausel, K., 2021. The Tree and The Room: Co-Designing DIY WiFi Networks with Emergent Local Metaphors. "" https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/2748349"
2021
Consequences, Schmonsequences! Considering the Future as Part of Publication and Peer Review in Computing Research
Research in computing is becoming increasingly concerned with understanding and mitigating unintended consequences of technology developments. However, those concerns are rarely reflected in how we submit, review, and publish our own work. Specifically, in talking about how our new apps, devices, and algorithms will change the world, we focus almost exclusively on positive consequences. There have been calls to require some speculation about negative impacts as part of the peer review process. This workshop will explore how to think about and report potential negative consequences in our papers in a way that’s practical, inclusive, and achievable. Sturdee, M., Lindley, J., Linehan, C., Elsden, C., Kumar, N., Dillahunt, T., Mandryk, R. and Vines, J., 2021, May. Consequences, schmonsequences! Considering the future as part of publication and peer review in computing research. In Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-4). https://doi.org./10.1145/3411763.3441330
2021
Pelican Stairs at the XXIV Generative Art 2021: Proceedings of XXIV GA Conference
Pelican Stairs is a multimedia art project started during the depths of Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Creative Informatics Research Associate Caitlin McDonald brought Pelican Stairs to the XXIV Generative Arts Conference, 2021. Hansen, S.M., 2021, November. Programming For Graphic Designers: Building A Project-Based Interactive Online Textbook Around Video Worked Examples. In XXIV Generative Arts Conference 2021: Generative Arts 2021 (pp. 220-230). Domus Argenia Publisher. GA2021_proceedings_web.pdf (generativeart.com)
2021
Digital Cultural Colonialism: Measuring Bias in Aggregated Digitised Content Held in Google Arts and Culture
In 2011, Google launched its Google Art Project, now known as Google Arts and Culture (GA&C), that currently hosts approximately six million high-resolution images of artworks from around the world, with an objective to make culture more accessible. We demonstrate that GA&C has experienced dramatic growth in recent years and includes artworks for almost every country from the UN member list. However, we document a noticeable lack of balance in the aggregator, with some countries and institutions being prioritised, and a major proportion of the holdings featuring content that resides in the USA. Moreover, after examining Russian and French collections, we see the dominance of artworks from their capital cities in GA&C, while art from provinces is clearly underrepresented. Finally, we find a dominance of art from the 20th century with some emphasis on artworks demonstrating a break in canon or ‘otherness’ of non-Western countries. The discrepancies that we observe give evidence to support previously posited ideas of digital cultural colonialism. We call for explicit statement by platforms on their collection and selection criteria and the need for researchers to understand the biases emerging from aggregated digitized content. Kizhner, I., Terras, M., Rumyantsev, M., Khokhlova, V., Demeshkova, E., Rudov, I. and Afanasieva, J., 2021. Digital cultural colonialism: measuring bias in aggregated digitized content held in Google Arts and Culture. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 36(3), pp.607-640. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqaa055
2021
Learning from the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Recommendations for Festivals and Performing Arts in Navigating Covid-19 and New Digital Contexts
When it happened, the announcement that the Edinburgh Festivals would not go ahead was both predictable and shocking. Cruelly, so many aspects of what makes the Edinburgh Festival Fringe unique, appeared suddenly impossible and unpalatable. How could this festival work remotely? What would happen, when the Fringe doesn’t happen? As researchers on Creative Informatics - a project to explore data-driven innovation in the Creative Industries – we wanted to record these remarkable circumstances and study the role(s) of digital technologies in response. In particular we sought to reflect on the pivots artists, venues and festivals would be required to make, and perhaps identify longer term shifts in the performing arts sector. Elsden, C., Piccio, B., Helgason, I. and Terras, M., 2021. Learning from the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Recommendations for Festivals and Performing Arts in Navigating Covid-19 and New Digital Contexts. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4775363
2021
Excerpts from “Pelican Stairs: a Wapping Great Pandemic Memoir
Creative Informatics Research Associate Caitlin McDonald presented excerpts from her pandemic, Pelican Stairs for Unasked at Durban University of Technology. McDonald, C. Virtual Exhibit at DigiFest 2021 – UNMASKED, Durban University of Technologyhttps://digifest.dut.ac.za/portfolio-item/excerpts-from-pelican-stairs-a-wapping-great-pandemic-memoir/
2021
Can One be Just Without Being Human? Legal A.I. and the quest for executable justice. “Transformative Technologien”.
Creative Informatics Co-Director Burkhard Schafer’s contribution to German publication Transformative Technologies which looks at interactions between technical and legal change. Schafer, B., 2021, June. Can one be just without being human? Legal AI and the quest for executable justice. In Transformative Technologien (pp. 119-152). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. https://doi.org./10.5771/9783748924852-119
2020
Creative Informatics Guide For Online Events
Throughout the Creative Informatics programme, we ran many events, from meetups and networking, to drop-in sessions and workshops to support applications and funding of various programmes. With the onset of lockdown during the pandemic, we explored how to move many of these events online. The first sections address general principles and good practice to consider in running events. The following sections reflect ideas about how to run specific kinds of sessions with audiences that imply different levels of participation, mobility and engagement. Elsden, C., Chan, K., Erskine, P., Helgason, I., Lechelt, S., Osborne, N., Panneels, I., Smyth, M., Warren, K., Terras, M. and Speed, C., 2020. Creative Informatics Guide for Online Events. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3980961
2020
Unearthing Feminist Territories and Terrains
When the pandemic began to affect the performance world, both festival artists and producers started to adopt creative approaches to moving their work online. In the study presented here, we focus on the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which offered a unique opportunity to understand how performers coped with the enforced switch to digital. Underpinning the Fringe Festival ethos is the attitude of experimentation, and we propose that there is much to learn from the response of performers and producers to this unprecedented situation. Piccio, B., Helgason, I., Elsden, C. and Terras, M., 2022. A hefty dose of lemons: the importance of rituals for audiences and performers at the online Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2020. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 18(1), pp.154-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2022.2036489
