The call for small grants of up to £5,000 was open to academic staff at University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University. The call invited submissions for 3-9 month research projects, to begin by February 2022 and conclude by end of September 2022, to report results by November 1st 2022. We received submissions covering a range of research projects exploring innovative uses or applications of data or digital technologies in the creative and cultural sectors. Creative Informatics is very excited to see and share the outcomes of these projects which will support the development of research ideas and collaborations in these two city universities. Some of the projects involve new research collaborations including commercial partner involvement.
CI Small Grant Holders 2021
BSL in Embodied Music Interaction
Lead: Dr Balandino Di Donato (Edinburgh Napier University)
Partners: Dr Iain McGregor and Dr John McGowan (Edinburgh Napier University), Prof Craig Vear (De Montfort University)
Description: An exploratory study in the field of Embodied Music Interaction to greater understand how British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters translate music for the hearing impaired. This project will look at the relationship between British Sign Language interpretation of music, focusing on the translation of expressive body and facial movements into musical metaphor. The question addresses what are the sound-gesture relationships in BSL music interpretation?
Scottish Gaelic Generation for Exhibitions
Lead: Dr David M. Howcroft (Edinburgh Napier University)
Partners: Dr Dimitra Gkatzia (Edinburgh Napier University), Dr Will Lamb (University of Edinburgh), InChat Design
Description: For visitors to artistic and cultural exhibitions, chatbots can provide a useful way to increase engagement and bridge accessibility gaps. Such chatbots are not yet available for all languages, due to a lack of linguistic resources for minority languages, such as Scottish Gaelic. We propose to create a novel, publicly available resource for natural language generation in Scottish Gaelic which will enable the development of chatbots in this language for creative & cultural exhibitions.
Platform to platform: an investigation into audience engagement with digitised archives and their transformative impact across different online formats
Lead: Dr Bruce Ryan (Edinburgh Napier University)
Partners: Prof Hazel Hall and Dr Iain McGregor (Edinburgh Napier University)
Description: This project will take digitised text by one-time Stirling resident Lorna Lloyd on living through World War II, and transform it into a sound archive to be edited into a narrative non-fiction podcast series. The research centres on the creation of a multi-faceted sound archive and evaluation of audience engagement with it.
Collaborative Storytelling with an AI author
Lead: Dr Christopher Lucas (University of Edinburgh)
Partner: Dr. Arabella J Sinclair (University of Amsterdam)
Description: Storytelling is an area where humans excel, using creativity and communication skills to pass on histories, introspect, entertain, and connect with others. This project will investigate whether and to what extent Neural Language Models can be useful collaborative tools for writers creating short stories. As part of this investigation, we are interested in exploiting the ability of NLMs to be fine-tuned to specific examples of language, and creating several potential characters with which our human authors can interact.
Scoping an AI Powered Peer Advice System for Creative Freelancers
Lead: Dr Holly Patrick-Thomson (Edinburgh Napier University)
Partners: Associate Professor Alistair Lawson and Dr Paul Lapok (Edinburgh Napier University)
Description: Freelancers are vital part of the Creative Industries, yet they frequently have less access to training than their employed counterparts, and as a result they tend to rely on non-formal and informal routes to build knowledge and develop skills. An AI powered advisor would be a system-based solution to answering common contracting questions, allowing for peer advice from one or multiple sources to be aggregated, analysed, and provided back to freelancers on demand.
Dynamic Range: immersive screenwriting for sound
Lead: James Mavor (Edinburgh Napier University)
Partners: Dr Iain McGregor (Edinburgh Napier University), Blazing Griffin post production
Description: This project will explore the dramatic potential of Augmented Reality (AR) sound in a mainstream television drama series using Dolby Atmos. In particular, it will explore what Idrovo and Pauletto (2019) call ‘immersive point of audition’. When we stay close to the main character and hear what she hears, what does this sound like? How does the screenwriter script this on the page? And what story possibilities are generated by the data streams accessible through developing AR earbud technology?
If you have any questions about CI Small Research Grants, contact the Creative Informatics team at creativeinformatics@ed.ac.uk.