Apply principles from the course to an in progress or future creative technology research project. This may include one or more of the following directions.
Develop and pilot an evaluation and demonstration of the features of a tool or technology of your own design.
Perform a critical analysis of one or more established creative technologies. Provide evidence for the limitations and opportunities of these technologies and propose concrete directions for future development or alternatives.
Perform a study of the creative practice of a target domain. This could be an established domain, or an emerging one (machine learning driven video editing). Your study could involve interviews/ ethnography, observation, or analysis of individual practice. Describe the ways that practitioners leverage existing tools, the defining forms of expression that are relevant to this domain. Use this study to describe how this domain could be opened to new audiences through the creation of new technologies or support systems (i.e. education/ facilitation methods.)
Students will be required to write a 3-6 page final paper for the project (including figures) that details their methods, analysis, and findings. Students may opt to collaborate on this project or work individually. Students will also be responsible for providing written feedback on two in-progress papers for fellow students. Final projects may be collaborative.
Objective: Use the principles and approaches discussed in this course to explore a future research domain in creative technology or creative production, or to inform the development of a new or in-progress creative technology. The final project will take the form of a 4-8 page paper (not including references). You should include figures and images as appropriate. You may opt to collaborate on this project or work individually. Students will also be responsible for providing feedback on in-progress outlines for fellow students.
Select between one of the following directions.
Understanding Existing Practice: Perform a preliminary study of the creative practice of a target domain. This could be an established domain, or an emerging one (machine learning driven video editing). Your study could involve interviews, observation, paper prototyping, or other methods. Describe the ways that practitioners leverage existing tools and the defining forms of expression that are relevant to this domain.
Your preliminary study should include the following elements:
An initial description of the target domain and the people who comprise it. You should also justify why the domain is worth studying with respect to the broader HCI, Creativity Support, or other technological research communities
One or more research questions or lines of inquiry for your study.
A written description of your data-collection methodology (interviews, observation, technology probes, written surveys, etc.) and approach to analysis (case studies, grounded theory, quantitative analysis).
A summary of related research that examines related (or the same) domain as your project.
A description of the results of your study and identifies prominent themes and preliminary findings
A discussion describing the implications of your findings. This could include a revision of your original description of the domain, insight into the defining practices, challenges, values, etc. of the individuals who comprise it, and/ or design implications for technological tools to support practice within this domain.
Connections to graduate research:
Opportunity to refine formative study skills/ approaches.
Opportunity to investigate a domain of practice you wish to explore more deeply in future research.
Opportunity to extend/ continue the work in assignments 1-2.
2. Analyzing Existing Technologies: Perform a critical analysis of a field of established creative technologies. Provide evidence for the limitations and opportunities of these technologies and propose concrete directions for future development of alternatives.
Your analysis should include the following elements:
A description of the domain of technologies/ tools that you have chosen to focus on.
A description of a minimum of 5 exemplar technologies drawn from HCI/ systems research publications or prominent examples used in real-world practice. Note: these can include technologies discussed in class.
An exploration of the affordances and qualities of these example technologies that connects their features and constraints to the kinds of things that can be made with them and / or the people who can use them. You may choose to use charts or visualizations to map out this space.
A following section that advocates for a new tool or technology that targets a space that has not been explored by the existing tools in your analysis. Note: The new technology you propose in the essay need not be a technology you’re working on (though it could be). Think of this as an exercise in identifying opportunities and articulating the differences between systems, not in describing what you’re actually building.
Connections to graduate research:
Opportunity to plan for the literature review for your qualifying exam.
Opportunity to develop expertise in a new research domain.
Opportunity to build out the related work section of a paper you’re writing or planning on writing.
Example: Contextual essay comparing programming languages and art and craft media
Example: Raphael Radna's exploration of systems for visual music scores.
3. Informing the design of a new or in-progress technology: Develop a formal evaluation proposal for tool or technology of your own design (or one that you are planning to design).
Your proposal should include the following elements:
Description of the target audience- i.e. who are your subjects? What qualities define them?
Description of study objectives– i.e. what are you trying to learn? What are the research questions or hypotheses you seek to explore/test?
Description of study measures– i.e. How will you collect data during the study? How do these forms of data relate to your objectives?
Description of study tasks/ structure– i.e. What will participants do?
Analysis of potential risks/ benefits for participants in your study.
Description of the anticipated outcomes of the study.
Description and analysis of a pilot run (1 participant) of your proposed structure. Note: you do not have to pilot your entire study or run it with a fully functional technology. We can discuss approaches to piloting based on the status of the technology you are developing the evaluation for.
Analysis of the limitations of your proposed study- what data will you fail to capture?
Connections to graduate research:
Useful for guiding implementation (knowing what to build and what not to build)
Useful when planning a proposal for IRB approval of human-subjects research.
Helpful for planning for the evaluation section of a research paper.
Rough Examples— note: these are outlines. Your final paper should be more complete than these examples.
Workshop Outline for Para Research: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15zu3ULeXJCKjBGKBgp0mxCxMqJwBPpjC?usp=sharing
Outline for Artist Study with Para Research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SIRAX31ebaZCFAIJfB4fmNUG3Ix3wCSRWQ7JtxfQ2pU/edit?usp=sharing
Outline for Dynamic Brushes study: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z_6FhKf3xeZVbNqEhDEuvC7J2T0pjZxpvOXnt8hEChs/edit?usp=sharing
Timeline:
February 24th: Introduce Final Project
March 3rd by 10 AM: 1-2 paragraph description of proposed final project topic uploaded to Final Project Proposal folder.
March 3rd: 20 min out of class meetings to review final project direction. Sign up here: https://calendly.com/jmjacobs/final-project-proposal-meetings?month=2022-03&date=2022-03-03
March 11th: Deadline to meet to provide written peer feedback.
March 17th: Final papers uploaded to Final Project Folder.
Peer Feedback Instructions
The structure is as follows:
Class members (or project teams) will independently schedule a time to meet in groups of two for 30 minutes total. The first member will have 8 minutes to review their in-progress outline with their partner. Review your current research questions and motivation, approach, and primary analysis or discussion points. Describe your plan to complete the report in the remaining week (additional steps, any study you plan to run, etc.) You can also raise remaining challenges or questions you have for the structure and writing of your project.
Following this, the partner will have 7 minutes to provide feedback. Consider the following points when providing feedback:
How clear are the primary questions and objectives? Do they align with the approach the author is taking in their proposed study or analysis?
What are the most interesting aspects of the project for you? How could these aspects be emphasized in the final report?
Does the author's plan to complete the remaining elements of the project seem feasible? If not, what steps might be removed or simplified?
After one partner has presented and received feedback. switch and repeat the process.
Students should bring with them an in-progress outline, images, or other documents and materials to share with their partners via screenshare.
Following class, provide a 2 paragraph writeup with feedback to your partner based on your discussion. Send this writeup to your partner via email. CC me (jmjacobs@ucsb.edu) on your email.
DUE Monday March 14th
Feedback Groups:
Pau / Ana
Nathan & Jack / Yixuan