Patterns in Practice: cultures of data mining in science, education and the arts
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Information School
Abstract
Patterns in Practice will explore how practitioners' beliefs, values and feelings interact to shape how they engage with and in data mining and machine learning - forms of 'narrow AI'.
Data and algorithms are becoming increasingly important resources for decision makers in organisations across sectors. Data mining and machine learning techniques allow analysts to find hidden patterns in the vast troves of data that organisations hold, producing predictive insights that can be actioned by others within the organisation or further afield. As applications of such techniques have become more common place, they have also become more controversial. The recent case of Cambridge Analytica mining Facebook data for political campaigning purposes is a recent example. Across sectors practitioners are asking what good data practices look like and how they can be fostered, and the UK government has recently launched the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to examine such issues.
While many data scientists are excited by these techniques and their potential to overcome perceived limitations of human judgement, for other groups of practitioners they can be perceived as an intrusive threat to privacy, an unwelcome challenge to professional insight, or dismissed as overhyped methods that produce poor quality information. Beliefs, values and feelings such as these, influenced by the cultures that practitioners are embedded within, are crucial factors that shape how the adoption and application of this type of AI unfolds in different contexts of practice. They also shape how different groups of practitioners come to relate to one another and the subjects of their data. Ultimately, practitioners' beliefs, values and feelings shape how they come to understand what is desirable and ethical with regard to the application of such techniques in different contexts.
In Patterns in Practice, we will use a combination of interviews, focus groups and observations to explore how the beliefs, values and feelings of different groups of practitioners shape how they engage with data mining and machine learning, and influence the evolution of cultures of data practice. We will examine the beliefs, values and feelings both of those developing and implementing applications that use data mining and machine learning techniques, and those being asked to use the outputs of such applications to inform their decision making. Since factors such as the novelty of application, individual and social implications, and the involvement of commercial interests can impact on people's beliefs and feelings about the application of such technologies, we have decided to explore practitioners' perceptions within three contrasting sectors in science, education and the arts: (1) mining chemical data to inform drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry, (2) predictive learning analytics in UK universities, and (3) novel applications of data mining in the arts. Through exploring a diverse range of practitioners' perspectives, we aim to build a rich picture about what they believe and how they feel about the application of data mining in different contexts.
Building upon this empirical foundation, we aim to engage different groups of practitioners across the sectors to enhance their understanding of the ways in which their own and others' beliefs, values and feelings can impact upon how they engage with data mining and machine learning applications and how this shapes how such applications become embedded, or not, into different organisational contexts. Drawing on this deeper understanding, we aim to empower practitioners in the sectors we work with and relevant stakeholders (i.e. members of the public, policy makers) to foster the development of critical and reflective "data cultures" (Bates, 2017) that are able to exploit the possibilities of data mining and machine learning, while being critically responsive to their societal implications and epistemological limitations.
Data and algorithms are becoming increasingly important resources for decision makers in organisations across sectors. Data mining and machine learning techniques allow analysts to find hidden patterns in the vast troves of data that organisations hold, producing predictive insights that can be actioned by others within the organisation or further afield. As applications of such techniques have become more common place, they have also become more controversial. The recent case of Cambridge Analytica mining Facebook data for political campaigning purposes is a recent example. Across sectors practitioners are asking what good data practices look like and how they can be fostered, and the UK government has recently launched the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to examine such issues.
While many data scientists are excited by these techniques and their potential to overcome perceived limitations of human judgement, for other groups of practitioners they can be perceived as an intrusive threat to privacy, an unwelcome challenge to professional insight, or dismissed as overhyped methods that produce poor quality information. Beliefs, values and feelings such as these, influenced by the cultures that practitioners are embedded within, are crucial factors that shape how the adoption and application of this type of AI unfolds in different contexts of practice. They also shape how different groups of practitioners come to relate to one another and the subjects of their data. Ultimately, practitioners' beliefs, values and feelings shape how they come to understand what is desirable and ethical with regard to the application of such techniques in different contexts.
In Patterns in Practice, we will use a combination of interviews, focus groups and observations to explore how the beliefs, values and feelings of different groups of practitioners shape how they engage with data mining and machine learning, and influence the evolution of cultures of data practice. We will examine the beliefs, values and feelings both of those developing and implementing applications that use data mining and machine learning techniques, and those being asked to use the outputs of such applications to inform their decision making. Since factors such as the novelty of application, individual and social implications, and the involvement of commercial interests can impact on people's beliefs and feelings about the application of such technologies, we have decided to explore practitioners' perceptions within three contrasting sectors in science, education and the arts: (1) mining chemical data to inform drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry, (2) predictive learning analytics in UK universities, and (3) novel applications of data mining in the arts. Through exploring a diverse range of practitioners' perspectives, we aim to build a rich picture about what they believe and how they feel about the application of data mining in different contexts.
Building upon this empirical foundation, we aim to engage different groups of practitioners across the sectors to enhance their understanding of the ways in which their own and others' beliefs, values and feelings can impact upon how they engage with data mining and machine learning applications and how this shapes how such applications become embedded, or not, into different organisational contexts. Drawing on this deeper understanding, we aim to empower practitioners in the sectors we work with and relevant stakeholders (i.e. members of the public, policy makers) to foster the development of critical and reflective "data cultures" (Bates, 2017) that are able to exploit the possibilities of data mining and machine learning, while being critically responsive to their societal implications and epistemological limitations.
Planned Impact
Who?
Through our research into how affective and ideational factors shape data cultures, we aim to develop an empirically grounded foundation for engaging differently situated groups of practitioners in critical and reflective dialogue, specifically in the domains of science (drug discovery), education (learning analytics) and the arts (arts practice). Through doing so we aim to foster the development of "data cultures" that allow organisations to exploit the possibilities of DM/ML techniques while simultaneously being responsive to their societal implications and epistemological limitations. Our partner organisations (GlaxcoSmithKline [GSK], JISC and Sheffield Doc/Fest) will work with us to achieve our objectives in their own organisations and sectors.
-Pharmaceutical sector. Our partners GSK will benefit through becoming better informed about how affective-ideational dynamics influence how DM/ML outputs are embedded in - and inform decision-making across - the drug discovery pipeline. Beyond GSK, these insights will be transferable to other organisations within the pharmaceutical sector.
-Higher education. Our partners JISC will benefit from enhanced understanding about how predictive learning analytics is being received by different practitioners within the context of the UK's Higher Education sector. This will enhance JISC's capacity to develop best practice guidelines for ethical practice, and HE institutions' ability to make effective and ethical decisions about the adoption and use of learning analytics.
-Cultural sector. Our artists-in-residence and cultural partners will benefit through developing their DM/ML practice, and opportunities to engage audiences with these practices. The Sheffield Doc/Fest, and other collaborating digital arts organisations, will gain insights which can inform their curation practices, and expand their art-science practice.
How?
In order to foster the development of more critical and reflective cultures of engagement with DM/ML practices in the above sectors, we will:
1. Involve practitioners in partner organisations and our artist in residence in the research throughout, and disseminate findings within these organisations
2. Engage research participants in a series of dialogue events that aim to foster critical cross-sector and cross-profession discussion among differently situated practitioners
3. Disseminate findings to practitioners via blogs and articles in practitioner publications, and at relevant festivals, conferences and events.
A further objective is to raise awareness of DM/ML and the affective-ideational context for DM/ML practice among members of the public. We will:
1. Host an artist in residence who will produce a DM/ML art work to be exhibited at Sheffield Doc/Fest Alternate Realities in the final year of the project
2. Run a work in progress public event as part of the residency, and public dialogue events that engage the public, practitioners and policy makers in constructive discussion about DM/ML
3. Disseminate findings on popular blogs and social media, at digital festivals and events.
A final objective is to develop skills and capacity among the members of the research team and our collaborators. We will:
1. Provide basic DM/ML training for all researchers on the project
2. Have a training budget of £1000 for each RA allocated based on a Training Needs Analysis
3. Support our artists in residence to apply for Arts Council funding in order to tour the exhibit nationally.
Through our research into how affective and ideational factors shape data cultures, we aim to develop an empirically grounded foundation for engaging differently situated groups of practitioners in critical and reflective dialogue, specifically in the domains of science (drug discovery), education (learning analytics) and the arts (arts practice). Through doing so we aim to foster the development of "data cultures" that allow organisations to exploit the possibilities of DM/ML techniques while simultaneously being responsive to their societal implications and epistemological limitations. Our partner organisations (GlaxcoSmithKline [GSK], JISC and Sheffield Doc/Fest) will work with us to achieve our objectives in their own organisations and sectors.
-Pharmaceutical sector. Our partners GSK will benefit through becoming better informed about how affective-ideational dynamics influence how DM/ML outputs are embedded in - and inform decision-making across - the drug discovery pipeline. Beyond GSK, these insights will be transferable to other organisations within the pharmaceutical sector.
-Higher education. Our partners JISC will benefit from enhanced understanding about how predictive learning analytics is being received by different practitioners within the context of the UK's Higher Education sector. This will enhance JISC's capacity to develop best practice guidelines for ethical practice, and HE institutions' ability to make effective and ethical decisions about the adoption and use of learning analytics.
-Cultural sector. Our artists-in-residence and cultural partners will benefit through developing their DM/ML practice, and opportunities to engage audiences with these practices. The Sheffield Doc/Fest, and other collaborating digital arts organisations, will gain insights which can inform their curation practices, and expand their art-science practice.
How?
In order to foster the development of more critical and reflective cultures of engagement with DM/ML practices in the above sectors, we will:
1. Involve practitioners in partner organisations and our artist in residence in the research throughout, and disseminate findings within these organisations
2. Engage research participants in a series of dialogue events that aim to foster critical cross-sector and cross-profession discussion among differently situated practitioners
3. Disseminate findings to practitioners via blogs and articles in practitioner publications, and at relevant festivals, conferences and events.
A further objective is to raise awareness of DM/ML and the affective-ideational context for DM/ML practice among members of the public. We will:
1. Host an artist in residence who will produce a DM/ML art work to be exhibited at Sheffield Doc/Fest Alternate Realities in the final year of the project
2. Run a work in progress public event as part of the residency, and public dialogue events that engage the public, practitioners and policy makers in constructive discussion about DM/ML
3. Disseminate findings on popular blogs and social media, at digital festivals and events.
A final objective is to develop skills and capacity among the members of the research team and our collaborators. We will:
1. Provide basic DM/ML training for all researchers on the project
2. Have a training budget of £1000 for each RA allocated based on a Training Needs Analysis
3. Support our artists in residence to apply for Arts Council funding in order to tour the exhibit nationally.
Organisations
Publications
Fratczak, M
(2023)
Values, emotions and beliefs within Generative AI Arts practice.
Fratczak, M
(2024)
Cultures of AI practice in the arts
Medina Perea I
(2023)
BELIEFS, VALUES AND EMOTIONS IN PRACTITIONERS' ENGAGEMENTS WITH LEARNING ANALYTICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
in AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research
Medina Perea, Itzelle
(2024)
Beliefs, Values and Emotions in Education Practitioners' Engagements with Learning Analytics in Higher Education
Medina Perea, Itzelle
(2024)
Cultures of data mining in higher education
| Title | Improvised Human Machine Conversations (Craig Scott showcase event) |
| Description | A showcase event at the end of Craig Scott's artist residency. Hosted at StrangeBrew in Bristol and in collaboration with Watershed, the event took the form of two seperate performances from Craig and his automated guitar, with a Q+A session with Samborne and Erinma sandwiched between. There was an opportunity for questions at the end of the Q+A and after the show, with Craig talking with everyone in a long line of people who wanted to meet him and see the guitar up close. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | The showcase event marked the culmination of Craig Scott's artist residency. It was sold-out the day before the event demonstrating the interest and enthusiasm generated by Craig's work. We also invited participants from the Bristol Old Vic workshop group (Tom Marshman and PIP) to come to the event. Several members attended the showcase and asked questions during the Q+A. This helped contribute to building a network and understanding between creative practitioners who are approaching the topic of AI technology, from different artistic backgrounds. As a result of his residency, Craig is now working closely with a creative technologist who is helping to develop Craig's machine learning knowledge and practice. |
| URL | https://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/12406/patterns-in-practice-improvised-human-machine-conversation... |
| Description | Our research illuminates the following key findings: 1. How different and conflicting values, beliefs and feelings are shaping the practice of pulling highly skilled practitioners away from work they find meaningful to focus on generating data to feed AI systems. This finding points to the human implications of AI's 'data dilemma' - a term which refers to the challenge of obtaining sufficient and suitable data to effectively train machine learning (AI) models. 2. Practitioners' personal values can provide a counterpoint to values of efficiency, productivity and profit and shape emergent forms of human-machine collaboration, particularly in the arts. 3. Understanding the value and belief systems that are shaping educational practitioners' engagement with learning analytics provides a counterpoint to the common discourse that university educators are resistant to change. 4. Practitioners' tactics of resistance to questionable forms of ML/AI integration play out in different ways across different sectors and these differences relate to how the sector is integrated into the economy and state. 5. Identifying and unpacking practitioners' feelings of surprise is a valuable approach for gaining a deeper understanding of their underlying beliefs and values around ML/AI integration. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this funding will be taken forward and put to use by the following: Academic fields: - Critical data studies and Science and Technology Studies. Particularly findings 1, 2, 4 and 5 above. - Education technology research. Particularly finding 3 above. - Arts/cultural studies. Particularly finding 2 above. Non-academic - Arts practice - our collaborators directly used findings from the research to shape their practice, and others were indirectly influenced through our engagement activity - Pharmaceutical industry - we have worked closely with our partner organisation to explore alternative approaches to the addressing the data dilemma (finding 1 above) - Education - we expect our findings that question the common 'resistant to change' narrative to have some impact within the HE sector - Publics - we have influenced general understanding of ML and AI through engaging targeted public in e.g. dialogue events and arts-based activities - Teaching - project outputs have been used in teaching of UG/PGT arts and data science students to explore questions arising from the project findings |
| Sectors | Creative Economy Education Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| URL | https://lifeofdata.org/site/patterns-in-practice |
| Description | Impacts on creativity, culture and society: We have made a tangible impact on artists' practice as well as enhancing public understanding around ML/AI based on our findings from the Patterns in Practice project. AI is a pressing concern in the arts sector, with significant concerns about the impact on livelihoods and creative practice. Working with our Patterns in Practice (PIP) collaborators at the Watershed, Bristol we have impacted artist practice. The Patterns in Practice artist-in-residence, Craig Scott, was directly influenced by the PIP findings on human-machine collaboration to re-think his practice and approach AI differently. In his words: "[Working with the research] gave me access to a communal knowledge base that saved me making certain mistakes and getting sidetracked in certain AI mythologies,....Have learned a lot of new approaches to integrating machine learning systems into my practice and gained enough of a wide knowledge base around the subject to negotiate the current boom in AI marketing hype" (feedback form) He used small data approaches that many of our interviewees talked about to develop a machine-learning component that was added to a guitar, which was able to improvise with Craig (a human-machine collaboration) in surprising and complex ways. His residency engaged audiences at various points, including a well attended end of project showcase, and also featured in a video and podcast interview where he talks about his work on the project and how it was informed by PIP findings. Craig's project was also showcased at the 2024 V&A digital design weekend. These same findings from PIP were also explored with members of the public, through a theatre workshop led by Tom Marshman - also out of Watershed, Bristol. The PIP research directly influenced the artist's work as he experimented with the notion of human-machine collaboration and the nature of surprise in the context of AI, to develop a production exploring changing AI by drawing on people's diverse lived experience. 25 members of the public joined the 10-week workshop series, which culminated in a public performance, video and podcast interview. In the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL6VTVOfbiE) participants reflect on what they learned about AI through engaging with the research: "I definitely do see its uses in ways I didn't before"; "I don't think i really understood prior to the involvement in the project how much AI is already with us"; "It's made me more curious - I'm up for it, that's what I'd say. I'm up for finding out more" ; " It [the play] opens up lots of questions like who are the decision makers in this process. It connects the science, to the maths to the history in a way that's really tangible". We have also engaged publics and practitioners with our findings through the following activities: - We worked with poet Otis Mensah and Enon films to produce a poetic response to our early findings from the pharma case on Patterns in Practice -https://player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/patterns-practice. - Public dialogue was also fostered through the PIP team running dialogue sessions at the AI Summit Fringe, the Turing Fringe (in collaboration with Diverse AI) and Festival of the Mind. - We have also developed a podcast series 'Cultures of AI' which had episodes on AI in pharma and HE, and which has been shared through our networks and on social media. A second area of impact was in relation to our 'Feeding the machine' theme. Our research highlighted that skilled practitioners are being made to undertake increasing amounts of "soul destroying" data work aimed at 'feeding the machine' and the promise of AI. We hosted two 'Theory of Change' workshops with practitioners at the pharma company we partnered with that explored alternative ways to try and address the challenge, in ways that would be more satisfying for humans working with AI systems. The workshops identified a number of key areas for the firm to explore areas for changing practices: Leadership, Staff engagement, Training, development, career progression, Standardisation, Enabling projects and experiments, Review of data access arrangements, Infrastructural investments, Funding strategy. Work across these areas would provide a better chance of addressing the data dilemma challenge. Workshop evaluation data demonstrated a significant increase in participants' sense of confidence about being able to address the challenge following the workshops. The confidence level of one workshop group increased from 60% to 79%, and of the other 57% to 66%. A report has been sent to the company and progress on embedding these approaches will be captured in further planned discussions. A third area of impact is in edictaion. Our findings and resources produced on the project have also been used in the higher education context teaching UG and PGT students of Data Science. A full report detailing the project's impact is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DfeFP2lGREeVUnDhymjPatcMNUd9Lnvm/view?usp=drive_link |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Economic |
| Description | Festival of the Mind - Patterns in Practice |
| Amount | £7,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2022 |
| End | 09/2022 |
| Title | Patterns in Practice research dataset |
| Description | Anonymised interview transcripts will be available here from 30/09/25: 10.15131/shef.data.25379512 |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2025 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | n/a |
| Description | GSK |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We are conducting research at GSK as part of one of the project case studies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing literature, recruiting participants, allowing access to facilities for fieldwork, engagement in dialogue events, invitations to deliver talks on findings . |
| Impact | n/a |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | JISC |
| Organisation | Jisc |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We will be beginning data collection at JISC and in HE institutes over summer 2022. We will share findings with JISC. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Assisting in recruitment of participants, access to networks, opportunities to share findings to relevant stakeholders, engagement with dialogue events |
| Impact | n/a |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Tom Marshman and the Old Vic Bristol |
| Organisation | Bristol Old Vic Theatre School |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Initially, we helped Tom develop his thinking around AI practices by sharing our technical reports and talking through any questions about these papers. We have also created connections across the project by inviting Tom's workshop group to Craig Scott's final showcase event and through sharing the podcast. As the workshops have progressed, Tom and team members have had bi-weekly meetings where we talk through the past workshops, ideas that Tom has for future workshops, and any queries that may have arisen. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dramatist Tom Marshman is running a 10-week workshop series at Bristol Old Vic for memebrs of the public. It is described as: ""How do we stay unruly within the AI era? All our life choices; the movies we watch, the lovers we are matched with, the books we read, the holidays we go on, the way we bank, shop and job hunt, are filtered through AI processes that try to make things tidy, establishing a 'normative' pattern. But our lives are truly unruly. Leading the group through methods of gathering and performing oral histories, these sessions will put personal stories through AI systems, to try and disrupt them, highlighting what is most messy about our human experience.". The workshop series will end with a showcase in Spring 2024. |
| Impact | Still in progress - outcome will be a showcase at the end of the workshop series. The collaboration is with a dramatist and a theatre. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Watershed & Pervasive Media Lab |
| Organisation | Watershed Media Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We will work in partnership with Watershed to host an artist in residence & exhibit their work. Watershed will in addition receive £29,000 (inclusive of VAT) to: • Pay the artist-in-residence £8000 (Artist fee) • Host and deliver the artist residency £6000 (Watershed fee) • Support the public showcase of final work and all related fees and materials £15,000 (including creative and technical fees, installation, materials, refreshments and equipment) |
| Collaborator Contribution | work in partnership with the Patterns In Practice team to co-produce an Artist Commission through our creative technology hub, the Pervasive Media Studio. The Pervasive Media Studio houses a community of creative technology practitioners who work across the cultural and commercial sectors to support inventive ideas. Ideas cut across film, music, theatre, design, visual art, games, literature and the creative and technology sectors. The commissioned Patterns In Practice artist would be embedded within this community. We are excited by the scope of this programme in the context of current societal concern around algorithmic practices. Watershed's values it's in-kind contribution at £6000 which includes: • Desk space plus meeting and events space for the commissioned artist within the collaborative environment of the Pervasive Media Studio • Staff time to: o Promote the final work to public audiences o Ensure financial processes are well managed |
| Impact | Craig Scott residency, including a series of events and a showcase. Supported Tom Marshman collaboration. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | A brief history of AI in arts practice blog on project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is the third entry in our series on the use of AI techniques in the three contexts explored in Patterns in Practice |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://lifeofdata.org/site/patterns-in-practice/ai-in-art/ |
| Description | AI in Education blog on project website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is the second post on our series dedicated to the use of AI techniques in the three contexts explored in Patterns in Practice, this time we focus on the education sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://lifeofdata.org/site/patterns-in-practice/ai-in-education/ |
| Description | AI in drug discovery - PIP blog post |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Blog post emerging from the literature work on the pharmaceuticals case. Published on our project blog & shared on Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://lifeofdata.org/site/patterns-in-practice/patterns-in-practice-highlights/ |
| Description | ARLIS Conference panel - AI and Supporting Arts Practice: Challenges and Opportunities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Panelists discussed AI and Supporting Arts Practice: Challenges and Opportunities Informed best practice of Librarians in relation to AI. Donation made to Stuart Hall Library |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | http://arlis.net/conferences |
| Description | Arts and Humanities Shaping AI Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presented a 10 minute talk on Patterns in Pratcice, and joined in workshop activities for the following event organised by Scott Delahunta (Coventry) and Matt Studley (UWE). There are increasing calls for the Arts and Humanities to be more involved in the development of Artificial Intelligence. The assumption is that arts and humanities can bring perspectives that will help make this development more just, trustworthy and responsible. This implies that developer communities (data scientists and AI researchers) are in need of these perspectives. But is there any evidence of this involvement delivering on such promises? There is talk of a less academic, more applied approach, with scholars working alongside artists and scientists, but what are the examples and how might we learn from them? That is the key question we would like to address in organising a one-day workshop with a small number of individuals to openly share and discuss examples of how the arts and humanities can shape our AI future. We are particularly interested in methods and approaches involving practice researchers using participatory, performance and creative processes to engage the public and action researchers/ social scientists using ethnographic engagement with communities of practice, e.g. developers and data scientists. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Bristol and Bath Screen Summit - Panel Event On AI In The Creative Sector |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A panel talk at the Bristol and Bath Screen Summit, 2023. Erinma hosted a conversation about using AI in creative practices with guests James Pollock (Lux Aeterna VFX), Ben Ackland (Meaning Machine Games), Verity Mcintosh (Associae Professor of Immersive Media at UWE) and Steven Shapiro (CTO, Aardman). Erinma used the research from Patterns in Practice to frame the questions and conversations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s4QKVizmp0 |
| Description | Craig Against The Machine (Lunchtime Talk Series) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Part of the Pervasive Media Studio's (Watershed) Lunchtime Talk series. Craig spoke about his work, the process of building his guitar, and the impact of the Patterns in Practice research project on his thinking and design. The talk further enhanced relationship between Craig and creative technologists in the Pervasive Media Studio. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfkW6ololqE&t=2367s |
| Description | Craig Scott Residency Film |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A short film depcting Craig Scott's aritst residency at Watershed and as part of PIP. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0FgIB6NMlg |
| Description | Creating Policy Futures: Responsible AI and Careful Industries Unconference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Over 60 academics, researchers, industry specialists, and creative practitioners gathered at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester for the Creating Policy Futures: Responsible AI and Careful Industries Unconference. Expertly facilitated by Careful Trouble, the event brought together diverse voices to discuss and shape the future of AI policy within the cultural and creative industries. The unconference began with thought-provoking opening provocations from Lex Fefegha (creative coder), Dr Erinma Ochu (UWE), and Adam Ingle (LEGO Group). Their insights set the stage for a participant-driven agenda, with attendees proposing discussion topics on issues such as: Copyright challenges and the implications of "opt-out" systems, How theatres are adapting to AI integration, Sustainability in creative industries, Grassroots resistance and public service approaches. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://istonline.org.uk/creating-policy-futures-a-responsible-ai-and-careful-industries-unconferenc... |
| Description | Cultures of AI podcast series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 5 podcasts exploring how our beliefs, values, and feelings interact to shape our engagement with artificial intelligence. Episodes feature interviews with researchers and practitioners in higher education, the arts and pharma. Each offering their unique perspectives on current issues surrounding machine learning technology |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://patternsinpractice.podbean.com/ |
| Description | Data/opium talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We hosted a talk in the Fetsival of the Mind Spiegeltent, Sheffield City Centre. Otis Mensah, musician/writer and the first Poet Laureate of Sheffield will be joined by filmmaker Hugh Mann Adamson and researcher Dr Itzelle Medina-Perea, Sheffield Information School. They will discuss their collaboration on Patterns in Practice, a video installation presenting a storytelling performance by Otis Mensah about how data scientists' beliefs, values and feelings interact to shape how they engage with Artificial Intelligence techniques. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2022/spiegeltent/patterns-in-practice |
| Description | Data/opium video |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A video was produced in collaboration with Otis Mensah, musician/writer and the first Poet Laureate of Sheffield, and ENON Films to produce a short storytelling performance exploring how data scientists' beliefs, values and feelings interact to shape how they engage with AI techniques to inform drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. The video was exhibited at Festival of the Mind Sheffield (https://player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/patterns-practice), online (https://player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/patterns-practice) and is on continuous display in the Information School lobby. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/patterns-practice |
| Description | Developing Critical AI Cultures Dialogue |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Backed by cutting-edge research from the Patterns in Practice project and in partnership with Diverse AI, this co-designed dialogue event will consider the cultural implications of AI technology and explore how we can do better. Participants will share a short presentation about their work with AI and how emergent AI technology affects their community. A faciliated conversation will then follow. Learnings from the discussion will be shared with relevant institutions and projects such as the Alan Turing Institute, and included in Diverse AI's LLM benchmark research project amongst others. Diverse AI went on to be awarded a research commission as part of an AHRC BRAID fellowship with Dr Sanjay Sharma which aims to challenge mainstream AI development by amplifying the voices of marginalised communities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/developing-critical-ai-cultures-tickets-838493124507?aff=ebdssbdestse... |
| Description | Experimentalism and the Fourth Industrial Revolution ODI workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | This roundtable on the project Experimentalism and the Fourth Industrial Revolution took place online on Zoom and was convened by the Open Data Institute (ODI), in partnership with the Center for Responsible AI, NYU and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Exploring AI, Arts and Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 13 March 2024, Serpentine and Google convened 29 practitioners from across the UK cultural ecosystem including artists, curators, writers, technologists, and thinkers to imagine and debate the future of AI for artists and creative practitioners. Each practitioner, including Dr Erinma Ochu gave a short provocation that was used to inform the value of art and artists in relation to AI Key themes from the research, around human-machine collaboration and prioritising cross-sector collaboration were taken up into the conceptual write up by Google and Serpentine Gallery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://artsandculture.google.com/story/exploring-ai-arts-and-society-serpentine-gallery/nAVB-6oJZxO... |
| Description | FutureFantastic Dialog: Behind AI Systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Online Dialogue with AI arts practitioners from UK and India. In this conversation, we are exploring how and by whom AI systems are constructed and designed, who benefits and who is disadvantaged, how they impact society and what the ethical implications are. The event series, art commissions and festival is supported by the British Council as part of the India/UK Together Season of Culture |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10482043 |
| Description | Guitar Testing Group (Craig Scott) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An event where several guitarists had the opportunity to play Craig's automated guitar themselves. The session was a great opportunity for Craig to recieve feedback on his work, and build relationships with other guitarists interested in working with AI technology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0FgIB6NMlg |
| Description | Improvised Human Machine Conversations (Craig Scott showcase event) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A showcase event at the end of Craig Scott's artist residency. Hosted at StrangeBrew in Bristol and in collaboration with Watershed, the event took the form of two seperate performances from Craig and his automated guitar, with a Q+A session with Samborne and Erinma sandwiched between. There was an opportunity for questions at the end of the Q+A and after the show, with Craig talking with everyone in a long line of people who wanted to meet him and see the guitar up close. The showcase event marked the culmination of Craig's artist residency. It was completely sold-out they day before the event demonstrating the interest and enthusiasm generated by Craig's work. We also invited participants from the Bristol Old Vic workshop group (Tom Marshman and PIP) to come to the event. Several members attended the showcase and asked questions during the Q+A. This helped contribte to building a network and understanding between creative practitioners who are approaching the topic of AI technology, from different artistic backgrounds. As a result of his residency, Craig is now working closely with a creative technologist who is helping to develop Craig's machine learning knowledge and practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.watershed.co.uk/whatson/12406/patterns-in-practice-improvised-human-machine-conversation... |
| Description | Patterns in Practice: A cross-industry machine learning dialogue |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A cross-industry dialogue event discussing new research into artificial intelligence, data mining, and machine learning in the workplace. The event took place on Zoom and brought together practitioners from various industries such as: academia, art, technology and business. It was hosted in collaboration with AI Fringe, and we worked with faciliator Anna Beckett. We also produced an illustrated visual minutes. The event was useful to inform planning of a second dialogue event, and helped to shape the project's work in progress reports that were publishe din January 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://aifringe.org/events/patterns-in-practice-a-cross-industry-machine-learning-dialogue |
| Description | Patterns in Practice: Cultures of AI (podcast series) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A podcast mini-series exploring how our beliefs, values, and feelings interact to shape our engagement with artificial intelligence. Listeners will hear stories from people working across a variety of industries, from drug discovery, to higher education to the creative sector, alongside insight from the Patterns in Practice research team. The series will be five episodes in total, one for each sector - arts, higher education, drug discovery - and special episodes featuring two creative practitioners we have collaborated with: Craig Scott and Tom Marshman. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://open.spotify.com/episode/7iTBkIh6HBM0M8cs47Fp6O?si=OaME_cZUQSSdWFNV_ccLqg&nd=1&dlsi=3aeda5c2... |
| Description | Project update blog - pip website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Blog post giving an upddate opn first few months of the project. Shared on project website & social media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://lifeofdata.org/site/patterns-in-practice/project-update-2/ |
| Description | Show and Test In Progress Craig Scott |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A 'Show and Test' event where people from the Pervasive Media Studio and other creative practitioners gathered and listened to a short introduction to Craig Scott's project, then gave feedback and asked questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Stewarding the AI Commons |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | AEOLIAN Workshop 2. The theme for Workshop 2 is 'Reimagining Industry / Academic / Cultural Heritage Partnerships in AI,' something that we're taking very broadly to include not only industry per se, but also issues in public policy, political economy, ethics, fairness, and other not-strictly-industry topics. The overarching aims of AEOLIAN are: - To make digitised and born-digital collections more accessible. - To analyse these collections using innovative research methods. - To identify synergies and collaborative avenues between US and UK cultural organisations. This workshop is focused on the broader applications of what these innovative AI research methods and collaborations between industry, academia and cultural institutions might look like. We want critique but also, perhaps, visions of what and how these relations could grow with equity and social justice interweaved from the design process upwards, hence the 'reimagining.' The topic of your talk would be up to you; we are leaving the theme as loose as possible, with issues of public policy, ethics, and fairness among other possible emphases. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Talk at Ada Lovelace Brown Bag series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | In this talk, Jo Bates and Itzelle Medina Perea presented insights from project findings to the Ada team about how practitioners are navigating the AI hype, grappling with a perceived lack of appropriate data, and coming to new understandings of how humans and AI machines will collaborate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | The Need For Unruly Personal Stories In The AI Era - Workshop Series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | In collaboration with dramatist Tom Marshman. A 10-week workshop series open to the public that ran at Bristol Old Vic with the description: "How do we stay unruly within the AI era? All our life choices; the movies we watch, the lovers we are matched with, the books we read, the holidays we go on, the way we bank, shop and job hunt, are filtered through AI processes that try to make things tidy, establishing a 'normative' pattern. But our lives are truly unruly. Leading the group through methods of gathering and performing oral histories, these sessions will put personal stories through AI systems, to try and disrupt them, highlighting what is most messy about our human experience." Initially, the PIP team helped Tom develop his thinking around AI practices by sharing our technical reports and talking through any questions about these papers, we have also created connections across the project by inviting Tom's workshop group to Craig Scott's final showcase event and through sharing the podcast. As the workshops have progressed, Tom has had bi-weekly meetings with team members where we talk through the past workshops, ideas that Tom has for future workshops, and any queries that may have arisen. The workshops will conclude with a showcase event in Spring 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://bristololdvic.org.uk/take-part/adult-company/adult-company-spring-term-2024 |
| Description | Understanding why machine learning matters to society - ischool blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Blog post on the Information School blog - in conversation with PDRAs' Itzelle Medina Perea and Monika Fratczak about the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://information-studies.blogspot.com/2023/02/understanding-why-machine-learning.html |