UCLIC Research Seminar Series

In this talk, I show how design research offers distinct opportunities to investigate machine learning (ML) through designerly making and philosophical analysis. After positioning design research in this regard, I showcase three design research projects. First, through analysis of existing design research projects, I outline a conceptual vocabulary that allows for a more intuitive grasp on ML for design and analysis. Second, I discuss a co-design workshop in an actual use case that used design research to explicate stakeholder's pre-existing beliefs about their context; offering design implications for how an ML-driven system should be designed. Lastly, I show ongoing research involving a bespoke web application that prompts reflection on notions of selfhood in contemporary information technology systems such as social media or personal genetics. Finally, I reflect on the implications of my PhD research for design research as a field, and what the particular generativity that it evidences tells us about its capacities and constraints.

The two publications I will feature:

• https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3411764.3445481
• https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3492858