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Research

Brock Craft's Research Group Archive

The following research group descriptions are archived because they are no longer offered, the faculty member is on sabbatical, or the group is taking a break. Please contact the faculty member or an advisor to learn more about these groups.

Winter 2024

Prompt Surfing: Riding the Generative Waves of Text and Image Creation

Instructors: Dr. Brock Craft, Adam Hyland, Anna Shang
Meeting Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Mondays, Winter Quarter, Sieg 429
Capacity: 10 students 
Credits: 2

This DRG focuses on generative AI for text and image creation, covering key topics such as prompt engineering, synthetic images, and text generation. The discussions extend beyond ChatGPT to explore other large language models and various systems for image generation, even exploring the possibility of running generative AI on an mobile phone. The seminar also addresses interpretability methods and includes hands-on activities with fine-tuned models. Attendees will explore how these AI systems integrate into other frameworks, such as feeding generated text into systems like Whisper or DALL-E. Additionally, the seminar investigates the intriguing concept of an LLM introspecting its own output and the impact of chain-of-thought prompting. Throughout, the focus is on understanding how these models shape the ensemble of possibilities available to us in the realm of generative AI. 
[This description was generated by ChatGPT.]

Instructors' note: The goal of the DRG is not to be "dazzled" by these technologies but rather to problematise them, to understand how these platforms work, how they can be influenced. The only way to do so is to engage with them actively and discuss them critically from a human-centered perspective, which is what we will be doing. 

Student Requirements:

  • Strong interest in creative uses of generative AI
  • Strong interest in researching how to manipulate LLMs
  • Self directed and curious. (We will not hold your hand in this DRG.)
  • Programming skills in Python a huge plus, but not a requirement

Questions? Email bcraft@uw.edu 

Spring 2023

Human Centered Design in London Preparatory Seminar

This bi-weekly seminar will prepare students for the design work that they will undertake during the Study Abroad Program. We will prepare to explore the cultural and design context of London and discuss readings on design strategies and methods. Practical considerations for the program will also be covered.

This course meets bi-weekly, for 2 hours. This DRG is exclusive to and required for participants in the HCDE in London Study Abroad program. 

Spring 2023

Climate Migration Design Workshops

This DRG is a week-long experiment connecting UCD and transition design practices. Inspired by a local project exploring assisted climate migration for the Western Red Cedar, we will explore the connections between creative practice and human and nonhuman worlds. As members of this DRG you will be responsible for the continuity of ideas over the week. In other words, you will be the “designer glue,” shepherding initial ideas to realization.
The DRG will be run by Drs. Tyler Fox, Brock Craft, and John Fass (from the MAUX program at the London College of Communication), and PhD Candidate Michael Beach.

Spring 2022

Human Centered Design in London Preparatory Seminar (1 credit)

This bi-weekly seminar will prepare students for the design work that they will undertake during the Study Abroad Program. We will prepare to explore the cultural and design context of London and discuss readings on design strategies and methods. Practical considerations for the program will also be covered.
This course meets bi-weekly, for 2 hours. This DRG is exclusive to and required for participants in the HCDE in London Study Abroad program. .

Spring 2020

The Internet of Light 

There are now dozens of frameworks, protocols, and applications for creative expression that leverage the Internet of Things (IoT). In this DRG, we will explore internet-enabled interactive lighting, focusing on possibilities for creative expression, display, data encoding, communication, and interaction. In this DRG, you will develop a plan for researching and expressing your creative voice, as a designer. The DRG will culminate in a lighting exhibit using the multicolored lights in the lobby of Sieg Hall as the canvas.

Participants in this DRG will leverage a combination of both technical and aesthetic skills. Preference will be given to applicants who already have strong technical software development skills, Internet of Things applications, working with unfamiliar RESTful APIs, and who have a sensitivity to visual design with light. You should be able to review an unfamiliar API and have a good idea of how you would use it to author applications in, for example, Python, Circuit Python, or Mobile App frameworks. This DRG is open to students in all degree programs.

Interactive Tangible Printed Displays: Designing and Displaying Narratives of Women in Gaming (Alternative Spring Break DRG)

Spring 2019

Whether you are interested in new display technologies, video games, the role of women in technology, or all three, this exciting DRG is for you! Electrochromic displays (ECD) are a new  type of flexible, transparent, printable display technology that does not emit light and can be produced in a variety of shapes, breaking the constraints of rectangular screens. Similar to ePaper, they require low power to change but no extra hardware. ECD displays can also function as touch sensors and can be printed on flexible materials, such as paper and textiles. This DRG will introduce you to ECDs and you will learn how to design and fabricate them.

This DRG builds upon the Atari Women research project (atariwomen.org), which reveals the hidden stories of women who made crucial engineering contributions to Atari games in early 70s and 80s. Participants will brainstorm a display that communicates the narratives of women working in the early video gaming industry, building on research work from the Atari Women DRG. This includes designing, fabricating and implementing the ECD using e.g. Arduino or Raspberry Pi. In the final workshop session, each student or team will present their solution. You will end up with a portfolio piece showcasing your work in designing display innovation. You do not have to have participated in the AtariWomen DRG to apply. This DRG is open to students in all degree programs.

What will you create?

Instructors: Brock Craft, Walther Jensen, Pernille Bjørn
Prerequisites: No prerequisites. You do not need any prior experience to participate. However, CSE 142, 143, HCDE 310 439, or experience with physical computing are recommended.
Location: UW Main Campus, the MILL Makerspace
Credits: 2

Required Availability

This is an Alternative Spring Break DRG. You will participate during the week of spring break and one follow-up session during spring quarter. This is a great way to explore new technology and get credit over the spring break.

Register for 2 credits for spring quarter.
You commit to working (this is a workshop so lots of work) 6+ hours for all five days during the 2019 Spring Break (March 25-29). One follow-up session during spring quarter (date TBD).
We seek an engaged, diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars, activists, and makers.
 

The Internet of Light 

Spring 2019

There are now dozens of frameworks, protocols, and applications for creative expression that leverage the Internet of Things (IoT). In this DRG, we will explore internet-enabled interactive lighting, focusing on possibilities for display, data encoding, communication, and interaction. The DRG will culminate in a lighting exhibit, with Sieg Hall as the canvas.

Participants in this DRG will leverage a combination of both technical and aesthetic skills. Preference will be given to applicants who already have strong technical software development skills, Internet of Things applications, working with unfamiliar RESTful APIs, and who have a sensitivity to visual design with light. You should be able to review an unfamiliar API and have a good idea of how you would use it to author applications in, for example, Python, Circuit Python, or Mobile App frameworks. This DRG is open to students in all degree programs.

Instructor: Brock Craft, bcraft@uw.edu
Prerequisites: HCDE 310 and HCDE 439, or permission of the instructor 
Credits: 2

Problematic Futures

Spring 2019

Co-directed by: Brock Craft and Tyler Fox
Meeting time: Mondays 12:30–2:30 p.m.

In this DRG we will use design as a tool for critical thought, reflection, and commentary. Following a trajectory of discursive design practice (radical design, anti-design, critical design, speculative design, design as inquiry, to name a few) participants in this DRG will read, discuss, and design in response to a selection of provocations drawn from critical theory, cinema, and contemporary design. We seek individuals who want to think deeply about the world, and what it could be.

We use the term problematic as a means of directing attention to thickly contextual knots comprised of bodies, institutions, and ideas. Here, design methods become a way to understand these different contextual knots as imbricating structures of lived experience. While our reading list is still under construction, participants can expect to read Flusser, Simondon, Latour, and more.

The DRG will follow a tight structure of read, discuss, and critically respond through low-fidelity prototypes meant to provoke new thought and experience. The course will conclude with three weeks of frenetic building and critique as participants make a more complex prototype.

Students interested in participating in this DRG should complete this brief survey.

Human Centered Design in London Preparatory Seminar (1 credit)

Spring 2019

This bi-weekly seminar will prepare students for the design work that they will undertake during the Study Abroad Program. We will prepare to explore the cultural and design context of London and discuss readings on design strategies and methods. Practical considerations for the program will also be covered.

This course meets bi-weekly, for 2 hours. This DRG is exclusive to and required for participants in the HCDE in London Study Abroad program. 

Problematic Futures

Spring 2018

Instructors: Brock Craft and Tyler Fox

In this DRG we will use design as a tool for critical thought, reflection, and commentary. Following a trajectory of discursive design practice (radical design, anti-design, critical design, speculative design, design as inquiry, to name a few) participants in this DRG will read, discuss, and design in response to a selection of provocations drawn from critical theory, cinema, and contemporary design. We seek individuals who want to think deeply about the world, and what it could be.

We use the term problematic as a means of directing attention to thickly contextual knots comprised of bodies, institutions, and ideas. Here, design methods become a way to understand these different contextual knots as imbricating structures of lived experience. While our reading list is still under construction, participants can expect to read Flusser, Simondon, Latour, and more.

The DRG will follow a tight structure of read, discuss, and critically respond through low-fidelity prototypes meant to provoke new thought and experience. The course will conclude with three weeks of frenetic building and critique as participants make a more complex prototype.

Designing Bioluminescent Displays

Autumn 2017 & Winter 2019

Faculty:
Tyler Fox & Brock Craft

Bioluminescence is light produced by living organisms. Pyrocistis fusiformis is a single-celled, nonmotile dinoflagellate (algae) that emits a flash of light when physically agitated. Bioluminescent algae can be found in seawater around the world. In this DRG will explore the expressive potential of bioluminescent algae as a form of display. Students will learn how to propagate algae, use physical computing to agitate it, and utilize the affordances of this form of bioluminescence in a display.

We will collaboratively construct a display as a group, then students will divide into small teams to create custom visualizations for it. Along the way, we will consider intersecting questions regarding our topic: What are practicalities and limits of bioluminescence? What are the ethical questions of designing with living organisms? How can speculative projects such as this help provoke environmentally-sensitive design, or do they? Students can expect to gain practical skills in physical computing and interactive installations as well as to grapple with broader, theoretical questions, such as, what should living displays be used for, and why?

While we seek to develop a robust, interdisciplinary group, ideal candidates will have significant interest in, or basic skill in:

Physical Computing/Electronics
Physical Prototyping
Interaction Design
Interactive Art
Creative Coding
Marine Biology

 Smart Cities: A human-centered approach to smart cities and the built environment

Led by:

  • Brock Craft, Senior Lecturer, HCDE
  • Andrew Davidson, Senior Lecturer, HCDE
  • Brian Johnson, Associate Professor, Architecture

We are interested in exploring the design space created by taking a human-centered approach to the coordination of the digital, human and built environment in an urban setting, often referred to as Smart Cities.

This DRG will gather a small group of students together to investigate human-centered issues for highly instrumented and data-rich urban built environments.

We will be exploring questions such as:

  • What do people mean when they talk about Smart Cities?
  • What about Smart Cities is human-centered?
  • What technologies are in use or envisioned in Smart Cities?
  • What differentiates dystopian and utopian views of Smart Cities?
  • What problems should UCD address?
  • What could we address at UW?
  • How could the UW campus figure in this investigation?
  • How could regional urban systems in Seattle be incorporated?
  • How could we explore and prototype ideas to address this topic in future HCDE courses?

We envision establishing this theme of Smart Cities as a topic or thread in future HCDE courses (for the 2016-17 academic year). The purpose of this DRG is to explore the issues and literature related to the theme and develop some ideas for how various courses could embrace this theme in projects or research.

The output of the group's efforts will be:

  • Video reports summarizing the research findings
  • Plans for a possible summer course to continue the work
  • Ideas for tools to use in future prototyping courses
  • Speculation on an Urban Sensing Campus Network

We are looking for dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (BS to PhD) to help with this project. We will be limiting participation to a small number of students. Only those willing to commit to at least 3 credit hours will be considered.

Designing Interactivity in the Urban Landscape - II

Spring 2017

EXPLORE interactivity with large screen interfaces!
INVESTIGATE sensors and gestural interactions!
DESIGN for a high-profile interactive public display wall!

This is the continuing on going project for interactive displays at the West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP) - a brand new major power plant installation on the UW Campus located on University Way. The facility contains 12 large, street-facing, high-resolution screens. This DRG will explore and implement prototype interactions for this display, enabling passersby to gain an understanding of the University’s commitment to the environment and energy conservation, and enhancing public perception of UW Campus and UW sustainability profile. Team members will investigate possible gestural, sensor-driven interactions and incorporate feeding live data to the responsive displays. 

The WCUP displays are intended to be a permanent installation on the UW campus, and student work will be considered for showcasing at a project launch or in the media.

This project is sponsored by the Office of the UW Architect, This DRG requires dedicated and enthusiastic students at all levels (BS to PhD) to help with the project. We will be limiting participation to a small number of students. Only those willing to commit to at least 3 credit hours will be considered.

Ideal candidates will have some of the following knowledge/skills:

User Research
Contextual inquiry
UI Prototyping
Physical Computing/Electronic​s
HTML+CSS+Javascript
D3
Information Visualization

The project team will meet for 1.5 hours per week (Thursday afternoons, 3:30-5:00) and will run over the 10 week term. It may be extended beyond Spring quarter, depending on the project outcome and success.

Credits: 3

Faculty: Brock Craft, Andy Davidson, Tyler Fox