Experience
Department Head, Lead XR Disruptor
2010 - Present • Art History and Visual CultureEditors Role
Reviewer
GJCST
2024 - PresentResearch
Enhancing Employability for Autistic Graduates: Using TRIZ Theory to Design Virtual Reality Solutions for Fostering Inclusive Communications in Workplace Environments
The underemployment of post-secondary graduates with autism (AP-PSD) is a critical concern. This issue often stems from difficulties in workplace integration and communication. This research explores the potential of virtual reality (VR) systems to alleviate these challenges by simulating work environments. The methodology, rooted in the TRIZ Theory, a problem-solving algorithm, refines the use of VR systems for enhanced adaptability and efficiency. The primary objectives include enhancing employers' understanding of AP-PSD-related issues and identifying significant workplace challenges faced by AP-PSDs. Through literature reviews, surveys, and focus groups, the study investigates the factors impacting AP-PSDs and identifies key components to develop a more effective VR system to support their workplace integration. The research also scrutinizes existing technological adaptations that could improve situation recognition, communication, and understanding in the workplace. Additionally, the potential role of human supervision in conjunction with VR technology support for AP-PSD employees is considered. The results suggest that regardless of company size, supporting AP-PSDs in the workplace is a feasible goal that can enhance their wellbeing. Crucially, the AP-PSD's active participation in their own integration process, which encompasses training, human support, and environmental adaptations, along with the specific involvement of the human resources manager, has proven vital. With the right accommodations, AP-PSDs can demonstrate up to 30% greater productivity than neurotypical employees, offsetting accommodation costs. This research emphasizes the need to blend human-centered approaches with technological innovations to boost AP-PSDs' employability. Though industry-specific integration details are beyond the scope of this study, the results underline the potential for tailored solutions aligned with each company's unique culture. The paper presents a prototype for further co-design phases.
Exploring the Educational Potential of AI Generative Art in 3D Design Fundamentals: A Case Study on Prompt Engineering and Creative Workflows
AI will be increasingly integrated into artistic practices and creative workflows with prompt engineering assuming an increasingly important role in the process. With readily-available generative AI, such as Midjourney, DALL-E 2, and Craiyon (formerly DALLE-mini), anyone can seemingly create "art,†prompting questions about the future necessity of art and design education. However, whereas the ease with which content can be created has seen an outcry from the traditional artmaking community, fears over widespread adoption replacing the need for a firm foundation in art and design principles and fundamentals is unfounded. Instead, these tools should be seen and adopted as other photomechanical and computer-generated versions before them and leveraged to provide new models for artists to improve their workflow. Therefore, the case study here proposed the use of AI generative art for a traditional 3D design studio art course to determine the manner and degree of process change that may be expected and to determine potential benefits of the new technology. As such, students were prompted to use the Craiyon or DALLE-2 art generator to gather verbal cues to combine three different objects into a new version that would then be realized as a physical three-dimensional sculpture and/or model. The assignment manifested in different ways, including literally typing the three objects or providing adjectives. Results indicate that proper prompt engineering, including an interaction between objects, resulted in positive outcomes. However, the study suggests that the principles of art and design will continue to be necessary, and a module on prompt design and creation should be included in the curriculum. This study can serve as a model for other art and design departments seeking to integrate AI into their courses through a pragmatic use case and example assignment.
Generative AI and Algorithmic Art: Disrupting the Framing of Meaning and Rethinking the Subject-Object Dilemma
In the revision of treatments of contemporary art in the 21st century, art historians are recognizing 2022 as the dawn of the age of creative artificial intelligence (AI). The emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion in late 2022 immediately disrupted the established practices of the art world, leading to debates about the validity of "AI Art" and the emergence of a new market for NFTs. However, fears regarding the "death of the artist" are unwarranted when considering the historical adoption of new technologies by artists, such as photography. The role of the artist will undoubtedly transform, and the definition of "art" will be redefined once again. To better understand how AI generative art will impact traditional art- making practices, this study will present an AI generative art development pipeline and provide recommendations for future technical and theoretical considerations of the subject-object dilemma in art through a poststructuralist reading of reception theory. While the ways in which artists will utilize these new tools are currently uncertain, this paper will explore one potential workflow in which content created via text-to-image prompts in Astra.ai is exported to Stable Diffusion. Through an evaluation of this process and the introduction of new steps for artists using AI generative content, recommendations will be provided for both the creation and interpretation of human-AI collaborative and co-creative processes and content.
The Poetry of Prompts: The Collaborative Role of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Creation of Poetry and the Anxiety of Machine Influence
2022 has been heralded as the year of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Generative AI like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, along with a host of others launched late in the year and immediately disrupted the status quo of the literary and artworlds, leading to outcries to ban “AI Art” and spawning an entirely new market of NFTs. Fears over the “death of the artist,” and the “death of college composition,” however, are unfounded when considering the historical adoption of emerging technologies by creatives and the reconsideration of authorship that began with poststructuralism and the Foucauldian Death of the Author in 1967.
