Research – Karyn Easton

May 08

by Karyn in Little Wins, Research, Research Paper, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos 0 comments tags: Little Wins, Research, Research Paper Journey, Unit 3 Blogs, Videos

Little Wins #11

University Invitation to Speak at the HE Research Showcase 8th May 2024 – I had another of what I refer to as my ‘Little Wins’ today. I was invited to give a talk about my MA research paper at the University of South Devon’s annual HE Research Showcase. The screening suite is a great venue and I was really excited to be involved. One of my colleagues who works in HE remembered that I had chatted to him about my research paper and that it was primarily about AI art. The focus of the talks this year were about AI, so he notified the organiser who approached me to speak. One of my ex students was in the audience, so I asked if he would shoot a few stills and videos for me. It was a great opportunity to revisit my research paper. A number of students approached me afterwards to say that they had found my participatory talk really interesting. This made my day! Below is a quick edit of some of the clips that my ex student Kirk kindly shot for me. Hopefully a full video of the showcase will go up on the USDC college website soon, if […]

Feb 16

by Karyn in Ai, Research, Unit 3 Blogs 0 comments tags: ai, Research, Unit 3 Blogs

SORA

The Right Choice – Today I made yet another AI discovery called SORA by OpenAI. This completely convinced me that working in the physical (with my mobile) was the right choice. I have used text to video generators in the past, but this software, just like ChatGPT seems to be on another level! Sadly, I don’t have access to this technology yet as I think it’s currently still in beta testing. However, as soon as I do I will post an update. I’m actually quite proud to say that having explored AI generated art I am finding a way forward with it. In my original study statement I wanted to explore new forms of human, digital and AI art combined, and I still believe this is a good model for many artists going forward. SORA Explained Here is an excellent video that sums up some of the capabilities of SORA. Given the nature of what I’m currently exploring in my project work, this software definitely warrants further exploration. AI Art Explained I thought that I had already posted this video as it is a particularly useful one. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it. Given that this post is about […]

Feb 13

by Karyn in Polls and Surveys, Research, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings 0 comments tags: Polls and Surveys, Research, Zentangles, Zoom Meetings

Zoom Session 46

Presentations – My Turn – Today was my turn to present my research paper. I saw this as a great opportunity to retest my hypothesis. I thought it would be interesting to make the presentation interactive and pose the same questions as were asked in my original Facebook Polls. All of the background to this can be found in my research paper. I was pleased that people decided to join in. Although there were not as many respondents as in my original paper, the results were broadly in line with the findings from my Facebook Polls. For example most people in my polls wanted to remain with their original choice of images and generally found the humanoid robotic art less disturbing than the AI labelled art. Ester was also presenting today. Ester was examining the work of Rob Pruitt and emotions in art. I found her presentation really interesting. Ester noted that my paper and her paper could be potentially linked. This is because examining the emotions found in AI art would be a great next step in her investigations of art and emotion. I’d love to do a joint paper with Ester on this, time permitting you never know? […]

Feb 07

by Karyn in Research, Research Paper, Research Paper Journey, Unit 3 Blogs 0 comments tags: Research, Research Paper, Research Paper Journey, Unit 3 Blogs

Research Paper Slides

A Break from Making – Today I had an enforced break from my mobile making. Next week it is my turn to present my research paper so I felt that I really should start to work on it. Unfortunately when I start something I always need to finish it. So, in the end I spent the whole of today planning it out and designing the slides. It’s nearly midnight now and I’ve just finished. I’ve had to stop looking at it as every time I do, I keep seeing little errors that really ‘bug’ me. However, here is my final draft (or at least for now). Research Presentation Slides Below are my research presentation slides – please use the text link to access the full presentation PDF. Here is the full research paper as a recap if anyone wants to see it. Karyn Easton – Research Paper Presentation

Hanging Around

Choosing a Suitable Stringing Method – Choosing suitable materials and a hanging method for my mobile has to be one of the most challenging aspects so far. I’m way beyond my comfort zone with this! Noah one of my fellow students shared a link by the creative force that once was, namely David Bowie. Im going to put what he said here so that when I struggle I’ve got a point of reference to start things moving again. Today, having produced enough mobile elements to explore hanging and stringing I started running into multiple problems. Some of these included: 1). What kind of stringing method would I like to use 2). How do I arrange the elements neatly enough so that the viewer understands them as binary. 3). What materials should I use to actually string and hang the mobile? 4). Will a smaller prototype actually translate into a much larger one? The problems above were to name only a few. I spent the evening trying to source suitable hanging materials. I managed to source a very good older pdf on the subject of mobile making which helped a lot! How to Make Mobiles How to […]

Nov 09

by Karyn in Research, Research Paper, Research Paper Journey, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: Research, Research Paper, Research Paper Journey, Unit 2 Blogs

Research Paper

Research Paper LO1 LO2 LO3 Research Paper – Please see below for the final research paper. Underneath this document are links to the whole research journey and research process undertaken in the compilation of this paper. Behind the Scenes Please see below a list of links to all of the resources and behind the scenes work and research that was carried out in the compilation of the research paper above. The links are in chronological order starting at the beginning of the journey with later posts towards the end. Research Paper Journey #1 – The start of the Research Paper journey with lots of free writing exercises to help craft an initial research question. Research Paper Journey #2 – Enlisting the help of ChatGPT3 to explore thoughts about ‘Information Overload’ and whether this might form an appropriate research question. Research Paper Journey #3 – A change of direction and a move from the topic of ‘Information Overload’ to thoughts about AI and AI art generation. Research Paper Journey #4 – Taking a look at various tips and techniques from our zoom meetings to help with […]

Research Paper Thoughts and Background

Research Paper 3 – Thoughts, Background and Final Version That’s it – no more! Yesterday and today became the ‘final straw’ with my research paper! Why? Because yesterday my ‘dying’ on its ‘last legs’ MacBook Pro decided that it was going to literally lose all of my research papers and drafts. I know it’s somewhat unbelievable but this actually happened! Months of hard work seemed to have disappeared in front of my eyes. The files were no longer there! I tried opening programs that I had used to construct the last version of my paper, but it was always the same message ‘File cannot be found’. I even convinced my self that there was some evil hacker trying to sabotage my work, that’s how upset I was. At one point I even thought I must be having a nightmare and that I would wake up soon. As I had been editing the document in Adobe’s PDF editing program I thought to myself, ‘Ha’ there will be a copy stored in Adobe’s creative cloud. So, feeling somewhat smug, I looked at my recent documents there, only to discover that on opening my research paper it gave an error message saying ‘bad […]

Sep 20

Deeper Meaning

How to Find Meaning? – Having recently finished 21 days of an augmented reality investigation followed by another 21 days of research paper investigation and compilation, I’m feeling somewhat down. I think that primarily it is due to my investigations into AI generated art. The further I dig into this, the more depressed I become. I’m sure this is just a transient phase. Why am I so sad? It’s because over the years I learnt so much about photography. I collected a wealth of knowledge on this subject especially because each year I tried to present my students with increasingly technically challenging workshops. I was proud that I was able to replicate pretty much any style of photography from slow shutter work to speed shooting, star trails to zoom burst, macro photography to physiograms. I felt I had reached the pinnacle when I managed to work out the technique that Michael Jackson (the photographer not the pop singer), uses to make his ethereal Luminograms. Even today colleagues are badgering me to give up that secret which I flatly refuse. It’s so beautifully simple yet complex at the same time and I nailed it! However, with the advent of AI art […]

Sep 14

by Karyn in Ai, Research, Research Paper Journey, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: ai, Research, Research Paper Journey, Unit 2 Blogs

Research Paper Journey #5

Robots Do Not Think? – After speaking with my supervisor Janet Waring Rago, I decided to contact the makers of Ameca (Engineered Arts), currently one of the world’s most advanced humanoid robots. I was hoping to gain some insight as to whether Ameca the robot could have an ‘opinion’ or at least produce some commentary on the work of another robot. I felt that this would be an interesting interaction to observe. It could possibly give some insight into whether or not preference featured in a robots repertoire. Unfortunately, from the outset I made the mistake of using the words ‘think’ and ‘thinking’. As a result although I did gain some interesting insights, plus a piece of primary research, the resulting silence from my contact at Engineered Arts made it clear – robots do not ‘think’. Sadly I already knew this, but I had not phrased or articulated my email particularly well. Below is the actual short email exchange with Engineered Arts. Email Exchange with Will Jackson – Engineered Arts Hi My name is Karyn Easton and I’m currently studying for an MA in Fine Art Digital at Central Saint Martins University. I need to produce a research […]

Sep 04

by Karyn in Abstract Art, Ai, Polls and Surveys, Research, Research Paper Journey, Unit 2 Blogs 0 comments tags: ai, Polls and Surveys, Research, Research Paper Journey, Unit 2 Blogs

Research Paper Proposal 2.0

Title: AI Art Reception: Investigating Initial Anonymity and Empathy as Strategies for Negative Bias Reduction Abstract The rapid ascent of AI-generated art raises critical questions for artists working in this medium, particularly regarding the pervasive negative bias it faces among viewers. In the first component of this two part paper, this study investigates the concept of “initial anonymity,” a novel approach wherein artworks are initially presented without disclosing creator details or backstories. Subsequently, the artist’s identity is revealed. This intriguing method challenges traditional perceptions of art by emphasising the pure aesthetic appeal of AI-generated creations. In the second component, this study delves into the compelling realm of empathy as a negative bias-mitigation tool for AI created art. Here, the power of a humanoid robot, equipped with a poignant narrative is harnessed to forge emotional connections between viewers and AI-created art. Inspiration is drawn from the remarkable impact of these narratives on social media engagement. Preliminary Appendix. This pilot study using social media yields promising results, suggesting that both initial anonymity and empathy both exhibit the potential to alleviate negative bias towards AI-generated art. While further rigorous investigation is warranted, these findings pave the way for a deeper understanding of […]