How Design Tools Codify Norms for Visual Artists

Computation is both a tool and medium for art and design. However, despite their rich features, software tools may also restrict professional artists when these features do not align with their unique goals and workflows. This talk will explore how norms, power, and misuse influence how artists perceive and use their digital tools. We’ll start with a definition of 'AI' and its impact on professional artists before diving into three human-computer interaction qualitative research projects. (I am very anti-generative AI.)

Bio:

Dr. Jingyi Li (https://jingyi.me/) is an assistant professor of computer science at Pomona College. Previously, they received a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and a BS in EECS from UC Berkeley. Jingyi's research in human-computer interaction seeks to understand, build, and critique computational tools for making art (our field's jargon for this is 'creativity support tools'). Increasingly, they are more interested in doing humanities-based technical work motivated by STS theory.