by Simon Edl -

Impulse 6 – Ghost in the Shell (1995)

I finally got around to watching it, after having it be the number one movie I wanted to watch not only for the design & research impulses but also purely out of personal interest. Considering I have a soft spot for anime movies from that time and loved Akira so much that I more or less based my AI generated movie on its aesthetics and setting, it’s strange that it took me so long, especially considering the thematic relevance for my master’s thesis, not only from a production standpoint, but also because of its themes of a future where cybernetic augmentations and AI are commonplace.

The story

Honestly, I’m a little disappointed. While the themes and concepts were engaging and interesting, I felt like the pacing of the story was a bit strange, but I suspect it has something to do with the movie’s short length of only 82 minutes, 4 of which are end credits and 4 more being reserved for a lengthy title sequence, not to mention the frequent use of long sequential establishing shots that serve to set the mood of the setting.

Some aspects were left unexplained and some political conflicts were only briefly mentioned, but played an important role in the end, which made me feel like i never completely understood the motivations of the parties involved.

The ending, which felt like it happened too early, left me wanting for more, which I guess can be considered a good thing, I definitely want to follow this experience up with the movie’s sequel: ‘Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence’ (2004), though apparently that movie covers a different arc of the original anime. I’ll just have to see for myself.

Production

Because this is not supposed to be a movie review, I want to talk a bit about the production of the film. Aesthetically it was absolutely gorgeous, its carefully selected color palettes were beautiful, the design of the city, its buildings, objects, vehicles and weapons were tasteful and in general the movie was not as hyperfuturistic as I expected, which helped me relate to its world a little better.

The animation over all was great and made use of some 3D animation, but usually in a stylistic way, as navigational systems or computer generated graphics the characters interacted with, so it always felt grounded in the world. Establishing shots and backgrounds were much in line with what I was able to recreate using Midjourney, so that was further good news. The film was also absolutely drowned in glow and glare effects, often washing out the frame quite heavily, though carefully respecting the color palettes. I want to define color palettes of my own for the project and, depending on what direction I want to go in, am considering referencing both Ghost in the Shell (1995) as well as Akira (1988).

Apart from the complex action heavy sequences that I will try to avoid for my project since I assume that AI is not far enough to pull off an actual choreographed performance, I noticed that there were many times where the characters were not animated a lot at all. Specifically sequences that feature heavy dialogue were often a single frame of a character with their mount moving, something very obvious if you think about it, but for some reason it took this movie for me to really notice it.

This honestly fills me with quite a bit of hope, because dialogue where the viewer can directly and closely see the subject is very jarring to look at in photorealistic and even 3D stylised AI movie attempts. Maybe I can emphasise the storytelling and dialogues of the individual characters more in my project, since those are really easy to do from a technical standpoint. However, this also means that I would absolutely not get away with AI generated voices, because of the heavy emphasis on the voice actors’ performance. Maybe a music video is again the best way to go, provided it allows for storytelling via subtitles where the characters’ facial expressions are more important. Then again, that could be hard to pull off technically.

All in all there’s a lot I keep learning from watching these beautiful movies, and a lot to consider when it comes to recreating similar styles using AI, but overall I think the project could turn out very nicely. I’m looking forward to the animation tests in the future.

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell#Animated_films

by nagyija.bogas -

Impulse #8

Dynamic Women Podcast

For my last impulse blog post, I decided to listen to two episodes of a “Dynamic Women” podcast. It is an Award-Winning action-focused lifestyle and leadership podcast full of stories and strategies to help women design their success.

In the first episode, which was about strategic planning for success, they talked about how it is important to not blindly follow trends, emphasizing that what’s popular might not necessarily align with a personalized, effective strategy for an individual. Additionally, listeners of a podcast get an insight into Diane’s (Professional Certified Coach) personal experiences with strategic planning.

Another episode was about gender equity in the career fields, which had a podcast quest Sophie Warwick, Co-Founder of the Thoughtful Co. She revealed the story of how her passion turned into business and how she employs data analysis to develop in-house gender equity policies and drives the mission of building gender-inclusive workplaces. Sophie also raised an important topic of how women usually hesitate to negotiate for better compensation and promotions. The conversation from there goes to strategies for moving women into senior positions.

The topics discussed in this podcast are important and offer valuable insights for my research topic. By analyzing the gender pay gap, and negotiation challenges, and proposing actionable strategies, Sophie’s and Diane’s expertise aligns seamlessly with the core focus of my investigation.

Podcast Links:

by daniil.ivanov -

Ontology and Epistemology

Ontology

At the beginning of my research, I can make a few assumptions at once about the potential attitude of most of intuitive users towards the use of interfaces with AI. Of course, these assumptions are based primarily on my own background, my experience and my own perceptions of AI.

In my opinion, a typical middle-station user is more likely to not trust AI in interfaces. So far, this direction is too new for the majority of users to get used to it.

Epistemology

If we talk about accurate measurements of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with AI user interfaces, here a large number of different UX methods can come to the rescue. However, I am sure that in fact measuring emotional state is far from easy. At this stage it is important to understand exactly what the user is satisfied or dissatisfied with and strictly share his emotions regarding the interface as a whole or specifically AI.

by daniil.ivanov -

“What is this?” Task

What is this?

  • Drinking fountain
  • Technological device
  • Accessible water for a cat

How did it get here?

  • I ordered it online
  • It hit the store’s warehouses
  • The device was assembled at the factory
  • Components were delivered to the factory

Who uses it?

  • People who want the cat to drink more water
  • Actually, cats

What does it do?

  • Provides clean circulating water
  • Encourages the cat to drink more as these animals prefer running water
  • Make the cat healthier
  • Prolongs pet’s life as a result

When is it used?

  • Daily

What is it made of?

  • Plastic, rubber, technical filling, pump, filter

Who made it?

  • Me, when I change the filters and pour new water
  • Manufacturers
  • People who developed the technology

Why does it exist?

  • This makes it easier to care for pets.
by valerie.feichtmair -

Impulse 8: Dark Patterns: Manipulative UX Design and the Role of Regulation webinar

Guest speaker Dr. Jen King, a Privacy and Data Policy Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, provided a comprehensive overview of the Dark Pattern phenomenon in a recent webinar.

The webinar began by defining what constitutes a Dark Pattern and identifying common areas of occurrence, such as ecommerce, online shopping, privacy disclosures, and attention manipulation in gaming. Dr. King highlighted that Dark Patterns often emerge at decision points, where individuals must make choices. Notably, these manipulative techniques extend beyond the digital realm and manifest in the physical world, such as deceptive discount labels in supermarkets.

The evolution of Dark Patterns was discussed, citing A/B Testing as a key factor in their development. Through experiments designed to encourage increased purchasing behavior, companies refine the implementation of Dark Patterns. Dr. King also categorized different types of Dark Patterns, including asymmetric, conversion-focused, restrictive, and information-hiding patterns.

Practical examples were presented during the webinar, such as the automatic acceptance of privacy terms on platforms like Facebook when users click the “Create Account” button, illustrating the real-world implications of Dark Patterns.

Personally, the webinar proved to be immensely helpful, complementing my prior research on the topic. While I was already familiar with some aspects, the session introduced new insights, particularly in recognizing Dark Patterns in the physical world. The realization that even discounted prices can fall under the umbrella of Dark Patterns was a valuable takeaway. I am confident that the knowledge gained from the webinar will significantly contribute to the theoretical portion of my master’s thesis.

by valerie.feichtmair -

Impulse 7: UXPodcast (Episode 316)

In this podcast episode is a guest speaker – Kim Goodwin, who is a renowned design leadership expert and reflects on her career in healthcare design.

The conversation is about the importance of accountability in healthcare design, touching on issues of integrations, configurations, and the need for traceability. Kim discusses the challenges of creating a more professional design industry and draws parallels with professions like medicine and hairdressing that require licensing. The hosts and Kim also address the lack of a formal certification process in design and the potential benefits of establishing one.

From a master’s thesis perspective on “dark patterns,” the podcast provides insights into the ethical considerations and accountability in design. Kim’s opinion on traceability, accountability, and the need for a more mature product development process aligns with the exploration of bad user interfaces in the context of dark patterns.

In conclusion, the podcast encourages designers to focus on enhancing user well-being, reflecting on their design decisions, and advocating for professional standards in the industry. This insight is valuable for my master’s thesis, especially in understanding the ethical dimensions of design.

by valerie.feichtmair -

Impulse 6: UXPodcast (Episode 319)

The podcast episode discussed two articles: “Don’t get stuck in discovery with insights no one asked for” by Martin Sandström and “UX strategy – What is it?” by Eddie Rich.

In the first article, Martin Sandström discussed the balance between research and action. He pointed out how designers often find themselves stuck in extensive research phases, causing delays in problem-solving. Martin talked about the importance of effective communication and prioritizing solutions to the problems presented by stakeholders.

The second article by Eddie Rich was about proposing a shift in terminology – from “UX strategy” to “experience strategy.” Eddie argued that the term “UX” can be misunderstood, especially by executives, and that reframing it could facilitate better communication.

The hosts of the podcast discussed the challenges associated with terminology in the field of UX. They highlighted the need for designers to adapt to the context of their organizations, listen actively, and build trusting relationships for successful collaboration.

For me, the key takeaway lies in the importance of effective communication and understanding the unique context of each organization. As I am going to create prototypes for my master’s thesis on app design, these insights might be helpful. Improving terminology and focusing on the customer experience will enhance my ability to communicate. In conclusion, the podcast offered practical insights that align with the real-world challenges faced by designers.

by Simon Edl -

Blog Post 6 – Brain Dump 2

After the semester had settled down and the exhibition was more or less successfully dismantled, I was treated to three one-on-one talks about what will happen after the FH – my portfolio, future career, life decisions, what I want to achieve in life and so on. But before I can get to all that, I will have to tackle my Master’s Thesis.

Both the talk with Roman Pürcher and Ursula Lagger were about exactly that, albeit with slightly different focuses. As the title suggests, this blog post attempts to freeze my current headspace in time, because I feel like I got a lot of really useful input during the two sessions and I want to write down what is going through my head right now while it’s still fresh.

Roman’s talk

I talked to Roman about more general approaches to the thesis, when I would want to do what, how to go forward with the Design & Research blog posts and impulses and so on. But we also talked specifically about the practical and theoretical parts of the thesis, only briefly discussing the latter, to be discussed with Ursula Lagger the following day.

The practical part

We talked about some technical approaches and I took some notes on those, but most notably for me was the hypothesis of what could happen if my practical part doesn’t work out like I keep assuming; If anime style animation using AI simply is not possible at a level of quality I deem ‘good enough’ with the current tools, then what happens?

We came to the conclusion that that would be fine, too. In the unlikely event that the animation looks so bad and is so unusable that I could not use it, the worst case scenario would be that my anime video looks like the trailer I already made for StoryVis – featuring essentially no animation, yet brilliant backgrounds, amazing colors and a carefully art-directed aesthetic. That doesn’t sound too bad I think and I could still animate some things manually. This does mean, however, that my conclusion would have to be brutally honest: ‘AI Anime doesn’t work (yet)’. While disappointing, this doesn’t make the conclusion any less valid.

Going forward & next steps

Blog posts and impulses.

Just kidding – while the deadline of 22.FEB.24 approaches slowly but steadily, not to mention my holiday from the 8th til the 15th, I’m also thinking about the time after Design & Research. The next practical task I will need to tackle is of course the actual animation of my characters, since I think I don’t need to spend much more time on the backgrounds because Midjourney is already capable at producing essentially perfect backgrounds.

I want to use Pika to try and animate my already existing AI movie for StoryVis. This would allow me to use a story, art style, world and characters I already established and really like and therefore saves me a lot of time, serving as an experimental playground to test out the AI. Having said that, I really have no experience with animation AI and I don’t even know if you can give the AI images or if it can only do prompt-based generation of if Pika is even the tool to go with. I definitely want to talk to Kris van Hout about her amazing AI movie which featured a lot of very convincing AI generated motion that was generated on top of the generated images from Midjourney.

Ursula Lagger’s talk

Talking with Roman, we came up with a list of questions for Ursula Lagger, mainly concerned with the theoretical and scientific part of the thesis. Upon mentioning the questions about expert interviews and how to write research blog posts as quickly as possible before I go on holiday, it quickly became apparent that the core concept and structure of my theoretical part still needed a lot more work.

The theoretical part: structure

My overall idea of writing a cultural / historic section about past paradigm shifts and how they affected work culture is a great approach, but is a slippery slope that could cost me a lot of time. In order to make the section relevant, I would need to find out which example of innovative technologies in the past bears the most resemblance with the current developments of AI and then compare the two and speculate on the future of AI using my findings. These steps each require immense amounts of actual scientific and literary research. Just filtering out what I won’t write about because it’s not relevant enough will require so much work that it honestly might not be worth it, which is why I will need to drastically reduce my aspirations about the cultural and historical part of the paper, as not to get lost in the sauce.

However short this section is going to be, it necessitates a chapter in which I theorise about the future of AI and how it correlates to a past paradigm shift. For this, I will need to look into future studies, maybe conduct interviews with ‘Zukunftsforschenden’ (I really don’t know how to translate that accurately), and finally, give a prognosis or at least a personal opinion on the topic.

Something else I hadn’t considered up until my talk with Ursula Lagger was the inclusion of examples from works of other creatives and artists using AI technologies. According to Ursula Lagger, this is an absolutely essential part and cannot be left out of the thesis. A no-brainer, really, that contextualises my own findings and work in the current landscape of AI tools and possibilities. There are so many approaches and use-cases out there, out of which I have chosen a very niche combination: the creation of an anime.

  • How have other people tackled this?
  • Why am I not doing it the same way?
  • What AM I doing the same way?
  • What about ethical concerns of certain use cases?
  • What do I think of potentially dangerous use cases?
  • How are people using AI in the best and worst ways?
  • How can I compare this to new technologies in the past?

New technologies usually scare people and can cause shifts not only in the work culture but also in the art form itself. Another obvious observation if you think about it. Maybe I can write about early awful Photoshop creations of people overusing the layer styles resulting in terrible artworks, or how early photography was used completely differently from today? I could compare that to early AI creations, how we can usually tell when something is generated by an AI, how anatomy is weird, how text doesn’t work properly or how scripts and company or movie names generated by ChatGPT usually sound very cheesy and almost have a style on their own.

It’s only a matter of time when young artists figure out how to make something genuinely new with these new tools, genuinely good works of art that are not at all hindered by AI, but made possible because of it. Ultimately, that’s what I want to achieve with my practical part too – a genuinely good work of art that doesn’t scream ‘I WAS MADE WITH AI’.

Going forward & next steps

In any case, it seems like my practical part still requires a lot of thought and work to figure out how to weigh each of its parts, which at the moment seem to be:

  • Documentation of my practical work
  • Comparison to other approaches
  • Similarities to paradigm shifts in the past
  • Conclusions and Speculations

This list is what the theoretical chapters could look like judging from my current state of mind. I want to use the time until the 22nd of February to figure things out even further, continuing to write blog posts about my findings. I feel like Ursula Lagger’s inputs were as useful as they were abundant – so I need time to let all of it sit and see what I truly want to write about in the theoretical section of my thesis.

by edwin.lang -

Blog Post – Tangible STEM-Education

In this blogpost I want to give insights in the second of my two topics I researched during this semester. A concept for a hands-on exhibit in the context of science education.

Concept

Using the microscope as a reference for centuries of research, visitors will explore hidden information of objects by placing them under a modified microscope and looking through it.

The microscope as an invention to enlarge and discover details normally not seen by the human eye, gets therefore transformed into a hidden screen, displaying animations layered on top of the object in real time.

Explore

Visitors experience the research process in a playful way and explore hidden information about selected objects.

Physical Material

The Objects will have a reference to STEM-Education and be selected to fit different educational levels. They will be designed as slides normally put under microscopes. Depending on the size, objects will be cut in slices and protected by epoxy resin.

Participation

As only one person can look into the microscope, I also thought about alternative methods for displaying content. While still using the microscope as the primary display, one possibility would be to also project the content to a second display, visible to visitors walking by. However, by doing so technology gets visible what I try to avoid.