purpleSTARS: A creative intervention into AI's Algorithms through co-production of a live ‘AI, sense of self’ portrait

We propose an exploration into the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), sensory art, and portraiture, with a focus on inclusive research and sensory art co-production. AI algorithms often lack the nuanced understanding of diverse human experiences, particularly those of marginalised communities. We aim to challenge and reshape these algorithms to be more inclusive by engaging with them, so AI becomes more reflective of diversity, and becomes less biased. We plan to co-create a series of experimental AI generated portraits that reflect on our sensory Sense of Self, highlighting our sense of touch, smell, taste which AI cannot (yet) reproduce as well as our senses of sound and sight. Objectives: 1. Empowerment Through Artistic Expression: Provide individuals with learning disabilities and differences with a platform for creative expression and agency through inclusive research and co-production. 2. Critique and Intervention: Encourage critical reflection on the biases and limitations of AI algorithms and explore how sensory art can intervene to address these issues. 3. Co-Production and Collaboration: Facilitate collaborative processes between individuals with lived experience of learning disabilities, and conference participants to feed AI algorithms with diverse, sensory experiences and personal narratives. 4. Knowledge Sharing and Community Building: Foster an inclusive dialogue among diverse people to share insights and best practices for inclusive AI design. The session: Conference participants will be invited to co-create ‘AI, sense of self’ portraits in groups with purpleSTARS. The space will be set up similar to a traditional life drawing room but with a 360 camera at the centre instead of a life model. Easels/stands will face into the camera with screens to display AI generated imagery. Traditional art and sensory materials, highlighting touch, smell and taste will also be available circling the camera. The portraits will be captured by the 360 camera where everyone and everything is included. We hope the session will foster collaborations for future inclusive research in AI design, with a focus on centring the voices and experiences of people with learning disabilities and differences, fostering more ethical, inclusive, and human-centred AI systems

Cursor relocation techniques to help older adults find 'lost' cursors

Older adult computer users often lose track of the mouse cursor and so resort to methods such as mouse shaking or searching the screen to find the cursor again. Hence, this paper describes how a standard optical mouse was modified to include a touch sensor, activated by releasing and touching the mouse, which automatically centers the mouse cursor to the screen, potentially making it easier to find a 'lost' cursor. Six older adult computer users and six younger computer users were asked to compare the touch sensitive mouse with cursor centering with two alternative techniques for locating the mouse cursor: manually shaking the mouse and using the Windows sonar facility. The time taken to click on a target following a distractor task was recorded, and results show that centering the mouse was the fastest to use, with a 35% improvement over shaking the mouse. Five out of six older participants ranked the touch sensitive mouse with cursor centering as the easiest to use

Learning how older adults undertake computer tasks [poster]

This paper describes a study that was conducted to learn more about how older adults use the tools in a GUI to undertake tasks in Windows applications. The objective was to gain insight into what people did and what they found most difficult. File and folder manipulation, and some aspects of formatting presented difficulties, and these were thought to be related to a lack of understanding of the task model, the correct interpretation of the visual cues presented by the interface, and the recall and translation of the task model into a suitable sequence of actions

Interactive Sensory Objects for and by People with Learning Disabilities

This project engages people with learning disabilities to participate as co-researchers and explore museum interpretation through multisensory workshops using microcontrollers and sensors to enable alternative interactive visitor experiences in museums and heritage sites. This article describes how the project brings together artists, engineers, and experts in multimedia advocacy, as well as people with learning disabilities in the co-design of interactive multisensory objects that replicate or respond to objects of cultural significance in our national collections. Through a series of staged multi-sensory art and electronics workshops, people with learning disabilities explore how the different senses could be utilised to augment existing artefacts or create entirely new ones. The co-researchers employ multimedia advocacy tools to reflect on and to communicate their experiences and findings

Painful leg ulceration: a prospective, longitudinal cohort study

Objective To explore the relationship between pain mechanism, pain intensity and leg ulcer characteristics. Design A six month longitudinal cohort study in a community setting in the north of England. Participants 95 patients with leg ulceration referred consecutively to district nurses. Main outcome measures Pain intensity using daily visual analogue scores, leg ulcer characteristics (aetiology, size, location, duration) and LANSS (Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs). Results Type, duration, position and size of the leg ulcer had no effect on average daily pain scores. Using the LANSS questionnaire, 43.5% of respondents reported symptoms suggestive of a neuropathic mechanism to their pain. Patients with neuropathic symptoms had higher average daily pain scores (p<0.001). Fewer people healed with neuropathic symptoms compared to those with no neuropathic symptoms (30.8% versus 52.1%). Conclusion Severity of pain can not be predicted by the type, size, position or duration of ulceration. Patients who scored positively for neuropathic symptoms had higher average daily pain scores and fewer had healed leg ulcers at 6 months compared to those who did not experience neuropathic sign and symptoms. This is an interesting future avenue for research