Image: Patterns in Practice Residency – Craig Scott. Image credit: Shamphat Photography

Funded by AHRC-UKRI, Patterns in Practice was a research project led by the University of Sheffield and the University of the West of England in partnership with Watershed. The project sought to enhance understanding of how human beliefs, values and emotions affect how we engage with data mining (the practice of analysing large databases in order to generate new information) and machine learning (computer systems that are able to learn and adapt without following explicit instructions, by using algorithms and statistical models to analyse and draw inferences from patterns in data).

This interdisciplinary research project explored the beliefs, values and emotions of practitioners across three case studies (the arts, cheminformatics and higher education). UWE Bristol were the Arts Case Study lead and Impact lead for Patterns in Practice, which included overseeing the qualitative research delivered by Postdoctoral Associate, Monika Fratczak and the Impact strand – a podcast and dialogue series – delivered by Research Associate, Sambourne Bush. The dialogue series also supported Tom Marshman facilitating Bristol Old Vic’s Adult Company to explore experimenting with AI to tell unheard and personal stories.

Composer, improvising guitarist and sound artist, Craig Scott took up the artist residency hosted by Watershed, which responded to key insights, creating their own inquiry. For his residency, Craig built an automated guitar through which he examined the evolving human relationship with technological appendages, its effect on personal and collective mental health, perception of reality and how we relate to our own bodies, tools and each other.