About this event
Hosted by Dr. Nick Kelly, QUT Design Lab is proud to present guest lectures by Prof. John Gero (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA) and Prof. Mary Lou Maher (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA), in collaboration with the Digital Learning for Change Research Group.
This will be an exciting afternoon of discussion about the cutting edge of international design research, and we are lucky to have two research professors visiting us in-person all the way from the USA, both of whom are highly engaging speakers. The schedule for the afternoon will be:
1.00-2.00pm: John Gero presenting “What we can Learn by Studying Designers’ Brains”
2.00-2:30pm: A break for discussion
2:30-3:30pm: Mary Lou Maher presenting “Impact of the Design of Human-AI Co-creative Systems on the Human Designer”
Prof. John Gero: What we can Learn by Studying Designers’ Brains
John Gero is a Research Professor in Computer Science and Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is formerly a Research Professor at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University and former Co-Director of the Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, University of Sydney
Designing is studied as a cognitive activity, ie, an activity that occurs in the mind. Design cognition research has made the mind accessible and has laid the foundation for understanding designing and for the development of design tools. New, non-invasive tools are now available to measure activity in the brain. This talk presents results of studying the brains of designers.
- Designing for different design tasks shows differences in brain activations, measured using EEG.
- The gender of the designer results in differences in brain behavior for the same design tasks, measured using EEG.
- Using different concept generation techniques produces different brain behaviors, measured using fNIRS.
- The concept of neurocogntive feedback is introduced and results show that it improves the ability of designers to produce more ideas while designing.
More information regarding Prof. John Gero here
Prof Mary Lou Maher: Impact of the Design of Human-AI Co-creative Systems on the Human Designer
Mary Lou Maher is Director of the Center for Education Innovation and Chair of the Department of Software and Information Systems at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is formerly a Program Director at NSF in the Human Centered Design Program and former Co-Director of the Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, University of Sydney.
Computational co-creative systems are a growing research area in computational creativity. Research on computational creativity has a focus on generative creativity, while co-creative systems focus on computer programs collaborating with humans on a creative task. Understanding the effect of AI-based co-creative systems in the ideation process can aid in their design and evaluation. However, most research on co-creative systems has a focus on evaluating the usability and the interactive experience rather than how the co-creative systems influence human creativity. The focus of this presentation is on the design of AI-based co-creative systems and their impact on human cognition through the measurement of ideation.
More information regarding Prof. Mary Lou Maher here