Corey Ford

Human-Computer Interaction researcher who specialises in exploring creative technologies (such as generative AI) for creative uses (such as music composition). My background is in the area of music technology. My current research focus is on approaches for exploring the plurality of ways in which people reflect when being creative. This includes exploring both quantitative approaches such as the RiCE questionnaire (see paper) and qualitative approaches such as prompting reflection with screenshots of people’s making (see paper).

Areas: Creativity Support Tools, Reflection, Human-Computer Interaction, User Experience Design, Interaction Design, Computer-Supported Education, Music Composition, Generative Music, Explainable AI, Machine Learning, NIME, P5js & Processing, C++

selected publications

C&C

Reflection Across AI-based Music Composition

Ford, Corey, Noel-Hirst, Ashley, Cardinale, Sara, Loth, Jackson, Sarmento, Pedro, Wilson, Elizabeth, Wolstanholme, Lewis, Worrall, Kyle, and Bryan-Kinns, Nick

In Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Creativity & Cognition 2024

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Reflection is fundamental to creative practice. However, the plurality of ways in which people reflect when using AI Generated Content (AIGC) is underexplored. This paper takes AI-based music composition as a case study to explore how artist-researcher composers reflected when integrating AIGC into their music composition process. The AI tools explored range from Markov Chains for music generation to Variational Auto-Encoders for modifying timbre. We used a novel method where our composers would pause and reflect back on screenshots of their composing after every hour, using this documentation to write first-person accounts showcasing their subjective viewpoints on their experience. We triangulate the first-person accounts with interviews and questionnaire measures to contribute descriptions on how the composers reflected. For example, we found that many composers reflect on future directions in which to take their music whilst curating AIGC. Our findings contribute to supporting future explorations on reflection in creative HCI contexts.
C&C

Using Incongruous Genres to Explore Music Making with AI Generated Content

Bryan-Kinns, Nick, Noel-Hirst, Ashley, and Ford, Corey

In Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Creativity & Cognition 2024

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Deep learning generative AI models trained on huge datasets are capable of producing complex and high quality music. However, there are few studies of how AI Generated Content (AIGC) is actually used or appropriated in creative practice. We present two first-person accounts by musician-researchers of explorations of an interactive generative AI system trained on Irish Folk music. The AI is intentionally used by musicians from incongruous genres of Punk and Glitch to explore questions of how the model is appropriated into creative practice and how it changes creative practice when used outside of its intended genre. Reflections on the first-person accounts highlight issues of control, ambiguity, trust, and filtering AIGC. The accounts also highlight the role of AI as an audience and critic and how the musicians’ practice changed in response to the AIGC. We suggest that our incongruous approach may help to foreground the creative work and frictions in human-AI creative practice.
CHI

Towards a Reflection in Creative Experience Questionnaire

Ford, Corey, and Bryan-Kinns, Nick

In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Apr 2023

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Reflection is underexplored in Creativity Support Tool (CST) research, partly due to its ambiguous nature. We suggest that researchers could benefit from a measure of a CST’s capacity to support reflection. To this end, we detail the first stages of development of the Reflection in Creative Experience Questionnaire (RiCE) – a lightweight questionnaire for differentiating between creative user experiences which exhibit more or less moments of reflection. We develop RiCE through i) an expert review of questionnaire items (n=10) and ii) an exploratory factor analysis (n=300) of the reviewed items. We also present a user study testing RiCE (n=58) across two time points (one week apart) with novel interfaces designed for creative writing and music making. Although we do not confirm validity, we identify four factors for RiCE which we suggest are interpretable in a conceptually meaningful way. Our formative studies contribute towards supporting future explorations on reflection with CSTs.