AI-ALOE Webinar with Duri Long from Northwestern University
Designing an Ecosystem of Resources to Foster AI Literacy
Increasingly, members of the public are having to make important decisions about how AI should be used in both their personal lives and society more broadly. Long will discuss her research investigating how to foster public agency and critical decision-making surrounding AI. In this talk, she will present an ecosystem of learning experiences to broaden public AI literacy for groups ranging from middle school students to journalists. Using a design research approach, Long is iteratively investigating how creativity, embodied interaction, and constructionist learning experiences support understanding of key AI concepts. She will present ongoing research on designing museum exhibits, unplugged activities, and novel interfaces to foster middle schoolers’ AI literacy; a set of web-based tools that engage adult learners in learning-through-interaction about AI, and an investigation into how to provide resources to aid journalists in writing about AI in a way that supports public AI literacy. Collectively, this developing ecosystem of resources aim to foster a more informed public that can engage in critical decision-making surrounding AI usage in both private and public life.
Dr. Duri Long is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, with a courtesy appointment in Computer Science, where she leads the Creative Interfaces Research + Design Studio. She is a human-centered AI researcher interested in issues surrounding AI literacy and human-AI interaction. Long’s research looks at how humans interact and learn as a way of informing the design of public AI literacy interventions as well as the development of AI that can interact naturally and improvise creatively with people in complex social environments. She employs a variety of methodologies and theoretical frameworks in her research, drawing on the learning sciences, design research, and cognitive science. Long has experience working with artists and museums around the country to develop co-creative, embodied exhibits and art installations involving AI and technology. She holds a PhD in Human Centered Computing from Georgia Tech and degrees in Computer Science and Dramatic Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.