Workshop Title

Liberating Methods for Music Interaction

Choice of two workshops for different time zones.

Workshop 1

16:00-19:00  BST on 28 June (UTC+1)  -  Americas/Europe/Africa

With guest speakers Alan Blackwell and Filipe Calegario

Workshop 2

09:00-12:00 BST on 29 June (UTC+1)  -  Europe/Africa/New Zealand/Oceania/Asia

With guest speakers Sofian Audry, Filipe Calegario and Steve Benford

Description (up to 750 words)

Workshop attendees are encouraged to arrive with a particular research question they’d like to address, but for which they are not sure how to proceed methodologically. The aim is for attendees to be able to explore their research problem in a very open, fun, non-judgemental environment, and to take in perspectives from other attendees and the invited speakers, leaving the workshop with a wider perspective on what might be possible and useful to them. It is hoped that this will lead to cross-pollination between institutions and disciplines, which can sometimes focus on an unnecessarily narrow range of methods.

Researchers on interfaces for music are situated in a wide range of academic disciplines, including music, computer science, human computer interaction and psychology, and often work in relative isolation from other researchers with similar interests. Historically this has sometimes led to new (or even experienced) researchers perceiving themselves to be constrained to use only methodologies well-trodden within their host discipline, even when these may be ill-matched to the questions of real interest, leading to less interesting research questions being addressed.

This practical problem-solving workshop will look at how to find and adapt methodologies that fit whatever questions a researcher in music interaction actually wants to ask, and, importantly, how to justify such methodologies clearly to supervisors, students, examiners, funding bodies and referees who may be unfamiliar both with music and less well known approaches.

Following brief introductory presentations from the invited speakers, each attendee who wants to will present their issue to the group as a 3-5min lightning talk. The group will then be split into subgroups to explore methodological approaches to their specific problems, either choosing a single issue from the group to discuss, or rotating to consider each member’s issue in turn. Towards the end of the session, the subgroups will report back to the main group, for wider discussion and critique with the invited speakers. Finally, the invited speakers and workshop organisers will present reflections on the session.

This practical workshop is aimed at NIME researchers interested in thinking more widely about methods. NIME researchers have historically drawn on a very broad range of methods from diverse fields. This can make things difficult for PhD students and early career researchers attempting to orient themselves in the field, and to find relevant and rigorous methods of inquiry relevant to their research questions. There are also new challenges in devising appropriate methodologies for research perspectives beyond those of the global North.

The workshop will be facilitated by a group of experienced PhD supervisors, referees and successful bid writers in areas related to NIME, including representatives from a range of host disciplines including Music, HCI, Psychology, AI and Computer Science.

The invited speakers between them have a breadth of experience across NIME and beyond into the wider domains of HCI, or practice/artistic-based research, and interaction design

Short Description (up to 70 words)

Workshop attendees are encouraged to arrive with a research question where they are not sure how to proceed methodologically. Following brief presentations from invited speakers, attendees may present 3-5 min lightning talks. The workshop will then split into groups to explore issues and solutions, reporting back to the main group for discussion and reflection. The workshop will be facilitated by experienced PhD supervisors, referees and successful bid writers.

Organizers

Simon Holland, Music Computing Lab, The Open University.
[email protected]

Tom Mudd, Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh
[email protected]

Tom and Simon co-chaired the CHI 2016 Workshop on Music and HCI 2016, and co-edited New Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction (2019) from Springer. They are Co-Is of the CHIME EPSRC Network in Music and Human Computer Interaction. Simon is founder and Director of the Music Computing Lab at the Open University. He has been PI or Co-I on ten external research grants, totalling nearly £4.5 million, funded by the EU, AHRC, ESRC and Innovate UK. He has successfully supervised seventeen PhDs and externally examined twenty PhDs in the UK and overseas, mostly in Music and HCI, covering a wide variety of methodologies. Tom is Lecturer in Music at the University of Edinburgh. He has published research on Music and HCI in the International Journal of Human-Computer studies, Computer Music Journal, and the Journal of Music Technology and Education.

Additional Speakers (optional)

Sofian Audry - Université du Québec à Montréal

Steve Benford - Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham

Alan Blackwell - University of Cambridge Global Challenges Initiative

Filipe C. A, Calegario - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

With support from members of CHIME (EPSRC Network in Music and Human Computer Interaction: https://chime.pubpub.org/people)

Length of Workshop

Choice of two 3 hour workshops for different time zones:

Workshop 1 - 16:00-19:00  BST on 28 June (UTC+1)

Workshop 2 - 09:00-12:00 BST on 29 June (UTC+1) 

Technical and Space Requirements

The workshop will be virtual and take place on Zoom

Links to Supporting Media (optional)

https://chime.pubpub.org/chime-nime-22