Fox Fridays: RunwayML

Machine learning workshop using RunwayML to generate procedural compositions based on participants personal datasets. Students will be introduced to the software, spend the first part of the workshop familiarizing themselves with the prefabricated models built into the software. The second part of the workshop will be dedicated to developing a personalized dataset of images or text. They will explore what a good dataset is, weighing quality vs. quantity, and establishing the rules for what their dataset should entail. The third part of the workshop will be dedicated to training a machine learning model based on their dataset.

Takeaways: At the conclusion students will have a personalized machine learning model which they can use to procedurally generate outputs.

Cross-disciplinary Connections: Machine Learning has potential in a whole range of disciplines for creating alternative, input-driven outputs. In addition to experiemental creative outputs, Runway also has a range of efficiency driven tools which help artists and designers speed up the process of editing images, texts, and videos.

Computers in the lab have Rhino and Adobe Illustrator for participants to use.

Instructor: Jonathan Hanahan is an artist, critical designer, and educator who loves the internet but is equally terrified by it.

He uses technology to critique technology. His speculative practice explores the physical, cultural, and social ramifications of digital experiences and the role technology plays in shaping our everyday realities. He makes Thick Interfaces. These are tools, devices, software, artifacts, websites, and videos that agitate the digital facade and reveal the complexity existing underneath the thin veneer of our devices.

Hanahan received his BARCH from Virginia Tech and his MFA from The Rhode Island School of Design. Hanahan is an Associate Professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis where he teaches interaction design and creative technologies. He is also the co-founder and faculty director of Fox Fridays, an interdisciplinary workshop series encouraging experimentation with tools, processes, and technology.