Wednesday, 12 November 2025
2:30 — 3:30 pm
BR-151
Director of Digital × Data Research Centre
Co-Director of Centre for the Study of the Networked Image (CSNI)
Geoff Cox presents Ways of [Machine] Seeing (WoMS), a research project developed with secondary school art & design teachers to examine how AI “sees” the world, and how we can learn to critically see AI in return. Building on John Berger’s provocation that what we see is never neutral, the project offers creative classroom activities that surface the assumptions, biases, and datasets behind generative tools.
“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.” ― John Berger. WoMS invites students and teachers to keep that relation open by making, questioning, and re-seeing with (and through) machines.
Rather than treating AI as a purely technical topic, WoMS positions it inside the creative curriculum: not to teach coding, but to cultivate critical and invisual literacy – questioning what’s invisible in training data and model outputs. The emphasis is on reflective making, visual analysis, and discussion, helping students consider not just what they make with AI, but how AI shapes what they imagine is possible.
Across practical, often “unplugged” workshops, students explore machine vision and representation. In ‘Make Like a Machine’, they sculpt from text prompts to understand how language and bias influence outputs. ‘Unmasking Facial Recognition’ and ‘(Mis-)Representing Place’ examine dataset limitations and exclusion. ‘One & (More Than) Three Chairs’ – referencing Joseph Kosuth – connects object, image, and description to reveal how models translate between forms.
WoMS frames AI as a collaborator rather than a shortcut. Activities support iterative making, material exploration, and contextual analysis, while opening space for ethical questions: who designs AI systems, whose perspectives are included or omitted, and what environmental costs sit behind “clean” technologies?
The project outcome and website feature teacher-ready materials such as lesson plans, a glossary, FAQs, and safeguarding guidance, which are adaptable across key stages and suitable for cross-curricular links with art, media, computing, and citizenship. Many activities do not require devices, ensuring accessibility regardless of equipment. Explore resources and the full activity guide at waysof.net/machine-seeing
Credits & Partners
Developed by Geoff Cox, Tanya Boyarkina, and Tim Fransen from LSBU, with partners from UCL Institute of Education, The Photographers’ Gallery, Justice Matrix, Ricebox Studio, and teachers from partner schools and PGCE cohorts.
Acknowledgements
Supported by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/Y009800/1] through funding from Responsible Ai UK [RAI-SK-BID-00071], with additional support from the LSBU Digital × Data Research Centre.
Professor Geoff Cox — Inaugural Lecture:What does software know?
John Berger — Ways of Seeing (1972) (Episodes 1–4)