Presentation by SETU lecturers Zeta Dooly, Lisa Moran, PJ Wall for the Recreating the World: Critique, Control and Crisis in New Social Realities Conference 24th March 2023 Title: POTENTIAL OF BIOGRAPHIC, NARRATIVE RESEARCH TO UNDERSTANDING NEW FUTURES Zeta Dooly, South East Technological University, Ireland Lisa Moran, South East Technological University, Ireland PJ Wall, South East Technological University, Ireland Abstract The emergence of new education policies based on data, learning analytics, tertiary market demand and access is not easily understood in our communities, even though many citizen consultation processes are administered online. Much research captures tensions in global societal discourses about AI with particular reference to Ireland. Hitherto, there is scant social scientific research on societal attitudes towards AI; its value and limitations in education, citizen fears and emotions about AI technology which requires redress. Furthermore, there are even fewer studies that actively leverage knowledge from different professional groups (scientists, artists, educationalists, AI experts, sociologists, teachers) and citizens (e.g. older people, families who are members of ‘hard to reach’ groups and AI leaders) to understand individual and collective understandings of AI in education at primary, secondary, third and fourth level. This paper highlights the challenges on understanding the socio-cultural legitimacy of AI in Irish society yielding data that is highly relevant for government with regards to the structure of targeted information campaigns, communication with/to different citizen groups and usage of social media platforms and other media to enhance citizen attitudes towards AI. These challenges can be overcome using an innovative methodological approach to link the needs of communities, governments and citizens which are multi-faceted and difficult to untangle with the speed that AI technology is developing and delivering educational solutions globally and nationally. There is a lack of societal awareness and understanding in relation to the potential benefits and limitations of AI, which can lead to misperceptions, heightened sense of risk, inertia and resistance to its adoption. Governments and organizations can work together to raise awareness about AI through education and outreach initiatives aimed at different communities (e.g. older people, children) but this necessitates greater knowledge about citizen perceptions of AI, information campaigns targeted at improved accessibility, usability and societal ‘buy in’ to AI and exposure to AI technologies that combine scientific expertise with artistic expression and skills. This research promotes a collaborative approach, non-confrontational approach that invokes open dialogue, transparency, citizen participation, and the sharing of resources and knowledge through the use of biographic narrative methodology.

1. Decolonising Knowledge?
Exploring the Potential of
Biographic Research to
Unlocking New Futures
Zeta Dooly
Lisa Moran
PJ Wall
Zeta.Dooly@setu.ie

2. Overview
Collaboration on AI, ethics and socio-
technical futures in Higher Education
(TRAIEd)
Trans-disciplinarity
Intricate questions about knowledge and
co-creation
Knowledge Legitimation
Narratives of AI and Reimagined Futures

3. "Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no
longer a staple of science fiction and
is now actively influencing many
aspects of our lives. From what we
watch on streaming services to whom
we interact on social media, and from
what interest rates we are offered by
credit card companies to the
shortlisting for jobs, AIs impact us at
many social and professional levels"
(Wall, 2022, p. 1)

4. Our
Collaboration

5. SFI National Challenge Fund - 'Entanglements of
pedagogy' (Fawns, 2022), AI and societal impact
Zeta – Digital education, KM expert,
cybersecurity, SEERLab education experimentation
PJ – Technology for sustainability; SFI EPE Champion,
2021 and 2022; INTEGRITY project
Lisa – biographic, narrative researcher, policy
analysis, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and
Citizen Science

6. Citizen Knowledge
and AI

7. Citizen Discourses
of AI

8. "Technology is advancing at a fast pace and
whilst citizens are cognisant that AI holds the key
for enhanced accessibility to education and
transformative learning, improving the prospects
for education, employment and quality of life for
all citizens including frequently ‘hard to reach’ or
so-called ‘vulnerable’ groups. However, it is not
sufficiently transparent and accessible for
citizens to understand what this means for
them...."

9. Multi-strand
approach
Public (dis)-engagement from AI and knowledge
democratization
'Bottom up' approach
Sociology of the Everyday
'Cultural Scripts' (Enticott and Vanclay, 2013)
Science versus lay knowledge
Technical expertise and commercialization
Walton Institute
Scholarship of teaching and learning
Reflexivity, subjectivity and what constitutes
'valid knowledge' - autoethnography

10. AI as
Multidimensional
Non-technical elements
Discursive/narrative legitimation
Reimagined meanings of knowledge

11. Biographic
Narrative
Research
Intricacies of human emotion; emotional expression and/or suppression
Successive states of subjectivity (Wengraf, 2001, p. 14)
'Ubiquity of storytelling' (Moran et al 2021)
Entanglements in everyday life – AI in 'common worlds'
Reimagining dichotomies of knowledge and ethics
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

12. Social construction of AI – algorithms, data and codes
engender political, social and ethical dimensions
(Joyce et al 2021)
Usage is 'socially shaped' (Ibid)
Healthcare, work, politics and policing (Sachs, 2019;
Pugh, 2020)
Agency versus structure-focused approaches
Emotions, complexity of the everyday, politics of
empowerment
'Decolonization' of AI
Public scholarship

13. New Narrative
Terrains

14. Reflections
Terrains of complexity, beauty, non-linear, emotive
Continually negotiated
Researcher identity and self-development
Multidimensionality of participants' understandings,
lived realities, experiences

15. "Honest autoethnographic exploration
generates a lot of fears and self-doubt
and emotional pain...Then, the real work
begins. Then there is the vulnerability of
revealing yourself, not being able to take
back what you've written or having any
control over how readers interpret your
story"
(Ellis, 2004, p. 14)

16. Thank You!
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.