Co-authored with Brian Magerko, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, the paper, titled "What is AI Literacy? Competencies and Design Considerations," synthesizes research in the field to create a "set of core competencies" to evaluate artificial intelligence (AI) programs and influence future development in the field. It is part of Long's doctoral dissertation.

"I think the award reflects the timeliness and value of this paper to those in the HCI, AI, and learning science research communities," Long said. "There is a lot of interest in designing engaging AI-related learning experiences, but there is a lack of guiding frameworks that synthesize current findings into practical guidelines for design."

"If anything, it feels like a validation from respected colleagues of the research direction we have gone in, which links creative practice to the design of human-computer experiences," Magerko said. "That, and that my Ph.D. student is a total rockstar."

This paper is just the most recent part of an ongoing effort by Long and Magerko to promote awareness and literacy of AI technology. They published research at the Association for Computing Machinery's 2019 Creativity & Cognition Conference and have put on a number of public installations of AI technology. The next steps of Long and Magerko's work include applying their list of competencies to museum installations.

"AI is becoming increasingly integrated into our everyday lives, but there are still a lot of misunderstandings about what AI does and how it works," Long said. "Our previous work designing AI-related installations has shown us that public spaces can be a particularly valuable venue for broadening AI literacy."

The full paper can be read at this link.