English 182 Spring 2023

Short Assignment Three: AI-generated Art and Analysis

Instructor: Sarah Moore, srmoore2@uw.edu

Due: Submit on Friday 5/5/2023 by 11:59pm via Canvas

Overview

For this third short assignment, you will be applying the work we have been doing on genre and analysis the past few weeks to creating your own AI-generated art. Doing this requires that you understand how genre is working in both your “modern monster” and your AI-generated art. You also need to understand  transferring the message of your “modern monster” to AI-generated art requires making deliberate rhetorical decisions. The work you do in this project has the potential to be used as an illustration in your Pressbook chapter.

Process

First, review your “modern monster” and think of specific points you think would benefit from an illustration. Perhaps you want to bring together to different ideas, or present your topic in a specific art style.  

For this project we will be using Image Creator, powered by DALL-E, accessible for free through Microsoft Bing.

To use Image Creator, go to Bing.com/Create Links to an external site. and login with a Microsoft account. (note: You cannot use your school Microsoft account. Instead, you will need to create or use a personal account.)

After you have created your account, you should be able to start creating images. You should then receive 25 free “credits” to create images. These replenish weekly. The welcome page includes examples images with FAQs to help you get started. We’ll go over these in class.

Next, brainstorm ideas for descriptive prompts for the AI-generator that would produce the kind of art you envision. According to the DALL-E generator FAQ, a good prompt should have:

[adjective] + [noun] + [verb] + [style] + other parameters like [mood] etc

So, for example, if I was creating art for Bisclavret I could input:

[large, calm] [werewolf] [laying at the foot of the king who is sitting on a throne] [as a stained glass window] [in a medieval church]

(Don’t include the brackets—they are only to show the correlation with the above template.)

The results from that prompt generate art such as this one below:

Which is super interesting! After several tries in adjusting your prompt to get the output you like, you’ll write a reflectionon the process in which you analyze:

• The process of adapting your ideas into a new genre
• The effectiveness of your prompt(s), and the iterations you went through to get your desired results
• How the AI-generated art meets your expectations, and in what ways it fails.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you think about your art in terms of genre, composition, and adaptation:

• What is the art trying to communicate?
• Who/What is the intended audience?
• What is the tone of the art? How does it relate to the art’s audience and genre?
• Is this genre effective for the intended communication? Would a different genre have been more effective? Why and/or how?
• What conventions of this genre does this art employ? What conventions does it push against?
• How are rhetorical moves such as ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos utilized?

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of questions, but rather a point for you to begin your thinking about your genre analysis. 

Requirements

You will need to turn in the AI-generated art AND a reflection. Your reflection should include everything mentioned above, as well as tie into one or more of the course outcomes listed below:

Outcomes for Expository Writing Program Courses

Outcome 1

To compose strategically for a variety of audiences and contexts, both within and outside the university, by

• recognizing how different elements of a rhetorical situation matter for the task at hand and affect the options for composing and distributing texts;
• coordinating, negotiating, and experimenting with various aspects of composing—such as genre, content, conventions, style, language, organization, appeals, media, timing, and design—for diverse rhetorical effects tailored to the given audience, purpose, and situation; and
• assessing and articulating the rationale for and effects of composing choices.

Outcome 2

To work strategically with complex information in order to generate and support inquiry by

• reading, analyzing, and synthesizing a diverse range of texts and understanding the situations in which those texts are participating;
• using reading and writing strategies to craft research questions that explore and respond to complex ideas and situations;
• gathering, evaluating, and making purposeful use of primary and secondary materials appropriate for the writing goals, audience, genre, and context;
• creating a ‘conversation’—identifying and engaging with meaningful patterns across ideas, texts, experiences, and situations; and
• using citation styles appropriate for the genre and context.

Outcome 3

To craft persuasive, complex, inquiry-driven arguments that matter by

• considering, incorporating, and responding to different points of view while developing one’s own position;
• engaging in analysis—the close scrutiny and examination of evidence, claims, and assumptions— to explore and support a line of inquiry;
• understanding and accounting for the stakes and consequences of various arguments for diverse audiences and within ongoing conversations and contexts; and
• designing/organizing with respect to the demands of the genre, situation, audience, and purpose.

Outcome 4

To practice composing as a recursive, collaborative process and to develop flexible strategies for revising throughout the composition process by

• engaging in a variety of (re)visioning techniques, including (re)brainstorming, (re)drafting, (re)reading, (re)writing, (re)thinking, and editing;
• giving, receiving, interpreting, and incorporating constructive feedback; and
• refining and nuancing composition choices for delivery to intended audiences in a manner consonant with the genre, situation, and desired rhetorical effects and meanings.