PadComp Research Group

About Us

The People and Data-centric Computing Research Group ("PadComp") at Simon Fraser University Computing Science conducts research at the intersection of human-computer interaction and machine learning. Our research projects generally investigate questions related to the people and data that fuel powerful "artificial intelligence" technologies.

Each data record upstream of an AI system was created with the involvement of a person (and more often than not, a group of people), so many "data-centred" projects involve people and many "human-centred" projects involve data. Our work seeks to understand these relationships and empower people to control how their data is used, and ultimately, ensure that AI is used responsibly.

News

• 2024-08-15: The website is launched!
• 2024-06-03: Data Challenge @ ICWSM.
• 2024-05-11: PadComp goes to ACM CHI.

Core Projects

Here, we list ongoing projects being led by PadComp members:

• Data Levers. You are a crucial source of data needed to train and test AI. You can use your data flow as a bargaining chip; send data to AI systems you support, and don't send it to those you don't. link
• Understanding Data Labor in the Age of GenAI. link

Affiliated Projects

Here, we list projects that PadComp members have contributed to in some fashion:

• Open WebUI. Open WebUI is an extensible, feature-rich, and user-friendly self-hosted WebUI designed to operate entirely offline link
• The public AI Network. The Public AI Network is a coalition working to bring about public AI link