Research methodologies that involve producing some form of creative work in addition to a written counterpart – i.e. research through creative practice – are popular within arts-based academic disciplines. As more interdisciplinary centres develop, and the boundaries between arts and technology-based research become blurred, increasingly researchers in HCI are using practice-based or practice-led approaches within their own work. We have already seen the benefits of practice-based research in design activities under the Research Through Design (RTD) approach, but what opportunities are there for adopting sorts of methods in other types of HCI work and with other sectors, for example within immersive storytelling in games or theatre. That is, can we go beyond using these creative practice approaches for design and into other areas of HCI work?

This half-day virtual workshop will bring together researchers who are using creative practice within their HCI work to highlight the importance of creative practice as a distinct research methodology that is appropriate to HCI. The workshop aims to distil insights and explore possibilities of using creative practice within HCI research through fostering community discussion and collaboration among a multidisciplinary group of experts and early-career researchers. During the workshop, we will explore the following topics:

- What is research through creative practice?
- What opportunities do creative practice approaches offer to HCI in contrast to current methods?
- What can be learned from creative methodologies in the arts for areas of HCI that extend beyond creative application contexts (e.g. games, storytelling)?
- Are creative practice based methods suitable for research beyond games and storytelling with interactive media?

This workshop is being organised by:
Anna Bramwell-Dicks: anna.bramwell-dicks@york.ac.uk
Tania Dales: tgd507@york.ac.uk
Jonathan Hook: jonathan.hook@york.ac.uk