Before the Answer: Visual Methods and the Preservation of Judgement

Ask a generative model a research question and a complete, plausible answer arrives at once. We'll workshop the 'something' lost. Convenor Dr Ricardo Assis Rosa, CDH Methods Fellow 2026/27 Ricardo Assis Rosa is a chartered architect and Senior Teaching Fellow at the Department of Architecture, where he teaches a Year 2 design studio. His work examines how people think without words, treating drawing, diagramming and modelling as complete methods of forming knowledge, and how teaching can be structured so that visual and spatial cognition, including dyslexic and neurodivergent ways of thinking, becomes a research strength. As a Methods Fellow he will teach visual methods of analysis and iteration drawn from the architecture studio, asking what the crit, the analytical diagram and the deliberately imperfect prototype offer researchers working with generative AI Description Ask a generative model a research question and a complete, plausible answer arrives at once. No hesitation, no intermediate states, nothing half formed to inspect. Something has been removed along with the effort, and this workshop is about what that something is. The design studio has a name for the space that disappears. It is the interval between a question and its answer, and it is where judgment lives. The method we will work with inverts the ordinary research sequence: rather than fixing a question and then answering it, you make a quick, deliberately insufficient drawing and read it back to discover what you assumed. Drawing makes you decide things that writing lets you put off. You see what you think before you can say it, and then you can test it. We will work together on a single shared problem, so that everyone can see how differently the same question can be held. We will diagram it, iterate through imperfect versions, put the same question to a generative tool, and examine the distance between the two answers. Through the workshop we will explore how this process can produce evidence of judgement which can support ways of disclosure with AI meaningful. Is any equipment or Software required? Participants will need to bring their own laptop. Target Audience Our CDH Methods workshops have limited places and are prioritised for students and staff at the University of Cambridge. However, if space is available, we welcome all participants who want to learn and apply digital methods and use digital tools in their research. This session may be of particular interest to: • PhD students in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences • Early Career Researchers in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Contact CDH If you have specific accessibility needs for this event, please get in touch. We will do our best to accommodate any requests, however please note that the building is grade 2 listed and has 4 steps into the building so unfortunately wheelchair access is not available. This workshop is part of our Methods Fellowship programme, which develops and delivers innovative teaching in digital methods. You can read more about the programme here and view the complete series of workshops here.