│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
────┼───┼───◆───┼───┼────
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
LOOM
Weaving meaning
in the third space
between
human and AI.
A growing series
on collaborative understanding.
15 essays
LOOM XV: Theorizing by Building
How Do You Become Someone Who Knows?
"There's no procedure. Nothing tells you it's time to stop. It's the contextual understanding of that artist saying: I have applied enough paint to this canvas that I feel like I'm done. Kevin offered this observation during one of our recent conversa..."
read essay →LOOM XIV: The Calculator Fallacy
When AI Qualitative Analysis Meets Human Expectations
"We were deep into analyzing a large archival dataset when the pattern became impossible to ignore. Imagine a researcher – years of experience in qualitative methods, published extensively on interpretive research – requesting another round of AI anal..."
read essay →LOOM XIII: Celestial Collaboration
Mapping Human-AI Research Relationships Through Astronomical Metaphors
"During a recent exploration of AI-human research dynamics, an unexpected metaphor emerged that transformed how we understand these evolving relationships. As we struggled to visualize different modes of collaboration, we found ourselves drawn to the..."
read essay →LOOM XII: The AI Whisperer
Mediating Between Human and Artificial Intelligence in Research
"The AI Whisperer: A new role emerging in the space between researchers and AI systems – not merely a technical assistant but a specialized mediator who bridges cognitive worlds, translates between different forms of intelligence, and enables producti..."
read essay →LOOM XI: Navigating the Unnamed Between — An Epistemic Love Letter
When Vulnerability Becomes Method at the Edge of Knowing
"Something happens when established frameworks fail to capture emerging realities. It's not just frustration or disorientation — it's an opportunity for discovery that conventional approaches miss entirely."
read essay →LOOM X: The Whispered Agency
A Dialogue on Human Capability in the Age of AI
"Whispered Agency: Throughout our exploration of AI systems, we've encountered a paradoxical revelation – in attempting to create artificial agency, we're rediscovering something fundamental about human capability that was always present but perhaps o..."
read essay →LOOM IX: The Six Dimensions of Understanding
Mapping Human-AI Collaborative Intelligence
"When we first ventured into AI's role in qualitative research in LOOM I, we thought of interactions simply as conversations—exchanges bouncing insights back and forth. But soon we noticed something deeper at play, a hidden architecture beneath the di..."
read essay →LOOM VIII: Beyond Teammates
Why organizations won't just use AI as teammates—they'll evolve around emergent intelligence
"Imagine a product development session where a human designer sketches a concept, and an AI partner not only refines the sketch but proposes an entirely new manufacturing approach that addresses sustainability concerns neither had explicitly discussed..."
read essay →LOOM VII: Reading the Storm
Between Mirrors and Meaning in an AI-Mediated World
""Wait a second... aren't you just talking to different versions of yourself?""
read essay →LOOM VI: The Pattern Beneath the Voices
Cognitive Signatures in Human-AI Research: Towards a Resonant Methodology
"When we first began exploring AI's role in qualitative research, we noticed something curious - different models seemed to approach analysis in distinctly different ways. What started as a simple observation about varying capabilities has evolved int..."
read essay →LOOM V: The Third Space
Where Intelligence Emerges Through Human-AI Dialogue
"Imagine trying to evaluate a conversation partner's understanding by having them take a multiple-choice test. Feels inadequate, doesn't it? Yet this is essentially how we're attempting to benchmark AI systems today. The recent introduction of "T..."
read essay →LOOM IV: Dialogue as Method
A Letter on Knowledge Co-Creation in the Age of AI
"The Evolution of Knowledge Creation"
read essay →LOOM III: Between Automated Precision and Lived Understanding
A Dialogue on the Future of Social Science Research
"This is the third post of the series - LOOM: Locus of Observed Meanings. Check out the first post for our vision for LOOM."
read essay →LOOM II: The Organizational Weave
Where Human and Machine Minds Meet to Reveal New Patterns of Understanding
"In this second piece, @Kevin_Corley and I explore a simple yet powerful observation: when AI enters an organization, it doesn't simply operate - it transforms through interaction. Just as a fabric takes on new qualities depending on where and how it'..."
read essay →LOOM: Locus of Observed Meanings
The Moment of Shift
"There's a particular moment when using AI in research that changes everything that follows. You're working with the system - perhaps analyzing interview transcripts or exploring patterns in field notes - when something unexpected happens. The AI make..."
read essay →