swanson

The weight of words in the age of AI

Michael Kwolek — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 17:41:52 +0000

The weight of words in the age of AI Michael Kwolek Mon, 10/20/2025 - 11:41

Caitlin Rockett

ATLAS Academic Programs

Go to the ATLAS Institute website to learn more about Creative Technology & Design programs including undergraduate major, minor and certificates; professional master’s and PhD.

Info sessions: online sessions on CTD programs are held throughout the year.
Tours: Email atlascommunications@colorado.edu to book a student-led tour.

ATLAS Associate Professor Joel Swanson thinks a lot about the weight of words. He has calculated that an average-length English word on newsprint weighs about 5 grams—a digital word has a nearly imperceptible weight.

But it is the philosophical matter at the heart of the idiom that was the central focus for a recent first-year engineering seminar led by Swanson: What is the figurative weight of words as humans increasingly turn to generative artificial intelligence to write?

“AI is getting so good,” said Swanson, who teaches part of the undergraduate Creative Technology and Design (CTD) curriculum, which has degrees granted by the College of Engineering and Applied Science. “I could use ChatGPT to come up with an essay prompt for my students, and then they would respond to that prompt with AI, and then I would grade it, and back and forth. What does that communicate? It's saying words don't matter anymore. So I was really invested in coming up with a project that would show students that words are powerful—that the words they speak and write are meaningful because they wrote them.”

As a tenured professor in the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics and Society, Swanson and his colleagues weave humanities and ethics into their engineering courses, with a goal of fostering well-rounded engineers. With that goal always in mind, Swanson asked his students in the First-Year Seminar—a five-week elective for first-year students in Engineering Connections—to write the first sentence of their memoir, “something AI couldn’t do a good job with,” he said. Then students pushed their creativity further by transforming their words into a vibrant, layered image using a Risograph printer.

The task—and the seminar itself—is purposely outside traditional math-and-science-based engineering education, and combined with Swanson’s signature focus on language and technology, students got a firsthand look at life as a CTD student.

Before they wrote their sentences, Swanson’s students—along with more 1,000 other Engineering First-Year Seminar students—spent the first three weeks of the course discussing texts from authors such as Plato, Thomas Merton and Audrey Lorde, zeroing in on university community values like belonging, agency, ownership, inclusivity and service.

“The essays are carefully chosen to challenge these students to think about why they're at the university and what's at stake in terms of higher education,” Swanson said. “The seminar gives students a very high-contact experience to balance out the rest of engineering, which can feel a little anonymous at times.”

Since fall 2023, nearly 70 instructors—with at least one from every major degree program in engineering—have taught 164 sections of the First-Year Seminar, with an average of 19 students per section. Engineering Dean Keith Molenaar has taught a section since the seminar’s inception. Instructors get the last two weeks of the seminar to cultivate the values discussed in the assigned texts through their own areas of expertise and interest. The previous two times Swanson taught the seminar, he used the 1982 dystopian sci-fi film Blade Runner to examine the nature of humanity in the age of AI. But for his most recent iteration of the class, Swanson wanted to do something “a little bit different,” while still focusing on language, creativity and technology.

“We talked about the greatest first sentences in English literature, like ‘Call me Ishmael,’ from Moby Dick,” Swanson said. “It can be confusing, it can be loaded, it can be offensive, but it sets the tone for the rest of the novel.”

Once students had workshopped their sentences, Swanson gave them a crash course on graphic design so they could turn their sentences into Risograph prints, a cross between screen printing and photocopying where one color is printed at a time. Because paper must be fed through the Risograph printer multiple times—once for each color—minor misalignments between layers result in a charming, handmade aesthetic.

“All of their designs impressed me, and some of them brought me to tears,” Swanson said. “I showed them some examples of things I had created and different ways of using the Risograph and then just let them at it. I think students are already so in tune with visual design because they're seeing design of language in social media every day, so they understand what fonts communicate certain vibes.”

At the end of the five weeks, students signed and exchanged prints, then sealed their own design (along with their Blue Book responses to the readings earlier in the seminar) in an envelope with a promise to Swanson to open them upon graduation.

“This is where you are right now—in four or five years, where are you going to be?” Swanson asked them to consider. “I asked them to put it on their calendar to open this package up and think about who they were in that first semester of college.”

For some students, CTD’s focus on project-based learning is a perfect fit, particularly for self-motivated students who want to explore their own ideas. With electives in game design, wearable electronics, big data, virtual reality, neurohacking and more, Swanson’s section of the College of Engineering’s First-Year Seminar can act as a gateway to CTD, where students see and feel the human and artistic side of technology. But no matter their degree focus, Swanson hopes students walk away from the seminar with an appreciation of the role creativity plays in engineering.

“My mantra for this class was: How can I curate the best out of them as humans and as engineers,” Swanson said, “to get them to ask those questions that they're not going to get asked anywhere else in their engineering education.”

ATLAS faculty–led seminar challenges first-year engineering students to explore the power of language in a digital age.

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Denver artist Joel Swanson questions everything

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 17:03:19 +0000

Denver artist Joel Swanson questions everything Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/16/2024 - 11:03

ATLAS associate professor's new gallery show, "Orderings," challenges basic assumptions of everyday order through sculpture, mixed media, video and more.

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Grace Leslie and Joel Swanson selected as Faculty Fellows

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:00:44 +0000

Grace Leslie and Joel Swanson selected as Faculty Fellows Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/20/2023 - 10:00

The Research & Innovation Office has announced the 2024 RIO Faculty Fellows cohort, including assistant professor Grace Leslie and associate professor Joel Swanson along with 14 other faculty members from departments and research institutes across the campus.

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ATLAS Associate Professor Joel Swanson Among Arts & Humanities Grant Awardees

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 19:04:56 +0000

ATLAS Associate Professor Joel Swanson Among Arts & Humanities Grant Awardees Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/29/2023 - 13:04

A new Research & Innovation Office (RIO) program provides nearly $100K in combined funding to 19 projects that span disciplines ranging from music and art history to journalism and theatre and dance across the CU-Boulder campus. ATLAS associate professor and TYPO Lab director, Joel Swanson, is among the recipients for his project entitled, "The United States of America, Reconfigured".

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A review by José Antonio Arellano of Joel Swanson's "The Distance Between Words"

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Mar 2023 22:42:02 +0000

A review by José Antonio Arellano of Joel Swanson's "The Distance Between Words" Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 03/25/2023 - 16:42

For well over a decade, Joel Swanson has explored how language and technology structure our lives. His work has appeared in the Denver-land area, not to mention the Venice Biennale.

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Visual artist and longtime ATLAS faculty member, Joel Swanson, earns tenure

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 22:37:48 +0000

Visual artist and longtime ATLAS faculty member, Joel Swanson, earns tenure Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/18/2022 - 16:37

Beginning this year, ATLAS faculty member Joel Swanson is promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure in the Herbst Program for Ethics, Engineering and Society. A member of the ATLAS faculty since 2005, Swanson played a key role in the development of the Technology, Arts and Media program, which he directed from 2008 to 2015, helping to oversee the launch of the College of Engineering and Applied Science BS in Technology, Arts and Media (subsequently renamed Creative Technology and Design).

Since 2015, Swanson has taught a wide range of graduate and undergraduate classes, in addition to devoting more time to his creative work. He's a visual artist who explores the subtle but powerful ways that language shapes perception and structures our world through standards such as spelling and grammar, digital character encoding, and even alphabetization. His work has taken many forms: blinking neon signs, interactive digital works, sculpture and handmade works on paper.

“I want my artwork to make people perceive words from new and unconventional perspectives,” says Swanson, who has shown work in national and international venues, including The Banff Centre for the Arts, The Broad Museum in Lansing, The Power Plant in Toronto, the 57th Venice Biennale, the Glucksman Museum in Cork Ireland, the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

While earning his Master of Fine Arts in Visual and Digital Art at the University of California at San Diego, Swanson focused on computing and the arts. This fall, he launches TYPO Lab, a speculative design lab exploring the intersection of language and technology—work that exemplifies the ATLAS Institute’s spirit of exploring the spaces between conventional disciplines and fields.

Joel Swanson's website

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Joel Swanson's Lisbon residency: The Distance Between Words

Anonymous — Wed, 18 May 2022 17:16:23 +0000

Joel Swanson's Lisbon residency: The Distance Between Words Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/18/2022 - 11:16

While participating in an art residency in Lisbon, ATLAS Assistant Professor Joel Swanson is working on a new body of work, “The Distance Between Words,” which explores the various ways to measure the distance within texts: physically, semantically and durationally. Sponsored through Hangar: Centro de Investigação Artistica, an artistic research center located in Graça, Lisbon, the residency runs April 24–May 29.

"In addition to working on this project, I'm enjoying exploring the libraries and archives of Lisbon, engaging with the local art community and eating dozens of Pastéis de Nata," Swanson says.

Swanson's research and teaching interests includes digital art, digital media theory, design and typography. He teaches digital art, media theory and the history of design for the Creative Technology and Design (CTD) program, and his work intersects language and technology.

His newest body of work is also funded by Denver's New Collection, which offers grants and collaborations that "give artists the support they need to do something fundamentally different and new."

Swanson's artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Broad Museum in Lansing, The Power Plant in Toronto, the Glucksman in Cork, Ireland and the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2014 Swanson had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. In 2017 he showed work in Personal Structures, an official satellite show of the 57th Venice Biennale.

"The Distance Between Words" will be exhibited in Denver in September.

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Joel Swanson’s work on exhibition for the ISEA 2020 Conference, Oct. 13-18

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:59:49 +0000

Joel Swanson’s work on exhibition for the ISEA 2020 Conference, Oct. 13-18 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/14/2020 - 09:59

Codependent Algorithms, code-based artwork by Joel Swanson, ATLAS assistant professor, is on exhibition for the 26th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2020), Oct. 13-18. Themed "Why Sentience?," the hybrid online/on-site program features the works of more than 100 local and international artists, adapted to a virtual platform.

Codependent Algorithms explores human interdependence with algorithms. The project begins by choosing a random word. Then a misspelling algorithm, used to intentionally mimic human spelling errors to improve website search rankings, deforms the word which is displayed on the right. Then a spelling correction algorithm corrects that word and displays it on the left, creating an infinite feedback loop of deformation and correction that removes the need for human input and intervention.

ISEA 2020 focuses on work and talks that touch on animality; the ecosophic world; machinic sense and sensibility; sentient difference; matter’s nattering; the politics of sentience; and the planetary topics.

Codependent Algorithms, code-based artwork by Joel Swanson, ATLAS assistant professor, is on exhibition for the 26th International Symposium on Electronic Art. Themed "Why Sentience?," the hybrid online/on-site program features works adapted to the virtual platform, with more than 100 local and international artists.

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Elementary Tools and Linguistic Interpretation: The Inquisitive Works of Joel Swanson

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 17:35:23 +0000

Elementary Tools and Linguistic Interpretation: The Inquisitive Works of Joel Swanson Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/22/2020 - 11:35

In this interview by New Collection, Joel Swanson, assistant professor, discusses his past work, productivity during a pandemic and re-evaluating time and space.

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Joel Swanson participates in Museum of Contemporary Art panel

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:44:56 +0000

Joel Swanson participates in Museum of Contemporary Art panel Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/17/2020 - 08:44

In this Museum of Contemporary Art's Open Source Series, Joel Swanson joined a panel of experts to dissect and diagram sentences from the media, helping participants understand how contemporary tools like headlines, tweets, posts and videos might help or hinder a deep understanding of ideas.

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