Rethinking Data Practices for ‘Intelligent’ Musical Interfaces

Elizabeth Wilson

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

As artificial intelligence continues to become embedded in musical instrument design, this Alt.NIME paper proposes examining how data is used in any such system. It extends the concept of small data beyond dataset size alone, proposing a framework that emphasises limited, self-curated, marginalised, and situated datasets. To explore current practices, we conduct an exploratory audit of submissions to the NIME 2026 proceedings that employ artificial intelligence or data-driven techniques. The audit investigates how datasets aredescribed, whether their sources are documented and accessible, and the extent to which smaller or situated datasets are used. Through this investigation, we aim to highlight the visibility (or absence) of dataset transparency within NIME research.

Citation

Elizabeth Wilson. 2026. Rethinking Data Practices for ‘Intelligent’ Musical Interfaces. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20741976 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_alt_13,
 abstract = {As artificial intelligence continues to become embedded in musical instrument design, this Alt.NIME paper proposes examining how data is used in any such system. It extends the concept of small data beyond dataset size alone, proposing a framework that emphasises limited, self-curated, marginalised, and situated datasets. To explore current practices, we conduct an exploratory audit of submissions to the NIME 2026 proceedings that employ artificial intelligence or data-driven techniques. The audit investigates how datasets aredescribed, whether their sources are documented and accessible, and the extent to which smaller or situated datasets are used. Through this investigation, we aim to highlight the visibility (or absence) of dataset transparency within NIME research.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {13},
 author = {Elizabeth Wilson},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20741976},
 editor = {Allie Texeira Riggs and Giacomo Lepri and Yann Seznec},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {4},
 pages = {75--78},
 title = {Rethinking Data Practices for ‘Intelligent’ Musical Interfaces},
 track = {alt.nime},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_alt_13.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}