Ruth West is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and researcher of emerging technologies. Her expertise is broad: new media arts, design, molecular genetics, information aesthetics/visualization, virtual/immersive environments, psychology, and mobile technologies. She works and has worked with UCSD Center for Research in Computing and the Arts, UCLA CENS (NSF Center for Embedded Networked Sensing), and NCMIR (National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research).
San Francisco Art Institute’s Area Head of Conceptual Information Art Stephen Wilson (2002) submits four classifications for art-science praxis: (1) “Exploration” (researching and developing), (2) “Cultural implications” (using technology to consider narratives and conceptual frameworks), (3) “Unrelated themes” (using technology to study non-technological topics), and (4) “Incidental use of technology” (using images and materials strictly for aesthetic purposes).