Frequently Asked Questions

About MishMash

What is MishMash?

MishMash is a Norwegian research centre dedicated to exploring AI in and through creative practices. It brings together researchers across disciplines and institutions to develop new knowledge, methods, and applications at the intersection of AI, creativity, and society. Read more in the centre description.

What does the name MishMash mean?

MishMash is not an acronym; it is a description of how the founders perceived of the assembled group of people and institutions when the application process started out. At first, MishMash was only thought of as the working title for the proposal. However, it proved so memorable that it stuck. Among more than 150 competing centre proposals pitched to the Research Council of Norway in 2024, the name was one of a few people remembered. It also captures the centre’s mission — merging a deliberate mix of artistic and scientific disciplines into something new. Read the full story of the name.

What is the story behind the MishMash emblem?

The emblem’s overlapping circles symbolise two things at once: AI as a meeting point between humans and machines, and MishMash as a centre doing both artistic and scientific research (and various combinations of the two approaches). The emblem was sketched by the centre director during one of the first application workshops and was refined by the designers at Appex design studio. Fittingly for a centre studying AI, the emblem itself was made entirely by humans. Read the full story of the emblem.

What is the story behind the MishMash cube?

The cube was proposed during one of the early application workshops to explain the multidimensionality of the centre’s themes, approaches, and perspectives. It shows the seven work packages on the front, which govern the organisational structure of MishMash. One of the other sides shows how we aim to combine perspectives from creating, exploring, and reflecting on AI in all work packages. Equally important is to think about how AI influences both machines, humans, and society at large. The visual look was refined by the designers at Appex design studio. Read the full story of the cube.

How is MishMash organised?

MishMash operates as a distributed, collaborative network rather than a single centralized organisation.

This structure enables broad participation across institutions while maintaining a shared direction. See Organisation for the full governance structure, including the Council and Scientific Advisory Board.

What are work packages?

Work packages (WPs) are the main organisational units for research and collaboration within MishMash.

  • Each WP focuses on a specific theme or research area
  • Researchers and partners participate through one or more WPs
  • Most activities (projects, events, and collaborations) are organised within these units

The seven work packages are:

Joining and participating

Who can join MishMash?

Everyone! However, keep in mind that MishMash’s primary mission is to connect researchers (and their institutions) in Norway. That said, we are also eager to connect to non-academic Norwegian partners and both academic and non-academic international partners (institutions) and members (people). The centre is continuously developing its network and welcomes new collaborations (see below).

What is the difference between partners and members?

Partners are institutions (both research-performing and others) that have signed either the original consortium agreement or an associate partner agreement. Check the institution list for an overview of connected partners.

Members are individuals that have signed up for one or more work packages. Many are connected through institutions, but MishMash is also open for non-affiliated researchers.

How do I become a partner and what do I get?

Institutions can express interest in becoming an associate partner by sending an e-mail to contact@mishmash.no for more information. You will then receive details about roles, expectations, and next steps. Participation gives institutions access to the MishMash network and invitation to events. Being a partner is not an end-goal, it should be seen as a door opener for connecting people in the partner institution with people in the MishMash network.

You will not receive any funding by joining as a partner but you do not have to pay anything either. However, we see that many partners apply for (and get!) external funding together with other MishMash partners.

How do I become a member and what do I get?

People can express interest in becoming a MishMash member by sending an e-mail to contact@mishmash.no for more information. You will then receive details about roles, expectations, and next steps.

Members are usually connected to a MishMash partner institution, although we are open for members without institutional backing or without a current affiliation.

You will not receive any funding by joining as a member, but you will be able to apply for seed funding together with other MishMash partners.

What is expected from partners?

Partners play an active role in shaping MishMash. Typical expectations include:

  • Participating with members (people) in work package actvities
  • Contributing to communication and visibility by sending information about relevant events that can be added to the events page.
  • Supporting collaboration across the network and developing applications for MishMash-related projects.

Many activities rely on shared effort across institutions, rather than central coordination alone.

What are seed funding projects?

MishMash supports smaller research initiatives through seed funding announced internally in the centre regularly. See the project pages for examples of ongoing projects. Keep in mind that MishMash primarily supports research activities in Norway. International partners can apply, but there should be a solid Norwegian collaboration involved.

Events and activities

What are MeshUps?

MeshUps are short, weekly online events designed for sharing ongoing work and ideas. During the semesters, they run on Thursdays 12:00–12:30. They begin with a couple of minutes of information from the management team. This is followed by a 15-minute presentation and 10 minutes of Q&A.

MeshUps provide a lightweight format for connecting across disciplines and institutions. Upcoming and past MeshUps are listed on the events page.

Are MishMash events open to the public?

Many MishMash activities are open, including the weekly MeshUps and conferences. See the event page for details. Work package events are typically reserved for members.

Communication and content

Who is responsible for content and communication?

Communication in MishMash is a shared responsibility across the network.

  • Work package leaders are responsible for ensuring that relevant activities and results are communicated
  • Partners contribute content such as news, events, and project updates
  • A central team coordinates overall communication and website development

In practice, MishMash operates as a collaborative effort where contributions from partners are essential.

How can I contribute content to the website?

MishMash relies on active contributions from its community. You can contribute by:

  • Submitting news or events to be automatically linked
  • Adding content to NVA and Orcid that will be automatically synced daily
  • Requesting access to contribute to the GitHub repository that the site is built from

The website

How does the MishMash website work?

The site is a Jekyll static website. Source code, content, and tooling live in the open mishmash-web repository on GitHub.

  • Build and publish: Changes merged to the main branch are built automatically by GitHub Actions and published to mishmash.no via GitHub Pages
  • Quality checks: Pull requests are checked for broken links, directory consistency, and accessibility before merge
  • Data sync: Person profiles and research results can be updated nightly from NVA and ORCID where linked
  • Contributing: Partners with repo access can propose edits via pull requests; see CONTRIBUTING.md for what to edit locally

Each page shows metadata at the bottom (last edit, licence, data sources, and a link to its source file on GitHub).

Why does the about page have reading levels?

Some pages on mishmash.no are adaptive: the same content is written at three complexity levels — Simple, Standard, and Advanced — and you choose which one to read with the “Reading level” switcher at the top of the page. Your choice is remembered as you browse. The idea is that a school class, a curious visitor, and a fellow researcher should all be able to read the same page without one being bored or the other lost.

Dotted-underlined words are stretchtext: click them to unfold a short explanation in place. All the explanations are collected in the glossary. Try it on the centre description.

Is this website made with AI?

Partly, and openly — fitting for a centre that studies creative uses of AI. AI assistance is used for drafting content, developing code and automation, and translation. Human editors review everything before it is published and remain responsible for it, machine-translated pages are marked, and every AI-assisted change is traceable in the public commit history.

The AI colophon declares the practice in full, with live numbers.

Can students help develop the website?

Yes — the website doubles as a development playground. Student groups can build alternative frontends (switchable UI themes that cannot break the production site) or backend automation (data sync, validation, visualization). See the student development guide in the wiki, the open issues for project ideas, and the website project for who to talk to.

More

Still have questions?

Get in touch at contact@mishmash.no, or explore projects, people, institutions, events, and results to learn more.