A knowledge practice in AI-assisted research

The Disclosive
Horizon

AI use in qualitative research — methods, ethics, and interpretive practice. Developed within the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, with applications in museum and archive research.

Researcher Sam Pay, Oxford Internet Institute
Placement Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
First published March 2026

A living knowledge resource and working case study in AI-assisted qualitative methods, reflecting the researcher's role as an Oxford AI Ambassador with the AIML Competency Centre, University of Oxford. Shared with the Ashmolean Museum research team as a mutual reference, and with colleagues across the Oxford Internet Institute.

Foundations

Reference Cards
Reference Card · Tools & Setup
"Local" vs Cloud in Cowork Mode
What does it mean when the sidebar says "Local"? Where your data lives, where the AI processes, and why both are true at once.
Card 01 →
Reference Card · Tools & Ethics
Understanding NotebookLM
What makes it different from other AI, what it can and cannot do, and how to use it ethically in qualitative research — including the Oxford licence and the consent imperative.
Card 02 →
Reference Card · Tools & Ethics
Local vs Cloud AI: The Ethical Choice
Why where your data goes is an ethical question, not just a technical one — the four ethical principles for all AI use, three local tools, and a specific caution for interpretive researchers.
Card 03 →
Reference Card · Ethics & Method
Using AI Responsibly
Environmental responsibility, calculative vs meditative thinking, Gestell and Gelassenheit, context window discipline, and Oxford's five principles for AI in research.
Card 04 →
Coming soon
More reference cards in development…
Methodological Concept — In Development

This site will also platform the development of the AI-assisted triple hermeneutic (AI as disclosive horizon) — an original contribution to hermeneutic phenomenology exploring AI as a disclosive presence in the research process — not an instrument of augmentation, but a means through which what is latent within the material comes into view. Grounded in the tradition of interpretive phenomenology, the concept is developed here in public, as it is thought through in practice.

Methods & Essays

Long-form
In development
The AI-Assisted Triple Hermeneutic
In development
Ethics of AI Use in Archive Research
In development
AI in the Research Process: A Field Guide

Media & Resources

Podcasts · Video · NotebookLM
Episode 01 · Audio · ~5 mins
Stay Angry. Stay in the Room.
On environmental costs, exploitation, and how radical acceptance matters more than refusal.
Sam Pay · April 2026 →
Coming soon
NotebookLM resources
Coming soon
Infographics & visual guides

About this project

The Disclosive Horizon is the working record of an original methodological contribution developed by Sam Pay at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, beginning in 2024. The AI-assisted triple hermeneutic — which positions AI as a disclosive horizon within the tradition of interpretive phenomenology — emerged from doctoral research engaging with both the ethical and philosophical challenges that AI use presents for qualitative inquiry.

This site serves two related but distinct purposes. Within the Oxford Internet Institute, it functions as a working case study in AI-assisted qualitative method — a record of how a methodology develops in and through practice. Within the context of the Ashmolean Museum Podcast Research Placement (2026), it functions as a shared knowledge resource: a space for the research team to build fluency with AI tools, engage with questions of ethics and method, and develop a common vocabulary for working with AI in archive and collections research.

These two contexts are intentionally held separately. The methodology and intellectual framework documented here precede and exist independently of the placement. The placement provides a context of application and exchange, in which the researcher contributes knowledge of AI use in qualitative research. The site reflects both contexts, while maintaining a clear distinction between them.

Questions and correspondence: samantha.pay@oii.ox.ac.uk