Domain of Discourse
AI is not just some technology. Rather, it has the potential to radically change society.
The development of AI is at a turning point, diffusing in virtually all aspects of life. Still and all, AI is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes (E. Dijkstra). AI is not about tools, it is about how it can be used and what is ascertained when it is used. So not a ‘technological’ but rather a business administrative vision should be guiding. This is the more given the connection of AI to the wider technological ecosystem. AI demands high-quality data and efficient use thereof, and therefore a focus on data, system architectures and most of all on the underlying business administrative processes.
While AI technology is evolving rapidly, in practice many organizations are slow to respond. Often the problem is not AI (the what) but the way in which AI is implemented (the how). Just purchasing hardware, software or brainware will not do the job, the business administrative context of AI must be taken into account right from the beginning. Organizations create value by redesigning processes in innovative ways, so both (domain) expertise (both know how and know what) as well as a careful embedding of AI in the organization become the key features to be addressed.
AI will deeply influence the cultural domain. However, this will happen in ways that yet cannot be foreseen, for the most part. Strategically, the creative sector should focus on relations with partners abroad (read national and international cooperation), maintain an orientation on networking and pay special attention to standards (these are influential and have an impact). Also, there is the important question of how to achieve good interaction between humans and machines. Bottom line however, it should not be AI defining business but business defining AI. The choice is between a computer science orientation where AI is “emerging” from the machine (computational system) or a business administrative orientation, where AI results from management and domain expertise embedding AI well in the organization.
Considerations
Increasing accessibility and affordability of services and computational resources to collect, enhance and publish data continue to impact and improve the structuring of many fields of activity in the areas of cultural heritage, creative industries and the arts (further referred to as the creative domain1).
More data are available than ever (these data will further be referred to as creative digital assets2 or simply creative data, as to distinguish from data in general). Merging exploration, development and practice shows promising developments in improved data
identification, analysis and representation
modeling, management and usability
integrity, interpretation and embedding
However, creative data nevertheless almost inherently remain stubbornly subjective, vague, fragmentary, uncertain and even deeply contradictory, and as a consequence turn into notoriously difficult to
find
access
interoperate with
reuse
Computational systems should – ideally – be able to smoothly Find, Access, Interoperate and Reuse (FAIR) data with none or minimal human intervention. After all, users increasingly rely on computational support to deal with cultural digital assets as a result of increase in volume, complexity and creation speed of cultural data.
Combining human-computer interaction, knowledge representation and information extraction with semantic web technologies and models promises to realize better ways for users in the cultural domain to interact with systems and consume and produce data.
Moreover blackboards may be instrumental in facilitating collaboration among cultural professionals, practitioners or organizations and prove beneficial especially for those having to deal with information that is subjective, vague, fragmentary, uncertain and contradictory.
The EMCB Project
Scope
EMCB is about artificial intelligence engineering and the creative domain. This domain encompasses the creative industries with, among others the arts, media, cultural heritage, gaming and design. However, it is not about applying AI in the creative domain. Rather it proposes AI as supportive for the business of actors in this domain, and more specifically in a business to business perspective.
Common sense dictates to let people do what people are good at and let AI do what people are not good at, but smart computers are. In other words, look for things that are easy for machines but difficult, troublesome or tedious for humans.
On the one hand, humans are especially good at the arts in all its manifestations and computers certainly are not. So, having AI do art seems like a waste of time and money and anyway a peculiar misallocation of resources. On the other hand, AI powered computational systems are able to smoothly find, access, interoperate and reuse data with minimal human intervention, providing users with support to deal with the increase in volume, complexity and creation speed of digital assets.
Business Case
Parties in the creative domain seeking opportunities to apply AI are invited to contact info@aie.nl.
In this context the following is offered:
business assessment, strategic consultancy and AI appraisal
conception, design and planning of networking, systems and applications
EMCB solutions: knowledge graphs, ontologies and blackboard systems
For more information, see the EMCB Models.
Disclaimer
It is assumed that anyone economically acting in today’s creative domain disposes of some kind of perspective on information and computing, one in which intrinsic social and cultural aspects play a key role, yet nonetheless systematically provides practical constructions of targeted and forward-looking views on both information and computing.
As a technical, economical and practical field, computing is constantly expanding in scope, depth and denseness, affecting all aspects of present-day life. Moreover perceptions, conceptions and constructions of the field are constantly evolving, though for sure not always in lockstep with technological and scientific developments.
Method
Artificial Intelligence, Semantic Web and ICT Technologies
Business Administrative Perspective
Project
Footnotes
1OWL, RDF 1.1, PROV and SKOS
2Such as academics from arts, humanities and sciences (academia technology institutions), artists, designers and makers (creative industries and the arts) as well as professionals, craftsmen and practitioners from a wide variety of cultural heritage domains (archivists, historians, curators, philologists, cultural critics and many others).