Can Computers Create Art?

This essay discusses whether computers, using Artificial Intelligence (AI), could create art. First, the history of technologies that automated aspects of art is surveyed, including photography and animation. In each case, there were initial fears and denial of the technology, followed by a blossoming of new creative and professional opportunities for artists. The current hype and reality of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for art making is then discussed, together with predictions about how AI tools will be used. It is then speculated about whether it could ever happen that AI systems could be credited with authorship of artwork. It is theorized that art is something created by social agents, and so computers cannot be credited with authorship of art in our current understanding. A few ways that this could change are also hypothesized.Comment: to appear in Arts, special issue on Machine as Artist (21st Century

Using Smartphones and Mobile Web 2.0 to Create a Mobile Computing Platform for Tertiary Education.

Today’s smartphones are mobile multimedia computers, in Nokia’s words: “It’s what computers have become”. Smartphone manufacturers have seen the potential to partner with online social software (Web2.0) sites (e.g. Flickr, YouTube, Vox, Ovi etc…) to produce a mobile computing platform to capture and share our daily lives with friends and family, anywhere, anytime. These tools can be utilized within tertiary education to create context independent collaborative learning environments. Pedagogical design of learning experiences using mobile web2.0 allows a tutor to create rich learning environments for students beyond the classroom or lecture theatre. This paper illustrates this by analysing students responses to a third year Product Design project that transformed a traditionally paper-based learning journal into an interactive, collaborative, online eportfolio using mobile web2.0 technologies facilitating an explicit social constructivist pedagogy. Students were provided with a Nokia N95 smartphone, a bluetooth folding keyboard, and a 1GB 3G data account. They created an online eportfolio, and used the smartphones to capture and record learning events and ideas from a variety of contexts. The learning outcomes included the development of a far more media rich and critically reflective collaborative experience than was previously possible using traditional approaches

Analysis of Computational Thinking Process (Theoretical)

Before the era of computers, the problem and the procedure to solve must be understood but now in the modern era with the access of advanced technologies, we need to look for the ways to solve a problem where computational thinking plays a vital role. Computers may help us solve the problems but before a problem can be tackled we should understand it correctly to create a solution for it

The Ontological Basis of Strong Artificial Life

This article concerns the claim that it is possible to create living organisms, not merely models that represent organisms, simply by programming computers ("virtual" strong alife). I ask what sort of things these computer-generated organisms are supposed to be (where are they, and what are they made of?). I consider four possible answers to this question: (a) The organisms are abstract complexes of pure information; (b) they are material objects made of bits of computer hardware; (c) they are physical processes going on inside the computer; and (d) they are denizens of an entire artificial world, different from our own, that the programmer creates. I argue that (a) could not be right, that (c) collapses into (b), and that (d) would make strong alife either absurd or uninteresting. Thus, "virtual" strong alife amounts to the claim that, by programming a computer, one can literally bring bits of its hardware to life

Image-Processing Techniques for the Creation of Presentation-Quality Astronomical Images

The quality of modern astronomical data, the power of modern computers and the agility of current image-processing software enable the creation of high-quality images in a purely digital form. The combination of these technological advancements has created a new ability to make color astronomical images. And in many ways it has led to a new philosophy towards how to create them. A practical guide is presented on how to generate astronomical images from research data with powerful image-processing programs. These programs use a layering metaphor that allows for an unlimited number of astronomical datasets to be combined in any desired color scheme, creating an immense parameter space to be explored using an iterative approach. Several examples of image creation are presented. A philosophy is also presented on how to use color and composition to create images that simultaneously highlight scientific detail and are aesthetically appealing. This philosophy is necessary because most datasets do not correspond to the wavelength range of sensitivity of the human eye. The use of visual grammar, defined as the elements which affect the interpretation of an image, can maximize the richness and detail in an image while maintaining scientific accuracy. By properly using visual grammar, one can imply qualities that a two-dimensional image intrinsically cannot show, such as depth, motion and energy. In addition, composition can be used to engage viewers and keep them interested for a longer period of time. The use of these techniques can result in a striking image that will effectively convey the science within the image, to scientists and to the public.Comment: 104 pages, 38 figures, submitted to A

The Ontological Basis of Strong Artificial Life

This article concerns the claim that it is possible to create living organisms, not merely models that represent organisms, simply by programming computers ("virtual" strong alife). I ask what sort of things these computer-generated organisms are supposed to be (where are they, and what are they made of?). I consider four possible answers to this question: (a) The organisms are abstract complexes of pure information; (b) they are material objects made of bits of computer hardware; (c) they are physical processes going on inside the computer; and (d) they are denizens of an entire artificial world, different from our own, that the programmer creates. I argue that (a) could not be right, that (c) collapses into (b), and that (d) would make strong alife either absurd or uninteresting. Thus, "virtual" strong alife amounts to the claim that, by programming a computer, one can literally bring bits of its hardware to life

Interactive White Board Use in a Second Grade Classroom During Content Area Lessons

Technology is quickly finding its way into each and every aspect of our lives, including in the elementary classroom. Many students have grown accustomed to having computers in their classrooms and now newer technologies, specifically IWBs, have entered the classroom and have the potential to help them to be successful. Because technology is constantly advancing and taking on a bigger role in the classroom, I believe that it is imperative that teachers are able to effectively integrate its many uses in ways that will benefit our students. Too often in the classroom technology is used in its most basic form and students are not given ample opportunities to reach their potential through the use of technology. For example, students use the computers to play games or word process a document or teachers use a projector or document camera to simply display information rather than using the available technology to create interactive lessons. By using technology, such as IWBs, teachers can create interactive lessons and students can become a part of the lesson and gain a better understanding of the content. Conducting this study will, I anticipate, reveal the positive role technology, in the form of an IWB, can have on student engagement during content area lessons