2,318 research outputs found
The Unending Lives of Net-Based Artworks: Web Archives, Browser Emulators, and New Conceptual Frameworks
Research into net-based artworks is an undertaking divergent from much prior art historical scholarship. While most objects of art history are stable analog works, largely in museum collections, net-based artworks are vital and complex entities, existing on artists’ websites alongside older versions captured in web archives. Scholars can profitably use web archives, browser emulators, and other digital methods to study the history of these works, but these new methods raise critical methodological issues. Art historians must contend with how the artwork changes over time, as well as the ever-evolving environment of the web itself. Probing the piece Homework by Alexei Shulgin as a test case, I investigate the methodological issues that arise when conducting art history research using web archives. In applying these methods, scholars must also attend to the evolving and multiple nature of these artworks. Drawing on the archival theory of Wolfgang Ernst and the records continuum model developed by Frank Upward and Sue McKemmish, I present a framework for conceptualising net-based artworks as plural and heterogeneous archives. This framework is generative of new readings of net-based artworks, accommodates new methods, and can also usefully equip scholars approaching dynamic cultural heritage objects in web archives more broadly
The effect of heterogeneity on decorrelation mechanisms in spiking neural networks: a neuromorphic-hardware study
High-level brain function such as memory, classification or reasoning can be
realized by means of recurrent networks of simplified model neurons. Analog
neuromorphic hardware constitutes a fast and energy efficient substrate for the
implementation of such neural computing architectures in technical applications
and neuroscientific research. The functional performance of neural networks is
often critically dependent on the level of correlations in the neural activity.
In finite networks, correlations are typically inevitable due to shared
presynaptic input. Recent theoretical studies have shown that inhibitory
feedback, abundant in biological neural networks, can actively suppress these
shared-input correlations and thereby enable neurons to fire nearly
independently. For networks of spiking neurons, the decorrelating effect of
inhibitory feedback has so far been explicitly demonstrated only for
homogeneous networks of neurons with linear sub-threshold dynamics. Theory,
however, suggests that the effect is a general phenomenon, present in any
system with sufficient inhibitory feedback, irrespective of the details of the
network structure or the neuronal and synaptic properties. Here, we investigate
the effect of network heterogeneity on correlations in sparse, random networks
of inhibitory neurons with non-linear, conductance-based synapses. Emulations
of these networks on the analog neuromorphic hardware system Spikey allow us to
test the efficiency of decorrelation by inhibitory feedback in the presence of
hardware-specific heterogeneities. The configurability of the hardware
substrate enables us to modulate the extent of heterogeneity in a systematic
manner. We selectively study the effects of shared input and recurrent
connections on correlations in membrane potentials and spike trains. Our
results confirm ...Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, supplement
Where have all the games gone? An exploratory study of digital game preservation
It is 50 years since the development of the first computer game and digital games now have an unprecedented influence on our culture. An increasingly popular leisure activity, digital games are also permeating other aspects of society. They continue to influence computer technology through graphics, animation and social networking; an influence which is also being felt in other media, in particular film and television. They are a new art form and they are seen to be influential on children s learning and development. However, despite their pervasiveness and apparent importance within our society and culture, they are still largely ignored as part of our cultural heritage.
Dismissed as disposable, entertainment products, they have not specifically been addressed in most of the academic literature on digital preservation which represents a serious omission in past research. This was justification for an exploratory study into the preservation of digital games and the aim of this study has been to explore the value of digital games, their significance in our culture, and the current status of their preservation. Investigating the relationship of games to culture; reviewing current preservation activities and drawing conclusions about the value of digital games and the significance of their preservation were the study s objectives. These have been achieved through interviews with key stakeholders the academic community, as potential users of collections; memory institutions, as potential keepers of collections; fan-based game preservation experts; and representatives from the games industry. In addition to this, case studies of key game preservation activities were explored. Through this research, a clearer picture of attitudes towards digital games and opinions on the need for preservation of these cultural products has been established. It has become apparent that there is a need for more coherent and collaborative efforts to ensure the longevity of these important aspects of digital heritage
- …