AI in Museums: Reflections, Perspectives and Applications

Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important topic in the cultural sector. While museums have long focused on building digital object databases, the existing data can now become a field of application for machine learning, deep learning and foundation model approaches. This goes hand in hand with new artistic practices, curation tools, visitor analytics, chatbots, automatic translations and tailor-made text generation. With a decidedly interdisciplinary approach, the volume brings together a wide range of critical reflections, practical perspectives and concrete applications of artificial intelligence in museums, and provides an overview of the current state of the debate

The cultural evolution of coinage as an informational system

The invention of coined money significantly changed economic history, by introducing a convenient and universal medium of exchange, whose value is regulated and guaranteed by a political authority. In order to be used as a means of payment, coins need to be recognized as valid and trustworthy. Combining carefully designed material features with inscriptions and images, they form a system of symbols that store and transmit information, primarily of an economic nature. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how coins encode information, and to understand how historical dynamics and human cognition shaped their evolution as an informational system. These questions were explored over three studies. The first study investigated the influence of changing political and economic circumstances in the ancient Mediterranean (7th - 1st ct. BCE) on the informative role of graphic designs as marks of issuing authority and monetary value. The second study discussed the advantages and challenges of digitization, standardization and quantitative approaches to cultural data, with a focus on coin iconography. The third study examined the representation and perception of monetary value in the properties of contemporary coins. This thesis shows how we can examine the structure and evolution of coins within an interdisciplinary framework, using quantitative methods, combined with insights from evolutionary and cognitive anthropology, and information theory. The increasing availability of expertly curated digital collections opens more possibilities for developing quantitative approaches necessary for proper interpretation of the processes which shaped observed patterns in cultural data. The approach taken in this thesis complements the research in numismatics and economic history on the origins and development of coinage, while also highlighting the possibilities of using historical artefacts to study large-scale patterns in the evolution and transmission of cultural traits

Liveability analysis of gated and non-gated low middle income communities in kuala lumpur, Malaysia

The aim of this paper is to examine the liveability conditions in gated and non-gated low middle income communities in Kuala Lumpur where rapid urban growth has led to many disruptions in the urban living environment. Hence, a livability framework was developed with dimensions from housing condition, economic condition, functional environment, social relations and community safety towards achieving the research objectives of – a) to study the liveability level in gated and non-gated communities, b) to compare the level of liveability between gated and non-gated communities, and c) to determine the dimensions and indicators which influence the level of liveability in both communities. Residents’ views were collected through a questionnaire survey which consisted of twenty-four indicators of liveability belonging to five dimensions from three communities in Kuala Lumpur. Two communities belong to non-gated and one community had gated living status. The findings of the research revealed that gated community has a better living conditions compared to the non-gated community. Thus, this research can be used as a turning point to improve the living environment of both gated and non-gated communit

Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies : Thematic Sessions of Free Communications

This volume contains the abstracts of the free communications sessions from the 23rdInternational Congress of Byzantine Studies, taking the form of one hundred and seventeen thematic sessions and twenty poster presentations. The success of forty three sessions should be attributed above all to the conveners who designed and realised them in cooperation with other participants, and then presided over them at the Congress. This type of sessions was the organisers’ response to the challenge posed by a large number of high-quality proposals for round table discussion. Since it was not possible to implement all the received proposals into the round table sessions, the proposers were encouraged to present their ideas as Thematic Sessions of Free Communications.The remaining seventy-four sessions were selected by the organizer out of approximatelysix hundred abstracts submitted. Stanoje Bojanin (The Institute for Byzantine Studies) createdthe initial classification of abstracts according to thematic compatibility, and the final form of thesessions was determined by Vujadin Ivanišević (The Institute of Archeology), Srđan Pirivratić,Dejan Dželebdžić, Ljubomir Milanović and Miloš Živković (The Institute for Byzantine Studies).Tamara Matović and Miloš Cvetković (The Institute for Byzantine Studies), prepared the abstractsfor the Congress website, and then for this publication. Bojana Pavlović (The Institute for Byzantine Studies) made a significant contribution to organizing the sessions by taking on the bulk of the correspondence with the participants.In principle, all the abstracts in this book are published in the form they were submitted tothe organizer, but certain minor, sometimes unavoidable alterations were made to the headings.The index of the participant’s names, which is customary and necessary in printed publications, has been omitted from this searchable electronic book.We believe that the main purpose of this book is to present in one place the wide range oftopics featured at the Congress, which accurately reflects contemporary trends in Byzantine Studies. We present this book to the public in the hope that the larger part of the communications read at the Congress will find their way into published research papers

Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies : Thematic Sessions of Free Communications

This volume contains the abstracts of the free communications sessions from the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies, taking the form of one hundred and seventeen thematic sessions and twenty poster presentations. The success of forty three sessions should be attributed above all to the conveners who designed and realised them in cooperation with other participants, and then presided over them at the Congress. This type of sessions was the organisers’ response to the challenge posed by a large number of high-quality proposals for round table discussion. Since it was not possible to implement all the received proposals into the round table sessions, the proposers were encouraged to present their ideas as Thematic Sessions of Free Communications. The remaining seventy-four sessions were selected by the organizer out of approximately six hundred abstracts submitted. Stanoje Bojanin (The Institute for Byzantine Studies) created the initial classification of abstracts according to thematic compatibility, and the final form of the sessions was determined by Vujadin Ivanišević (The Institute of Archeology), Srđan Pirivratić, Dejan Dželebdžić, Ljubomir Milanović and Miloš Živković (The Institute for Byzantine Studies). Tamara Matović and Miloš Cvetković (The Institute for Byzantine Studies), prepared the abstracts for the Congress website, and then for this publication. Bojana Pavlović (The Institute for Byzantine Studies) made a significant contribution to organizing the sessions by taking on the bulk of the correspondence with the participants. In principle, all the abstracts in this book are published in the form they were submitted to the organizer, but certain minor, sometimes unavoidable alterations were made to the headings. The index of the participant’s names, which is customary and necessary in printed publications, has been omitted from this searchable electronic book. We believe that the main purpose of this book is to present in one place the wide range of topics featured at the Congress, which accurately reflects contemporary trends in Byzantine Studies. We present this book to the public in the hope that the larger part of the communications read at the Congress will find their way into published research papers

The Object of Platform Studies: Relational Materialities and the Social Platform (the case of the Nintendo Wii)

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System,by Ian Bogost and Nick Montfort, inaugurated thePlatform Studies series at MIT Press in 2009.We’ve coauthored a new book in the series, Codename: Revolution: the Nintendo Wii Video Game Console. Platform studies is a quintessentially Digital Humanities approach, since it’s explicitly focused on the interrelationship of computing and cultural expression. According to the series preface, the goal of platform studies is “to consider the lowest level of computing systems and to understand how these systems relate to culture and creativity.”In practice, this involves paying close attentionto specific hardware and software interactions--to the vertical relationships between a platform’s multilayered materialities (Hayles; Kirschenbaum),from transistors to code to cultural reception. Any given act of platform-studies analysis may focus for example on the relationship between the chipset and the OS, or between the graphics processor and display parameters or game developers’ designs.In computing terms, platform is an abstraction(Bogost and Montfort), a pragmatic frame placed around whatever hardware-and-software configuration is required in order to build or run certain specificapplications (including creative works). The object of platform studies is thus a shifting series of possibility spaces, any number of dynamic thresholds between discrete levels of a system

Frontiers, Borders, Boundaries: Cross-Cultural Encounters in the New York City Reception of La fanciulla del West

This dissertation maps the responses to the world premiere of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West (10 December 1910, Metropolitan Opera House, New York City). It seeks to arrive at a deeper understanding of the opera’s ambivalent reception in the New York City musical press. From the vantage point of national musical identity, it analyzes the argumentation of the reviews and articles in the New York City newspapers from 1905-1911 and determines the themes and patterns that connect them. It then places the critical commentary into the larger contexts of both the New York City opera field of 1910 and the discourse of the American Frontier Myth. Critics carefully negotiated conflicting views of personal, national, and musical identities in their assessments of this work. The early twentieth-century concern over the development of an American musical identity motivates much of the negative criticism about La fanciulla del West, while cosmopolitanism drives much of the positive criticism. The reviews offer a window into nativism and cosmopolitan nationalism in New York City musical life during the first decade of the twentieth century

History of Construction Cultures Volume 2

Volume 2 of History of Construction Cultures contains papers presented at the 7ICCH – Seventh International Congress on Construction History, held at the Lisbon School of Architecture, Portugal, from 12 to 16 July, 2021. The conference has been organized by the Lisbon School of Architecture (FAUL), NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Portuguese Society for Construction History Studies and the University of the Azores. The contributions cover the wide interdisciplinary spectrum of Construction History and consist on the most recent advances in theory and practical case studies analysis, following themes such as: - epistemological issues; - building actors; - building materials; - building machines, tools and equipment; - construction processes; - building services and techniques ; -structural theory and analysis ; - political, social and economic aspects; - knowledge transfer and cultural translation of construction cultures. Furthermore, papers presented at thematic sessions aim at covering important problematics, historical periods and different regions of the globe, opening new directions for Construction History research. We are what we build and how we build; thus, the study of Construction History is now more than ever at the centre of current debates as to the shape of a sustainable future for humankind. Therefore, History of Construction Cultures is a critical and indispensable work to expand our understanding of the ways in which everyday building activities have been perceived and experienced in different cultures, from ancient times to our century and all over the world

Florence in Transition

Originally published in 1968. In the pluralistic society of the medieval commune, informal and personal ties of obligation bound men together. In trecentro Florence this "gentle" communal structure gradually evolved into the stricter, more centralized organization characteristic of the modern state. A growing emphasis on law and order transformed the medieval commune of the early fourteenth century into the Renaissance territorial state of the latter half of the century. Professor Becker's subject is this metamorphosis. Following his study of the declining communal paideia in Volume One, the author examines in this second volume the growing vigor of public world, as well as the attendant depersonalization and repression. He is concerned primarily with two factors that he considers the major forces producing the Renaissance territorial state and encouraging the growth of imperial government and constitutionalism: the intrusion of new citizens (novi cives) into politics after 1343 and the skyrocketing of communal debt. Thus, the author disputes Burckhardt's idea of the state as a work of art, viewing it instead as a creation of socioeconomic mobility and deficit financing. Further, in examining art and literature as symptoms of developing public culture and reactions to it, Professor Becker interprets them as indications of increased public involvement of the Florentine citizens, thus providing a sharp refutation of Burkhardt's egoistic, violent Renaissance man. The author concludes his study with a detailed description of the territorial state itself, pointing out the new relationship between citizen and polis which emerged in the early fifteenth century. These two volumes provide a compelling and challenging interpretation of a crucial period in Western history