Taste and the algorithm

Today, a consistent part of our everyday interaction with art and aesthetic artefacts occurs through digital media, and our preferences and choices are systematically tracked and analyzed by algorithms in ways that are far from transparent. Our consumption is constantly documented, and then, we are fed back through tailored information. We are therefore witnessing the emergence of a complex interrelation between our aesthetic choices, their digital elaboration, and also the production of content and the dynamics of creative processes. All are involved in a process of mutual influences, and are partially determined by the invisible guiding hand of algorithms. With regard to this topic, this paper will introduce some key issues concerning the role of algorithms in aesthetic domains, such as taste detection and formation, cultural consumption and production, and showing how aesthetics can contribute to the ongoing debate about the impact of today’s “algorithmic culture”

The Role of Group Dynamics in Creativity: A Study Case from Italy

Modern society requires people to be flexible and to develop innovative solutions to unexpected situations. Creativity refers to the “interaction among aptitude, process, and the environment by which an individual or group produces a perceptible product that is both novel and useful as defined within a social context”. It allows humans to produce novel ideas, generate new solutions, and express themselves uniquely. Only a few scientific studies have examined group dynamics' influence on individuals' creativity. There exist some gaps in the research on creative thinking, such as the fact that collaborative effort frequently results in the enhanced production of new information and knowledge. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate creativity via social settings. The study aimed at exploring the group dynamics of young adults in small group settings and the influence of these dynamics on their creativity. The study included 30 participants aged 20 to 25 who were attending university after completing a bachelor's degree. The participants were divided into groups of three, in gender homogenous and heterogeneous groups. The groups’ creative task was tied to the Lego mosaic created for the Scintillae laboratory at the Reggio Children Foundation. Group dynamics were operationalized into patterns of behaviors classified into three major categories: 1) Social Interactions, 2) Play, and 3) Distraction. Data were collected through audio and video recording and observation. The qualitative data were converted into quantitative data using the observational coding system; then, they were analyzed, revealing correlations between behaviors using median points and averages. For each participant and group, the percentages of represented behavior signals were computed. The findings revealed a link between social interaction, creative thinking, and creative activities. Other findings revealed that the more intense the social interaction, the lower the amount of creativity demonstrated. This study bridges the research gap between group dynamics and creativity. The approach calls for further research on the relationship between creativity and social interaction

Relevance and Creativity—A Linear Model

Purpose—The purpose of this paper is to provide a new and useful formulation of relevance. Design/methodology/approach—This paper is formulated as a conceptual argument. It makes the case for the utility of considering relevance to be function of use in creative processes. Findings—There are several corollaries to formulating relevance as a function of use. These include the idea that objects by themselves cannot be relevant since use assumes interaction; the affordances of objects and how they are perceived can affect what becomes relevant but are not in themselves relevant; relevance is not an essential characteristic of objects; relevance is transient; potential relevance (what might be relevant in the future) can be distinguished from what is relevant in use and from what has been relevant in the past. Originality/value—The paper shows that its new formulation of relevance brings improved conceptual and terminological clarity to the discourse about relevance in information science. It demonstrates that how relevance is articulated conceptually is important as its conceptualization can affect the ways that users are able to make use of information systems and, by extension, how information systems can facilitate or disable the co-production of creative outcomes. The paper also usefully expands investigative opportunities by suggesting relevance and creativity are interrelated

The riddle of the mirror

The context of design is changing at a rapid pace. The impact of information technologies and digital creative tools continuously improving have revolutionized design practice. There has been a transition within the scope of a designer’s role - from simply giving form to a material to designing digital services. These developments have distanced design from tactile materiality. The designer, whose practice began as a material-based and rooted in the arts and crafts, must now rethink and reposition their creative processes and role within the current context of design. In this master thesis, I investigated this problem space by trying to answer the following research question: how does hands-on interaction with material influence the expressive and creative aspects of design practice? My method for investigating this research question is to engage in a practice-led research approach in which I explore the artistic potential of silver glass colors in glassblowing. I chose to research this topic in the field of glassblowing because of the intense physical interaction required between the artist and the material. In glassmaking, silver glass colors are used to create specific aesthetics, ranging from iridescent to silver mirrored surfaces. However, silver glass colors have been very challenging for many practitioners due to their unpredictable nature. I have considered this unpredictable material nature as a research opportunity to explore a reliable method of achieving silver mirrored results and to have artistic control of the wide metallic and iridescent palette. I have then applied these insights from material research to my artistic process and, with the help of relevant theory, I have reflected on both of these processes to investigate their intersection as a whole. My aim has been to determine the influence of hands-on material exploration on my design practice. The main findings are summarized in three points: 1) Hands-on interaction with the material has primarily influenced my early artistic vision and enhanced its expressive and creative aspects throughout my artistic production.2) Cyclical hands-on dialog with a material can support personal growth and help to develop an individual voice and creative expression; thus offering great potential for educational purposes. 3) The empirical data shows that silver glass colors provide a wide range of visual palette and can be preferred for local applications in particular, yet they require a long learning process to have control of them. This work provides information for readers who wish to know more about the role of hands-on studio practice and developing an individual voice through a creative process. Moreover, it presents helpful insights and data for people who are particularly interested in conducting material-based research in glassblowing and utilizing silver glass colors as an artistic technique

Human-machine tool shop management system

The article describes a human-machine tool shop management system based on the developed models and algorithms of production division management tasks. The calculation of the economic efficiency of the developed management system is carried out. The developed online management system increases the economic efficiency of managing a modern production unit. This management system, as shown by its operation, has the ability to form management decisions, making extensive use of the ability of operational shop staff to navigate in informal situations due to their experience, intuition, and forecasting the development of the production situation. With this approach to the management process, it is possible to involve hidden reserves and other resources in the production sphere on the basis of the development of creative initiative of the heads of production units and site management personnel. In addition, having the ability to quickly respond to changes in the production environment, the dialog control system allows you to more effectively than with batch information processing systems to stabilize the course of the production process when it is affected by various random factors. The ability to synchronize in real time the interaction of all workplaces (WP) of production sites is implemented, thereby significantly reducing the duration of production cycles for manufacturing products, work in progress, improving the rhythm of production, increasing labor productivity

Towards Sustainable Future by Transition to the Next Level Civilisation

Universal and rigorously derived concept of dynamic complexity (ccsd-00004906) shows that any system of interacting components, including society and civilisation, exists only as a process of highly inhomogeneous, qualitative development of its complexity. Modern state of civilisation corresponds to the end of unfolding of a big enough level of complexity. Such exhausted, totally “replete” structure cannot be sustainable in principle and shows instead increased instability, realising its inevitable replacement by a new kind of structure with either low or much higher level of complexity (degrading or progressive development branch, respectively). Unrestricted sustainability can emerge only after transition to the next, superior level of civilisation complexity (ccsd-00004214), which implies qualitative and unified changes in all aspects of life, including knowledge, production, social organisation, and infrastructure. These changes are specified by the rigorous analysis of underlying interaction processes. The unitary, effectively one-dimensional and rigidly fixed kind of thinking, knowledge, and social structure at the current level of complexity will be replaced by “dynamically multivalued”, intrinsically creative kind of structure at the forthcoming superior level of development. We propose mathematically rigorous description of unreduced civilisation complexity development, including universal criterion of progress. One obtains thus a working basis for the causally complete, objectively exact and reliable development science and futurology.Universal science of complexity; dynamic multivaluedness; chaos; self-organisation; dynamically probabilistic fractal; dynamic information; dynamic entropy; symmetry of complexity; Unitary System; Harmonical System; sustainability transition; Revolution of Complexity; noosphere

Exploring Perspectives on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creativity of Knowledge Work: Beyond Mechanised Plagiarism and Stochastic Parrots

Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in particular generative models, are transformative tools for knowledge work. They problematise notions of creativity, originality, plagiarism, the attribution of credit, and copyright ownership. Critics of generative models emphasise the reliance on large amounts of training data, and view the output of these models as no more than randomised plagiarism, remix, or collage of the source data. On these grounds, many have argued for stronger regulations on the deployment, use, and attribution of the output of these models. However, these issues are not new or unique to artificial intelligence. In this position paper, using examples from literary criticism, the history of art, and copyright law, I show how creativity and originality resist definition as a notatable or information-theoretic property of an object, and instead can be seen as the property of a process, an author, or a viewer. Further alternative views hold that all creative work is essentially reuse (mostly without attribution), or that randomness itself can be creative. I suggest that creativity is ultimately defined by communities of creators and receivers, and the deemed sources of creativity in a workflow often depend on which parts of the workflow can be automated. Using examples from recent studies of AI in creative knowledge work, I suggest that AI shifts knowledge work from material production to critical integration. This position paper aims to begin a conversation around a more nuanced approach to the problems of creativity and credit assignment for generative models, one which more fully recognises the importance of the creative and curatorial voice of the users of these models and moves away from simpler notational or information-theoretic views.Comment: Advait Sarkar. 2023. Exploring Perspectives on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creativity of Knowledge Work Beyond Mechanised Plagiarism and Stochastic Parrots. In Annual Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work 2023 (CHIWORK 2023), June 13-16, 2023, Oldenburg, Germany. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 17 page

MitoInteractome: mitochondrial protein interactome database, and its application in 'aging network' analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mitochondria play a vital role in the energy production and apoptotic process of eukaryotic cells. Proteins in the mitochondria are encoded by nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Owing to a large increase in the number of identified mitochondrial protein sequences and completed mitochondrial genomes, it has become necessary to provide a web-based database of mitochondrial protein information. RESULTS: We present 'MitoInteractome', a consolidated web-based portal containing a wealth of information on predicted protein-protein interactions, physico-chemical properties, polymorphism, and diseases related to the mitochondrial proteome. MitoInteractome contains 6,549 protein sequences which were extracted from the following databases: SwissProt, MitoP, MitoProteome, HPRD and Gene Ontology database. The first general mitochondrial interactome has been constructed based on the concept of 'homologous interaction' using PSIMAP (Protein Structural Interactome MAP) and PEIMAP (Protein Experimental Interactome MAP). Using the above mentioned methods, protein-protein interactions were predicted for 74 species. The mitochondrial protein interaction data of humans was used to construct a network for the aging process. Analysis of the 'aging network' gave us vital insights into the interactions among proteins that influence the aging process. CONCLUSION: MitoInteractome is a comprehensive database that would (1) aid in increasing our understanding of the molecular functions and interaction networks of mitochondrial proteins, (2) help in identifying new target proteins for experimental research using predicted protein-protein interaction information, and (3) help in identifying biomarkers for diagnosis and new molecular targets for drug development related to mitochondria. MitoInteractome is available at http://mitointeractome.kobic.kr/.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Развитие информационно-коммуникационных и медиа компетентностей учителей в международном педагогическом пространстве

У статті схарактеризовано зарубіжний досвід формування комплексу компетентностей, яким має володіти сучасний учитель для розвитку в учнів умінь ефективної діяльності в сучасному інформаційному просторі, виховання у них творчої взаємодії з мас-медіа, що ґрунтується на навчальних технологіях медіа педагогіки. Висвітлено застосування медіа й інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій в освіті, спрямованих на розвиток в учителів і учнів критичного сприймання інформації, здатності протистояти культу насильства, жорстокості, надмірної сексуалізації, що нагнітається в медіа продукції, з’ясовано стратегії творчого осмислення і використання медіа у викладанні навчальних дисциплін.The article describes the international experience of the complex of competences formation which every modern teacher must possess to develop the students’ skills of effective activity in information environment, to bring them to creative interaction with mass media, based on educational technologies of media pedagogy. It is lighted the use of media and information and communication technologies in education, aimed at teachers’ and students’ critical perception development, their ability to resist the cult of violence, brutality, excessive sexualization forced by media production. The strategies of creative interpretation and use of media in teaching activity are identified.В статье охарактеризован зарубежный опыт формирования комплекса компетенций, которыми должен владеть современный учитель для развития умений учащихся эффективно действовать в современном информационном пространстве, воспитание у них творческого взаимодействия с массмедиа, основанной на учебных технологиях медиа педагогики. Освещено применение в образовании медиа и информационно-коммуникационных технологий, направленных на развитие в учителей и учащихся критического восприятия информации, способности противостоять культу насилия, жестокости, чрезмерной сексуализации, нагнетаемого в медиа продукции, выявлены стратегии творческого осмысления и использования медиа в преподавании учебных дисциплин

MitoInteractome: Mitochondrial protein interactome database, and its application in 'aging network' analysis

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.Abstract Background Mitochondria play a vital role in the energy production and apoptotic process of eukaryotic cells. Proteins in the mitochondria are encoded by nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Owing to a large increase in the number of identified mitochondrial protein sequences and completed mitochondrial genomes, it has become necessary to provide a web-based database of mitochondrial protein information. Results We present 'MitoInteractome', a consolidated web-based portal containing a wealth of information on predicted protein-protein interactions, physico-chemical properties, polymorphism, and diseases related to the mitochondrial proteome. MitoInteractome contains 6,549 protein sequences which were extracted from the following databases: SwissProt, MitoP, MitoProteome, HPRD and Gene Ontology database. The first general mitochondrial interactome has been constructed based on the concept of 'homologous interaction' using PSIMAP (Protein Structural Interactome MAP) and PEIMAP (Protein Experimental Interactome MAP). Using the above mentioned methods, protein-protein interactions were predicted for 74 species. The mitochondrial protein interaction data of humans was used to construct a network for the aging process. Analysis of the 'aging network' gave us vital insights into the interactions among proteins that influence the aging process. Conclusion MitoInteractome is a comprehensive database that would (1) aid in increasing our understanding of the molecular functions and interaction networks of mitochondrial proteins, (2) help in identifying new target proteins for experimental research using predicted protein-protein interaction information, and (3) help in identifying biomarkers for diagnosis and new molecular targets for drug development related to mitochondria. MitoInteractome is available at http://mitointeractome.kobic.kr/.Peer Reviewe