1,771 research outputs found

    Recalibrating machine learning for social biases: demonstrating a new methodology through a case study classifying gender biases in archival documentation

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    This thesis proposes a recalibration of Machine Learning for social biases to minimize harms from existing approaches and practices in the field. Prioritizing quality over quantity, accuracy over efficiency, representativeness over convenience, and situated thinking over universal thinking, the thesis demonstrates an alternative approach to creating Machine Learning models. Drawing on GLAM, the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and Design, the thesis focuses on understanding and communicating biases in a specific use case. 11,888 metadata descriptions from the University of Edinburgh Heritage Collections' Archives catalog were manually annotated for gender biases and text classification models were then trained on the resulting dataset of 55,260 annotations. Evaluations of the models' performance demonstrates that annotating gender biases can be automated; however, the subjectivity of bias as a concept complicates the generalizability of any one approach. The contributions are: (1) an interdisciplinary and participatory Bias-Aware Methodology, (2) a Taxonomy of Gendered and Gender Biased Language, (3) data annotated for gender biased language, (4) gender biased text classification models, and (5) a human-centered approach to model evaluation. The contributions have implications for Machine Learning, demonstrating how bias is inherent to all data and models; more specifically for Natural Language Processing, providing an annotation taxonomy, annotated datasets and classification models for analyzing gender biased language at scale; for the Gallery, Library, Archives, and Museum sector, offering guidance to institutions seeking to reconcile with histories of marginalizing communities through their documentation practices; and for historians, who utilize cultural heritage documentation to study and interpret the past. Through a real-world application of the Bias-Aware Methodology in a case study, the thesis illustrates the need to shift away from removing social biases and towards acknowledging them, creating data and models that surface the uncertainty and multiplicity characteristic of human societies

    Configuration Management of Distributed Systems over Unreliable and Hostile Networks

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    Economic incentives of large criminal profits and the threat of legal consequences have pushed criminals to continuously improve their malware, especially command and control channels. This thesis applied concepts from successful malware command and control to explore the survivability and resilience of benign configuration management systems. This work expands on existing stage models of malware life cycle to contribute a new model for identifying malware concepts applicable to benign configuration management. The Hidden Master architecture is a contribution to master-agent network communication. In the Hidden Master architecture, communication between master and agent is asynchronous and can operate trough intermediate nodes. This protects the master secret key, which gives full control of all computers participating in configuration management. Multiple improvements to idempotent configuration were proposed, including the definition of the minimal base resource dependency model, simplified resource revalidation and the use of imperative general purpose language for defining idempotent configuration. Following the constructive research approach, the improvements to configuration management were designed into two prototypes. This allowed validation in laboratory testing, in two case studies and in expert interviews. In laboratory testing, the Hidden Master prototype was more resilient than leading configuration management tools in high load and low memory conditions, and against packet loss and corruption. Only the research prototype was adaptable to a network without stable topology due to the asynchronous nature of the Hidden Master architecture. The main case study used the research prototype in a complex environment to deploy a multi-room, authenticated audiovisual system for a client of an organization deploying the configuration. The case studies indicated that imperative general purpose language can be used for idempotent configuration in real life, for defining new configurations in unexpected situations using the base resources, and abstracting those using standard language features; and that such a system seems easy to learn. Potential business benefits were identified and evaluated using individual semistructured expert interviews. Respondents agreed that the models and the Hidden Master architecture could reduce costs and risks, improve developer productivity and allow faster time-to-market. Protection of master secret keys and the reduced need for incident response were seen as key drivers for improved security. Low-cost geographic scaling and leveraging file serving capabilities of commodity servers were seen to improve scaling and resiliency. Respondents identified jurisdictional legal limitations to encryption and requirements for cloud operator auditing as factors potentially limiting the full use of some concepts

    Pristup specifikaciji i generisanju proizvodnih procesa zasnovan na inΕΎenjerstvu voΔ‘enom modelima

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    In this thesis, we present an approach to the production process specification and generation based on the model-driven paradigm, with the goal to increase the flexibility of factories and respond to the challenges that emerged in the era of Industry 4.0 more efficiently. To formally specify production processes and their variations in the Industry 4.0 environment, we created a novel domain-specific modeling language, whose models are machine-readable. The created language can be used to model production processes that can be independent of any production system, enabling process models to be used in different production systems, and process models used for the specific production system. To automatically transform production process models dependent on the specific production system into instructions that are to be executed by production system resources, we created an instruction generator. Also, we created generators for different manufacturing documentation, which automatically transform production process models into manufacturing documents of different types. The proposed approach, domain-specific modeling language, and software solution contribute to introducing factories into the digital transformation process. As factories must rapidly adapt to new products and their variations in the era of Industry 4.0, production must be dynamically led and instructions must be automatically sent to factory resources, depending on products that are to be created on the shop floor. The proposed approach contributes to the creation of such a dynamic environment in contemporary factories, as it allows to automatically generate instructions from process models and send them to resources for execution. Additionally, as there are numerous different products and their variations, keeping the required manufacturing documentation up to date becomes challenging, which can be done automatically by using the proposed approach and thus significantly lower process designers' time.Π£ овој Π΄ΠΈΡΠ΅Ρ€Ρ‚Π°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜ΠΈ прСдстављСн јС приступ ΡΠΏΠ΅Ρ†ΠΈΡ„ΠΈΠΊΠ°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜ΠΈ ΠΈ Π³Π΅Π½Π΅Ρ€ΠΈΡΠ°ΡšΡƒ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… процСса заснован Π½Π° ΠΈΠ½ΠΆΠ΅ΡšΠ΅Ρ€ΡΡ‚Π²Ρƒ Π²ΠΎΡ’Π΅Π½ΠΎΠΌ ΠΌΠΎΠ΄Π΅Π»ΠΈΠΌΠ°, Ρƒ Ρ†ΠΈΡ™Ρƒ ΠΏΠΎΠ²Π΅Ρ›Π°ΡšΠ° флСксибилности ΠΏΠΎΡΡ‚Ρ€ΠΎΡ˜Π΅ΡšΠ° Ρƒ Ρ„Π°Π±Ρ€ΠΈΠΊΠ°ΠΌΠ° ΠΈ Π΅Ρ„ΠΈΠΊΠ°ΡΠ½ΠΈΡ˜Π΅Π³ Ρ€Π°Π·Ρ€Π΅ΡˆΠ°Π²Π°ΡšΠ° ΠΈΠ·Π°Π·ΠΎΠ²Π° који сС ΠΏΠΎΡ˜Π°Π²Ρ™ΡƒΡ˜Ρƒ Ρƒ Π΅Ρ€ΠΈ Π˜Π½Π΄ΡƒΡΡ‚Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ 4.0. Π—Π° ΠΏΠΎΡ‚Ρ€Π΅Π±Π΅ Ρ„ΠΎΡ€ΠΌΠ°Π»Π½Π΅ ΡΠΏΠ΅Ρ†ΠΈΡ„ΠΈΠΊΠ°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… процСса ΠΈ ΡšΠΈΡ…ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΡ… Π²Π°Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Π° Ρƒ Π°ΠΌΠ±ΠΈΡ˜Π΅Π½Ρ‚Ρƒ Π˜Π½Π΄ΡƒΡΡ‚Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ 4.0, ΠΊΡ€Π΅ΠΈΡ€Π°Π½ јС Π½ΠΎΠ²ΠΈ намСнски јСзик, Ρ‡ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ ΠΌΠΎΠ΄Π΅Π»Π΅ Ρ€Π°Ρ‡ΡƒΠ½Π°Ρ€ ΠΌΠΎΠΆΠ΅ Π΄Π° ΠΎΠ±Ρ€Π°Π΄ΠΈ Π½Π° Π°ΡƒΡ‚ΠΎΠΌΠ°Ρ‚ΠΈΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ Π½Π°Ρ‡ΠΈΠ½. ΠšΡ€Π΅ΠΈΡ€Π°Π½ΠΈ јСзик ΠΈΠΌΠ° могућност модСловања ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… процСса који ΠΌΠΎΠ³Ρƒ Π±ΠΈΡ‚ΠΈ нСзависни ΠΎΠ΄ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… систСма ΠΈ Ρ‚ΠΈΠΌΠ΅ ΡƒΠΏΠΎΡ‚Ρ€Π΅Π±Ρ™Π΅Π½ΠΈ Ρƒ Ρ€Π°Π·Π»ΠΈΡ‡ΠΈΡ‚ΠΈΠΌ ΠΏΠΎΡΡ‚Ρ€ΠΎΡ˜Π΅ΡšΠΈΠΌΠ° ΠΈΠ»ΠΈ Ρ„Π°Π±Ρ€ΠΈΠΊΠ°ΠΌΠ°, Π°Π»ΠΈ ΠΈ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… процСса који су спСцифични Π·Π° ΠΎΠ΄Ρ€Π΅Ρ’Π΅Π½ΠΈ систСм. Како Π±ΠΈ ΠΌΠΎΠ΄Π΅Π»Π΅ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… процСса зависних ΠΎΠ΄ ΠΊΠΎΠ½ΠΊΡ€Π΅Ρ‚Π½ΠΎΠ³ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΎΠ³ систСма Π±ΠΈΠ»ΠΎ ΠΌΠΎΠ³ΡƒΡ›Π΅ Π½Π° Π°ΡƒΡ‚ΠΎΠΌΠ°Ρ‚ΠΈΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ Π½Π°Ρ‡ΠΈΠ½ трансформисати Ρƒ ΠΈΠ½ΡΡ‚Ρ€ΡƒΠΊΡ†ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ којС рСсурси ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΎΠ³ систСма ΠΈΠ·Π²Ρ€ΡˆΠ°Π²Π°Ρ˜Ρƒ, ΠΊΡ€Π΅ΠΈΡ€Π°Π½ јС Π³Π΅Π½Π΅Ρ€Π°Ρ‚ΠΎΡ€ ΠΈΠ½ΡΡ‚Ρ€ΡƒΠΊΡ†ΠΈΡ˜Π°. Π’Π°ΠΊΠΎΡ’Π΅ су ΠΊΡ€Π΅ΠΈΡ€Π°Π½ΠΈ ΠΈ Π³Π΅Π½Π΅Ρ€Π°Ρ‚ΠΎΡ€ΠΈ Ρ‚Π΅Ρ…Π½ΠΈΡ‡ΠΊΠ΅ Π΄ΠΎΠΊΡƒΠΌΠ΅Π½Ρ‚Π°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Π΅, који Π½Π° Π°ΡƒΡ‚ΠΎΠΌΠ°Ρ‚ΠΈΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ Π½Π°Ρ‡ΠΈΠ½ Ρ‚Ρ€Π°Π½ΡΡ„ΠΎΡ€ΠΌΠΈΡˆΡƒ ΠΌΠΎΠ΄Π΅Π»Π΅ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΈΡ… процСса Ρƒ Π΄ΠΎΠΊΡƒΠΌΠ΅Π½Ρ‚Π΅ Ρ€Π°Π·Π»ΠΈΡ‡ΠΈΡ‚ΠΈΡ… Ρ‚ΠΈΠΏΠΎΠ²Π°. Π£ΠΏΠΎΡ‚Ρ€Π΅Π±ΠΎΠΌ ΠΏΡ€Π΅Π΄Π»ΠΎΠΆΠ΅Π½ΠΎΠ³ приступа, намСнског јСзика ΠΈ софтвСрског Ρ€Π΅ΡˆΠ΅ΡšΠ° доприноси сС ΡƒΠ²ΠΎΡ’Π΅ΡšΡƒ Ρ„Π°Π±Ρ€ΠΈΠΊΠ° Ρƒ процСс Π΄ΠΈΠ³ΠΈΡ‚Π°Π»Π½Π΅ Ρ‚Ρ€Π°Π½ΡΡ„ΠΎΡ€ΠΌΠ°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Π΅. Како Ρ„Π°Π±Ρ€ΠΈΠΊΠ΅ Ρƒ Π΅Ρ€ΠΈ Π˜Π½Π΄ΡƒΡΡ‚Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ 4.0 ΠΌΠΎΡ€Π°Ρ˜Ρƒ Π±Ρ€Π·ΠΎ Π΄Π° сС ΠΏΡ€ΠΈΠ»Π°Π³ΠΎΠ΄Π΅ Π½ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΠΌ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄ΠΈΠΌΠ° ΠΈ ΡšΠΈΡ…ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΠΌ Π²Π°Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Π°ΠΌΠ°, Π½Π΅ΠΎΠΏΡ…ΠΎΠ΄Π½ΠΎ јС Π΄ΠΈΠ½Π°ΠΌΠΈΡ‡ΠΊΠΈ Π²ΠΎΠ΄ΠΈΡ‚ΠΈ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄ΡšΡƒ ΠΈ Π½Π° Π°ΡƒΡ‚ΠΎΠΌΠ°Ρ‚ΠΈΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ Π½Π°Ρ‡ΠΈΠ½ слати ΠΈΠ½ΡΡ‚Ρ€ΡƒΠΊΡ†ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ рСсурсима Ρƒ Ρ„Π°Π±Ρ€ΠΈΡ†ΠΈ, Ρƒ зависности ΠΎΠ΄ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π° који сС ΠΊΡ€Π΅ΠΈΡ€Π°Ρ˜Ρƒ Ρƒ ΠΊΠΎΠ½ΠΊΡ€Π΅Ρ‚Π½ΠΎΠΌ ΠΏΠΎΡΡ‚Ρ€ΠΎΡ˜Π΅ΡšΡƒ. Π’ΠΈΠΌΠ΅ ΡˆΡ‚ΠΎ јС Ρƒ ΠΏΡ€Π΅Π΄Π»ΠΎΠΆΠ΅Π½ΠΎΠΌ приступу ΠΌΠΎΠ³ΡƒΡ›Π΅ ΠΈΠ· ΠΌΠΎΠ΄Π΅Π»Π° процСса Π°ΡƒΡ‚ΠΎΠΌΠ°Ρ‚ΠΈΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ΠΎ гСнСрисати ΠΈΠ½ΡΡ‚Ρ€ΡƒΠΊΡ†ΠΈΡ˜Π΅ ΠΈ послати ΠΈΡ… рСсурсима, доприноси сС ΠΊΡ€Π΅ΠΈΡ€Π°ΡšΡƒ јСдног Π΄ΠΈΠ½Π°ΠΌΠΈΡ‡ΠΊΠΎΠ³ ΠΎΠΊΡ€ΡƒΠΆΠ΅ΡšΠ° Ρƒ саврСмСним Ρ„Π°Π±Ρ€ΠΈΠΊΠ°ΠΌΠ°. Π”ΠΎΠ΄Π°Ρ‚Π½ΠΎ, услСд Π²Π΅Π»ΠΈΠΊΠΎΠ³ Π±Ρ€ΠΎΡ˜Π° Ρ€Π°Π·Π»ΠΈΡ‡ΠΈΡ‚ΠΈΡ… ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΠΈΠ·Π²ΠΎΠ΄Π° ΠΈ ΡšΠΈΡ…ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΡ… Π²Π°Ρ€ΠΈΡ˜Π°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Π°, ΠΏΠΎΡΡ‚Π°Ρ˜Π΅ ΠΈΠ·Π°Π·ΠΎΠ²Π½ΠΎ ΠΎΠ΄Ρ€ΠΆΠ°Π²Π°Ρ‚ΠΈ Π½Π΅ΠΎΠΏΡ…ΠΎΠ΄Π½Ρƒ Ρ‚Π΅Ρ…Π½ΠΈΡ‡ΠΊΡƒ Π΄ΠΎΠΊΡƒΠΌΠ΅Π½Ρ‚Π°Ρ†ΠΈΡ˜Ρƒ, ΡˆΡ‚ΠΎ јС Ρƒ ΠΏΡ€Π΅Π΄Π»ΠΎΠΆΠ΅Π½ΠΎΠΌ приступу ΠΌΠΎΠ³ΡƒΡ›Π΅ ΡƒΡ€Π°Π΄ΠΈΡ‚ΠΈ Π½Π° Π°ΡƒΡ‚ΠΎΠΌΠ°Ρ‚ΠΈΠ·ΠΎΠ²Π°Π½ Π½Π°Ρ‡ΠΈΠ½ ΠΈ Ρ‚ΠΈΠΌΠ΅ Π·Π½Π°Ρ‡Π°Ρ˜Π½ΠΎ ΡƒΡˆΡ‚Π΅Π΄Π΅Ρ‚ΠΈ Π²Ρ€Π΅ΠΌΠ΅ ΠΏΡ€ΠΎΡ˜Π΅ΠΊΡ‚Π°Π½Π°Ρ‚Π° процСса.U ovoj disertaciji predstavljen je pristup specifikaciji i generisanju proizvodnih procesa zasnovan na inΕΎenjerstvu voΔ‘enom modelima, u cilju poveΔ‡anja fleksibilnosti postrojenja u fabrikama i efikasnijeg razreΕ‘avanja izazova koji se pojavljuju u eri Industrije 4.0. Za potrebe formalne specifikacije proizvodnih procesa i njihovih varijacija u ambijentu Industrije 4.0, kreiran je novi namenski jezik, čije modele računar moΕΎe da obradi na automatizovan način. Kreirani jezik ima moguΔ‡nost modelovanja proizvodnih procesa koji mogu biti nezavisni od proizvodnih sistema i time upotrebljeni u različitim postrojenjima ili fabrikama, ali i proizvodnih procesa koji su specifični za odreΔ‘eni sistem. Kako bi modele proizvodnih procesa zavisnih od konkretnog proizvodnog sistema bilo moguΔ‡e na automatizovan način transformisati u instrukcije koje resursi proizvodnog sistema izvrΕ‘avaju, kreiran je generator instrukcija. TakoΔ‘e su kreirani i generatori tehničke dokumentacije, koji na automatizovan način transformiΕ‘u modele proizvodnih procesa u dokumente različitih tipova. Upotrebom predloΕΎenog pristupa, namenskog jezika i softverskog reΕ‘enja doprinosi se uvoΔ‘enju fabrika u proces digitalne transformacije. Kako fabrike u eri Industrije 4.0 moraju brzo da se prilagode novim proizvodima i njihovim varijacijama, neophodno je dinamički voditi proizvodnju i na automatizovan način slati instrukcije resursima u fabrici, u zavisnosti od proizvoda koji se kreiraju u konkretnom postrojenju. Time Ε‘to je u predloΕΎenom pristupu moguΔ‡e iz modela procesa automatizovano generisati instrukcije i poslati ih resursima, doprinosi se kreiranju jednog dinamičkog okruΕΎenja u savremenim fabrikama. Dodatno, usled velikog broja različitih proizvoda i njihovih varijacija, postaje izazovno odrΕΎavati neophodnu tehničku dokumentaciju, Ε‘to je u predloΕΎenom pristupu moguΔ‡e uraditi na automatizovan način i time značajno uΕ‘tedeti vreme projektanata procesa

    Software Design Change Artifacts Generation through Software Architectural Change Detection and Categorisation

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    Software is solely designed, implemented, tested, and inspected by expert people, unlike other engineering projects where they are mostly implemented by workers (non-experts) after designing by engineers. Researchers and practitioners have linked software bugs, security holes, problematic integration of changes, complex-to-understand codebase, unwarranted mental pressure, and so on in software development and maintenance to inconsistent and complex design and a lack of ways to easily understand what is going on and what to plan in a software system. The unavailability of proper information and insights needed by the development teams to make good decisions makes these challenges worse. Therefore, software design documents and other insightful information extraction are essential to reduce the above mentioned anomalies. Moreover, architectural design artifacts extraction is required to create the developer’s profile to be available to the market for many crucial scenarios. To that end, architectural change detection, categorization, and change description generation are crucial because they are the primary artifacts to trace other software artifacts. However, it is not feasible for humans to analyze all the changes for a single release for detecting change and impact because it is time-consuming, laborious, costly, and inconsistent. In this thesis, we conduct six studies considering the mentioned challenges to automate the architectural change information extraction and document generation that could potentially assist the development and maintenance teams. In particular, (1) we detect architectural changes using lightweight techniques leveraging textual and codebase properties, (2) categorize them considering intelligent perspectives, and (3) generate design change documents by exploiting precise contexts of components’ relations and change purposes which were previously unexplored. Our experiment using 4000+ architectural change samples and 200+ design change documents suggests that our proposed approaches are promising in accuracy and scalability to deploy frequently. Our proposed change detection approach can detect up to 100% of the architectural change instances (and is very scalable). On the other hand, our proposed change classifier’s F1 score is 70%, which is promising given the challenges. Finally, our proposed system can produce descriptive design change artifacts with 75% significance. Since most of our studies are foundational, our approaches and prepared datasets can be used as baselines for advancing research in design change information extraction and documentation

    Fictocritical Cyberfeminism: A Paralogical Model for Post-Internet Communication

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    This dissertation positions the understudied and experimental writing practice of fictocriticism as an analog for the convergent and indeterminate nature of β€œpost-Internet” communication as well a cyberfeminist technology for interfering and in-tervening in metanarratives of technoscience and technocapitalism that structure contemporary media. Significant theoretical valences are established between twen-tieth century literary works of fictocriticism and the hybrid and ephemeral modes of writing endemic to emergent, twenty-first century forms of networked communica-tion such as social media. Through a critical theoretical understanding of paralogy, or that countercultural logic of deploying language outside legitimate discourses, in-volving various tactics of multivocity, mimesis and metagraphy, fictocriticism is ex-plored as a self-referencing linguistic machine which exists intentionally to occupy those liminal territories β€œsomewhere in among/between criticism, autobiography and fiction” (Hunter qtd. in Kerr 1996). Additionally, as a writing practice that orig-inated in Canada and yet remains marginal to national and international literary scholarship, this dissertation elevates the origins and ongoing relevance of fictocriti-cism by mapping its shared aims and concerns onto proximal discourses of post-structuralism, cyberfeminism, network ecology, media art, the avant-garde, glitch feminism, and radical self-authorship in online environments. Theorized in such a matrix, I argue that fictocriticism represents a capacious framework for writing and reading media that embodies the self-reflexive politics of second-order cybernetic theory while disrupting the rhetoric of technoscientific and neoliberal economic forc-es with speech acts of calculated incoherence. Additionally, through the inclusion of my own fictocritical writing as works of research-creation that interpolate the more traditional chapters and subchapters, I theorize and demonstrate praxis of this dis-tinctively indeterminate form of criticism to empirically and meaningfully juxtapose different modes of knowing and speaking about entangled matters of language, bod-ies, and technologies. In its conclusion, this dissertation contends that the β€œcreative paranoia” engendered by fictocritical cyberfeminism in both print and digital media environments offers a pathway towards a more paralogical media literacy that can transform the terms and expectations of our future media ecology

    Hybrid human-AI driven open personalized education

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    Attaining those skills that match labor market demand is getting increasingly complicated as prerequisite knowledge, skills, and abilities are evolving dynamically through an uncontrollable and seemingly unpredictable process. Furthermore, people's interests in gaining knowledge pertaining to their personal life (e.g., hobbies and life-hacks) are also increasing dramatically in recent decades. In this situation, anticipating and addressing the learning needs are fundamental challenges to twenty-first century education. The need for such technologies has escalated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where online education became a key player in all types of training programs. The burgeoning availability of data, not only on the demand side but also on the supply side (in the form of open/free educational resources) coupled with smart technologies, may provide a fertile ground for addressing this challenge. Therefore, this thesis aims to contribute to the literature about the utilization of (open and free-online) educational resources toward goal-driven personalized informal learning, by developing a novel Human-AI based system, called eDoer. In this thesis, we discuss all the new knowledge that was created in order to complete the system development, which includes 1) prototype development and qualitative user validation, 2) decomposing the preliminary requirements into meaningful components, 3) implementation and validation of each component, and 4) a final requirement analysis followed by combining the implemented components in order develop and validate the planned system (eDoer). All in all, our proposed system 1) derives the skill requirements for a wide range of occupations (as skills and jobs are typical goals in informal learning) through an analysis of online job vacancy announcements, 2) decomposes skills into learning topics, 3) collects a variety of open/free online educational resources that address those topics, 4) checks the quality of those resources and topic relevance using our developed intelligent prediction models, 5) helps learners to set their learning goals, 6) recommends personalized learning pathways and learning content based on individual learning goals, and 7) provides assessment services for learners to monitor their progress towards their desired learning objectives. Accordingly, we created a learning dashboard focusing on three Data Science related jobs and conducted an initial validation of eDoer through a randomized experiment. Controlling for the effects of prior knowledge as assessed by the pretest, the randomized experiment provided tentative support for the hypothesis that learners who engaged with personal eDoer recommendations attain higher scores on the posttest than those who did not. The hypothesis that learners who received personalized content in terms of format, length, level of detail, and content type, would achieve higher scores than those receiving non-personalized content was not supported as a statistically significant result

    Re-envisioning access for the digital preservation community: challenges, opportunities and recommendations

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    Digital material is not new and has been preserved for a couple of decades now. With a growing digital preservation community, and a growing number of practitioners identifying as doing something digital, there is an understanding that this material is here to stay. More and more institutions are publishing digital strategies or creating networks focusing on digital material. However, when looking at this in practice there seems to be a disconnect between what is being stated within these networks and strategies and what is being made accessible to the public. This thesis will explore this disconnect by first understanding how the digital preservation community has been providing access to this material and how they are envisioning it in the future. This exploration surfaces both a) how digital material can no longer be seen as separate from the infrastructure that ensures its materiality and b) how the provision of access is not just a technological question, but also a social, legal and ethical one. This thesis will also seek to explore the ways in which those who identify as digital preservation practitioners articulate their role and responsibilities. It will do so by drawing on relevant literature and gaining perspectives from practitioners and other relevant participants through in-depth interviews. Building from this exploration, this thesis will offer recommendations for how this practice can move forward in negotiating the provision of access to digital material in the online public space of the internet. This research is part of a collaborative project with The National Archives, UK where a number of the ideas encountered during this work were explored in practice. Some of these results have helped shape the recommendations given in the final chapters of this thesis

    Taylor University Catalog 2023-2024

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    The 2023-2024 academic catalog of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.https://pillars.taylor.edu/catalogs/1128/thumbnail.jp

    Computer Vision and Architectural History at Eye Level:Mixed Methods for Linking Research in the Humanities and in Information Technology

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    Information on the history of architecture is embedded in our daily surroundings, in vernacular and heritage buildings and in physical objects, photographs and plans. Historians study these tangible and intangible artefacts and the communities that built and used them. Thus valuableinsights are gained into the past and the present as they also provide a foundation for designing the future. Given that our understanding of the past is limited by the inadequate availability of data, the article demonstrates that advanced computer tools can help gain more and well-linked data from the past. Computer vision can make a decisive contribution to the identification of image content in historical photographs. This application is particularly interesting for architectural history, where visual sources play an essential role in understanding the built environment of the past, yet lack of reliable metadata often hinders the use of materials. The automated recognition contributes to making a variety of image sources usable forresearch.<br/
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