Machine Intelligence, New Interfaces, and the Art of the Soluble

Position: (1) Partial solutions to machine intelligence can lead to systems which may be useful creating interesting and expressive musical works. (2) An appropriate general goal for this field is augmenting human expression. (3) The study of the aesthetics of human augmentation in musical performance is in its infancy. CHI 2015 Workshop on Collaborating with Intelligent Machines: Interfaces for Creative Sound, April 18, 2015, Seoul, Republic of Kore

Design Considerations for Real-Time Collaboration with Creative Artificial Intelligence

Machines incorporating techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning can work with human users on a moment-to-moment, real-time basis to generate creative outcomes, performances and artefacts. We define such systems collaborative, creative AI systems, and in this article, consider the theoretical and practical considerations needed for their design so as to support improvisation, performance and co-creation through real-time, sustained, moment-to-moment interaction. We begin by providing an overview of creative AI systems, examining strengths, opportunities and criticisms in order to draw out the key considerations when designing AI for human creative collaboration. We argue that the artistic goals and creative process should be first and foremost in any design. We then draw from a range of research that looks at human collaboration and teamwork, to examine features that support trust, cooperation, shared awareness and a shared information space. We highlight the importance of understanding the scope and perception of two-way communication between human and machine agents in order to support reflection on conflict, error, evaluation and flow. We conclude with a summary of the range of design challenges for building such systems in provoking, challenging and enhancing human creative activity through their creative agency

Social Machines

The term ‘social machine’ has recently been coined to refer to Web-based systems that support a variety of socially-relevant processes. Such systems (e.g., Wikipedia, Galaxy Zoo, Facebook, and reCAPTCHA) are progressively altering the way a broad array of social activities are performed, ranging from the way we communicate and transmit knowledge, establish romantic partnerships, generate ideas, produce goods and maintain friendships. They are also poised to deliver new kinds of intelligent processing capability by virtue of their ability to integrate the complementary contributions of both the human social environment and a global nexus of distributed computational resources. This chapter provides an overview of recent research into social machines. It examines what social machines are and discusses the kinds of social machines that currently exist. It also presents a range of issues that are the focus of current research attention within the Web Science community

Conceptual modelling: framework, principles, and future research

The conceptual modelling task in a simulation project is very important and yet is still generally regarded as more of an art than a science. The meaning and nature of conceptual modelling are discussed and a framework set out. The overall aim should be to choose the best model for the project and conceptual modelling can be viewed as a difficult optimisation problem that can be tackled effectively using a creative search process that develops alternative models and predicts their performance throughout the project. An experiment relating model characteristics to some aspects of performance is described and this type of experiment may inform the process of predicting model performance. Based on advice from the literature and my own previous work on conceptual modelling 17 principles of conceptual modelling are suggested. Conceptual modelling research is still at an early stage and ideas for future research are proposed

An epistemic dimension space for musical devices

The analysis of digital music systems has traditionally been characterized by an approach that can be defined as phenomenological. The focus has been on the body and its relationship to the machine, often neglecting the system’s conceptual design. This paper brings into focus the epistemic features of digital systems, which implies emphasizing the cognitive, conceptual and music theoretical side of our musical instruments. An epistemic dimension space for the analysis of musical devices is proposed

'Pleasure balks, bliss appears' or 'The apparatus shines like a blade' : towards a theory of a progressive reading praxis in creative writing pedagogy

This article argues that a reformation of Creative Writing’s reading praxis is required if it is to develop its unique potential as a field of intellectual enquiry. Roland Barthes, in his essay ‘On Reading’, identifies three types of reading pleasure. The third of these modes is that of ‘Writing’, in which ‘reading is a conductor of the Desire to write’. Of this mode, Barthes writes: Is this pleasure of production an elitist pleasure, reserved only to potential writers? In our society, a society of consumption and not production, a society of reading … and not a society of writing ... everything is done to block the answer ... my profound and -constant conviction is that it will never be possible to liberate reading if, in the same impulse, we do not liberate writing. (Barthes 1989: 41) It is the contention of the author of this article that the teaching of the ‘reading as a writer’ method in Creative Writing classrooms gives rise to a situation the inverse of that Barthes describes; it makes Creative Writing into a ‘society of writing’ in which reading is trammelled. The article explores and critiques the ‘reading as a writer’ technique, examines various progressive models of Creative Writing reading praxis, and proposes a radical ‘writerly reading’ praxis suggested by concepts from the work of Michel de Certeau. Keywords: Pedagogy, 'reading as a writer', experimental fictio

The threnoscope: a musical work for live coding performance

This paper introduces a new direction in the field of artistic live coding where musical works are presented as pieces in the form of a live coding system. The system itself and the code affordances become equivalent to score system in an open musical work for strong improvisation

Autopoietic organization of firm: an illustration for the construction industry

Generally poor productivity, delays, low profitability and exceeded budgets are Common problems in modern construction management, however it seems that a basic obstacle lies far deeper in the understanding of a firm's fundamental mission, its existence. The main objective of this paper therefore is to examine the operational living of a construction firm and by doing that to reveal the key problem or the solution for a construction firm - its organization. A firm as a social system in which interactions between its constitutive components (employees) are surordinated to its maintenance (keeping a system alive) is an autopoietic social system. Two domains of external perturbations are uncovered to which a construction firm has to adapt (market driven and project driven perturbations). Constructed conceptual model of an autopoietic organization is based upon two necessary and sufficient operational domains that a firm has to create in order to become an autopoietic, adaptive social system. The first one is a domain of interactions between employees and other operationally external systems, which is representing an idea-generating domain of interactions. The second is employee's autonomous operational domain, which embodies employee's autonomy and individuality and represents a necessary condition for the establishment of an idea-generating domain. Finally, it is recognized that interactions within these four domains keep a construction firm alive