Visual collaging of music in a digital library

This article explores the role visual browsing can play within a digital music library. The context to the work is provided through a review of related techniques drawn from the fields of digital libraries and human computer interaction. Implemented within the open source digital library toolkit Greenstone, a prototype system is described that combines images located through textual metadata with a visualisation technique known as collaging to provide a leisurely, undirected interaction with a music collection. Emphasis in the article is given to the augmentations of the basic technique to work in the musical domain

"The pain, the pain": Modelling music information behavior and the songs we hate

The paper presents a grounded theory analysis of 395 user responses to the survey question, "What is the worst song ever?" Important factors uncovered include: lyric quality, the "earworm" effect, voice quality, the influence of associated music videos, over-exposure, perceptions of pretentiousness, and associations with unpleasant personal experiences

Performing Joseph Cornell\u27s chronotopes of assemblage

In this project I study Joseph Cornell’s practices of art-making through a performative lens. Rather than focusing on his finished products, I am interested in his embodied processes of assemblage. I call on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the chronotope to articulate how time and space operate within Cornell’s finished works and his processes of assemblage art. In so doing, I conceptualize Cornell’s textual chronotope, métaphysique d’éphemera or “everyday magic,” as well as his chronotopes of assemblage: wandering, archiving, collaging, and assembling. I move from the finished work to the contingencies and strategies of the performance of assemblage. This project is unique because I extend my research into the creative realm, developing multi-media artworks through my embodiment of Cornell’s chronotopes of assemblage. My performance of Cornell’s chronotopes engenders projects that provide discoveries and expand my understanding of each chronotope, Cornell’s practices, and my own creative and scholarly work. The projects include: wandering New Orleans collecting memories that I then use to create an interactive website, creating a video of one of Cornell’s film scripts that was never realized by combining digital and analog technologies, creating a collage film composed of found footage, and directing a theatrical performance, Métaphysique d’Éphemera, that was restaged three years later. I conclude by arguing that Cornell’s textual chronotope, métaphysique d’éphemera, offers an aesthetic to work within, while his chronotopes of assemblage provide a model for both creative and scholarly work. I conclude by questioning whether the textual and process chronotopes are inextricably connected or if they can be practiced independently by artists/scholars

Book selection behavior in the physical library: implications for ebook collections

Little is known about how readers select books, whether they be print books or ebooks. In this paper we present a study of how people select physical books from academic library shelves. We use the insights gained into book selection behavior to make suggestions for the design of ebook-based digital libraries in order to better facilitate book selection behavior

Misdirect movies

Misdirect Movies is a curated touring exhibition exploring new possibilities of collage, employing material gleaned from cinema. With access to digital formats, artists are now able to appropriate films to create different and innovative approaches to collage. This builds upon research disseminated in artworks such as The Jump and Frames and the curated exhibition, Unspooling: Artists & Cinema The selected artists explore these ideas in diverse ways to work with narrative through different media. The exhibition will be supplemented by a catalogue, new artwork commissions, a series of artist/curator talks, film screenings, workshops and a website. The idea of the exhibition is to make us look anew at the familiarity of artist's use of collage, moving image and the cinema space. The exhibition includes work by the curators, alongside five artists from the UK, Germany and USA- Elizabeth McAlpine, Dave Griffiths, Cathy Lomax, Rosa Barba and David Reed. The selected artists work across different mediums and have a sustained engagement with the subject of the exhibition. There will be three new commissions launching at touring venues from the selected artists. The exhibition tours from Royal Standard, Liverpool (16-31 March 2013) and tours to Standpoint Gallery, London (5 July- 17 August 2013), Greyfriars, Lincoln (4-26 October 2013) and Meter Room, Coventry (8 November - 1 December 2013). The catalogue is published by Cornerhouse Publications and feature essays by Andrew Bracey, Dr. John Rimmer, Dr. Jaimie Baron, Dr. Maria Walsh and an interview between Dr. Sam George and Sir Christopher Frayling. The catalogue essays reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the exhibition's curatorial focus and feature contributions from visual arts, English literature and film studies backgrounds. The research is further disseminated by talks, critical essays on the website and introduced screenings of artist's films

Go Good: Reading, Mapping, and Teaching the Territory through Space and Time

Go Good will take the form of a digital memorial, incorporating short stories, voice notes, music, and photographs, among other fragmented artifacts, to honor mythical life, death, and spiritual afterlife. It will borrow from the transnational account of a Guyanese woman who travels with, hides, and passes along her spiritual possessions. Reliant on affect and memory, this digital altar aims to swell the imagination, encounter new worlds, and restructure the frames placed around control, materiality, home, and humanity. This song offers reflections on the beginning of the production process of a forthcoming digital research project. While this song is a meditation on many of Toni Morrison’s writings, it is mainly a site where Washington places lessons learned from the Guyanese elder in conversation with Sylvia Wynter’s piece, “On How We Mistook the Map for the Territory, and Re-Imprisoned Ourselves in Our Unbearable Wrongness of Being, of Désêtre” and Toni Morrison and Angela Davis’ 2010 conversation at the New York Public Library. This community remains apt for a woman and immigrant who not only navigated multiple territories, but through her teachings, offered a rich map of humanity that extended to a place she could never fully know but could deeply perceive. Produced with the principle of memory as generative, “Go Good: Reading, Mapping, and Teaching the Territory through Space and Time” will provide strong rationale for methodological approaches that explore and showcase different genres of the human

Columbia Chronicle (04/08/2013)

Student newspaper from April 8, 2013 entitled The Columbia Chronicle. This issue is 44 pages and is listed as Volume 48, Number 25. Cover story: College mitigates harm of false alarm Editor-in-Chief: Heather Schröeringhttps://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cadc_chronicle/1873/thumbnail.jp

Interacting with an inferred world: The challenge of machine learning for humane computer interaction

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Classic theories of user interaction have been framed in relation to symbolic models of planning and problem solving, responding in part to the cognitive theories associated with AI research. However, the behavior of modern machine-learning systems is determined by statistical models of the world rather than explicit symbolic descriptions. Users increasingly interact with the world and with others in ways that are mediated by such models. This paper explores the way in which this new generation of technology raises fresh challenges for the critical evaluation of interactive systems. It closes with some proposed measures for the design of inference-based systems that are more open to humane design and use. </span></p></div></div></div>This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Association for Computing Machinery via http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/aahcc.v1i1.2119

Fashion identity under socialism. Fashion as a creative expression of “conformist” and “oppositional” identity in the condition of the suppressive society in the Soviet Russia during the era of "Perestroika".

This thesis work is my personal exploration of the creative identity in the context of fashion design and suppressive society in Soviet Russia, specifically the “Perestroika” time period from 1985-1991, and the proposition of my unique interpretation of the fashion identity under the suppression existing in the modern fashion industry. The inspiration is based on the two creative individualities - the “phenomenon” of the Russian rock music scene of the 80s - Viktor Tsoi, as an example of an oppositional fashion identity; and my mother, who was in her 20s during the moment right before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end Communist Ideology, and her personal story in the “Komsomol” summer brigades, and how it affected her identity by the clothes she was obliged to wear. This thesis work is mostly practical, but it includes both theoretical and design practice parts. The theoretical part reviews the literature on the topic of the formation of the fashion identity, and it being dependent on social presumptions and limitations. Followed by the in-depth examination of the Viktor Tsoi’s fashion identity, supported by the analysis of the fashion of the youth subcultures of the 80s in Russia, based on the Joanna Stingray’s photo archive, which showcased Viktor Tsoi’s lifestyle and his cultural environment; and more personal investigation of my mother’s fashion identity, provided with the informative analysis of her photo archive from her experience in the Communist summer Brigades in 1986, and lastly - an overview of the soviet controversial cinematography, more specifically the movie “ASSA”, 1985. In the practice part, based on the researched material, mainly using the ethnographical approach, I describe the design process of the fashion collection development, elaborating deeply from the first sketch ideas, color combinations, silhouettes to the fabric development, details and embellishments. The production part includes a lot of technical and visual experiments with textiles, from the print creation to the development of the patches and other decoration. Textile methods mainly include experimental printing with reactive dyes, weaving and knitting techniques. The design and the development process are strongly and semantically connected with the theory, and acts as an inartificial response to my proposition of the “fashion identity under socialism”. In conclusion, the practical outcome of this thesis work is a menswear fashion collection called “Communication Tube”, which vividly illustrates my personal interpretation of the issue. With this unique fashion and artwork my goal is to motivate the creative individualism and bravery of talented designers, and for them to make, build, sew, draw, cut, interpret and experiment with the strong and meaningful message behind it, whether it’s about sharing your own heritage or if it is a response to the political, societal, cultural issues and debates; and for myself as a designer to establish my voice in this industry to be able to create valuable designs for the better future cause

The Art Of Reconstruction

The objective of this thesis paper is to highlight my artistic process, current projects, and research strategies emerging from my studio practice. First, this thesis describes and elaborates my practice of “reconstruction,” the reasons I find it effective, and the personal history behind it. I also discuss the goals of my work and how I intend to carry it forward into the future. Throughout my work I seek to tell a story that resonates with my personal history, communicating to audiences both the vulnerabilities and transitions of life experience. My work invites the viewer into a collective space where the larger narratives about our human experience are shared. I excavate story through parallel tracks of written and visual responses exposing the vulnerabilities of truth-telling. From the rending and fragmentation of surface contexts, I construct wholeness. The intersection of fracture and collision creates relevant moments of access for each viewer. The results provide a kaleidoscopic lens through which my own anecdotal and contemplative moments become a means for reconnecting the audience to their own stories and images