Art-mapping smart-cities: accessing art collections outside the museum

PublishedArticlePaper presented at the international conference, Museums and the Web Florence (MWF2014) held in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy 19 to 21 February 2014In this paper I will discuss the outreach potential of those mobile museum applications that relate art collections to places on a digital map and in the real world, at first focusing my attention on a specific crowd-sourcing application and on a case study that illustrates its usage, then making more general observations on the related constructivist learning experience and recommendations on how to effectively adapt it to the city of Florence’s historical context. I will start describing the affordances of the Art Maps web-based application, a research project funded by Horizon and led by researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Nottingham in collaboration with the departments of Learning, Digital and Research at Tate, London. Such application allows users to access the Tate collection through a digital map from a desktop or mobile device, and invites them to comment on an artwork and either confirm its proposed location, or suggest a new one according to their prior knowledge and experience of a place or an artwork, in a crowdsourcing exercise that aims at mapping a total of 70,000 works around the world. I will then present the Migrants Resource Centre’s case study, recounting activities run at and around Tate Britain in November 2013 by the Art Maps Research Team and aimed at a group of women recently migrated to London from non-European countries. Through the Art Maps application, participants were encouraged to use artworks from the Tate collection as landmarks, to get familiar with their area of residence and foster their orientation skills both on a digital map and in the real world, but also to tap into their knowledge and experience of the borough to interpret selected Tate artworks and precisely mark them on the map. Using a co-constructivist framework, I will then discuss the participants’ learning experience, focusing in particular on the possible changes in confidence in accessing the collection they experienced, and on the nature of the digital crowd-sourcing collaboration they embarked upon in order to exactly place Tate artworks on the map. My argument is that applications such as Art Maps constitute an effective way to flatten the perceived barrier of the museum as an elite’s stronghold, bringing collections to the more neutral territory of the places where communities dwell in. Along these lines, I will propose the idea of running similar activities in Florence and illustrate some of the many ways Art Maps can effectively intertwine the city’s cultural heritage with artworks from the Tate collection. Attendees will be invited to access the application and contribute to it with their knowledge of the city, or use it to explore its historically rich areas. In conclusion, through this paper I intend to demonstrate how the relationship between art and place, experienced through flexible digital technologies greatly enhances the quality of engagement that community groups may experience, and encourages them to visit the museum in real life

Humanising complex projects through design thinking and its effects

The last decades of research in project studies show us that humans, rather than technologies, software or mathematical models, shape project success. This is simultaneously fascinating and problematic since, while technologies, software or mathematical models are relatively predictable and straightforward, humans are far more complex, with extremely intricate links between motivations and emotions. This consideration is particularly true in complex projects where a plethora of diverse stakeholders have very different emotions and motivations toward the same project. To address this challenge, this essay proposes using design thinking principles, tools, and techniques to "humanise" complex projects. By bringing together stakeholders, including non-market stakeholders such as local communities, with diverse goals and interests and aligning them with a common purpose, design thinking can help to shape, plan, and deliver successful complex projects. While design thinking is commonly discussed in innovation studies, this essay aims to encourage its investigation and discussion in project studies

Project Manager and Systems Engineer: a literature rich reflection on roles and responsibilities

There are several definitions of Systems Engineering (SE) in the literature, each with different definitions of its relationship with Project Management (PM), causing a great deal of misunderstanding. The paper offers a broad and critical discussion of the relevant literature with a deep reflection concerning the historical evolution and state-of-the-art of both the definition of SE and its relationship with PM. This endeavor provides two main results: (i) a conceptual framework to define SE in a project based environment and (ii) a model to identify the best formal interaction between the Project Manager and System Engineer based on the project characteristics

Investment and risk appraisal in Energy Storage Systems: a real options approach

The increasing penetration of variable renewable energy is becoming a key challenge for the management of the electrical grid. Electrical Energy Storage Systems (ESS) are one of the most suitable solutions to increase the flexibility and resilience of the electrical system. This paper presents an innovative methodology for the appraisal of the investment in ESS. The methodology is based on the Real Option Analysis and it is able to properly consider investment risks and uncertainties as well as the options available for the investor. The paper assesses the value of the option to wait for a change in the market conditions before investing and re-evaluates the profitability of the investment after each step of the development of the ESS project. In order to exemplify relevant results, this method is applied to the UK energy market and assesses the technical and economic feasibility of investing in ESS operating price arbitrage and Short Term Operating Reserves. The results show that the implementation of the Real Option Analysis increases the economic performance of ESS. Nevertheless, ESS still requires limited incentives to be economically viable

A methodology based on benchmarking to learn across megaprojects: the case of nuclear decommissioning

Purpose: The literature lacks a single and universally accepted definition of major and megaprojects: usually, these projects are described as projects with a budget above $1 billion and a high level of innovation, complexity & uniqueness both in terms of physical infrastructure and stakeholder network. Moreover, they often provide fewer benefits than what were originally expected and are affected by delays and cost overruns. Despite this techno-economic magnitude, it is still extremely hard to gather lessons learned from these projects in a systematic way. This paper presents an innovative methodology based on benchmarking to investigate good and bad practices and learn from a portfolio of unique megaprojects. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology combines quantitative & qualitative cross-comparison of case studies and statistical analysis into an iterative process. Findings: Indeed, benchmarking offers significant potential to identify good and bad practices and improve the performance of project selection, planning and delivery. Research limitations/implications: The methodology is exemplified in this paper using the case of Nuclear Decommissioning Projects and Programmes (NDPs). Originality/value: Indeed, due to their characteristics, NDPs can be addressed as megaprojects, and are a relevant example for the application of the methodology presented here that collects and investigates the characteristics that mostly impact the performance of (mega)projects, through a continuous learning process

Futureproofing Complex Infrastructure Projects Using Real Options

Existing project performance measures in the infrastructure sector focus on construction performance (time, cost, quality) and pay less attention to lifecycle performance. The consequence of this shortsighted perspective is that decisions taken early lead to poorer solutions. Infrastructure that should last centuries quickly becomes inadequate, leading to costly reconfigurations. Real options reasoning can help managers to overcome this issue by unlocking lifecycle performance thinking in complex infrastructure projects. Real options reasoning enables managers to explore the value of flexibility by employing futureproofing strategies during the development process. From analysis of interviews with experts in healthcare infrastructure, we observed that projects that led to obsolescence were developed using tight design briefs and were focused on capital targets, and decision-makers were less invested in the concept of futureproofing. On the other hand, projects that were futureproofed followed a loosely-defined design brief and shifted focus towards whole-life targets. We make five recommendations for futureproofed infrastructure