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Exploring Variational Auto-encoder Architectures, Configurations, and Datasets for Generative Music Explainable AI
Get PDFGenerative AI models for music and the arts in general are increasingly complex and hard to understand. The field of explainable AI (XAI) seeks to make complex and opaque AI models such as neural networks more understandable to people. One approach to making generative AI models more understandable is to impose a small number of semantically meaningful attributes on generative AI models. This paper contributes a systematic examination of the impact that different combinations of variational auto-encoder models (measureVAE and adversarialVAE), configurations of latent space in the AI model (from 4 to 256 latent dimensions), and training datasets (Irish folk, Turkish folk, classical, and pop) have on music generation performance when 2 or 4 meaningful musical attributes are imposed on the generative model. To date, there have been no systematic comparisons of such models at this level of combinatorial detail. Our findings show that measureVAE has better reconstruction performance than adversarialVAE which has better musical attribute independence. Results demonstrate that measureVAE was able to generate music across music genres with interpretable musical dimensions of control, and performs best with low complexity music such as pop and rock. We recommend that a 32 or 64 latent dimensional space is optimal for 4 regularised dimensions when using measureVAE to generate music across genres. Our results are the first detailed comparisons of configurations of state-of-the-art generative AI models for music and can be used to help select and configure AI models, musical features, and datasets for more understandable generation of music
Inclusive Design Framework: Inclusive Design Actions and Implementations
Get PDFEquity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is widely accepted as an approach across businesses. Within design, this manifests both on an organisational level, in the policies, practices and culture of the organisation and design teams, as well as on a design output level, in the inclusive design values, methods and products the team designs. Inclusive Design, “design that considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human difference”(Inclusive Design Research Centre, no date), widens audience and customer bases by creating products that are suitable for a wider range of people. “Diverse firms and product teams have repeatedly been shown to make better decisions, come up with more competitive products, and better understand potential customers. Racial and gender diversity are linked to increased sales revenue, more customers, and greater relative profits” (Wachter-Boettcher, S., 2017. It is widely acknowledged (Wachter-Boettcher, 2017; Costanza-Chock, 2020; Noel and Paiva, 2021) that a workforce that reflects the makeup of the general population will be able to better design for a wider range of people, as opposed to reinforcing current inequalities
From vineyard to table: Uncovering wine quality for sales management through machine learning
Get PDFThe literature currently offers limited guidance for retailers on how to use analytics to decipher the relationship between product attributes and quality ratings. Addressing this gap, our study introduces an advanced ensemble learning approach to develop a nuanced framework for assessing product quality. We validated the effectiveness of our framework with a dataset comprising 1,599 red wine samples from Portugal’s Minho region. Our findings show that this model surpasses previous ones in accurately predicting product quality, presenting retailers with a sophisticated tool to transform product data into actionable insights for sales management. Furthermore, our approach yields significant benefits for researchers by identifying latent attributes in extensive data collections, which can inform a deeper understanding of consumer preferences and guide the strategic planning of marketing promotions
Ancestral sound. Archive and study of pre-hispanic Ecuadorian sound objects
No full textThis doctoral thesis explores the archaeomusicology of pre-Hispanic Ecuador, with a special focus on the archiving and analysis of ancient sound objects. It stems from curiosity about the sound/musical activities in pre-Hispanic societies, addressing a notable gap in previous research. Historically, the study of ancient sound objects has progressed very slowly, largely due to the lack of advanced technology and available digital repositories. This thesis aims to overcome this deficiency by establishing a digital archive that documents recordings, spectrograms, and quantitative and qualitative information of these objects, primarily from three Ecuadorian collections: the Museum of Anthropology and Contemporary Art, the Casa del Alabado Museum, and the Pumapungo Museum. The underlying premise is that the absence of a well-founded digital repository has hindered progress in this field of study in Ecuador. In turn, it aims to establish a new experimental methodology for the study of ancient sound objects
A Joining of Self by Suella Holland
Get PDFAn essay accompanying the work of photographic artist Suella Holland in Source magazine's themed issue titled, 'Wounds', Summer 2024.
Suella Holland’s 'A Joining of Self' was produced as part of her MFA in Photography at Ulster University during which she explored photography and stitching as a means of articulating childhood trauma. "Making photographs assists in regaining a sense of control and can help process emotions and experiences that have been unspeakable, whilst stitching on to the image or including stitched words as part of the image aids in the reconnection of self". The work is introduced by Jennifer Good whose research is about the photographic representation of conflict. "Having worked for some years on photographing the desolation of abandoned Irish houses (and there is no silence like the silence in Irish houses, abandoned or not), she now puts herself into the picture, in order to find her way out"
From eBay to Vinted: Selling secondhand fashion
No full textThe 2024 ThredUP resale report indicated the growing significance of the secondhand apparel market, suggesting that by 2025, 10% of the global apparel market is expected to be secondhand and that by 2028 the value of the resale market is expected to reach $350 Billion (ThredUp, 2024). From a circular economy perspective, the secondhand apparel market is extremely important, ensuring clothes are kept ‘in use’ for longer. Focusing on Vinted and ebay this paper assessed the differences between the platforms and their ease of use from a sellers’ perspective. This paper related solely to a UK experience of buying and selling secondhand clothing
Representing: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Get PDFIn this paper, I explore creative responses to the medieval alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (circa 1370) discussing the illustrations of the original codex and those produced for subsequent popular translations. I suggest those illustrations comprise an established visual language which is extended by film and television adaptations, and to which this project directly contributes by inviting several contemporary fine artists to respond to the poem with new original works, also discussed.
I argue that the intertextual nature of the poem is a direct consequence of its ideation by the Pearl Poet drawing on, as they did, existing narratives and in the chance physical manifestation of a multi-authored codex. A key aim of the paper is to show that the illustrations produced represent in and of themselves interpretations of the text at least as interesting and complex as the extant and varied academic appreciation that has existed since the first half of the 20th century. I explore the increased emphasis on horror motifs and landscape representation in contemporary responses that in their extremity attempt to bring the radical implications of the text to a modern audience. I conclude by suggesting that the assumption of audience responsibility (rather than attribution to the author) concerning the meaning of the text, has the effect of making it an unstable entity that changes upon re-reading. Furthermore, I suggest the desire to fix meaning and settle it, is a retreat from the experience of the text, mirroring ironically Gawain’s disappointment with his burgeoning interiority and his inability to fully assume the position of a dehumanising ideal.
This investigation is part of a project funded by Middlesex University which includes an online research hub of the same name (see Eden 2022). The website comprises all the images referred to here as well as other examples of work by the illustrators and artists that have responded to the poem, there are also resources, biographies of the illustrators and artists, and an extended discussion of the film and television adaptations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Cash From Chaos: Selling the New Wave
Get PDFThis presentation aims to analyse the ways in which information relating to the punk subculture and new wave music was disseminated in the United Kingdom between 1976 and 1979 through advertising, branding, popular magazines, graphic design and commercial products. Its particular focus is on the promotion of punk as a new pop trend for consumption by teenagers and young adults in the wider regions of the UK, where direct contact with the high profile and much documented scene in London or Manchester was lim ited. Running counter to the narrow, overly exposed and exhausted history of a small, elite scene in the capital, this body of research seeks to understand how punk was mediated and marketed through journalism, graphic design, branding and advertising, to a national audience of young potential fans. Examples of commercial and promotional material cited include articles, posters and pin - up photographs in teenage magazines such as Oh Boy!, Blue Jeans and Jackie, unofficial and unlicensed commercial products (from badges and clothing to jewellery, ornaments and bubble gum cards), along with the development of a ‘new wave’ visual style suitable for the pop mu sic marketplac
On Being One
Get PDFFrom the press release:
'On Being One', curated by Professor Phillip Lindley, brings together works from different series produced by visual artist and writer Sophy Rickett over the last 15 years, creating a new constellation of images and text to explore some of her ongoing interests in the context of Wolfson College’s Combination Room, and Wolfson’s focus more generally, on research based practice.
From 'Objects in the Field' (2012) and 'The Death of a Beautiful Subject' (2016) to more recent work such as 'There it is, the Soil' (2022), Rickett’s research process, which combines references to her subjective experience with primary research into specific contexts or environments that relate to archives, the heritage industry or the family archive, emerges as central to the development of her practice.
With landscape and the natural world as a backdrop, photography is evoked as a tool for seeing, processing, navigating and representing the world and its relations.
WOOOOOW
No full textA 360 immersive film that shows the beauty of earth-bound life from the perspective of an alien's first visit to our planet. They are awed by the (to us) insignificant details of our lives. The film illuminates constellation of vibrant memories the returns to their own cosmos with. It is a simple meditation on the healing to be found in a state of wonder; in paying attention to details and noticing the beauty right in front of us.
With music by El Hardwick.
Screened as part of Over Exposed Fulldome film festival at the Old Waiting Room in Peckham