Abstract: 

AI research paradigms frequently frame the purpose of humans to be labelers of data or interchangeable machine components. Meanwhile, data collected from and about people is understood as ground truth even while it lies about those people, especially marginalized people.

In this talk, I will explore these processes of dehumanization and the vital role that the humanities have in resisting these trends by painting a deeper and richer picture of what it is to be human and keeping the focus there.

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aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/63723602045

Abstract: 

Abstract: 
There is a lack of consensus on how valuation and impact in A&H can be understood and measured. In contrast to disciplines within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the societal impact of A&H research may be more difficult to grasp. Hence, a better understanding of the nature of A&H research, as well as how value creation takes place, are central to an appreciation of research impact in A&H and the factors that can promote or hinder it. In this study we review and synthesise work on the impact of A&H research, including how this impact can be conceptualised and the role of funding and evaluation in promoting this research and its impact. The study is based on a systematic literature review as well as insights drawn directly from experts in the field of societal impact, A&H researchers and other key stakeholders. 

Join via Zoom: https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/63723602045

Themes

• Textual cultural heritage / Text-as-Data: archives, OCR, provenance, rights
• Computational humanities: methods, scholarly workflows, evaluation
• AI/NLP: retrieval, generation, alignment, reproducibility

How it works
No invited talks. Instead we run timeboxed working sessions where anyone can propose a question, we prioritize live, and each session ends with a concrete artifact (project kernel, pilot plan, benchmark sketch, &c.). If you are not learning or contributing, you move quietly.

Outcome
By the end, we aim to leave with 24 actionable research kernels, each with clear owners and next steps that can turn into pilots, papers, datasets, tools, or proposals.

Abstract: 
In our work, we aim to complement empirical research on the measurement of influence campaigns on social media platforms with a new simulation framework that allows us (and other interested researchers) to experiment with the changes in policies, strategies, and technologies that have previously been out of view. We accomplish this goal through the creation and release of an agent-based model framework utilizing multiplex network representations. Our work is inspired by the idea of creating digital twins of real world systems to better understand and predict their functions and interactions as well as approaches to uncertainty quantification that leverage simulations to propagate honest estimates of variations across complex systems. Specifically, we create computational objects that represent different advertising-tech surveillance and generative AI tools, distinct types of adversaries with (or without) access to those tools, and diverse constellations of experts and citizens. Each of the these components is modular and thus the framework allows different affordances and features to be turned on or off, tuned, or mixed and matched within and across simulations. Uniquely, this framework allows researchers to run paired experiments with and without adversaries and/or technologies, in order to understand and probe the mechanisms that lead to democratic problem-solving or dis-function through explicit comparisons between a baseline control and treatment condition. We provide a summary of the multiplex agent-based framework here as well as preliminary evidence of the potential combined dangers of social media surveillance and generative AI tools when available to external adversaries. 

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Abstract: 
Hieroglyphic texts dated to the Classic Maya period (ca. 300900 CE) offer concise historical accounts of the royal dynasties and political affairs of the ruling class. Recorded in their indigenous script, Classic Maya monuments include details about the wars, alliances, royal marriages, ritual ceremonies, and acts of subordination that gave shape to a shifting and fragmented political landscape. Decipherment and epigraphic studies have made significant advances in unraveling these political histories, but tend to concentrate on sites with the most well-preserved and largest number of monuments. Comprehensive cataloguing efforts by the Maya Hieroglyphic Database (MHD) project have created accessible digital resources that enable more systematic analyses to examine patterns of variation across a wider range of texts. In this talk I highlight datasets derived from the MHD to demonstrate how digital technologies combined with a social networks perspective can be used to map dimensions of sociocultural diversity in the Maya world.

Join via Zoom: https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/61750343089