MUSEUMS AND A.I NETWORK: A Toolkit for Stakeholders

BACKGROUND

The Museums and Artificial Intelligence Network will bring together a range of senior museum professionals and prominent academics to develop the conversation around AI, ethics and museums #museumsai

Who?

Principal Investigator: Dr Oonagh Murphy

Lecturer in Arts Management at Goldsmiths, University of London. As an arts manager, writer and lecturer her research has taken her around the world to explore international best practice on the scalability of emerging technologies for cultural organisations.

She completed a Ph.D in Museum Studies and Digital Culture, and a Masters of Research in Heritage and Conflict at Ulster University, Northern Ireland. A recipient of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship, she is a Fellow of the Higher Education. @Oonaghtweets

International Co-Investigator: Dr Elena Villaespesa

Elena Villaespesa works as an Assistant Professor at the School of Information, Pratt Institute. Her research and teaching areas of interest include digital strategy, data analytics and user experience research and evaluation applied to the museum sector.

She completed a Ph.D. in Digital Heritage at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester (United Kingdom) and an MA in Arts Management, Universidad Carlos III, Madrid (Spain). She has previously worked as a Digital Analyst at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Tate.

Network Research Assistants

Dimitra Gkitsa, Goldsmiths, University of London

Seth Crider, M.S Data Analytics and Spatial Design, Pratt Institute

Core Network Members

Dan Brennan, Museum Application Developer, Princeton University Art Museum

Lawrence Chiles, Head of Digital Services, The National Gallery, London

Jennie Choi, General Manager of Collection Information, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ariana French, Director of Digital Technology, American Museum of Natural History

Rachel Ginsberg, Frankenstein AI & Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Dr Christian Heath, Professor of Work and Organisation, Work, Interaction and Technology Research Centre, King’s College London

Dr Juhee Park, Data Research Fellow, Victoria and Albert Museum Research Institute (VARI)

Harrison Pim, Data Scientist, Wellcome Collection

Dr Mia Ridge, Digital Curator for Western Heritage Collections, The British Library

Andrew Lih, Wikimedia Strategist, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Carolyn Royston, Chief Experience Officer, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Casey Scott-Songin, Senior Manager: Data & Insight, The National Gallery, London

John Stack, Digital Director, Science Museum Group

Prof Robert Zimmer, Professor and Head of Computing Department, Goldsmiths, University of London

How?

Through a series of industry workshops in London, New York and San Diego, network participants will take part in in depth discussions designed to open up debate around the key parameters, methods and paradigms of AI in a museum context.

A conversation that will help to inform funders and senior managers about the opportunities and challenges this technology poses for the sector. AI is becoming an increasingly pressing concern for many large museums who are beginning to experiment with its potential to provide new ways to engage with audiences, visitors, art and objects.

AI technologies including machine learning, predictive analytics and others, bring exciting possibilities of knowing more about visitors and collections. However, these technologies also raise important ethical questions for museums. With an increasing awareness and regulations about data usage in wider society, museums, must approach AI with both caution and fervour. As such exploring, critiquing and understanding the ethical implications of AI within a museum context is increasingly becoming a pressing need for museums.

This network creates a forum to facilitate these core questions, with a view to influencing museum practice in this area for years to come, the network will create an ethically robust professional framework, to support museums who are keen to engage with the possibilities of these technologies, develop new audiences and increase access to their collections.

NEW YORK CONFERENCE:

DOWNLOAD REPORT – DOWNLOAD PROGRAMME

LONDON CONFERENCE:

DOWNLOAD REPORT – DOWNLOAD PROGRAMME