Accessibility, Artificial Intelligence, museums
Staff Researcher
Envisioning the Future of Museum Accessibility ...

With AI’s ability to automatically produce content and process complicated datasets with high accuracy, museums worldwide are exploring ways in which this innovative technology can help them better achieve their missions and advance accessibility efforts. Through case studies, learn about three applications of this technology: content digitalization, language accessibility, and visual description.

Envisioning the Future of Museum Accessibility Through Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, Public Policy, News & Announcements
Ian Hawthorne
October News: New Policies and Possibilities ...

October was filled with new debates on AI policies, a halt to one of the most significant AI safety bills in the United States, and a host of new AI developments in video, music, and even podcasts.

October News: New Policies and Possibilities for AI
Data, Fundraising, Marketing
Ian Hawthorne
Data Cultures Part I: The Many Markets of Arts ...

Arts and cultural nonprofits often operate in multiple markets for earned and contributed revenue. With increasing attention on data-driven decision making, effective market orientation often depends on effective data use. This fundamental collection, transmission, use, and interpretation of data within an organization collectively contributes to what can be considered an organization’s data culture.

Data Cultures Part I: The Many Markets of Arts Organizations
Advocacy, Community Building, Public Policy
Ian Hawthorne
Democracy on Display: The Dynamic Role of Art ...

Museums have increasingly begun to volunteer their spaces as polling places, acting as a democratic vehicle for their communities and adding to the greater fabric of America’s election infrastructure. In doing so, they can support local democratic processes and prove to their communities that they are not unbreachable temples for the elite, but open platforms for the people.

Democracy on Display: The Dynamic Role of Art Museums in Elections
Artificial Intelligence, entertainment, Film
Staff Researcher
Part I: A New Era of AI in the Entertainment ...

As exemplified by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, we find ourselves in a new era of Artificial  Intelligence in film and television. While studios are looking to cut costs, performers seek job security, and consumers seek quality content. Through research conducted in collaboration with facial motion capture technology provider Faceware Technologies Inc., Master of Entertainment Industry Management students at Carnegie Mellon sought to gain insight on how AI-generated content will transform existing industries, including how this technology could affect employment in the entertainment industry, content development,  budgets, contracts, legislation, and privacy rights.

Part I: A New Era of AI in the Entertainment Industry

file conversion

Monday Morning Freebies...

Call me cliché, but Mondays stink. So I'm offering a couple useful sites to brighten your week. Zamzar: Free Online File Conversion

Zamzar.com is one of my favorite online discoveries in quite some time. The tool allows you to upload a file and convert it to another format of the same type. For instance, you can upload and convert a WAV audio file to MP3, a DOC file to PDF, a WMV file to MP4, etc. You can also upload a file and compress it to a ZIP file.

Once you've uploaded your file(s), you just select your desired conversion format and click "Convert." Within an hour (usually no more than a few minutes, depending on the number/size of your files), you'll receive an email with links to download your new files. The site even lets you convert multiple files at once.

Zamzar's free account lets you convert files up to 100 MB, but you can pay for premium plans.

Umbrella Today?

Sometimes the simplest things are the most useful. Such is the case with UmbrellaToday.com, a weather site that makes things easy.

It's always frustrating to visit a weather site, enter a zip code and get vague information and percentages. I didn't major in meteorology, and I don't want to read radar maps. Sometimes I just want to know if I'm going to get wet.

Do I need an umbrella today?

With UmbrellaToday.com, you simply enter your zip code to ask the question, "Do I need an umbrella today?" and the site gives you a big fat "YES" or "NO." You can also enter your mobile number and select a time to receive a daily text alert from the site.

Never again will my perfect quaff be ruined by Mother Nature.