Collaboration lessons from cultural labs improve ai research teamwork
Reciprocal Collaboration: how lessons from convergence in GLAMs can enhance interdisciplinary AI research
Computers and SocietyArtificial Intelligence
Summary
Working together across different fields is important, especially with the rise of AI technology. The authors noticed that partnerships often feel one-sided, with one group just giving information and the other just applying tech. They suggest a new way of collaborating where both sides learn and cooperate equally, finding impacts that matter to both. They looked at museums and heritage groups (called GLAMs) and how these groups mix arts, humanities, social sciences, and technology to propose five helpful practices for better teamwork.
What this means in practice
- •For ai project managers: Create AI research projects that foster equal, two-way collaboration between technology experts and domain specialists like humanities and social sciences professionals.
- •For museum technology teams: Design AI initiatives in cultural institutions that integrate practical tech advances with ethical and social insights from humanities partners.
A position paper. It proposes an approach and reports no results.
Authors
Amber L. Cushing, Suzanne Little, Giulia Osti
Abstract
The need for collaboration between diverse fields of research is increasingly recognised as important by research funding agencies. A significant driver of this need is the current revolution in artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies. There is a growing interest in the potential impact of AI in different fields including the methodologies they use and the resulting advances in new knowledge, new access and enhanced productivity. However, there is also a corresponding increase in concern about the fundamentals of AI technologies and the way in which trans and/or interdisciplinary research is approached. The resulting collaboration too often ends up as a one-way street where the domain partner acts only as an information provider. For example, the contribution of the AHSS partner might be limited to providing insight about ethics and/or the technology partner may only provide a service to build applied AI-based solutions. In response to this problem, we propose a reciprocal approach to collaboration where both partners seek to understand, cooperate and identify jointly significant impacts. In this paper we explore this relationship between cultural heritage institutions (GLAMs), Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (AHSS) research and technology-led AI research, especially the impact of current technological advances in AI. Drawing from the history of convergence in GLAM studies, we propose five key practices to form a framework for greater understanding across this divide.