AUNZ AI4LAM - Research collaboration

This presentation announces (1) the emergence of the Australian and New Zealand regional chapter of the AI4LAM as a Trans-Tasman community of practice; (2) highlights an opportunity for data and computer science research and eResearch; and (3) it is a call out to computer and data scientists in New Zealand and Australia.

Building working bridges between data custodians and research communities across sectors and jurisdictions requires a design, plan, and people that sense they have a shared interests and needs in common. In 2019 an initiative kicked off to set up a regional chapter AUNZ (Australia and New Zealand) of the AI4LAM (Artificial Intelligence, for Libraries, Archives and Museums) community commenced. The grassroots initiative begin the process of community engagement, putting out the welcome mat, and inviting people to pitch in, help coordinate, share their experiences, knowledge and expertise. The AUNZ chapter of AI4LAM has a charter guiding community work on collaboration, ethics and raising knowledge and skills is targeted at GLAMR (Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum and Recordkeeping) professionals and humanities researchers.

Opportunities are emerging to explore computation and analytics techniques and AI in digital heritage and digital humanities research practices in partnership with computer and data scientists. In computer and data science literature there have been extraordinary inroads in the development of new computation and analytics techniques and the application of this knowledge and skill is already driving change in research and industry. This expertise is now aiding and informing the transformation of cultural heritage and humanities research practices. The people represented by the regional chapter are passionate about cultural heritage and the humanities, and AI4LAM is working to increase awareness and accessibility of these new approaches. We anticipate that bringing computer scientists, humanities researchers, data scientists, and GLAMR professionals together on equal footing will lead to fantastic research collaboration, in artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, information systems, systems engineering, analytics and visualisation.

This is a call from the community that have formed around the AUNZ chapter of AI4LAM to the computer and data scientists in New Zealand and Australia – to walk and work with us.