ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7877-3260
Current Organisations
RMIT University
,
Victorian College of the Arts
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Publisher: University of Porto
Date: 2022
Abstract: Things Have Forgotten What the Shapes are For, (2022) is an automated-art-sys- tem consisting of a CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) laser-enabled1 machine, driven by custom-coded software that removes parts of any book in order to re- veal relationships between the images and texts across multiple pages. Each au- tomated ‘reading’, or burning, generates a unique artefact while destroying the original, producing new ‘portals’ through the book. An experiment in post-digital publishing that explores the differences between the deconstruction and the de- struction of knowledge in the age of the mass-digitisation of the book.
Publisher: Coimbra University Press
Date: 10-08-2018
Abstract: This paper explores the artistic legacy of Stéphane Mallarmé’s 1897 poem “Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolirà le Hasard” through a selection of derivative works, in order to demonstrate how the poem can be interpreted in digital environments as a self-replicating machine, programmatically facilitating the ongoing production of potentially countless ulterior works, including our own internet recasting called www.athrowofthedicewillneverabolishchance.com. Through a detailed discussion of this work, we will attempt to draw a lineage between Mallarmé’s original poem/book of 1897 and Google, incorporated a century later, in 1997. In conclusion, we will speculate on the potential that our interpretation of Mallarmé’s work may provide a form of poetry for non-human readers, which we interpret as a metaphysical search for meaning by the kinds of Artificial Intelligence programs currently in development by corporations such as Google.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 12-09-2008
Abstract: CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) are widespread security measures on the World Wide Web that prevent automated programs from abusing online services. They do so by asking humans to perform a task that computers cannot yet perform, such as deciphering distorted characters. Our research explored whether such human effort can be channeled into a useful purpose: helping to digitize old printed material by asking users to decipher scanned words from books that computerized optical character recognition failed to recognize. We showed that this method can transcribe text with a word accuracy exceeding 99%, matching the guarantee of professional human transcribers. Our apparatus is deployed in more than 40,000 Web sites and has transcribed over 440 million words.
Publisher: Coimbra University Press
Date: 10-08-2018
DOI: 10.14195/2182-8830_6-1_12
Abstract: This paper will outline the ideation, background and development of the electronic artwork The Trumpet of the Swan (Donnachie & Simionato, 2017) presented by the authors at the Electronic Literature Organisation conference in Porto, Portugal in 2017. The artwork is a custom-coded drawing-robot which automatically inscribes in natural media, every post published from the personal Twitter profile of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, identified on Twitter as @realDonaldTrump. The machine, which has the appearance reminiscent of a swan, including a broad “body” balanced on two short legs that end in webbed “feet”, is a semi-autonomous robot that writes in a pen, crowned by a long white plume, on a continuous scroll of paper while producing bird-like sounds. The drawing-robot remains permanently in a state of attention and the demonstrated sequence of actions can only be triggered remotely and by the 45th President of the U.S.A. himself (or more precisely, by whomever publishes a new tweet through his Twitter account ‘@realDonaldTrump’). In other words, to borrow a popular phrase taken from twentieth century cold-war propaganda: only the President has the ability to “launch” this artwork which otherwise remains dormant, in waiting.
No related grants have been discovered for Karen ann Donnachie.