One of the things that I find most transcendent about experiencing and engaging with art is its ability to create a connection between viewers and participants. And one of the very reasons why I would like to talk about it, is because it shouldn’t need to be an exclusive right, available only to those whom the luxury is accessible. Some of our team member’s favourite projects are those which provide them with an opportunity to bring their area of passion into the public’s eye, for all to engage with it.

As part of our ongoing involvement with the gallery, I was recently able to attend a panel discussion and exhibition held at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), in Stanley place. The panel topic was ‘A New Frontier for AI and the Arts’, which, given my interest in technology and the Arts, was an amazing opportunity. I also had the chance to view the current Exhibition ‘Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles’ in the evening light, and was blown away at both the technical challenge in such a complex exhibition and the intense and overwhelming experience that was the installation in the very first room.

The panel itself was chaired by QAGOMA Digital Transformation Manager Morgan Strong, and featured Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz (QUT Chair in Digital Economy); Thomas Stenning (Product Owner for Machine Learning at SplashHQ); and Larene Le Gassick (Independent Software Engineer and Accessibility Consultant). The panellists all brought together different perspectives and considerations for the discussions on ‘merging of AI with cultural practice’.

Panellists at QAGOMA’s ‘A New Frontier for AI and the Arts’ discussion.

Discussions touched on a range of areas in the brief time available, including the question of if we consider the outputs of AI art generators such as DALL-E 2 to be truly creative in their own right? And if so, is the artist the person providing the prompt for creation, or does it include the writers of the algorithms behind the system? Perhaps AI will be considered as instead another tool that allows artists to visualise, discover and explore across mediums and domains without requiring the years of practise to develop each of the associated technical skills. If that is the case, does that allow a new type of artist to find their place? Technology is one tool that can bring years of training and education and instead provide a more accessible outlet for creative thought that can be shared and used by a new type of artist. Bringing access to existing cultural assets is one thing, providing both that and the resources to allow those who may typically struggle to create art using traditional methods is another. Whether it be marginalised groups to whom the years of typically unpaid labour perfecting a specific technique may be a barrier, or someone to whom the application of physical brush to canvas is a challenge, technology provides new means to create and engage with art.

While each panellist had their own perspective, the discussion provided insights into the potential (and potential challenges) that may be found through the use of AI in the Arts.

The panel was followed by a short presentation from QAGOMA’s Digital Resident, Kate Thompson (Associate Professor of Digital Pedagogies, QUT), presenting some highlights from her recent research into the utilisation of technology by audiences at the Gallery. It was fascinating to see how that gallery is using technology to allow visitors more varied and informed engagement with exhibitions.

Collections online allows for high quality digital images, with functionality from a simple zoom to sliders displaying the before and after images from restorations.

It was marvellous to hear about further work being done at QAGOMA as part of their Digital Transformation program. We wrote late last year about our work on rebuilding their Collections Online platform. Since then monthly traffic to the site has increased fivefold. Given our passion for bringing the assets of our institutions into the public eye, this is an amazing motivation for us to continue this work. 

If you’re interested in how your organisation’s content can be brought to the public, please get in touch via email or get in touch on our socials: Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn

Sophie

The post AI, engagement and the value of Art appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Human intuition is one of the most mysterious and powerful tools our minds have. While I acknowledge the attractiveness of a mysterious and powerful magical ‘sense’, I have always believed intuition is informed by subconscious connections our minds can make; those ‘leaps’ we make, using experience and our knowledge of the likely context of a situation. What if we could provide information to machines in a way that allowed them to understand ‘context’? The more we can build this into our data storage and procedures, the more value can be gained from it, as described by the Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom, (DIKW) pyramid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIKW_pyramid#/media/File:DIKW_Pyramid.svg

Tim Berners-Lee (the computer scientist known for inventing the World Wide Web) created the concept of a “Semantic Web’, which aims to make Internet data machine-readable. The Semantic Web lets us write rules for how machines can handle data contextually, as ‘Linked Data’, allowing our queries to become far closer to the informed, intuitive connections that can be made by the human mind. This allows for ‘semantic queries’, queries for the retrieval of data with consideration of the context and associations applied to it. As a global society, we collect and collate information about all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Quite often, this information is incredibly valuable, but with so much of it dispersed, not necessarily connected to its context, we lose some of the value in how it can be accessed and queried. This also raises Linked Open Data, another concept I am hoping to discuss in later blogs.

What if your Uncle Bob’s slightly obsessive compilation recording the unusual birds in his backyard could be queried by citizen science efforts in his area to identify and protect a rare species? If both Uncle Bob and the citizen scientists connect the ‘rare bird’ to a recognised and authoritative linked data source on it and make their information available, then those records CAN be connected.

There are a lot of technical tools, technologies and standards in this space, and I am not the right person to break them down in detail (there are also plenty of resources available online). What I would like you to do is consider your own data. If you collect information about something (anything, really), think about how it might be used by others if it could be truly understood by them. What information do you know is out there that you need, but you know is partially obscured by its storage as flat documents, with no context applied?

There are a lot of different concepts, and I love thinking about the opportunities of Linked Data, so we could be here a while if I get started. But I will defer to some of our more technical team, and ask them to expand on these topics again in the future with their expert knowledge. In the meantime, if you do have any interesting data you would like to investigate better ways of querying, feel free to reach out via email or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post Information with a Purpose appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Over the past several years, Gaia Resources has grown its team considerably due to an increase in demand for our services. However, there are still plenty of occasions where we acknowledge that a specific project or undertaking requires additional resources or skills, beyond what our own team delivers. Sometimes this is in an opportunity to move into an entirely new area (when we partnered with the Global Wetlands project for a fish identification solution using AI), or in delivery of a specialised solution that we want to ensure we bring all of the best knowledge and skills to the area (such as the consortium of organisations we have brought together for the delivery of the Queensland State Archives Digital Preservation project.)

Sometimes it is because our values align so well with a partner it is almost like considering them an extension of the team.

This is the case with our partners in the digital experience agency, Liquid Interactive. We have worked so well with them, and so often that we will not only consider them for projects that we know will utilise their skills and specialisations, our own team is excited for each opportunity to work alongside them.

We have worked with them as sub-contractors to deliver development support for Drupal websites in GovCMS; they have assisted us on projects where providing data delivery with a great user experience was key; when one of our team members relocated to a city without any other Gaia Resources staff, we set up her office to be colocated with Liquid Interactive team members. I have also been fairly regularly featuring their Future Led Series of events in my own blogs, and while the events themselves have been a fantastic opportunity to hear informed and varied opinions on topics that matter to our future – I also have to confess to enjoying an opportunity to get to know their team a little better.

Liquid Interactive themselves was first introduced to us through one of our previous employees, Morgan Strong, who has engaged them successfully in previous roles. Morgan has moved on to a role as the Digital Transformation Manager at Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), but is also still heavily involved in our organisation as a Drupal and Open Source advocate, and as a client in delivering Collection-based projects.

The world is ever-changing, but I believe there are some things that remain the same. One of these is that as much as what we deliver is important, how we do it is also impactful. It is through our connections with other people that we come to understand the world, so building positive connections can only help us to find our place to deliver the most to our community.

If you are interested in working with an organisation that is collaborative, people-focused, and provides a supportive culture for teamwork, reach out to us via email at info@gaiaresouces.com.au or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post Partnerships, people and change appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Item ID: ITM1640266

Gaia Resources is a proponent of open-source solutions for cultural institutions, particularly for long-term sustainable information management. Without restrictive licensing conditions, you know that the underlying code of a system can be visible to you and within your control in the future. If a specific vendor is no longer available, the code itself can still be taken up by others without risking a loss of access to your digital assets.

In 2020, Gaia Resources along with our consortium partners Hudson Molonglo and Recordkeeping Innovation, built and implemented a new Archival Management System (AMS) using a customised version of the open-source software platform ArchivesSpace, as well as a portal for Agencies (ArchivesGateway) and a new public interface for searching the archives (ArchivesSearch). This project was delivered to the Queensland State Archives (QSA) with the support and assistance of the Digital Archiving Program (DAP).

Following the successful delivery of this trio of systems, the next important task in the digital transformation of Queensland’s archives was digital preservation. To ensure the successful delivery of a comprehensive digital preservation solution, our next step at Gaia Resources was the validation of key questions and assumptions via delivery of a Proof of Concept (PoC) to QSA.

One of the original implementation team project managers, Megan Edward, began working on the PoC for a new process to integrate the transfer of digital records from agencies with a digital preservation system. The groundwork of the PoC demonstrated that our combined Waterfall/Agile methodology could both deliver to the requirements set while allowing for a feedback loop during implementation stages which gives QSA the flexibility to make smaller decisions once the initial system is up and running in a test environment.

With our original consortium partners, Hudson Molonglo and Recordkeeping Innovation, in the POC, we were able to design, develop and implement an end-to-end digital transfer process. The workflow was built upon functionality delivered in the AMS and was subsequently integrated with Archivematica for long-term digital preservation. This allowed us to validate assumptions made before implementation, and identify areas requiring further investigation for a complete solution.

At Gaia Resources, we prefer to work closely and collaboratively with our clients; as well as call on the expertise of subject matter experts when required to ensure we can provide the best service and solution. In the current DPS project, we have also partnered with Artefactual. Artefactual is not only responsible for maintaining Archivematica but they also manage Access to Memory (AtoM), another open-source archival solution that Gaia Resources has delivered for clients. With this team of specialists, the project will implement digital preservation capabilities for QSA, enabling them to preserve and provide access to born-digital and digitised records of cultural and historical significance for Queensland. We are privileged to be part of this important work preserving Queensland’s heritage, delivered for QSA via DAP as part of the technology transformation program underway at QSA. It is wonderful to continue our partnership with Record Keeping Innovation and Hudson Molonglo and to welcome Artefactual to the team. 

The Queensland State Archive holds over 67 linear kilometres of records

More recently, I wrote about how lucky the Brisbane-based QSA team were in getting a tour around some of the amazing facilities there as we came closer to the next phase of our digital preservation work with QSA and DAP. Our continuing relationship with QSA themselves; our partners from the original consortium; and now Artefactual, brings together specialist knowledge in record-keeping best practice as well as the two open-source solutions underlying the future and current systems.

As our relationship with QSA continues, Gaia Resources is excited to see the outcomes of this stage of work and bring it into use for the benefit of future generations. 

If you are interested in discussing how Gaia Resources might assist your organisation in managing archives or collections solutions, please get in touch via email or our socials: Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post Bringing Digital Preservation to Queensland State Archives appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Kehan Harman – Technical Architect 

Kehan likes coffee and collections. Specifically herbarium collections. Prior to coming to work for us at Gaia Resources, Kehan worked on database and software solutions within the biodiversity and natural history domains, as well as the digitisation of herbarium collections. He has a wealth of specialised knowledge to share with some of our newer team members with regards to the open source collections management software that we have implemented and customised for our clients, and we are forever seeking ways to provide him with more opportunities to mentor within the team. Kehan strives for robust, flexible solutions to project work which can be contributed back upstream to continually improve the open source solutions products we use (particularly his contributions to CollectiveAccess). He is a passionate advocate for the environment and his colleagues and has recently become a Team Lead for a group of the Software Developers at Gaia Resources.

Kehan has been with Gaia Resources for over a decade, and has spent that time on a variety of projects within the collections space and has a breadth of experience to bring to museums and taxonomy solutions. He is also passionate about biodiversity and conservation in a changing world and has worked in conservation and the safari industry in Southern Africa.

Dr Mieke Strong (nee Burger) – Consulting Scientist/Business Analyst

With a Ph.D. in Marine Parasitology (Thesis: “Kudoid parasites: species definition and specificity”), post-doctoral experience at the Western Australian Museum, and environmental consulting, Mieke brings in-depth and applied knowledge of taxonomic management and museum collections to her project work. She has also more recently completed further education at RMIT online in Business Analytics, focusing on data analysis using tools such as Python. Her work since joining Gaia Resources in 2016 has brought her skills to bear primarily on biodiversity and collections projects, where her ability to find practical solutions to complex data and workflow challenges has been greatly appreciated by both her colleagues and the clients she has worked with.

In addition to her research, Mieke has also published a blog for us at Gaia Resources discussing the challenges of balancing work and parenting, particularly with regards to remote work. Aside from occasional introductions to the latest block-construction-toys-that-are-totally-not-trademarked build, and having personally worked with Mieke on many projects, I have to say that I am always in awe of the grace with which she balances, to my mind, all of the things.

Meg Travers – Business Analyst

Meg’s professional work prior to her joining Gaia Resources was primarily in Digital Archives and Collections Management, but she is also an avid collector and builder of electronic musical instruments, and is passionate about exploring electronic music and digital humanities. She is also one of only two people in the world who plays the Trautonium, an electronic instrument from the 1920s, and is slowly tackling a PhD on the instrument and its preservation.

With our strong presence in Archives and Collections within Australia, it is marvellous to have such an ardent and experienced team member working on the delivery of projects, particularly with the growing focus on digital preservation in these areas. She is outcomes-focused, and always wants to provide clients with the best option for their organisation. Her eclectic knowledge and irrepressible sense of humour has also been greatly appreciated at team events.

Gill White – Project Management Team Lead

Despite being unfortunately included at the end of a lot of lists when alphabetically ordered, Gill has a wealth of experience in environmental roles within State government as an Environment Officer and Spatial Analyst. She has delivered projects across a range of our subject areas, but has been able to bring to bear her knowledge of environmental science and reporting to the delivery of many solutions within our Environmental pillar.

Assessing the condition of the Donnelly River in the South-West of Western Australia

Working with Gill I am always amazed at her attention to detail and her cheerful disposition, but her track record in leading projects to delivery is equally as impressive. Internally at Gaia Resources, Gill also applies herself to the role of Quality Manager on our International Standards Organisation (ISO) team, ensuring we deliver to and maintain our ISO9001 and ISO27001 certification. I have worked with Gill on relatively few projects in my own time at Gaia Resources, but I can say with certainty she brings this drive for quality to the delivery of each one. 

If you would like the benefits of specialised experience our team can bring to your next technology solution, get in touch with us via email or start a conversation with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post Staff Profiles – Publications appeared first on Gaia Resources.

While sometimes it can seem like overwhelming cybersecurity threats abound, one of the topics that the speakers all seemed to agree upon was that we can take significant steps towards being cyber secure by simply making sure that users are kept up to date with relevant training and appreciation for the importance of their role in maintaining security for the technical assets of their organisation. Similarly for individuals, being aware particularly about what data they are sharing about themselves, and how it is being used. For organisations, one of the key factors to remember is human-centered design. Keeping practices and tools built to complement how people use them; solving problems for users rather than creating boundaries and rules that lead to regular frustration and occasional unsafe workarounds. 

Who hasn’t heard the story of someone who, frustrated with regular and complex password updates, kept a sticky note with their passwords on their desk?

Technology provides us with opportunities to solve so many problems. It is important to remember that as we integrate it so seamlessly into every aspect of our lives that we remain informed about the choices we are making by doing so. As well as understanding where both our rights and personal responsibilities lie, I think that we can all contribute something to the security of our personal information, as well as organisational assets by remaining willing to actively involve ourselves in opportunities to learn more about cybersecurity. 

As our world becomes more and more technically complex, we are inevitably going to be surrounded by various technologies that could theoretically become a risk – Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming commonplace, often our smartphones are both collecting and sharing a startling amount of personal data about ourselves – this doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to be terrified of it all, these devices can solve major challenges for us. But it does need to be addressed, by individuals, organisations and society as a whole.

Rather than being so afraid of the technical unknowns in our world, or missing out on advances from which we could greatly benefit, my personal opinion is that we need to pull our head out of the sand and learn what we are doing and what we could be doing to take responsibility and ownership of our own information and cybersecurity. From an organisational perspective, ensuring that technical teams working on cybersecurity truly understand how users are interacting with the system; so that processes are as intuitive and simple as possible to be both maintained and adhered to.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our very own Shay Telfer, whose rapid response to the Log4Shell vulnerability meant that we were able to bring solutions, not problems to those of our clients who may be affected.

I feel that the biggest take away from this Future Led session for me was a renewed interest in discovering more and learning what opportunities the future (particularly that of technology) might take us and what that means for the security of my own personal information.  If you have a technical challenge that you are interested in solving with a team that takes your security seriously send us an email or feel free to reach out on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post Future Led: Overcoming the cybersecurity challenge appeared first on Gaia Resources.

QAGOMA’s Collections Online allows users to search specifically for items relating to Brisbane

The QAGOMA Collections Online website displays their digitised content from within the collection for the public. When our project with them began, they had an existing prototype that provided guidance for the desired outcomes. However, it didn’t necessarily provide the intended functionality and would not allow QAGOMA to reliably maintain and extend the solution. The prototype was also limited in that it was not able to automatically migrate changes from within QAGOMA to ensure that the Collections Online site was kept up to date without requiring manual intervention.

The Gaia Resources software engineering team include some individuals with extensive experience in delivering solutions utilising the Drupal content management platform, and so it was a relatively simple task for us to be able to deliver this based on the existing prototype. Our focus was to leverage Drupal’s framework and utilise best practice in the theming layer to deliver a Collections Online that effectively managed content delivery for the QAGOMA staff. One of the key outcomes we wanted to make sure of was that the site was as maintainable and extensible for QAGOMA into the future as possible.

Collections online allows for high quality digital images, with functionality from a simple zoom to sliders displaying the before and after images from restorations.

This project was not only an exceptional opportunity to deliver on our goals to bring collections online, but for the team it was an opportunity to work directly with a client in a collaboration to bring their prototype solution into its next phase. We have had the pleasure of working previously with the QAGOMA Digital Transformation Manager, Morgan Strong, and knew that this pre-existing relationship would make for a solid partnership. While it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with him again, it also gave us the unique opportunity to know how to work best together and to utilise the skills and expertise of both Gaia Resources and the team at QAGOMA. This meant that we knew we had both the resources to deliver what was required, but also could provide a light project management touch (in other words, they barely needed me).

Collections Online allows the public to access art both new and familiar.

To keep work as streamlined as possible, the core team was our Senior Software Engineer, Brianna Williams and Morgan Strong of QAGOMA. However, we did have a ‘supporting cast’ to ensure we could be flexible with our resourcing and provide thorough review processes. Our developers and QAGOMA utilised Pantheon as the hosting platform, taking advantage of their Multidev environments to allow QAGOMA and Gaia Resources staff to work in tandem effectively. This allowed us to quickly share updates and provide our combined team with ready visibility of progress, as well as providing a simple solution for the final deployment. Primarily, we wanted a platform that allowed for a simple and flexible way for our teams to work together on Collections Online and to deliver it to the public at the end of the project with price and quality in mind.

QAGOMA Collections online was delivered on time and with positive feedback from both the Gaia Resources team and QAGOMA staff. If you’re interested in how your organisation’s content can be brought to the public, please get in touch via email or get in touch on our socials: Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post QAGOMA: Collections Online appeared first on Gaia Resources.

Gaia Resources first began working with the Queensland State Archives (QSA) in 2017. Our relationship started when we collaborated to launch the collection sharing site Q-Album (see the blog post about our involvement here). We were then engaged to implement and support their new Archival Management System (see blog post here). Currently, we are working with QSA on a new Digital Preservation System.

Few people realise the treasures tucked away for safekeeping in archives around the world, be they personal, community, or government records. In the case of QSA, they are the permanent repository for records owned and created by the Queensland state and local governments. Any item deemed to be of enduring value to documenting the operation and history of the State of Queensland finds its permanent home at QSA and is protected and carefully stored for perpetuity. Special precautions are taken to maintain a physical record’s longevity, including but not limited to temperature, humidity, and handling procedures. As hinted at previously, once the Digital Preservation System is in place, QSA will also collect digital records. QSA also generates digital facsimiles of their most popular and/or at-risk items. As with physical documents, digital items require steps to ensure they are accessible for generations to come (read about Digital Preservation here). To date, the archival material in QSA’s holdings date from as early as the 1820s and stretch over 67 linear kilometres.

The Queensland State Archive holds over 67 linear kilometres of records

On a recent site visit, QSA Archivist Elizabeth Hawkins kindly toured a handful of Brisbane staff through a few of their repositories. The objective was to introduce new Gaia Resources staff to the purpose and procedures of the archives, subsequently providing context for the tools we build and support for QSA. 

While we work on QSA’s Archival Management System, we rarely have time to look at the records that it catalogues. One favourite item that Elizabeth pulled for us was one of the Brisbane prison ledgers. These logs hold the personal and physical details of each prisoner and a rap sheet of all their crimes. Of particular interest were the photos, in remarkably good condition, taken using a mirror so that individuals’ faces and profiles were captured in a single shot, saving precious film. A record like this can illuminate what acts were considered criminal in the contemporary period. While many larceny and assault charges resulted in incarceration, one surprising penalty was several months in prison for “supplying liquor to a South Sea Islander” (Queensland State Archives, Item Representation ID PR654070).

Elizabeth then took us through the repository of maps and oversized paper items. This room is wall to wall flatbed filing cabinets (and is not included in their count of 67 linear km of records). She opened a drawer to show us one particular item. We were looking at a map of Northern Australia from the 1940s. Upon closer examination, all the notations, place names etc, were in a Japanese script. From here, it’s easy to jump to conclusions, but none of that is documented. Instead, what we do know is these maps were found amongst a group of records from a Queensland government agency. How the maps came into the possession of the agency we may never know.

Upon entering QSA, key items of historical relevance to Queensland are displayed

Elizabeth included the Conservation Lab on our tour. Kristy McCullough, QSA’s Conservator, generously took the time to demystify the work of a Conservator. She took us through the process of assessing, planning, and actioning a conservation strategy for a book that had been a tasty meal for some determined insects. It had come to QSA in such poor condition that its pages were in countless pieces and the text was virtually illegible. According to Kristy the best course of action for such an item is to piece together the pages and take a high-resolution photograph of each page. The digital record then becomes the point of truth. Kristy explained that a choice must be made about the time and resources poured into the one object balanced with the value gained and the backlog of other conservation needs. Kristy further educated us about the differences between preservation and conservation, two often confused concepts. Preservation activities mitigate risks to items and include tasks like maintaining a stable environment with appropriate climate control, monitoring an item’s condition, and ensuring proper handling. On the other hand, conservation is an act of intervention on the objects’ condition.  It might include piecing together tears (with special inert materials), adding support, or chemical cleanings to eliminate hazards.

Sally Mitchell and Sarah Aldrich use the Historical Image Library Discovery Assistant (HILDA) to learn more about the history of Queensland

Throughout the tour, there was one factor that remained a highlight for our team; seeing the system we implemented and customised in use for each role. We watched the Reading Room team process requests from the public. Being able to observe their process illuminated how they use the tool and why some enhancements were monumental in improving their workflow. In the Conservation Lab, we saw how an item was updated, the condition reported, proposed treatments lodged, and then the circle closed as an item is returned to the repository. 

We only saw a minuscule portion of the collection, but it is evident that the records within QSA tell a web of stories. The narratives range from the personal which bring families together or they may pertain to Queensland’s role in global events. Also evident is that the work of an archive is never finished. We at Gaia Resources are privileged to be able to support the great work done by QSA to protect our history. Thank you to Queensland State Archives and especially Elizabeth for taking the time to walk us through a portion of their 60 odd kilometres of records. It truly elucidates the importance of preserving records and the role of archives.

If you’re responsible for collections, get in touch to learn how we can help connect people to your treasures. Reach out via email or get in touch on our socials: Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Sophie

The post The Importance of Archives – handling our history appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The panel included Dr Julia Playford, Executive Director, Science Development, Department of Environment and Science; Daniel Roberts, Research Director, Energy Technologies, CSIRO; and Amelia St Baker, Digital Lead, Evie Networks. Hearing from Government, Research and applied industry speakers was a great opportunity, and it was also heartening to hear a strain of (mostly) optimism repeated between the three. Another repeating theme was the reminder that conversations across industries will be crucial to us bringing down our emissions and making significant enough changes to our lives to help us to manage climate change.

While there is no doubt that the need for action is real and urgent, we can still find hope in the fact that so many organisations and individuals are recognising that we need to change the ways we live and work. And while it can still feel like an overwhelming task, the tools to assist us are now closer than ever before. More and more we are recognising the urgency of our need to change the ways we live and work, and technology provides us with crucial solutions to address these challenges in new ways.

The panellists raised that solutions will require cross-industry collaborations between groups that traditionally wouldn’t have had a reason to previously partner. We have moved forward from initial discussions arguing the reality of climate change. But still, ensuring that we make the changes necessary requires us all to keep the conversation going, albeit in a new direction. At Gaia Resources, it is important to us that we live our values, and put our money where our mouth is. To ensure that our personal and organisational footprints remain as small as possible, last year we began a partnership with Climate Clever to help us work toward our goal of emission reductions.

Conversations regarding making changes to impact the environment positively are moving away from the “why should we?” into “how do we?”. At Gaia Resources these are the sorts of problems that we love to solve, and the only way to find solutions is by having the conversation. Partnering with Research Projects like the Global Wetlands team to provide new ideas for fish species identification using Artificial Intelligence in response to a challenge set by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to solve real-word problems. Or with our delivery of the North Australia and Rangelands Fire Information (NAFI) app, bringing fire information resources to the mobile device of land managers in our Top End for accurate and real time information on the go.

Finding these solutions (and even finding the right problems) is something that we can only solve if we keep information and ideas flowing across industries and between stakeholders. Conversations like those being encouraged by events just like the Liquid Interactive Future Led series. It is encouraging to see minds and ideas coming together to talk about what we can do to make positive change. We already have so much of the technology we need at our fingertips that will allow us to improve the environment for future generations to come. The next step is to make sure we bring those solutions to the industries and individuals that need them.

If you want to begin a conversation about how Gaia Resources can help you solve your environmental challenges, reach out and feel free to email me or start a conversation with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. If you want to join an organisation striving to be part of the solution, please feel free to get in touch or email jobs@gaiaresources.com.au with details of your experience.

Sophie

The post Continuing the Climate Change Conversations appeared first on Gaia Resources.

We still think that our ‘old’ values will have importance in the way we deliver our services, but think they can also be encapsulated by our new values. A sneak peak of the 5 values we will be moving forward with at Gaia Resources:

• Do the right thing
• Be open
• Be involved
• Do what you said you’ll do
• Be there for each other

It was really valuable to workshop these values with the team and realise that, while we haven’t always phrased them this way, these are really values that we can see being lived by the team already. We take our work very seriously, and we want our values to reflect how we operate as an organisation; our behaviour towards our clients and each other, and the culture we create for our team.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Aside from the values themselves, there were two things that I personally got from the session. One was simply the chance to spend time reflecting with colleagues on what can be taken from their perspectives and thoughts on how to best strengthen the values we hold at Gaia Resources.The other was the realisation that, even though we have phrased them differently previously, we are already living by the new values.

Do the right thing

Here at Gaia Resources, a big part of our ethos is the desire to make the world a better place. We want to acknowledge that in everything we do – from reviewing potential work to ensure that it contributes to that, to approaching client relationships remembering that we are there to deliver what they need and solve problems for them. We know that a part of that is delivering what they paid for, but it is also making sure that we as individuals are doing work we can be proud of into the future.
“Do the right thing” can come across as an open-ended instruction, but a part of that is because we feel it is something that should be an inherent aspect of everything we do.

Be open

From a practical standpoint, this value can be seen already through our approach to our work itself. From sharing data (where appropriate) and our focus on open source solutions, to the fact that we approach client relationships as a collaboration. So much of what we do can only work effectively if we create open and effective communication from the outset of the relationship. 

Internally, we also try to foster an environment where team members can be proactive about raising issues and constructively work with each other to solve problems. We know it is also important to foster a trusting environment where everyone knows that being able to flag and acknowledge if they are struggling can help us to provide a culture that fosters solutions.

Be involved

Part of what makes Gaia Resources successful is the strengths of our diverse staff. This only works if our team members are engaged with what we do and are proactive in finding ways to contribute to the organisation and to solutions for our clients. 

Do what you said you’ll do

For each other and our clients, it is important that we deliver what we have committed to. Sometimes this means not committing to work if we know it is beyond our capacity. We want to be part of the solution, for our clients and for each other. If we cannot realistically deliver this, we want to make sure that we make clear what we can do from the very beginning.

Be there for each other

None of what we did would make sense if we didn’t make sure to help out and do what we can to support our colleagues. Sometimes this might mean jumping in and helping out on a task when you know you can and someone has a tight deadline. Other times it is noticing when they are struggling and just asking how they are. One of the most interesting things that came out of our discussion around this value was that it is important to make sure you not only offer help, but that you ask for it. You cannot create an environment where people are comfortable to reach out for help if we always see ourselves as the ones offering it. Trying to be ‘strong’ doesn’t provide a culture where everyone knows and acknowledges that it is ok to not be ok.

I have to say that while I missed the opportunity to meet some of my colleagues in person, I still appreciated the chance to hear from the team on how they see our values being lived, and what more we can do to embed them in our lives every day. Perhaps because we are so used to being solutions-driven, but it was really great to see that when we discussed the challenges of ‘living’ these values, there was a real focus on how we can do better.

If  you’d like to know more, feel free to email me, or hit us up on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Sophie

The post Gaia Resources Annual Strategy Week appeared first on Gaia Resources.

The panel was a wealth of both theoretical and applied knowledge, with experience ranging from the practical application and development of AI to the ethical implications. Nick Therkelsen-Terry is the CEO at Max Kelsen, an engineering agency with a focus on AI and ML; Sue Keay, who is the CEO of the Queensland AI Hub and chairs the Board of Robotics Australia Group; Dr Evan Shellshear, Head of Analytics at Biarri, which develops mathematical modelling and predictive modelling solutions; and Justine Lacey, who is the Director of the Responsible Innovation Future Science Platform at CSIRO.

I have to say, I may have originally felt a little intimidated by the experience of the panel, but the speakers quickly absorbed me in their discussions on how the development of superintelligent AI could impact all of our lives; the potential for both positive and negative impacts, as well as what we as a society and as developers of technology should be considering as we move forward.

One of the aspects of the discussion I found particularly interesting was when the panellists raised the question “What is creativity?”. If we program AI that can build upon existing data, even improve upon it, at what point are the outputs of the AI deemed “creative”? While specific definitions of creativity exist and were discussed, what was interesting was that while the definitions themselves were not contentious, how we might interpret them if produced by an artificially intelligent system is not resolved. It was asked by Dr Evan Shellshear how we might differentiate between the artists of the past whose work was not appreciated by the critics of the time and an Artificial Intelligence that was creative in a way we were not yet ready to understand.

The panellist’s conversation around creativity stemmed from questioning how we define intelligence. Existing AIs operate exceptionally well in specialised areas in which they have been trained. But it is that question of how to take machines to the level of intelligence that we have previously only considered to be capable of in humanity (and beyond): is it possible to develop machines that not only build on previous data, but can make intuitive connections and seek out new paths. A phrase often used when talking about software and technology is ‘garbage in, garbage out’. It is based on the idea that a computer can only operate based on the code, or instructions we give it. Therefore, if we develop intelligent machines that operate based on the information that we provide, that machine can only make decisions based on the message of that data. There have been some abysmal examples of Artificial Intelligence solutions developed that not only perpetuate societal and cultural biases of the humans that designed them, but also in some cases worsen their impact. The panellists discussed that not only is AI a tool which we have to develop mindful of our own inherent biases, but it also has the potential to be used as a tool to help us to identify and understand those biases. This could then be a part of a conscious step towards a society that identifies, acknowledges and addresses when our subconscious bias is contributing to unfair outcomes for minorities.

Given that we imagine using a future superintelligent AI to solve the problems that as yet remain unsolved, we can’t be certain if the solutions to those extraordinarily complex problems will emerge in quite the form we imagine – Dr Justine Lacey raised the question of whether artificial intelligence might not take such a different approach to problem-solving that its solutions might not actually provide the solutions we expect. While the panellists were primarily optimistic about how we might use an artificial superintelligent machine to improve our society, it seems that we need to look at both the practicalities and technology required; while also considering the theoretical implications of what it might mean for us as humans. Nick Therkelsen-Terry in particular spoke strongly about the importance of investment and research in this area for Australia. I think given the amazing potential and opportunity to be had in the area, let alone as an industry, this is something that most of us could agree on. 

While there is still a way to go before the advancements of AI and ML are truly ‘superintelligent’, there are still so many problems that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are already helping us solve. Just a couple of months ago, our Data Science Unit Lead, Chris Roach, shared a blog about the exciting results we had with the protype fish-identification product that we developed in partnership with the Global Wetlands team at Griffith University. This project was part of the “Counting Fish” challenge that was put forward by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) to address the problem of highly manual fish identification work that currently requires significant man hours and resources for the collection of marine data. The prototype showed us we can successfully reduce the requirement on human resources to collect this important data, allowing us to contribute to research and decision making in the marine sciences much more effectively and efficiently. 

If you have a problem that needs solving, and would like to discuss how Gaia Resources could help you solve it, please feel free to get in touch with myself or our Data Science Unit Lead Chris Roach. Alternatively, hit us up on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Sophie

The post Future Led: Superintelligent AI appeared first on Gaia Resources.

• ArchivesSearch as the public’s interface for searching the archives,
• ArchivesGateway as the secure portal for agencies to search their records and access QSA services, and
• ArchivesSpace as the internal Archival Management System.

A year (particularly this year) is a significant milestone, and one that is important to celebrate – so the local Brisbane team for this project came together in recognition of everything we have achieved. Talking to the team at QSA, it was marvellous to see how happy they are with the improvements implemented under our ongoing support model, including positive feedback on the uptake over the last year by the public and agency users. Through our collaborative approach with QSA we are constantly working on new improvements and enhancements that can ensure the system continues to meet their needs into the future. Being a part of the important role archives play in connecting the public with our past.

We were all pleased and excited to reach the milestone of a year since these services went live, although it was hard to tell if it felt like the last year has been longer or shorter than it should have been!  Partially due to the collaborative nature of our development approach, in the lead up to the COVID-19 pandemic we were all very used to physically working together with the staff at QSA – regularly running sessions onsite to get feedback from their team and to support their transition to the new systems. While lockdowns and restrictions early last year did force a shift in our approach (as Piers wrote about recently with another series of lockdowns around the country), we all knew that the shift to digital was both possible and important to the delivery of these services.

Throughout the pandemic, organisations have been seeking new ways to bring their services to a public who cannot  access traditional on-site support. From feedback from the QSA staff on how readily ArchivesSearch has assisted the public in accessing services from home we know this project has helped to prepare QSA for a more digital future. 

There are so many people who have been a part of this project’s development and ongoing support, but the celebrations at QSA were smaller (only in number attending, not in spirit) due to COVID restrictions. For me it highlighted one of the core benefits (and challenges) to delivering this project, and that is providing digital solutions that can connect people to services. 

If you are looking for solutions as part of your own digital transformation, we would love to hear from you or strike up a conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook

Sophie

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