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This paper documents the results of an intensive "data sprint" method for undertaking data and algorithmic work using application programming interfaces (APIs), which took place during the Digital Method Initiative 2013 Winter School at the University of Amsterdam. During this data sprint, we developed a method to map the fields of Digital Humanities and Electronic Literature based on title recommendations from the largest online bookseller, Amazon, by retrieving similar purchased items from the Amazon API. A first step shows the overall Amazon recommendation network for Digital Humanities and allows us to detect clusters, aligned fields and bridging books. In a second step we looked into four country-specific Amazon stores (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr and Amazon.de) to investigate the specificities of the Digital Humanities in these four countries. The third step is a network of all books suggested for the Electronic Literature field in the four Amazon stores we searched, which offers a comparison to the field of Digital Humanities.

In the past decade, the proliferation of data and the emergence of large language models have presented both opportunities and challenges in academia. The expanding volume of data, which records knowledge from various human activities, enables data-driven approaches to optimizing numerous aspects of industrial manufacturing and people's daily life. These improvements largely stem from machine learning models trained with this data. However, the industry still faces limitations in both extracting knowledge from large, unstructured, or heterogeneous datasets and transforming the extracted knowledge into actionable insights. This challenge is exacerbated in highly specialized domains where only a few analysts possess the expertise to interpret the data. Despite the recent advancements of large language models providing more intelligent assistance for many data analysis tasks, it remains essential to ensure that these machine learning models and the knowledge they encompass are safe to use and employed for social good with human verification.In my dissertation work, I develop visual analytics (VA) and human-computer interaction (HCI) methodologies for representing and interacting with various forms of knowledge and data, particularly text data. I propose a visual knowledge discovery framework that integrates human expertise with computational approaches throughout the knowledge discovery process, while also addressing the limited availability of domain experts and the increasing scale of data. Moreover, I investigate how visual analytics can efficiently and safely harness extensive knowledge from large machine learning models, enabling users to effectively steer the exploration process and make well-informed decisions. This dissertation presents six published research works organized around my visual knowledge discovery framework and its three key tasks: knowledge exploration, knowledge presentation, and knowledge exploitation. Firstly, I demonstrate how visual analytics can support knowledge exploration with large, high-dimensional, and heterogeneous data in the domain of manufacturing and machine maintenance. Subsequently, I introduce two knowledge presentation solutions for two distinct types of data—numerical data facts and unstructured text data. Lastly, I showcase three visually-assisted knowledge exploitation applications in various domains and scenarios, encompassing document summarization, technical text annotation, and data-driven machine learning model validation.My work demonstrates how mixed-initiative methods through visual analytics applications can resolve real-world challenges in highly-specialized domains. I leverage state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, particularly natural language processing models, while always involving domain practitioners in the loop. My approach facilitates communication among parties with mismatched knowledge levels, including domain experts, data analysts, computer scientists, and artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, I prioritize the critical role of human knowledge and integrate it into intelligent visualization interfaces that undergo qualitative evaluations. I believe that domain experts' insights, supervision, and verification are invaluable, regardless of how advanced machine learning techniques become. Through the projects outlined in this dissertation, I hope to encourage philosophical and social discussions surrounding the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence. Ultimately, my objective is to contribute to a future where intelligent visual analytics systems can augment and enhance human capabilities, enabling individuals to navigate through the potential challenges brought by advanced AI techniques.

This thesis interprets the role the rock art at CA-MRP-402 played in the cultural landscape for the people who created the images. Located in Mariposa County, California, this site exhibits 103 rock art panels. By combining formal landscape methods, ritual theory, ethnography, field research, and excavation, this thesis explores the activities that took place at CA-MRP-402, how this site fits into the broader cultural landscape, and why the cultural landscape of this site attracted people to mark this place. These efforts reveal that ancient Native Americans intentionally altered the landscape of CA-MRP-402 to create an astronomical observation area and generate consistent equinoctial solar and shadow alignments. This area may have afforded a type of calendar that allowed shaman astronomers to know when it was time to perform necessary rituals. Most of the rock art at CA-MRP-402 was likely created by shaman astronomers as part of their ritual interactions with the celestial beings. This study also serves to validate this multifaceted contextual approach.

The paper presents a novel adaptive parametric documentation, modelling and sharing methodology, which aims to achieve a continuous holistic documentation, data processing and sharing process for cultural heritage community, such as architects, engineers, archaeologists, conservators, programmers, fabricators, contest creators, game developers, scholars and common citizens. Thus, the use of advance parametric and building information modelling software allows the processing and specification of all data by creating the 3D models needed for the multidisciplinary experts. Two Cypriot case studies from the medieval time period have been chosen for the development, and evaluation of our proposed methodology in order to investigate the process of modelling and sharing all the given metadata and 3D data. The first one is the Asinou Church, a UNESCO Heritage stone monument in the Troodos Mountains with a unique interior and the Kolossi Castle, a former Crusader stronghold on the west of the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus.

THE SCIENCE CLUSTERS are EU collaborative projects that were launched in 2019 to link ESFRI and other world-class Research Infrastructures (RIs) to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). The main impacts of the Science Clusters’ work programme concern: the improved access of researchers to data, tools and resources, leading to new insights and innovation for data-driven science both within and beyond the context of the domains in which the clusters are rooted; the creation of a cross-border open innovation environment for FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data management for economies of scale, to develop synergies and rise the efficiency and productivity of researchers through open-science standards and thematic services; the enhanced co-developments to foster the cross-domain interoperability central to the EOSC goal. The Science Clusters are an integral part of EOSC. Their services and outcomes are now forming the core of the emerging EOSC fabric. As important partners of EOSC, Science Clusters contribute to its development and its implementation process. Importantly, the Science Clusters form a natural collaboration between the ESFRI RIs’ management boards partners in the clusters. As EOSC matures and begins delivering data and services for European research, a discussion is needed to stimulate the Open Science practices, cross-domain interoperability and long-term coordination of the scientific communities covered by the five Science Clusters. This position paper contributes formally to explain the urgent need of EC to support a longer-term role of the five Science Clusters to provide content to the EOSC, to enhance researchers’ involvement in Open Science and to suggest potential cooperative pathways in the Horizon-Europe framework and along with the EOSC Association roadmap. This paper is aimed at highlighting: Expectations of the clusters and the concerned research communities, pointing out a common structured vision and a series of suggestions for the future. A more detailed analysis from each cluster, that is provided for completeness.

With this White Paper, which gathers contributions from more than 25 experts of 3D imaging, modellng and processing, as well as professionals concerned with the interoperability and sustainability of research data, the PARTHENOS project aims at laying the foundations of a comprehensive environment centered on the researchers' practices concerning 3D digital objects. The topics addressed in the document are meant to help to ensure the development of standardized good practices relating to the production, the handling, the long-term conservation and the reuse of 3D objects. Therefore, even if the focus is put on technical questions (formats, processing, and annotation), the White Paper also identifies the need to clarify the legal status of 3D objects, in order to facilitate their reuse(s) in non-research contexts, in particular in Museums.

Hallucinations are believed to be as old as the human’s brain. Usually, modern people relate to hallucinations in drugs or mental illness. Modern man may not think how great impact hallucinations have had on arts, religions, and folklore. The purpose of this thesis was to study how hallucinations have impacted art. This study also includes an AR installation which is based on this written part of the thesis. The data for this thesis was found from various sources such as literature, journals and researches. Art history and modern art pioneers’ work such as Wassily Kandinsky, Yves Klein and Hilma Af Klint were considered. The study also deals with hallucination studies in the 50s, cave art, and religion as a part of art. The latest research have demonstrated that hallucinations are more common than we have been suggested. Although hallucinations are still a mystery for scientists, the mechanism of hallucinations is known. Studies of hallucinations in modern art lead inevitably to artists interest in esoteric and occultism. Studies indicate that the arts role as the creator of modern spiritualism is big. Theologian Christopher Partridge has created the term “occulture” to describe this late modern era. According to Partridge, there is a process underway that traditional religions have to make room for more spiritual culture. Nowadays artists’ interest in esoteric thinking has a great impact on further, it can be found everywhere from our popular culture, and it can be seen globally. However, not all artists necessarily relate their works with esotericism, but the subconscious can also be studied from the perspective of neuroscience. Developing VR, AR, MR, and IA technology gives new tools to explore the subconscious through art.

The combination of improved methods and tools, widespread adoption, and continuously-falling barriers to entry has prompted the claim that we are currently living in a ‘golden age of digital archaeology’. This paper provides a background discussion of the use and evolution of digital methods and tools in archaeology, as well as a summary of the conference session “From Physical to Digital, from Interactive to Immersive: Uses of Three– Dimensional Representation, Mixed Reality, and More in the Sharing and Exploration of Archaeological Data,” held at the CAA 2017 conference in Atlanta.

Immersive technologies are widely used in interactive media art and storytelling today. A high-quality virtual environment and avatar can provide the audience with a strong sense of presence and ownership of the virtual body, evoking empathetic outcomes from the experience. However, the majority of immersive art we encounter today shows a strong favoring of visual and auditory sensation over interactions. They provide the audience with a limited number of ways to participate in an immersive narrative, leaving them a sense of being an “outsider” that breaks the connection between the audience’s virtual avatar and the virtual environment. Starting with Nicolas Bourriaud’s relational aesthetics for art creation and taking human relations and their social context as the main conceptual and practical point of departure for experience design, I develop artistic and technical strategies for creating immersive experiences that place the audience at the center to let them activate the narrative content and cultural meanings. My approach is to provide the user novel ways to relate themselves to what they see on a screen, and to allow for direct participation and engagement. Through an increased level of interactivity, co-presence and plausibility in immersive environments, my work aims to help the audience develop new relationships with other people, with virtual entities, and with AI agents. The hybrid systems introduced in this thesis describe novel ways of creating relational experiences by techniques learned from different domains such as soft robotics, quantum computing and social science. I also demonstrate authoring interface design that can be more widely adopted by the creative community to overcome the challenges often faced in immersive and interactive narrative compositions.