title: The MIREX Grand Challenge: A Framework of Holistic User-Experience Evaluation in Music Information Retrieval

authors: Hu, Xiao

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Music Information Retrieval (MIR) evaluation has traditionally focused on system‐centered approaches where components of MIR systems are evaluated against predefined data sets and golden answers (i.e., ground truth). There are two major limitations of such system‐centered evaluation approaches: (a) The evaluation focuses on subtasks in music information retrieval, but not on entire systems and (b) users and their interactions with MIR systems are largely excluded. This article describes the first implementation of a holistic user‐experience evaluation in MIR, the MIREX Grand Challenge, where complete MIR systems are evaluated, with user experience being the single overarching goal. It is the first time that complete MIR systems have been evaluated with end users in a realistic scenario. We present the design of the evaluation task, the evaluation criteria and a novel evaluation interface, and the data‐collection platform. This is followed by an analysis of the results, reflection on the experience and lessons learned, and plans for future directions.

text: The MIREX Grand Challenge: A Framework of Holistic User-Experience Evaluation in Music Information Retrieval Music Information Retrieval (MIR) evaluation has traditionally focused on system‐centered approaches where components of MIR systems are evaluated against predefined data sets and golden answers (i.e., ground truth). There are two major limitations of such system‐centered evaluation approaches: (a) The evaluation focuses on subtasks in music information retrieval, but not on entire systems and (b) users and their interactions with MIR systems are largely excluded. This article describes the first implementation of a holistic user‐experience evaluation in MIR, the MIREX Grand Challenge, where complete MIR systems are evaluated, with user experience being the single overarching goal. It is the first time that complete MIR systems have been evaluated with end users in a realistic scenario. We present the design of the evaluation task, the evaluation criteria and a novel evaluation interface, and the data‐collection platform. This is followed by an analysis of the results, reflection on the experience and lessons learned, and plans for future directions.

year: 2017

title: Networks for utilising the organic and dry fractions of municipal waste: P-graph approach

authors: Walmsley, Timothy Gordon

abstract: Minimising the demand for fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas footprints is of high priority for sustainable development. This is true for all societal aspects - including research and development. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) networks are regarded as one of the potential contributors to solving this problem by applying a win-win strategy for simultaneously minimising the landfilled waste, fossil fuel demand and the associated footprints. A critical aspect for the success of a Waste-to-Energy network is to account for the spatial challenges posed by the distributed nature of the waste generation and the energy demands, where the size of the processing facilities and the served areas should be simultaneously optimised. The current work proposes concepts and procedure for targeting these capacities and sizes as the first step in the WtE network synthesis, employing Process Integration and P-graph. An illustrative case study is provided, illustrating the procedure and its application.

text: Networks for utilising the organic and dry fractions of municipal waste: P-graph approach Minimising the demand for fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas footprints is of high priority for sustainable development. This is true for all societal aspects - including research and development. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) networks are regarded as one of the potential contributors to solving this problem by applying a win-win strategy for simultaneously minimising the landfilled waste, fossil fuel demand and the associated footprints. A critical aspect for the success of a Waste-to-Energy network is to account for the spatial challenges posed by the distributed nature of the waste generation and the energy demands, where the size of the processing facilities and the served areas should be simultaneously optimised. The current work proposes concepts and procedure for targeting these capacities and sizes as the first step in the WtE network synthesis, employing Process Integration and P-graph. An illustrative case study is provided, illustrating the procedure and its application.

year: 2017

title: Place imaginaries: Photography and place-making at Te Awa River Ride

authors: Hill, Rodrigo

subjects: photography

abstract: Contemporary photographic practice has evolved into a field of possibilities, which includes a flux of representational modes that depict experiences, feelings and emotions. This PhD with Creative Practice Components investigates how photography is embedded within ways of knowing, experiencing and making places and the subsequent visual constructions of place imaginaries.  Drawing on contemporary photographic practice and theory, I position myself as a qualitative researcher engaged in creative practice, specifically lens-based approaches and modes of photographic representation. In contrast to photography’s dominant discourse centred on indexical and objective assumptions, I understand photographic practices and images as constructions of multiple meanings.

I use Te Awa River Ride as my research locale, a place where different practices and discourses entangle, forming a diverse set of dynamic and intersecting meanings. Te Awa River Ride is a shared pathway, with a planned total length of 70 kilometres, that edges the banks of the Waikato River from Ngāruawāhia to Cambridge, in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. I understand Te Awa River Ride as a place-composite, layered by multiple place imaginaries, including indigenous Māori, Pākehā and European ways of meaning and place-making. In this thesis I draw upon place imaginaries as a way of expressing visual possibilities, constructions and affective responses to my own and others’ experiences at this unique research location. 

My photography practice aims to actualise particular place imaginaries through curation and sequencing of lens-based explorations of light, movement and water. This process and the compilation of imagery into curatorial products, such as photography installations, generate novel ways of perceiving the Waikato River and Te Awa River Ride, revealing the centrality of photography in place-making processes.

text: Place imaginaries: Photography and place-making at Te Awa River Ride Contemporary photographic practice has evolved into a field of possibilities, which includes a flux of representational modes that depict experiences, feelings and emotions. This PhD with Creative Practice Components investigates how photography is embedded within ways of knowing, experiencing and making places and the subsequent visual constructions of place imaginaries.  Drawing on contemporary photographic practice and theory, I position myself as a qualitative researcher engaged in creative practice, specifically lens-based approaches and modes of photographic representation. In contrast to photography’s dominant discourse centred on indexical and objective assumptions, I understand photographic practices and images as constructions of multiple meanings.

I use Te Awa River Ride as my research locale, a place where different practices and discourses entangle, forming a diverse set of dynamic and intersecting meanings. Te Awa River Ride is a shared pathway, with a planned total length of 70 kilometres, that edges the banks of the Waikato River from Ngāruawāhia to Cambridge, in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. I understand Te Awa River Ride as a place-composite, layered by multiple place imaginaries, including indigenous Māori, Pākehā and European ways of meaning and place-making. In this thesis I draw upon place imaginaries as a way of expressing visual possibilities, constructions and affective responses to my own and others’ experiences at this unique research location. 

My photography practice aims to actualise particular place imaginaries through curation and sequencing of lens-based explorations of light, movement and water. This process and the compilation of imagery into curatorial products, such as photography installations, generate novel ways of perceiving the Waikato River and Te Awa River Ride, revealing the centrality of photography in place-making processes.

year: 2019