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Description

MonuMAI is a citizen science project organized by Fundación Descubre and the University of Granada, that offers the opportunity to get closer to the artistic heritage. Combining art, mathematics, artificial intelligence and social communication of science. It was launched as pilot experience in the framework of the European Researchers’ Night in Andalusia.

The aim of this format was, with the help of citizen-participants, to train an algorithm and teach it to identify architectural styles from an image.

In addition, these events allow the organisers to question the participants whether they prefer certain architectural trends and the look of certain geometric principles over others. This event also allows participants to appreciate the beauty of mathematics, and how maths is used in architecture.

This project requires a long-term collaboration and a multidisciplinary team of experts, including people who are knowledgeable in Mathematics, Art, Artificial Intelligence, Citizen Science and Social Communication of Science.

Target Audience
  • Adult citizens
  • Children 7-12
  • Families
  • Teenagers

You can do it with all those groups, but we did it with professionals from different fields like public engagement or the cultural and creative sector.

Benefits

Benefits

Producing knowledge, based on the scientific method, to solve a problem or improve a situation that concerns the citizens, and doing it from, for and with society. That is how MonuMAI understands Citizen Science.

With this alliance, society poses new questions, provides experimental data that can develop new tools for researchers and contributes to the creation of a new scientific culture.

Citizens, while adding value to scientists, understand their work in depth. In addition, this experience contributes to improve their culture and therefore facilitates the use of scientific knowledge in their daily decision-making process, increasing their capacity for social participation.

Preparations

  • Decide on where and with whom you want to run the experiment (contact with the educational community, photography, maths and heritage associations, etc)
  • Prepare some promotional material
  • Train the algorithm to start recognizing new architectural styles (or what ever you want the app to investigate)
  • Communicate with volunteers (your Citizen Scientists) and get them to download the associated app which is connected to your bespoke algorithm. This will be how users will upload new data. In this instance, it was the MonuMAI app.
  • Upload images and wait for the data to be analysed by the MonuMAI app system.
  • The MonuMAI app uses Artificial Intelligence, which automatically recognizes the architectural styles present in the images. The algorithm uses a Deep Learning process that allows the system to be autonomous and improve with use.
  • The photo will be added to the database and will be used in the project by researchers.
  • Promote the experiment on mass media and social networks.

Institution

Fundación Descubre and the University of Granada