A couple of weeks ago I realised that there was a gap in the research I’ve been doing on Collecting by Individuals – how to apply AI to Personal Collections. After a further two weeks thinking it over, I’ve decided that I need to bite the bullet and to learn by doing it myself on some of my own collections.
I’m embarking on this journey with very little relevant knowledge. However, I do at least have the recent report on AI Preparedness guidelines for Archivists, as well as some exchanges with ChatGPT about what can be done. I’m hoping that these will get me up and running, and that ChatGPT may be able to help me with things I don’t understand. With these tools in my (rather empty) kitbag the notes below outline what I plan to do.
My overall objective is to provide detailed guidelines for individuals who want to apply AI to interrogate their own private collections. This may also involve enhancing the current OFC Tutorial and/or creating a separate tutorial.
The strategy I intend to follow is to conduct the work in a series of phases, going from the simplest possible implementation I can define to progressively more comprehensive and complex implementations. I will use two of my own collections: a collection of Mementos which has an index of some 2390 entries and 2730 digital files; and my PAWDOC collection of work files which has an index of some 17380 entries and around 31,300 digital files.
The phases I currently plan to undertake are as follows (though these may well be rejigged as I gain more experience and knowledge):
- AI support for the Memento collection’s index entries;
- AI support for the Memento collection’s combined Index entries and file titles;
- AI support for the Memento collection’s index entries, file titles and textual items;
- AI support for PAWDOC’s index entries;
- AI support for PAWDOC’s combined index entries and file titles
- AI support for PAWDOC’s combined index entries, file titles, and some or all of the born digital items
- AI support for a subset of PAWDOC’s scanned items
- AI support for a combination of index entries, file titles, some born digital material and some scanned items
- AI support for the whole of PAWDOC
Timescales: With my current lack of knowledge I don’t know how long this is all going to take. However, I shall aim to try and have the first phase completed in not more than 1 year.
Ideally, I would like to find some knowledgeable collaborators who have relevant experience and who would guide me through the work (please do get in touch if you are interested). However, it could be hard to find the right people who have sufficient interest and the time to spare. I shall take some steps to try and find some such individuals, but won’t let that endeavour delay my start on Phase 1. I am reconciled to probably having to do most of the work without any permanent collaborator support.