Researching AI-Augmented Business Tools

This assignment is developed in conjunction with the Fabric of Digital Life. The goal of this hands-on research exercise is to explore how machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are being incorporated into business processes, including (but not limited to) process and technologies used in your own professional context. Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will:

• Identify and research the influence of ML and AI on business practices
• Practice archiving as research and rhetorical practices
• Practice working collaboratively with your peers and outside experts
• Better understand the rhetorical communication role of AI in business communication.

Learning about Fabric and Archiving

First, explore the Fabric website and check out the existing archival collections. I recommend using the Replacing Human Decision-Making Through Automated Tracking Systems (ATS) in Hiring Processes (2020) collection (created by a previous class) as an exemplar for a collection that we will curate as a class.

• Roles: Notice in each collection, there is a curator role (in this assignment, it would be you, your peers, and me), a collection editor (Dr. Isabel Pedersen), and a collection archivist (Sharon Caldwell).
• Summary: Each collection has an introduction that summarizes the purpose and the contents of the collection. As curators, you and I will compose this introduction collectively.
• Objects: Each collection includes a number of depictions or representations of technologies. What counts as an object in this collection? A physical product, a website about a product, a news story/article/video about a product, a case study on the use of a product: All of these count as an object for the purpose of this assignment.

Archiving as Research: Read the following three resources on archiving as a scholarly activity and research activity. Pay attention to archival actions like naming an object, assigning tags, writing descriptions, etc.

Duin, A. H., et al. (forthcoming). Building digital literacy through exploration and curation of emerging technologies.

Rawson, K. J. (2018). The rhetorical power of archival description: Classifying images of gender transgression. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 48(4), 327-351. https://doi.org/10.1080/02773945.2017.1347951

Rivard, C. (2019). Turning archives into data: Archival rhetorics and digital literacy in the composition classroom. College Composition and Communication, 70(4), 527-559.

Your Tasks

• Contribute an Object: Each of you should contribute at 1 object to our collection. The scope of our collection is limited to “the role of AI in business processes.” This means any object you choose to add in this collection must be justified as a tool or technology that incorporates ML or AI into business practices, communications, or activities. Your object contribution must not be an existing object in the Fabric of Digital Life collection. This means you must do a careful search of the entire site before confirming your object.
• Write the Introduction: Each of you will contribute to the introduction of this collection. I will lead by providing a structure, and you should contribute by expanding and editing the content in this Google Doc. I will grade your contribution using the editing history in this shared document.

Final Outcome

We should propose a curated collection of at least as many objects as there are enrolled students by the end of this assignment. We’ll work together to submit each item as part of the collection to Fabric of Digital Life.

You’ll be responsible for the following tasks in this project:

1. Identify, research, and propose an AI-augmented technology tool to include in the collection as a blog post.
2. Select a single representation of that AI-augmented technology (could be a product description, published review, publicly available demonstration video, promotional ad, or news article or feature) to include as an artifact in the collection. Any representation must be publicly available.
3. Write a brief description of your artifact and develop metadata using guidelines and tools provided by Fabric of Digital Life.
4.  Contribute to the collaboratively-sourced collection introduction.

These tasks will be distributed across several modules, so as you work through the modules, you’ll complete all of these outcomes.

Project Overview