• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.181-213
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• 2018

How to study Southeast Asia (SEA)? The need to explore and identify methodologies for studying SEA are inherent in its multifaceted subject matter. At a minimum, the region's rich cultural diversity inhibits both the articulation of decisive defining characteristics and the training of scholars who can write with confidence beyond their specialisms. Consequently, the challenges of understanding the region remain and a consensus regarding the most effective approaches to studying its history, identity and future seem quite unlikely. Furthermore, "Area Studies" more generally, has proved to be a less attractive frame of reference for burgeoning scholarly trends. This paper will propose a new tool to help address these challenges. Even though the science of artificial intelligence (AI) is in its infancy, it has already yielded new approaches to many commercial, scientific and humanistic questions. At this point, AI has been used to produce news, generate better smart phones, deliver more entertainment choices, analyze earthquakes and write fiction. The time has come to explore the possibility that AI can be put at the service of the study of SEA. The paper intends to lay out what would be required to develop SEABOT. This instrument might exist as a robot on the web which might be called upon to make the study of SEA both broader and more comprehensive. The discussion will explore the financial resources, ownership and timeline needed to make SEABOT go from an idea to a reality. SEABOT would draw upon artificial neural networks (ANNs) to mine the region's "Big Data", while synthesizing the information to form new and useful perspectives on SEA. Overcoming significant language issues, applying multidisciplinary methods and drawing upon new yields of information should produce new questions and ways to conceptualize SEA. SEABOT could lead to findings which might not otherwise be achieved. SEABOT's work might well produce outcomes which could open up solutions to immediate regional problems, provide ASEAN planners with new resources and make it possible to eventually define and capitalize on SEA's "soft power". That is, new findings should provide the basis for ASEAN diplomats and policy-makers to develop new modalities of cultural diplomacy and improved governance. Last, SEABOT might also open up avenues to tell the SEA story in new distinctive ways. SEABOT is seen as a heuristic device to explore the results which this instrument might yield. More important the discussion will also raise the possibility that an AI-driven perspective on SEA may prove to be even more problematic than it is beneficial.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.1-1
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• 2016

Many of the world's large ecosystems are severely stressed due to population growth, water quality and quantity problems, vulnerability to flood and drought, and the loss of native species and cultural resources. Consequences of climate change further increase uncertainties about the future. These major societal challenges must be addressed through innovations in governance, policy, and ways of implementing management strategies. Science and engineering play a critical role in helping define possible alternative futures that could be achieved and the possible consequences to economic development, quality of life, and sustainability of ecosystem services. Science has advanced rapidly during the past decade with the emergence of science communities coalescing around 'Grand Challenges' and the maturation of how these communities function has resulted in large interdisciplinary research networks. An example is the River Experiment Center of KICT that engages researchers from throughout Korea and the world. This trend has been complemented by major advances in sensor technologies and data synthesis to accelerate knowledge discovery. These factors combine to allow scientific debate to occur in a more open and transparent manner. The availability of information and improved communication of scientific and engineering issues is raising the level of dialogue at the science-policy interface. However, severe challenges persist since scientific discovery does not occur on the same timeframe as management actions, policy decisions or at the pace sometimes expected by elected officials. Common challenges include the need to make decisions in the face of considerable uncertainty, ensuring research results are actionable and preventing science being used by special interests to delay or obsfucate decisions. These challenges are explored in the context of examples from the United States, including the California Bay-Delta system. California transfers water from the wetter northern part of the state to the drier southern part of the state through the Central Valley Project since 1940 and this was supplemented by the State Water Project in 1973. The scale of these activities is remarkable: approximately two thirds of the population of Californians rely on water from the Delta, these waters also irrigate up to 45% of the fruits & vegetables produced in the US, and about 80% of California's commercial fishery species live in or migrate through the Bay-Delta. This Delta region is a global hotspot for biodiversity that provides habitat for over 700 species, but is also a hotspot for the loss of biodiversity with more than 25 species currently listed by the Endangered Species Act. Understanding the decline of the fragile ecosystem of the Bay-Delta system and the potential consequences to economic growth if water transfers are reduced for the environment, the California State Legislature passed landmark legislation in 2009 (CA Water Code SS 85054) that established "Coequal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem". The legislation also stated that "The coequal goals shall be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place." The challenges of integrating policy, management and scientific research will be described through this and other international examples.