marientina

http://www.casuality.org/

Posted by marientina at 1:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A good friend and collaborator, Mina Vasalou does research on some very controversial topics on human-computer interaction. Given our talks about BackChannel and social behaviour, I find her work now even more interesting:

One of her latest papers:

DigitalBlush: Towards a self-conscious community
In human societies, behavior is often mediated by a set of rules which if broken, have practical (i.e. tarred reputation) as well as emotional consequences (i.e. feeling shame for one’s action). It is fear for both sanctions that leads to norm internalization. Trust and reputation mechanisms have focused on the practical consequences, neglecting to account for the weight of emotions. In this article, we present shame and embarrassment as a possible behavior-controlling mechanism working on an emotional level and strengthening current trust and reputation systems. Through a three line inquiry, we discuss our future work joining into a single objective: to develop a self-conscious community whose members may engage in controlled and even more importantly, prosocial behaviors towards other members.

Posted by marientina at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PC as Personal Companion for Computer Studies"
Chicago Flame (10/24/05)

The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $520,000 grant to support the development of a personal computer that will act like a student and assist students in solving problems. University of Illinois at Chicago associate computer science professor Barbara Di Eugenio will develop a "dialog agent" along with Pamela Jordan and Sandra Katz, research associates at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to developing a dialog agent that can think, respond, and speak like a college student, the researchers have to design a unit that college students, including female undergraduates, would want to use. The researchers will also work with David Allbritton, a psychology professor at DePaul University. The computer has to be able to answer questions if it is to interact with students, says Di Eugenio.

Entire article:

Can a personal computer be programmed to behave like a student and work with a human classmate to solve difficult problems in computer science?

And, can this computer student "peer" find acceptance among female undergraduates, whose enrollment numbers in computer science are on the decline? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barbara Di Eugenio, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, thinks so. She and her colleagues Pamela Jordan and Sandra Katz, research associates at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center, will split a $520,000, three-year National Science Foundation grant to produce a program they call a "dialog agent" that will think, react and speak like a college student -- but also ultimately know answers to questions to help keep the student-computer interaction on a productive track.

Di Eugenio, Jordan and Katz will collaborate with psychology professor David Allbritton of DePaul University. The project also has the endorsement of UIC's new Learning Sciences Research Institute.

While many software programs, such as search engines, can seem amazingly intuitive, Di Eugenio said the new dialog agent she's developing will need to be even more sophisticated in the way it interacts with users.

"If the computer has to interact with students, it really has to know the answers already," she said. "But we want to set parameters so the computer acts like a student peer. The computer may know everything, but it won't say everything right away, because it wants to encourage the student to participate."

Posted by marientina at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Somewhere between contemplating whether I truly need another pair of shoes while people in Pakistan are still waiting for their after-quake rescue, the Sudafed (I have a cold) has kicked in and is keeping me up all night. Thankfully, the post from Brad around 1.30am is making me feel not so nuts for being up late again, and it reminds me once again about that wonderful race to graduation. No, no, (readers who don't know me): I am not graduating but we have a new batch of cookies in the oven ...er I mean MFA students. Or should I say MFA candidates? That is btw the correct title for you 3rd year students.

I sat through the first official MFA thesis planning session and even though heavily sedated and buried deep into research on network attached storage, I was excited... Somewhere between the grandiose thinking, the thoughts about projection, promotion, experience design and random left-field jokes, I felt the jitter by proxy. I am so looking forward to this!

I often wonder the following because as I get older, I gotta evaluate to survive. When I was younger I used to say that I shall only regret things I didn't do but of course that is bullshit. After all, I regret ever hurting anybody, I regret a few boyfriends here and there and I regret taking that Sudafed pill.

I am sure many of you are wondering about the same things so I will pass on to you what I have discovered and you can take it or leave it. That is the beauty of the blog after all: it is elective reading.

a. Did I do the right thing by getting an MFA
Absolutely, positively yes. It wasn't just a fetish although I was in love with EVL since I was 15 years old. I remember doing applications for it, and I went to my advisor Dan Sandin with the arrogance of any 20 year-old who already had a kick-ass job, and I asked him "what do you have to offer to me and why should I do this in the first place?". I think he was stumped. But he was a good sport so he told me that the MFA wasn't about getting a job: it was about doing something you really want and it was a good time to grow.

You see the problem with my job at the time was that it was all-consuming and I was an artist, and I didn't have any time to do what I wanted. So in a way, going into an MFA program was like me buying time for myself to study and grow. I had to buy my own time to study - I wasn't buying Dan's time or anybody elses, that's for damn sure.

In doing my MFA I had the opportunity to teach all over town for four years, I did research, I did IT, I did writing, I did art and I did an MFA show. And in between, I still did my consulting work to pay some more bills. In IT, one would call all this 'bleeding-edge' load-balancing...And did I mention that I made some incredible new friends? Since I went to a state-school funded with my tax dollars, I have to say that it had a great return-on-investment.

Greg Dawe (a really cool person) told me once that the MFA was the most versatile degree you could ever get. My long-time friend Donald Nielsen told me to make sure whatever degree I got wouldn't wedge me into some category and to keep throwing more into the melting pot. I guess all that had an impact on a young mind back then. And thanks to my father, I have skills that will always find me a job no matter what else happens so I never worried about being able to make money. My family made and lost so much that not much scares me, except for major illness of course.

So yes. The MFA was worth it. I highly recommend it if you have an open mind and if you are willing to get your hands dirty.

b. Am I in the right place?
Say what you want but it only matters if I feel right in my place. University pay is very crappy unless you have seniority and the benefits are worth it only if you have a family. In fact, I made more as a self-employed person, could save much more if I wanted through a self-employment retirement account and get a whole lot more tax-deductions. And if it weren't for the fact that I always try to choose what is interesting instead of what is profitable, I would have a very high paying job at a company or would have opted to become a more purebred academic and published more and exhibited more and pursued a tenure-track job somewhere.

I kinda tried all of it and I wasn't happy. The industry jobs - been there done that and I much more preferred to consult for small businesses or not-for-profit organizations...Teaching? Well, I do miss teaching but full-time faculty jobs are not for me yet. I am such a control freak that I would rather do the monkey work staff has to do than have someone else do it for me...Teaching art and tech at smaller schools was the most enjoyable thing I ever did. But I did burn out quick because I was full-time grad and teaching 2-3 classes off-campus. What can I say? I am an overachiever.

So why take the job here? Of course I was grateful to be a contestant but I had to think long and hard about it. But I think that if you kids keep graduating and making me proud for any contribution I made to you success, then I am happy. And if things get more streamlined, I can work on some of my projects and that will make me more happy. And sure, a few more bucks would really help. I got student loans too. And a shoe addiction apparently...

So make me proud kids because that is 1/3 of my motivation to be here. The other 2/3's are for Fisher to figure out (it is a joke - relax).

Since my MFA show two plus years ago, I have managed to get into all kinds of stuff besides this job which includes loads of monkey work. Outside of this job I do some small things, some big things and all things that I choose and that interest me. And now, I can finally do things that make a difference in some people's lives. And that is a big thing for me. It is enormous and I have that opportunity because I have an MFA and my field of view is wide open.

Growing up in a socialist-capitalist- birthplace-of-democracy-kind-of-place (take a wild guess), I was taught that every vote counts and every gesture has a meaning. It was always about how the one or the few made a difference for the many. And I am not talking about grandiose gestures or taking over the world, but small gestures. That is the quintessential definition of social work (and did I mention that USC is a four-star charity?)

I used to think 'but is it art?'. But now I think who cares? If it makes a difference, it is what I do. And sometimes, it is art that I make.

(And if you are wondering how on earth this blog post makes a difference in your life: if I can vent, share and go to sleep and be cheery tomorrow, it will benefit many of you...)

c. Do I really want a PhD?
So this is a big issue these days. Lots of MFA's are getting PhD's for all kinds of different reasons. Some feel inadequate, some want to switch disciplines, some feel they have the energy and focus and there are all kinds of other reasons. Those who think they can get more money just for the PhD - they are crazy. If you suck with an MS, MA or MFA, you will probably suck with a PhD too...And yes I know that many people slip through the system, but many also self-select so it evens out in the end...

In my first few months in CA, I applied for a PhD in Education. It was a long shot since the application was very last minute, it was crappily done, my tests sucked since I hadn't taken a standardized test in ten years and to top it all off, two of my recommendation letters came in late so I was immediately disqualified. Bummer yes. But as they say, one door closes and another one opens. I can only be mad and depressed for stuff like that for only a few hours, at most a week (I did mope).

These days, I feel strongly that the MFA is a terminal degree. But it is only if you put the effort into it. If we all did that, and if we defended it and the quality of our work showed it, it would truly be a terminal degree. A PhD is a totally different beast and I am not sure I have the attention span and desire to put all my eggs into one basket for the time it takes to do it. Talk to me again about that in a few years...It is like me trying to buy a PDA: what I really want isn't in the market yet.

So there.

The Sudafed is starting to wear off and I gotta pee so this is it for now. Another over-the-counter-medicine induced rant. Who needs recreational drugs if I can write all this with a lousy 30mg of pseudoephedrine?

Posted by marientina at 1:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Front page od CNN (must be trying to cover up serious news today like the Miers nomination, the Baltimore tunnel closing, the flooding in MA and the new hurricane...)

Living in a wireless world: Too much of a good thing?

In today's wireless society, e-mails, phone calls and office documents are a keypad touch away. Cell phones, laptops, PDAs have become a part of everyday life for millions of people. While the ease and availability of information can lead to greater productivity, it can also intrude on our personal time. For many, it's a struggle to define the limits of work and play.

read more

and also Legislation can't keep pace with technology

There you go Andrew, the world is finally paying attention...

Posted by marientina at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This just in:

Over 27% of adults in the EU suffer from some form of mental illness every year. Depression and anxiety disorders are the most common mental problems experienced, and studies have estimated that by 2020, depression will be the highest ranking cause of disease in the developed world. In terms of economic impact, mental ill health costs the EU 3-4% of its GDP through lost productivity and additional burdens on sectors such as health, education and justice.

http://www.welcomeurope.com/default.asp?id=1300&idnews=2373

From 2001:

Mental Disorders in America (NIMH study)

Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 22.1 percent of Americans ages 18 and older—about 1 in 5 adults—suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.1 When applied to the 1998 U.S. Census residential population estimate, this figure translates to 44.3 million people.2 In addition, 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders—major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.3 Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time.

At the same time, the definition of 'mental illness' is not quite pinned down. On the Thalassemia board that I moderate, patients are often prescribed Prozac instead of real treatment of their anemia which is actually causing the depression. Our medical system is suffering from seeing the tree but not the whole forest. That makes me depressed and it makes me wonder about appropriate funding sources for my project.

Posted by marientina at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a very "Carrie-Sex and the City way", I feel like asking: is municipal wireless access a fundamental human right?

My heart says yes and my brain says no. It think it should be available like a utility, in a low-cost manner because it would stimulate the economy so much. It would create jobs and a whole new way of doing things. Mmore people can telecommute rather than waste gas. And it takes so little to make it free...My brain on the other hand keeps thinking OMG what about security and quality of service and free market competition and all that other stuff?

The controversial mayor of San Franscisco sees wireless as a fundamental human right. It is a wonderful thought, yet at a time when everything seems to be slipping back into the past, and we seem to be losing so many rights, (privacy, choice and the right to a clean environment), the topic of wireless internet access seems so futile. Or maybe that will help people mobilize and advocate? Sometimes it isn't good enough to just socialize and talk about things. You have to actually do something about it. Like stand on a picket line. Or boycott something. Even writing this feels cheap to me, but I do have the fundamental right to ponder...:)

Posted by marientina at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)