Chapter 9:
Ah memories. An interesting chapter. The human brain is such an incredibly complex organ. The fact that they would try and perform tests and experiments on the brain is outstanding. Unfortunately, I just find it hard to be able to adequately test and experiment on the human brain due to difficulty and ethical reasons. I think memories is more than just neurons firing all around in the brain. I do not have an idea how physically/biologically memories are stored, but I have yet to be convinced that it's neurons alone. How can this be applied to computer science? A way to simulate brain activity in a computer would be a start (such as neural nets). Being able to simulate the brain in a computer could help open us to more answers in the human brain.
Chapter 10:
This chapter was more about surgeries. Specifically, surgeries on the brain. This chapter made me feel a little light-headed while reading it. Many of these patients had holes drilled to their brains where the surgeon would slash or cut certain areas of the brain. A majority of the patients would report back as feeling better or even cured of their depression, OCD, or epilepsy. I find a lot of these to be hard to believe. To me, it does not make since that a simple slice here or injection of alcohol there results in cures. The surgeons had no idea what they were exactly doing other than poking around the brain. How are they suppose to know where exactly, precisely to cut? I would like for one of these patients to have undergone a fake lobotomy to see if they would have become "healed". Of course, I'm happy for the patients who feel better. It still however feels fishy to me. As to how this can be applied to computer science? I honestly don't know how. I mean, there's the obvious make surgeon robots to go in and cut your brain a bit I suppose. I still think that some sort of way to simulate the human brain or to be able to "debug" a human brain would be very beneficial. As to how? I have no idea.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Book Reading #5: Skinners Box, Part 4
Chapter 7:
Addictions, what an interesting chapter. I have not been around a lot of addiction or at least nothing as bad as drug addiction. I have always thought that the majority of people could not or had an extremely hard time quitting certain addictions. Given the theory on how people can quit addictions anytime is odd. I can see how it is more common for addictions to form given a poor environment for a user. It is interesting to think that some companies try and get you addicted to their product so they can make more money. I often wonder if some people have ethical conflicts with this business strategy.
Chapter 8:
False memories is a very interesting subject but almost impossible to fully discuss. There is no doubt in my mind that certain memories can be "implanted" into people. When someone suggests that there is some apparent feature on something, a lot of people will either agree or say something along the lines like "I think so". I have been guilty in the realm of falsifying memories in other people. Often times, it was for reinforcing a lie, to twist and turn it into a truth. I find it difficult to test on this subject however because there is no sure-fire, guaranteed way of telling if someone is lying or telling the truth. If someone claims that they believe something that turns out to have never happened, are they telling the truth in the first place? Some people know they do not remember such things sometimes. Instead, they go along with it to save themselves from embarrassment or to fit-in, in some occasions.
Addictions, what an interesting chapter. I have not been around a lot of addiction or at least nothing as bad as drug addiction. I have always thought that the majority of people could not or had an extremely hard time quitting certain addictions. Given the theory on how people can quit addictions anytime is odd. I can see how it is more common for addictions to form given a poor environment for a user. It is interesting to think that some companies try and get you addicted to their product so they can make more money. I often wonder if some people have ethical conflicts with this business strategy.
Chapter 8:
False memories is a very interesting subject but almost impossible to fully discuss. There is no doubt in my mind that certain memories can be "implanted" into people. When someone suggests that there is some apparent feature on something, a lot of people will either agree or say something along the lines like "I think so". I have been guilty in the realm of falsifying memories in other people. Often times, it was for reinforcing a lie, to twist and turn it into a truth. I find it difficult to test on this subject however because there is no sure-fire, guaranteed way of telling if someone is lying or telling the truth. If someone claims that they believe something that turns out to have never happened, are they telling the truth in the first place? Some people know they do not remember such things sometimes. Instead, they go along with it to save themselves from embarrassment or to fit-in, in some occasions.
Book Reading #5: Skinners Box, Part 3
Chapter 5:
I enjoyed this chapter since it gave more insight into people that make up ridiculous excuses to make reinforce their belief despite evidence that they are wrong. It's interesting to think that people will hold a stronger belief or perform an action when the reward is small. To me, it feels like it stems from people not wanting to be embarrassed or are anxious at what others think of them.
Chapter 6:
This chapter was a bit disturbing to me. It was awkward to read while the author talked vividly about a babies mothers nipple. As far as what the chapter was about, I found it sad what had happened to the monkeys but at the same time, I believe it is critical for human health. The fact that the monkeys were practically crazy when having anti-social mothers interests me in the sense that how people develop. Different people have different social skills, many of these skills can be developed differently with different raising styles and/or different mothers.
I enjoyed this chapter since it gave more insight into people that make up ridiculous excuses to make reinforce their belief despite evidence that they are wrong. It's interesting to think that people will hold a stronger belief or perform an action when the reward is small. To me, it feels like it stems from people not wanting to be embarrassed or are anxious at what others think of them.
Chapter 6:
This chapter was a bit disturbing to me. It was awkward to read while the author talked vividly about a babies mothers nipple. As far as what the chapter was about, I found it sad what had happened to the monkeys but at the same time, I believe it is critical for human health. The fact that the monkeys were practically crazy when having anti-social mothers interests me in the sense that how people develop. Different people have different social skills, many of these skills can be developed differently with different raising styles and/or different mothers.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Book Reading #5: Skinners Box, Part 2
Chapter 3:
As I read more and more chapters I realize how, different Lauren Slater is. She describes a lot using imagery. Her writing does not seem to exhibit much of a scientific feel to it. Rosenhans experiment was interesting to say the least. Unfortunately, it was not exactly official. All we have to go on are his testimonies. The fact that he stayed in the institute and could not get out does scare me however. It worries me that someone could easily be placed in a psychiatric ward.
Chapter 4:
This chapter is another interesting one. This one points towards help. In this chapter, a woman is slowly killed while people witnessed. Despite her cries for help, no one helped. It's interesting to think how I have come across similar situations. Most people are slow to give out help. Partly because they assume no personal responsibility. Some people believe that someone else will help. All the same time, they are thinking that this poor person needs help, so someone should do it. Unfortunately, no one does in some cases, including the murder victim discussed in this chapter.
As I read more and more chapters I realize how, different Lauren Slater is. She describes a lot using imagery. Her writing does not seem to exhibit much of a scientific feel to it. Rosenhans experiment was interesting to say the least. Unfortunately, it was not exactly official. All we have to go on are his testimonies. The fact that he stayed in the institute and could not get out does scare me however. It worries me that someone could easily be placed in a psychiatric ward.
Chapter 4:
This chapter is another interesting one. This one points towards help. In this chapter, a woman is slowly killed while people witnessed. Despite her cries for help, no one helped. It's interesting to think how I have come across similar situations. Most people are slow to give out help. Partly because they assume no personal responsibility. Some people believe that someone else will help. All the same time, they are thinking that this poor person needs help, so someone should do it. Unfortunately, no one does in some cases, including the murder victim discussed in this chapter.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Book Reading #5: Skinners Box, part 1
Chapter 1:
This chapter is about Lauren Slater going over who B.F. Skinner is. Skinner is famous and known for the controversial experiments he has performed. The chapter starts off with Skinner in a negative tone then becomes more positive. Personally, I found this chapter to be confusing. The structure/order of it bothered me and was a pain to keep up with. Also, Skinner sounds creepy to me, but that's my own fault I'm sure.
Chapter 2:
This chapter focuses bit on Stanley Milgram's Obedience experiment. This chapter was far easier to understand but still had faults to it (in my opinion anyway). Given the fact that I have read Obedience to Authority, I was able to have a good background about the Obedience experiments talked about in this chapter. It is sad to see what became of Stanley Milgrams career due to the experiments.
This chapter is about Lauren Slater going over who B.F. Skinner is. Skinner is famous and known for the controversial experiments he has performed. The chapter starts off with Skinner in a negative tone then becomes more positive. Personally, I found this chapter to be confusing. The structure/order of it bothered me and was a pain to keep up with. Also, Skinner sounds creepy to me, but that's my own fault I'm sure.
Chapter 2:
This chapter focuses bit on Stanley Milgram's Obedience experiment. This chapter was far easier to understand but still had faults to it (in my opinion anyway). Given the fact that I have read Obedience to Authority, I was able to have a good background about the Obedience experiments talked about in this chapter. It is sad to see what became of Stanley Milgrams career due to the experiments.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Book Reading #4: Obedience to Authority
Chapter 1:
The first chapter is on a brief discussion of obedience. Several examples of people doing wrong things because they were told by an authority figure or force were mentioned; most notably, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Chapter 2:
This chapter was about a setting up an obedience experiment in Yale. An actor was hired to portray the learner. An experimenter was one of the people running the experiment, while the teacher was the subject to be studied.
Chapter 3:
The expected results for the experiment were that many/most people would disobey at around 150 volts or when the learner expresses his "pain".
Chapter 4:
Alternate experiments were run where how close the teacher was to the learner was altered. It shows that when the teacher is closer to the learner, the teacher is more likely to disobey or will disobey sooner than if the learner was in a separate room.
Chapter 5:
This chapter shows what some of the subjects were thinking during and after the experiment. Many of the subjects showed great concern for the learner but continued to the maximum voltage (450 volts) despite many outcries by the learner.
Chapter 6:
Many more variations of the experiment were performed. Such variations included changing the experimenter to a different person, changing the settings, choosing female teachers, and even allowing the teacher to set the shock value.
Chapter 7:
In this chapter are more thoughts by the teachers. These teachers are part of the variation experiments. Many of them would still show great concern for the leaner but still continue to shock them.
Chapter 8:
More variations of the experiment were performed. This time however, it was about roles. These experiments demonstrated the differences when different people were in different roles such as the experimenter is the one being shocked while an ordinary person is ordering the shocks. This also included having 2 experimenters, one giving the order to shock the learner while the other says not to.
Chapter 9:
This chapter shows the power of numbers in people. When the teacher has multiple teachers beside him, it is easier to do what the "group" says. It's an almost voluntary action.
Chapter 10:
This chapter is more about the topics related to or part of obedience such as hierarchy and agentic state. Hierarchy promotes obedience because someone up higher is prescribing the action or task to a lower individual.
Chapter 11:
The main focuses here were about antecedent conditions of obedience, the agentic state, and binding factors. Things such as family, rewards, and setting are part of the antecedent conditions in obedience. The agentic state is where a person becomes someone else, an "agent" for an authority figure or force. Binding factors are what keep a person obeying.
Chapter 12:
Strain is the force that can cause a person to disobey. The strain has to outweigh the strain-resolving methods or techniques. If a person experienced no strain with shocking a person, then they will continue to shock a person until they are told to stop. With strain, a person will want to quit or disobey however, there are ways to resolve the strain such as being able to not assume responsibility or reassurance that nothing bad will happen.
Chapter 13:
Aggression is an impulse or action to harm another organism. It's possible that some people were able to continue to administer shocks due to their aggression.
Chapter 14:
Many problems and concerns arise with this experiment. Some wonder if the test subjects were enough to represent the general population. Another concern was if the teachers did not know or did know if they were actually causing harm to the learner. Finally, can the experiments results reflect in the wider social life?
Chapter 15:
War seems to be a target when discussing obedience. This is because many people are told to kill another individual all the time by an authority figure. Killing another person is usually not a desire in all of us. Yet many people still do it when they are told. The study of obedience can give us a better idea as to why atrocities occur simply because people are following orders.
Book Response:
This book was fairly interesting. It's scary almost to see that many people are capable of harming other individuals when they are told to do so. Yet, it is also interesting or fascinating to see people change or for people to become almost machines and perform tasks that they are not comfortable with when told by an authority figure.
The differences in proximity between the teacher, the learner, and the experimenter proved to be the most interesting to me. This makes me wonder if the military will reach a point where the generals are with the soldiers to ensure the soldiers carry out their orders.
The results from using multiple people and from alternating the roles is also fascinating. People are eager to disobey when a lot of strain is present but may still continue. Things such as a conflicting authority figure can make it easier for an individual to disobey.
With the appearance of 2 experimenters, it makes me wonder if there should be more co-levels in society. Having 2 people give an order gives more reassurance that it is the right thing to do. Having conflicting orders can lead to the subject to decide.
This experiment is interesting and I would be interesting in seeing more obedience based experiments. Given today's technology, many more variations of the experiments can be performed.
The first chapter is on a brief discussion of obedience. Several examples of people doing wrong things because they were told by an authority figure or force were mentioned; most notably, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Chapter 2:
This chapter was about a setting up an obedience experiment in Yale. An actor was hired to portray the learner. An experimenter was one of the people running the experiment, while the teacher was the subject to be studied.
Chapter 3:
The expected results for the experiment were that many/most people would disobey at around 150 volts or when the learner expresses his "pain".
Chapter 4:
Alternate experiments were run where how close the teacher was to the learner was altered. It shows that when the teacher is closer to the learner, the teacher is more likely to disobey or will disobey sooner than if the learner was in a separate room.
Chapter 5:
This chapter shows what some of the subjects were thinking during and after the experiment. Many of the subjects showed great concern for the learner but continued to the maximum voltage (450 volts) despite many outcries by the learner.
Chapter 6:
Many more variations of the experiment were performed. Such variations included changing the experimenter to a different person, changing the settings, choosing female teachers, and even allowing the teacher to set the shock value.
Chapter 7:
In this chapter are more thoughts by the teachers. These teachers are part of the variation experiments. Many of them would still show great concern for the leaner but still continue to shock them.
Chapter 8:
More variations of the experiment were performed. This time however, it was about roles. These experiments demonstrated the differences when different people were in different roles such as the experimenter is the one being shocked while an ordinary person is ordering the shocks. This also included having 2 experimenters, one giving the order to shock the learner while the other says not to.
Chapter 9:
This chapter shows the power of numbers in people. When the teacher has multiple teachers beside him, it is easier to do what the "group" says. It's an almost voluntary action.
Chapter 10:
This chapter is more about the topics related to or part of obedience such as hierarchy and agentic state. Hierarchy promotes obedience because someone up higher is prescribing the action or task to a lower individual.
Chapter 11:
The main focuses here were about antecedent conditions of obedience, the agentic state, and binding factors. Things such as family, rewards, and setting are part of the antecedent conditions in obedience. The agentic state is where a person becomes someone else, an "agent" for an authority figure or force. Binding factors are what keep a person obeying.
Chapter 12:
Strain is the force that can cause a person to disobey. The strain has to outweigh the strain-resolving methods or techniques. If a person experienced no strain with shocking a person, then they will continue to shock a person until they are told to stop. With strain, a person will want to quit or disobey however, there are ways to resolve the strain such as being able to not assume responsibility or reassurance that nothing bad will happen.
Chapter 13:
Aggression is an impulse or action to harm another organism. It's possible that some people were able to continue to administer shocks due to their aggression.
Chapter 14:
Many problems and concerns arise with this experiment. Some wonder if the test subjects were enough to represent the general population. Another concern was if the teachers did not know or did know if they were actually causing harm to the learner. Finally, can the experiments results reflect in the wider social life?
Chapter 15:
War seems to be a target when discussing obedience. This is because many people are told to kill another individual all the time by an authority figure. Killing another person is usually not a desire in all of us. Yet many people still do it when they are told. The study of obedience can give us a better idea as to why atrocities occur simply because people are following orders.
Book Response:
This book was fairly interesting. It's scary almost to see that many people are capable of harming other individuals when they are told to do so. Yet, it is also interesting or fascinating to see people change or for people to become almost machines and perform tasks that they are not comfortable with when told by an authority figure.
The differences in proximity between the teacher, the learner, and the experimenter proved to be the most interesting to me. This makes me wonder if the military will reach a point where the generals are with the soldiers to ensure the soldiers carry out their orders.
The results from using multiple people and from alternating the roles is also fascinating. People are eager to disobey when a lot of strain is present but may still continue. Things such as a conflicting authority figure can make it easier for an individual to disobey.
With the appearance of 2 experimenters, it makes me wonder if there should be more co-levels in society. Having 2 people give an order gives more reassurance that it is the right thing to do. Having conflicting orders can lead to the subject to decide.
This experiment is interesting and I would be interesting in seeing more obedience based experiments. Given today's technology, many more variations of the experiments can be performed.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Book Reading #3: Gang Leader for a Day
Chapter 1:
Sudhir seemed to be pretty desperate or naive to enter the building. He endangered himself and the only reason he is here today is because of luck.
Chapter 2:
As it turns out, JT is a fairly smart individual. The reason he chose this lifestyle was because how he never was rewarded or paid despite the effort he put into his work.
Chapter 3:
This chapter showed an interested side of Sudhir. Sudhir witnessed someone get beat up but didn't step in to stop them. Even though he was to be protected and left unharmed, he still didn't stop the beating. This could be because he felt he deserved it instead of being scared of a retaliation.
Chapter 4:
JT challenges Sudhir to be the gang leader for a day to give Sudhir a more first person experience into the life of a gang leader. One of Sudhirs first challenges is to settle a dispute between 2 people over money.
Chapter 5:
Sudhir gets closer to Ms. Bailey in order to study her more. She is another important person who plays an important role. She is president of the Robert Taylor buildings.
Chapter 6:
At this point a lot of people are mad at Sudhir. Some find that he inadvertently has lowered the pay of some of the workers. A lot of women also believe that he is sleeping with their daughters during the womens writing workshop.
Chapter 7:
A drive by from a rival gang ends up shooting 2 people. Sudhir realizes a lot of Police Officers are crooked and are in the drug trade. The Officers start to pressure Sudhir and give him a hard time since they believe he's an informant. Sudhir gets to attend a large meeting with the Black Kings thanks to JT.
Chapter 8:
JT gets a large promotion which will put him near the top of the gang ladder. Many people are panicking due to the scheduled demolition on the housing projects, even if they are planned to happen in a couple years. Many people will be forced to move and have nowhere to go.
Book:
All in all, the book was great. This book gives me better insight into gang life. I grew up in an entirely different setting and never had a good idea of how gang life functioned.
It is interesting to see how much the gang helped out the community. They provided a lot to the community. Another thing interesting about the gang was how structured it was. The gang was systematic. I always pictured gangs being run by maybe 1 or 2 guys and only about money. This gang seemed to worry more about land or location.
I'm amazed at how often he and the gang interacted with the law enforcement. It makes me curious if the police know only a little of the gangs activities or if they are busy with other duties. Maybe they do know but do not care.
I'm interested to see how other gangs are structured and the differences in gangs based upon location and racial backgrounds.
I'm glad Sudhir has made it out alive from his entire study. I wonder how Sudhir managed his schoolwork and met with the gang. I have trouble just going to work and school, so to see someone being able to go to school and to be part of gang is impressive. I believe Sudhir has done enough to make a valuable contribution in the world of ehnographies.
One concern with the book I have though is that it is hard to tell if everything written in the book was true. Some of the events seem a little unbelievable, especially some of his actions and reactions. Sudhir might have been raised in a different life, but he seemed way too naive in certain situations Makes me wonder if he wrote his thoughts like he did in the book just to sell his book. Regardless, it's a good book and gives good insight into the gang life.
Sudhir seemed to be pretty desperate or naive to enter the building. He endangered himself and the only reason he is here today is because of luck.
Chapter 2:
As it turns out, JT is a fairly smart individual. The reason he chose this lifestyle was because how he never was rewarded or paid despite the effort he put into his work.
Chapter 3:
This chapter showed an interested side of Sudhir. Sudhir witnessed someone get beat up but didn't step in to stop them. Even though he was to be protected and left unharmed, he still didn't stop the beating. This could be because he felt he deserved it instead of being scared of a retaliation.
Chapter 4:
JT challenges Sudhir to be the gang leader for a day to give Sudhir a more first person experience into the life of a gang leader. One of Sudhirs first challenges is to settle a dispute between 2 people over money.
Chapter 5:
Sudhir gets closer to Ms. Bailey in order to study her more. She is another important person who plays an important role. She is president of the Robert Taylor buildings.
Chapter 6:
At this point a lot of people are mad at Sudhir. Some find that he inadvertently has lowered the pay of some of the workers. A lot of women also believe that he is sleeping with their daughters during the womens writing workshop.
Chapter 7:
A drive by from a rival gang ends up shooting 2 people. Sudhir realizes a lot of Police Officers are crooked and are in the drug trade. The Officers start to pressure Sudhir and give him a hard time since they believe he's an informant. Sudhir gets to attend a large meeting with the Black Kings thanks to JT.
Chapter 8:
JT gets a large promotion which will put him near the top of the gang ladder. Many people are panicking due to the scheduled demolition on the housing projects, even if they are planned to happen in a couple years. Many people will be forced to move and have nowhere to go.
Book:
All in all, the book was great. This book gives me better insight into gang life. I grew up in an entirely different setting and never had a good idea of how gang life functioned.
It is interesting to see how much the gang helped out the community. They provided a lot to the community. Another thing interesting about the gang was how structured it was. The gang was systematic. I always pictured gangs being run by maybe 1 or 2 guys and only about money. This gang seemed to worry more about land or location.
I'm amazed at how often he and the gang interacted with the law enforcement. It makes me curious if the police know only a little of the gangs activities or if they are busy with other duties. Maybe they do know but do not care.
I'm interested to see how other gangs are structured and the differences in gangs based upon location and racial backgrounds.
I'm glad Sudhir has made it out alive from his entire study. I wonder how Sudhir managed his schoolwork and met with the gang. I have trouble just going to work and school, so to see someone being able to go to school and to be part of gang is impressive. I believe Sudhir has done enough to make a valuable contribution in the world of ehnographies.
One concern with the book I have though is that it is hard to tell if everything written in the book was true. Some of the events seem a little unbelievable, especially some of his actions and reactions. Sudhir might have been raised in a different life, but he seemed way too naive in certain situations Makes me wonder if he wrote his thoughts like he did in the book just to sell his book. Regardless, it's a good book and gives good insight into the gang life.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Ethnography Ideas
College Station Running Group: This would by far by my first choice as to which ethnography I would like to study. I love to run but have not been in a running group before. I believe the people will be kind and friendly.
Amish Community: I don't know if an Amish or Amish-like community lives nearby but this would be another interesting choice. Given the fact that everyone in our class is somehow connected with technology and used to technology, it would be interesting to study a group of people who choose not to use technology.
Weightlifting Group: This group would be another interesting choice to study. I'm not much of a weight-lifter so finding and studying a group that devotes their time to lifting weights could be an interesting experience.
Paintball Group: This one would be fun. I love to play paintball and have gone to only one of the paintball group's meeting before. I know almost nothing about them. Their lifestyle must be unique and will probably provide for an interesting group to study.
Tae Kwon Do: Tae Kwon Do was something that I did and enjoy when I was a lot younger. Unfortunately since we moved, we had to leave behind our Tae Kwon Do instructor and facility. It would be interesting to see how as adults people behave in a Tae Kwon Do group. Do they do it for exercise? For competition? For self-defense? Maybe there's some other ulterior motive for taking Tae Kwon Do.
Amish Community: I don't know if an Amish or Amish-like community lives nearby but this would be another interesting choice. Given the fact that everyone in our class is somehow connected with technology and used to technology, it would be interesting to study a group of people who choose not to use technology.
Weightlifting Group: This group would be another interesting choice to study. I'm not much of a weight-lifter so finding and studying a group that devotes their time to lifting weights could be an interesting experience.
Paintball Group: This one would be fun. I love to play paintball and have gone to only one of the paintball group's meeting before. I know almost nothing about them. Their lifestyle must be unique and will probably provide for an interesting group to study.
Tae Kwon Do: Tae Kwon Do was something that I did and enjoy when I was a lot younger. Unfortunately since we moved, we had to leave behind our Tae Kwon Do instructor and facility. It would be interesting to see how as adults people behave in a Tae Kwon Do group. Do they do it for exercise? For competition? For self-defense? Maybe there's some other ulterior motive for taking Tae Kwon Do.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Article Reading + Book Reading: #1
I found the article to be extremely difficult to read. It was long, boring, and failed to peak any interest in me.
The book on the other hand was a better read. The book was way easier to read than the article. The book also had a very interesting subject.
In the book the fact that writing and speeches can give insight into a person. This insight is invaluable to psychologists. One of the interesting things was the use of their LIWC program. The program analyzed text and would total the number of times a word was used within a given category. This could be used to see the distribution and breakdown of someone's speech, book, or article.
Something that I wondered about though was how to improve on the LIWC program by allowing it to interpret and understand sarcasm. The program would have to use context clues in order to gain a better understanding of a words meaning. I often wonder how a program can go about doing this.
The book seems to be an interesting subject while the article was dry and boring. Hopefully, Gang Leader for a Day will be a lot better.
The book on the other hand was a better read. The book was way easier to read than the article. The book also had a very interesting subject.
In the book the fact that writing and speeches can give insight into a person. This insight is invaluable to psychologists. One of the interesting things was the use of their LIWC program. The program analyzed text and would total the number of times a word was used within a given category. This could be used to see the distribution and breakdown of someone's speech, book, or article.
Something that I wondered about though was how to improve on the LIWC program by allowing it to interpret and understand sarcasm. The program would have to use context clues in order to gain a better understanding of a words meaning. I often wonder how a program can go about doing this.
The book seems to be an interesting subject while the article was dry and boring. Hopefully, Gang Leader for a Day will be a lot better.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Article Reading #2: Coming Age of Samoa
Ethnography to me seem to be about learning about a society through a long study that usually involves participation in the group. Typically they person recording the data needs to live among the others as if they belong to the society.
This seems to be a difficult task to accomplish. The person has to do what they can to learn as much about the society as possible while living with them. This can often lead to biased data. Whether biased for the society or against it.
I found these articles to be interesting. The way that Margaret Mead recorded her ethnographic data is neat. Ethnographers have to practically live with the community that they are studying. This Can take time and be a difficult transition for people to switch from one lifestyle to another. The fact that she was able to is a cool accomplishment in the field of ethnography.
The debacle with Freeman seems to be a pointless one to me. Derek Freeman challenged many of Mead's finding. He just so happen to wait several years later before actually going to the Samoa tribe. So much has changed. Most of the Samoans converted to Christianity. The women that Mead interviewed were old and changed a lot as well. With Freeman being an older man, it also probably made some of the Samoan women uncomfortable sharing secrets and tribal practices with him.
Whatever gave Freeman the confidence that he can properly challenge Mead's finding I will probably never know. The amount of time to me is what lead to Freeman's demise in his challenging of Mead's findings. The Samoan tribe has changed too much for him to gather data on the Samoan tribe and compare that data with Mead's findings. To me, it seems obvious that Freeman has no ground in refuting Mead's findings.
This seems to be a difficult task to accomplish. The person has to do what they can to learn as much about the society as possible while living with them. This can often lead to biased data. Whether biased for the society or against it.
I found these articles to be interesting. The way that Margaret Mead recorded her ethnographic data is neat. Ethnographers have to practically live with the community that they are studying. This Can take time and be a difficult transition for people to switch from one lifestyle to another. The fact that she was able to is a cool accomplishment in the field of ethnography.
The debacle with Freeman seems to be a pointless one to me. Derek Freeman challenged many of Mead's finding. He just so happen to wait several years later before actually going to the Samoa tribe. So much has changed. Most of the Samoans converted to Christianity. The women that Mead interviewed were old and changed a lot as well. With Freeman being an older man, it also probably made some of the Samoan women uncomfortable sharing secrets and tribal practices with him.
Whatever gave Freeman the confidence that he can properly challenge Mead's finding I will probably never know. The amount of time to me is what lead to Freeman's demise in his challenging of Mead's findings. The Samoan tribe has changed too much for him to gather data on the Samoan tribe and compare that data with Mead's findings. To me, it seems obvious that Freeman has no ground in refuting Mead's findings.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Book Reading #2: Emotional Design, Chapter 1
In Emotional Design by Donald Norman beautiful devices often seem to work better than less aesthetically pleasing devices. In some studies it was shown that ATMs with the same functionality but with different user interfaces; one ugly, and one better looking showed that users performed better with the prettier looking ones. This is due to the fact the beautiful interfaces tend to invoke a positive, happy emotion in the user. When users are happy or emotionally pleased they tend to work better and become more creative. The openness to creativity then can lead to unique alternatives in problem solving or using a device for example. This can sort of coincide with what makes good design in Design of Everyday Things.
In Design of Everyday Things, devices tend to be easier to use when their a user can see how some of the parts works. This is quite interesting sense in some cases, seeing how the parts work can create a very unpleasant looking device.
Lets assume a device follows all the good design principles in Design of Everyday Things but is extremely ugly to look at. It can even be the fastest of its kind but due to the emotional response that is caused for humans, it can be considered a poor design and may be difficult to use. Users will not want to use something that is ugly or if they have to, then they will rush it's use, causing errors along the way.
This means that both the principles in Design of Everyday Things and the fact that aesthetically pleasing interfaces and devices have to be taken in to account. Devices should not be designed in the extremes of either one. Instead, there needs to be a balance between the two. The problem is that there is no clear-cut formula for how much time, effort, and money should be spent on the aesthetics, and how much should be spent on the design principles in Design of Everyday Things.
Another issue with this is that not every device is the same and some may perform better or be easier to use if more time, effort, and money are spent the aesthetics or on the design principles.
The design principles in Design of Everyday Things seem to talk more about how to design things to be easy to use. To be logical and clear in understanding and use. In emotional design however, the design principles typically follow how devices can provoke an emotional response that can help the user in using a device.
In Design of Everyday Things, devices tend to be easier to use when their a user can see how some of the parts works. This is quite interesting sense in some cases, seeing how the parts work can create a very unpleasant looking device.
Lets assume a device follows all the good design principles in Design of Everyday Things but is extremely ugly to look at. It can even be the fastest of its kind but due to the emotional response that is caused for humans, it can be considered a poor design and may be difficult to use. Users will not want to use something that is ugly or if they have to, then they will rush it's use, causing errors along the way.
This means that both the principles in Design of Everyday Things and the fact that aesthetically pleasing interfaces and devices have to be taken in to account. Devices should not be designed in the extremes of either one. Instead, there needs to be a balance between the two. The problem is that there is no clear-cut formula for how much time, effort, and money should be spent on the aesthetics, and how much should be spent on the design principles in Design of Everyday Things.
Another issue with this is that not every device is the same and some may perform better or be easier to use if more time, effort, and money are spent the aesthetics or on the design principles.
The design principles in Design of Everyday Things seem to talk more about how to design things to be easy to use. To be logical and clear in understanding and use. In emotional design however, the design principles typically follow how devices can provoke an emotional response that can help the user in using a device.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Book Reading 1: Design of Everyday Things
Book Talk:
I found this book to be interesting. The book go overs the studies of basically good design. Good design is consisted of many defining qualities. Some of the most obvious and apparent qualities are things such as simplicity when it come to design. The book has quite a few stories and examples from around the '80s that while somewhat comical, are very important and convey the main points of good design and point out examples of bad design as well. Many of the devices that were talked about in the book have been severally upgraded or no longer commonly exist. It's interesting to see the struggles and problems in good design in early electronics and devices. I'm curious as to how the book where to turn out if it had been written in modern time. Nowadays, we have LCD screens telling us the state of a device or function. We have smaller electronics that allow more room for controls. The smaller devices still pose a good design problem in figuring out just how small to create a device and if adding another control is worth the cost of size in a device. Some devices today have only a couple controls with far too many functions and actions. In the end, the book has given me a little more insight into good design. With this new-found knowledge, I can create things such as programs and interfaces that will become more user-friendly.
Chapter 1 Talk:
Chapter 1 discussed some of the most common problems with good design. The story of the fellow trapped between a set of doors is interesting. The time spent on aesthetics has caused some people some grief in using such a simple device such as a door. This unfortunately causes quite a lot of embarrassment for the people who fail to interpret the use of the door despite having no clues as to how to open the doors.
Chapter 2 Talk:
The most interesting point made in this chapter for me was the concept of Learned Helplessness. Learned helplessness is where a person feels helpless in performing a task if they are unable to complete it (often times if the user tries multiple times). This has been noticed quite a lot by me. I see professors who fail to understand how to properly use the teaching equipment on an almost regularly basis. Often times they blame themselves and claim they are dumb when it comes to computers. They believe they are technologically challenged. This always made me cringe a little because I never liked it when someone would beat themselves up for not knowing how to use the equipment.
Chapter 3 Talk:
The subsections on memory were an interesting read. I enjoyed learning about the differences in memory and how some people try to recall certain information. The use of notes has been a common choice for me personally.
Chapter 4 Talk:
I enjoyed the example of physical constraints and the Lego motorcycle. I grew up playing with Lego all the time. I never looked at how good of a design the Lego bricks are. I obviously knew that certain bricks can only fit certain ways with other bricks but I never fully appreciated the beauty of the design philosophy that Lego used. People would soon find out that if there were 2 incompatible bricks or a way that was incompatible, it would either be easily noticeable and avoided or people would find out by trying to combine the bricks and noticing an unsecured connection or combination of bricks.
Chapter 5 Talk:
The difference in slips and mistakes is quite an interesting read. Often times I have caught myself performing a step wrong and my peers would make fun of me for it. I would be embarrassed and it would unfortunately stick with me all day. I would vow that I would never make the same "mistake" again. However, as it turns out, slips are most common in a skilled procedure or protocol for a person. The procedure becomes so routine that it becomes an almost subconscious task and if a error is made, it will often go unnoticed. The true definition of a mistake is by having a wrong goal set but performing the steps correctly.
Chapter 6 Talk:
The problem of designers focusing too much on aesthetics is a pretty big deal. Most designers do not get the recognition they deserve simply because something is not pretty enough, despite the functionality it may have. Designers with few visible elements and few "breaks" in the design are typically praised for their work. This causes problems however in use of the device and maintenance. A control may not be noticeable enough and may not be recognized by a large number of users. This can cause frustrations and problems in the device usage.
Chapter 7 Talk:
Ah, designing for users. This was an interesting chapter since it sort of struck a chord with me due to my job. I see a wide array of professors. Some have trouble with the equipment, others don't. It's both fascinating and frustrating to see a professor who has studies years in the field of say Mathematics or Physics and can't figure out how to turn on the projector. Often times there are correlation between what professors teach and how well they know how to use the equipment. Many times they will make recommendations on how the equipment should behave and perform. Unfortunately there are far too many different approaches. We have to standardize across the campus (the best we can) so professors don't have to learn about 20 different systems in order for them to use the equipment.
5 Examples of Good Design:
3. My headset while large is comfortable and allows for the microphone to be on either side without having to remove and re-attach it.
4. My laptops keyboard boasts a numpad with a button that automatically launches the Windows Calculator. This is a very handy feature since I perform simple calculations quite often on my laptop.
5. Again, talking about my laptop (I really do love it) The fan design is good. The laptops fans face the back, not the sides like a lot of other laptops I see. The hot air will push away from the laptop and away from any peripheral devices or body parts. The fans are also easy to get to for cleaning and maintenance.
5 Examples of Bad Design:
1. My truck unlocks the doors as soon as I put it in park. Now this is convent for most situations but the fear of someone trying to hijack or rob me from my truck has caused me to dislike this feature.
I found this book to be interesting. The book go overs the studies of basically good design. Good design is consisted of many defining qualities. Some of the most obvious and apparent qualities are things such as simplicity when it come to design. The book has quite a few stories and examples from around the '80s that while somewhat comical, are very important and convey the main points of good design and point out examples of bad design as well. Many of the devices that were talked about in the book have been severally upgraded or no longer commonly exist. It's interesting to see the struggles and problems in good design in early electronics and devices. I'm curious as to how the book where to turn out if it had been written in modern time. Nowadays, we have LCD screens telling us the state of a device or function. We have smaller electronics that allow more room for controls. The smaller devices still pose a good design problem in figuring out just how small to create a device and if adding another control is worth the cost of size in a device. Some devices today have only a couple controls with far too many functions and actions. In the end, the book has given me a little more insight into good design. With this new-found knowledge, I can create things such as programs and interfaces that will become more user-friendly.
Chapter 1 Talk:
Chapter 1 discussed some of the most common problems with good design. The story of the fellow trapped between a set of doors is interesting. The time spent on aesthetics has caused some people some grief in using such a simple device such as a door. This unfortunately causes quite a lot of embarrassment for the people who fail to interpret the use of the door despite having no clues as to how to open the doors.
Chapter 2 Talk:
The most interesting point made in this chapter for me was the concept of Learned Helplessness. Learned helplessness is where a person feels helpless in performing a task if they are unable to complete it (often times if the user tries multiple times). This has been noticed quite a lot by me. I see professors who fail to understand how to properly use the teaching equipment on an almost regularly basis. Often times they blame themselves and claim they are dumb when it comes to computers. They believe they are technologically challenged. This always made me cringe a little because I never liked it when someone would beat themselves up for not knowing how to use the equipment.
Chapter 3 Talk:
The subsections on memory were an interesting read. I enjoyed learning about the differences in memory and how some people try to recall certain information. The use of notes has been a common choice for me personally.
Chapter 4 Talk:
I enjoyed the example of physical constraints and the Lego motorcycle. I grew up playing with Lego all the time. I never looked at how good of a design the Lego bricks are. I obviously knew that certain bricks can only fit certain ways with other bricks but I never fully appreciated the beauty of the design philosophy that Lego used. People would soon find out that if there were 2 incompatible bricks or a way that was incompatible, it would either be easily noticeable and avoided or people would find out by trying to combine the bricks and noticing an unsecured connection or combination of bricks.
Chapter 5 Talk:
The difference in slips and mistakes is quite an interesting read. Often times I have caught myself performing a step wrong and my peers would make fun of me for it. I would be embarrassed and it would unfortunately stick with me all day. I would vow that I would never make the same "mistake" again. However, as it turns out, slips are most common in a skilled procedure or protocol for a person. The procedure becomes so routine that it becomes an almost subconscious task and if a error is made, it will often go unnoticed. The true definition of a mistake is by having a wrong goal set but performing the steps correctly.
Chapter 6 Talk:
The problem of designers focusing too much on aesthetics is a pretty big deal. Most designers do not get the recognition they deserve simply because something is not pretty enough, despite the functionality it may have. Designers with few visible elements and few "breaks" in the design are typically praised for their work. This causes problems however in use of the device and maintenance. A control may not be noticeable enough and may not be recognized by a large number of users. This can cause frustrations and problems in the device usage.
Chapter 7 Talk:
Ah, designing for users. This was an interesting chapter since it sort of struck a chord with me due to my job. I see a wide array of professors. Some have trouble with the equipment, others don't. It's both fascinating and frustrating to see a professor who has studies years in the field of say Mathematics or Physics and can't figure out how to turn on the projector. Often times there are correlation between what professors teach and how well they know how to use the equipment. Many times they will make recommendations on how the equipment should behave and perform. Unfortunately there are far too many different approaches. We have to standardize across the campus (the best we can) so professors don't have to learn about 20 different systems in order for them to use the equipment.
5 Examples of Good Design:
1. I have always liked the way a USB cable looked and the port as well. There is a noticeable click when plugging in a USB cable to let people know that it is connected. Also, the end of the cable is wide and sturdy, making it difficult to bend the end (unlike my power cable)
2. My trucks lights are set to a very interesting setting. This setting auto-detects the time of day it is and will turn on or off the lights accordingly without having to adjust it. It can also go back to ye-old standard manual switch for the lights
3. My headset while large is comfortable and allows for the microphone to be on either side without having to remove and re-attach it.
4. My laptops keyboard boasts a numpad with a button that automatically launches the Windows Calculator. This is a very handy feature since I perform simple calculations quite often on my laptop.
5. Again, talking about my laptop (I really do love it) The fan design is good. The laptops fans face the back, not the sides like a lot of other laptops I see. The hot air will push away from the laptop and away from any peripheral devices or body parts. The fans are also easy to get to for cleaning and maintenance.
5 Examples of Bad Design:
1. My truck unlocks the doors as soon as I put it in park. Now this is convent for most situations but the fear of someone trying to hijack or rob me from my truck has caused me to dislike this feature.
2. The auto-rotate feature is nice for most situations on my phone, however it's annoying whenever I am lying in bed and the image rotates when I do not want it too. I'm sure there is a setting somewhere to disable it but if there is, they put the option in an obscure menu somewhere because I can't find it.
3. Another problem with my phone is the alarm clock app. Whenever I make a new alarm, it will does not auto delete the alarm, it only "disables" it. This causes massive lists of obscure times for alarms that I must sift through and delete.
4. Skype not actually closing when hitting the X button. This only causes the application to go to the system tray. You have to either Sign-out or Quit the application.
5. I managed to come across an abandoned Ipod Nano. While I'm not much of an Apple product user, I thought, hey a free mp3 player. When I examined it, I was shocked that there was only one port which was obviously used for headphones. I spent the next half-hour trying to figure out on my own how in the world it connected to a computer before looking it up. Turns out there's a way to transfer songs onto the device through the headphone port. Weird.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Article Reading #1: Minds, Brains, and Programs; The Chinese Room
To be blunt, I did not enjoy reading about the article. I had a very difficult time understanding just exactly what the paper is about. Fortunately for me, I had a better time reading the Wikipedia article on the Chinese Room.
I have always wondered if it's possible for man to create a true artificial intelligence. I usually end up with the conclusion that it is not possible. I believed that it is possible to mimic intelligence, but in the end, it is all programmed. I think that machines cannot make a "free choice". Any choices it seem to make would have to be a result of its programming. Is it possible humans or some other intelligent life are programmed? I don't know. When humans make decisions we often have moral values and gut feelings come into the decision making. Intelligence is not just about decision making either though.
Based upon my understanding of the article and the paper, Searle does not believe a true artificial intelligence. Consciousness is a complex phenomena that is impossible to replicate in a machine. In the experiment, the computer can process certain symbols which hold no value or have no meaning. For humans though, there is a strong meaning behind symbols or words.
Artificial intelligence has been an interesting topic for me, but the difficulty in understanding it causes headaches. It's extremely hard for me to wrap my head around the possibility of a true artificial intelligence. However, I don't know what sort of advances will be made in computers in the next 50 or 100 years. About the closest thing to a true artificial intelligence that I can think of is actually some sort of living organism that is augmented into a computer, but this may be considered a cyborg like creation since. How to "hook up" an organism to a computer? Again, I don't know.
I have always wondered if it's possible for man to create a true artificial intelligence. I usually end up with the conclusion that it is not possible. I believed that it is possible to mimic intelligence, but in the end, it is all programmed. I think that machines cannot make a "free choice". Any choices it seem to make would have to be a result of its programming. Is it possible humans or some other intelligent life are programmed? I don't know. When humans make decisions we often have moral values and gut feelings come into the decision making. Intelligence is not just about decision making either though.
Based upon my understanding of the article and the paper, Searle does not believe a true artificial intelligence. Consciousness is a complex phenomena that is impossible to replicate in a machine. In the experiment, the computer can process certain symbols which hold no value or have no meaning. For humans though, there is a strong meaning behind symbols or words.
Artificial intelligence has been an interesting topic for me, but the difficulty in understanding it causes headaches. It's extremely hard for me to wrap my head around the possibility of a true artificial intelligence. However, I don't know what sort of advances will be made in computers in the next 50 or 100 years. About the closest thing to a true artificial intelligence that I can think of is actually some sort of living organism that is augmented into a computer, but this may be considered a cyborg like creation since. How to "hook up" an organism to a computer? Again, I don't know.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Book Reading 1: The Design in Everyday Things
A very interesting read. In the first chapter of The Design in Everyday things by Donald Norman, we explore how humans interpret the use of devices. Throughout the chapter, stories of users confusion and frustration of "everyday things" are talked about. For instance, a person is "trapped" between 2 set of doors; the outer perimeter doors and the inner perimeter doors. This example shows a lack in a key component of good design which is visibility. Visibility has to do with the correct parts being shown and they must convey the correct message. Because the doors all looked the same, the user couldn't tell how to properly use the doors. Another key component to consider in good design is affordance. Affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used. Moving on, the chapter then talks about conceptual model, which is how we perceive how something works. Constraints provide limitations when using a device such as the holes where only a persons fingers can fit into in a pair of scissors. Mappings are relationships between 2 things. In the case of the examples used in the first chapter, this would be controls and movements in the real world. Feedback is used to let the user know something has happened. This can give a sign that the desired function was used and successful. As devices become more and more complex, it becomes harder and harder to have a good design. While it's not impossible, it does pose some challenges. The controls have to be simple yet clear and understandable to an untrained person. To do this, all of the key components such as mapping, affordance, constraints, feedback, etc. must be taken into consideration. Otherwise, a confusing device could be manufactured, causing frustration among users who try to use it.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Paper Reading #5: Profanity Use in Online Communities
Profanity Use in Online Communities
Sara Owsley Sood
Computer Science Dept., Pomona College
185 East Sixth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
sara@cs.pomona.edu
Judd Antin, Elizabeth F. Churchill
Yahoo! Research
4301 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95054
<jantin, echu>@yahoo-inc.com
The researchers in this paper studied the statistic behind profanity use in online communities and how much profanity blocking software succeeded or failed.
Most online profanity is actually spelled in unconventional manners. Such as substituting an '@' for the letter 'A' in a curse word. This means that the profanity blocking software cannot just simply block words that match a word in a database of "bad words". There are too many ways for curse words to be spelled. Other challenges that the software faces is users misspelling words that end up being blocked when they shouldn't be or how evolutionary online profanity has become.
The team of researchers gathered a data set from Yahoo! Buzz (social news site) over a 3 month time frame. This data set contains 1,655,131 comments among 168,973 unique threads. Meta data on the comments were also collected. Most common profanity blocking software work off a list of profane words due to easiness in implementation. However, this method relies on a constantly updated list of profane terms. Internet abbreviations are constantly evolving. Because of this, the lists do not get updated until a profane word or phrase become common enough to be a problem. Usually a person has to review the list and be the one to make changes to it. The data set showed a large percentage of the use of curse words, even with a profanity blocker enabled. Because of this, they concluded that current profanity anti-measures do not hold up well enough in the current age.
I thought this work was interesting. This has been a longstanding issue ever since online communities such as chat rooms and forum boards have emerged. Being a constant internet user, I find myself coming across online profanity on a frequent basis. While it doesn't bother, it has always made me curious as to what a profanity blocker will and won't block. It was also interesting to note that some people put a decent amount of effort into using profane words. It would seem like that a message would get across just as fine without the cursing but people would "go out of their way" just to use profanity by substituting characters, purposely misspelling words, or even adding spaces to their message to confuse the blocker. To me, this seems like a lot of effort just to use profane words.
Sara Owsley Sood
Computer Science Dept., Pomona College
185 East Sixth Street
Claremont, CA 91711
sara@cs.pomona.edu
Judd Antin, Elizabeth F. Churchill
Yahoo! Research
4301 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95054
<jantin, echu>@yahoo-inc.com
The researchers in this paper studied the statistic behind profanity use in online communities and how much profanity blocking software succeeded or failed.
Most online profanity is actually spelled in unconventional manners. Such as substituting an '@' for the letter 'A' in a curse word. This means that the profanity blocking software cannot just simply block words that match a word in a database of "bad words". There are too many ways for curse words to be spelled. Other challenges that the software faces is users misspelling words that end up being blocked when they shouldn't be or how evolutionary online profanity has become.
The team of researchers gathered a data set from Yahoo! Buzz (social news site) over a 3 month time frame. This data set contains 1,655,131 comments among 168,973 unique threads. Meta data on the comments were also collected. Most common profanity blocking software work off a list of profane words due to easiness in implementation. However, this method relies on a constantly updated list of profane terms. Internet abbreviations are constantly evolving. Because of this, the lists do not get updated until a profane word or phrase become common enough to be a problem. Usually a person has to review the list and be the one to make changes to it. The data set showed a large percentage of the use of curse words, even with a profanity blocker enabled. Because of this, they concluded that current profanity anti-measures do not hold up well enough in the current age.
I thought this work was interesting. This has been a longstanding issue ever since online communities such as chat rooms and forum boards have emerged. Being a constant internet user, I find myself coming across online profanity on a frequent basis. While it doesn't bother, it has always made me curious as to what a profanity blocker will and won't block. It was also interesting to note that some people put a decent amount of effort into using profane words. It would seem like that a message would get across just as fine without the cursing but people would "go out of their way" just to use profanity by substituting characters, purposely misspelling words, or even adding spaces to their message to confuse the blocker. To me, this seems like a lot of effort just to use profane words.
Paper Reading #4: Corporate Career Presences on Social Network Sites: An Analysis of Hedonic and Utilitarian Value
Corporate Career Presences on Social Network Sites: An Analysis of Hedonic and Utilitarian Value
Franziska Brecht
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin Germany
franziska.brecht@wiwi.hu-berlin.de
Andreas Eckhardt
Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt am Main
Gruneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany
eckhardt@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
Christian Berger
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany
christian.berger@wiwi.hu-berlin.de
Oliver Gunther
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany
guenther@wiwi.hu-berlin.de
The researchers tested to see what makes social networking sites successful in the business world. Several people participated in this study (470 people). One of the key focuses on this study was to see what hedonic and utilitarian values these social networking sites have.
The evaluations were mostly subjective and qualitative. The users would answer questions on a surveys about their experience in this test. A lot of the questions on the survey were simple yes or no. Due to the number of participants, the researchers had a wide set of data to analyze. The results showed that users enjoyed using social networking sites to find more information about a potential job. Lots of information could be available to active job seekers to get a good idea what a job is like before committing to it.
I found this work to be kind of odd. The subject matter seemed very difficult to try to quantify and study. The idea behind it isn't bad in my opinion, just difficult to study. Research has been done about social networking sites and how the play a role in businesses. While not new, I do believe the idea is still novel since it gives us a better idea as to why social networking sites are popular in the business world and why other businesses should adopt a site to use to help promote a business' recruitment.
Franziska Brecht
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin Germany
franziska.brecht@wiwi.hu-berlin.de
Andreas Eckhardt
Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt am Main
Gruneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany
eckhardt@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
Christian Berger
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany
christian.berger@wiwi.hu-berlin.de
Oliver Gunther
Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin
Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany
guenther@wiwi.hu-berlin.de
The researchers tested to see what makes social networking sites successful in the business world. Several people participated in this study (470 people). One of the key focuses on this study was to see what hedonic and utilitarian values these social networking sites have.
I found this work to be kind of odd. The subject matter seemed very difficult to try to quantify and study. The idea behind it isn't bad in my opinion, just difficult to study. Research has been done about social networking sites and how the play a role in businesses. While not new, I do believe the idea is still novel since it gives us a better idea as to why social networking sites are popular in the business world and why other businesses should adopt a site to use to help promote a business' recruitment.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Paper Reading #3: Voice Typing: A New Speech Interaction Model for Dictation on Touchscreen Devices
Voice Typing: A New Speech Interaction Model for Dictation on Touchscreen Devices
Anuj Kumar, Tim Paek, Bongshin Lee
Microsoft Research
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052, USA
{timpaek, bongshin}@microsoft.com
Human-Computer Interaction Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
anujkl@cs.cmu.edu
The researchers introduced a new speech interaction model called Voice Typing. Voice Typing allows users' utterances to be transcribed as they are produced. This creates real-time error identification for in speech recognition software whereas other voice typing software only allows users to check or make corrections after their "speech".
The users tested the software by in a email composition task. The users were asked to compose an email with a given structure. The email could be filled out by the users themselves. Each user composed 2 to 3 practice emails for each experimental condition (4 experimental conditions). Much of the data gathered was statistical. This included data such as number of substations, deletions, insertions made and how much was uncorrected. Users were also asked to rank the software qualitatively. 18 out of 24 users preferred Voice Typing over Dictation.
This isn't anything new, but that doesn't mean it wasn't interesting. The pros and cons in voice typing and dictation are interesting in that one can outweigh the other depending on the situation or problem. There are many other Voice Typing software programs out there, but there's also lots of room for improvement.
Paper Reading #2: The Normal Natural Troubles of Driving with GPS
The Normal Natural Troubles of Driving with GPS
Barry Brown
Mobile Life @ Stockholm University
SE-164, Kista, Sweden
barry@mobilelifecenter.org
Eric Laurier
School of Geosciences
University of Edinburgh, U.K.
eric.laurier@gmail.com
The researchers tested various ways that drivers follow directions (or try to) from GPS units. The researchers main argument was to not use the "docile driver" model. The "docile driver" model is where the driver unquestioningly follows the directions given by the GPS. They want to develop a way for the GPS to aid in driving while letting the drivers use their own knowledge of the routes and surrounding environment.
The researchers recorded video sessions of the driver and listened in on the recorded audio as well to see how the driver reacted. Some of the drivers followed the GPS directions to a T, while others did not. These results were subjected and qualitative.
The work to me was odd. I never really thought about reworking the GPS model, it usually seemed to work for me. I have had trouble in the past, especially with construction since the GPS may or may not know about some construction in a given area, thus giving directions to a route that may not be the best for reaching a certain destination. I wouldn't really consider this a novel idea. While it is new, it's not worth much in my eyes. There seems to be little to none applications for this.
Barry Brown
Mobile Life @ Stockholm University
SE-164, Kista, Sweden
barry@mobilelifecenter.org
Eric Laurier
School of Geosciences
University of Edinburgh, U.K.
eric.laurier@gmail.com
The researchers tested various ways that drivers follow directions (or try to) from GPS units. The researchers main argument was to not use the "docile driver" model. The "docile driver" model is where the driver unquestioningly follows the directions given by the GPS. They want to develop a way for the GPS to aid in driving while letting the drivers use their own knowledge of the routes and surrounding environment.
The researchers recorded video sessions of the driver and listened in on the recorded audio as well to see how the driver reacted. Some of the drivers followed the GPS directions to a T, while others did not. These results were subjected and qualitative.
The work to me was odd. I never really thought about reworking the GPS model, it usually seemed to work for me. I have had trouble in the past, especially with construction since the GPS may or may not know about some construction in a given area, thus giving directions to a route that may not be the best for reaching a certain destination. I wouldn't really consider this a novel idea. While it is new, it's not worth much in my eyes. There seems to be little to none applications for this.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Howdy!
I'm a 4th year senior at Texas A&M University taking CSCE 462. I am taking this class due to the fact it satisfies one of my electives and because I heard it was fun and interesting. As far as experience goes I have taken all of the general lower level CSCE classes and have knowledge in programming (most comfortably in C, C++ and Java). My professional life goal is just to land a successful career in something I enjoy doing. I have a broad spectrum of what I want to do such as Game Development, Computer/Network Security, Software Development, Compuer/Network Administration, etc. All I know is, it will be with computers. Two of my personal life goals are to break a 5 minute mile and to run a marathon. After I graduate I want to start a career that will become fun and successful. I expect to be working 10 years from now in the industry. I believe some sort of advance artificial intelligence will be the next big advancement in computer science. If I could travel back in time, I would meet Bill Gates in his teen years because Bill Gates is one of my heroes and I'm curious how he behaved and acted in his younger years.My favorite shoes would have to be trail running New Balance shoes. They are my favorite because New Balance shoes have always been reliable and durable. They were the only shoes (not the same pair) I used in for running Cross Country. If I could be fluent in any foreign language I would probably choose Farsi/Arabic solely because of the benefits it brings when applying for a government job. Unfortunately I don't have a very interesting story. About all I can think of is that I moved around a bit. I was born in Mississippi. My dad worked at the candy manufacturing plant called M&M Mars (might know them for their popular M&M's and Snickers). I am a 3rd generation Aggie and I am slowly trying to grind my way to my undergraduate degree.
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