Thoughtful Chunk 11: Adaptive House or Adaptive Human?

 

 

The Adaptive House as a Schoolhouse around 1926

Professor Michael Mozer, from the Department of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, created a so called adaptive house. That is, Mike Mozer bought an old building and redesigned it to be alert and responsive to his activities within it: turning lights on and off and adjusting heating as it monitored his movements, for example. The following video was hosted on Extreme Homes and in it Mike Mozer chronicles the transformation. He tells of the history behind the decision to attempt the creation of this “Neural Network House”—a type of computer system that learns.

At Mike Mozer's website view several videos that demonstrate some of the networked system in action. According to Norman (2007) the neural network operating system is "designed to mimic the pattern-recognition and learning abilities of human neurons, thus the human brain" (p. 119). Norman asks whether this house is actually smart or intelligent but Mike Mozer says that adaptive is a better descriptor as it changes or "improves" its behavior in response to preferences that Mozer indicates: it "learns" what Mozer will expect. Some of these adaptive learnings can be viewed on the linked site above.


Interestingly, Norman mentions that Mozer would often remember that his house was anticipating his arrival at a certain time and dutifully would be preparing the appropriate ambiance, as it were: Mozer would consequently feel somewhat obliged to get home! Hence my title questions that asks which is adapting here--the house or the human? 


Does this example signify what we could expect as more and more "adaptive" paraphernalia enters society? Imagine excusing yourself from further conversation with buddies due to the "Assistant Robot" who is running your bath at that particular time! Must get home! As Norman recognizes, this would become onerous: he exclaims "This house sounds like a real nag" (p. 121). In truth, this conundrum occurs as this house and other such "robotized" systems are actually unable to read the human mind--which can be unpredictable and even nonsensical at times. Norman would describe these incidents as exemplifying the lack of "Common Ground" (pp. 49-55). In his words:


The lack of common ground is the major cause of our inability to communicate with machines. People and machines have so little in common that they lack any notion of common ground. People and people? Machine and machine? That's different: those pairs function quite well. People can share with other people. Machines can share with other machines. But people and machines? Nope. (Norman, 2007, pp. 50-51) 

I'm just not sure what choices we will make, or even should make, as we continue to advocate for, and develop, supposed intelligent or smart technologies: will we opt for adaptive technologies or adaptive humans?

Thoughtful Chunk 10: Weird And Wired--Just a coincidence? I think not!

Listen to a fascinating podcast of Noel Sharkey talking about 

ethical issues in the Robotics field at 

www. parliament.uk

Noel Sharkey, professor of robotics and AI at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, tells of the rise of robots. He expresses concern about the serious impact that the use of various robotic technology may have on the way we behave toward each other and conduct ourselves in the world. He feels that much of these ethical dilemmas are imminent as, for example, it is now 90% cheaper to make say, a robot, than it was in 1990.

Reaper photograph from silicon.com

For Sharkey there are four particular areas of concern regarding the use of robots: policing, the military, childcare and elder care. As an example he points to the use of distantly operated missile carrying planes, such as the Reaper. He emphasizes how wonderful it is that so many robots have been designed and are operational in defusing bombs, currently in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, but cautions about the growing proliferation of non-human-manned weaponry. Apparently, totally automated robotic weaponry is an imminent reality. I am particularly concerned by 

Sharkey's observation that the idea of "swarming" is being touted as a way of efficiently and effectively actualizing robotic police and/or military units on duty. Whilst this may reduce injury and death to real police and soldiers, one has to wonder how much easier it will be, and is in some cases already, to decide to act aggressively toward others. The human tendency to hesitate, question, and brainstorm alternatives will be removed somewhat.

According to Sharkey,

"The deployment of the first armed battlefield robots in Iraq is the latest step on a dangerous path - we are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and when to kill" and he concludes this article with "It is imperative that we create international legislation and a code of ethics for autonomous robots at war before it is too late." (Sharkey in The Guardian, 2007)

Sharkey considers the increasingly attractive notion of using robot child-care and robot care for the elderly--what he calls "service robots"--an area that also requires immediate legislation. As he illustrates,

"These types of robots can be controlled by a mobile phone or from a PC, allowing input from camera "eyes" and remote talking from caregivers. Sophisticated elder-care robots like the Secom "My Spoon" automatic feeding robot; the Sanyo electric bathtub robot that automatically washes and rinses; and the Mitsubishi Wakamura robot, used for reminding people to take their medicine, are already in widespread use." (Sharkey for University of Sheffield, 2008: British Scientist Warns We Must Protect The Vulnerable From Robots. ScienceDaily). 

However, there is no international guidelines or legislation in place. Sharkey urges scientists and engineers to be thoughtful in their work and to consider ethical problems that can arise.

Sharkey reminds us that children and the elderly could be left without human contact for long periods and social isolation does have psychological effects.

At the same time, the possibility of allowing our elderly to maintain some independence and remain in their own home for longer are aspects from the positive side of these issues. The following video demonstrates some of these positives: From an ongoing joint project of several US universities you will meet a Nursebot in the making(2008).

 

 

For Norman (2007), the positives would be a victory for the science of design, as in "The deliberate shaping of the environment in ways that satisfy individual and societal needs" (p. 171). As Norman explains,

"We need a new approach, one that combines the precision and rigor of business and engineering, the understanding of social interactions, and the aesthetics of the arts" and that we need to realize that "smart machines are all about interaction, symbiosis, and cooperation, both with people and with other smart machines." (P. 173)

So, I ask you: "Weird and Wired"--are these two words related by more than their anagram-ness or, is it pure coincidence? 

As I say, I think not!

Thoughtful Chunk 9: Visualizing Data--Look, See, Understand

Hans Rosling uses the power of visuals, animation,and digital tools to create a context or platform for the understanding of statistical data. Watch an amazing BBC broadcast documentary hosted by Hans Rosling about the impact of using simplified graphical representations of local and global data to promote change and greater understanding of information.

Download  Gapminder and use the provided data sets in teaching or for your own edification: it is a fabulous application and is made freely available because "Gapminder is a non-profit foundation based in Stockholm. Our goal is to replace devastating myths with a fact-based world view. Our method is to make data easy to understand" (Hans Rosling, Co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation)

Here global trends in health and economics come to vivid life:

Here Hans Rosling effectively uses visuals to posit the impact  

that acquiring a washing machine can have on different parts of the world.

Here Hans Rosling uses the power of visuals to debunk pervasive 
myths about the status of the 'developed' versus the 'developing' world:

Our class Media Wiki has many connections to valuable information and resources concerning the wise use of various media elements.

For Edward Tufte, a guru of information design, the choice of how to display information can be a life or death matter. He uses the example of the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster in which seven crew members died to show how the design of the chart, which related launches to dates not to temperature, had hidden the important information that may have changed this terrible outcome.  For Tufte, "There is all the information necessary here to have saved the Challenger astronauts" (Tufte, as quoted by Phil Patton for the New York Times, 1992). He continued by demonstrating a more efficient, meaningful, and accurate way to chart the information, with the essential data--damage most often happened at low temperatures in the past, and this launch had been activated at the coldest temperature ever compared to the chart--clearly available!

Tufte admonishes that "Content-light splashy graphics, or 'chartjunk' are bad" and that "Clutter is a failure of design, not an attribute of information" (Christopher Bonanos in Culture Pages, 2007). However, given the amount and variety of visual and presentation tools available to all of us today, I wonder whether we have gained enough visual and information literacy to appreciate the finer points that Tufte advocates. It seems that there is far more care and thoughtfulness needed in our digital world, as evidenced by many a website. For example, what is the information to be gleaned from here?

However, I am taken by this interactive graphical Universcale from Nikon that illustrates the idea of "scale" using a very innovative graphical interface. I wonder if Tufte would approve?

There is such a plethora of ideas "out there" regarding the manipulation of graphics, icons, images, etc., that can be wisely and artistically combined to help scaffold cognition both on and off the web. Below is the popular Periodic Table format that has been, in and of itself, usurped for use in many a presentation of information. In fact, Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel of Winterhouse Institute ,which is focused on design education, express concern about such utilization of that which is associated with astounding and outstanding intellectual work, and they worry that visual design tempts us to under utilize intellectual and academic inquiry or worthy social investigation and the like.

As they say,

Often though, we see voice expressed less as an act of subversive will, and more as a staging of false identity: this work says a lot about designers wanting to be artists, using "design" as a weak metaphor for "art" and expressing their personal experience without practical context or intellectual foundation. (Helfend & Drentell, 2003)

It was informative to read through their presentation given at the  AIGA  (national professional design organization) National Design Conference: The Power of Design in Vancouver, 2003. As you continue reading through this presentation, you will see samples of the many uses the periodic table design template has been used for. Continue reading and you will see a different slant from a design perspective: an actual re-designing of the original, familiar template. Here then we see truly creative and informed minds at work!

Again, I wonder whether Tufte would agree.

Link to the Interactive Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

Thoughtful Chunk 8: Blended Epistomology

John Seely Brown closing keynote address at the 

New Media Consortium (NCM) 2010 conference

And a creative visual that encapsulates key thoughts from J. S. Brown's presentation above:

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Rachel Smith

 

Yet again we encounter the creative use of graphics and playful text that serves to attract our attention, grab our interest as users, and that hopefully presents some insight regarding content: enough that we may want to delve further.

According to their website the New Media Consortium was founded in 1993 in order to:

 "explore and promote innovative applications of technology to teaching, learning, and creative inquiry. The organization's history parallels the emergence of multimedia, the Internet, the world wide web, online video, and the mix of technologies loosely called Web 2.0, and now is poised at the frontier of new innovations like social networks, serious games, virtual worlds, and the semantic web" 

Mimi Ito opening keynote address at the  New Media Consortium (NCM) 2010 conference titled: Learning with Social Media: The Positive Potential of Peer Pressure and Messing Around Online.

In her session Mimi Ito speaks to the power of social media to promote peer-based learning. She also talks of the ability of today's technologies to allow access to experts, learning resources and sharing with the online community. Her criticism is of the education community and its seeming reluctance to embrace such powerful learning. This presentation supports and exemplifies aspects of John Seely Browns ideas around peer learning and the power of social learning and creating.

And another creative visual that encapsulates key thoughts from Mimi Ito's presentation:

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Rachel Smith

I wish I could create such wonderful accompanying graphics in my teaching! Wouldn't that be something?

Both of the above speakers advocate much more acceptance of social learning practices than are the norm, however much of what they advocate in the way of changes to practice require more than a pedagogical mind adjustment for teachers: the complete teaching and learning bureaucratic framework would need to accept radical re-situating. 


To be continued...