The Uncanny Valley

This is my favorite subject of all. Actually, this story and the Madden story are repeats, but who cares. This story about the Uncanny Valley strikes at the heart of this class because it's about the intersection of humanity and IT. I just recently saw James Cameron's Avatar for the first time (beautiful fairy tale) and the point about not even trying to make computer generated humans hits home. The aliens in Avatar were utterly convincing. I wonder what it would have looked like if they'd tried to do actual humans. I find myself in agreement with the evolutionary argument about why we're creeped out by characters in the valley - they look not like great animations, but rather like defective humans. I also agree with Clive Thompson who says we'll have crossed the valley when we've got a real person's image created on computer that is indistinguishable from the peron. Check out this article from Wired for more on the Uncanny Valley http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/face_pr.html. Here's a link to the brief article by Masahiro Mori back in 1970 including the graph that illustrates the "Valley" that gives the phenomenon its name: http://www.androidscience.com/theuncannyvalley/proceedings2005/uncannyvalley.html. As a good friend of mine says, "I think the stuff's* cool."

*Not actually quote.

Madden and the Future of Football

I thought this was pretty interesting -- a simulation of a human activity affecting the way real humans participate in that activity. This reminds me of the Human Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states (essentially) that you can't tell the true state of a particle because the mere act of observing the particle changes it's state. I think the same is true for people: if you know you're being watched, you change your behavior. The Madden games are so good, it's almost like watching real people play the game. Now the players of the real game are players of the video game. Whoa, this is getting wierd. BTW, they skipped right over the story about the player suing over his likeness being used. That too raises important issues. What if I create a computer version of you and the computer version does things you wouldn't do or don't want anyone seeing you doing? How much of "you" do you own?

The Facebook Effect

Personally, I'm getting creeped out by Facebook and seriously considering deactivating my account. I don't claim that Facebook doesn't matter, as David Kirkpatrick accuses Facebook's critics of saying. My problem is the way Mark Zuckerberg makes decisions with my personal information. Zuckerberg has said that everything should be public with your friends . . . and with companies that Facebook can make money with. It seems to me that Zuckerberg has the attitude that once you post stuff on Facebook, it's as much HIS as it is yours. Remember, once you've posted something on Facebook, it's there forever.

Facebook is a good way to keep up with what your friends are doing, but it's so much more than that.

Death of the Web

On the Media was all about IT this week (almost), so I'm splitting the conversation into individual threads. So this one's about the story on "The Death of the Web." (Remember, the Web is different from the internet.) Wired's editor in chief says the Web (& Google) are facing severe challenges. How much of your time do you spend on the World Wide Web compared to the amount of time you spend on phone apps, a wired game console or other dedicated platform?

Digital Planet 8/13 - Computer Literacy & Paid Bloggers

Have you started listening to Digital Planet yet? (BBC IT Podcast) Does Bill Thompson bug you? Sometimes I think his little commentaries seem gratuitous - as if he has to say SOMETHING to justify his existence on the show. This week however, Bill Thompson hits the nail on the head with two perceptive and important observations.

In the story about MacPaint and the release of its source code by Apple, Thompson says everyone should understand programming basics so the machine doesn't control you. That may be overstating it a bit - I don't think everyone needs to learn to read computer source code - but his central idea is spot on. (A little BBC lingo there.) I took a stab at majoring in computer science at U of M. Weak math skills proved my undoing, but I have written programs in Algol (a now defunct language) and I wrote several programs in good old Apple Basic on my first Apple computer. I'm not a proficient programmer by any means, but I understand the basics of how computers do what they do. It makes the computer less of a magical box to me and helps me troubleshoot when problems come up. Consider automobiles: If a car is just a magical device to you that drives when you turn the key (or press the button) and put it in 'D,' then if there's a problem when you follow your standard sequence, you're done. Call the mechanic. If you understand the basics of how the thing works, you can save yourself a lot of headaches.

The second thing Thompson mentioned related to the story on how some mothers are paid to review movies and other products on their blogs. Thompson latched on to the critical point in the story: paid bloggers won't lie but they won't do bad reviews either. From the book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, the authors state that the average review on Amazon is 4.3 stars. (Here's a link to a Wall Street Journal article about the phenomenon: http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB125470172872063071.html) People don't write about stuff they're disappointed with or ambivalent about. They write about stuff they HATE or stuff they Like or LOVE. Professional reviewers with professional ethics review everything. Consumer Reports reviews everything and refuses to accept payment or advertising that might bias their reviews. When you read amateur reviews on Amazon or on blogs, take them with a giant grain of salt. As with everything, CONSIDER THE SOURCE.

The Economics of Net Neutrality

One of the podcasts I listen to is NPR's Planet Money. It's an economics-for-dummies podcast that I listen to for pleasure . . . ah, the life of a dweeby history teacher! Anyway, the podcast for last Friday (show #203) was all about Net Neutrality. We're going to be talking about NN a bit this year, but we'll mostly deal with the ethics and technological side of it. Planet Money talks about how it will impact people's lives. It's pretty short - thirteen minutes and change and you can find the archive on NPR and also on iTunes. They open the discussion up on their blog at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/storyComments.php?storyId=129179471&pageNum=1&pPageNum=1. I'm not adding another resource for you to consult, but this is perfectly appropriate. Don't feel the need to chime in on this one yet until we all get up to speed on Net Neutrality & related topics.

Oh, BTW, welcome to Blaire, Shruthi, Dillon and Margery. I think the class is up to ten now - very solid.

Cool Way to Learn Your Times Tables

Okay, I know you all know your times tables, but I'm doing this to get a $15 discount on this software for my daughter. I you know anyone looking for a pretty good game that helps you learn your multiplication tables go www.bigbrainz.com for Timez Attack!

If a Corporation is a Legal Individual, Can You Really Friend Them?

And Kara makes two. Welcome Kara. I'll be sending an email with instructions on the project this week. It's 7-8 pages, but that includes all the assessment criteria. Essentially, you just have to start thinking about how you could solve someone's problem (can't be your problem, though it could be someone else's problem that you happen to share) using digital (computer) technology. Look for the e-mail tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this hilarious (I think) ad campaign FAIL from Bob Garfield, one of the hosts of NPR's On The Media - to which I hope you've subscribed.
Cheers!

Why getting Woody and bribing people won't get you any real friends.

Welcome Alex!

Okay, Alex Boccia is the first official member of our little ITGS blogosphere. Alex, glad to see you're paying attention. Also, that you have so little going on this summer that you actually signed up for this blog. In your defense, you haven't answered my question yet so your summer can't be too lame.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the ITGS Project Instructions and Deadlines. The project is a major deal for IB diploma candidates, but its only slightly less major a deal for non-IBers such as you, Alex.

Stay tuned to the blog. My activity will pick up in the coming weeks. You still don't have to post anything, but I will be available for questions on the project. Enjoy you last weeks of freedom!!

Updated subscription list

Two changes to the subscription list for the summer. Harvard's Berkman center doesn't really maintain a single blog, but sends out a weekly summary callde the Berkman Buzz. You'll receive this as an emailwhen you sign up. Stanford's Center for Internet and Society has a pretty good blog. You can sign up at:

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/home/feed

Welcome!

This is the official weblog (blog) for the ITGS class at Detroit Country Day School. If you haven't already done so, you should subscribe to the following podcasts and blogs:

• The New York Times BITS Blog http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/
• The Madisonian Blog http://madisonian.net/
• Harvard's Berkman Center Blog, The Berkman Buzz http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/3622
• Wired Magazine's Threat Level Blog http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/
• NPR's On The Media Podcast http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/nprs-on-the-media/id73330715 (also available on iTunes)
• BBC's Digital Planet Podcast http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/page2 (also available on iTunes)

Read/Listen to these Blogs/Podcasts throughout the summer. Be prepared to discuss how technology affects your life.

Your first "official" assignment is to find the ITGS course guide from IBO and figure why I titled the blog, "Open the Pod Bay Doors, HAL."