Chapter 2: Obscura
Summary
In this chapter, Slater describes a psychology professor by the name of Stanley Milgram and his studies in obedience to authority. His belief is that humans can abandon their morals when in a persuasive situation. He wondered what kind of role authority played on the SS (part of the Nazi Party) officers. When a professor at Yale, he conducted an experiment where volunteers had to apply different amount of voltages to another "volunteer" whenever they answered a question wrong. What the volunteers did not know was that the "shocking" machine was fake, and the learner was a hired actor pretending to suffer electric shocks. Also in the experiment there was another actor dressed up with a white coat to pretend to be a figure with authority. According to Milgram's results, 65% of the people involved in the experiments would apply the maximum voltage possible due to the effect of obedience to authority. The chapter later describes that Milgram gives his professor Solomon Asch credit for making Milgram what he now is. Asch had done some research regarding group pressure.
Discussion
I have found this book to be one of the most interesting ones from the bunch since I have never taken a pscychology class, and to be honest these people are interesting. What I liked about this chapter is that once again Slater writes the chapter so descriptive that you actually feel that the book is relating one of your personal experiences. Even though I do not think I would volunteer for an experiment like this, I found it incredible to believe that more than 63% of the volunteers actually applied the maximum voltage. I was thinking all along this chapter that I would definitely be part of the other 37% to quit the experiment to get to the final voltage, but under this amount of pressure you just never know!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Book Reading #9 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Chapter 3: The Education of a Samoan Child
Summary
Mead describes the type of education that children receive from newborn to adulthood. When they are born, their mothers take care of the baby. After six months of being born, the mother no longer takes care of them and an older sibling -mainly girls- will be held with this responsibility. After one of the children starts to mature, they typically pass the responsibility of taking care of the baby to a younger sibling and start learning what adults do. Girls at this stage will learn about shores in the house, and boys about fishing, or other outdoor activities.
Discussion
I am finding this book to be extremely interesting because I can relate to some of the family traditions of the Samoans. This is not a direct family tradition, but something common to Mexico where I was raised. Although not exactly the same principle, but similar extremely similar is what rural families tend to do. The young girls start helping out with taking care of babies, learning to cook, and activities as such. The young boys start learning about what their dad does every day, and they try to perfection this skills throughout their lifes.
Summary
Mead describes the type of education that children receive from newborn to adulthood. When they are born, their mothers take care of the baby. After six months of being born, the mother no longer takes care of them and an older sibling -mainly girls- will be held with this responsibility. After one of the children starts to mature, they typically pass the responsibility of taking care of the baby to a younger sibling and start learning what adults do. Girls at this stage will learn about shores in the house, and boys about fishing, or other outdoor activities.
Discussion
I am finding this book to be extremely interesting because I can relate to some of the family traditions of the Samoans. This is not a direct family tradition, but something common to Mexico where I was raised. Although not exactly the same principle, but similar extremely similar is what rural families tend to do. The young girls start helping out with taking care of babies, learning to cook, and activities as such. The young boys start learning about what their dad does every day, and they try to perfection this skills throughout their lifes.
Book Reading #8 - Design of Everyday Things
Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World
Summary
Some technological designs require some type of memorization by the user. A classical example is when you start a typewriting class where after some time, you are required to type either without looking or with the keys marked off. There are many everyday activities that we perform, but when asked to explain to some else you often cannot explain well. This happens because you just do them, you know how to do the activity but do not remember precisely enough to describe it to some else with details.
Discussion
I thought of one of my work colleagues when I read this chapter, because he suffers from sleeping disorders and has to take medication every day. In order for him to perform his daily activities he has been forced by our boss to leave notes to remember things.
Summary
Some technological designs require some type of memorization by the user. A classical example is when you start a typewriting class where after some time, you are required to type either without looking or with the keys marked off. There are many everyday activities that we perform, but when asked to explain to some else you often cannot explain well. This happens because you just do them, you know how to do the activity but do not remember precisely enough to describe it to some else with details.
Discussion
I thought of one of my work colleagues when I read this chapter, because he suffers from sleeping disorders and has to take medication every day. In order for him to perform his daily activities he has been forced by our boss to leave notes to remember things.
Paper Reading # 5 - Exploring the Design Space in Technology - Augmented Dance
Reference
Celine Latulipe, David Wilson, Sybil Huskey, Melissa Word, Arthur Carroll, Erin Carroll, Berto Gonzalez, Vikash Singh, Mike Wirth, Danielle Lottridge
CHI 2010 April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, GA
Summary
This paper describes a project called Dance.Draw that focuses on research to integrate dance performances with technology. The main goal of the project is to enhance the audience interactions with the dance and its visualizations. The paper claims that this type of technology integration is not new, and several other computer scientists have studied this interaction.The Dance.Draw project began as a performance in January 2008 where the performers dance with gyroscopic mice held in their hands. After the showing, they quickly learned that this technique did not allow the performers to do any type of movement with hand support. Later that year, the next performance experimented with only a subset of the performers holding the mice and including noticeable choreographic movements when the performers passed the mice to each other. This second performance returned great feedback about the audience interaction with the visualizations. The most recent performance was staged at CHI 2010 where the performers used wireless sensors for visualizations.
Discussion
This is the second article that I have read that involves research by Celine Latulipe. It is very interesting to see how she deals where she is trying to integrate technology with some type of art. To be more specific, in the two papers she deals with digital images and dance performance. I like the fact that she emphasizes that even though technology is involved, it cannot be the center piece of the art exhibition. Also, I liked this paper because it shows you that there has been a progress made in this dance-technology interaction. This leads me to believe that there could actually be a real future for these kind of performances.
Celine Latulipe, David Wilson, Sybil Huskey, Melissa Word, Arthur Carroll, Erin Carroll, Berto Gonzalez, Vikash Singh, Mike Wirth, Danielle Lottridge
CHI 2010 April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, GA
Summary
This paper describes a project called Dance.Draw that focuses on research to integrate dance performances with technology. The main goal of the project is to enhance the audience interactions with the dance and its visualizations. The paper claims that this type of technology integration is not new, and several other computer scientists have studied this interaction.The Dance.Draw project began as a performance in January 2008 where the performers dance with gyroscopic mice held in their hands. After the showing, they quickly learned that this technique did not allow the performers to do any type of movement with hand support. Later that year, the next performance experimented with only a subset of the performers holding the mice and including noticeable choreographic movements when the performers passed the mice to each other. This second performance returned great feedback about the audience interaction with the visualizations. The most recent performance was staged at CHI 2010 where the performers used wireless sensors for visualizations.
This is the second article that I have read that involves research by Celine Latulipe. It is very interesting to see how she deals where she is trying to integrate technology with some type of art. To be more specific, in the two papers she deals with digital images and dance performance. I like the fact that she emphasizes that even though technology is involved, it cannot be the center piece of the art exhibition. Also, I liked this paper because it shows you that there has been a progress made in this dance-technology interaction. This leads me to believe that there could actually be a real future for these kind of performances.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Paper Reading # 4 - Layered Surveillance
Reference:
Celine Latulipe & Annabel Manning
CHI 2010, April 10–15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Summary
This paper describes the use of art and technology to explore U.S. - Mexico border crossings and surveillance. Manning describes an interactive way to present her artwork with the help of technology. The purpose of using the technology is to provide the viewers with some control of the artwork. The two techniques that are described are interactive lenses work and interactive layers work. Interactive lenses work portrays static images that are controlled by participants using wireless mice to control particular lenses. With the interactive layers technique participants control various different aspects of the artwork such as brightness, and different levels of detail. Manning is an artist that depicts Latino immigrants under surveillance on the U.S.-Mexico border. Manning provides the digital photos and videos that are used in the interaction, and Latulipe provides the software to create the moving videos.
Discussion
I thought both of the interaction techniques depicted in this paper can make the viewers appreciate the artwork more than a work hanged in a wall. It is interesting how they present technology to increase the engagement of the viewers. What caught my attention was the fact that the artwork being presented by Manning was surveillance of Hispanic immigrants on the U.S. - Mexico border. She believes that artists are important players in current immigration debates, and that is certainly a point of view that I do not agree with.
Celine Latulipe & Annabel Manning
CHI 2010, April 10–15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Summary
This paper describes the use of art and technology to explore U.S. - Mexico border crossings and surveillance. Manning describes an interactive way to present her artwork with the help of technology. The purpose of using the technology is to provide the viewers with some control of the artwork. The two techniques that are described are interactive lenses work and interactive layers work. Interactive lenses work portrays static images that are controlled by participants using wireless mice to control particular lenses. With the interactive layers technique participants control various different aspects of the artwork such as brightness, and different levels of detail. Manning is an artist that depicts Latino immigrants under surveillance on the U.S.-Mexico border. Manning provides the digital photos and videos that are used in the interaction, and Latulipe provides the software to create the moving videos. Discussion
I thought both of the interaction techniques depicted in this paper can make the viewers appreciate the artwork more than a work hanged in a wall. It is interesting how they present technology to increase the engagement of the viewers. What caught my attention was the fact that the artwork being presented by Manning was surveillance of Hispanic immigrants on the U.S. - Mexico border. She believes that artists are important players in current immigration debates, and that is certainly a point of view that I do not agree with.
Book Reading # 7 - Opening Skinner's Box
Chapter 1: Opening Skinner’s Box
Summary
This chapter introduces a psychologist by the name of B. F. Skinner and his contributions in the field of psychology. The most interesting fact that is introduced at the beginning of this chapter is that Skinner aspired to be a novelist. The chapter describes Skinner's theories of behaviorism, which claims that behavior is shaped by the environment. The author Lauren Slater even gives an example where she employs Skinner's principle of positive reinforcement. This idea is based on Skinner's idea that rewards work much better than any form of punishment.
Discussion
After reading this chapter, I had to go and do some research on Skinner. It turns out that his contributions have made him one of the best psychologists of the 20th century. I find Skinner's theory to be really interesting and I think I agree with his positive reinforcement principle. Slater points out in this chapter how interesting it could be if some of his observations could make an impact on politics.
Summary
This chapter introduces a psychologist by the name of B. F. Skinner and his contributions in the field of psychology. The most interesting fact that is introduced at the beginning of this chapter is that Skinner aspired to be a novelist. The chapter describes Skinner's theories of behaviorism, which claims that behavior is shaped by the environment. The author Lauren Slater even gives an example where she employs Skinner's principle of positive reinforcement. This idea is based on Skinner's idea that rewards work much better than any form of punishment.
Discussion
After reading this chapter, I had to go and do some research on Skinner. It turns out that his contributions have made him one of the best psychologists of the 20th century. I find Skinner's theory to be really interesting and I think I agree with his positive reinforcement principle. Slater points out in this chapter how interesting it could be if some of his observations could make an impact on politics.
Book Reading # 6 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Actions
Summary
Mead describes a regular day in the Samoan life. She describes with detail the daily activities that each family member performs from sunrise until the day is over. She describes the customs of everyone ranging from the children to the elders. In this chapter she is starting to give an idea of how this Samoan culture is.
Discussion
I think Mead does a great job describing what each group of people does during the entire day. She starts introducing some of the customs that she is observing. She is starting to observe some sort of hierarchy in the Samoan culture.
Appendix II: Methodology of this Survey
Summary
In this chapter, Mead describes that she used translator in order to interact with the Samoan girls since they did not speak English. This is an advantage as they is no language barrier in collecting information and speaking to the girls. She gathers personal information through a questionnaire.
Discussion
I think it is greatly beneficial that she is using translator to get as much information as possible through her questionnaire without having the language as a barrier. This speaks that Mead wants her acquired data to be as accurate as possible.
Appendix V: Materials Upon Which the Analysis is Based
Summary
In this chapter the data collected from the personal interviews is shown. Some of the information she collected was social and sexual interaction of each of the girls, family and the test topics Mead gave to the girls.
Discussion
I like the idea that Mead shows tables as her gathered information because tables are very pictorial way to represent the data she collected, it is an easy way for a reader to understand results. It is interesting how Mead was able to gather very personal data from the Samoan girls given that Mead was an intruder to their culture.
Summary
Mead describes a regular day in the Samoan life. She describes with detail the daily activities that each family member performs from sunrise until the day is over. She describes the customs of everyone ranging from the children to the elders. In this chapter she is starting to give an idea of how this Samoan culture is.
Discussion
I think Mead does a great job describing what each group of people does during the entire day. She starts introducing some of the customs that she is observing. She is starting to observe some sort of hierarchy in the Samoan culture.
Appendix II: Methodology of this Survey
Summary
In this chapter, Mead describes that she used translator in order to interact with the Samoan girls since they did not speak English. This is an advantage as they is no language barrier in collecting information and speaking to the girls. She gathers personal information through a questionnaire.
Discussion
I think it is greatly beneficial that she is using translator to get as much information as possible through her questionnaire without having the language as a barrier. This speaks that Mead wants her acquired data to be as accurate as possible.
Appendix V: Materials Upon Which the Analysis is Based
Summary
In this chapter the data collected from the personal interviews is shown. Some of the information she collected was social and sexual interaction of each of the girls, family and the test topics Mead gave to the girls.
Discussion
I like the idea that Mead shows tables as her gathered information because tables are very pictorial way to represent the data she collected, it is an easy way for a reader to understand results. It is interesting how Mead was able to gather very personal data from the Samoan girls given that Mead was an intruder to their culture.
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