Paper Reading#5: A multi-touch enabled steering wheel: exploring the design space

Reference Information

Pfeiffer, M., et al. (2010). A multi-touch enable steering wheel - exploring the design space. Proceeding of the Acm conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 3355-3360). Atlanta.

Summary:

Cars offer an increasing number of infotainment systems as well as comfort functions that can be controlled by the driver. These researchers from Denmark investigate new interaction techniques that aim to make it easier to interact with these systems while driving. These researchers suggest using the steering wheel as additional interface surface in contrast to the standard approach of combining all functions into hierarchical menus controlled by a multifunctional controller or a touch screen .

This paper talks about multi-touch interaction on a steering wheel and investigates how to deal with input and output while driving and hence rotating the wheel. It describes the details of a functional prototype of a multi-touch steering wheel that is based on FTIR and a projector, which was built to explore experimentally the user experience created. In an initial study with 12 participants showed that the approach has a general utility and that people can use gestures for controlling applications intuitively. The researchers investigated new interaction techniques that aim to make it easier to interact with these systems while driving.

Discussion:

I think the idea of putting the controls on the streering wheel is brilliant. Having controls on the dashboard can cause significant driver distraction. Having these controls located on the steering will significantly reduce the risk of an accident. Most car companies already place some buttons like the cruise control, phone call receive and speaker phone option etc. on the steering wheel. However, I can't see how this will work since the central area of the steering wheel houses the airbag and can't be used for any electronics.

Paper Reading #4: There's a monster in my kitchen: Using Aversive Feedback to Motivate Behavior Change

Reference Information:

Title: There’s a Monster in my Kitchen: Using Aversive Feedback to Motivate Behaviour Change

Authors: Ben Kirman, Conor Linehan, Shaun Lawson, Derek Foster, Mark Doughty

Presentation venue: CHI 2010, April 10–15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Summary:

The paper talks about persuasive technology and how operant conditioning can be used to mold user behavior. The authors talk about how traditional behavioral interventions, including adaptation to individual users and increased use of aversive and appetitive stimuli. Behavioral psychology presumes that all behavior is determined by interactions with and feedback from the organisms' surrounding environment. Behavioral psychology suggests that because behavior is determined by the environment, it can be changed readily by analysis and manipulation of that environment. Behavioral psychology is the ideal framework within which to design persuasive technologies.

Terms:

Operant Conditioning describes the process whereby the consequences of behavior feed back to the organism and change the probability that the behavior that produced them will occur again.

Positive Reinforcement: Presentation of a stimulus as a consequence of an instance of behavior makes that behavior more likely to occur in that context in future.

Negative Reinforcement: removal of an existing stimulus as a consequence of an instance of behavior makes that behavior more likely to occur in that context in future.

Punishment: presentation of a stimulus as a consequence of an instance of behavior makes that behavior less likely to occur in the future.

However, the problem is that the same stimulus can function as a reinforcer for one person and a punisher for another. Persuasive technologies typically do not evaluate which stimuli, or types of stimuli, a person will work for, and which stimuli they find aversive.

The Nag-baztag is an internet connected agent that is able to monitor power usage on a per-appliance basis, and able to track water and gas usage through networked metering devices. The system has a variety of tools based on the operant conditioning techniques that can be used to attempt to effect positive behavior change in the user. The positive reinforcement used is to let the user know how much money he/she has saved by making efficient use of the resources. On the other hand, the negative reinforcement would be constant nagging by the device. If the user still doesn't improve his actions, the system would intensify the punishments, like cutting the power supply to a device.

Discussion:

I think that it's indeed a creative and ingenious idea to incorporate the operant theory into the smart appliances. I can see that the positive and negative reinforcement will indeed work. However, the punishments being talked about in the essay kind of cross the limit. It's like the machine is not only telling you and forcing you to do something, but it's also threatening and punishing you if you don't listen to it. I think this would be extremely annoying to most people and that most people will end up either disabling the device or not installing the device altogether.

Book Reading 7 - Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 1: Opening Skinner’s Box

Reference Information:
Title: Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
Author: Lauren Slater
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (March 15, 2004)

Summary:
The chapter talks about the great scientific experiments of the late psychologist B.F. Skinner and the accomplishments, criticisms and controversialists that surrounded his methods. Skinner spent much of his scientific career studying and honing what he came to call operant conditioning, the means by which humans can train humans and other animals to perform a whole range of tasks and skills through positive reinforcement.
Although his contributions are enormous and that the time magazine named him the most influential living psychologist, he was surrounded with some contradictions and controversies. Skinner believed that "we are always either controlled or controlling, that our free will is really just a response to some cues that" He believed that rewards work far better in the establishment of behavior rather than punishments. Skinner's techniques have been instrumental in helping the huge population of anxiety-disordered people overcome their phobias. His theories also greatly helped patients of schizophrenia.

Discussion:
I found this chapter extremely interesting. The controversy of the skinner's box and of his daughter committing suicide kind of gave a suspense genre to the overall tone of the chapter. His experiments and methods of study was so unconventional that I could not stop myself from google-ing more information about him and digging deeper into understanding his works and personality.
Regardless of the controversies, this man has earned my respect for his contribution to the field of psychology with his concepts of positive reinforcement and behaviorism. The ideology of positive reinforcement is not vital to just psychology, but also finds its application in management studies. Today, company management and leaders use his theory of positive reinforcement to shape employee behaviors by rewarding the hard work.

Mr. and Mrs. Skinner looking at Deborah Skinner placed in the Skinner's box.

Book Reading #6 - Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 2, Appendix II,V

Reference Information:
Title: Coming of Age in Samoa
Author: Margaret Mead
Editors: Williams Morrow and Company (1928)

Summary:
In chapter 2, the author describes a typical day on the island Tau, Samoa. She describes how the day begins and what different people - children, young women, mothers, old people, men and young boys do during the day. She describes in much detail, their daily activities, customs, food and sleeping habits. She gives us a general idea about life on the Samoan island.

In Appendix II, the author describes the methodology of her study. She collected detailed information from the observations made about a group of girls living in three contiguous villages of the island Tau. Data about their birth, adolescence and marriages was gathered. She performed a linear study on a small sample. Smaller the variability among the sample, greater is the general validity of the results. Apart from observations, she gave them tests and questionnaires in the native language to observe their mental health and development.

Appendix V describes the materials upon which the analysis was based. She provides the actual tables and charts she used to gather the information. She also provides us with the actual quantitative data that she gathered during her stay in Samoa. She gathered detailed information about the age, puberty, family, social and sexual experiences of the girls she studied.

Discussion:
Mead does a great job in providing a detailed description about the lives of the people in a Samoan village, what they do on a typical day and how she collected information about them. Although she gets into minute details, she manages to keep the information interesting for the readers. It's indeed extremely impressive the way she formed close relationship with the people in Samoa and was able to gain their confidence to gather the information.

Book Reading #5 - Design of Everyday Things

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Actions

Reference Information:
Title: Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald Norman
Publisher: Basic Books (2002)

Summary:
In this chapter, the author explains why we make errors while operating machines, even though sometimes they seem very trivial and who do we blame for those errors. Norman says that if we seem to have trouble with getting a simple thing to work, for example, struggling with a button to turn the light on, which other people seem to have no trouble with, we automatically blame ourselves and our stupidity rather than analyzing and criticizing the design flaw that might exist. To prove this fact, he provides the example where the placement of the enter and the return keys on the computer keyboard caused confusion and errors, however, people blamed themselves for pushing the wrong keys, rather than blaming the design. If there's a possibility of an error, someone will make it. It's important to detect these possible errors in advance and design the machine in a way the errors can be avoided.
Norman also explains how people form erroneous theories (mental models) and their own creative interpretations of how machines work, just by looking at what they do and what result they provide. Yet another mistake that people do is to wrongly associate the cause with the result. If the user does some action A just prior to some result R, then the user concludes that A must have caused R, even if there was no relationship between the two. This often occurs due to the little information that users have to draw a conclusion.
Finally, the author mentions that each action comprises of seven stages, which are - forming the goal, forming the intention, specifying the action, execution of the action, perceiving the state of the world, interpreting the state of the world and evaluating the outcome.

Discussion:
I completely agree with author's opinion about design of everyday things and how erroneous designs can cause mistakes. I've also seen people blaming themselves for the design problems. There have been situations when I have done that myself. For example, at my employment, where I work as a student technician, clients blame themselves for the virus problems they encounter, however, it was really the fault of the anti-virus software that it did not do what it was supposed to do, i.e. stop the intrusion. Sadly, some people suffer from depression due to such behavior. The chapter clearly proves how simple things can matter a lot and how self-intuitive designs are extremely vital.

Paper Reading #3: The Coffee Lab: Developing a public Usability Space

The Emoti-Chiar at the Coffee Lab, Toronto
Reference Information:
Title: The Coffee Lab: Developing a public Usability Space
Author: Maria Karam
Presented at: CHI 2010, April 10-15,2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Summary:
The coffee lab is a public usability space situated in a coffee ship in Toronto. It's a pilot project aimed at supporting usability studies in a mixed-use space, where a variety of software applications, hardware systems and other interactive technologies are put to the public for evaluation. One advantage to this approach is to facilitate the collection of usability data from a large and diverse population of potential users.
- Infrastructure:
Wired and wireless network connections, a touch screen, multiple computers to run systems, web cameras for visual input and monitoring interactions.
- Participants:
Staff, performers, students, spectators and local customers who frequent the coffee shop.

The five evaluation stages:

• Exposure: The first contact the user has with the technology.


• Experience: Researcher's interactions with the user while they are gaining experience with the system. Second stage participants often provide valuable feedback or report problems, if any.


• Experiment: Laboratory style experiments that are designed to evaluate a specific feature of a system. This stage is very similar to lab studies, but is simplified where possible to account for the potential distractions that occur in public space.


• Extension: This stage offers an in-depth look at one or more users over time, providing a more detailed perspective of the user's interactions.


• Exploration: This stage occurs once the system has been evaluated, or when the research is between stages. Participants may leave feedback or provide comments.

Although quantitative data obtained through a Public Usability Test (PUT) may be less stringent or precise than a lab study, these results maybe instrumental in serving as pilot tests for empirical studies that are in the planning stage, or for formulating hypothesis.
Two main systems that are currently part of the Coffee Lab pilot tests are the Emoti-Chair (pictured above) and iGesture. Emoti Chair is a tactile audio system while the iGesture system is used to control the music at the Coffee Lab.

Discussion:
I thought this method of evaluation of a product was extremely ingenious and creative, just like the 'Wizard of Oz' approach developed by John Gould. It was a nice way to get people know about the new product, know about their feedback and advertise the product. It's similar to have people test drive a car before they make a decision. I also like the notion of choosing a Coffee Shop as a venue for performing this experiment. Since coffee shops attract all kinds of people from various backgrounds who have different type of moods, the tests can provide fairly accurate results.

Book Reading #4: HCI Remixed

Reference:
HCI Remixed: Reflections on Works that have Influenced the HCI Community
Thomas Erickson and David W. McDonald
MIT. 2008

CHAPTER 24: A Simulated Listening Typewriter: John Gould Plays Wizard of Oz
Chris Schmandt
MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Summary:
In this chapter, the author Chris Schmandt talks about some early research in the field of speech recognition in the 1980s. IBM researchers were trying to develop algorithms that would recognize the spoken words. This could be used for dictation. It was a thrill to control the computer with one's voice. However, the high cost of the equipment hindered the research. The prime focus of the research was on developing the algorithm. Small vocabulary and discrete speech input were the limitations of the algorithm.
'Wizard of Oz' as mentioned in the paper was an evaluation technique used my John Gould to evaluate speech recognition algorithm. The 'Wizard of Oz' technique involved masquerading of human as computer system, i.e. there would be a human on the other side who would be listening to the speaker and typing in words.

Discussion:
I really liked the 'Wizard of Oz' evaluation technique and it was a good idea to compare the results from the algorithm with the results obtained from this technique. Secondly, it was interesting to know about the development of the speech recognition techniques in its early days. Today, we see that speech recognition is very commonly used, especially in the telecom industry where the operators are usually speech recognizers.
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CHAPTER 25: Seeing the Hole in Space

Summary:
In this paper, Steve Harrison talks about the two artists - Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz and about their video called 'Hole in space'. Initially, the author wasn't very willing to meet the artists, however, when they met, he was surprised by their ingenuity. The artists projected images of Lincoln Center to people in New York and Century City images to people in Los Angeles. Crowds gathered quickly once the artwork was projected. People walking on the streets actually stopped and were curious about what was going on. This was the first time when people were interacting in real time with other people from across the country. 'Hole in Space' showed that media space might be a way to engage and constitute community differently.

Discussion:
I think 'Hole in Space' experiment was jaw-dropping. I was surprised that they were actually able to project images from the other side of the country in real time and this was when technologies like internet didn't exist. I realize the importance of this experiment on the development of computer supported cooperative work and collaboration.
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CHAPTER 26: Edward Tufte’s 1 + 1 = 3

Summary:
The author talks about his experience in an elevator and how he pressed the close-doors button instead of the open-doors button making him feel mortified. He soon realized that there was a design flaw in the buttons. Further, he goes on and suggests better designs for the buttons, with a wider open-door button marked with green color. It also used an icon of a person getting into the elevator that suggested the purpose. The close door button was smaller, marked in red and had an icon of closed doors on it. This design was clearly self-explanatory and did not demand a lot of thought. Further, the author talks about eliminating the choice altogether, thus solving the cognitive clutter problem. Not having a close door button won't do any harm.

Discussion:
I found this paper to be extremely interesting and very convincing. This paper was a bit similar to the articles in Don Norman's book - 'Design of Everyday things'. The elevator incident has happened with me before and it's truly disappointing. Such experiences directly point to the need of creative and self-intuitive designs. I agree with the author when he talks about reducing the complexity of the confusing elevator buttons by adding color scheme or by removing the choice altogether.
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CHAPTER 27: Typographic Space: A Fusion of Design and Technology
Summary:
In his essay, the author talks about the works on early day typography softwares. Author talks bout Muriel Cooper from MIT, who was one of the first people to suggest the use of technology in typography. She was researching on a typographic system which allowed th euser to lay out text in three dimensional space. After Cooper passed away in 1994, her graduate students carried on her work. Initially they faced issues like distortion, type size and problems with sense of space. Ishizaki, one of Cooper's graduate students propsed the idea of kinetic typography i.e. moving text, which is extensively used today in advertising and in movies.

Discussion:
It never occurred to me that moving text would have taken so much research. However, it was a creative idea and converting this idea into a reality did take a lot of effort. Projecting text in 3D space and adding text effects has tremendously helped graphic designers. It is because of these efforts that we can easily rotate and twist text in MsWord and Photoshop.

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CHAPTER 28: Making Sense of Sense Making

Summary:
Author Steve Whitaker talks about Alison Kidd's paper - "The marks are on the knowledge worker". The paper talks about two ideas:

• Memory Prosthesis: Computers are mainly used for storing passive information which not particularly useful.
• Sense Making: Computers aren't very good at making sense of the information they store.

Kidd claims that there is little value to the passively stored information because information is useful only during the act of informing. Once understood and integrated into the user's mental structures, it has little value and is seldom accessed. We need know more about exactly when and why long term information is accessed.
Kidd also claims that arranging information in the form of folders is confusing and makes information difficult to access. Folders hide information and it becomes very difficult to dig old information. Sense making implies a cognitive act of imposing understanding on information, creating new relations between formerly unconnected information. Task management instead demands a more lightweight form of organization, requiring information to be available and invoked at appropriate time.
Some of the issues Kidd claims are clearly wrong, for example, her opinion that digital memories are useless is clearly wrong. Digital memories are most prevalent in the market today. However, some issues pose a valid point.

Discussion:
I agree with the author's opinion about proper arrangement and classification of information. Arranging all the information in folders, at times does get confusing. I believe that we should learn from our surroundings and apply physics simulations to our GUI systems. For example we pin important documents to the wall. We pile up books and keep the most accessed book on the top, etc. It doesn't matter how this is done internally at the operating system level, but the user should get a visual experience that helps him to remember where the information is stored. This is somewhat implemented in GUI interface called bumptop, a video of which can be found here.

Ethnography Ideas

1. How many students have ever downloaded or still illegally download copyrighted software/music/video? Personal information will be kept confidential.
   (DC++, torrents and other P2P sharing methods? Did you know that Texas A&M has one of the largest shared volume on DC++?)


2. How many people would prefer an open-source operating system like Ubuntu on their computers rather than sticking to Windows?


3. Observe how many people at Sbisa (or any restaurant) choose to have healthy food like salads, subs and soups as opposed to eating pizzas or burgers.

Book Reading #3: HCI Remixed

Chapter 1: My Vision Isn’t My Vision: Making a Career Out of Getting Back to Where I Started
William Buxton, Microsoft Research, Toronto, Canada
J.K. Pulfer, 1971: "Man-Machine Interaction in Creative Applications"

Chapter Summary:
This chapter was about a musician's first experience of developing music using a computer. He was never interested or intrigued by computers. However, when he did use computer for making music for the first time, he was completely impressed by it and how it was very easy to use. The author wants to emphasize that since a non technical person from a non computer science background was able to use it with complete ease, the software and design of the computer was really a masterpiece of the early day HCI.
Discussion:
The incidence mentioned in the essay was the beginning of the computers being used in various different fields. The aim was to make it really easy to use, understand and learn for users who had never used a computer before and the designers were successful. This shows the significance of good design in the field of HCI.

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Chapter 4: Drawing on SketchPad: Reflections on Computer Science and HCI
Joseph A. Konstan. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
I. Sutherland, 1963: "SketchPad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System"

Chapter Summary:
In the essay, the author describes the features of the SketchPad. He believes it was the birth of the computer-aided drawing programs like CAD. Furthermore, the author also expresses that the field of computer science has greatly advanced today because HCI was a part of computer science field. Without HCI computer would have applications limited to computation.
Discussion:
I completely agree with the author about HCI being the part of the computer science area. I also agree that today computers are so common and have various applications due to advancement in HCI, without which there would be a barrier between people ad the computers and only a selected few would be able to use it.

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Chapter 5: The Mouse, the Demo, and the Big Idea
Wendy Ju. Standford University, Standford, California.
D. Englebart, 1968: "The oNLine System (NLS) Demo"

Chapter Summary:
In this essay, the author talks about the invention of the mouse. She talks about how it changed the way people interacted with computers. Furthermore, she explains the importance of demonstrations and how it can impact the audience. The audience can not grasp the idea and may not welcome it unless they actually see a demo. To emphasize the effect that demos have on the people, she states that it was the demo of the mouse that led the author to make a vital career decision.
Discussion:
Demos indeed can change perspectives of the people and what they think. Many people might have great ideas, but demos serve as a proof that idea can be converted into something that works. Demos instantly convince the audience. Demos help the audience to measure the "awesomeness" of the idea. Something that can't be measured, doesn't exist at all.
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Chapter 18: Observing Collaboration: Group-Centered Design
Saul Greenberg. University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
J. Tang, 1989: "Listing, Drawing, and Gesturing in Design: A Study of the Use of Shared Workspaces by Design Teams."

Chapter Summary:
The author talks about the idea of virtual white boards, how people in a group can draw and write information on their personal touch screen tablets and share it with everyone else in the group. He talks about the early research and studies in this area and how people reacted to such ideas. The essay talks about the impact these notions had on the evolution of shared workspace.
Discussion:
I believe this was a giant leap forward in the field of HCI. It was because of this research that we have online white boards and other conferencing tools that help us interact and work on shared workspaces even though the people are thousands of miles apart. This concept has a major contribution to make the idea of "work-from-home" a reality.
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Chapter 20: Taking Articulation Work Seriously
Geraldine Fitzpatrick. University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.
K. Schmidt, and L. Bannon, 1992: "Taking CSCW Seriously: Supporting Articulation Work."

Chapter Summary:
The author talks about the importance of articulation work in the area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). This was one of the early ideas of usage of technology to support people in their work. The author states that the idea of articulation work came from Anslem Strauss.
Discussion:
I thought the essay was a bit ambiguous to understand. It was probably too technical and lacked examples. I could understand what the essay tried to convey, but I would've been more convinced with the author's opinion if it was put in a more lucid way and had some examples.
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Chapter 23: Video, Toys, and Beyond Being There
Brian K. Smith. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
J. Hollan and S. Stornetta, 1992: "Beyond Being There."

Chapter Summary:
By the words "being there", the author refers to the communication via teleconferencing. Even though the people are thousands of miles apart, they can talk as if they are talking face to face. It is interesting how computers have bridged the gap and has brought the world close together. Due to such communication tools, the authors mother was able to spend time with her granddaughter, even when the author's mother was in chemotherapy.
Discussion:
The main point of the essay is to explain the application of the technology to improve human experience, to make communication faster and easier. In the essay, the grandmother could actually see her granddaughter's birth and her her grand daughter playing with her doll, which definitely made the grandmother happy.
Even though the communication technology made this possible, I don't believe that the technological experience will be anywhere close to an actual meeting. Personal relationships can not be developed without meeting a person face to face. Thus, I believe that the author's idea of "beyond being there" has limitations that can't be broken.

Paper Reading #2: Early Explorations of CAT: Canine Amusement and Training

Reference information:

Title: Early Explorations of CAT: Canine Amusement and Training

Authors: Chadwick Wingrave, Todd Langston, Jeremy Rose and Joseph LaViola Jr.

Presentation: 28th of the international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems

Summary:

The paper talks about how cross species computer applications have a potential for improving the canine-human bond. The authors emphasize on developing software tools that can motivate human to spend time with their canine in healthy and informative ways. They have also developed some prototype games that are are calm, healthy and enjoyable both for canine and human.

The main purpose of the Canine Amusement and Training project was to reclaim time for the human canine bond. Humans need to be entertained and taught how to interact with their canine. The system consists of 55" LCD TV, a projector and wii remotes to track the position of the canine. The projector is mounted on the roof and the image is projected on the floor for the canine to see. The wii remote is attached on the back of the canine. A number of games, ranging from easy difficulty level to more challenging games can be designed.

Discussion:

I think the idea sounds pretty interesting. The paper only talks about games that instructs the canine to sit, stand and stay calm. It can be made more fun if better games are designed that involve activities like chasing an object, etc.

However, this project is not something I would personally like to research on. I personally would prefer getting my canine trained from a professional trainer, rather than experimenting with these games. But I'm sure, if this is made into a product, it will receive good response.

Book Reading #3: On Computers (Adopted from the Complete works of Aristotle)

Reference Information
Title: The Complete Works of Aristotle
Author: Aristotle
Editor: Jonathan Barnes

Summary
In this chapter, Aristotle describes plants in minute detail. He addresses the question - whether or not plants have a soul and intelligence. To find the answer to this question, he compares the characteristics of plants to human characteristics. The first characteristic he mentions is sleep. Plants do not sleep as humans and animals do. However, as he moves on to other characteristics like reproduction and needs for survival, he tries to imply that the plants do have a soul. He mentions that like we humans needs nutrition to grow, plants also need suitable climatic conditions, temperature and sunshine to live a healthy life. Towards the end of the chapter he also mentions various types of plants and trees.

Discussion
In this discussion, we can relate plants and computers. Computers, like plants don't evidently show any characteristics that prove that they have a soul. It can be argued that computers do need electricity for their operation like plants needs air, water and sunshine. However, computers do not grow or reproduce like plants do. I do not believe that computers have a soul. Firstly, computers are machines that simply process data and produce logical output. They are not biological, unlike any living organism. A plant, after it dies decomposes, but that's not the case with a computer. Computers are just tools designed for human use and to increase efficiency.

Article: The Chinese Room Experiment

John Searle
Reference Information
Title: Minds, Brains and Programs
Names of authors: John R. Searle
Publication: Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3 (3): 417-457

Summary

In this experiment, John Searle tried to prove that no matter how intelligent computer systems become, they can never really have a mind. He claims that the idea of mind is different from the brain. Mind is where emotions and intension are generated which can not be recreated by a machine.
In this experiment, John Searle, who is an English speaker is in a closed room. All he has with him is a book with English version of computer program, paper, pencils, erasers and filing cabinets. He receives Chinese character written on a sheet of paper as input and manually follows the computer program to generate a meaningful output. Thus, he works like a computer which follows Von Neumann architecture (input-CPU-memory-output) that's proved to be touring complete.
In this experiment, he does not literally understand Chinese which made him conclude that computers do not really understand and learn, instead they just simulate the process of learning. Thus, the main difference is between simulating a human mind and actually having a mind. Searle concludes that "A machine could be built that acts more intelligent than a person, but does not have a mind orintentionality in the same way that brains do". Thus, computers exhibit weak AI as opposed to strong AI.

Discussion
I completely agree with John Seale's conclusion. It is true that the computers will keep getting smarter. Eventually, they sure will be able to perform most of our everyday work, but they will never surpass human intelligence. Machines can perform actions as they are programmed to do. After all, machine learning or AI is also a program that runs on its CPU. A computer will never be able to recreate human emotions, intension and ability to take initiative in performing tasks. This is because emotions are a result of biological changes like changes in hormonal levels and enzymes in the human body. This can never be recreated using a bunch of hard drives, a CPU and cables.

Paper Reading #1: Sequential art for science and CHI

Reference Information

Title: Sequential Art for Science and CHI

Author: Duncan Rowland

Presentation Venue: CHI 2010: Monsters Attack! April 10-15, 2010 Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Summary

The paper illustrates how interactive tools that can generate sequential art be used for entertainment, learning and scientific discourse. The paper is presented in a comic book format to emphasize and highlight the communicative capabilities of the medium.

Comics have existed since centuries, however, we lack technologies to support their serious application. The medium and the form in which the information is presented is equally important as the information itself. Relaying information in a particular format can significantly alter the meaning of the information being conveyed.

To illustrate this fact, the author provides two examples. In the first example, primary school students document a practical science session through the creation of a photostory and in the second, participants in a study on the biological nature of thrill create a souvenir photostory. The author argues that since the world we live in is visual, learning experience also should stress on graphics and visual techniques. The paper suggests that sequential art offers unique mechanisms of communication that can find application in science, for example, in ethnographic work. The visual form can be both engaging and rapidly digested.

Discussion

I do firmly agree with the author. Being a visual learner myself, I would live my textbooks to be photo-stories. I have always disliked reading books and I believe powerpoint presentations is the worst teaching technique. As a visual learner, I prefer to see how proofs are derived and how a software code is developed rather than slapping it on a powerpoint slide.

This method might not work for everyone, and so, it should complement, not replace the traditional method of learning i.e. books. I'm sure it will immensely benefit audio-visual learner, who form majority of the population. A software tool that will automate the process and generate sequential photo-stories will definitely be a major breakthrough in the learning process.

Book Reading #2: Coming of Age in Samoa (Microblog)

Reference Information
Title: Coming of Age in Samoa
Author: Margaret Mead
Editors: Williams Morrow and Company (1928)

Summary
Introduction
The reason for the way we talk, walk and behave is the civilization and the society we are brought up in. One of the most important and rather tricky phases in the human life cycle is the adolescence. This is the period of rebellion against authority, where conflicts are inevitable. This is the period in which many of our firm values like religious beliefs and values are established. The research question is - are these difficulties due to being an adolescent or to being an adolescent in America? In the quest to answer this question, the author chooses to study adolescent behavior in primitive civilizations. She travels to Samoa, a South Sea Island, about thirteen degrees from the equator. She focuses her research on a Samoan adolescent girl. Further chapters reveal her observations about the Samoan civilization and strike the differences between modern and primitive civilization and its effect on human development.

Discussion
To be very honest, when I started reading this book, I was not at all interested by the issue being addressed. I was questioning myself - "Why am I reading this?". However, as I continued to read the author's introduction to the book, I did get a hang of what she was trying to say and found it rather interesting. It was interesting to know how culture and civilization impact our values and morals. Towards the end of the chapter, I was so engrossed in reading, that I unknowingly moved on to Chapter 2.

Book Reading #1: Design of Everyday Things (Microblog)

Reference Information
Title: Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald Norman
Publisher: Basic Books (2002)


Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things
Summary
The primary point being addressed by the author in this chapter is the frustration that come along with operating devices, especially highly sophisticated technological gadgets. The author starts off by giving some examples of bad designs and how they confuse and frustrate people. For example, the glass doors that give no clue to the user if they need to be pulled or pushed, confusion caused by functions like hold and automatic callback on modern telephones and the German slide projector that had just one button to execute all the functions.
Affordances are perceived and actual properties of the thing that suggest how it can be used. If used well, affordances make the device self intuitive to use. When simple things need pictures, labels or instructions, the design has failed. Author claims that users find it easy to use devices if one control is mapped to one function i.e. 1 to 1 mapping. Confusion arises if there is many-to-one or one-to-many mapping between controls and the functions.
To make a device understandable and usable, the designer must provide a good conceptual model, a proper feedback to the user and try to make things as visible as possible. The mental model of a device is formed largely by interpreting its perceived actions and its visible structure. Good design indeed takes care, planning and thought. It takes conscious attention to the needs of the user.

Discussion
When I started reading the first few pages of the book, I thought that the author was over-stressing the idea of how bad design can cause confusion. For example, all of us, at some point have experienced problems in opening glass doors, however, I never thought as if it was a big deal. As author moves on to provide more interesting examples, I did realize that simple small things can be really important for the product's success and usability. As we all know - what made iPods so successful was their user interface. I think reading about good designs is really important before we actually get into designing interfaces, that way, we can learn from previously made mistakes and come up with innovative solutions.

About Me

Email
jaideep.balekar@gmail.com

Class Standing
8th Semester Senior

Reason for taking this class
From everyone who has taken this class in the past, I heard that it's a fun class. I am a bit intimidated after the first class, I hope my fears turn out to be false.

What experience do you bring to this class?
I've gained most of the experience working on programming projects in college and high school. I also work part time as a programmer and technician for the University Libraries.

What do you expect to be doing in 10 years?
I expect to be a software entrepreneur and provide software and IT solutions to the industry.

What do you think will be the next biggest technological advancement in computer science?
I believe that very soon, the no-brainer labor work will be completely replaced by robots which will help the human race to propel further.

If you could travel back in time, who would you like to meet and why?
President Harry Truman, if I could go back in time and be him, I would stop the first ever atom bomb from exploding.

What is your favorite style of mustache and why?
Sorry, I'm not a big fan of mustaches. I think they are really time-consuming to maintain.

If you could be fluent in any foreign language that you're not already fluent in, which one would it be and why?
Sanskrit, because that's what my ancestors spoke and once I'm dead and in heaven, I need some means to communicate with their souls.

Some interesting facts about myself
I love swimming and photography.
My favorite food is sub (toasted).
Some of my favorite tourist destinations include Dubai, Singapore and San Francisco