Re: [xmca] Deb Roy: The birth of a word

[Luisa Aires <laires11@gmail.com>]

A surprising video.
I can find some "old" issues: context-language relation; social networks and
context; semantic analysis. Can we find there a new methodology? An
innovative way to study mass media and advertising? And what about privacy
and ethics in the research?
… when I see this video I feel like the two faces of Janus: surprise and
scare.

Best,
Luísa A.


On 14 March 2011 14:05, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> Nice to hear from you Michael-- A fellow communication person.
>
> I fully agree its very exciting for researchers in mass media studies,
> Michael. Think a few minutes about the level of surveillance. Think about
> who could afford that tech
> for that surveillance.
>
> When I do that it worries me. But, then, I am soooo retro!
> :-)
> mike
>
> On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 6:41 AM, Michael Lithgow <malithgow@gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > It's my first time contributing to this listserv, but if I can add to the
> > wonder being expressed about how this technology might effect media
> > research
> > - I think the potential for studying how news frames emerge, transform
> over
> > time, compete and slowly solidify into shared understandings is also
> > exciting.  To be able to watch in something like real time the discursive
> > ebb and flow of popular negotiation for hegemonic understanding is
> > remarkable.
> >
> > Michael Lithgow
> > PhD Candidate, Carleton University
> > School of Journalism and Communication
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Jay Lemke <jaylemke@umich.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks, Peter. Someone also posted on this to the local LCHC group
> list,
> > > and I replied with the following after watching the video (a TED
> > > presentation):
> > >
> > > Yes, this is pretty amazing. I was reminded of the work that Lev
> Manovich
> > > is doing here at UCSD on cultural analytics, trying to identify
> > quantitative
> > > patterns in large amounts of video and image data, such as changing
> > patterns
> > > in news programs as  to how much focus there is on the presenter vs the
> > > content, the rise of digital content backgrounds, etc.
> > >
> > > But the MIT group has taken this much further, particularly in
> > > cross-linking television content to online commentary by viewers in
> real
> > > time. This should be the end of the Nielsen ratings, if they weren't
> gone
> > > already, but its also potentially the end of the survey industry as
> well
> > --
> > > why do phone surveys of hundreds when you can get real time reactions
> > from
> > > millions. I can see the news shows commissioning this for "spin" on
> major
> > > events, speeches, maybe the 2012 election. And this may be worrying,
> > because
> > > it has an inherent tendency, esp. at the current level of the
> technology
> > (re
> > > semantic analysis) to grossly over-simplify what are in fact much more
> > > complex meanings being created.
> > >
> > > I am happy to see the work on context factors, social input and
> settings,
> > > in the work on language development in the home. It's Gregory Bateson
> > meets
> > > massively parallel computing (GB did some of the first in-home filming
> of
> > > his daughter's first years). But in relying on very simple indices,
> like
> > > utterance length, it's again going to oversimplify. I don't think they
> > can
> > > analyze at this point just how the setting and the dialogue, over more
> > than
> > > one turn, scaffolds a sense of meaning for the child. Much easier of
> > course
> > > to trace the growth of phonology and single word acquisition. Still
> it's
> > a
> > > good step.
> > >
> > > Quite fascinating to see something Ivan and I were predicting last
> year:
> > > people getting used to multi-video displays, where in this case you see
> > > simultaneous video across about 6 rooms in the house in 6 video views,
> > and
> > > then all the tv/cable channels at once, dozens of small video displays
> in
> > a
> > > giant array. How to see this? Of course their visual magic of
> > re-rendering
> > > this into a 3D fly-through view of the whole house eliminates the
> > > simultaneity in favor of sequentiality, and some neuroscience work
> > suggests
> > > that we are best at doing sequential pattern recognition. But even a
> > > multi-video view can appear sequential to the brain when it is visually
> > > scanned in real time by the eyes' movements and attention focusing.
> > >
> > > Every other word he says is about privacy concerns, but you still can't
> > > disguise the Big Brother potential here: total panopticon surveillance,
> > > video and audio, 24/7 in private as well as public settings. In the UK
> > there
> > > are already serious concerns being raised about access to the
> ubiquitous
> > > outdoor security cam footage, massively increased in the last 10 years
> > > everywhere in the country, as it leaks from the anti-terrorism units
> for
> > > whose use it was originally justified to local police departments, etc.
> > > Combining this with effective video and semantic pattern recognition
> > > algorithms presents a real danger to privacy and freedom.
> > >
> > > Tis a good wind that blows no ill.
> > >
> > > JAY.
> > >
> > > Jay Lemke
> > > Senior Research Scientist
> > > Laboratory for Comparative Human Cognition
> > > University of California - San Diego
> > > 9500 Gilman Drive
> > > La Jolla, California 92093-0506
> > >
> > > Professor (Adjunct status 2009-11)
> > > School of Education
> > > University of Michigan
> > > Ann Arbor, MI 48109
> > > www.umich.edu/~jaylemke <http://www.umich.edu/%7Ejaylemke<http://www.umich.edu/~jaylemke>>
> <
> > http://www.umich.edu/%7Ejaylemke <http://www.umich.edu/~jaylemke>>
> > >
> > > Professor Emeritus
> > > City University of New York
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mar 11, 2011, at 12:30 PM, Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
> > >
> > > > MIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son
> learned
> > > language -- so he wired up his house with videocameras to catch every
> > moment
> > > (with exceptions) of his son's life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home
> > video
> > > to watch "gaaaa" slowly turn into "water." Astonishing, data-rich
> > research
> > > with deep implications for how we learn.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word.html
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> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Michael A Lithgow
> > 514.983.1965
> >
> > PhD Candidate, School of Journalism and Communication
> > Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
> >
> > Research Associate, OpenMedia.ca
> >
> > Contributing Editor, ArtThreat.net <http://www.artthreat.net>
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-- 
Luísa Aires
Universidade Aberta/Cetac.Media
R.Ameal, nº 752
4200-055 Porto
laires@univ-ab.pt
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