Friday, April 13, 2018
Angus Forbes, Assistant Professor in the Computational Media Department at University of California, Santa Cruz, directing UCSC Creative Coding.
Creative and Critical Data Visualization
Abstract: In this talk, I will present a range of recent projects that introduce current trends in the field of information visualization, including: interactive representations of biological pathways and protein interaction networks; dynamic network visualizations of the human brain connectome; and a public art installation that explores connections between photographic images and literary themes in the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude. In addition to describing details about these individual projects, I explore the potentials of integrating artistic and scientific methodologies, and I will discuss the use of computational media approaches to augment visual analyses of complex data and for enhancing user engagement in immersive environments.
Bio: Angus Forbes is an Assistant Professor in the Computational Media Department at University of California, Santa Cruz, where he directs UCSC Creative Coding. His research investigates novel techniques for visualizing and interacting with complex scientific information; his interactive artwork has been featured at museums, galleries, and festivals throughout the world. For the last five years (2013-2017), Angus has chaired the IEEE VIS Arts Program (VISAP), a forum that promotes dialogue about the relation of aesthetics and design to visualization research, and he is serving as the Arts Papers chair for ACM SIGGRAPH for 2018. Information about Angus’s recent projects is available at https://creativecoding.soe.ucsc.edu.
Friday April 20, 2018
Keith Besserud, AIA – Licensed Architect and Co-Founder of SpaceBot
Socio-Spatial Analytics in the Built Environment
Abstract: In this talk I will discuss the disruptive forces currently impacting the design of the corporate workplace, and how the use of digital sensors and “exhaust” data can provide highly valuable and previously inaccessible insights into spatial utilization patterns and human experiences in the workplace context.
Bio: Keith Besserud has migrated over the past decade from a nominally “normal” career in architecture – in which he designed buildings all over the world – to a focus on the use of data and emerging technologies to better understand the relationships of how the design of buildings affects the use of those buildings and the experiences they afford. Most recently, he has cofounded a company called SpaceBot with his business partner, David Turner. SpaceBot’s tag line is “Spatial Intelligence for Better Experiences”.
Friday, April 27, 1PM
Kristen Schilt, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago
Patrick Jagoda, Associate Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies, University of Chicago
Gaming Orientation: Alternate Reality Games as Cultural Intervention
Abstract: Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are an art form that originated in early twenty-first century information culture. Most games in this category, including Microsoft’s The Beast and 42 Entertainment’s I Love Bees, function as collaborative narrative experiences that use real-world urban spaces as a platform, blurring the lines between games and reality. To accomplish this fusion, these games incorporate a wide breadth of everyday media types including text, video, audio, print, phone calls, websites, email, social media, locative technologies, and live performance. This talk offers a case of an ARG called the parasite: an ARG developed by a design team at the University of Chicago to augment the orientation for the class of approximately 1,750 incoming undergraduate students.
Kristen Schilt Bio: Kristen Schilt is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Just One of the Guys?: Transgender Men and the Persistence of Gender Inequality, and her work has appeared in journals such as Gender & Society and the Annual Review of Sociology. She currently serves as the director for the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.
Patrick Jagoda Bio: Patrick Jagoda is Associate Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Chicago. He is also a co-editor of Critical Inquiry and co-founder of both the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab and the Transmedia Story Lab. Patrick specializes in new media studies, twentieth and twenty-first century American literature, digital game theory and design, and science studies. Most recently, he is the author of Network Aesthetics (University of Chicago Press, 2016) and co-author with Michael Maizels of The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer(MIT Press, 2016). He is currently working on his next book, Experimental Games. Patrick has also worked on several projects in the fields of game design, digital storytelling, and new media learning. For more on this projects and writing, please visit: http://patrickjagoda.com/
Friday May 4, 2018
Nicholas Diakopoulos, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University and Director of the Computational Journalism Lab
Algorithmic Accountability Reporting
Abstract: Algorithms are coming to adjudicate decisions in nearly all facets of public and private sector life. But despite the potential for efficiency gains, algorithms fed by big data can also amplify structural discrimination, produce errors that deny services to individuals, and violate social or legal norms. The close monitoring of such systems is of increasing importance. Algorithmic accountability reporting is a new form of journalism that is emerging to apply the core journalistic functions of watchdogging and investigative reporting to algorithms. In this talk I will discuss how algorithmic accountability reporting is used by journalists as a method for articulating the power structures, biases, and influences that computational artifacts play in society, as well as describe a range of complicating sociotechnical factors that make this form of journalism challenging.
Bio: Nicholas Diakopoulos is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Northwestern University where he is Director of the Computational Journalism Lab (CJL). He is a Tow Fellow at Columbia University School of Journalism as well as Associate Professor II at the University of Bergen Department of Information Science and Media Studies. His research is in computational journalism, including how news work is done with, by, and about algorithms, which is the topic of his forthcoming book, “Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media”. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech where he co-founded the program in Computational Journalism.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Kristen Schilt, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago
Patrick Jagoda, Associate Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
Gaming Orientation: Alternate Reality Games as Cultural Intervention
Abstract: Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are an art form that originated in early twenty-first century information culture. Most games in this category, including Microsoft’s The Beast and 42 Entertainment’s I Love Bees, function as collaborative narrative experiences that use real-world urban spaces as a platform, blurring the lines between games and reality. To accomplish this fusion, these games incorporate a wide breadth of everyday media types including text, video, audio, print, phone calls, websites, email, social media, locative technologies, and live performance. This talk offers a case of an ARG called the parasite: an ARG developed by a design team at the University of Chicago to augment the orientation for the class of approximately 1,750 incoming undergraduate students.
Kristen Schilt Bio: Kristen Schilt is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Just One of the Guys?: Transgender Men and the Persistence of Gender Inequality, and her work has appeared in journals such as Gender & Society and the Annual Review of Sociology. She currently serves as the director for the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.
Patrick Jagoda Bio: Patrick Jagoda is Associate Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Chicago. He is also a co-editor of Critical Inquiry and co-founder of both the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab and the Transmedia Story Lab. Patrick specializes in new media studies, twentieth and twenty-first century American literature, digital game theory and design, and science studies. Most recently, he is the author of Network Aesthetics (University of Chicago Press, 2016) and co-author with Michael Maizels of The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer(MIT Press, 2016). He is currently working on his next book, Experimental Games. Patrick has also worked on several projects in the fields of game design, digital storytelling, and new media learning. For more on this projects and writing, please visit: http://patrickjagoda.com/.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Nick Diakopoulos, Assistant Professor of Communication, Northwestern University & Associate Professor II, University of Bergen
Algorithmic Accountability Reporting
Abstract: Algorithms are coming to adjudicate decisions in nearly all facets of public and private sector life. But despite the potential for efficiency gains, algorithms fed by big data can also amplify structural discrimination, produce errors that deny services to individuals, and violate social or legal norms. The close monitoring of such systems is of increasing importance. Algorithmic accountability reporting is a new form of journalism that is emerging to apply the core journalistic functions of watchdogging and investigative reporting to algorithms. In this talk I will discuss how algorithmic accountability reporting is used by journalists as a method for articulating the power structures, biases, and influences that computational artifacts play in society, as well as describe a range of complicating sociotechnical factors that make this form of journalism challenging.
Bio: Nicholas Diakopoulos is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Northwestern University where he is Director of the Computational Journalism Lab (CJL). He is a Tow Fellow at Columbia University School of Journalism as well as Associate Professor II at the University of Bergen Department of Information Science and Media Studies. His research is in computational journalism, including how news work is done with, by, and about algorithms, which is the topic of his forthcoming book, “Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media”. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech where he co-founded the program in Computational Journalism.
Friday, May 11, 2018
Blase Ur, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and the College
Friday, May 18, 2018
Debaleena Chattopadhyay, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago
Thinking about affordances to design intuitive, interactive Systems
Abstract: With the ongoing boom in sensing, everyday computing is increasingly experienced across a wide range of devices and form factors. These computing opportunities bring along their respective affordances in various contextually relevant ways. So how do we design meaningful, intuitive user experiences with these systems? In this talk, I will focus on collocated interactions, discuss some projects on touchless input and social devices. First, I will define motor-intuitiveness, describe novel interaction techniques, and share findings from quantitative user studies. Then, I will describe how small and medium-sized groups can use multiple co-proximate devices for ad-hoc collaboration and discuss in-the-wild, qualitative user studies. These two projects will identify how affordances, user abilities, and contextual relevance can inform interaction design and articulate a theory-laden approach to designing interactive systems.
Bio: Debaleena Chattopadhyay is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At UIC, she directs the UIC Human-Computer Interaction laboratory. Her research in human-centered computing focuses on designing novel interactive systems—drawing on social and technological affordances. By adopting a human-centered approach toward designing novel interaction experiences, her work helps uncover fundamental interaction design principles and socio-technical implications—and contributes in designing intuitive, interactive systems. Prior to joining UIC, she received a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from the Indiana University and MS in computer science from the Stony Brook University.
Friday, May 25, 2018
School of Computing Research Symposium (SOCRS), CDM 924
Friday, June 1, 2018
Sandra Gesing, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Computational Scientist, Center for Research Computing, University of Notre Dame