Will our children need to know how to interface with robots? — from quib.ly by Daniel Christian
Also see:
From DSC:
Last spring, I saw the following graphic from Sparks & Honey’s presentation entitled, “8 Exponential Trends That Will Shape Humanity“:
If today’s changes are truly exponential — and I agree with Sparks & Honey that they are, especially as they relate to technological changes — how soon will it be before each of us is interacting with a robot?
This is not an idle idea or question, nor is it a joke. It will be here sooner than most of us think! The science fiction of the past is here (at least in part). Some recent items I’ve run across come to my mind, such as:
Hitachi’s EMIEW Robot Learns to Navigate Around the Office — from spectrum.ieee.org by Jason Falconer
Photo: Hitachi
Excerpt:
Now EMIEW 2 still relies on maps of its surroundings, but its navigation software has a new feature: It uses designated zones that make the robot change its speed and direction.
Ava 500 enables this new dimension in telepresence with:
Also see:
Excerpt:
‘Intelligent machines’ are increasingly interconnecting. The Internet of Things is imminent, with sensor networks and mobile devices connecting everyone and everything everywhere in the near future., Singularity’ – the moment of when machines become as capable as humans – is quickly becoming a buzzword that rivals Social Media. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is certain to play a role everywhere, and robots are dropping in price dramatically while gaining quickly in functionality and skills. Exponential technological progress is evident everywhere – but how will we – as linear beings – cope with this increasing empowerment of software and machines, the tremendous gain in the flow of real-time information, and the far-reaching implications that these developments will have? How will we keep up with thousands of real-time datafeeds, the ever-increasing volume, variety and depth of input, the tsunami of incoming communications and the rapidly improving smartness – and increasingly deep intelligence – of software, devices and machines? Will humans need to be ‘augmented’, soon, in order to keep up, and if so, where will this take us? What will happen to our ethics in a world of ultra-smart intelligent agents, artificial intelligence and the coming ‘trans-humanism’?
CONTENTS
Some excerpts from this report:
Good content should be matched by good content discovery , including recommendations. The current state-of -the-art is defined by Netflix.
…
Today’s TV experience is worlds apart from the one we were talking about even five years ago. We’ve witnessed exponential growth in services such as HD and have moved from a model in which one screen is watched by many, to many screens (and devices) being available to the individual viewer, what is today called TV Everywhere. Having multiscreen access to content is driving the demand for a more personalised experience, in which the viewer can expect to see what they want, where, and when. While video on-demand (VOD) has been a great method for delivering compelling content to viewers, it is not always a truly seamless TV-like experience, and traditionally has been limited to the living room. The growing demand for the personalised experience is driving seismic change within the TV industry, and we’ve seen great strides made already, with time-shifted TV and nPVR as just two examples of how we in the industry can deliver content in the ways viewers want to watch. The next step is to move towards more advanced content discovery, effectively creating a personalised channel or playlist for the individual user.
…
As the tools become available to deliver personalized experiences to consumers, content owners can better create experiences that leverage their content. For example, for sports with multiple points of action, like motor racing, multiple camera angles and audio feeds will allow fans to follow the action that is relevant to their favourite racing team. And for movies, access to additional elements such as director’s commentaries, which have been available on Blu-ray discs for some time, can be made available over broadcast networks.
From DSC:
Some words and phrases that come to my mind:
![The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV](http://danielschristian.com/learning-ecosystems/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-Living-Class-Room-Daniel-S-Christian-July-2012.jpg)
TVs are becoming the next app battleground — from by Emily Adler
Excerpt:
The app store phenomenon, centered on smartphones and tablets, has been the biggest story in software for the past five years.
Its next logical destination: the living room, via smart TVs and set-top boxes connected to the Internet.
…
From DSC:
Addendum/also see:
Description:
Smart machines do what we thought only people could do. They include conversational assistants like GoogleNow that know how you work, understand written content and make recommendations based on what you’re doing; advisors like IBM’s Watson that can help clinicians keep up with medical literature and suggest courses of action; software that writes sports stories from box scores; and cars that drive themselves.
Key Issues
1. What are smart machines?
2. How will smart machines impact business, technology, economies and society?
3. What should you do about it?
The connected TV landscape: Why smart TVs and streaming gadgets are conquering the living room — from businessinsider.com.au by Mark Hoelzel
In the connected TV world, an app is analogous to a TV channel.
Some key points:
From DSC:
If in a connected TV world, an app is analogous to a TV channel…then I say let’s bring on the educationally-related, interactive, multimedia-based apps!
From DSC:
I see the following items in the classrooms/learning spaces/”learning hubs” of the future:
Below are some other recent items on this topic:
To Inspire Learning, Architects Reimagine Learning Spaces — from MindShift by Allison Arieff
Excerpt:
As K–12 schools refocus on team-based, interdisciplinary learning, they are moving away from standardized, teach-to-test programs that assume a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. Instead, there is a growing awareness that students learn in a variety of ways, and the differences should be supported. The students often learn better by doing it themselves, so teachers are there to facilitate, not just to instruct. Technology is there as a tool and resource, not as a visual aid or talking head.
3D printers and laser cutters?… it’s the classroom of the future — from standard.co.uk by Miranda Bryant
Rethinking our learning spaces — from rtschuetz.blogspot.com by Robert Schuetz
CC Wikimedia – Thelmadatter
Excerpt:
Heutagogy, unlike pedagogy, focuses on self-directed learning. As learning and education become more heutaogical, shouldn’t our learning spaces accommodate this shift? What are the features and characteristics that define a modern learning space? Notice, that I have not used the word classroom. Several days of researching this topic has challenged my thinking on the concept of classroom. This verbiage has been replaced with terms like; ideation lab, innovation space, maker pods, gamer zone, and learning sector. The concept of specific learning zones is not new.
From DSC:
In addition to video walls and large multitouch surfaces…we need to start thinking about how we might integrate the Internet of Things (IoT) into the classroom. For example, what might occur if technologies like Apple’s iBeacon were in the blended/hybrid classroom? Tony goes to corner A, and up pops a video re: XYZ for him to check out on the large multitouch display. Tony then moves across the room, to another corner of the room, and up pops a quiz or an assignment related to what Tony saw in the first corner of the room. Available on one of the windows on the video wall is of a remote specialist on the subject. Tony clicks on the “Connect with specialist” button and finds himself in a videoconference with this remote specialist/tutor on a portion of the video wall.
As learning hubs* grow, these technologies might be very useful.
* where some of the content is electronically
delivered and where some of the content
is discussed in a face-to-face manner
From DSC:
First some recent/relevant postings:
IFTTT’s ingenious new feature: Controlling apps with your location — from wired.com by Kyle VanHemert
An update to the IFTTT app lets you use your location in recipes. Image: IFTTT
Excerpt:
IFTTT stands athwart history. At a point where the software world is obsessed with finding ever more specialized apps for increasingly specific problems, the San Francisco-based company is gleefully doing just the opposite. It simply wants to give people a bunch of tools and let them figure it out. It all happens with simple conditional statements the company calls “recipes.” So, you can use the service to execute the following command: If I take a screenshot, then upload it to Dropbox. If this RSS feed is updated, then send me a text message. It’s great for kluging together quick, automated solutions for the little workflows that slip into the cracks between apps and services.
4 reasons why Apple’s iBeacon is about to disrupt interaction design — from wired.com by Kyle VanHemert
Excerpt:
You step inside Walmart and your shopping list is transformed into a personalized map, showing you the deals that’ll appeal to you most. You pause in front of a concert poster on the street, pull out your phone, and you’re greeted with an option to buy tickets with a single tap. You go to your local watering hole, have a round of drinks, and just leave, having paid—and tipped!—with Uber-like ease. Welcome to the world of iBeacon.
It sounds absurd, but it’s true: Here we are in 2013, and one of the most exciting things going on in consumer technology is Bluetooth. Indeed, times have changed. This isn’t the maddening, battery-leeching, why-won’t-it-stay-paired protocol of yore. Today we have Bluetooth Low Energy which solves many of the technology’s perennial problems with new protocols for ambient, continuous, low-power connectivity. It’s quickly becoming big deal.
The Internet of iThings: Apple’s iBeacon is already in almost 200 million iPhones and iPads — from forbes.com by Anthony Kosner
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Because of iBeacons’ limited range, they are well-suited for transmitting content that is relevant in the immediate proximity.
From DSC:
Along the lines of the above postings…I recently had a meeting whereby the topic of iBeacons came up. It was mentioned that museums will be using this sort of thing; i.e. approaching a piece of art will initiate an explanation of that piece on the museum’s self-guided tour application.
That idea made me wonder whether such technology could be used in a classroom…and I quickly thought, “Yes!”
For example, if a student goes to the SW corner of the room, they approach a table. That table has an iBeacon like device on it, which triggers a presentation within a mobile application on the student’s device. The students reviews the presentation and moves onto the SE corner of the room whereby they approach a different table with another/different iBeacon on it. That beacon triggers a quiz on the material they just reviewed, and then proceeds to build upon that information. Etc. Etc. Physically-based scaffolding along with some serious blended/hybrid learning. It’s like taking the concept of QR codes to the next level.
Some iBeacon vendors out there include:
Data mining, interaction design, user interface design, and user experience design may never be the same again.
IBM’s Jeopardy-winning supercomputer will power a ‘cognitive, expert personal shopper’ app next year — from businessinsider.com by Dylan Love
Excerpt:
The app calls upon Watson’s ability to understand the nuances of human language and uncover answers from Big Data. Consumers who use Fluid’s app will interact with rich media and dialogue with Watson, as their newfound “cognitive, expert personal shopper.
The Fluid app incorporates the information users share and questions they ask to help them make smart, satisfying purchases by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand.
From DSC:
I am not saying that we are looking at a future whereby computers and algorithms will replace teachers, professors, trainers, coaches, mentors, etc. However, I am saying that tools and technologies are in (and have been in) development that will be hugely beneficial in helping us stay current with our knowledge bases — and will help us remain marketable in a world that left the linear trajectory of change a while back and continues to move at an exponential rate.
Phase I:
How might this be applied to recommendation engines for topics/courses/modules/streams of content to explore if you are trying to learn about the most recent information on XYZ?
Phase II:
How might this be applied to actual assessments for assignments, essays, etc.?
Phase III:
???
“The main obstacle to an Apple television set has been content. It has mostly failed to convince cable companies to make their programming available through an Apple device. And cable companies have sought to prevent individual networks from signing distribution deals with Apple.”
— Apple, closer to its vision for a TV set, wants
ESPN, HBO, Viacom, and others to come along
qz.com by Seward, Chon, & Delaney, 8/22/13
From DSC:
I wonder if this is because of the type of content that Apple is asking for. Instead of entertainment-oriented content, what if the content were more focused on engaging, interactive, learning materials? More on educational streams of content (whether we — as individuals — create and contribute that content or whether businesses do)?
Also see:
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
The communications landscape has historically taken the form of a tumultuous ocean of opportunities. Like rolling waves on a shore, these opportunities are often strong and powerful – yet ebb and flow with time.
Get ready, because the next great wave is upon us. And, like a tropical storm, it is likely to change the landscape around us.
As detailed by analyst Chetan Sharma, this particular wave is the one created by the popularity of over-the-top (OTT) solutions – apps that allow access to entertainment, communication and collaboration over the Internet from smartphones, tablets and laptops, rather than traditional telecommunications methods. Sharma has coined this the mobile “fourth wave” – the first three being voice, messaging (SMS) and data access, respectively – and it is rapidly washing over us.
Addendum on 11/25:
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
For the first time, IBM will open up Watson as a development platform in the Cloud to spur innovation and fuel a new ecosystem of entrepreneurial software app providers who will bring forward a new generation of applications infused with Watson’s cognitive computing intelligence.
…
The Watson Ecosystem empowers development of “Powered by IBM Watson” applications. Partners are building a community of organizations who share a vision for shaping the future of their industry through the power of cognitive computing. IBM’s cognitive computing cloud platform will help drive innovation and creative solutions to some of life’s most challenging problems. The ecosystem combines business partners’ experience, offerings, domain knowledge and presence with IBM’s technology, tools, brand, and marketing.
Learning from the Living [Class] Room — from Campus Technology by Daniel Christian and Mary Grush; with a huge thanks also going out to Mr. Steven Niedzielski (@Marketing4pt0) and to Mr. Sam Beckett (@SamJohnBeck) for their assistance and some of the graphics used in making these videos.
From DSC:
These 4 short videos explain what I’m trying to relay with a vision I’m entitling, Learning from the Living [Class] Room. I’ve been pulse checking a variety of areas for years now, and the pieces of this vision continue to come into fruition. This is what I see Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) morphing into (though there may be other directions/offshoots that they go in as well).
After watching these videos, I think you will see why I think we must move to a team–based approach.
(It looks like the production folks for Campus Technology had to scale things way back in terms of video quality to insure an overall better performance for the digitally-based magazine.)
To watch these videos in a higher resolution, please use these links:
Alternatively, these videos can be found at:
.
Smart Machines: IBM’S Watson and the era of cognitive computing — from cup.columbia.edu by John E. Kelly III, Director of IBM Research, and Steve Hamm, writer at IBM and former business and technology journalist
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Computers today are brilliant idiots. They have tremendous capacities for storing information and performing numerical calculations-far superior to those of any human. Yet when it comes to another class of skills, the capacities for understanding, learning, adapting, and interacting, computers are woefully inferior to humans; there are many situations where computers can’t do a lot to help us.
…
But the goal is not to replicate human brains or replace human thinking with machine thinking. Rather, in the era of cognitive systems, humans and machines will collaborate to produce better results, each bringing its own skills to the partnership. The machines will be more rational and analytic-and, of course, possess encyclopedic memories and tremendous computational abilities. People will provide judgment, intuition, empathy, a moral compass, and human creativity.
From DSC:
Consider what Watson “read in” to come up with some recommendations:
Addendum on 10/14/13 (emphasis DSC):
Watson is being used to assist with the treatment of cancer patients. According to an article from medicalnewstoday.com, Watson is “revolutionizing cancer care and research and speeding up progress for patients.”
In that same article, it mentions that, so far, Watson has ingested:
One of IBM’s General Managers who works with Watson said:
“breakthrough capabilities bring forward the first in a series of Watson-based technologies, which exemplifies the value of applying big data and analytics and cognitive computing to tackle the industry’s most pressing challenges.”
