Should Professionals Be Using ChatGPT at Work?

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Increasingly, many of us are using ChatGPT and other GenAI tools* for work to help with a diversity of knowledge tasks. We may share with our colleagues how much doing so has improved how we work, for example, saving us time and making us more efficient, while revealing the ways they are helpful, for example, generating ideas, writing or seeking information. However, in many workplaces, it is frowned upon to use them and in some outrightly banned. The main reason given is confidentiality; the need to protect sensitive, personal or proprietary data. Many banks, tech companies and healthcare providers are concerned about the risk of data exposure, where workers might divulge confidential information (e.g. new products or plans for new investments) when using ChatGPT. Instead, they are provided with in-house AI tools, which may not be as good or easy to use.

It is a well-known secret, however, that a number of professionals, who work in organisations where public GenAI tools are banned, may use them furtively on their own devices, while working from home, and without letting their colleagues know. Recognising that the genie is out of the bottle has led to some organisations rethinking their policy on barring the use of ChatGPT. For example, earlier this year, the UK’s Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) reversed its ban. It has recently begun allowing its civil servants to use them for official business or when using government-issued devices (with the exception of DeepSeek). They realised the benefits outweighed the risks. On their website, it now says how it can help employees respond more quickly to queries, while providing their customers with “a more personalised and seamless journey and access support how and when they choose”. Not only does this public acceptance remove the stigma and guilt of using ChatGPT at work for these employees but it might end up triggering a snowball effect, leading to other departments following suit. The question this raises is where should organisations, who have sensitive data and proprietary information, draw the line for what is acceptable practice and what is not?

Consider the healthcare profession where it is important to get this right. Similar to DWP, it is now widely accepted that using ChatGPT at work can be useful and beneficial for clinicians, especially as they have lots of admin tasks, such as note-taking, generating summaries, and treatment plans, which we know ChatGPT is very good at. Most likely, most people, including patients, would not object.

But what about other aspects of general practice where clinicians would like to use it, but where patients might find it unacceptable? To find out, the UK’s NHS is trialling various AI tools in a number of GP practices, where they will be used to summarise consultations with patients (online or in person) that will then be used generate clinical notes and referrals using customised templates. Findings from an initial pilot study run at GOSH, using the ambient AI voice technology called Tortus showed it saved a lot of clinician time. Patients were also very positive, noting how it enabled the cllnicians to give their full attention to them during the consultation.

Where using GenAI tools is clearly unacceptable is when making a decision about a patient’s treatment or surgery. It is considered a no-no for clinicians to ask it to suggest the best course of treatment for one of their cancer patients. What would a patient think, if a clinician said to them, “I just checked with ChatGPT and it recommended we use a new form of cryotherapy that freezes the cancerous tissue within your prostate to destroy the cells rather than opting for the more commonly used High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) that heats and destroys cancer cells within a targeted area of the prostate.” Most would balk at the idea that a machine was deciding their fate. Patients in this situation are highly anxious and want reassurance that the decision that is being made about their treatment is being made by human expert doctors. Even though the AI could be trained to make better and more informed decisions like these, patients will most likely persist with wanting human reassurance and human decision-making. 

What other aspects of clinical decision-making might patients be more willing to accept for the AI to do if it helps the clinician in their work? What about the research clinicians need to do to keep up to date and discover the latest procedures? Rather than looking up information in online medical journals (e.g. PubMed), themselves, why not ask ChatGPT? It could speed up the research process for them in the way many of us now regularly use ChatGPT to get started on a project. It might also suggest alternative types of surgery or care plans that the clinician might not have thought about or discovered by themselves. Would this use of ChatGPT as a research assistant be acceptable by the medical practice, if it was increasingly found that clinicians were already doing this but without letting on?

Besides the various ethical reasons that have been espoused for not using AI at work, human nature, itself, can play a role in determining what is acceptable and what is not. Our propensity to judge each other all the time about what we do, what we eat, what we like, our appearance and so on is also shaping our perceptions of whether it is OK to use GenAI. Some people will shake their head in disapproval when discovering one of their colleagues has been using ChatGPT at work for tasks that were previously ‘done by hand’, for example, using it to write a farewell note for someone’s leaving card, composing a welcoming speech for new employees, or summarising feedback following an appraisal. It seems disrespectful for those on the receiving end, to the extent, some of us might feel shame if we were found out to have done this.

Another growing complaint is the output from AI tools is bland, homogenous, and lacking personality. A new term that has caught the public’s imagination is sycophancy, which refers to how AI appears to always want to please the user, agreeing with them, giving them positive feedback while avoiding providing criticism. To be human is often far from being sycophantic – we like to be different, funny, critical and at times we can’t help being sarcastic – qualities that AI has yet to demonstrate in any human-like way.

So, where do we draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not when using GenAI for work? As new versions of AI tools materialise that are smarter with more safeguards in place, it will probably end up being a case of moving the goalposts. Furthermore, as people start using them for a wider range of work tasks, it may have the knock-on effect of changing their opinions and perceptions; they may become less concerned about professionals (e.g. teachers, doctors, lawyers, financial advisors, pilots, and politicians) using them in their work.

Current research is also discovering there is a shift in professional’s perception of using AI to help them with their work.  For example, radiologists have begun to value more AI assistance for certain tasks such as gathering relevant data to inform their decisions. Pilots, likewise, are also more willing to have AI at hand to assist them for certain tasks; for example, presenting seminal information clearly and highlighting constraints at nearby airports. They draw the line, however, for when the AI suggests a course of action they should take. That is their prerogative.

In sum, so long as the role of GenAI is to assist, i.e., to inform us, enable us to complete our tasks more effectively, suggest alternatives we might not have come up with ourselves or extend what we can do, then it will continue to be increasingly adopted in all manner of workplaces. It is only if it starts to be used to take over complex and sensitive human tasks that it will be concerning and troubling, Many people will very likely want humans to continue to do them. 

* I use ChatGPT here as an umbrella term for all GenAI tools. The image was generated using ChatGPT-5

Sleeping Patterns

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One of the research projects I am currently working on is exploring how a wearable technology – the Oura ring – can help older people learn more about their sleep. We are conducting a study to see how older adults (over 65 years) take to wearing them. Will they find the data collected insightful or too much information? What will they pay attention to most (there are many data parameters that can be looked at)? Will they change their sleeping habits in an effort to improve their health?

Many of us go to bed in the hope we will nod off and wake up 8 hours later refreshed and ready to face a new day. However, as we get older we sleep less and more fitfully. I tend to sleep about 6-7 hours a night whereas when I was young it was more like 8-9 hours. I also wake up more through the night and sometimes have to make a conscious effort not to think about things that are worrying. A motivation for our study is to explore how older people manage their sleep and whether this kind of intervention is seen as being helpful.

To gain initial insight into how wearing the ring may increase our awareness and even improve our sleeping habits, myself and my fellow researchers on the team have been wearing one each now for a month. We have kept a diary. My entries were daily for the first two weeks, full of observations and then slacked off. Here are a few from the beginning.

Day 1 Monday 20th Jan 2025
Arrived in the afternoon in a white box that was aesthetic to look at and very easy to open. It felt like an Apple product. It was easy to try on and to download the app and get it set up via Bluetooth. The instructions for wearing it were nice and simple. Much thought had gone into the opening and onboarding experience. I looked at the visualisations on the app for resting heart (it was quite high as I was excited to try it on). I then saw it had gone down to a reasonable score in the evening.

Day 2 Tuesday 21st Jan 2025
I felt that I did not sleep well last night, waking up a few times but the visualisation from the Oura app said I had had a good night’s sleep. It showed periods of shallow, deep and REM sleep. It also said I fell asleep in 7 minutes which seems about right. I fall asleep quite quickly most days. I slept for 6.33 hours. And have a sleep efficiency of 82%. My sleep score (whatever that means is 83 Good). My readiness score was also rated as good, too, whatever that means. Numbers, eh.

 

Days 5 and 6 Friday 25th/Saturday 26th January
I went to bed at midnight and did not sleep well. The app data reflected this saying I had had only 5 hours sleep and not a good night. So the next night I went to bed early and got 7 hours sleep. I got a sleep score of 89 which equates to being optimal. And a sleep efficiency of 89%. Back on track. Just goes to show how resilient we are bouncing back if we rest up after a late night.

Then two days later:

Monday 27th January
I had a great night’s sleep last night. I got the highest score of 92 with an optimal rating and a crown icon. Total sleep was 7 hours and 23 minutes, good everything else. Text all in blue with no reds. The ‘in focus’ message that accompanied my high scores was surprisingly effective at making me smile. I must be a sucker to gamification. “Your 7 hours 23 minute of sleep last night will help you think sharp and stay focussed. Have a great day!”

It seems this yo-yo sleep pattern (poor night, poor readings, good night, recover, good readings) is part of my lifestyle. The data from the ring has certainly woken me up to this but will I change my lifestyle? Go to bed at 10.00p.m each night after a cup of camomile? I doubt it, not just yet. Maybe when I get older. If the body is so resilient why try to optimise it every night? Or is it even possible?

The new Bridget Jones film “Mad About a Boy” has just come out. The first film, “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001) was about a 32 year old single woman who kept a diary to improve herself. I wonder if it helped her to do so and what she does now she is 20+ years older.

AI Re-Imagined

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Android has just announced its latest new tech innovation combining AI and Extended Reality. The idea behind this latest mashup is to enable us to don a pair of fashionable looking glasses that when powered up can understand what we want to do (our intentions) and the world around us so that we might be able ‘get things done in entirely new ways’. That fired up my imagination. What might those be? To suggest the best way to run errands so that we can get them done without hassle? To  propose a new way to walk through a familiar woodland to see a flower in blossom we might never have noticed? To recommend a new coffee shop nearby where there is a lovely space to sit? 

The article continues by suggesting reimagining how to use the new AI to do existing digital tasks. The example given is one we have been able to do for many years – that is exploring the world by using Google Maps but in new immersive ways, soaring above cities and landmarks. I remember being wowed the first time I explored my street and other places using a desktop VR app and then with a VR headset whizzing over London at breakneck speed. How might this be reimagined?  I guess we could experience being even more immersed so that we can fly as if we were like an eagle flying high over mountains. The question this raises is how far can the technology go to making the real and the virtual experience indistinguishable? The mind boggles. 

One of the stumbling blocks with trying to make extended reality ever more lifelike is how best to interact with it and the world. Gesturing, pinching and pointing at thin air have been used with varying degrees of success. It seems these might get easier for us to learn and more natural to use when we want to bring up some relevant information that will overlay where we are. For example, it could show various details about a pair of running shoes we are looking at in response to a slight curl of a finger. However, it still needs to read our fingers, from what is a twitch to what is a gesture.  Perhaps in the future it will be able to read our mind so well we wont need to use our digits anymore. 

This kind of all-seeing AI could learn to know what, when and where to mention things we are interested in but never knew we needed or wanted to know, as we go about our everyday lives. It could even remind us at opportune times of what we need to do – an ever ready assistant. What if we could do different things with the tech rather than simply getting everyday things done more effectively or efficiently?

Being the beginning of a new year, many tech writers are envisioning how AI will reshape society for better or for worse. The new buzz term is ‘Agentic AI’ – where the AI shifts from thinking to doing and, in so doing, enables our tasks and work to be done more efficiently, effectively and faster. John Naughton, who writes for the Guardian, for example, says that 2025 will be the year of AI agents that will leverage LLMs to work out what our human intentions are and then break these down into steps that they can help us perform at home or work. So, instead of asking Alexa or ChatGPT to answer our queries, a new fangled agent AI will be proactive, learning, adapting and predicting what we need. 

These re-imaginings of our everyday and working lives are all well and good and will no doubt go a long way to transform society. But what if we were to dream about how we might use the latest AI and wearable tech to do new and different things? For example, imagine if we started creating new kinds of supertools that could help us with complex and protracted decision-making while dealing with uncertainty. The AI would work with us, not for us, empowering and supercharging how we think. It could also be designed to help us feel more confident about which avenues to pursue in life. Imagine, too, if it could help us make better decisions when under stress, for example, providing a chatbot-type ‘mirror’ that could be looked at periodically to reflect on how our moods are impacting our choices. We might become more self aware leading us to overcome our blind sightedness and our biases. The potential benefits for society are huge if we could only tap into this potential.

My 2025 vision is for new combinations of AI and ER tech to emerge that can engage with humans and each other in more diverse ways, pointing out new directions, and synthesizing different perspectives, leading to new insights and breakthroughs. Just imagine if we could develop AI that has some imagination itself, helping us to imagine what John Lennon imagined over 50 years ago:

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Livin’ life in peace

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Happy New Year!

Mettle Madness

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There is an awful lot of self-help apps, TV shows, podcasts and books vying for our eyeballs that are about mindfulness, wellbeing and health. It seems it is all the rage; telling us how to eat better, how to breathe, how to keep young, how to have a good night’s sleep, how to exercise each day and even how to have clear thoughts. You can’t get away from the pervasive bombardment of advice. Only today, an ad caught my eye on the train to work with the heading, “Train your mind to be better” next to a picture of a serious looking Bear Grylls looking out into the distance. Clever play on the word ‘train’ I thought so I checked it out.

The site that was being advertised was for a company called Mettle (Bear is a co-founder) which purports “to help every man be the best version of himself.” Followed by an even more audacious claim “We believe if men are better, the world is better”. My goodness. If only that was true.

The training offered on the website has “personalised content and is naturally AI supported” with even more bold claims, including, “Fundamentally, we all just want to be happy. Mettle will give you tools to lead a more fulfilled life; from overcoming anxiety to having better sex and building stronger relationships.” Who wouldn’t sign up?

Testosterone is oozing everywhere. Physical fitness has morphed into mental fitness. Alongside Bear, are a group of fanned out men (not a woman in sight) who help with the training. They describe themselves as ‘coaches’. One even calls himself a ‘mindhack’ coach. Would I want my mind to be hacked by one of those guys? No way. But then I am not a man.

Meanwhile, plans have just been announced to transform the NHS in the UK, in the next 10 years, to become more digital, and to employ wearable tech to help people become more aware of their vitals. One plan is to give out rings, such as the Oura, that will enable people to track aspects of their health, such as steps, sleep, heart rate, activity levels, training frequency – and even measure aspects of women’s health by helping them listen to their bodies like never before! The ring apparently can accurately predict the phases of the menstrual cycle and hormone levels. Whatever next?

So it seems, men’s health is about mind hacking now while women’s health is about menstrual measuring? The mind boggles…

I think I will stick to my repertoire of hobbies I enjoy for their joy; swimming, walking, crosswords, resting, drinking fine wine, reading, laughing, and so on.

Choice Words

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The 2024 Olympic Games have taken Paris by storm. They are mesmerizing. Such a diversity of human athletics performing all manner of extraordinary feats, whether it be swimming like sharks, diving like dolphins, running like cheetahs, or jumping like kangaroos. I watched the triathlon which is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming in the murky Seine, and then cycling through and running up and down the muggy streets of Paris. The stamina and grit of those who take part is superhuman. There isn’t an animal that matches their prowess.

Which is why when something mind-boggling happens it is truly remarkable. For a long time, during this year’s race, the favoured Brit in the men’s competition, Alex Yee, was way behind his rival, the New Zealander, Hayden Wilde. But then out of nowhere, he stepped up a gear and proceeded to race passed Hayden, with just 400 metres to go. He kept going reminding me of Forrest Gump, his momentum keeping him ahead. He then won the gold medal by a considerable distance. His rival could do nothing at that point but look on; having expended all his energy before, thinking he had it in the bag. How was this possible? How is someone able to turbo charge, like a sports car, after 2 hours of gruelling racing?

It appears on the last lap that he heard his coach poignantly say: “Anything can happen, mate.” These choice words jolted Yee into action. Usually the crowd will rally together in the hope of motivating runners with cries of “Not far now,” “You can do it”, “come on, keep going” and the like. Coaches might use arm gestures or hand signals. But this philosophical turn of phrase, which appeared seemingly out of the blue, resonated in Yee’s brain and body in a way that stock phrases might not have. It did not nudge him but empowered him to believe he could go the extra mile.

What is it about the power of language that it can motivate us to change our behaviour and even do something out of the ordinary? Peter Johnston in his book on education, called Choice Words, provides examples of words and phrases that are key to the effective orchestration of the classroom. He points out how what teachers say can have a big impact on how children learn, think and behave later on in life. Importantly, a teacher that can get a child to figure things out for themselves is the best strategy. This involves encouraging discussion by asking open-ended questions rather than simply telling children what they can and cannot do. As Jean Piaget famously once wrote, “When you teach a child something you take away forever his chance of discovering it for himself.”

Yee’s coach was masterful when he spoke those four words – they were not intended to encourage him to keep going – as he was clearly way behind his rival – but to make him stop for a second, think the unimaginable, and in so doing, turn things around. They were chosen not in anger but in brilliance.


Peter Johnston (2024) Choice Words. 2nd edition. Routledge.

Online Scams

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Harry Brignull has recently published an excellent and accessible book called Deceptive Patterns. In it, he describes the diversity of techniques that web developers have used to nudge and manipulate users into giving information or paying for goods or services they had not wanted in the first place. An insidious example that some airlines use is ‘trick wording’, making it hard for a user to opt out of things, such as default travel insurance. Often, the way the website is set up is for travel insurance to be automatically included, meaning that the user has to actually find the option to deselect it. In most cases, it can be done by unticking a box. However, one airline designed it to be really difficult to find the ‘don’t insure me’ option; they placed it in a drop-down menu of a long list of countries, hidden between Denmark and Finland. That really does take the biscuit. Most people will not expect or even notice this option, and so end up buying the insurance, being totally unaware that they had the option not to.  That is plain right deceptive. The internet is awash with these kinds of nasty tricks. New ones keep popping up despite new regulatory laws and policies coming into place. Mainly through greed and desperation to hit their targets, e-commerce sites and online advertising continue to persist in using deceptive features – even with it now becoming increasingly illegal.

Criminal scammers have also used all manner of psychological mechanisms to trick people into unwittingly giving their bank details. These include the rather harmless sounding terms of “phishing” and “catfishing” – which are anything but benign. The latter refers to when someone sets up a fake online profile to trick people who are looking for love, in order to get money out of them. Another well known tactic is using lures to tempt someone to click on a link that offers free prize money or a free gift, but if clicked on, will infect their computer, with ransomware or other malware.

It is not surprising, therefore, to see each year banks reporting huge increases in online scams. It seems scammers are getting cleverer with their methods, catching people out by playing on human weaknesses. The question on many people’s lips, is whether the situation will get even worse now that genAI is ready to hand? Will the scammers exploit it to ever more nefarious ends?

BBC News conducted an investigation to see just how easy it would be to use ChatGPT to come up with email and messaging scams. Using the paid-up version of OpenAI, they were able to create an AI bot that could help with the wording of scams – potentially making it easier for criminals to get started when setting up a scam. Having created their chatbot, they then asked it to write some text using “techniques to make people click on links or and download things sent to them”. And sure enough the chatbot did.

However, the results in my mind were rather predictable based on well-known scams, including the ‘dear mum’ text, which sends a damsel in distress type message replete with emojis. Easy to fall for but any savvy scammer would know about that one. Another one of its suggested scams was the one about a wealthy person in Nigeria who wants to deposit a large amount of their money into your bank account. As if! That one is as old as the hills and easy to cut and paste from the web without the help of AI.  More generally, the chatbot suggested writing a scam that “appeals to human kindness and reciprocity principles”. That again, does not need AI to tell you that. If anything, paradoxically, the use of genAI could make it actually easier to detect scamming by enabling companies and users to see the patterns in the phrasing used by chatGPT.

What scammers really need is not some predictable text of well-known scams, but ways of finding a person’s details such as phone number and their name. Then they can use their own human ingenuity to come up with new ways to catch unassuming people out.

So how does a scammer stay ahead of the curve and create a new scam? Not by resorting to chatGPT. But by manipulating and taking advantage of people’s weaknesses and psychological blind spots. According to Stacey Wood and Yaniv Hanich (2023), who are fraud psychology researchers, scammers are using ever more sophisticated methods to combine different types of fraud to trick people. This includes the rather unpleasant sounding ‘pig butchering’ – that is a long drawn-out process of deception. An example is where elements of romance scams are combined with an investment con over a long period of time. The idea is to “fatten up” a victim first with affection before going for the kill and “slaughtering” them.

It usually starts with the scammer sending a text to a new person who has joined a dating site. Then over a few weeks, they will send a series of messages building up trust and affection with that person. A prime target might be a recently widowed person looking for friendship. The scammer will then progress the email messaging to a romantic relationship all the while learning ever more about that person’s personal history, financial situation and vulnerabilities. The person then starts to look forward to the messages from the scammer and begin to depend on them for their emotional connection. At which point the slaughter starts, where the scammer introduces the idea to them of making an investment in cryptocurrency. To make it seem convincing they will use fake crypto platforms to demonstrate returns. The person often invests being able to “see” strong returns online – which are of course fictitious. They keep investing, thinking they are making more and more money. What is actually happening is their money is going directly to the scammer. Really nasty deception and psychologically damaging once the person realises they have been stung.

That would seem a step too far for using chatGPT to get involved in this kind of drawn out deceit – especially if it involves setting up fake sites and platforms while pretending to develop a romantic relationship. It really needs a human touch to be convincing.

What we need are AI tools that can be developed to detect any new kinds of scams, and to then try to prevent them or to find ways of locking the scammers out. At the very least, genAI could be used to help raise awareness about the new scams and the underlying psychological mechanisms they are being tapped into.

Super Shoes

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Kelvin Kiptum Nike shoes Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

This autumn, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa broke the woman’s world marathon record. She took just 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds – which is 2 minutes and 11 seconds less than the record set previously 4 years ago. That is a whopping amount of time she was able to shave off. Not surprisingly, it raised eyebrows. How was it possible to run so fast? Some commentators put it down to the trainers she was wearing that gave her the advantage – the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1. Not long after, the Kenyan long-distance runner Kelvin Kiptum broke the man’s world record time, wearing the latest Nike Alphafly 3 trainers (see left). So, what is it about these new kinds of super shoe that literally make an athlete run like the wind?

A big step change is the way they are made up and the materials used for this. This has enabled a new thick but lightweight structure to be built in the sole of the shoe. The way the layers of material are engineered seems to give the runners that extra spring. They also have added a stiff rod in the midsole that is made of carbon, which helps the shoe keep its shape. The Alphaflys also have a curved geometry in the sole that has been designed to propel runners forward. Taken together, they are truly a step up from previous running shoes. A marathon runner who was interviewed in an article in the Guardian on the super shoes said “on average I reckon that they are worth four minutes for a top male in a marathon.” And the proof is in the tumbling records this year.

But is it fair?

Technology has been developed for years to improve all manner of artefacts, clothing and equipment that are used in sport – including tennis racquets, cricket bats, racing cars and racing bikes. It is par of the course in sport innovation. But some ruling bodies see it as unfair and needs to be stopped in its tracks. For example, back in 2009 a new kind of high-tech super swimsuit developed by Speedo was banned by the swimming’s governing body on the grounds that it gave certain swimmers an advantage, and in so doing, was ruining the sport. The full body swimsuit was made from polyurethane which can trap air in the suit and increase buoyancy to the swimmer making it faster to swim.

The LZR Racer Suit unveiling at a press conference in New York City in February 2008. From wikipedia

Another concern is its impact on the past. Many world records from years gone by are being broken, especially those that were made by great sportsmen and women, who have since become legends. They did not have the same kind of high-tech super shoes, etc., then, so it is considered unfair to take away their crowning glories by those who have the super shoes, swimsuits, etc..

But records are there to be broken. And speed and innovation go hand in hand.

Another line of argument is that giving sportspeople these new kind of superpowers is equivalent to doping which entail taking certain kinds of drugs to improve fitness. But the big difference between doping and super tech is that the former is an internal enhancer while the later is an external aid. While both can improve speed, doping goes one step further by invisibly enhancing an athlete’s stamina which is especially important in endurance and long distance sports. The various substances, like EPO, used in doping increase the taker’s red blood cell count, enabling more oxygen to be transported around the body and to the muscles, thereby increasing stamina. No-one questions whether this should be banned because not only can they give certain athletes an unfair advantage, they can be dangerous, causing health issues. It is also difficult to see how much someone has taken and for how long so it is a very unfair playing ground.

Super shoes, on the other hand can be checked to see if they fit certain regulations. The same could potentially be true for full body swimsuits (they still remain banned from the ruling of 2009).

Ten years ago Google developed a concept shoe that could talk to the wearer to motivate them to get up and go. It was long before chatGPT had arrived. In the near future it might be the case that the super shoe could be embedded with a GenAI app so that it could talk to the runner like in the video – helping them keep going in the way trainers and spectators currently do from the sidelines. Now that would be truly super.

 

Changed Images

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AI is being applied to all manner of tasks that humans have always done and which over time are proving to be better than them. One of the first applications was in radiology where machine learning was used to classify medical images to determine if they were cancerous. The method has become so good now that it is faster, cheaper and more accurate than even highly trained radiographers.

Since then, it has been used to classify all kinds of images. The latest, according to The Guardian, is its appearance in the online dating world, where it is being put to the test to decide which photo of someone’s mugshot makes them look the most attractive. The question this raises is how does the AI know? It is quite different from determining if a dark patch on an X-ray image is a lesion.

Come to think of it, how do humans know which photo of themselves to select when it comes to showing themselves off in the best light?  It seems such an art form. Recently, I had about 100 photos taken of me by a professional photographer who made me pose in various ways, from leaning against a glass wall to standing in a corridor. I force-smiled my way through all the clickety clicks and cajouling, feeling mightily awkward. Of the ones the photographer showed me, none looked particularly flattering. But being highly trained in this skill, she was able to pick the four she thought I looked good in and asked me to choose one from those for the website it was intended for. I found it really hard and would have appreciated some AI to help me.

It got me thinking, what makes one image look better than another one? Is it the lighting, the way the eyes are open, the size of a smile, the way a head is tilted? And so on? I am sure the AI would be able to work it out but not know how it did it.

Meanwhile, generative AI is being developed to help people write about themselves in a more enticing and personalized way. For example, the dating site Match Group has been using it to “eliminate awkwardness” when dating online. Let the AI tell a few white lies rather than the human, who as we well know will often ‘lie’ about their age, interests, and what they are looking for in a partner to improve their chances of getting a catch.

Touching up photos to make someone look better has been around for ages – especially if they are to appear on the front cover of a magazine. Nothing new or wrong with that. But the photo doing the social media rounds today is intended to put someone in a bad light rather than in a good one. The photo in question is of a girl with pink hair looking askew at the British prime minister Rishi Sunak who has just poured a pint at a beer festival – showing he is a man of the people. The original image had been ever so slightly manipulated so as to change the facial expression of the girl from appearing disinterested (one on the right) to dismissive (one on the left) – in the blink of a few pixels being switched around. It did not need AI to do that – anyone could have done that using Photoshop but the furore it has unleashed about AI-enhanced images is quite astonishing. I thought the photo was quite funny just like the AI-generated image of the pope wearing a puffer coat, which, clearly, he has never worn. We all like a bit of harmless mischief, seeing the bizarre, the funny, and the hilarious – especially if it is of a famous person. However, the ‘beef’ in all the comments and concern of the pint pulling image is that it is politically motivated and could be the start of a bigger misinformation campaign. Some even think it is a threat to the democratic process. The thin edge of the wedge.

Distorting images for political gain is a century’s old trick. For example, the infamous photo that was used by the Tories over 40 years ago, entitled “Labour isn’t working” is a case in point. The image depicts a snaking unemployment queue linking up outside of an unemployment office. It was blown up as a full-scale poster and sent a powerful message that if the Labour party got elected the dole queue would get much worse than it was at the time. Powerful stuff. The image itself was manipulated using an old-fashioned technique. Only 20 volunteers showed up for the photoshoot and so the photographer took lots of photos of the same people and then stitched them all together. If you look hard enough you can see the same people appearing throughout the queue. From a distance, you would never have guessed. The poster was placed on billboards and buses all over the UK and this pervasive presence became etched in people’s minds no doubt nudging them to vote one way rather than the other.

It wasn’t the photo technique that was the problem but the way it was used to distort the message and be the subject of misinformation.

This kind of trick of making something appear much larger than it actually is, can be done now in a matter of minutes using a contemporary generative AI tool. In my mind the focus of concern should not be about the wizardry of what can be achieved with AI tools now but with the advertisers and the politicians who connive to using them to deceive and distort the masses.

Beyond Human

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An interview with Geoff Hinton in the New York Times this week made me stop and think about where AI is heading next. The last few months have been a bit of a roller coaster since the public was given access to the various generative text and image tools, such as chatGPT, Bard, Dalle-2 and Midjourney which has resulted in millions of people trying them out. Quite remarkably, it has unleashed unprecedented levels of joy, amazement and incredulity from all walks of life at what they can do when prompted by us, humans. It has also been matched by many people worrying about how the AI tools will replace millions of jobs while turning our children into cheats, by using them to do their homework. Not since Google search and Facebook came to the fore has there been so much excited talk across the globe about what a new tech can do for society.

I have always been a glass half full person and start by looking at the benefits and opportunities of a new technology. Instead of seeing them ending up making children lazy, I see them helping them learn how to write and code. I see them empowering many others in their work – for example, enabling clinicians to see more patients by summarising and automatically composing reports from their consultations with their patients. Across the board, it is taking the drudgery out of many of our mundane knowledge-based tasks. It can also spark our imaginations to do more and differently. Writing new kinds of plays, books, scripts and so on.

But then something Geoff said in the middle of his interview made me see the future of AI from the dark side, for a change. The first worry that got me thinking was when he talked about there being ever more powerful tools that can be used by evil, malevolent and greedy people for their own ends. The so-called bad actors of the world (although personally I don’t like that term as it used to refer to people who are not very good at acting on stage but now been generalised to mean malicious rather than incompetent people). Scam porn, fake news, fake videos, fake voices, fake claims, etc. could become mainstream, being used in all sorts of unpleasant ways to extort us. Moreover, it is already starting to get messy; being more difficult to know what is real and what is fabricated. While we have all gotten used to getting email scams and more recently deepfakes we may find it more annoying, confusing and scary when they become commonplace – where videos, images and stories are made about us which are untrue but which become increasingly difficult to disprove. Our sense of reality will be turned upside down and inside out if we are not careful.

The second and perhaps more worrying concern is not knowing what the new AI tools might be used for or do, God forbid, on their own volition as they become ever more ‘intelligent’.  What happens when say, chatbots, start to learn from each other? Geoff poignantly pointed out:

“…  it’s as if you had 10,000 people and whenever one person learnt something, everybody automatically knew it. And that’s how these chatbots can know so much more than any one person.”

Yikes! It could unleash a new generation of killer robots that could easily get in the wrong human hands causing unprecedented destruction. And other unthinkable things.

I reminded myself that this has always been the case with manmade (sic) weapons  – whether it is chemical warfare, machine guns, nuclear arms, and so on. We still see terrible acts and atrocities being committed all the time. But will the new generative AI escalate man’s propensity to destroy life with the latest technological means available and make it easier and more shocking to do so?

The sensible course of action is for societies across the globe to put stops and deterrents in place. The politicians and the officials are indeed starting to discuss what to do. But is it possible or realistic for governments to make sure safeguards, regulations and policies can be developed and implemented in order to prevent or reduce AI from being used for bad? Will the exponential advances in AI mean that the goalposts keep moving making it is difficult to keep up?

Returning to my more comfortable glass half full lens, I think about how the unprecedented speed and uptake of the latest AI technological advances could enable us to make more rapid and more profound scientific and medical discoveries, such as finding cures and ways of preventing awful illnesses, such as dementia, Parkinson’s and cancer.  Could we also use them to help society detect and even prevent all manner of crimes before they happen, including terrorism, people trafficking and money laundering? And wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was possible for AI to solve the problems it creates?

The bottom line is one of balance. Is it possible that the new AI kids on the block can be put to more good use than to bad use – now the genie is out of the bottle?

 

The two inserted images were created by DALL·E

Oh Bard!

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Sometimes bad timing and misfortune can end up having a massive negative impact on an organisation, as happened recently to Google who were in the process of launching their new AI tool, Bard. Hours before going live Reuters pointed out how it was not up to scratch as it saw an error in the promotional ad. It went viral and the effect was to wipe billions of dollars off Google’s shares. How did it happen?

A tiny factual error in one of Bard’s maiden answers to what was a seemingly banal question was the trigger for this catastrophic nose-dive. The question in question that Bard was asked was what new discoveries had been made from one of NASA’s mighty big space telescopes (the JWST) that could be told to a nine-year old. Bard replied that it took a picture of an exoplanet – which is a planet outside of the earth’s solar system. However, the human who tweeted pointed out that in fact it was another telescope that did this – one in Europe called a very large telescope (the VLT). It was meant to be an answer suitable for a young inquisitive child and most kids of that age would have not minded or would have blurted out it had made the mistake.

However, a bit of investigative work by a reporter at the Financial Times noted how Bard was technically correct since it was the JWST’s very first sighting of an exoplanet, but in the wider context of world knowledge, it was another telescope that had spotted it earlier. So a pedantic matter. Just goes to show how fickle the world is when it comes to its trust and faith in tech. Or maybe it was fuel thrown at the new AI race between Google and Microsoft.

Meanwhile OpenAI’s chatGPT (with Microsoft investment) continues to soar in terms of its credibility, popularity and capability. I have used it several times now and am amused and astounded by what it can accomplish in real time. Sure, it can get things wrong (for example, it did not know the Queen had died or when the King’s Coronation is because it is only trained on data before 2021) and its prose can be a bit bland and clunky but it has transformed how many pedestrian writing tasks can be achieved. Just like the spreadsheet changed how we do financial forecasting and the calculator offloaded the need for humans to do mental arithmetic in their heads anymore so, too, will this new generation of LLMs transform how we write.

In fact, millions of people, like me, have tried using ChatGPT in the last couple of months and are mightily impressed by how it can get them started writing an essay or report – overcoming that blank page syndrome. When I asked it to write some feedback that I could give for a graduate student report I was impressed by its fluid style and use of praise – almost as good and personalized as I could!

At the same time there are those who are worried that it will dumb us down or turn us into cheats, for example, students will increasingly use it to write their essays, reports and other assignments on their behalf. But why not? They can then be asked to read and spend time reflecting to how good ChatGPT’s answer is and how they can improve upon it. Instead of simply regurgitating what they find on Wikipedia or other online resources they could be asked to develop and hone their critical and analytical skills. And learn what makes for a good or poor argument, developing some metacognition skills in the process. Meanwhile, professors and teachers could use the next generation of ‘turnitin’ AI plagiarism tools that are starting to appear to detect how much they have changed the chatGPT answers. We can also begin to rethink our assignments and ways of providing feedback to students. In so doing, we can all learn to write better – be it generating and creating or assessing and providing feedback. Framing the new generation of AI in this way will enable all sorts of new possibilities for students (and teachers) to learn and teach with. As was said in the Google launch blurb Bard “can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity.”

Funny how scientists love coming up with acronyms so much. Anyone want to guess what NASA, JWST, VLT, LLM and GPT stand for? Perhaps we could just ask Bard.

Numbing numbers

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A part of my work involves advising various companies and government bodies about their future technology research strategies. This week, I had the pleasure of visiting the EPSRC headquarters in Swindon for a two-day meeting. Besides being super excited about meeting up with other members of the scientific advisory team for the first time in 3D (many of whom I had only met as digital postage stamps during the past 3 years), we were also invited to tour various facilities at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in nearby Didcot. I was assigned to a small group that went to see the Diamond Light Source. Sounds like a big laser show but it is in fact a massive science centre. On entering the building we were shown a model of the building to see what is inside. From an aerial view, it reminded me of Apple’s latest donut campus – in terms of its shape, scale and size.

This huge set up enables a laser beam to whiz around a circuit at some unbelievable speed that has the effect of giving off light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. The mind boggles at what that actually means in practice. Of course you never get to actually see the beam racing around the donut but I was mightily impressive to know it was hurtling around while we mere mortals were walking tentatively around the place. What you do see are various numbers, graphs and images in the nerve centre that lets you know what it is up to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shining beam is siphoned off into lots of little labs where teams of scientists use it to study all manner of topics, including fossils, jet engines and vaccines. In a nutshell, it is a ginormous microscope that allows lots of measurements to be taken during millions of experimental trials. The scientists and engineers we were introduced to, who work on site, told us how having such a powerful magnifying beam enables them to do incredible science. Making the invisible visible in all sorts of unknown ways. However, they all also mentioned that the data that is collected from the various beam runs is so massive, that outside researchers who come to run their experiments at the facility, nowadays can’t cart their data home with them because there is simply too much of it. Instead, the data has to be stored and analysed on site before a digested form is sent back to them. A few years ago they could save it all onto a portable hard drive…

So what do scientists do with this ever growing mountain of data? How do they count it, describe it and then importantly, work out how to turn it into new knowledge? While data scientists may revel in this sea of data, other kinds of scientists often find it somewhat overwhelming, to put it mildly. To help them in their quest, every now and again, the ‘numbers’ community come up with new names to  make it more manageable to describe it. Just this month, the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures introduced some new names (or prefixes, cf. milli- to be precise). These included talking about data in terms of being a ronna which has 27 zeroes after the first digit or a quetta which has 30 zeroes after the first digit.

So how would you use these funny number names to talk about science? Consider the mass of the sun. Previously it was talked about in terms of 2,000,000,000 yottagrams. Now its mass can be said to be 2,000 quettagrams. To me it all sounds a bit double-dutch but to data scientists it provides a new and hopefully more meaningful way of expressing huge quantities of digital information.

Coming up with new data words must be one of the fun parts of the job. I wondered how did they choose them this time?  What were they thinking of? Ronna is also a girl’s name meaning “rough island and true image”, while a Quetta is a fort and is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan! And what will replace the ronnas and quettas to express the ever growing volumes of data that will have accumulated in the next 5-10 years? What new words will be dreamt up?  Perhaps Tom Lehrer should get in on the act. I am reminded of his classic song, The Elements, from 1956. Makes me laugh every time I hear it.

Thanks to John Collomosse for taking the photos inside the Diamond.

NFT Art

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A mysterious dark space in a strange shopping mall can be very luring especially when it is only lit up by LED screens in the window. On entering ‘The Circle’ –  Zurich airport’s latest retail space built to connect a green park with the airport – I unexpectedly came across one such space – a pop-up NFT Gallery, called elementum.art showing a select few digital artist’s latest works. I wandered in not knowing quite what to do or where to go. I headed to the nearest brightly lit LED screen, which happened to be the work of the artist Aaron Huey. Turns out, he is a professional photographer who goes solo into various Metaverse worlds to find the edge – where the developers have stopped creating the virtual world.

As I was pondering why make art as a NFT, I heard clip clop noises getting louder. A gallery attendant was walking towards me. She had a big-eyed smile. Even though she was real she looked like she could have walked straight out of Second Life. There was something not quite real about how she talked to me in English about the exhibition. She seemed overly keen to know more about me, and was very curious to know what had led me in to the gallery. I tried to explain to her it was just simple curiosity and that I did not know much about NFT art. She then proceeded to tell me how I could buy one of the digital artworks if I had a crypto wallet of NFTs at the ready. If only…

After about 5 minutes of explaining she then wandered off and left me fumbling with my iphone trying to focus on the QR code next to the screen showing one of Aaron’s edgy pieces. On seeing me struggling, she promptly returned, and asked if she could do it for me. I agreed and handed her my phone; with nimble fingers and knowing how to catch the light, she was able to get the camera on my phone to snap the QR code; the accompanying website revealed the price and a link to a PDF brochure. This part of the process seemed a bit old fashioned. The reason I could not get the QR code to work first was the room was so dark!

It turns out that Aaron’s pieces are priced at about $1000 each. In the blurb about the work, it points out how edges are boundaries, which can signify the end or the beginning of the unseen – all to be explored, grasped, and shared. It asks the viewer to consider how the virtual and physical worlds connect and what is real and what is unreal. All very profound. I could imagine the artist confronting these questions while spending hours venturing forth in these unknown virtual worlds in search of an edge. To record his journeys, he films and takes virtual photos of his journey either from far behind his avatar or just in front of it. The ones shown in the exhibition convey him mainly being on the edge of various graphical landscapes such as those found in Second Life, MineCraft and Roblex. He walks, flies or jumps off them. For example, this one called Leap 293 shows a blockhead image of Aaron about to jump into oblivion.

I could see how some collectors might dabble in purchasing a few of these digital artworks on speculation. But when I mentioned to the big-eyed girl the recent outrage about the Damien Hirst NFT stunt she just smiled again. Last year he launched his first ever NFT collection, called The Currency, which was made up of 10,000 NFTs, corresponding to 10,000 original pieces of his art, largely comprising his bright coloured spot paintings. People who bought one of the ‘spotties’ had the choice of either keeping it as a NFT or swapping it for the actual physical artwork. Half chose the NFT and half the actual painting. Then, this year, Hirst burnt the first 1000 of his spottie paintings that had been sold as NFTs in his gallery and livestreamed the destructive act on Instagram. Some watched with horror. He argued that he was merely “completing the transformation of these physical artworks into NFTs by burning the physical versions…” All that was left from these is the NFT code. I am not sure what the collectors thought when seeing their art literally go up in smoke. I think I would have been one to have kept a physical spottie painting.

Next, I moved onto two artists called Harry Yeff and Trung Bao. They had created a multi-media piece that you listen to on headphones. The piece I heard was of  ethereal voices singing while I watched a very colourful piece of multiple digital gems circle in front of me. Their work was generated by synthesizing a series of AI algorithms – based on a data set of anonymous real human voices that were ‘gifted to the project’. The voices sounded lovely and in harmony with the digital gems. It was very pleasing eye candy and the name ‘voice gems’ was befitting. I was tempted to buy one,  but on discovering that they were nearly 5000 Swiss francs each I was not so sure.

I was glad I had ventured into this unknown landscape as I did learn a lot more about digital crypto art having explored it in first person for the very first time. But call me old fashioned as I much prefer physical art.

The Metaverse

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The Metaverse Is on the Way: Here's What You Need to Know - CNETWhy is there so much hype about the Metaverse these days?  It has even taken over from AI as the hottest tech topic. Last week when I asked Matthew Ball, the author of a forthcoming book about it, if I could take a peak inside he told me unfortunately no since the publishers want to keep it under wraps until it actually comes out in print. According to the blurb on Amazon’s site about the book, the Metaverse “is suddenly everywhere…It is a persistent, 3D, virtual world―a network of interconnected experiences and devices, tools and infrastructure, far beyond mere virtual reality. And it is poised to revolutionize every industry and function, from finance and healthcare to payments, consumer products, and even sex work. The internet will no longer be at arm’s length; instead, it will surround us, with our lives, labor, and leisure taking place inside the metaverse.”

That is hype to the max!

No wonder everyone is talking about it. Only today, I heard a radio show scaremongering the audience about all the potential dangers children face when entering the Metaverse – from being bullied to being groomed. However, just like AI, the idea of the Metaverse has actually been around for a while. Its earliest incarnation was in the form of virtual worlds, like Second Life, where people could create online spaces to socialize, learn, and hang out in. The virtual worlds were represented in 3D graphics which were navigated and experienced via a desktop. People could fly around and walk through walls to get from one place to another.  I remember on my first visit, ‘flying’ to a virtual lecture in a massive stadium that resembled the Coliseum in Rome. All rather strange and fun for a while but nothing to get really excited or worried about. So why now?

In the early 2020s, Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) took it upon himself to talk up the Metaverse as if it was the next big thing since sliced bread. One of his ambitions was to make the next generation of virtual worlds feel truly immersive. The step change from the older virtual worlds, like Second Life, was to radically change how people experience and interact in the Metaverse. Not through a desktop display, but by donning a VR headset and using the connected VR touch controllers to move their avatar’s arms around in the virtual world just like they do in physical world. This more extensive form of embodiment is what is envisioned will provide the compelling immersive experience.

This image shows one version of Zuckerberg’s vision of the Metaverse. Three avatars are enjoying the outdoors, moving their arms and hands around, as if they are together, even though they are apart in the physical world. However, look closely and you notice something slightly odd about the avatars. They don’t have any legs! The reason for this it seems is largely down to technical limitations. In contrast to the VR controllers which can map onto arm and hand movements relatively well in real time, the sensors and controllers which are currently available that can be placed on someone’s legs, are not able to represent someone’s leg and feet movements in VR nearly as well. It is often the case that obstacles can get in the way (such as someone’s belly), resulting in movements of the legs being obscured and so not able to be detected accurately. Because of this, VR headsets like Oculus, were not designed to capture the whole body of a person. Time will tell whether these kinds of occlusion problems can be overcome. You never know, in the future, we might see people putting on a whole body suit (like a Spiderman outfit) rather than just a VR headset when entering the Metaverse.

Meanwhile Second Life  has become commercialized. People can go there to shop for clothes and gadgets. The first ever Meta fashion week took place in Second Life last month. Even though the model avatars are impressive in how they move they still seem to be floating in air rather than walking down the catwalk. After the show, skins of the outfits that were modelled on the virtual agents could be purchased with Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Once purchased, people could then dress up their own avatars and parade them in Second Life.

 

Instead of using human models some designers like Dolce & Gabbana decided to use cartoon cats to show off their skins. One of the reasons is they look cool. Another is they avoid the problems of trying to emulate a human model and so don’t have to worry about how lifelike the model avatars appear. And no cats are harmed in the process. It is fantasy world all over again!

TikTok Food

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TikTok has been around since 2016 and caught on like wildfire amongst young people all round the world, as quickly as Facebook did when it first took off. It is fast and furious, and because of this terribly addictive, leaving you wanting more. Essentially, it is a social media platform primarily targeted at GenZ, who spend hours making and viewing their’s and each other’s short, snappy and slickly-edited videos. Each TikTok video typically lasts less than a minute. After clicking on a random video, the viewer can easily find themselves immersed in watching hundreds of other videos from that person’s account and then before they know it are onto someone else’s videos. An hour or more can easily pass by just as the videos do.

The choice of topics covered on TikTok is endless, but most videos are about the stuff that young people are into these days, including dance moves, fashion, jokes, adorable pets, lip synching and slapstick pranks. They also include skills that traditionally most kids have not shown much interest in, such as cooking. I was listening to The Food Programme on the radio the other day which just so happened to be featuring the growing trend amongst young people watching TikTokers demonstrating how to cook, that is quick and easy, without fuss, while looking yummy. Collectively called #FoodTok, videos in this genre have been viewed many billions of times. The mind boggles.

One of the people mentioned in the programme was Poppycooks, who has made a name for herself by specialising in how to cook the humble spud. Her video of how to make roast potatoes went viral which she then followed up with several other recipes of cooking potatoes, from crispy to crunchy to fried to mashed. She was really clever in working out how to keep viewers coming back for more, by adding a new video each day of the advent calendar, this Christmas just gone, comprising 25 recipes. The best was left to the 25th December, salty, super-thin, mouth-watering chips. They are indeed moreish. Poppy also has a cheeky look, adding a pinch of humour every now and again. You can’t but help fall for her and her style of cooking. The sound of her breaking open and biting into a crunchy potato is mouthwatering – and would make most people want to peel some potatoes and get cooking.

Like with other social media platforms, the secret to which TikTok videos become viral is largely down to a combination of algorithms, appeal and advertising. The trick is working out how to sustain interest. Many people may have a one hit wonder while a few go on to make a career out of it. Poppy, for example, has nailed it. She now has over 2 million followers. But staying high in the leagues of TikTok influencers creates huge pressure. The FoodTokers have to keep conjuring up new recipes they can show off in consistently tantalising ways always under 60 seconds! It is an amazing skill. Unlike the celebs of yesteryear, who have become famous through wealth, being in the know, being a looker, and/or having a huge talent, these youngsters can rise to the top  through their deft video-making and editing skills, making things look easy and super cool. They may only discover they have a real talent to entertain when beginning to create the videos. And literally anyone with a smartphone/camera can bubble up and become a star over night. This is one of the joys of this media – its serendipity.

Sometimes, people experience autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) when watching FoodTok videos, which essentially is a tingling body sensation that starts on the scalp and then progresses down the back of the neck and spine. For some people, this kind of sensation can be triggered by listening to crunching, slurping and other whacky sounds. SamSeats, for example, has made an amazing video of many tingling sounds associated with preparing a fancy ratatouille dish.  The sounds include ice cubes being dropped in a bowl, a knife slicing through an assortment of veggies and the rapid and fine chopping of garlic cloves and sprigs of herbs. It is music to the ears and makes you want to watch and listen to the video again. Each time you do, you hear something new. The second time I viewed it, I heard the glugging sound of oil being poured from a bottle and the frying of onions. Such food performances, speeded up to fast-beat tempos, are simply sumptuous. I can see how addictive they are (although sadly I never experienced the ASMR sensation of tingling).

And now I am tempted to upload to TikTok my old fashioned YouTube video (10 years old now) of ‘a plate of sizzling food’ being served up. Here it is: sizzle sizzle.

 

(Image of roast potatoes from lianaskitchen.co.uk)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Groundhog Day

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Yesterday evening many of us living in England sat down for the nth time to watch a live Press Conference from Number 10 about the latest COVID restrictions, with a sense of déjà vu rather than dread. We had heard it all before last and earlier this year; only this time, instead of the Delta variant being the cause, we were introduced to the weirdly sounding Omicron. A bit like coming up with names for hurricanes. We were then told about Plan B (no fancy name) and what it meant for us. I wondered what had happened to Plan A and what might Plan C be? Was there a Plan D if all went belly-up? Different letters of the alphabet for Plans and Greek letters (omicron is 15th) for variants. All very confusing.

Many of us had already been contacted by our places of work telling us ‘Omi’ was on its way and to cancel our planned Xmas parties. Rather than do this we decided on our own Plan B which was postpone it until the New Year. This way of managing meant it felt less like disappointment and more like a waiting game.  New government Plan B rules are like the ones we had in place earlier this year: Work from home if you can. Take PCR tests if you travel abroad. Wear masks in public places.

But there is a new twist to Plan B. You can still party in the pub. Round and round we go.

I looked back at my last blog entry from two months ago, where I was extolling the joys of being on a business trip again for the first time in 18 months. Such a stark contrast in emotions. I was mighty glad I had managed to get away while Delta was stabilizing and before Omicron had raised its ugly head. I even squeezed in one more trip to Finland in November to give a keynote at a workshop aimed at Gen Z. Turns out I was one of the few attendees to make it in person. Many decided not to show up to the event for fear of catching COVID, having watched on the news how the level was rising in that part of Finland.

It was a foreboding of what was to come. But during my brief visit to this neck of the woods in Finland I managed to make the most of being in a completely different place, that was remote, sparse and felt like a million miles away. I enjoyed witnessing for the first time in ages crazy minus something temperatures that made my cheeks glow and lips sting; I loved the feel of crunchy, icy snow underfoot, and the sharp contrast of warmth blasting through my lungs when entering indoors after being outside. I learnt a lot about what it was like to be part of the rise and fall of Nokia – the Finnish mobile company. I also heard about how the Finns keep themselves sane during the many dark months of winter – skiing, shooting and sitting in saunas. And I discovered a sense of humour I did not know existed. The seminar room where one of our meetings was held was called Mr Frost! One wall was completely covered in plastic ice shards! And to top it off, on my last morning, I spotted Santa on his sleigh coming from the North Pole. All very strange and delightful.

Sadly, those delights seem like a distant dream now. My planned conference talk this week – in the lovely city of Leuven, Belgium, booked months and months ago, was cancelled at the last minute. Instead, I was asked to give my talk online – again.  So I set up my imaginary row of teddy bears on a shelf just behind my laptop and gave them names as if they were my audience. Another Groundhog Day moment. At 8.30 a.m. I started talking to my laptop and zoomed into Zoom. The remote audience ‘listened’ and ‘chatted’ in Discord (the online social platform often used these days).  At 9.30 I stopped talking, pressed the leave button, walked into my kitchen and filled the kettle. Job done but no joy. Such a disconnect.  If only there had been a roomful of attentive faces smiling and laughing.

Meanwhile, many migrating wild birds returning to the UK from Russia and Europe have got Avian flu. Worryingly, it has begun to spread to other wild birds like falcons, curlews, swans, geese and gulls. You can’t tell those birds to switch to Plan B and work from home or wear masks. Instead, there is much fear about how and when the avian flu will spread from wild to ‘kept’ birds. Already, there are isolated cases being reported of farmed chickens, turkeys and ducks starting to catch it. Instead of increasing the number of vet hospitals or oxygen ventilators to help cure the poor birds they are instead brutally ‘culled’. It must be soul-destroying for the poultry farmers who discover their birds have caught it. Then it is Plan K for them: Kill all their birds. Luckily, the risk of avian flu to human health is low – but who wants to eat sneezing turkey meat?  Nut roast for Christmas dinner, anyone?

Post-Pandemic Bliss

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I am on my first work trip abroad for 20 months and it is so exciting. The return to ‘in-person’ meetings after what seems like a lifetime of being on Zoom and Teams is sheer bliss for many reasons. Not least experiencing again all that we took for granted but for so long has felt  like a distant memory, like using body language, sitting round an actual table, sharing cakes, buying a colleague a coffee, having a side conversation with the person sat next to you, smiling at someone across the table, to name but a few. While I agree with many colleagues that we managed very well during the pandemic and there are some advantages to meeting online – not least you can work more efficiently and have more meetings in a day, and you don’t have to travel – I have sorely missed talking while being co-located and in-person; the conversations can meander and allow for sensitive and unexpected topics to be touched upon and explored in more nuanced ways. Also, I find it discombobulating to hop from one online meeting to the next in a matter of seconds barely any time to catch your breathe. Being 5 minutes late for a physical meeting is acceptable; being two minutes late for an online meeting and item 2 on the agenda is already under way! I like to walk between rooms where different meetings are being held to gather my thoughts and reflect on what was said, what was not said and what we might do next.

But it is more than meeting others in person. It is the travel I have also terribly missed – by whatever means of transport. Flying is a real treat. It has been very easy to feel smug about not using planes for nearly 2 years and how much reduced our carbon footprints have become. But for me travel has always been core to my job as an academic. I cannot do my job without it. So I am very happy to be able to travel again to foreign lands, sharing wisdom, ideas, and advice while listening to others. I am more than happy to travel by  slower means (i.e. by train) when it seems sensible, but sometimes it is necessary by plane when it is too far to do so. I live in hope that our engineers will build viable zero emission planes in the not too-distant future. Airbus is already on the case.

So, to Berlin it was for me this week to give a keynote followed by attending an in-person research meeting with many European partners I had not seen for eons. I arrived at the North Terminal in Gatwick on an autumnal Sunday evening. After a slick check in and a super fast security check, I walked through the labyrinth of brightly back-lit duty-free shops when my senses began to go into overdrive. Colours, sounds, logos, smells…bang, wallop, bang. Then, out into the even brighter lit terminal building, where I found myself drawn to more back-lit rainbow-colours – this time a new bar just opened with socially distanced bar stools around it. Before I knew it, I found myself perched on one of the empty stools, gazing intently at all the lovely different kinds of spirits evenly and artfully spaced in beautifully coloured bottles. I had forgotten how magical it is just to look at aesthetically pleasing and perfectly placed artefacts. I sat there for an hour nursing a drink just staring and enjoying people watching.

And then I surprised myself by asking a guy, seated at the next-but-one barstool to me, where he was flying to. He was so surprised that a stranger had spoken to him that he appeared rather startled. But then when he saw I was just being friendly he relaxed and regained his composure. We then started chatting merrily, just like in the pre-pandemic times, about this that and the other for a good period of time, before realising we needed to to head off to our respective gates. I thanked him for talking to me and he reciprocated, saying this was the first time he had spoken in person to a stranger for so long and what a joy it was. We both learnt something about each other’s life we could take away with us. I now know much more about US banks in Europe and he more about human-centred design.

The flight was over in a jiffy. After the plane had landed, my journey out of the brand-new airport (I barely noticed it as it was dark) was smooth, effortless and fast. Straight through security, no queue at the taxi rank, roads empty, and another super slick check-in at my hotel.  Hassle-free travel. My room was weirdly modern with a sofa that looked like a green vegetable on steroids. The next morning, I enjoyed the delights of an over-flowing buffet with a sculpted watermelon on show. I felt like a child in a sweet shop.

 

I gave my keynote in a small loft room to a group of seated students and faculty. To begin, I focused on 2 or 3 smiling student faces (always helps to calm the nerves) and enjoyed the occasion flexing my full body while flailing my arms. The talk was also relayed via Zoom to other students who were sat in another building (German universities have strict guidelines on the number of people allowed in the same room). It seemed to work although I could not see any of the remote audiences. One remote student asked a question at the end which I had to repeat so those in the loft so they could hear. Later in the evening at the reception, the student who had asked the question revealed herself and told me all about her PhD journey originating in Mexico, via the USA, Germany and ending up in the UK. She was full of joie de vivre.

The Twisties

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Simone Biles introduced the world to the phenomenon of “twisties” this week when she had to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics as she realized her mind and body were out of synch after she had flung herself from the vault.  At the critical moment when you need to let the body twist and turn in mid-air by its own volition, she said she could not literally tell up from down. No wonder she stopped her routine there and then.

When interviewed by the BBC News, Christina Myers, a former gymnast, said that the twisties happen “when your brain and body disconnect.” It is at that moment when you need to be at your most self-assured and certain, but instead something flips and twists out of control. Sometimes, when this happens the gymnast ends up against their body will, doing an extra twist or flip that was not intended in their repertoire, resulting in them not being able to land correctly, risking serious injury. Thank goodness Simone had the wherewithal to recognise what was happening and to quit. And how lovely, to see her humility and team spirit shine in the face of adversity – where she came straight back to cheer her team on when she must have been going through mental agony.

I love watching gymnasts perform extraordinary feats, heat after heat. The Olympics is always a treat for watching endless supermen and superwomen move, jump, swing, swivel, uncurl, sail and fly in the most spectacular ways. They are under huge pressure at pregnant moments to perform –  and manage consistently to execute their moves with what looks like perfection to us mere mortals. It is jaw-dropping, gob-smacking magic – whether swinging at full pelt on the uneven bars, the balance beam, the vault, pommel horse, still rings or other apparatus.

I can’t even imagine what it must have felt like for Simone, with the world’s expectations on her shoulders, being one the world’s greatest gymnasts, to go through a twistie. To suddenly lose her  heightened sense of space and dimension when flying through the air, doing a double flip somersault. The body needs to lead the mind knowing what to do precisely when. But when the mind intrudes the body-mind goes into overdrive. It seems on this occasion, immense pressure took its grip, resulting in Simone losing control.

Meanwhile, back in my more mundane world of academia, it has been hard to perform anywhere near how we used to. Since the pandemic started last March 2020, I have not had the pleasure of ’embodying’ my lectures, talks or seminars with movement – there has been no flailing of arms or pacing up and down the stage or the aisles. Instead, I sit stationary in front of a laptop, check how my head looks in the image of myself appearing on Zoom, say hello to whoever is out there and then start my ‘talking head’ show. I have gotten used to the format now after 18 months – it is bland and flat. There are no pre-nerves, butterflies in the stomach, or any anxious looking at smiling faces sitting in the audience, nodding back at me reassuringly. Just my slides and a few postage stamp faces popping up on the side. The audience are hidden behind their portals, with only ever a few turning their cameras on. During conference keynotes, it is even worse, with the attendees all migrating to be in another virtual space (e.g. Discord) to back channel and chat about what I am saying while watching me on YouTube.  They are also all at home, half in their own world of pets, children, delivery people calling, and a flurry of beeps and other distractions.

Instead of the twisties, I have begun to experience occasionally a case of  what I am calling ‘the disconnecties’ – where I start to notice things on the desk, like a cable, an old scrap of paper, a pen, a bit of paper with my to do list on, a sweet wrapper. Instead of  projecting myself into the minds of others I feel myself drifting back into my own physical space. I try to stem the ‘at home’ mind from taking over. But I feel discombobulated and it is unnerving. Sometimes, I wonder if the audience on the other side are also disconnected. I try to block out my home world and focus on the slide in front of me, but then against my will I slip back into home world. I am even tempted to just click on the Teams or Zoom ‘leave’ button. I try cracking a joke – that usually helps me to get back in the flow – but of course no one laughs back. Eventually, when I have finished I know I could have done better. Damn those disconnecties.

This week, however, when giving a talk to some industry folk, a disembodied voice butted in out of nowhere and asked me a question mid slide. Never happened before. It completely threw me. Luckily, I knew the person so could picture them in my mind and try to compose an answer and shift gear. Then it happened a few more times throughout. Afterwards, it made me think perhaps we need a bit more of that – makes for a more spontaneous and natural presentation. My mind went into overdrive, and I changed what I had planned to say. It almost broke the 4th wall – so to speak. And it kept me on my toes rather than letting my mind do gymnastics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chloe Robbins performing a vault

Drone Delivery

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Amazon have been trialling drone delivery of parcels to people living in remote and suburban towns for a while now. Since then, flying deliveries have literally taken off. Only last month, a rival start-up company in Ireland, Manna, took it one step further. They have developed a fleet of drones that are pretty nippy, flying at 80km/h and delivering goods in less than 3 minutes within a 3km radius of take off. That is really impressive. 

At first, the dropping of goods in this way was limited to medicines where there is a need for urgency. Now, it seems all manner of groceries are being dropped, from coffee to melons. People can order something on their phone and within minutes a parcel is released and lowered on a dangling piece of string in front of the person’s house. How novel is that – having a cool glass of wine or a cup of coffee suddenly appear in this way – as if it was out of a sci-fi movie. Look up to the sky and see hundreds of buzzing drones circling, descending and releasing parcels in the air. 

Speaking of which, a new report released by the Pentagon provides further evidence that UFOs are for real. The US military has documented meticulously an increase in unidentified flying objects sighted moving around in the sky.  At first, one might think there is a coincidence – an increase in drones dropping objects might be what is being mistaken for as UFOs. But the video clips and photos they have released pre-date drones. They look like supersonic bats or lit up jellyfish in grainy skies. For many, it is the ultimate fantasy to imagine actual aliens landing on earth coming from these mysterious flying objects. However, no one has caught on camera any sighting of them lurking around Wandsworth or such like. Sadly, it seems there is still no real evidence. Just glimpses of what might be. Part of the problem is us earthlings don’t have the means to capture them or catch up with them, as they zip passed our planet at lightning speed. As noted by the former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe, “Movements that are hard to replicate, that we don’t have the technology for or are travelling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom. “

Meanwhile I am looking forward to my first G&T dropping slowly from the sky…

Study Tubers

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As the revision season comes around again and students start to fret about their exams, many turn to joining others in a café and in the library to help them keep on track, keep motivated and simply, keep going. Going through reams of notes, trying to remember names and facts, learning quotes and formulas, rehearsing arguments and the like is not easy. While some are good at cramming during all-nighters, others struggle to get started. One online resource that many students have been drawn to, to help overcome their procrastination is watching ‘StudyTubers’. These are channels where other students have uploaded videos of themselves studying for others to watch.

But who watches them? When do they start watching them? And for how long? And why? Is it not simply another distraction?

It seems that children as young as 12 have joined this craze, watching them during the pandemic, when home schooling. In some ways, it is a natural progression to make from watching children’s channels, where influencers uploads videos of themselves opening up new toys. But, for most, they started watching StudyTubes during their ‘A levels’. They then continue when entering university, following particular StudyTubers. Some have discovered them through their disability. For example, one student mentioned they had AD(H)D and on hearing about StudyTubes, they found that an external stimulus really helped them to start studying.

Which ones do students choose to watch? There are so many out there. Some follow a particular one because they are appealing, funny and enjoy themselves, such as Jack Edwards. Another reason is because they are at the same university. A popular one right now is Ruby Granger who is currently studying at Exeter University. She did a live streaming StudyTube last week that got rave comments by her followers from all over the world in the chat window, suggesting they are all in it together. There is a real sense of community. When one follower texted and emoted how it helped her overcome her procrastination, many others all chimed in about how Ruby was helping them, too.

Another genre is the pomodoro school of StudyTubes. For example, Kharma Medic, who is studying medicine in his 4th year at Kings College, provides loads of handy tips on how to study well, recommending routine 50 minute sessions, each followed by a 10 minute break. His last one last week was a 6 hour stint. He is currently working up to doing a 12-hour stint. The equivalent of an Ironman challenge – showing real stamina. It is like they pride themselves studying for ridiculous lengths of time. StudyTubers are also proud of being high achievers. This might create the unhealthy illusion of super students with an impossible work ethic. But as pointed out by Eve Bennett, another well-known StudyTuber, they also experience stress like everyone else. She talks about how she shared her ‘stress meltdown’ on her channel when studying for her A levels, by dancing wildly in her bedroom to her music. A form of catharsis that other students can relate to, only too well.

So, what do students get out of following StudyTubers? The most compelling reason is motivation. It can get you in the mood, leading to being in the zone. Typically, a session starts by a StudyTuber preparing their workplace, getting a coffee, turning on their laptop and arranging papers and books on their desk. All of these little acts create a certain aesthetic of what it means to study. There is some similarity to how students begin studying in a library or a coffee place where you see everyone being busy with their stuff and that makes you more focused on studying.

The ‘study sounds’ that the StudyTuber makes throughout is a bit like having the radio on in the background, which can feel very comforting. They are just about at the right level, being able to draw the student away from all the other distractions that prevent them from starting to study. It also helps them to not always be watching their phone, waiting for the next notification or message to ping. It helps them get started; the ambient sounds of someone tapping away in the distance.

It can also provide a kind of social life running in the background, that helps students from feeling alone. Many people find it hard to be by themselves especially in silence – so having a StudyTuber on helps them feel they are in it together.

A recent Oxford graduate (Harriet) mentioned how it is often more challenging when studying at home compared with studying in a real library. When she went to a library, she enjoyed listening to music on her headphones. But when studying home alone, she found it more comforting to hear people talking or the ambient sounds of someone studying rather than playing music. Knowing that there’s somebody else there who’s working can mimic the library environment to some extent. But they would never watch a StudyTube video when in the library with other people. That would be too weird.

Post-university, it seems these videos can lose their appeal. Once entering the world of work, viewers don’t see a need or use for them. They prefer to talk to the real deal via Zoom, Teams or WhatsApp.

Thanks to Paola, Ben, Ava, Faith and Harriet for their input.


Funny Money

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One of my friends told me he still had cash in his wallet that he had withdrawn from an ATM a year ago! He works in the city and usually spends it on coffee, snacks, drinks, etc., when out and about. But since the pandemic he has been working from home and only shops online using his debit/credit cards. Many of us have followed suit, resulting in a dramatic reduction in cash withdrawals. Quite a few shops also started refusing to take cash – for fear of spreading COVID-19 on the banknotes – although this has since scientically been proven to have a very minimal risk.

Meanwhile, in the digital transactional world, we have seen the meteoric rise of bitcoins. Images of bitcoins depict them as being shiny but do they actually exist as physical coins? Yes they do, like those in the image, but they are not worth anything unless they have a private key that is hidden under a hologram on the back of the coin. Without that number it is worthless. And if tampered with bitcoins becomes invalid. 

The real deal is stored as bits on computer servers. You never really get your hands on them. Instead they are stored on a ledger and metaphorically in a wallet which has its own unique password. And if you lose your password, you are doomed  – as Stefan Thomas discovered after he could not remember his one to unlock his stash of bitcoins he got for doing some work for someone. Once he realised how much they were worth  – something in the order of $200 million (at the time he received them they were worth very little) – he decided it was time to act. The mind boggles at how absurd life has become when it comes to making money in this way and losing it again so easily.

The password that was too cryptic for its own good.

I had to read several articles to understand how bitcoins work and how they differ from pound coins. To help the uninitiated like me, there is now a proliferation of beginner’s guides available, such as ‘Bitcoins for Dummies’, cartoons and online tutorials. I get it now, but it seems a strange way to make money by solving hard mathematical problems using masses of computer power and that the money is just bits on a computer.

And then came along ‘non-fungible tokens’ to add further bafflement.  When I first heard the term, images of mushrooms going mouldy entered my mind. It turns out that fungibility refers to “an asset’s ability to be exchanged with a similar asset without sacrificing its value”. Or put another way: when you borrow a £20 note from someone and  pay them them back with two £10 notes it is the same value but through using a different entity. That is it is fungible. Non-fungible, on the other hand, means the entity has to be the same – in this case the digital token. Just like a Van Gough, it is unique. If I was able to borrow a Van Gough painting I could not give back a copy of it. It would have to be the one I borrowed.

It is not surprising, therefore, to see the rich and the rash start to cash in on a new craze; to be the first to buy something that is valued in non-fungible tokens or NFTs. (To make it sound more credible the funny term has now been replaced by  the acronym NFT). Headlines were made when some artist sold a digital artwork they had made (no one had heard of before) for $6 million worth of NFTs. That is up their for a first with a very physical graffiti Banksy number. Desirable to own, and then highly profitable to resell. It reeks of hubris. Perhaps the most preposterous of all was Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, selling his first ever tweet for $2.9 million in NFTs. The mind boggles even more! But Jack’s conscience is clear because he said he will convert the NFTs he got into Bitcoins which he will then donate to charity.

Maybe I could sell my first ever blog  this way? We could all get in on the act. Part of the lure of NFTs is the uniqueness of the ‘asset’ or artwork they are exchanged for. Once bought in NFTs, it becomes a collector’s item that can’t be duplicated. That makes it one of a kind and by default, rare, and what investors are drawn to. They can then sell it on later for many more NFTs and make a huge profit. The catch is they can’t just put the money in the bank. They have to first convert the NFTs into Bitcoins, and then work out how and who will convert those into real money. But that, it seems, is part of the fun of rollercoaster funny money.

Step Challenge

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There are a myriad of apps available now that are designed to get you to take part and sustain interest in some form of physical exercise – be it walking, running, cycling, yoga, swimming or other.  Many have been around for a few years now and have had considerable success in motivating the masses. At the start of the New Year I succumbed to one, called Hadrian’s Wall Virtual Challenge, that caught my eye as it flashed through my Instagram feed, and before I knew it, I had signed up. I have been quite debilitated for the last few months, having been diagnosed with sciatica and some damaged discs in my back  – in part due to sitting badly, for months of hours on end in front of Zoom meetings. I am slowly on the mend and in need of an incentive and encouragement to get doing some exercise again. The Conquest challenges you to walk the 90 mile length of Hadrian’s Wall not literally but where you happen to be. I have always wanted to do that walk in the real, but with lockdown and bad back, it remains for the time being a pipe dream. So why not do it virtually? You walk the steps wherever you are and they get added to your total count. Simple idea but clever.

The app has been around for a few years now and has so many endorsements from people who have taken up the various challenges, it had to have been designed well. Indeed, it has the right wow factor, and good use of behavioural  change mechanisms in place; rewards when you reach certain stages; compelling and simple visual feedback on a map that charts your progress against others; employs a social good factor; has some personalisation, and promotes peer support. The interface is also intuitive to use although the navigation is a bit fiddly at times. It also automatically downloads your steps (once you work it out, so even walking round the house adds to your total). You find yourself of an evening looking to see where you are on the virtual map and how far you have gone that day and how far to the next stage. It is quite compelling.

I asked a couple of my friends to join me on the Conquest and we paid our dues and got set up and set off. We created our own community so only our icons appeared on the route on the virtual map. There are thousands of people from all over the world doing any one of the challenges each day so you don’t want to be crowded out by lots of stranger icons. I uploaded an orange cagoule-hooded image of myself and it magically appeared on the map.

I set myself 12 weeks to complete the walk – having only just begun to walk again. My friends popped up soon on the route just behind me (you can see one of them on the screen shot). Then they got neck and neck. Two days later they were both racing ahead, fighting it out to the end, with me lagging behind. It was a bit of healthy competitiveness, pushing all of us to exercise that bit more each day. I came third but well within the time I set. By the end I was averaging 6-7,000 steps a day – which for me was a major achievement.

During the Challenge we received various messages charting our achievements. We also each planted 4 trees along the way as part of the Eden Project – that gives you a feel good factor. The strangest part of these ‘add-ons’ was every now and again being sent a virtual postcard, handwritten by yourself to yourself, about what you had seen and learnt. It reminded me of when I was a young child I wrote to myself a postcard from the Victory ship my family were visiting on a day trip to Southhampton. I did not know what to say to myself other than something inane ending up with ‘wish you were here’.  There is something weird about writing to your other self. And my handwriting was dreadful then – at least it has improved since then.

 

After completing the Hadrian’s Wall,  we hastily joined another virtual challenge to keep us going. This time we decided to climb Mount Everest. However, it did not feel right as it only counted your steps and not the height of your steps. Pity, as we would have had to have all been running furiously upstairs for the next few months to reach the lofty height of 8,849 m rather than the 39.9 miles we clocked.

I was surprised by how much I have enjoyed the Conquests. Not least, keeping in touch with some friends in a lighthearted and lightweight, but competitive way – while personally upping my game and helping me to get fit again. When you complete each one you have the option of being sent, in the post, a chunky physical medal with a fat ribbon to wear round your neck. The girl below is showing hers off on Facebook, having just completed the Land’s End Challenge, which is a whopping 1,743 km. No wonder she has such a big smile. I wonder what our next Conquest will be?

 

Wikipedia What?

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I was chatting with some friends about where we get our general knowledge from. One reminisced about the rows of hardback, dark blue covered books, called the “Encyclopedia Britannica”, her family had bought from a dodgy door-to-door salesman. Back then in the 60s and 70s, it was a status symbol among working and aspiring families to have bought the entire collection. She admitted hardly having read them but pointed out how they filled the bookshelves nicely. According to Wikipedia, it was the longest lasting printed tome, first published between 1768 and 1771 in Scotland. It kept growing in size with new volumes being added each year such that the 15th edition spanned a mighty 32 volumes, comprising 32,640 pages.

For some reason my family bookshelf did not possess a set. Instead, we had the slimmer ‘Golden Book Encyclopedia’ that was made up of 16 slender, hardback volumes. Each has its own distinct shiny colourful cover made up of a collage of enticing objects and targeted at the family rather than keeping up with the Jones. I would often take one or two off the shelves at a time and dip into them to learn and wonder; whether it was reading about the brain, seeing volcanoes spew forth or discovering strange animals existed like the aardvark. It was a joy on a Saturday afternoon to be lying on my bed absorbing this general knowledge while whetting my curiosity. The writing was accessible, the text illustrated with enticing figures and drawings. I was hooked on the multimedia of my day. I loved the feel, smell and weight of the books in my hand and occasionally liked to rest my chin on the top of an open one, that I balanced on my bed, as I daydreamed about mummies in Egypt or seeing lions in Africa.

Then  the Internet and Google arrived, transforming how people got their knowledge – free and instantly available. It was the end for printed versions of encyclopedias. Next, Wikipedia came into being at the turn of 2000. And that makes it 20 years today. Happy birthday! The online resource started off by being written by a few keen editors contributing articles about things they knew about which were then edited by others if they felt they needed to be corrected. Over the years the number of edits grew exponentially while the number of contributors levelled off and then declined considerably. There are now over 40 million accounts, suggesting a huge number of people worldwide have had a go at adding to this collective memory of knowledge. However, of those only 127,480 are actively editing today.

Then there were the infamous editing wars over the years where editors who disagreed about the content of a page repeatedly wrote over each other’s contributions, sometimes to the point of being quite vindictive – be it about politics, history or scandal. Someone, also thought it was a good idea to start contributing biographies for ‘known’ people – be they footballers, academics, actors, musicians and so on. As a result, it also became a Who’s Who. We all quickly discovered you can learn lots of interesting things about your colleagues – that you did not know otherwise – like what school they went to and how old they are.

But who has the time on their hands to do all of this? Especially, since it is not paid for. It seems the contributions are not evenly distributed. The person who has edited the most articles is Steven Pruitt who has made over three million edits! He has also created more than 35,000 articles. I wonder if he wrote or edited my entry. It now needs updating and I don’t think I should do it.

Managing Uncertainty

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 Last week I went to my local swimming baths for my pre-booked slot alongside about 25 others. On the stroke of 12.00 p.m. we walked at a distance from each other to the poolside already in our swimming togs. We stripped off our outerwear clothing at the poolside down to our swimwear – each at a physically distanced plastic chair. We then showered at alternative showers before slipping into one of the demarcated lanes.

It was strange to see strangers stripped down to their bathers with no masks on. After a couple of lengths, I rediscovered the small pleasure of smiling at one or two of them in that old-fashioned way of acknowledging each other, having seen each other before at the same end. One spoke a few words to me which I replied to about how warm the water was, while facing me bearing their face, lips, mouth, cheeks and eyes. It felt so natural to have our smiles reciprocated followed by making an inane comment or two. Even the over-powering garlic breath, emanating from another chap reminded me of how deprived we have been of ordinariness. To be made aware again of each other while stood in chlorinated Hockney-esque water felt strangely liberating. Almost in touch. But sadly, my newly discovered pool times came to an abrupt halt. With the COVID virus starting to mutate and now spreading like wildfire through the UK, the government has decided to close down all leisure facilities in our neck of the woods.

It also put an end to millions of people’s much looked-forward-to plans for the Christmas Period. In their place, a cocktail of anxiety, confusion and uncertainty had returned. Can we, should we, is it OK if we… bend the rules a little? What if and when will it end? When will we be able to meet up again normally with family, friends and strangers? When will be able to book a holiday, a cruise, hold a big birthday party, a large wedding or other social gathering, that is not restricted by numbers, wearing masks and social distancing? And so on and so on. Everything is up in the air once more; some people resigned and other’s pulling their hair out with worry, wasted effort and disappointment.

Many of us like to be in control of our lives, planning weeks, months and even years ahead, whether it is the next career move, a personal life choice, e.g., getting married, having a family, taking a gap year, what university to go to, when to retire and what to do afterwards. We often spend hours researching, reading up and asking others for advice to help us make the right decision. And then bang! Along came COVID early this year that threw a mighty spanner in the works, for us all. A big effect has been massive uncertainty worldwide – even with the vaccine in our midst now being offered to the first lucky ones.

New uncertainties have come forth. When will I get the vaccine? Is it safe? Will it work? When can I travel unmasked, shake someone’s hand, and hug a colleague again? When will we be able to experience being in a crowd again, like attending a live concert, wandering through a packed shopping mall, or feeling crushed on a university campus during a normal termtime where there are tens of thousands of students and staff thronging through a labyrinth of corridors and courtyards? We simply don’t know….and for many managing this level of uncertainty can be all too much.

To help we can take recourse to the numerous self-help books and blogs around about dealing with uncertainty – including Christine Carter’s (2020) seven tips. Many of these seem sensible and common-sense, such as accepting the situation rather than fighting it, looking after yourself (e.g. getting enough sleep, eating healthy), and giving yourself the odd treat when feeling down. One that struck me, however, as being out of the ordinary was her advice to switch perspective at various times throughout the day. Instead of imagining a frightening and unknown future that we cannot fix or even predict the likely outcomes, she suggests we should “bring our attention to our breath”.

That phrase took me by surprise. What I think she means is: we should try to increase our self-awareness at inconsequential moments, such as asking ourselves, “how are you doing right now?” every time we wash our hands or wait for the kettle to boil. But supposing the answer turns out to be bored, tired, frustrated, listless, etc., then what? Her follow through is: “attending to what is happening within us at any given moment keeps a crappy external reality from determining our inner truth”. That sounds intriguing: turning in on ourselves to block out the depressing news around us. However, I am not sure such a strategy will enable us to feel better about ourselves. Will it make us calmer, more open-minded and less reactive? It might make us worse. I’ll give it a go but, personally, a walk by the sea or laughing my head off listening to a good podcast on my iPhone keeps the bogeymen away.

The other thing I have learned during COVID, is not to get my hopes up any more about us going back to normal any time soon – meaning not to plan anything ambitious in the foreseeable future. A weekly visit to the supermarket is the limit now. I’ll only allow myself to dream again once I know I am definitely booked in for a jab. That seems like it will be a while. Then I will plan a holiday, a work trip and even a city weekend break, reimagining the familiarity of strangers, from bustling queues and being squeezed into planes, trains, pubs, bars, shopping malls, hotel foyers, waiting rooms, reception areas, etc. and being able to smile and sometimes laugh at the person/s next to me without a mask on. In the meantime, it is back to a life of endless zoom meetings among familiar faces. Speaking of which…

Dancing Queen

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Since the pandemic turned our world inside out most of us have been sat for hours on end each day in front of a display (phone, tablet, laptop or PC) interacting with all manner of virtual talking heads. We have gotten used to this way of connecting with our colleagues as the new normal – even joking about still wearing our pyjamas as no-one can see our lower half while on screen. We have also developed a new norm – turning our cameras and mikes on and off when coming in and out of focus during meetings. We don’t do this in the real world but we all do it now in the digital world. It is easier and less stressful to not be visibly present when not talking. Then there is the abrupt ending to our meetings, clicking on the ‘leave meeting’ button transports us back to our home life in an instant.
Today, I gave a keynote at a virtual conference called ISMAR20 that is about mixed and augmented reality. I have given a few invited talks now during lockdown. They are quite different in the extent to which I feel connected with the audience. Some totally detached and others more engaged. Today’s talk was more the latter. The organizers had asked me to record my talk beforehand so that I could be more relaxed during the session and also to reduce the risk of too many technical hiccups overshadowing the talk. The conference setting was a 3D virtual world; that was designed to be like a futuristic virtual campus, comprising lifelike campus buildings and luscious outdoor spaces (the actual conference was meant to have been held in Recife, Brazil).

It has been a long time since I have properly set foot in a 3D world. It required me becoming an avatar and controlling it with my keyboard as if just behind. I had a few attempts to get used to using my keyboard to move around. It is easy to move too fast and walk into or through a wall. A nice touch they had added was ‘clippy-cloppy’ noises as I walked. It almost made it feel I was walking in stilettos. For my appearance, I selected some clothing from a virtual wardrobe, dressing myself up for the occasion. I donned a blouse, skirt and jacket in contrasting colours. Instead of wearing a badge, my name appeared automatically above my head in a halo cloud that followed me around, making it easy for others to see who I was at a distance. Then I was ready to enter centre stage.


There was a lot of tech involved to switch between and to turn on and off at the right time – that needed practice. It seems virtual A/V is just as tricky to get right life as is physical A/V – if not more so. But we got there. Then when it was time for my talk I stood by the virtual podium facing the audience and my pre-recorded talk appeared on a large display behind me. It meant I could not see my slides as I ‘talked’. So, I popped up my slides on my laptop back home and listened to myself rabbiting on in the virtual space. All very strange. Sometimes I had an out of body experience.

 After my video ended, I ‘walked’ my avatar to stand besides another screen, clicked on it and there I was again, only this time, as a larger than life video feed fielding the audience questions, which the chair asked me via his avatar. At that point, there were too many of ‘me’. It made almost for an existential crisis, especially when the audio started reverberating. But I managed to cope – as you do – and answered the questions without too much waffling.

Then as I walked off the stage, I was not sure what to do with myself (there was no-one to go for coffee with) so I tried out some of the other avatar actions (like dancing, waving, clapping). Doing the samba was fun and reminded me of Theresa May’s entrance when she danced to Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’ at the Tory party conference in 2018.  But mine was as an exit to an empty space rather than as an entrance to a rousing crowd. Given the world is so topsy turvey right now  it seems apt to dance off stage than on to it. And then in a flash it was all over; I clicked the ‘quit menu option and walked to Tescos down the road to get a sandwich.

 

 

 

Remote Sport

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Football has started again in Germany played in front of empty stadiums. It must be so weird for the teams to play without the roar of the crowd cheering them on. Normally, the chanting, banter and singing can lift and energise players to new levels. Now with the social distancing rules in place, when they score a goal there are no physical celebrations or embracing of other players. Instead, a punch in mid-air or a tap on the elbow. Not quite the same sense of euphoria or release.  The lack of atmosphere means there is no home advantage. Many players  approach the game more like a practice one. Show-boating and waving at the crowds also gone. It is no longer the beautiful game.

Same is true for other spectator sports and the Arts, from horse racing to concert-players. No audience physically present and no atmosphere to speak of. How can the performers find other ways to reach out to their fans and the fans connect back with them? Some venues have been thinking about how to bring real people back in their own car bubbles. A number of drive-in outdoor events are being experimented with. The Danish football side FC Midtylland, for example, plan to set up two massive screens in their large car park – that has 1000s of spaces – so that fans can rock up into a socially distanced space and tune into the commentary through their car radio. Instead of drive-in cinema it is drive-in footie. Maybe it will raise the noise level, as they hoot their horns when a goal is scored, but will it create the desired atmosphere for fans and players, alike? The football club have thought about this, too, and will show live footage of the fans parked up cheering in their cars from the car park inside the venue so at least the players can ‘see’ and ‘hear’ the crowd – albeit in their cars.

It might work – certainly better than the cardboard cut-out solution that some stadiums are using with canned cheering and crowd noises being emitted from loud speakers. I wonder how the graphic designer chose which people to use and how to place them at this match – to be representative of the fan base but also a chance for loyal season ticket holders to send in their choice of image to adorn their designated seat. Other plans are afoot for socially distanced drive-in raves and concerts. The mind boggles at the thought of 1000s of cars bouncing up and down as the owners ‘body’ dance while sat in their car seats.

All of these attempts to create some kind of connection, however, are a far cry from the real thing. Maybe, they will become the new normal for a while and morph into something that is still socially distanced but more socially connected. For example, they could evolve into a form of tailgating parties that are so central to US football culture – where fans rock up hours before the game to drink beer and cook on barbecues in car parks and open spaces near the stadiums. However, switching to drive-ins requires turning our cars into entertainment hubs – which obviously SUVs, 4x4s and pick-up trucks are best suited for. Trouble is society is trying to wean people off these gas guzzlers and get them to switch to compact electric cars. Seems counter-productive to saving the planet. There is also the problem that most cities don’t have the parking lots or spaces to support large-scale drive-ins. And then there is the added problem of managing toilet facilities but maybe someone will invent a portable toilet that disinfects itself after each use.

The strangest of drive-ins that have appeared are ‘drive-thru’ churches that pop up and where an outdoor mass is literally held in the carpark. It looks a sorry sight – no communal sharing of the bread and wine. Just the lone preacher necking the wine down himself while talking to a bunch of dark-windowed SUVs. That might be taking the biscuit somewhat.

Another way of connecting fans with players is to keep it digital. Streaming video games have been around for a while, where millions of spectators around the world watch top ‘streamers’ perform. They are provided with all sorts of extras that enables the fans to discover more about the player – not least their emotions and fluctuating heart rate and skin conductance at different stages of the game. This additional layer of data has been found to enhance the spectator experience and improve the connection between the streamer and spectators. But then we would return to being couch potatoes. Personally, I can’t wait to be part of a physical audience again, be it at a football ground, an outdoor venue or a theatre.

          Thanks to Daria Lisotsova on unsplash.com

Remote Nurturing

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Many of my friends have taken to gardening during lockdown, making raised beds and planting whatever seeds they can get their hands on. Just like the craze for baking and bread-making, there is now one for growing your own food. The other day, my neighbour, Julie, proudly listed the latest seeds she has pricked and planted in our new communal street garden, including peas, potatoes, runner beans, borlotti beans, spinach, garlic, carrots and beetroot. We can all take it in turns to go and help nurture them, weeding, watering or adding more plants, although one neighbour is definitely the head gardener.

It got me thinking how could we could capitalize on these enterprising green finger efforts to make them even more of a shared event, where potentially hundreds or thousands of people could take part to grow one mega veggie patch or a series of connected gardens. Wouldn’t it be amazing if those who don’t have a garden could feel as connected to the earth as those who have actual gardens? As I wondered about this possibility, I was reminded of a project from many years ago when the internet was just getting off the ground called Telegarden. Anyone could log on to the site where you could watch a circular garden with a robot arm. You could also sign up to control the robot who would plant flowers and then water them. It was created by artists Ken Goldberg and Joseph Santarromana from California. It was kept alive for 9 years and during that time 10,000’s people connected. It was a fusion of tech and nature. The idea that a physical garden could be operated by users online was considered by the artists as being “the most absurd”. Now, in lockdown it does not seem quite as absurd.

How about we try to recreate a more up-to-date version of Telegarden (call it Lockdown Garden) in empty school yards, university campuses, national parks, meadows, or even on the land that people own but don’t have a use for. School children, grandparents, single people, young and old people, bored people, well anyone really, could log on, pay a small fee and select from a catalogue of fruit and veg seeds to grow. Drones and automated robots could work in tandem nurturing the garden, weeding and picking the veggies, that could then be donated to people in need. Our favourite TV gardening presenters, like Carol Klein and Monty Don in the UK, could judge the best kept Lockdown gardens and the most crazy, beautiful, bountiful and so on. And of course there could be disasters filmed by the drones that could keep the viewers and growers hooked, like the robots overwatering, marrows growing to be the size of a small car, and robots refusing to cooperate. Perhaps I am getting a bit carried away here but it would be a fun challenge for all those makers and engineering students who are now at a loose end.

Remote Places

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Last week, everyone was experimenting with backdrops for their Teams, Zoom or GoTo meetings – I have seen the Northern Lights, New York, beach resorts, outer space, and various exotic places. Quite a contrast from the mundane, domestic kitchens and make-shift home workplaces we have become accustomed to peering into. One of my PhD students, chose Hawaii for his backdrop (see above), and at one point during the meeting it looked like he was surfing as he moved his head back and forth against the palm-tree foregrounded sunset beach. The illusion is created because the backdrop does funny things with your own image when you move your head – your hair starts to look like it is moving with the wind.

It made a light-hearted change to the start and end of our meetings, talking about the funny effects. The reason my student chose the Waikiki beach backdrop was that a group of us were meant to be flying to our annual CHI conference – which was to be held in Hawaii. Normally, 3000-4000 rock up, from all corners of the globe, for a week each year at this time (last year it was held in rainy Glasgow) to network, learn and talk about our current research for a diversity of areas concerned with the design and use of tech. But like many other large events involving travel it was cancelled due to Coronavirus. For many of my students this was a huge disappointment as it was to be their first time going – but they put on brave faces. Next week, instead of using backdrops, we plan to get dressed up in Hawaii Hula clothing and leis. Well maybe. Anything to lighten the mood.

Many of us are getting the lockdown blues now, feeling restless and bored. As the weeks of lockdown drag on the need to look forward becomes ever more pressing. Some people are rebooking their cancelled holidays for next year, giving them at least something to plan for. The papers are full of ads now for big ticket holidays and cruises – costing £1000s for a holiday of a lifetime. The images of ancient sites, rain forests, glistening beaches and city skylines are very alluring but seem all the more remote. One can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to enter a busy airport, let alone cram onto a plane with hundreds of other passengers for countless hours. How are we going to keep our distance if we are sat in a window seat and need to go to the toilet?

Many of my us are craving the embodied contact that comes with physically being with others. While we persevere with our remote meetings each day, trying to make the most of the impoverished bandwidth and the strangeness of seeing someone but not being with them, we are all getting tired of it. We are at that stage now wondering what our country will provide by way of a lockdown exit strategy. Some countries are further ahead and have already started taking baby steps. Singapore, China, Korea, Germany, Finland, Australia and the Czech Republic have begun to reopen schools, shops, gyms and other businesses.  In the UK, however, we continue to wait. Boris returning to number 10 soon will buy him more time – as our daily morbidity level continues to remain relatively high.

But whether and what it might mean to return to the ‘old’ normal is anyone’s guess – it could take months, possibly years. I looked at some photos today of Spanish children being allowed outside for the first time in two months – whizzing around on their bikes, roller skating with their arms flailing or simply just running around. The sense of joy and freedom on their faces was palpable. It gave me hope that it might not take that long.

Meanwhile, our governments continue to thrash it out with their scientific advisors. All sorts of factors have to be weighed up against each other, including wellbeing, unemployment, numbers of daily cases, relative change in daily deaths, availability of hospital places, medical staff available, who to safeguard, the likelihood of unrest, rebellion or uprising, and so on. The fear of relaxing too quickly and too soon is that it could result in a second spike, just as bad or if not worse than the first, meaning we would all have to go back to lockdown again. Keeping people cooped up for too much longer, however, is likely to have devastating and long-lasting effects; not least, a huge increase in mental health issues, economic disaster for many businesses, and many unknowns.

For those of us who see the glass half full, we continue to dream of returning to familiar but now remote places soon: re-imagining what it is like to experience the real thing rather than the digital substitute. To drink a proper cocktail rather than meet at cocktail ‘o’ clock, to go to a live concert rather than a livestreamed one, to go to a real football match and throng with the crowds rather than watch classic games on the TV, or simply to be able to walk into a coffee shop, enjoy waiting in line (not at a distance), having a banter with the other customers, and then take from the hands of the barista, a perfectly made frothy coffee with an emoji heart on the top.

Remote Tracking

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It is great to see the tech companies coming together to do their bit to help curb coronavirus. Apple and Google have been collaborating on a tracking platform that could help governments worldwide monitor, track and manage the pandemic more effectively. Their proposed system works by using Bluetooth and encryption keys, that enable data to be collected from phones that have been in close proximity with each other. From this data, it can be inferred who else, phone owners have been close to, for a set period of time (e.g. the quarantine period of 14 days). Users can also alert health authorities if they have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and conversely, the system can text them if they have detected that their phone, and indirectly themselves, have been in close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the virus. The term coined for this new form of remote tracking is ‘contact tracing’ as illustrated by Apple and Google’s graphic:

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Remote Numbers

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The day before the coronavirus lockdown started in the UK, I had a smart meter fitted in my house. After the engineer had finished, he walked me through all the various functions shown on the digital display; a dashboard of numbers provides all sorts of stats and data about how much electricity and gas you are using and how much they cost per hour, alongside an easy to read traffic light barometer that moves into red bars (see above) if you are using a lot of energy (e.g when boiling a kettle) while rewarding you with green bars when you are being energy efficient. The idea is that you use the various number and bars to change your behaviour and in doing so reduce your energy usage and save money.

I looked at the display a few times but did nothing to change my behaviour to be more energy efficient. Quite the opposite in fact; I started using more electricity and gas, making more cups of tea, cooking more meals, spending more hours in front of my laptop, TV and doing more washing – as a result of being stuck at home 24/7 now. Best place for the display was to hide it in a drawer.

Meanwhile, like everyone else I have been gripped by numbers that are being delivered each day about coronavirus – but uncomfortably so. The number of new cases and the number of new deaths are on the rise each day. At first 2-3 people dying was considered shocking. Now we are up to nearly a 1000 a day in the UK. It is no longer shocking but expected. We have all become engrossed by the graphs the scientists generate each day to help the lay person understand what the numbers mean with respect to where we are in the quest to flatten the curve’. They project how steep the curve is each day relative to day zero. The colour coded ones show where the UK is relative to other countries we might care about. I catch myself comparing how we are doing against the US or Italy – thinking we are better off or not doing as bad. Why are we being shown this as if it was a competition? To make us feel better? Comparative graphs are a mechanism that is commonly used in behavioural change; known as social norms. By seeing how well you are doing relative to others (it could be a peer, a family, a neighbouring city or a country) you can feel good if you are below the others or worry if you are above – as it indicates loud and clear you are using more or spending more (conversely, if it is exercise, the reverse is true).

There are more and more of these visualizations appearing now, such as Sky’s: “Coronavirus: How many people have died in your area? COVID-19 deaths in England mapped”. Those who live in remote areas, like Suffolk can sigh a big relief that there are no big blobs near them. Those who live in London or other densely populated areas will notice  big blobs splatted over where they live. No wonder so many Londoners flocked to the countryside when they could. That is, before those who live there told them where to go.

For the most part there is little we can do other than worry when looking at these comparative coronavirus graphs. They are fodder, too, for the media and politicians. For example the headline on one news website: “Singapore Wins Praise For Its COVID-19 Strategy. The U.S. Does Not”

Today’s headline on CNN’s website was more in tune with the way science happens; through competing predictions and hypotheses: “New US model predicts much higher Covid-19 death toll in UK. But British Scientists are Skeptical.” The US team predict nearly 70,000 will die in the UK. The British scientists, on the other hand, predicted only 20,000-30,000 would die in the UK, based on their brand of mathematical modeling. Who do we believe?

One of the UK scientists involved, who has become a household name, is Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College. The UK government has increasingly relied not only on his team’s modelling prowess but also on their wisdom to decide on its next response strategy during the pandemic. It is an unenviable position to be in, as we scientists are not renowned for having the superpowers necessary to enable us to see into the future. Who knows what people will do and what will become of us when making such hugely impactful choices on how to manage the pandemic.

It goes without saying that mathematical models need lots of data in order to make accurate predictions. When predicting the weather, a tsunami or an earthquake millions of data points  are used. The current pandemic, however, in comparison, has relatively few data points that can be used.

It would be hubris not to remember the failure of Google’s Flu Trends program, a few years back, when it’s developers claimed, based on analyzing people’s search terms for flu, they could produce accurate estimates of flu prevalence two weeks earlier than official data. Sadly, it failed to do this for the peak of the 2013 flu season. Then, they had access to big data – masses of it. The current modelers only have access to small data – very little of it. Let’s hope all the lockdown restrictions imposed on society at large, that have been put in place in nearly every country in an attempt to stem the rise in the pandemic, based on current predictions and remote numbers, fares better. We can but hope.

Remote Living

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So official lockdown kicked in on Monday for us living in Britain. The rules are a bit more lenient than in some countries, where they have draconian curfew measures in place. Here, we are allowed to leave home for one exercise a day, and to go shopping to buy necessary food and medicine. We are also allowed to go to work if we absolutely can’t work from home. So for the time being if you are a construction worker you can carry on as normal – so long as you are two metres apart. Good time to be a crane operator – high in the sky looking down on empty streets. I suspect not for long. It must be very difficult for a government to balance its country’s economy when deciding which strategies to use try to flattern the pandemic curve that will have most effect – while determining how best to change human behaviour in a way that is so very different from how people normally live their lives.

Yesterday, I did my beach walk alone at 8.00 a.m to start the day. It was full of joggers and dog walkers. There was plenty of space so we managed to keep our distance. The sea looked calm and serene and for that hour one could think of something else other than Coronavirus. Today, I am saving up my permitted outside exercise for later in the day. By mid-afternoon yesterday I was getting quite restless. At one point I looked at my watch thinking it was 4.15p.m – soon time for a planned social chat with a friend – only to then discover it was actually 3.15p.m. Normally, being surprised by finding I have an extra hour would be a joy. I can fill it in easily by catching up on work. Yesterday, I can honestly say my heart sank a little, reminding me of when I was a teenager on a long Sunday when the clock stands still…

Meanwhile, all around us is a flurry of activity online. I see a lovely Amanda is streaming her yoga class to us on Friday at work. A couple just got married in Birmingham before the country banned weddings; over 100 guests watched it being live streamed on Facebook. There are also sweet videos of grandchildren, now doing the rounds, waving at their grandparents through the windows or patio doors in their garden, some even squashing their little noses up to the glass. Lots of people have celebrated their birthdays with their friends family and by virtually holding their birthday cakes up for them to see.

The one that has caught everyone’s eyes, however, is Joe Wicks, also from Birmingham, who has become the self-proclaimed UK’s living room PE teacher. Hundreds of thousands of families are joining in each day for his 9.00a.m class. You can see why. He has charisma, presence, energy and drive that appeal to children and parents, alike. The videos of kids prancing around the living room, following his instructions, are very moving. A bit of the magic that Russell Brand oozes seems to have rubbed off on him.

Eating alone together online has also started to become popular again amongst families and friends. I remember a few years ago when Skype was becoming mainstream some of us tried it as an experiment. For example, when I was in South Africa on sabbatical I had a Skype dinner with a friend back in the UK. It was nice to catch up with her while doing something but the eating part actually felt quite odd. We had both served up ourselves something simple – a pasta dish – and started eating about the same time. But somehow picking up our knives and forks together did not synchronize and the eating of the meal did not feel natural. The smells, tastes and noises when eating together were lost in translation.

Unlike the craze for ASMR where someone uploads a YouTube video of themselves making eating noises when eating jelly beans, cake or other delight that makes viewers go crazy when listening to them. The acronym stands for ‘autonomous sensory meridian response’ which apparently causes a tingling sensation in someone akin to the hairs on the back of their neck standing up. Zach Choi, who has over 7 million followers, does a great impression scoffing fast food – might be compuslive viewing for those who are missing their junk food fix now that McDonalds, Nandos and the like are all closed.

Apparently, there is a huge following for ASMR; over 15 million videos have been made and watched endlessly. It is not just the chewing, munching and crunching noises that appeal but also lots of other mundane noises that trigger that weird sensation in people – including the sound of rolling marbles on a hard surface, someone whispering ever so softly or tapping their nails gently on a desk. The mind boggles.

I have watched a few of the ASMR videos and I am afraid they don’t do it for me it; if anything they do the opposite, making me judder and cringe. I like the straight forward things in life like the clinking of glasses. At the end of a tiring day of back-to-back remote work meetings I now look forward to a FaceTime chat with a friend or two with a glass of wine in hand. Of course, it is no substitute for the real thing but it can be surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable. We make sure we have a good laugh, crack some jokes and try to see the funny side of life. And then its dinner, Netflix, and the 10.00 o’clock news before going to bed.

Another Groundhog Day in these strange times.

Remote Working

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It has been a full-on week of remote working since the university instructed us last week to do so because of the escalation of coronavirus. It feels like I have had more videoconferencing meetings than hot dinners! One moment it is Skype, the next Teams and then Zoom – many have been back-to-back. Even though it is great that we can keep in touch in this virtual way, it is frankly exhausting – but in a different way from my usual tiring day at work. While my twice daily train commute often takes its toll at the end of the day, sat being glued to a screen for hours on end, talking to virtual colleagues and students, elevates fatigue to a new dimension. It is not a physical exhaustion but more enervating, like how one can feel after a long Sunday, when you have indulged in too much binge-watching.

Part of the new tiredness also stems from having quite different kinds of meetings than usual; having to deal with so many updates and breaking news each day, on what has been planned, decided, revealed and mandated by government, country, university or at the departmental level. Right now, there is an awful lot of ‘cascading’ interspersed with checking up and reassuring each other. There seems to be much less ‘actual’ work’; but one hopes this will return once routines begin to settle into place.

Then out of the blue you might get an email from one of your colleagues letting you know they are not feeling well and have begun self-isolating. It is quite anxiety-inducing, worrying if they have got the lurgy. I have heard now from quite a few people that they have developed flu-like symptoms and are self isolating; some seem more serious than others. It is all a bit discombobulating, and russian roulette-like. You can but hope they will be better the next day.

To welcome each day, I have started walking on the beach early in the morning with a couple of my neighbours. It is invigorating, filling the lungs with fresh sea air and watching life at a distance. We even see a group of women each day, braving the waves in their wetsuits for a bracing swim. But who knows how long we can carry on doing this before a lockdown is imposed – as has been the case in Spain and Italy.

Today it was raining and so we put our umbrellas up; making it easier for us to ‘social distance’. At one point we entered a shop, and while waiting in line, other customers came in and stood a metre apart from us and each other – abiding by the government’s guidance. It felt a little strange and silly as we skirted around the small place. But even though it seemed unnatural it felt prudent.

Later in the morning, when I peered out of my study window that looks onto a primary school playground, I saw many 5-6 years old children playing together during their break time as if they did not have a care in the world (as it happens it was probably for the last time as UK schools begin to close). For them the concept of social distancing must seem alien. As for taking part in social isolation, it must seem even stranger, as to why they can’t go out to play but instead have to stay indoors for a week or two without physical contact with their grandparents or playmates.

This new world order brings out the best and worst in people. There are so many acts of kindness being reported it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, realizing that, as human beings, we like to look out for each other. However, the flipside is just how many people are looking out for themselves. Many can’t resist the temptation to stock up on tins, bread, toilet paper and other staples. Panic buying maybe, but it gives them something to do and makes them feel safe. I found myself today, after failing to find any cereal left on the shelves, wondering if I should buy the last remaining cereal bar that I spotted. I would never normally buy such a thing let alone eat one. It is not easy to restrain oneself when irrational fears enter our psyche. As it turned out, one of my neighbours came to the rescue and brought round a tasty loaf of bread.

As we have all started to sign off our emails with: ‘Stay safe’.

Standing Out

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Much has been written about the power of a label to make the object it is attached to stand out. Popular techniques used include striking images, bright colours, ironic slogans and unusual designs. The trick is to make the label grab someone’s attention – be it online, in a store or in a catalogue. The competition for customer’s eyeballs is particularly marked for wine where there are thousands of brands vying for their attention.

On a recent trip to Western Australia, I visited Tylers, a small family-run vineyard who market their wine through a fun form of ‘selfie-labelling’. Visitors can pose for a photo which is then made into a label that can be stuck onto a bottle of wine they have purchased – transforming it into their very own personalized wine. All for no extra cost.

The vineyard was very low key, comprising a small farm shack where the tastings took place; the inside and outside of which were covered from top to bottom in previous visitors’ wine labels. Located in one corner of the shack was a dusty old PC, that was used to design the labels and a printer that kept getting jammed. It felt like stepping back in time to the halcyon 80s computing days. Some of my colleagues, who I was with on the wine tour, immediately saw how they could improve the tech. But for me, I thought its ‘old fustiness’ simply added to the place’s nostalgic charm.

Another recent innovation – also from Australia – has been to use augmented reality (AR) to make printed historical characters appearing on the wine label come alive – as if they were actually talking to you. The brand ‘19 Crimes’ has stolen the market on this; presenting a line-up of british convicts who were sent to Australia back in the 18th Century, and who regale their stories for why they were incarcerated and how they then subsequently became colonists. The AR characters celebrate the rebellious spirit of the exiled men and women who then went onto forge the national spirit in Australia. It is intriguing and atmospheric listening to their stories . Rather than using AR as part of a game, such as Pokeman Go does, it has been used in an adult context, bringing the story behind the wine label alive in a playful, mysterious and slightly uncanny way.

Placing labels on people, however, has a very different impact. The compulsory yellow badges that were required to be worn by Jewish people during the Nazi era were intended to stigmatize, humiliate, segregate and control them. Quite abominable. Nowadays, labels in the form of badges are used to signal implicit messages to the general public, asking for understanding and acts of kindness – for example, politely requesting someone give up their seat on the London Underground if they see a woman wearing a badge saying ‘baby on board’.

In Japan, a label has even been created for female staff to be worn when working in a store to indicate to other staff they are menstruating. The badge is adorned with a cartoon character called Miss Period. The underlying message is intended to enable other staff to feel OK helping the wearer and for the wearer to be excused if they feel the need to have a longer break. To many outside of Japan, it may seem somewhat strange and a little demeaning, to see someone wearing a Miss Period badge.

For shoppers not in the know, it might be read as saying, ‘I am having my period now’. But what is the customer to do? Should they avoid the sales assistant? Say something to them or other? Without any guidance, it can be awkward for the general public to know what to do or say on seeing such a badge being worn. In this context, the image is clear and rather cartoon-like, but the message less so, resulting in both the wearer and the observer feeling uncomfortable.

Another form of product labelling is one that informs consumers about something. One such initiative that is doing the rounds again is called PACE – which stands for ‘Physical Activity Calorie Equivalent or Expenditure’. The underlying rationale is that a label is placed on food or drink packaging to specify how much exercise would be needed to burn off the calories, if it was consumed – for example when eating a burger or drinking a can of coke. Some people may take the number literally and spend 40 minutes on a treadmill to earn their drink. Others might think twice about having extra fries or a muffin, when reading how much exercise is needed to burn it off. It might just nudge them to refrain.

An ongoing debate is whether this kind of information is more effective at making people change their behaviour than simply stating the number of calories. Does a calorific number (e.g. 600) or a type of activity (e.g. a 40 minute run) increase the likelihood of taking more exercise and or eating less? A recent study by the University of Loughborough has suggested that people selected about 65 calories less per meal when their food was labelled using the Pace system. That is nearly a whopping saving of 200 calories a day. It is not clear, however, whether its impact also increased their physical activity in the manner subscribed.

I also wonder if it might make people think that as I have saved on eating less during the day by having an apple rather than a chocolate bar, I have earned myself an extra glass of wine in the evening. When it comes to Christmas dinners, I can’t see many saying no to a second helping of  homemade trifle and then hoofing it down the park for a 2 hour run.

Men First

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Thread ad on trainSitting on the tube on my way to work a slogan in a new ad on the train caught my eye, “Cheat. Dress Better.” Whatever could it mean? Not being a particularly natty dresser myself I took a closer look. The company called Thread brings “expert stylists with clever AI to find great clothes in your style, size and budget.” Wow that sounds just what most of us need. First warning sign all was not well was when I looked closer at the mobile app also being shown on the ad, which simply showed a pair of jeans, trainers and a plain shirt. The sort of uniform casual look that many of us dress ourselves in each day. Why do we need other intelligence (human or artificial) to dress us when we can do it ourselves perfectly well? I was intrigued by their claim that they could dress us better and so went to their website.

Then I saw red. The website was not ready to dress me! It is available… but only for men. The womens’ one is still in the pipeline as they are busy trying to recruit “a team of women’s stylists” (sic) and “a whole new system of algorithms to help you find the best clothes for you.” The message is loud and clear: men are more important. Why did they think it was OK to put men first in 2019? And why does it need men to dress men and women to dress women?

Sexism aside, I pretended to be a man to get my perfect clothing combo and set about doing the 3 minute quiz that is on their men’s site. It asks me to choose looks for casual, office, and smarter styles (to look sharp). The models, however, have had their heads removed from view (presumably it is cheaper and does not contravene data laws) and so one is drawn to look at other parts of their bodies. I am not sure I should be doing that. Then it gets a bit more personal, asking me which shops I like to buy at and how much do I usually spend on clothes.

Then it asks me to give my sizes for the various body parts, like my waist size and leg length. Then a strange category appears called ‘fit concern’. We all think something is not right about our bodies, I suppose, and would prefer to be shorter, taller, have longer arms, smaller waistline and so on. What else was on offer opened my eyes to other possibilities. I selected muscular thighs and long arms. I pressed to submit but the app came back and told me off for missing out selecting my shoe size (that is also a no-no in interface design as I was not interested in shoes and they should not force me to divulge personal information I don’t want to give). The menu selections continued (I was onto 5 minutes by this stage).

Eventually after opting out of joining their mailing list (a dark pattern that makes me have to deselect rather than being able to opt in) I am presented with some nice sketches of different clothes categories. After selecting from these, the app asks me what clothes do I own? At this point most people would have given up and resorted to browsing clothes stores online. But if you continue – you are asked even more personal questions; including what is in your wardrobe and then at the end they ask you to upload a photo of yourself to show what you look like. “Seeing what you look like will help us make better suggestions.”  I drew the line there, too. I thought that must surely be it but no the app then asks you to add more information about yourself: your hair colour, skin colour, eye colour. To help, they give you menu options, including one I selected out of curiosity ‘white with freckles’. So not me!

Finally, an image of my very own stylist called Alexander appeared on my screen. Looks promising. Trouble is that a message then pops up to say that it will take Alex several hours while working with the AI algorithms to come up with a look for me. That is really crap AI and even worse UX design. Meanwhile, to keep me amused some handy fashion tips appear on the site based on the body type options I selected earlier, about how to dress muscular thighs and long arms. Honestly?

My expectations have been let down too many times on this customer journey. Rather than cheating fashion I feel cheated. I certainly won’t be going back to the site for when the women finally get their expert female stylists to work with their hopefully gender neutral algorithms.

It is great that developers are working out how to enable real humans to be able to interact with AI to make informed decisions about something – be it what to wear, what to eat, what university to choose, what car to buy, what book to read, and so on. This human-AI tool has potential to show how human and artificial intelligence can work together to provide personalization and a new kind of customer attention. But right now it needs a lot more work to make it work. Meanwhile I’ll just pop into Jigsaw and H&M to check out what tops and jeans they have. There might even be a sales assistant on hand to help out if I need a different size, colours or a new combo.

Amazon Go

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I had the pleasure of visiting Amazon’s HQ in Seattle last week to give a talk on my research. I also got to experience Amazon Go – the new grocery store they have created which has transformed how you purchase goods. You simply sign up, walk in, pick up and walk out. The paying happens automatically in the background. It is perfect for those who are in a rush and need to grab some lunch or a snack. No need to wait again for someone taking for ever deciding what to buy at the deli or fumbling with their purse to pay. ‘Just walk out shopping’ is their slogan.

It is a big step up from the last supermarket innovation of the barking self-checkout machines. Instead of scanning each item, you download the Amazon Go app and then place the QR code that appears on your mobile phone at a turnstile reader that lets you into the store. You are then registered as a customer, enabling you to take anything off the shelves, place it in your pocket or bag and then simply walk out when you have got what you want. Then, seconds after exiting, you get a receipt that itemizes what you took and deducts the amount owing from your Amazon account. It is all done through AI tech.

I thought Amazon’s 1-click ordering for online shopping was very clever at reducing the burden of shopping. But this new-fangled idea of shopping without having to go to a checkout is even more innovative. Except you feel a tad guilty – at least the first time – walking out of the store without the physical action of paying – almost like shoplifting in broad daylight.

So how does the tech do it? Has it stopped shoplifting? Can you trick the system? The smarts are in how the computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning are combined to track you and what you take from a shelf. Look up to the ceiling and you see an array of depth sensor cameras protruding that track you and your arm movements as you move around and lift your arm towards a shelf. The imaging is coupled with what is detected as being removed using weight sensors that are placed on the shelves underneath each item. All pretty clever and reliable. The only time it may get confused is if two people in close proximity put their arm out at the same time, one on top of the other and reach out to a shelf at the same time. It could mistake the arms so that each gets billed for the wrong item. But it is smart enough to know if someone picks something up and put it back down again – even in the wrong place. Unlike the first generation of smart hotel mini-bars that billed you for just opening the fridge and lifting something out to take a look.

There are 17 of these stores now in the US and more being built each month. What next one wonders – if this kind of automated convenience store takes off. Besides revolutionizing how we purchase goods it could be used in other places, such as bars and pubs, removing the need to have to wait in line to buy a drink. You could even pull your own pint – but someone will still have to pick up the dirty glasses afterwards.

Digital Faces

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The other day, I accidentally touched a part of my address book on my phone screen and it started calling a friend on WhatsApp. I knew it was starting to connect by its distinct soft pulsing ‘dudududu’ sound. I panicked and tried to find the cancel button but it was not obvious where it was. Eventually the app hung up on me but my friend later texted me to ask what was up. I texted back saying nothing really.

My initial anxiety was triggered by the thought that had my friend answered my accidental WhatsApp call I would find it hard to fess up to saying I had not meant to call her. I’d have to bluff and start a conversation as if I had meant to call her. The awkwardness is akin to bumping into someone out of context, such as at the supermarket. It can be embarrassing as you are not prepared for the encounter and don’t know what to say. You often overcompensate, by over-smiling and blathering inane things.

My WhatsApp quotidian blip got me thinking about how talking to someone’s digital face when it appears on your smartphone is far more intrusive than just speaking to them on a phone. To begin, when the person answers your call, their digital image immediately faces you. It can be abrupt. Of course this happens when we meet in the flesh. But somehow it feels strange doing it digitally. When orienting yourself to your phone screen you are also checking how you look to them in the overlaid ‘mirror’ window. Are you squarely framed or distorted with an up the nose view? All while making an initial greeting and engaging in small talk.

It is not surprising that more and more people nowadays prefer to talk to each other via typing text messages or using messenger apps. Besides being easy, fun and less effortful, it can be more face-saving than having to face someone in a digital moment.

And yet in the world of work, holding meetings with others scattered around the globe, via Skype, Zoom, Meeting Owl and so on, has become the norm. These videoconferencing apps work best when everyone at the virtual meeting is remotely connected from different locations (providing the wifi connection is good). To indicate who has the floor, screen effects are often used, such as enlarging the person who is talking to take up most of the screen or highlighting their portal when they take the floor. The quality of the video in high end videoconferencing suites is also mightily impressive, making it possible for people to appear uncannily life-like. The effect can be to make remote people appear more present by projecting their body movements, actions, voice, and facial expressions to the other location.

However, when only one person is remote and the rest are physically present at a meeting it works less well. Not so long ago, when there were no trains running from my neck of the woods into London, I worked at home and arranged to have lots of Skype meetings for the regular face-to-face ones already scheduled. They went OK but I often felt detached and alienated from the others who were there at the meeting. It was quite hard work following the twists and turns of the conversations. Not helped by the fact that I could only see those who were sitting in front of the laptop camera and hence had to deduce those who were not visible whenever they spoke from the tone of their voice. The softly spoken and mutterers were the hardest to discern. I also felt awkward when butting in, and made an exaggerated waving gesture to get the other meeting attendees’ attention to be let into the physical conversation. When brochures and other papers brought only to the meeting were handed around I sat there rather helpless, unable to grab copies. As the conversations jumped around with much laughter in between I realized how much I was not there and the little impact, if any, I had on matters being discussed. At the end of the meeting, everyone broke into their little groups to continue or start a new conversation. I made a pathetic wave and then clicked my close button. I became only too aware that I was very much on my own back in my house. Far too abrupt an ending.

To provide an individual with more sense of presence at meetings, a new breed of telepresence robots have been developed. They are intended to enable people to attend meetings and other events, like conferences, through controlling a roaming physical robot from their home via their laptop. They are typically about five-feet tall, have a display at the top that shows the remote person’s head, and a base at the bottom holding wheels that enable the robot to move forwards, backwards, or turn around. The robots also contain a microphone and speakers to let the remote person be heard and to hear what is being said locally. Instead of sitting in front of a laptop display at home that shows only a fixed view of the others at the physical meeting place, they can move their robot while looking around the place through controlling the cameras’ eyes – that are placed on the robot.

One of my PhD students teleported to a conference in the USA using one of these robots and found it overall an enriching experience. However, at other times she found it rather challenging. For example, she couldn’t see how she appeared to others at the conference so did not know what they thought about her. She also said how she could not gauge the volume of her voice, and on one occasion accidentally set the volume control to be at its highest setting. When speaking to someone, she did not realize how loud she was until another person across the room told her that she was yelling. The person she was talking to was too polite to tell her to lower her voice.

Telepresence robots are now being introduced into hospitals to allow clinicians to visit patients at their beside from their offices where they have access to more data, information and equipment. An example is Dr Bear Bot who has been used at the Children’s National Hospital in the US. Once, when it appeared at the bedside of a young child, the child looked at the robot and asked the physician how he had gotten inside it. Now that is a presence of mind. The doctor however did not play along with him and instead was rather prosaic in his answer, simply saying he was not really in the robot. Better to keep the magic in mind.

Image of Dr Bear Bot taken at Children’s National Hospital. (Sadie Dingfelder/Express)

Surveillance Madness

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safebytes.com/use-computers-webcam-surveillance-camera-free/

Recently, I read a newspaper article about a family who were having dinner in a restaurant when they all received an alert on their phones saying that someone had activated their home security system. They clicked on the app and watched in horror as they saw grainy infra-red images of masked burglars breaking their front door down. Their immediate reaction was to call the police. But before the police arrived the burglars had long gone, taking many of the family’s valuables with them.

The experience of witnessing a break-in at your own home by watching it remotely on your smartphone must be surreal. You must need to do several double takes. Apparently, according to other news reports, this new kind of surveillance experience has happened many times in the last couple of years. One woman, who it happened to in Kansas, exclaimed, “It’s nerve-wracking. Kind of makes you sick to your stomach.”

Why would anyone want to put themselves through their own home horror movie? Apparently, large numbers of people are buying these IoT home security systems now, as they become more affordable and the marketing blurb ever more reassuring. Lots of people have a CCTV camera set up next to their front door so they can be alerted while away and then watch who comes by. Many, too, have an array of sensors fitted on their windows to catch someone out if they try to intrude that way.

Sadly, the plain truth is that most burglars don’t appear to give a monkeys about the latest trend in DIY home security systems. They wear masks that make them unrecognisable on camera and they know how to get in and what to look for and where to find it in minutes. Given this is the case, why would anyone want to watch on helplessly and in a state of terror, knowing they can’t do anything to stop the criminals? Seems like torture rather than a reassuring deterrent.

Not only are we increasingly setting up cameras to watch who walks up to our front doors but we are also now using ever more child tracking software. There are countless apps available that aim to reassure anxious parents where there kids are at any time by tracking their phones using GPS in real time. One boldly calls itself Life360. Parents can be sent a barrage of buzzes to their phone or smartwatch as to their whereabouts – when their child reaches school, when they are playing in the park or even when they are just about to walk in the front door at the end of the day. The children can also be ‘geo-fenced’ where boundaries are set where they live that they must not cross. If they do, then the parents are immediately alerted. The upside of this helicoptoring is it can be nice for the child to know someone is looking over them; as one mum explained about her son, “so when he gets to the end of the road on his way home, I can just go and open the front door, so he doesn’t have to get his key out.” Yikes, what will happen when the child leaves home for good?

The apps can do more that show a child’s whereabouts. They can capture the child’s phone usage, letting you read their text messages and social media posts. As sagely written by Tanith Carey in an article in the Telegraph newspaper, “do they provide the reassurance they claim? Or are they creating a generation of parents who find it hard to cut the apron strings?” And therein lies the rub.

Creepy Data

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A couple of weeks ago I gave a seminar at Stanford University entitled ‘Revealing data: creepy or curious’.

Much of my research has been driven by a desire to encourage people to be more curious about the world they live in – be it about nature, culture, science or simply discovering more about what is normally invisible to the naked eye. I have had the great fortune to work with some fantastic researchers and designers, over the years, who have designed, engineered and deployed ever more creative and, sometimes outlandish, technology interventions, to achieve this. Each new technology that surfaces offers new possibilities of triggering curiosity – from mobile, pervasive computing, AR, tangibles to IoT. Using these, we have created all manner of interventions to get people to stop and wonder, for example, recorded millions of bat calls to make them accessible to the general public, mimicked the sounds of photosynthesis to get children thinking about ecology, and  visualised how much energy a community is using each day, by showing it as a new form of ‘street graph’ that could be seen by anyone walking down the road.

Collecting and analysing data has never been easier. There is tons of it now being collected, scraped, aggregated and combined in all manner of forms. It has opened up a whole new world of possibiilities. My research lab has started experimenting with new ways of presenting it back to communities in ways that can intrigue, galvanise and empower them. It is a very powerful tool. But by the same token, it has opened up all manner of doors for others to experiment with in less altruistic ways; be it human data, environmental data, health data, and online data.  I am only too aware, like many others, of the emergence of creepy data. By this, I mean the output of sensing technologies and machine learning algorithms that make inferences about what lies behind how we present ourselves  – be it our emotions, intentions or personality traits.

And therein lies the rub – the new brand of human data analytics is often done behind closed doors without us knowing it is happening. An example is the emergence of a new field of ‘emotional AI’ that uses facial recognition technology to help retailers improve how they customize the shopping experience. Faces of shopper are taken by store cameras in physical stores and converted into biometric templates that can work out in milliseconds the gender, age, emotion of someone and then look up any memories related to the face’s owner. In the UK, alone, it is estimated that 60% of retailers are using facial recognition technology to track people’s face. Companies like Axis Communications and NEC have become big players.

The same technology is also being used to assess job applicant’s answers to questions being asked of them; their every smile, twitch or frown is videoed during the job interview – that they are unaware of. It is subsequently analyzed and classified into specific kinds of emotions that are then matched up with personality traits. The combined personal data is scored and provides a profile as to how honest, passionate, or creative an applicant is and fed back to the company doing the hiring. For example, the UK start-up company, Human, are proud of their new AI tool, claiming it can “look into the micro-expressions” of people’s faces and, in doing so, even suggest that “these are the milliseconds of movement on the face which the naked human eyes often get wrong.” It has super-powers that can outplay us in our endeavor to deal with social situations. We may have evolved strategies to save face and when deemed necessary hide our true emotions – but now it seems AI can detect when we are lying, nervous, bored, unhappy, etc., from the mere twitch of a muscle.

Some might argue how is this approach different from other techniques used throughout history to cajole shoppers or detect if someone is lying? The drive to improve the shopping experience or to hire the right people is nothing new. Marketing companies and psychologists have been conjuring up personality tests, advertising strategies and the like, for decades in order to attract more eyeballs or understand better what makes someone tick and how hard-working, reliable, etc., they are. Furthermore, most online companies, routinely track and profile their customers, through the use of cookies and A/B testing. They are now accepted as part and parcel of life. So, why the sudden concern about so-called creepy data – especially the new methods of finding out more about what people do, what they like and what are they like?

The big difference between old fashioned marketing methods and the new-fangled analytics is that people do not have any control over the personal data that is being collected about them. All of this emotional AI can be seen as an invasion of their ‘neurological privacy’ – a term coined by my Phd student Lydia Nicholas that captures the insidiousness of collecting data under the skin.

Whereas advertising agents in the past, have used any number of tactics to get people to pay attention to the message in their ads and campaigns (Saatchi and Saatchi were masters at it) and then hopefully go and buy a product or vote for the opposite political party, they only had relatively small sampled data about what their targeted audiences said, did or felt. Moreover, they never got under the skin of people in the way current methods do. You could see on the billboards how low they would go when ‘lying’ to the public as this scary ‘labour isn’t working’ poster attests.

Nowadays, companies who collect and analyse personal data have a much sought after and valued asset. They know this only too well and will sell their data collections to third parties at a price – who can then use it in ways they deem fit. One only has to look at the Facebook-Cambridge Analytics scandal to see what can happen when data gets in to the wrong hands. While the jury is still out as to whether the online marketing methods used to persuade millions of people to vote for Trump or Brexit – that used data from millions of Facebook profiles – were effective at manipulating and changing thousands of people’s minds on whom to vote for – society’s outrage at this underhand way of treating the public without informing them properly of what they were using it for – has justifiably hit the roof.

Creepy data, in my mind, is derived from the new analytic methods being used to infer people’s proclivities and personalities, by getting under the hood, without them knowing it is happening. It is underhand and Brave New World-ish. Maybe emotional AI will one day become the new norm for figuring out when we are at our most suggestive and are only to happy to be primed when shopping for what we like looking for (in the way Netflix suggests what we might like to watch next). Or we will learn and wise up as to how to present our micro-expressions in the most favourable light.  But before this can happen we should know what is behind the new science – to be more privy to just how gullible, smart or pleasant we really are.

Plastic Robots

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Six months ago, I was all in favour of the arrival of interactive androgynous robots in public places, like shopping malls and airports, that had the potential to be equally appealing and entertaining to kids of all ages and gender. Now I am not so sure. When departing from San Jose airport the other day, I came across a new breed of plastic robots that provide public services for travellers and their young children. The first one I encountered was a weird looking robot-guide, about adult-sized, who looked less robot-like and more digital display-like with a ‘blockhead’ stuck on top.  I approached it out of curiosity, then started pressing icons on the display to get directions to a coffee shop. While interacting with it, its encased head appeared to move while its eyes blinked at me. Not creepy but over the top silliness: a strange way to mix technology. Three of these so called greeters, named Norma, Piper and Amelia, have been at San Jose for over six months! They were developed by a Korean company and cost $120,000 each. That might explain their design but this is Silicon Valley.

Then a hundred meters away, I noticed a play area where two more plastic robots stood motionless amongst a bunch of other more colorful, conventional toys, such as a truck, balls, soft dolls, a desk and chair, crayons and the like. When a mother stopped to look, the human assistant in the play area invited her to place her toddler into the play pen. She then  switched on the robots to make them come alive with the goal of attracting the child towards them. Their tummy displays lit up and they made some sounds. One started moving its clunky arms towards the toddler, as if beckoning it to come closer. The child glanced momentarily at it but then turned to play with the truck on the ground that it was near to. They seemed far too big and ungamely for toddler interest. Compared with the toys that come alive in the Toy Story movie, the robots did not become animated when switched on but stood strangely, inanimate and cold-looking. And their white plastic bodies looked most unappealing. Neither robot had mouths but just big inset eyes. One of the robots had been dressed in a little frilly, red tutu-thingy. It looked most bizarre. The mix of cloth, plastic and digital display materials did not work at all together in this context. And why leave the other one ‘naked’? Most people walked straight passed the play area without so much as a glance. But one couple that did stop (they seemed to know the human assistant already) placed their toddler in the smaller pen next to the robot area. The toddler started to play with some Disney-character, oversized, but more ‘normal’ looking dolls. During this interaction, none of the assembled humans took a blind bit of notice of the robots.

I walked closer to the play area to read the marketing banner that was promoting the new child-friendly robot. “I am cute, I am cool, I am capable” it proudly acclaimed. We have a long way to go before robots start to get  anywhere near being any of these – let alone useful, attractive or desirable – at least in these settings.

Alarming Alert

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When I lived in the mid-west in the US, I used to go swimming in the Olympic-sized outdoors pool at the University I was working at. One afternoon, I jumped in and started doing my strokes when I noticed people around me stopping and getting out. I did not think anything of it and carried on swimming until I got to the end of my lane. I then looked up and saw an official waving his arms furiously at me. My ears became attuned to a large shrill siren sounding. He shouted manically at me, “Tornado warning! Get out now!” I looked around and noticed by then everyone else had left the pool. I apologised saying I was from the UK and had not known what the sound meant. I quickly got out and ran to the changing room, where most people were hurriedly collecting their stuff and leaving.  I got changed and drove home, against the backdrop of blaring wailing sirens all around me and the car radio repeatedly telling me to go indoors, or if not possible, to hide in a ditch or under a bridge. I’d never been through this perpetual warning scare before. It felt terrifying. When I got back to an empty house (my then partner was elsewhere at the time), I put on the TV and hid in the utility room in the middle of the house. It felt silly standing there not knowing what to do, but also scary imagining the house being swept away in the path of the tornado. After a couple of hours, the siren warnings went away and I came back out into the living room, relieved after having been so tense for so long about what might have happened.

I can only imagine the panic and fear the residents of Hawaii went through yesterday on receiving a text message telling them to seek immediate shelter from a ballistic missile threat. Most probably thought initially it was a test drill but then realized from the message that it was for real. I think If I had been in their situation I would have gone ballistic with only 15 minutes to find shelter. Some people were able to quickly hide under their beds, while others were outdoors away from safety, playing golf, cycling or surfing.

It was not until 38 minutes later, when the emergency services sent out another message saying ‘there is no threat’ and the first message was mistakenly sent. One of their guys  had accidentally sent out the alert, having clicked ‘OK’ in response to a second message – intended as a safeguard – that asked whether the alert should go out. I am sure people were mightily relieved at receiving this, but at the same time confused, angry and in a state of shock.

The reason it took so long to send out the second message, after the emergency services realized what had happened was, according to Hawaii Governor David Ige, that “there was no automated way to send a false alarm cancellation. We had to initiate a manual process. And that was why it took a while to notify everyone.” Shame on the software engineers for making it so easy to trigger the alert but so difficult to rectify.

We’ve all clicked on that warning message button “Are you sure you want to …” where the dots can mean overwrite a disk, delete a file, send a message and so on. Sometimes, it triggers a momentary awareness that makes us think twice before and that we are sure; other times it is simply an automatic act.

It is far too easy to make a decision with huge consequences by simply pressing a button. If only software engineers and HCI researchers could come up with a better way of helping humans make rapid decisions for seismic events that have massive consequences. Perhaps, at the very least it should require two people to press their buttons in a sequence. After all, the aviation business has known for years that two is better than one; always requiring two cabin crew to manually ‘cross check’ when arming opposite doors of a plane.

Smart AI

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One of my PhD students has been investigating how environmental sensors can be situated in community gardens to provide new data about light levels. The motivation stems from wanting to help the volunteers who work in these gardens decide what to plant and where best to plant new crops. The data can be digitally visualised for them on a display to provide new information about the patterns of shade and bright sunlight over time. Information they don’t currently have access to. Instead they rely on previous knowledge and experiences of what worked and what didn’t do so well. The aim is to augment people’s existing knowledge with new contextual information, especially where it can be difficult to predict how different areas of a garden changes due to seasonal shifts in light and variable plant growth.

However, the initial reaction from the community gardeners was one of scepticism. They did not want to have ‘computers’ in the garden because that is where they come to get away from the digital world. Instead they value the experience of being in the garden and the importance of ‘getting their hands in the dirt’.

But later, when shown the sensed light levels in different parts of the garden over time, using augmented reality, their initial resistance was replaced with a degree of curiosity. They could see the potential benefit of having such light data to hand that could be overlaid on their schematic sketches and maps of the garden when planning in the potting shed. What they were clear about was not wanting an app that gave them advice  about what to do in the garden.

Meanwhile in India, Microsoft in conjunction with the Andhra Pradesh government have been using AI and machine learning to help local farmers determine when best to sow their seeds for groundnut, rice, maize, cotton and the like. Using 40 years of past data for weather patterns and soil conditions, they have been able to develop a predictive model of the likelihood of rain, drought and even pest attacks. From their models, they can determine when the best time is to sow seeds in a given region so as to optimise yield and reduce risk of failure.

The really cool part of the project though is how the new knowledge is delivered to the farmers. Not via a smartphone app but by Microsoft letting the farmers know simply through sending them a text message – in their native language – to their feature phones.  And for those who can’t read they  leave a voice message. Gut feeling, experience and human wisdom are being replaced by straight forward messages – based on a remarkable combination of weather forecasting, satellite images, machine learning and cloud services. And what’s more, the farmers don’t need to have any sensors installed in their fields.

Who wouldn’t want to take heed from free advice coming from the cloud that is better informed and has a better chance of increasing their income? This seems like a win-win situation for all concerned. Local farmers benefit without having to compromise or change their practice. Scientists get to demonstrate a real impact of AI through increasing the income of people living in developing countries – without replacing them with robots or pushing ads down their phones. And Microsoft can bask in a feel-good factor for providing the infrastructure and wherewithal.

But what happens if the advice given is wrong?  And the farmers end up planting too early or too late resulting in a poor crop yield. Do they simply shrug their shoulders and think, oh well even AI can get it wrong. Do they continue to follow the text advice, next time – just like many people now have taken to blindly following their GPS when driving – sometimes against their better judgement. Or will they abandon the advice, revert to their gut instinct and decide once more for themselves? I supect we are in the midst of a quiet revolution in rural farming and there is no looking back. The AI will keep improving, too. But then again, global warming is also in our midst. And that is unpredictable.

 

Opera Moments

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The other day, I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new exhibition “Opera: Passion, Power and Politics”. This latest extravaganza explores the context, history and origins of seven great operas in seven magnificent cities, from Venice to Leningrad, where they were originally performed and for which they are now renowned for their operatic heritage. It has been curated as a journey through opera, full of suspense, the visitor never quite knowing what to expect next.

Quality headphones on, my friend and I were initially led into a passage where a beautiful aria burst forth into our ears. My friend started grinning from ear-to-ear and went straight into ‘the zone’. After our visit, she told me how the first few lines of the aria had triggered a Proustian moment, taking her right back to a poignant time in her life when she had first heard it. I looked on enviously while being distracted by trying to get my headphones to sit more comfortably on my head. It proved more difficult, however, for me to be transported. So I left my friend in her element and wandered into the next darkened room, where I was taken back to 17th Century Venice, which is where it all began. There were various exhibits in the room intended to give you a taster of the passion, the politics and the power – that had been crafted and selected to convey iconic aspects, including original music scores, costumes, and old instruments.

For me, the multimedia experience was largely about the music playing in my ears rather than the visuals confronting my eyes. I tried to focus on the artefacts in front of me and read accompanying materials but it proved quite difficult. The sounds in my ears had my undivided attention for most of the time. Sometimes, I managed to synch what I was looking at with what I was hearing.  Other times, I simply closed my eyes, wandered around and listened. I barely noticed the other people milling around the space or how crowded it was. They appeared almost like solo ghosts coming in and out of focus. No-one spoke, just the occasional smile of recognition or a whisper, with a partner/companion. The one time I did hear an old couple talking to each other rather loudly, it appeared very discordant and, immediately, another woman walked over to them and shushed them.

The exhibition set-up uses wireless location-based tech to track where you are so that the head-hand set can play the relevant operas and sounds that go with the rooms as you enter and walk around them. No need to ever tap a number into the handheld device to match up with the exhibit in front of you. The effect is to place you in your own digital musical bubble – quite a contrast to how multimedia guides are used in art galleries and other museums. The transitions from one opera to another are abrupt but the moving is fluid. You don’t have to suspend your disbelief of going back in time to work out what buttons to press.

In the middle of the series of themed rooms and joining passages is a large cavernous space where short clips from films of more recent operas  were projected onto multiple sets as if appearing on the backstage of an opera house.  Very cleverly done. It was mesmerizing to watch and listen to one after the other – enjoying the climax moments as they multiplied across them. This was where the combination of sound and sights really worked for me in unison.

The whole experience was one of sheer delight. I could not agree more with an excerpt from last week’s Evening Standard’s review:

“Throughout, you’re hearing sounds so beautiful that it’s a wrench to leave one historic moment and enter another. You want to stick with what you’re hearing. What drives you on is curiosity to see what the clever organizers have come up with next.”

However, you are always very much an onlooker – in reverence and in awe. Opera does not have to always be so. Last year, one of my students and I worked on a collaborative project with the English National Opera and a tech company, called Holition, where we developed and evaluated an app that was intended to enable the general public to literally ‘step into character’ and in doing so, imagine what it was like to be an opera singer. It was called the MagicMirror and we dressed it up to appear as a make-up mirror in a real dressing room at the London Coliseum Opera House. It was incredibly effective. Pity, there was not some more of this kind of interactivity at the V&A. But then again it is a museum and not an opera house.

 

Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Alpha Generation

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When does childhood innocence disappear?  Does it get younger for each generation as they get caught up in the all encompassing digital world? The other day I was asked by a writer from Wired UK to comment on the latest Alpha Generation – kids who are  born after 2010. Most have yet to start school but many are no doubt merrily enjoying much screen time – watching cartoons, playing games and flicking through endless photos. The writer was interested in how technology and culture are shaping the development of this generation and how this will impact their attitudes and expectations. My honest answer was to say I have no idea other than they will be ever more tech savvy from an earlier age and kiddie-sized selfie sticks will become the next big craze. Toddlers will be able to look at the results of their nappy-clad, snapping, magically appearing on smart home-embedded displays that will pop up on the floors and walls and in the covers of books and even on their clothing – long before they have developed any sense of self consciousness. Seeing themselves everywhere will become the new norm, where their digital self is omnipresent.

On a more serious note, for many years, the pressing questions confronting parents have been: at what age do we let our children have a smartphone? How many hours a week should they be allowed screen time? How do we prevent them inadvertently or curiously coming across adult content or other unsuitable material? The BBC used to help parents by having a set children’s hour of TV shows and  a policy for a 9.00 o’clock watershed where TV producers chose carefully not to show crime, violence or sex before then. Kids were assumed to be in bed then or it became the responsibility of parents to chose what they watched with them. But with so many new TV channels, and the universal uptake of Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube, all able to be viewed on multiple platforms at any time – all that has changed. Now there are so many ways of viewing all sorts of content really easily. It is much harder for parents to control what their children watch – at school, in their bedrooms or even in the living room. If they are super conscious they can  set all manner of parental controls on everything. But children are instinctively curious and have a way of discovering what is forbidden or hidden from them with little difficulty.

New technology also opens doors for inadvertently coming across unexpected content. Only a few months ago a YouTube video went viral showing Amazon Alexa misrecognizing what a toddler asked it to do. The little boy said “Play Twinkle Twinkle” and Alexa heard it as “you want to go to a porn site” then proceeded to list all the options available. The video of the child’s parent intervening is very funny.

It is impossible to shield children from the dark side of adult life.

Not only are parents having to worry more about their kids being exposed to such unsavoury content through new tech, there is now pressure on them to embrace the latest range of apps that can track their baby’s movements, breathing patterns, crying levels and so on. But why stop at 6 months? Why not keep tracking them in to their toddler years, adding ever more apps – such as how well they are learning to speak, walk and play with other kids? What about measuring specific kinds of cognitive skills they are developing; all the drawings they ever made, their first attempts at writing a story, all their scores on tests from 5 years old and so on. And then there is the possibility of capturing what happens in their minds – their fantasies, made-up games and imaginary friends. I am sure someone will come up with an app that can conjure up their inner soul based on doing some trickery with all that data to hand. Whether it is a true reflection is another matter.

Soon, it will be expected that every parent should be measuring and monitoring their children growing up, and in doing so accumulating vast amounts of kiddy data that will be viewed as part and parcel of good parenting. The commercial opportunities will be endless.

Call me an old fogey, but childhood should be ephemeral, exciting and enjoyed for what it is – whether it is with and without toys, or in front of or away from screens. Just like everything else in life, there needs to be a balance between how much and when. For me, the scary unknown is the prospect that the Alpha Generation will have terabytes of data accumulating about them every day of the year: their every action, emotion, spoken and texted word that ends up as reams of digital summaries, albums, timelines, profiles, graphs and so on. An ever-lengthening shadow of themselves etched in the digital ether. It is going to make it much harder to imagine a future where they can freely use their creative juices to embellish, edit and shape their own stories and mental memories. Sadly, childhood innocence is being swallowed up by the cloud. The right to be forgotten by the Alpha Generation will need urgent attention.

Grown-up Robots

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When visiting the vast Westfield Emporium in San Francisco last week I came across my first Pepper Robot. It was performing in front of an attentive young man in a cordoned off area next to an escalator. I watched their encounter unfold; the young chap followed the robot’s instructions to play a guessing game and after that join in creating some music. The chap seemed to be engrossed and did whatever Pepper asked him to do. Each time the chap responded Pepper became quite animated; its eyes and ears locking onto him and changing colour sporadically. The chap’s responses alternated between speaking, gesturing or touching Pepper’s ‘tummy tablet’ interface. Whilst talking to the chap, Pepper’s white plastic head also moved rather jerkily along with making various welcoming arm and hands movements. Both appeared to be enjoying themselves.

After a further five minutes of interaction, the chap said goodbye to Pepper and I took my turn. I said hello to it and then selected various options from its tablet tummy as well as listening to its suggestions. This hybrid model of a talking, gesturing, child-sized robot that passers-by interact with by mirroring its actions or selecting options from a touch tablet display seems intuitive and an endearing way of communicating with a machine. Clearly, it is not trying to be like a human but has been designed to act like a robot with anthropomorphic qualities.

I began by playing some imaginary music pads Pepper had laid out in front of me along to a piece of synthesized music. Pepper then played the mix back to me – but it did not sound that good. Then I tried the option of learning German. Pepper asked me to say, ‘guten Morgen’. When I pronounced this with gusto, it was very happy, rolling its eyes around and moving its arms up and down while flexing its potato peeler fingers.

The Pepper robots have been around now for about a year and have found their home mainly in shopping malls, conference venues and showrooms. They started appearing first in Japan and now have reached the shores of the US and Europe. The reason retailers have got interested in them is for their potential marketing value: attracting shoppers back to the malls. It sends out the message loud and clear: come to our shopping mall and have fun. As well as playing games, the retail Pepper robots have been programmed to offer advice about the various stores, eating places and special offers.

Behind me was a family, with two young boys, watching and waiting patiently to have their go. It seems like something that people from all walks of life will want to try out. Certainly, Pepper is a crowd-pleaser but not sure, however, of its crowd-pulling potential. I couldn’t see anyone going specially to the mall to be entertained by a Pepper and then going further into the mall to spend. But, then again, you never know, since I ended up buying a dress in one of the stores and having a nice lunch in the good court.

Meanwhile, this year’s must-have Christmas toys have been predicted to be a life-like doll called Luvabella and a Lego robot controlled by an iPad. Presumably, the former is targeted at girls and the latter at boys (It does make cross that such blatant toy gender stereotyping continues well into the 21st century). Luvabella, however, is far from Pepper-cute looking. It looks more like a monster doll with huge blue eyes. And it makes disconcerting gurgling and kitten-like noises when you feed it plastic food, play peek-a-boo or give it a plastic toy to kiss. I have never heard a baby make noises like the ones Luvabella produces. There is not even an uncanny valley feel about it. I can’t imagine why any child would want to play with one. What’s more this kind of cringe-making, pretend like-like toy has been wheeled out before. Amazing Amanda came out five years ago and was equally sickly and did not sell well. The novelty wears of pretty quickly – and the play-acting that is offered is so contrived. Give me an interactive androgynous robot Pepper any day that is equally appealing and entertaining to kids of all ages and gender.

Driverless Cars

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We hear all the time now about how driverless cars will revolutionize the automobile industry. Billions of dollars, yen and euros are being poured into research labs throughout the world to make this happen. The race is on – who will lay the golden egg? Google has spun out its own company, Waymo, calling itself, “a self-driving tech company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around”; Apple’s CTO has described their venture as “the mother of all AI projects”, while relative newcomers to the field, Uber, fancy their chances, too.

The rhetoric behind why such a game changer in car control is inevitable is hard to argue against. It usually starts with how many people are killed in car accidents. From the road crash statistics website, we see that “Nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day. An additional 20-50 million are injured or disabled. More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among young adults ages 15-44.” That makes it the biggest killer amongst young people. The bottom line is that self-driving cars will make our roads safer by reducing human error. The computer controlled cars will be able to be programmed to be reliable, safe and efficient. Unlike, human drivers, they won’t be susceptible to poor judgement caused by road rage, fatigue, failing eyesight, texting, distraction caused by talking on the phone, etc. Furthermore, driverless cars will enable people who can’t drive, for whatever reasons, to be mobile. Instead of hailing a taxi or waiting for a bus they will be able to call up a driverless car from their garage or a special pod and instruct it to go where they want to. Who would not want such a future?

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. One of the first Google self-driving cars being  displayed at the Google headquarters in 2012 in California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

However, there is a long way to go before anyone gets anywhere near the finishing line. It is a ginormous undertaking to work out how to transform society so that the billions of cars we currently use today are replaced by driverless ones. It is not like developing a single piece of tech, such as a smartphone, or even a big piece of tech, such as a process control plant. The amount of computation required to run a driverless car city is likely to involve trillions of lines of code in conjunction with the necessary radar, LIDAR sensors, and other hardware/software (current cars use millions of lines of code to work). The driverless car city will also need to sort out how to deal with all the legal, social, logistical, ethical and environmental aspects: who is responsible for updating the software, how the cars are taxed, who is responsible for paying out compensation, who pays for the upkeep of the new whole system, whether children can be driven alone in a car and so on.

I have been trying to imagine what it would be like to be in Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, London or even Brighton with a new road system that supports self-driving cars. I find it hard to compute. For starters, people are not stupid and they like a bit of mischief. Once they clock that jumping in front of a driverless automated car will result in it stopping in its tracks – all manner of ‘knock down ginger’ car games will come into being. The autonomous car system will quickly come to a standstill especially when a group of teenagers start the craze of flash mob car standstills. Sure, the authorities will eventually make this kind of behaviour illegal but people will still find ways of getting in the way of the driverless cars.

And what about bikes weaving in and out and whizzing past the driverless cars? That will give their laser beams a right wobble. Next, the authorities will have to force bike riders and pedestrians to wear sensor and laser tech themselves, too – so a system of systems will have to decide who has priority, whether to stop a car or hoot at a person to stop.

Governments will then have the smart idea of keeping cars, bikes and people segregated – just like they did when building the relatively new city of Milton Keynes. In this modern metropolis, the cars drive above ground on a grid and roundabout system while the cyclists and pedestrians cycle on red paths (called ‘redways’) along a network of canals and through a cobweb of underpasses. The result is a city of isolated burbs that don’t connect (and apparently has one of the lowest cycling levels in the UK). As Ben Evans tweeted the other day, just like “horseless carriages – remove the horse and everything else changes”. There is none of the rub of what a city should really be – amongst which the smells, blasts, sirens, laughter, screams and revving of waiting cars are central.

Vehicle autonomy may save more lives than our current cars but at the expense of requiring segregation of the people from their urban centres and separate driverless car networks. Is that what we really want? Perhaps the less lofty goal of augmenting existing vehicles with all manner of driving aids that can help drivers be more alert and help reduce their errors by taking control at opportune times is the best way forward?

Face Age

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I have been watching episodes of “Tonight at the London Palladium” on ITV for the last couple of weeks. My interest was whetted when seeing one of my former schoolmates, Bradley Walsh, hosting it. He is slick, funny, charming and on occasion a bit naughty. Just how I remember him at Francis Combe School when he was 15 years old, and he had the rest of the class in stitches impersonating Tommy Cooper. Besides the variety acts he introduces each week, from moving magicians to sparkly singers, he invites an unwitting member of the audience to come onto the stage and play a ‘guess the age’ game. One row of the audience is asked to stand up and the participant has to guess their age by saying whether the person to the right of them is older or younger. This is repeated for each person all the way down the row. The person who has been judged to be older or younger then turns over a white card, they are holding, which reveals how old they actually are. If the participant guesses right the audience roars in approval. If they get it wrong everyone looks a bit embarrassed. Great fun. Mostly the guesses are right because humans have developed a well-honed skill of working out the age of someone by how their face looks.

It was with a mix of shock and then disbelief that I later saw a version of the guessing game being played by a computer for real in a wine bar in Hove. Many bars and clubs now have scanning technology (Scannet.com). It checks someone’s ID card (usually their driving license) and reveals the details on a public TV display for all to see; their mugshot with their age and a big tick on either side – indicating if their ID has passed the authentication test. While having a quiet drink in the wine bar after dinner, we noticed it in action as the early birds arrived, all made up. They waited patiently at the door for their go with their ID cards ready to hand over to the bouncer. It just seemed routine to them. Nothing out of the ordinary. Why were we so surprised?

The mugshots that appear on the screen appeared to have some kind of pattern superimposed on their foreheads which made each one look like a criminal photo. Their age extracted from the card also shows up in bold 60 point font; both can be seen clearly from anywhere nearby. For added security, the scanner takes a photo of the ID card and stores it as data. Who knows what other information is stripped from the ID card as part of that data? When the scanner is not in use, a webcam on top of the display clicks into action, like a CCTV camera, which was pointed at our table in front of it – we could see ourselves on the screen drinking.And for equal measure, there is another TV screen, with the same information appearing on it, hanging by the bar, so the bartenders can check as well as the bouncers.

Apparently, in London and other cities across the world, it is now required to install this kind of ID scanning equipment in clubs and bars. Worryingly, the data does not stay in one place. The scanners are all hooked up to a network that allows all the signed up clubs and bars to share the data with each other. Should a clubber be rowdy in a bar and subsequently banned, they may find they are banned from all the other venues that are part of that network. No wonder nightclubs are closing by the hundreds throughout the UK.

We watched as people’s ages popped up alongside their faces on the screen – 22, 23, 26, 33. We played our own version of the London Palladium game, guessing whether we thought the number appearing on the screen matched the person walking through the door. Some looked older than their actual age rather than younger. None appeared under age or had fake ID. Perhaps the technology was doing its job acting as a deterrent. But most unsettling to us was that the young things did not seem to care in the slightest – after being handed back their cards they headed straight to the bar to grab a cocktail. Par for the course of being young these days.

Fake News

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father-christmasAt what age do children stop believing in Father Christmas? I think I was about five when I saw my mother stealthily entering my bedroom with a stocking stuffed with presents ‘from Santa’ and placing it at the end of my bed. I pretended I had not seen her and waited a few minutes lying motionless before taking a peak at the goodies. I carried on pretending I believed in Father Christmas for another year.

Many kids seem to continue really believing in Father Christmas until they are 7 or 8 years old – according to some online surveys. That is hard to believe but maybe they want their parents to think they still believe in him. All part of the make believe that is part of the story of Christmas. The idea that a kindly old man with a big white beard comes all the way from Greenland, on a sleigh pulled by reindeers through the sky, and pops down every child’s chimney throughout the world, to deliver them presents is a wonderful fantasy. What young child wouldn’t want to stop believing in that?

But what happens when we become grown-up? Are we able to know when something is for real and something is made up? And do we pretend to believe in something when clearly it is not true? It seems the line is becoming more blurred. Some people have started making up stories, and publishing them online, in the hope that other people will believe them – even though they are clearly not true. These stories, however, are not innocent stories about kind people, but sinister stories about the world. Welcome to the year of fake news.

By fake news is meant the deliberate pushing of hoaxes, propaganda and disinformation, via social media and online news that are intended to incite people into believing them. At the same time, the term is used to refer to anything people happen to disagree with or don’t want to hear. When somone doesn’t like the facts or news they will make out they are fake. For example, the idea that the world is getting warmer is viewed by some as fake – despite the resounding scientific evidence. They will then ‘find’ and ‘generate’ news that ‘proves’ it is not true. But this then becomes clearly fake for the others.

What is fake depends on the eyes of the beholder.

Why is this happening? When people grow up they often look for information that confirms their ideological views, rather than information that comes from reliable sources or science. Increasingly, this entails following links on social media to read stories and watch YouTube videos that support their opinions. Most startling is the outcome of a recent survey by BuzzFeed that revealed that 75% of US adults believed fake news headlines they were shown. Moreover, those who use Facebook for their news feed are more likely to believe fake news headlines as telling the truth than those who read their news from other sources.

If the kinds of fake stories that were being promulgated through people’s newsfeeds were only porkies – like those we read or watch on April Fools Day – it would not be quite so bad. It would be a bit of harmless fun like the classic spaghetti story. Back in 1957, the BBC made a short documentary about the plight of the spaghetti crop that grew on trees in Switzerland. Now that would be laughed at as being ridiculous. Then, many people were fooled – since at the time very few people ate spaghetti outside of Italy, let alone knew where it came from. Indeed, a considerable number of British viewers called up the BBC after watching the programme to find out how they could get hold of a spaghetti tree. They were told to “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best” It was later viewed by CNN as the “the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled.”
fake-news

These kinds of hoaxes are harmless. Just like the kinds of ridiculous but funny stories the National Enquirer comes up with each week. In contrast, the increasing spreading of fake news is much darker and more sinister. People really do believe that that global warming is not true, that Hillary Clinton is a criminal, and so on. Please bring back Father Christmas.

Super Robots

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roombawhiskerI visited some friends for dinner last night and in the corner of their living room I spied a Roomba. I asked them if they still used it and they enthused how it was one of the best presents ever. They have had it for five years and they have used it everyday. It never complains, just gets on with cleaning their hard wood floors and carpets downstairs. This was viewed as a godsend for their family of 3 growing boys. They gave me a demo of their ‘RoboCop’ in action, and it simply went about its business, twirling around, picking up crumbs, fluff and other stuff, while all the time snitching its plastic whiskers to re-orient itself for when it gets stuck in a tight corner.

Having an autonomous gadget that cleans floors simply works. Over 12 million Roombas have been sold worldwide since they were introduced in 2002. China is now getting in on the act and shipping them by the boatload.

superrobotThere is much talk about the next generation of domestic robots. However, these are of an order of magnitude more ambitious than the Roomba in what they are being programmed to do and the hoped for improvements to life. They are now being coined super-robots (Sunday Observer, Nov 6th 2016). One of the latest offerings is Miro – designed to be like a cute cartoon dog with big eyes, big ears and a pert plastic tail. Funnily enough, it has no legs so can’t jump up or crouch or fetch like a real dog. Instead it sits on two base stumps. Its role is to be a companion dog that will nag its owner to do things. The envisioned end user is an old granny, who forgets to take her medicine and people’s names. Making a robot dog be your reminder seems perverse to me. Dogs are meant to be petted, cuddled and taken for walks – not to become your super ego.

The makers mean well – just like all the many other assistive technology developers do. They all seem to have a vision of what ageing is – an old person living on their own who could fall over at any moment and that new tech can sense when this has happened and alert an ambulance to come to the rescue. This breed of robots are quite different from the early dog robots, like Aibo (an expensive toy that was popular a few years back among computer science departments) – that could amuse its owners with tricks. They are being designed to be integrated in smart homes, with cameras, sensors and wearables all thrown into the mix. The dream of tech developers is to put all this gubbins together in someone’s home to show tech’s might. The system of sensors will be able to measure everything about an old person and what they do in their own home, including their heart rate, body temperature, when the taps were turned on and off, when the toilet was flushed, how much toilet paper was used at a sitting and so on. But who is interested in all of this and who is going to look at all of the masses of data that will quickly acumulate?

There will be special data analytic companies set up whose job it will be to monitor the millions of feeds of data, determining if one of the many alerts and notifications that will beep away on their screens actually need attention or is just a quirk of the quotidian of being at home. Most of the data will be extraneous and of no use to helping old people living on their own. It is no substitute for a friendly face popping round for a cup of tea and a chat.

What’s more the domestic robots are still a long way from being able to perform taken for granted chores like making a cup of tea, emptying out the dish washer or making a cheese and pickle sandwich. They might be able to make the perfect pancake but they can’t use a spatula to take it out of the frying pan and place it onto a plate – something we humans do without thinking. Simply put, “It’s an implicit knowledge humans have, but it’s extremely hard to make that explicit for a robot.” (Michael Beetz, head of RoboHow). While companion robots can be programmed to roll their eyes around or purr when stroked, they are a long way from looking their owner in the eye to say ‘come on, pet’, or sharing a good laugh with them cracking jokes about the innuendos being pronounced on TV.

The people who are being targeted at for the next generation of super-robots are the frail, the lonely and those with Alzheimers or other memory loss. The robots are going to cost an arm and a leg together with all the other tech and monitoring support needed. The Roombas, in contrast, were targeted at consumers, from busy working families to business people. They now cost the same as a smartphone or a dishwasher.

Why can’t the next generation of domestic robots, be designed to help everyone enjoy life more than be just nagging at old folk. Our parents and elders are a lot smarter than tech developers might like to think – as this wonderful video from Superflux called ‘Univited Guests’ depicts.

Uninvited Guests from Superflux on Vimeo.

Roving Eyes

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A police body camera is seen on officer during news conference on pilot program involving 60 NYPD officers dubbed 'Big Brother' at NYPD police academy in the Queens borough of New York
It is now increasingly common to see bobbies on the beat wearing body cams. Millions of drivers have in recent years bought dash cams for their cars. More cyclists are attaching Go-Pros cams to their helmets. The placement of these ‘cams’ on the body, the head or in the car while on the move is in anticipation – recording in the background just in case an incident happens, that can then be replayed back as evidence. These roving eyes are able to ‘truthfully’ show who said what, how recklessly a car was driven, who threatened whom and so on. Which can be quite different from and often more reliable than what people recall from human memory.

But it seems the cams are doing much more than acting as our personal CCTV cameras. This week, a paper published in the journal, Criminal Justice and Behaviour, claimed there were far fewer complaints made against police officers than in the previous year. The reason was laid squarely at the power of the cam. A completed trial compared the impact of when police wore cams and when they did not. The results showed a whopping reduction in complaints. In fact, nearly 100% – there were only 113 complaints compared with 1,539 reported in the 12 months before.

Seeing someone recording you changes your behaviour:

“Once [the public] are aware they are being recorded, once they know that everything they do is caught on tape, they will undoubtedly change their behaviour because they don’t want to get into trouble.”

People aren’t as rude or aggressive towards the police. Moreover, they are much less likely to make up porkies about being subject to police violence or assault – knowing they are being recorded. But even more interesting is that it works both ways. Police officers were also found to change their behavior, knowing what they say and do will be recorded for later use. They appear to be kinder and more courteous. And even more remarkable, was the study reported a huge reduction in complaints for the control group – the police who did not wear the bodycams during the trial period. This cascading effect was explained as a form of ‘contagious accountability’ sweeping through the whole police culture. Being nice to each other makes others nicer.

dash_camThe cam, however, seems to have, so far, not had the same impact on car drivers. Road rage is still very much the order of the day. And the peculiarly British disease of ‘crash for cash’ is on the rise. In particular, the number of people claiming for whiplash is spiraling out of control. A report that came out last week in the UK showed that there were more than ¾ of a million insurance claims last year just for whiplash. That is one in every 38 cars insured on the road – an awful lot of people driving with stiff necks. Of course, whiplash claims are well known for being one of the biggest scams around. Hard to detect, easy to engineer and even more difficult to contest. No wonder, motorists are easy prey for claims management companies, who spam them relentlessly with emails, texts and ads, asking if they had an accident recently. These ‘ambulance chasers’ lure their victims by charging nothing for their service but then taking a hefty chunk of the spoils – easy money, and bread and butter work for them. What’s more it is a win-win for both parties.

Might it be possible soon for insurance companies to require the use of the output from dash cams as evidence against this kind of blatant fraud? With a bit of extra gubbins thrown in to the cam, we could soon have quality car intelligence. Indeed, it seems this might be starting. Recent dash cams, like the RoadHawk, can detect speed and force from an impact as well as showing the setting in how it took place – all in high-def. If these smart cams became a compulsory part of the car that might reduce whiplash claims to only the genuine ones – in the same dramatic way as bogus police complaints have been reduced. And it might even encourage more courteous driving behaviour.

Imagine, too, if cyclists all had to wear head cams that recorded how they cycled. We might see more cycling courtesy and less bike rage. Only today, I had to stop in my tracks on a zebra crossing as a bike refused to stop for me but darted passed me. Not only did he increase my heart rate, but shortly afterwards, another cyclist had to swerve to miss him as he continued at speed through a red light.

I am all for technology acting as our external memory if it can change human behaviour to make people more courteous and considerate of each other – given, how many of us, it seems, have a tendency to try to beat the system whenever we can.
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The i360

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img_7422 The latest attraction in Brighton, the i360, opened a few weeks ago to much fanfare and a bit of grumpiness. On the website, British Airways who are behind the project proudly proclaim, “Take a flight to the skies and see Sussex as you have never seen it before. Glide up slowly to 450 feet high to enjoy breath-taking 360 degree views of up to 26 miles from the world’s first vertical cable car.” Janet Street-Porter, in the Independent, described it as “naff” and “an expensive and hideous eyesore”. At ground level, the locals refer to it as the ‘donut on a stick’. On a sunny day, it stands out like a shimmering silver time machine capsule majestically rising above the rooftops.

In the first three weeks of it’s opening, over 100,000 visitors have coughed up £15 each to have a ride in it. That is a lot of people and even more dosh. R and I went a month into its infancy, on a shiny sunny Tuesday afternoon. As we entered, we were screened and patted down as if going on a flight. Once inside the capsule, we found our spot to view Brighton as never before seen. We waited with much anticipation, chatting and eyeing up the other people on board, who were snapping merrily on their smartphones. At one end, was a bar selling the local NyeTimber champagne. We resisted, wanting to go up and down before celebrating. Other visitors, however, were less restrained, already in holiday mode, happy to neck back the bubbles at any occasion.

img_7428There were no announcements, no British Airways muzac or welcome. Instead, the capsule simply started moving upwards, almost imperceptibly and silently, at first. It was smooth and gentle; watching the people on the ground becoming more matchstick-like and the cars move slower, and more blocks of Lego-like flats appear on the expanding horizon. The coastline west and east swept into toy town fringes, of groynes, lawns and shingle. Then just as it had started moving the bubble stopped and our ears popped. It was all a bit of an anti-climax for what was the final view before we started our slow descent. There was no sighting of France, nothing of the Isle of White and even less of the suburbs of London. Just a bit of a blur at the edges. The South Downs were there in the distance, but unlike experiencing them from favourite viewing spots, when walking in Firle, Devil’s Dyke or Chanctonbury Ring, there were no little villages or cricket pitches unfolding before your eyes or fresh new sights around each corner. No distant sounds of cars, cows, planes or trains. No wind in the hair or country smells. No unexpected sights or quotidian human traffic. Just chirpy people taking lots of selfies.
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Ironically, by far the most spectacular view was from outside the capsule – looking directly up from below, as the shimmering donut descended down onto bystanders waiting their go, from a brilliant blue sky. Like the transmogrifying Anish Kapoor Bean in Chicago, you could see distorted reflections of yourself and others, growing larger and more funfair-like, as the capsule finally came to rest.

On exiting, you are bundled into a basement room, a cornucopia of tat. You are suddenly reminded, that just after being screened at the entrance you were photographed for a personalized souvenir. For the princely sum of £21.50 you could now buy a paper album, curated with your mugshot set against backdrops from different eras and places in Brighton. Victorian, modern, and space age. Unsurprisingly, no-one was buying them. R snapped some of the pictures as we flicked through the pages with his iPhone. Then we went across the road and had a delicious cream tea in the Victoria Terrace at the Grand Hotel – that cost less than the tacky booklet. It was a real treat, with all the trappings, and on top of that, fine views of the sea and pier.
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Street Party

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stirling street partyEach year my street has a summer party to which everyone in the street and adjoining roads is invited. I have managed to be on holiday for the last few years and have missed it. But this year I was at home and my cheery neighbours cajouled me into joining in. The sun came out and the street was transformed with bunting, removal of parked cars and trestle tables all lines up in a big square. I looked nervously out of the front room window for when it was to start and saw people had begun to sit down, bringing with them an assortment of dishes and bottles. It was time to enter the fray.

My closest neighbours and myself plonked ourselves down at one end of the communal table with our contribution. I had made a salad and heated up a ready-made quiche. My neighbours had brought two huge boxes of tempting donuts. But what to do next? Where to start? We sat waiting for others to join and then hesitantly started to put a few bits of food on our plates and fill plastic glasses with Rosé wine. People seemed to be huddled in their own bubbles. We ate our food and then drank more. It all seemed rather uncomfortable and awkward – well at least for me. Then, Peter, one of my more sociable neighbours, had the bright idea of taking his box of donuts around the tables and offering them to people. That broke the ice. He came back beaming – having got an assortment of people to take up his offer. And suddenly the floodgates opened. Lots of people stood up with their dishes and started offering them to everyone. We were inundated with offers of homemade Victoria Sponge cake, strawberries, chicken dishes, cheese plates, salads and lots more. Everyone started sharing and competing with their offerings. Try mine – it is delicious. The conversations started to flow. I was stuffed not wanting to offend anyone. The pub started selling Pimms and the Tombola and raffle got into full swing.

Then the band started playing, children started dancing, dogs ran crazy and the much hoped for conviviality was there for all to be a part of. The tables had turned. The openness and willingness to step out of one’s comfort zone – started by the offer of a donut – was a refreshing contrast to the depressing fallout from Brexit and world news of recent. I am even looking forward to the next one.

All-electric Car

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Driving a fully electric car for the first time felt like being in an ultra turbo charged golf buggy. Well, the acceleration and deceleration part of driving. Instead of going vroom vroom when you put your foot on the pedal the car shot off with a G-force lurch in almost silence. And when you take your foot off the pedal the opposite happens. In equal measures, the deceleration is quite dramatic. There is no need to use the brake as the stopping happens automatically.

The car in question was the new BMW i3. I had been offered the chance to give it a test drive while at a conference in Brisbane, Australia. At first blush, it looks like any other mid-range car – shiny and stylish on the outside, roomy and detailed on the inside. However, it begins to look different when you peer in. For a start there are no door handles on the back seat doors (I begun my trip as a passenger). The driver has to let you in by pushing out a swing-like saloon door. Then, when you take a closer look at the dashboard it seems not quite right. Things seem to be missing while others are in strange places. Switches and buttons have replaced mechanical parts. For example, to start, you press a button to switch the ‘engine’ on and flick another switch to turn the hand brake off. No force is required to yank the gear lever or make sure the hand brake is fully disengaged.
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A light touch is only ever needed throughout the experience. There is never any sense of ‘giving it a bit of welly’. The only welly seems to be hidden in the car when it seemingly takes a lot of the control out of the driving.

So how best to describe the all-electric car? Coffee comes to mind. The drive starts off like an espresso and then switches into a latte. You get a jolt, reaching 100 km from standing in only 7.2 seconds. After that, it feels very smooth and quiet as the outdoors passes you by. There is no smell of petrol, oil or diesel or in the marketing blurb “no odours at the point of use”. And of course, there is no purring or idling of the engine. Just new car smell silence.

The blurb on the website goes onto claim, “first and foremost it delivers exceptional driving pleasure. To move off from a standstill, just dip the accelerator gently and the BMW i3 will accelerate powerfully and almost silently.”

Somehow dipping and driving don’t mix just like oil and water.

“How did you like the dip?”
“Quite a big one, eh!”
“Wasn’t that quiet acceleration out of this world?”

“Zero Co2 emissions, zero noise, zero coke.” It seems, we are increasingly living in a world of denial.

You can’t imagine a boy racer talking like that. The language of driving is going to have change to match the new slipper-soled, all-electric experience.

bmw-i8-spyder-ces-2016-04When I parked the car, I eyed a gleaming orange BMW i8 parked nearby. I could not take my eyes off it – nor could many other passers-by. Now, that is the super duper souped up top of the range going for a song, to the order of £250K. Obviously, targeted at the wealthy to swan about in. The doors open outwards, again, but this time more majestically like insect wings. It flies like an angel, just maybe.

Cognitive Dressing

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gettyimages There is so much hype about AI at the moment; how it is going to transform society in so many ways. The 4th industrial revolution seems to be in our midst. Our lives will be made more efficient and everything will be easier but at the cost of 20th century jobs ceasing to be and machines becoming more autonomous.

The latest offering is from the fashion house Marchesa who have teamed up with IBM Watson to make an AI-enabled dress – somewhat misleadingly called a cognitive dress. The dress has a network of LEDs sewn into it that can change colour depending on signals sent to them. LEDs in clothing has been around for years and is super dumb. So what is intelligent about the cognitive dress? Well it is based on an analysis of social media data in realtime. IBM Watson analyzes Marchesa’s follower’s tweets tagged #CognitiveDress, instagrams and Facebook posts – and uses these to translate the aggregated sentiment expressed through colours. Words like cool, amazing and awesome are tagged as positive emotions and if enough are detected then the dress will transform into a rose colour (signifying joy) and then coral when the sentiments get a bit more passionate, and then aqua if excitement is detected. Others colours projected are lavender that shows the followers are curious about a model or product and butter to show encouragement.

replace_flower_back_2xNow remind me what lavender means? The mappings between the colours and the underlying sentiments seem fairly arbitrary but maybe that does not matter. Followers watching the models on the catwalk can ‘see’ the colours on the dress change in response to their Internet activity.

But this isn’t AI in the true sense. It is a bit of keyword crunching and machine learning, triggering colours to turn on when a threshold for a state has been reached. The underlying technology that was developed to do this is hardly rocket science. IBM also uses its powerful computers to gather thousands of images stored by Marchesa and feeds them into a color design tool, which it claims to be able to understand how the psychological effects of colors, image aesthetics and emotions are interrelated. Maybe that could be considered cleverer. The creative part however is not what appears on the dress – but a neat design tool built on this that can suggest a new palette to designers that they might not have thought about and which fits Marchesa’s brand.

There is much more that can be done with the emerging AI technology. But, importantly, we should be thinking of how humans can work together with computers to make better decisions than each can do alone – about how to live our lives more creatively and enjoyably, resolve complex problems, create new inventions, work out how best to feed 7 billion people, develop new economics models and so on. What excites me is how computation, machine learning, and human intelligence is how we can synergistically come up with new ideas for a diversity of tasks, from planning a complex itinerary, determining the best way to learn, and to help politicians work together on a new global warming agreement, peace initiative, or trade policy. It requires thinking at what points should computers solve problems, simulate solutions, and show outcomes and at what points should humans intervene, overide, control, suggest and inspire.

Super Smellers

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carscentsLast night the weather suddenly turned into a full on symphony as I made a dash from the train to the taxi rank; all at once rain started lashing, wind howling, lightning sheeting, thunder cracking, reaching a crescendo of hailstones crashing on the ground. It really was a case of elephants and lions rather than cats and dogs. I sank into the backseat of a taxi thankful I did not have to wait. The inclement weather was mercifully silenced and shut out by the slam of my door. Within seconds my nostrils were filled with a distinctive smell of almonds that turned to marzipan. Before I knew it, I was being transported back to childhood memories of eating Christmas cake.

Because it was such an unusual and strong smell, I mentioned it to the cab driver who guffawed:

“All the girls say that. Smelling of almonds and then marzipan. It is actually Coronado Cherry.”

I sniffed again and tried hard to think of cherries and sure enough I began to detect some different notes.

“Yes, it is cherries like you taste in Dr Pepper!” I chirped.

He laughed heartily again.

He replied “It is funny because men usually say it smells of chocolate.”

We then got into a very animated conversation about the difference between men and women’s ability to smell. He reckoned that 9.5 out of 10 women say it smells like almonds while 9 out of 10 men say it is like chocolate. His sample is based on the 10-20 customers he picks up a day over the last 3 years he has been buying his tubs of California Coronado Cherry. What is more, he doesn’t ask them directly, but just waits for them to say something about what they can smell. Just like with me that sets him off. What a wonderful icebreaker I mused.

But not only that, it is a lot of data collected ‘in the wild’ that shows a massive gender difference. I had no idea we were so different in our ability to identify smells. Whether women are better is another matter since we all seem to think his car smells more almond than cherry.

littletreeI’ve always thought car air fresheners are a bit naff. My memory of cardboard pine trees in a variety of colours dangling from rearview mirrors is that they were always overpowering and unpleasant – artificial sickly sweet. Reminded me of when I was 16 – and the first time I went on a date with Aaron the carpet-layer from Luton – who had a couple hanging in his Ford Cortina. Whatever was I doing…

carscent2When I bought my Scirocco a couple of years ago, it had that horrible new car smell of plastic and rubber. It never seemed to fade, so I caved in and went to Halfords in search of a car freshener to mask it. I was amazed to discover just how many different kinds of exotic trees, sticks, sprays, and tubs of super smelly gunk there are now to fill our cars with fragrance. Seems the marketing departments have gone overboard with Tropicana scents that conjure up drinking cocktails on a beach. All of them had exotic sounding names with the likes of “Jelly bean Margarita”, “Bahama Aruba Blue Breeze” and “Bahama Waikiki Wild Hibiscus Vent Sticks.” I bought a stick that promised the taste of Pina Colada – coconuts and pineapple. After taking the wrapper off, however, it smelt more like the Costa del Sol than fresh fruits. It was awful. I had to throw it out and keep the car windows open for a couple of weeks to get rid of the new smell.

As we neared home, my taxi driver regaled how he has met women who could even name the make and brand of perfume others are wearing. What must it be like to be a super smeller?

Pigeon Carriers

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pigeonI came across an article in the news about using pigeons to monitor air pollution levels in London. 12 carrier pigeons have each been strapped with a backpack full of sensor technologies that can detect nitrogen oxide and other gases. It seems pretty harmless and rather cute at first imagining such birds helping humans to discover how polluted our city is (or not) in places where it would be impossible or very difficult to find out otherwise. Maybe we will discover that it is more polluted at the top of Nelson’s column than in the grounds of Buckingham Palace – when we might have assumed the opposite. Maybe the birds will ‘understand’ their mission to learn more and swoop down into all sorts of unexpected places, including inside churches, shopping malls and onto the smelly platforms at Kings Cross.

While seemingly benign, something irked me about the use of animals in this way for human interest. Is it right? Has anyone asked the pigeons if they minded acting as mules? Surely, it would be uncomfortable for the pigeons flying whilst wearing all that kit? Plamena Panova tweeted the same concern as me:
“@PigeonAir How safe are your backpacks for the pigeons? Do they cause them pain or discomfort?” Apparently, the carrier pigeons only had to wear their backpacks for three days during the experiment and then they were removed.

bees_3370425bAnother project has been using bees to monitor the air quality of industrally polluted areas. Bees generate a lot of static electricity that results in molecules from pollen sticking to their wings, legs and abdomen. Tiny particles that are hard to detect can also be picked up by the bees providing a way of measuring local levels of pollution. The researchers have been using bees to discover more about the pollution levels of an industrial area of Sardinia where there used to be lead-zinc mines operating until a few years back. While the bees in this case can fly around unfettered they still are breathing the polluted air.

But it is not just bees and pigeons that are now becoming our roaming sensors but all manner of animals. From elephants to whales to ducks – all are being donned with electronic gear and often for much longer periods in the pursuit of science. The benefits are obvious – providing us humans with more detailed data about the gases around us, climate change or more about the animal’s own migration patterns and predatory/sexual behaviors. Scientists are having a field day finding out more about what dolphins, bats and ants get up to in their natural habitats.

The scientists argue that this kind of pervasive data collection is invaluable. Moreover, they reassure us that the animals are not being harmed in anyway. Let’s hope they are right. After all, donkeys, packhorses and mules have been carrying infinitely heavy loads for our needs for centuries. The pigeon backpacks are featherweight in comparison.

We often go to great lengths to debate the ethics of whether humans should be monitored or monitor on behalf of others (e.g. workers wearing sensor vests to collect environmental data in warehouses) but we rarely question whether if it is OK to use animals to do the same. Of course it would be easier if we could simply ask the animals if they mind.

drone-swarm-2 swarmingPerhaps, in the not too distant future those drones, that are becoming commonplace in our parks, will take over our monitoring needs. And we might get to watch them as wings of beauty instead of as noisy pesky devices – that they currently are. Rather than watching a flock of starlings swarming in formation against a beautiful sunset we might one day be in awe of a swarm of flying drones performing breathtaking air display acts.

Which Reality?

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markzuckerbergVirtual Reality is all the rage again. Last week Mark Zuckerberg extolled the joys of not only being able to see and interact in virtual worlds but to be able to record those special moments, yourself, using a 360 degree camera. Up until now, we have had to rely on filmmakers and researchers to develop the VR content using expensive equipment and powerful software. But it seems, sometime soon we will be able to get our hands on the technology and start capturing birds in flight, cars racing past and our dogs doing tricks – so that our friends and ourselves can see and share them from all angles. For Zuckerberg, a recent father, it was imagining being able to capture his daughter’s first steps that caught the headlines:

“I hope we have a 360 camera that can capture the whole scene, so if my family isn’t there to experience it, I can send it to them afterwards — or it would be real-time enough where I could stream it to them live. They could put on a headset or get a message and feel like they’re really there and experiencing it.”

What a wonderful sentiment. But I wonder how much better the experience will be than existing ways of capturing those special moments, like using smartphone video or GoPro or even a cheap and cheerful camera – that can be quickly uploaded to Instagram or Facebook or WhatsApp or whatever – for all to see at the press of a button or a swipe of the phone. With VR it requires donning a headset to see the content. For many that could be a step too far. While the headsets will come down in price and every household will be able to afford one for Christmas – it is likely to not be the best quality. For an unknown number of people (could be quite high) it will make them feel claustrophobic, nauseous or headachy. Also overlooked in the current hype and fanfare about VR, is that the headsets are like toothbrushes – fine for you to wear but not for anyone else to use. They can pick up human scent, especially hair sweat – being worn so closely to the head – meaning they can get very smelly and unhygienic. It is likely that no one wants to don the VR headset of a teenager gamer anymore than they would want to try on their sneakers.

phphh9njx The few times I have tried on an Occulus Rift headset it has been sanitized for me with a sterilized wet wipe. Even then, I detected a slight whiff of the last person who wore them. Can’t see people getting the wet wipes out every time they want a quick VR fix. Of course we could each own our own headset but you might find out you don’t like the smell of your own head. I suspect the first generation of VR headsets targetted at the general market will go the way 3D glasses went – those that had to be worn for 3DTV. Most have fallen into disuse, disrepair or got lost behind the back of the sofa.

giphy Besides wearing a VR headset makes people look weird and as this video attests, it is also terribly anti-social. You immediately shut yourself off from the rest of the world in ways that other technologies don’t. While it can be very annoying to be shut out when someone answers a call or checks their phone when you are in a conversation with them – you can look away, fiddle with your own phone or give them a glare to let them know how you feel. When someone goes into VR forget it.

3ddisposeOf course you could meet others in the guise of avatars in a VR world and have lots of fun. That possibility has been around for year for gamers. Other areas, such as training and overcoming phobias like fear of flying have also been benefitting from the application of this technology for a while. The leap from this to everyday viewing and sharing of moments is still a leap of faith. Having said that – when the first disposable 3D cameras came out back in the mid 90s I was bowled over by the 3D postcard photos they created. And spent a happy few months playing with them. Then they just disappeared off the shelf. Whatever happened to them?

imagesMy money is on augmented reality being the winner. Microsoft’s HoloLens looks amazing. Where it differs from VR is in the nature of the wearable and the digital augmentation. The wizardry behind HoloLens, will allow the user to still see and engage with the real world while also interact with all sorts of overlaid 3D content on that world. It is still very much a technology for the individual but at least you will be able to see what the rest of the family is up to in the living room or whether the real family dog wants some attention.

Creative Charities

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IMG_6786 While waiting for my coffee to be made at Costas I noticed a lemon floating in a cup of water on the counter with a tantalizing teaser besides it: “balance 20p on the lemon and win yourself a drink”. I have never tried to do that before and so was curious to see if I could. Of course, my delicately placed coin slipped off the lemon and slunk into the cup of water as the lemon rolled over like a barrel with the weight of the coin. It lodged itself in the bottom of the cup along with several other 20 pence pieces. I asked the barista if anyone had achieved the seemingly simple feat and she said, wisely, yes a couple of customers had but she had no idea how. Perhaps, the secret is to hold the lemon with one hand to stabilize it while using the other hand to place the coin on top of the lemon. Somehow I felt that might be cheating and not in the spirit of raising money for a good cause – in this case it was the Costa Foundation. It seems that other pubs and cafes have also been using this trick as the video below shows someone trying to do the same at Weatherspoons. I failed to find a video of anyone succeeding the lemon test.

Raising money for charity has seen many innovations over the years. Last year the ice bucket challenge was all the rage where people poured a bucket of iced water over their’s or someone else’s head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In doing so, it was intended to encourage people to donate to research. An integral part of the challenge was to upload a video to Twitter or other social media platform. The silliness went viral; over 2 million tagged videos appeared on Facebook, alone.

rednose An annual favourite event in the UK is Red Nose day, organized by Comic Relief. Lots of people don a plastic or furry red ball on their nose and do something equally silly. Last year, they raised nearly 100 million pounds. Rather than freeze to death, people did all sorts of other crazy things, such as getting everyone to come into work with their face painted in some funny way. Passers-by are encouraged to dig into their pockets or go to the website and donate whatever they can. It always seems like lots of fun for those participating. The money that Comic Relief raise is then spent on all sorts of projects to transform the lives of millions of people, both in the UK and across Africa.

The name often given to this kind of feel-good and good-humored charity raising lark is somewhat unfairly, called “slacktivism” – implying that doing something silly with minimum effort to show that you support a good cause is rather shallow – because it does not require any long-term involvement or commitment. Most people don’t agree. Even if it is only one-off, it manages to raise millions of pounds while increasing people’s awareness about certain diseases or good causes. According to the Huffington Post, scientists were able to make a scientific breakthrough from the money donated from the ice bucket challenge last year, namely identifying a protein that fails in the cells of most ALS patients that importantly, can be repaired. That seems like a mighty achievement.

But a dark side to how charities run themselves is starting to raise its ugly head. While many spend wisely the money collected by people having lots of fun there has been a growing concern about some charities who are splashing the cash as if they were heading up a company or corporation. Fat cat salaries for execs is one example that is raising crossed eyebrows. More worrying, is how some charities are selling services and products to unwitting customers which are not the best deal for them – so that they can raise ever more cash. One that has come to light recently is the sale of car insurance by a charity that many people trust because it is meant to be looking after their interests. Because the charity is recommending a package many assume it is the best one for them. Given that there are now a myriad of packages for insurance, Internet Service providers, and utilities, it would seem a worthy thing to be doing. But the truth is that some charities may be suggesting options that are not the best value for money or in the interest of the customer concerned – but which helps them to line their coffers. Now, that is really taking the biscuit. Far worse than a bit of harmless slacktivism.

Meanwhile I checked up on the Costa Foundation and found nothing untoward in their fund raising or spending behaviour. The charity aims to “relieve poverty in coffee-growing communities. Its mission is to improve the life chances of boys and girls by providing them with the opportunity for a quality education. Foundation schools deliver both academic and extracurricular programs that enhance health, gender equality and environmental awareness.”

I’ll happily have another go at the lemon test but pass on the counter of irresistible cakes that also lure you to spend more.

Hot Shots

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shutterstock_239524879-1024x776 Everywhere you look now there are people – the majority young girls – taking photos of themselves, whether it is on the beach, up a mountain, at a party, or in front of a famous landmark. It is increasingly common for selfie sticks to be used to enhance the poser’s look, by providing better angles of their face and other bits. These are then instantly uploaded to Instagram and the wait begins. Who will give the first like or comment? How many likes will they get in the first hour?

An instant hit follows if someone gets some likes and/or comments within five minutes of uploading. The hits only last for a moment and then it is onto taking the next set of photo shots hoping one of these is even more likeable, stunning and stands out from the others that their followers are taking in their parallel worlds.

Last summer while on vacation on a Greek island we saw the Instagram craze in full throttle while on a quiet boat trip to a few of the less populated beaches. A group of twenty-something year old Greek girls, covered in shiny skin salt spray (that was frequently applied to make their skin look like it does for models on the cover of glossy magazines) posed on the boat, sometimes just a few inches away from us – for the whole 8 hours – completely oblivious to anyone else, but themselves. At times they took up to 100 shots per hour. The trouble was that their poses were as fake as their tans. The fluttering of the eyelids, the pushing of their cleavages out of their bikinis and the pouting of lips just did not cut the mustard. Well not for the rest of us on the boat. They were also on the chunky side and, in our minds, not at all attractive.

chandonaustralia The same happened yesterday when I was on a wine tour in the Yarra Valley in Australia. A group of young girls, wearing floppy hats, large insect shades and high waisted shorts joined us on the bus. Instead of listening to any of the commentary they spent the whole time shooting snap after snap, uploading the best of their batch at half hour intervals and then waiting anxiously for the notifications to start pinging likes and comments on their phone. I don’t think they took in anything about the production of the wine, the beautiful scenery or what the different wines were. The time they seemed most animated was when taking photos of themselves posing by glasses of champagne at Chandon Australia (the image is not of them but another one from @Chandon Australia).

There is a viral video at the moment doing the rounds called ‘Instagram Husband’. It captures how many young girls now use their partners as extended selfie sticks to get more extreme shots of themselves to post in their virtual worlds. It is all about the ultimate posing and most gratifying posting now.The boyfriends and husbands are left feeling like second fiddles, largely being overlooked.

Screen-ShotAccording to Mashable, more people died in 2015 from accidents taking selfies than were killed by sharks. 12 people died falling off cliffs, stairs and other precipices whereas only 8 people were killed by sharks. That stark statistic puts the latest narcissistic craze into perspective. The number will surely rise as tourists become ever more daring in order to get ever more likes. It is hardly surprising that increasing number of parks and tourist attractions are now banning the selfie stick because they dont want dead tourists in their midst.

EdSheeren Meanwhile, superstar singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran announced recently that he is “taking a break” from social media to begin seeing the world through his own eyes and not always via a screen. He has a phenomenal 16 million Twitter followers and 5.5 million Instagram fans lapping up his snaps. This random photo got 393,000 likes and over 5000 comments/strings of emojis (“you look cute”, “wow”, “so amazing!”, “love this photo”). Good on you, Ed. Just make sure you don’t take a smartphone or camera with you on your travels.

Cashless Society

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ATMqueueEvery Thursday a bustling Farmer’s Market comes to our university campus. It is a feast for the eyes and nostrils. Giant pans of steaming paella, sizzling burgers and other culinary delights await the throngs of students and staff coming out of their classes and offices for an al fresco lunch. In an adjacent street you can also see a line of snaking people queuing to draw cash out of the ATMs. The reason being is that the stall owners only accept cash while most young people now don’t carry cash. They pay for everything from coffee to clothes to travel with a tap or a swipe of their contactless or debit cards. It is all so easy. No need to carry around loose change – unless that is you need to go to the toilet at a train station. Then you come a cropper.

I asked my students the other day how many of them had any cash on them. One or two hesitantly put their hand up. Cash is old money to them. The smell and feel of a wad of crisp £20 notes fresh from an ATM does not have the same feeling as it did to previous generations. But there is a price to pay for all this convenience. It can come as a shock when they look at their online bank statement or spending app and find out just how much they spent that week.

You can often end up spending much more than you thought. The odd coffee here, snack there, bus to get home, and other sundries can quickly add up to a startling amount. It is definitely a case of the sum being greater than the parts. Claer Barrett from ft.com wrote an article about how she discovered she was using her contactless card far more than in the same month a year ago. In her words a whopping 211%. This August, she tapped her card 22 times – mostly for coffees, sandwiches, public transport, supermarkets, pubs, Uber taxis, and so on. A year before she had used it less than 10 times while drawing out cash 10 times – amounting to £600. This year, for the same month, she found she had drawn out much less cash and used the ATM much less frequently – only 4 times, for a total of £220. And what’s more, when she forced herself to go back to the old way of mainly using cash, she discovered she spent much less each week.

cash4645 People used to check how much money they had left in their purse, pocket or wallet before making their next purchase. It provided a way of helping them know how much they had spent, how much they had left and whether they could afford to buy the next thing. “Lend us a tenner” was a common phrase at the end of a jolly night down the pub. Now you never hear it. Students dont have the same experience of what it feels like to have an empty pocket or only a few pennies left. Just add a few more transactions to their ever increasing overdrafts. If you can pay for another round or a kebab and a taxi home, then why not? If the bank stops their virtual cash flow then send a text to mum or dad to ask them to transfer more money into their account. It is all too easy living in the cashless society. But worryingly, reckless.

“Money, it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today…”

Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Futuristic Videos

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It has become increasingly popular for companies to make a YouTube video that depicts their world of future living. Some are intended to show what is possible now and others what it will be like in a few years hence. Most depict a world where technology is there to serve us making our lives more efficient, less effortful, more informative, and even calming. One future living video I came across the other day, while doing some research for am upcoming lecture, was by Hoover – the well known vacuum cleaning company. It was released a few weeks ago, to promote their vision of the future home, where people can stay in touch with all their white goods via an application that is ostensibly the Internet of Things – wherever they are. The marketing guys have even metamorphosed the concept into a Wizard that does it all for them with the strapline “Tech that Talks”.

The scenarios played out of modern life are so out of touch with the messiness and richness of the real world it made me laugh. The kitchen has been decked out with smart sensors that proudly send out a constant string of notifications to the owners’ smartphones and tablets keeping them informed of how much energy is being used, when the cooking is done, when the dishwasher has been switched on, and so on. A young couple are shown living in perfect harmony; the wife sitting on a bar stool flicking through her tablet, waiting for the stove to tell her to take a saucepan off the hob when the stove has decided it is ready. The husband, meanwhile, is out cycling by himself in the park when he gets a notification on his phone, that is strapped to his arm. He stops, takes his phone out of the arm strap and reads a message from the cooker telling him the fan in the cooker hood has been activated – presumably because of the steam arising from the cooking. He smiles to himself – presumably because he infers dinner will be ready on the table when he gets back.

Honestly, do these tech companies seriously think young couples dream of a life where they are constantly bombarded by notifications on their phones letting them know every time the fridge, the oven, the dishwasher, the cat flap and so on have done something they feel worthy of broadcasting? It is enough to turn anyone into an obsessive-compulsive disorder addict. Never mind the sterotyping of the different roles.

Some of the videos have an injection of humour in them that at least makes you know they are not taking themselves totally seriously. One I liked from a couple of years ago was a concept video of how a pair of running shoes could talk to its wearer, encouraging them to be more active. They got a lot of mileage from considering how to get people to run for the pleasure of it – rather than reaching some target that most of the self obsessed step counting apps that are around now make us all aim for.

There are also a number of videos that show how future technology can transform the health of the nation. The one below was created for me and a friend while we were on a ride at Disneyland. It is short, sweet, funny and suggestive of how we can continue to enjoy life without being scared of taking risks because technology will be there to the rescue – to heal our broken bones in a matter of hours.

One of my favourite videos of future living captures the absurdity and stupidity of a future where monitoring and notifying are at its heart. It portrays a man in his 70s finding the smart home all rather tedious and tiresome – that his children and grand children have set up for him to reassure themselves (sic) that he is living healthily and safely by himself at home. He then works out how to outsmart the smart technology while keeping his family thinking he is doing all the things they want him to do. There is hope yet for humanity after all.

British Bake-Off

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NadyiaI couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between two ladies, in their eighties, sitting at the next table to me at Costa Coffee as I was trying to do some marking. It was much more riveting than the printed words in front of me. One was regaling to the other her immense pleasure at watching the last episode of the Great British Bake-off. The other had not watched it but listened intensly.

Her friend was waxing lyrical in a loud voice about the programme. Her opening gambit was saying how a lovely Muslim woman had won it:

“She was a typical Muslim woman – very timid. You know. But then as the show went on she really blossomed. I thought how wonderful. You don’t see that, do you? Oh and her husband was a real hunk. Got his own fan club now. Not surprised. Lovely couple…”

Her friend nodded with interest.

“Must come from a really good British family. On the last day at the tea party her mum and dad were so excited for her. And her husband thinks the world of her. I have never seen such a lovely couple. Gorgeous. Don’t see that in a Muslim family. He gave her so much encouragement. He was so proud of her… It brought tears to my eyes.”

The star of the show, Nadiya, is a Bangladeshi mother of three, aged 30. She and her husband have shown what a truly multi-cultural society we are in the UK, slicing through all the stereotypes about what it means to be a Muslim in Britain. The same conversation I just heard, is being repeated up and down the country, in its myriad of coffee shops and echoed throughout social media – in the aftermath of the competition. There have been hundreds of thousands of tweets about her victory – all in the same vein. Just a few have dared to say she only won it because she was a Muslim. Which of course is absolute rubbish. And has been counter-argued by the likes of Pritha Bardhan, who tweeted, “She won the Great British Bake Off because she’s able – not because she’s a Muslim woman. Her soda can cake and choco peacock were amazing.”

weddingcakeNadiya’s showstopper in the final was to bake a British wedding cake for the one her and her husband never had at their wedding. It was a lemon drizzle cake (a classic British favorite) draped in some of the jewelry she wore at her wedding and wrapped with some of her sari dress. She joined her britishness with her culture. Perfect fusion.

A striking factoid about what it means to be British is that more people watched The Great British Bake Off final than voted for the Conservative Party in the last general election in the UK. Well over 14 million viewers watched it live (while many more watched it later on iPlayer). That speaks volumes.

Sudden Death

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snowdonWhile waiting in the queue to get a coffee I overheard a young man regaling the story of how his aunt had fallen off the side of a mountain and died on impact. Not any old mountain, mind you. It was Snowdon, the highest in the UK. Hearing this made me feel sad. But then the chap perked up and said that she was 82, very fit and she died doing the thing she loved doing most, hiking. He then asked the lady serving him whether it was better to go quickly doing something you love or hang around and die in hospital of a slow and painful death. The woman looked at him sagely and said “oh yes, much better to go just like that, especially doing something you love… and not having all those tubes hanging out of you in hospital for weeks or months on end dying a slow and painful death.” To which he replied, “Yeah, she had a good life and she had lived to a ripe old age.” And on they continued, restating the virtue of a good death to somehow make them feel better about his sudden loss.

You could see he was quite shaken by the news and wanted to rationalize the terrible accident. Slipping off the edge of a mountain while trekking is surprisingly common. While it may result in an instant death, to the person who looses their footing it can be a terrifying few slo-mo seconds – not knowing what will happen at the end. Slip a few feet or a few hundred? Live or die? I wonder whether the aunt in question was looking forward to another 10 or even 20 active years of doing the things she enjoyed. If you can squeeze another chapter out of life then surely dying at 82 is just as tragic as dying at 22. The next day I read in the local paper about how a 92 year-old man had recently married an 81 year-old woman. The photo of the recently weds was touching – clearly they saw a future together.

When is the right time to go? Just as we have no control over when we are born we don’t know when we will die. The debate over whether people who have life threatening illnesses should have the right to decide they want to die through assisted suicide rumbles on. Last week it was voted out by the UK government. There are too many arguments stacked against helping people who want to die knowing they have a terminal illness compared with those for helping them. Some vulnerable people will feel pressurized by the state or their family to die earlier than they might want to – being a burden on society. Others lose their mental faculties to no longer be in a fit state to make such a decision. Life is precious no matter what. And so on. The moral high ground remains with the living.

My dad died of Alzheimers a couple of years ago. It was a long and painful time for him, especially in the later stages. In the early stages he tried to talk to the family about wanting to die early through assisted suicide. The family would not hear of it. I was more sympathetic, knowing my dad and observing the devastating deterioration in the quality of his life. Up until his mid 70s he was as fit as a fiddle climbing mountains, like Snowdon, when ever he could. For a long time, as the illness took away his faculties, his personality and his raise d’etre, he would cry repeatedly, when we visited him, that he wanted to die. It took many more years before his body finally gave up. The last few days watching him literally starve to death after he had had multiple seizures and was no longer conscious was harrowing.

I have enormous respect for people who have dementia or terminal cancer, who have made the brave and measured decision to travel to Switzerland with their partners or family, to die in dignity rather than go through such an ordeal.

IMG_5955 Meanwhile, on the news today, research reported in the Lancet mentioned how placing notices for how to get help from the Samaritans at the end of railway platforms or putting thorn bushes at the edge of well known hotspots can act as highly effective preventative barriers – often just enough to make suicidal people stop and reconsider. In that moment they can come to their senses and seek help, often enough to move them from the brink. For example, in one study in the UK and Hong Kong, it was found that the number of people taking their own life dropped by over 50% after these kinds of simple interventions were introduced. In another study it was over 90%. Clearly, the motives for attempted suicide are different from assisted suicide. The period of a suicidal crisis, where a person becomes obsessed by the need to die for whatever reasons, can be broken. A bush, a safety net or a stranger simply asking someone if they are OK can break the trance. It is a cry for help and when they have to stop and think it can be enough for them to reconsider.

Ninja Talk

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greensmoothie Many of us dread going to the hairdressers as much as we do when visiting the dentist. Having to engage in small talk for an hour or so can be quite exasperating. After the first few minutes of niceties ‘sharing’ where you went on holiday, followed by isn’t this spell of hot weather too much, the conversation can often dry up. A few can open up too much and start to overshare what they got up to last week or moan incessantly about anything from the price of parking in town to the crisis at Calais. The easy option is to hide behind the glossy magazines, immerse oneself daydreaming in the background music or play Candy Crush on one’s smartphone.

I actually look forward to going to my hair salon as I have developed a quirky rapport with my stylist, Ella, where we usually skip the small talk and move straight into something a little more alternative – whatever tickles our fancy. This morning we began by talking about the row of very luminous green Maidenhair ferns that adorn the windows of the salon. A new addition. I asked her how come they were looking so healthy when they are so hard to look after. That was her cue. Ella went into rapture as she marvelled about the precarious art of fern care. Besides frequent watering and daily misting the secret is to give them a full immersive soaking once a week – but not any old soak it has to be just so and only for a few minutes. At the beginning of their new life in the salon they nearly died. It was only when one of the assistants took over did they make a recovery.
maidenhair

We then moved onto the current craze of using Nutribullets for making smoothies for breakfast and throughout the day. She regailed how her last one went up in flames and left the house reeking of an acrid burning smell. On investigating why it had spontaneously combusted it turned out that she had left it on for a couple of minutes too long and that had no doubt caused the motor to overheat. She fessed up to walking away to do something else and then coming back ‘probably’ a bit longer than a couple of minutes. Anyone who has kept a blender on full blast for a few minutes knows that smell only too well. Anyway she had the balls to take the burned out bullet back to the kitchen store who replaced it without question for a newer one called a NutriNinja. Those Nutri guys have done their marketing homework. Bullets and Ninjas as names for fruit pulverizers. Masterful.

nutriNinjas are commonly associated with warriors – secret weapons used against enemies. In the US there is a popular TV reality series where competitors have to tackle a series of challenging and heart-stopping obstacle courses to win. It’s about power and blast. The NutriNinja boasts a 900W motor that blends using its “21,000rpm stainless steel blades.”

Unlike the Nutribullet, the NutriNinja has a control panel that allows the user to set the time for the blasting after which it stops on its own accord. Perfect for the likes of Ella who wander off and forget the time. Genius design.

It seems this the Nutri family of machines is transforming a whole generation’s way of eating. Everyone in the salon fessed up to owning a Ninja or a Bullet and enjoying throwing whatever was languishing in the fridge into it to make exotic smoothies or creamy porridge. We went through the list of must-have veggies and fruit to use and the no-no list. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries were the best. Half a carrot not a whole one as it make it too bitter. Avocados and bananas were considered too claggy. Celery did not work well. Ella likes throwing oats, almond milk, dates, frozen berries and some kale into hers for breakfast. Another stylist favoured Kale and spinach and apple and ginger. And on they went including the other clients describing their concoctions and wonder drinks. Vodka was also added for nighttime drinks. They revelled in the art of mixing fruits, vegetables, nuts and grain with yoghurts, milks and whatever – in the way artists enjoy setting up their palettes. Utterly riveting. I was chomping at the bit by the end, ready to go and buy my NutriNinja.

But as with any new pleasure there is always a killjoy lurking in the background telling us too much of a good thing is bad for you. Research has shown that you get hungrier more quickly if you drink vegetable and fruit smoothies rather than crunch and munch your way through them whole. The sugar spike can come all of a sudden causing the premature hunger pangs. But as pointed out by Rhik Samadder on his blog “it’s not for healthy people. It’s for incredibly lazy people.” And there are many of those in the world. Ella, for example, would barely manage a piece of toast most mornings. Now she is powered up with vitamins and zest every morning. And it is so much fun to play with not knowing what it will turn out like each time.

Sense-able Cars?

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tyre-pressure-monitoring-icon Last week, when on a road trip in Ireland, a worrying ping followed by a warning light appeared on the dashboard – as we were merrily cruising along a remote country road. The car was asking us to check the pressure of the tyres – in the middle of nowhere. It picked its moment! Why suddenly then? Did we have a slow puncture? Had we been driving for too long? Had the nasty pothole we had driven over an hour ago caused one tyre to loose pressure? We discussed a number of possibilities but could not settle on the cause. When we eventually reached our hotel (there being no garage on route) we looked at all the tyres and kicked them. They all looked and felt fine. Next day, after turning the engine on, the car pinged at us again and the dasterly warning light came back on. Eventually, we found a garage and checked the tyres – getting our hands filthy from twisting the caps off. All was fine. We turned the engine back on but the hazard light was still glowing menacingly on the dashboard.

When we got home I phoned the local VW dealer to ask them how to turn it off. They told me to switch on the car entertainment system and navigate through a series of sub menus until I reached one that said ‘car’ settings. When I tried I found everything but the menu of ‘car’ options. So I gave up and instead drove to the dealer. A friendly mechanic sat in the car, poked around and eventually located a small button inside the glovebox hidden obscurely right at the top. He pressed it for a few seconds and the warning light went off.

There was nothing wrong with the tyre pressure. Just every now and again the car thinks it should let you know you should check them. How annoying is that piece of software design? Especially when it is not smart enough to tell you how to turn the warning light off or, what to do after you have checked them and they are fine. Which design engineer came up with the smart idea of placing the reset button in a place that is impossible to find? And which sensor engineer came up with the idea of asking you to check your tyre pressure at some random time through using a warning sign on the dashboard – causing unnecessary anxiety?

Meanwhile, in the States last week, a Jeep Cherokee got hacked into by some clever security guys – through its connected entertainment system. They wanted to demonstrate how it was possible for anyone with some smarts to control the car remotely. The car company recalled all of its 1.4 million Jeeps to patch the software fault. No-one got hurt but those guys caused an enormous amount of anxiety and worry amongst owners of a Cherokee. Just imagine if some real hackers had actually taken control of some random guy’s Jeep and driven it into a ditch or towards oncoming traffic. The security guys certainly made their point. Let’s hope the sensor technology and the intelligence behind them gets a little smarter and secure in the future.

IMG_6318 damian

Yesterday, I went with R to Knightsbridge to check out the super bling cars that appear at this time of year for a few weeks, when the mega-rich come over from the Middle East to do a bit of shopping in this exclusive bit of London. They have their special shiny cars flown over for the occasion. Against a backdrop of torrential rain we spotted several of them parked illegally outside Harrods. Our favourites were a gold-plated Ferrari and a Swarovski crystal-encrusted Merc. Both had their own personalized number plates: F1 1RAK and BA11 BYY. The dazzling goldie is owned by a former Iraqi (sic) world kickboxing champion called Riyadh Al-Azzawi. The twinkly sparkler is owned by a 22-year old Russian student called Dario Radionova who had the bright idea of covering her car in tiny crystals to make it look like the ultimate jewel. Beats Damian Hirst’s diamond skull by a mile – for sheer audacity, head turning awe and ultimate glamour. Everyone who walks past these cars cannot but stop, stare and snap; not quite believing what they are seeing. The ultimate car is one that glitters not one that tries to be too clever by half.IMG_6314

Super Technology

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logo_rememberthemilk My smartphone beeps. This time, a message from my fridge alerting me to buy milk on the way home. This rather tired example of smart technology is still being rolled out whenever anyone talks about the benefits that future technology holds for us. Why can’t it order the milk and get it delivered without needing to involve me? Surely, that would be the smart thing to do. A bottle of milk would be sitting there on the doorstep for when I arrived home. But, equally, I could have nipped out to the corner shop when finding the milk had run out. Just like many of us happily do now. Once there, we might have a chat with the shopkeeper and find out about the local gossip or their opinion about the heatwave or their joy at England beating the Aussies in the latest Test match. And even try the new apple and ginger fruit juice he has just got in.

cornershopMuch of everyday life is made up of these unexpected encounters. We bump into people we know all the time: at work, down the street, at the cinema, in the supermarket and even miles away on holiday. Inconsequential in themselves but which is the social glue that holds society together.

Opportunities for unexpected human contact are slowly being eroded for every transaction that becomes automated – unless you use apps like Tinder specifically to meet a random person you fancy the look of. Taking humans out of the loop is of course nirvana for business, helping them to cut down on operating costs while making services more efficient – and at the same time encouraging people to buy more.

It can also take the headache out of having to queue – and how we hate having to wait for others in front of us especially if they are slow. Last week, when driving to Cambridge, I whizzed across the Dartford Crossing without having to stop at a toll booth and chuck a few quid into an over-sized bucket and then wait magically for the barrier to rise. The new Dart Charge system that has been installed swiftly reads your car registration number and checks to see that you have paid online within 24 hours of crossing. That is super technology.

Dartford_Crossing_400x400dartsystem-large

Trouble is it takes five minutes to fill in the form and register online to use the Dart service. They want to know all sorts of things about you, your car and not forgetting the all important bank details. The same has happened now when parking at Brighton station. There are no barriers or uniformed officials sitting in glass windowed booths. There is still one small wooden hut but it was locked with not a person in sight. All rather eerie. You can pay in advance or up to 24 hours afterwards. After that they slap on a penalty. I paid as soon as I got home fearful I would completely forget once ensconced in domestic life.

It took me another five minutes to key in my details online. The same pattern happens when buying tickets for train journeys. I nearly missed my train last week when trying to buy a ticket to Lincoln on the Virgin site. There was some mix up with being a new user versus a registered one. And it did not tell me until I had filled in all the details including the prized seat facing forward at a table with electric socket. They just vanished from the screen after the error was detected. I had to get a new password as I could not remember what it was. It would have been easier if I had bought it at the station and much less frustrating!

The underside of the relentless push towards ever more automation is that we humans have to do the ‘paper’ work to make it work – tapping all those personal details into our computers or smartphones for every new transaction, making up new passwords and forgetting them. For each new cloud-based system that comes along and replaces the old fashioned way of doing things – like paying with cash and having a human be in charge of the transaction – requires us to sign up before or after and give bank details.

And then there all of those services that we have signed up for using direct debit because it was easier and because sometimes they give a miniscule reduction – be it the TV licence, car tax, gas, water, leccie, Virgin/Sky Media, Netflix, O2 and so on. While taking away the pain of having to fill out yet another form online (once it has been set up) it means we forget how much money each month they are taking from us. When they increase their monthly subscription or charge we simply shrug. I don’t know how many direct debits and standing orders I have now. Some just disappear from my radar. When email notifications pop up from these companies I often don’t bother opening them. I don’t want to really know I have spent an extra £50 this month on data while roaming abroad.

Shockingly, I don’t know how much I earn anymore. Instead of enjoying the monthly ritual of opening a pay slip that would come in a brown envelope – especially when there was a rise due, many of us now have to go online to find out. That means remembering the URL or typing into the search engine when in the work’s intranet and tapping in our user ID and password (finding the one the computer used to have stored is no longer valid) to get to the same information. I simply forget – since there is no monthly email reminder I’ve been paid. And it is not as pleasurable looking at the data in a spreadsheet format – which invariably it is formatted in.

The weather is miserable out there today. So I booked online to get tickets to go to the cinema tonight. It only took a couple of minutes, even after having to scroll down a long menu of countries to enter that I live in the UK. Why do they need to know that? Then up popped a ‘Verified by Visa’ form for me to fill in. I hate those things and can never remember what the 2nd, 4th or 8th or other 3 random sequence of letter/digits they ask for from my password for that credit card. So another couple of minutes filling this bit in and stressing that it was correct.

Hey presto – up popped the message:
“ORDER COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY”
but then as I read on:

“Collect your tickets from the cinema counter or kiosk – Don’t forget your Reference Number!”

Usually it provides a RFID code that you print off as your ticket so you don’t have to queue. What was the point of doing all that key tapping in again and paying an extra online booking fee (nice one!) if I still needed to line up?

An email arrived a few minutes later with the codes on them. Just as well.

I just read in the news that the number of fines issued by the new automated payment system at the Dartford Crossing in its first 6 months exceeded the number of speeding tickets issued in England and Wales for an entire year! 867,897 motorists were fined £70 each compared to the 713,000 speeding tickets issued throughout the whole of England and Wales. That is a whopping £60,752,790! But it gets worse. Some drivers have reported that they are being charged on days when they have not used the crossing. Apparently, the automated letter recognition software sometimes mixes Cs and Gs and other similar looking letters. That is not smart technology. I dread to think how much has been made by Transport for London (TfL) since the Congestion charge was introduced in London over ten years ago. In 2009, alone, nearly 1.5 million congestion charge penalty charge notices at £120 each were made. TfL managed to collect £77m of what was owed to them. That is daylight robbery.

Smart Time

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QRcode While travelling on the Heathrow Express into London I had one of those envy moments. As the ticket inspector came into the carriage I fumbled in my bag for my ticket that I had just bought at a ticket machine while a smartly dressed guy across the aisle from me raised his arm to her brandishing a sparkling new Apple watch. The QR code on his ticket filled the screen. The ticket inspector put her handheld scanning machine next to his arm and hey presto his ticket information pinged up on her screen. Ktchung! We all looked at her smiling face and marveled at how slick the action had been. It was her first time checking an Apple watch face.
apple3 She then turned to me and I handed her my ticket. She looked at it and then me and said, sharply, “that’s your receipt.” I apologized profusely and looked again in my bag for the ticket. I found another one and gave it to her. She looked back at me and said that was also a receipt. Two receipts, no ticket! I must have left the ticket in the machine in my dash to catch the train. I tried to explain how after two pieces of card had been printed I’d assumed that one must have been the ticket. Then I remembered, how on other occasions having to wait ages for numerous bits of card to be printed (some for the seat assignments) and each time scraping the back of my hand to scoop them up as they slowly came out of the machine.

Luckily she was sympathetic and did not make me buy another ticket. Meanwhile Mr smart guy’s watch had turned into a swirl of candy crush apple icons and he and his colleague returned to talk business. I saw the future. I checked out the new smartwatch train apps and saw that there is a cool one for checking where you are on the track and what the next station will be. Perhaps, that was a trainspotting step too far!
apple-watches-ribbon
Yesterday, FitBit’s shares soared on the New York Stock Exchange on their first day of going public. The wearable technology company that sells fitness bands that track your sleep, calories and footsteps sold over 10 million of the devices last year. That is a lot of people wanting to find out more about how their body works. It seems all the tech companies are getting in on this wearable act, all counting and measuring parts of the body, from pulse to movement. One I tried, was Microsoft’s new Band – that was a gift given to me at a tutorial run by Microsoft. They normally cost £170 each. Made me feel like I had been given a big present. Once I had set it up, I was curious to see how well I had (or not) slept, how many calories I had burned each day and what my pulse was. There are lots of other cool sensors packed into the band; one that even lets you know the current UV level so that you know whether to slap on some sunscreen.

But after two weeks I stopped using it. I did not need to obsess about whether I was exceeding or deviating from my average number of counts. Checking occasionally an app on my mobile phone to see how often I have reached or exceeded the magical 10,000 steps each day seems to be about the limit of my interest in body counting. According to one of my colleagues a lot of other people also stop using their wearables after a couple of weeks, once the novelty has worn off. While the consumer market may not grow big it seems the corporate one is likely to. A number of companies have been buying them for their employees with the goal of improving overall employee health and well being. BP America, for example, bought 24,000 FitBits for its employees, their spouses and retirees in 2013. Nearly 75% of their employees are now wearing them. That is a lot of step counting for a company usually associated with putting your foot on the gas!

It is not just BP. Last year, according to an article written by Jena McGregor in the Washington Post about 7% of all Fitbit wearers got given a band by their employers. And that is likely to increase as more health insurance companies offer reductions in their deductables as part of their health insurance schemes to companies who get their employees to wear them. No wonder Fitbit shares are soaring. While I was free to stop using my fitness band, I wonder what the pressure to continue wearing them is for those who are given them at work. The social pressure to conform could be immense. If everyone else at work is wearing a Fitbit or a Band or an Apple Watch maybe it will be hard to justify why you are not. Especially when 3rd party companies are brought in to manage the scheme and so in charge of the privacy issues as to who gets access to your personal data. Luckily, we humans can be crafty. If you have not achieved your 10,000 steps each day there are workarounds – so long as you just know how to…

Sheer Delight

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IMG_5877Last week I watched a 16 year-old girl dissect a cow’s eye in front of a bunch of 6-12 year olds at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was gripping seeing her pulling bits of muscle and fat away from the eye to show the third eyelid and then removing other parts to reveal the lens, optic nerve and back of the eye, which was a beautuful turquoise colour. For 20 minutes the kids surrounding her were literary on the edge of the bench, all the time drawing in closer and closer, as she revealed and explained more about how the eye works. At one point, she slit the eyeball and some black sticky stuff spurted out, narrowly missing one of the kids – to which they all squealed with delight. It added to the excitement and suspense. At another point, she had them all in the palm of her hands as she explained how we see with stereo vision. She also asked them lots of questions to which hands shot up to the sky to give an answer. Why do cows have a third eye lid? The answer: to protect them from scratching their eyes when grazing harsh and prickly grass. I’d never thought about it in that way before and that has stuck with me since – making me want to find out more about what other animals have them and why we humans don’t have one (we don’t need one since we don’t put our heads in thistles to munch all the time). At the end she revealed the lens – as if it was a jewel – and got the kids to look through it to see upside images of themselves that she then got them to think about why they were not the right way up.

IMG_5884 The girl who performed the dissection did so with great skill. She was also an excellent teacher. She is hired as one of about 50 teenage explainers who work for the Exploratorium and who have gone through hours of training to learn how to engage members of the public in science. It is part of a programme started by Frank Oppenheimer, who was the founder of the Exploratorium and who believed that only through explaining to others do you learn at a higher level. You also learn a lot more about the people who you are explaining to – what they understand, what intrigues them, what they find difficult to understand and so on. At such a young age, explaining in public to whoever comes along helps them develop self confidence and social skills in approaching people, listening and talking – all fundamental skills that everyone needs to learn.

Later that evening, I watched a YouTube video of another teenager explainer dissecting a cow’s eye (there are several). While her explanation was very clear and followed more or less the same script as the one I had watched live there was something missing. The audience. In the live show, I could not help observing how the kids were so gripped by the dissection and how they kept getting closer and closer to the action. I also noted how others came to see what was so exciting and stood on the benches or squeezed in whatever space was available. A special learning moment for explainer and audience.

It was without question something that will stay with them forever and hopefully for some whet their appetite to learn more about the fascinating world of biology.

I was struck that even though explainers, teachers and members of the public can present on stage or in front of a camera it is never the same as being there in the moment when you can ask or answer questions, actually feel the eyeball in your hand, smell the liquid as it spurts out and talk about it to whoever is standing or sitting next to you. While you can learn a lot from watching videos these days you can never capture the wonderment that is central to wanting to learn more and importantly, be able to explain to others.

Ten Pieces

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Ten Pieces is a BBC initiative to inspire a generation of primary school children to listen to, explore, and get creative with classical music. It is the brainchild of Katy Jones, an executive producer at the BBC, who for the last two years worked tirelessly and with amazing energy, planning and masterminding the whole thing. The ten pieces represent some of the best and well known, a taster that can be listened to in one sitting or separately. They include classics such as Holst’s Mars from the Planets, Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5, and more modern pieces, including John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine. A film of the 10 Pieces was made and shown on British TV, where the pieces were introduced, performed and choreographed in electrifying and captivating ways.

It is not surprising that Ten Pieces has spread like wildfire in its first few months since being announced. At the beginning of the year, more than 120,000 children watched the film at their local cinemas throughout the country, triggering them to interpret and explore what they had seen and heard in their own creative ways. Since, it has cascaded through a multitude of different avenues, manifesting itself in many forms. Many more children together with their teachers, national orchestras, musicians, conductors and TV presenters have come together and re-presented and interpreted them in art, performance and other forms of expression. The official website is brimming with reports, blogs, tweets, videos and images of musical happenings, being added to each day. Only last week it was announced that two of the Proms planned for this summer will include concerts that will celebrate the first year of Ten Pieces at the Royal Albert Hall.

proms I have had the enormous pleasure of listening to Katy telling me over the years about her latest venture, project and ingenious way of engaging ever more children and adults. Sometimes, it was hard not to want to pick up a trombone, trumpet or flute to make music and join in the fun.

But tragically and unexpectedly Katy died last Friday completely out of the blue, aged only 51. Many heartfelt tributes from all corners are starting to stream in via social media, from those who have just found out about the terrible news. She touched many with her infectious smile and contagious ‘you can do’ it spirit. I hope her wonderful energy and special magic will live on and continue to fulfill her dream; inspiring all manner of generations from across the world to not ever think again that classical music is boring but to want to ‘get creative’ with it.

Jones

Photo from the Manchester Evening News

360 Degrees

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110_view_of_i360My office manager asked me if I would do a 360 degree feedback process for her about the way she behaves at work. I tried to imagine what that would entail – moving around her from above and viewing her from every angle? Just like this new i360 viewing experience currently being built on the Brighton seafront. In reality, it means receiving feedback from a person’s immediate work circle and the person also rating themselves. In other words, 360 means multiple perspectives.

My colleague’s email ended with her asking me, “Please do be brutally honest in your answers.” My immediate reaction was to be aghast at being asked to do this. She reassured me that the process is intended to help her develop as a manager and was not meant to be about evaluating her performance. But there is a fine line. Giving someone feedback on how well they are doing and how they could improve, in my mind, is a form of appraisal. Surely, better done using a proper procedure where there is a form both have filled in to use as a vehicle to talk through, where the appraiser gives a mix of selective, gentle and praiseworthy feedback combined with carefully worded constructive criticism – not multi-rater scales with radio buttons you click on to be brutally honest. And, as I am her line manager she will know immediately what I have said: “Your responses will be anonymous and it will not be possible to attribute ratings to any individual Rater, unless you have been nominated as X’s Manager.”

I was talking to someone else at a different university who is also going through the same Leadership and Management course (seems every university in the UK has signed up their staff for it) and he seemed to think he had learnt more about himself as part of the process. When pressed, however, he seemed less willing to provide specific examples of what this meant in practice. But let’s hope that learning more about yourself in this round about fashion might make you understand how to manage yourself and others better.

Much more fun are the magic mirror augmented reality apps that are coming out, intended to enhance and extend the user experience by giving people real-time feedback on how they look when trying things on, like sunglasses, make-up or clothes. I’ve tried a couple of them with a number of colleagues, students and friends and each time it is hilarious. The first trylive-eyewear lets you try on a range of glasses as if you were looking in a mirror. As you move your head around the virtual glasses appear to stay stuck to your face making it appear like you really are wearing them. It is uncanny.

http://youtu.be/kpwhjGOi5KQ

MakeUp Genius by L’Oreal is a free app you can download that lets you try on lots of different kinds of makeup – especially that you would never dream of wearing normally.

http://youtu.be/67Fw855WzVc

That kind of 360 degrees is a lot of fun!

Social Niceties

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dress“You’re a jerk!” The words spat venomously from behind me. I looked behind, startled, and saw someone I knew from a while back. She continued: “Why didn’t you get in touch? You’re a jerk!”

I replied, somewhat lamely, “I did not expect to see you here. Are you around for the rest of the conference? Let’s meet up later.” The damage done, she grunted and introduced me to her teenage son who looked at me and gave a sweet adolescent smile.

I thought about why I had not got in touch with her before coming out to Silicon Valley. In years gone by I would have emailed each time I was visiting (which is where she lives). Only this time, I was here just for a fleeting visit to a conference. Sometimes, it is better not to say anything than to disappoint. “Hi, I am in town again but won’t be visiting you this time.” We bumped into each other again the next day and arranged to meet for what turned out to be a very amicable dinner. The wrong was put to right.

At another morning coffee break I was talking to an old friend, J, while soaking up the warm Californian sun. We had 5 minutes together before someone else, who had been standing on the sidelines, sidled up and said hi to J. The guy also smiled at me and we let him in our circle. The conversation inevitably took a new turn. A few minutes later a wee man sprung himself upon J by holding out both his hands and then cupping one of J’s to shake it. He then did the same with the other guy. It seemed forced and unnatural. I waited for my turn (I know this guy and I know he knows me) but he completely blanked me out and turned to face the others. Surprised, I cheekily sprung my hand out and said, “And hello, I am Yvonne!” in an exaggerated, sarcy way. He looked back at me, shook my hand limply, muttered a half hello, and then turned back to talk to the other two guys.

Jeez, talk about being rude! I waited for two minutes and after being ignored walked away. You know where you are in the pecking order. I was made to feel right down there – a nothing. Perhaps if I had been wearing some of these delightful, colored shoulder flaps, that Hillary Predko from the Social Body Lab has developed as an expressive wearable that move up and down by tensing your muscles, I might have at least been able to vent my frustration! The idea behind this technology is as an extension of our bodies to allow us to sense our surroundings and express our emotions in a more visceral way.

Networking at conferences is hard work and stressful. While some shy away, others feel they have the right to just barge in where they want. Etiquette is thrown out the window. The worst is when someone you are talking to, looks over your shoulder in mid-sentence to see if someone more interesting or important is coming towards them. If they spot someone higher up the pecking order, they often won’t even say goodbye but just shoot off. Onto the next one to let them know how great they are.

At the end of the last evening’s social event, I walked over to the manager who had organized the buffet and bade him farewell. I had chatted with him earlier in the evening as he was adding the finishing touches to the wonderful spread. He was touched that I had said how enjoyable the food was and loved the way the food was presented. It really is easy to be nice to people and make them feel valued and good at what they do.

Dress with flutes designed by Halley Profita

Book Power

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brainMost of us have returned to work this week after a prolonged festive break, indulging in a diet of over-eating, sleeping, drinking, relaxing, watching TV, and meeting up with friends and family. Our brains were given a break from the treadmill of social media, 24/7 news and bubbling up email. And most of us really needed it. Trouble is after such a slothful period it can be really difficult to get our brains back up to speed. I was joking with some colleagues today about still only running at 60%, to which they replied they were barely at 50%.

Why is it so hard to start working again after a much needed break? I often get a headache after using my brain having not used it for a while. It is as if the brain synapses are complaining like leg muscles following a strenuous run.

Is it possible to keep our brain in good working order like a well-oiled engine – that does not need such a shut-down? Can we keep it healthy so that it is easier to rapidly switch gears from thinking slow to thinking fast? In the Evening Standard this evening, the columnist, Richard Godwin talked about the effects of unhealthy media on ourselves. His solution is not to treat digital media like alcohol and every now and again have a week of digital detox – but to make it more difficult for ourselves to reach such a state of overwork and unhealthy media in our normal everyday lives. He provides a few handy tips on how to achieve this, like deleting shortcuts to time-wasting websites, changing the language on your phone to Korean so you are forced to talk to people rather than texting them (unless you happen to be Korean) and signing off Facebook.

Books shelf Will reducing our daily dosage of digital consumption improve our levels of brain energy so that after a holiday we are able to return to a 100% functioning brain more rapidly? I am not so sure. How about discovering the joys of physical media, again? Where we start reading paper books from cover to cover, sing along to the lyrics provided on the back of album covers while listening to old vinyl records, flicking through comics, magazines and newspapers, and even browsing through the junk mail that drops through the door.

practicalethicsMuch pleasure can be gained from loosing yourself in print as in digital media – we just need to rediscover what that is for us. One glossy flier that grabbed my attention was the offer of an evening class in practical philosophy at a nearby pub. That got me thinking, why not? Discussing practical ethics over a pint with some locals. What could be more delightful? And what’s more, there are 41 copies of Peter Singer’s first edition (1980) going for just a penny each on Amazon!

I was also struck by Mark Zuckerberg’s proclamation the other day; he plans to read more books in 2015 purely for intellectual fulfillment. You never know this year could see the return of the paperback.

Japanese Blooper

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Japanese-Sento-6One of the delights of going to a foreign country is discovering the different ways of doing things in all manners, from greeting someone to sharing a meal. Japan, for example, where I am currently visiting is full of them; often mindboggling for those of us from western cultures not familair with such habits. It makes us have to rethink what are normally taken for granted habits, ranging from taking our shoes off when entering someone’s house, to never taking a dripping umbrella inside a shop, to not blowing your nose in front of someone else. It all makes perfect sense when you think about the reasons behind these etiquettes and, of course, is far more civilized than not doing them. But, inevitably one slips up and does the wrong thing, like I did today, big time.

The hotel I am staying at in Japan, in the city of Nara, has a bath house – which I was curious to try. Called a Sento, in japanese, it translates into cleanliness plus nakedness plus togetherness. The japanese bathing culture started centuries ago, coming orginally from India, as a communal place for both sexes to get scrubbed cleaned while gossiping – just like what happens in Turkish Baths. Nowadays, many have closed, while most others survive on tourists paying good money to experience something that they simply dont have in western culture.

Being a good citizen, I looked at the folder in my room containing the directory of services but for the entry against bath house, it just mentioned the opening hours. So I thought I better read up on the etiquette of public bathing, especially given that I was going by myself. So, I checked it up on the web and was quite surprised to see so many rules associated with the tradition of communual bathing. What drew my attention were two key rules which could easily cause problems for prude and brash brits: (i) no-one is allowed in wearing a swimming costume and, (ii) no-one is allowed in bearing a tattoo – the reason being is that tattoos are associated with symbols from the Japanese mafia. I stopped reading up about it after this – assuming there would be a receptionist at the desk to show foreign guests the ropes (as I had recently experienced when visiting, for the first time, a Turkish Bath in Istanbul a few weeks ao).

I went down to the bath house on the 6th floor in my hotel flip-flops holding my hotel towel, eager to find out more. However, no-one was around to tell me what to do at the front desk so I walked into the ladies changing room, where I saw a japanese lady drying her hair. I stripped off and wrapped myself in my bath towel, thinking that was what I should do. I then asked the japanese lady (who rightly spoke no english) in a kind of improvised janglese, flappy arm sort of way, where the entrance was. She pointed to a sliding door and then started waving her small wet towel at me, gesticulating and rabbiting on in animated japanese. Google Translate would have come in handy then – but maybe not when standing naked. So, instead, I waved my large towel and she laughed mirthfully at me. This cross-purpose banter went on for some time with neither of us getting anywhere. Then she pointed to my wrist – I showed her my orange wristband locker key and that got a nod of approval from her. At least I got that right! Then I grinned inanely, as you do when you reach a lost in translation impasse, and slid the door into the bath house. I was confronted with female nudity which took me aback. A few women were merrily showering and lathering themselves, each holding a handheld shower and sat squately on a feeble plastic stool in front of their own mirror. I felt far too self conscious to try doing the same. Instead, I put my large bath towel to one side and plunged straight into the large communal hot bath. I sat there by myself feeling like a lemon, wondering if I should have showered first. There was no one for me to follow in their footsteps or to give me a helping hand. Eventually, some of the japanese women who had been cleaning themselves followed me into the bath but sat at the other end.

At that point, I realized I had messed up big time. Got it the wrong way round. So I stood up and walked straight out, without looking back, to the changing rooms – wondering what the women sitting in the bath were thinking about me. Luckily, the hair-drying woman had disappeared. I then saw a sign saying restroom and thought I could hide in there to rest, overcome my embarrassment and decide what to do next, but on sliding the door open discovered it was just a toilet (it seems they use the American term here for toilets). At which point I wanted to sink into the ground. I hurriedly put my clothes back on and rushed out, back to my room.

hot bath On re-reading the dos and donts of going to a Japanese bath house, back in the safety of my own room, it turns out that having a little towel is really important, and you should never use a big bath towel when there. I was reminded of the divers at the Olympics who all have their little flannel towels they wring and use all the time to dry bits of them while focusing the mind. So, that was what the hair-drying woman was trying to explain to me. Then I discovered the other faux pas I had made:
Not washing all over beforehand but instead brazenly walking straight into the bath: “Wash thoroughly before entering the relaxation baths. It is important that every square inch of skin gets a pre-soak lashing of the suds. Typically, one squats centimeters above the ground under small showers with the backside resting on a miniature stool. Don’t worry, it is more comfortable than it sounds – even if the knees have seen better days. Instead of allowing water to run over yourself as you clean considered wasteful in Japan – pour water over your body with a shallow plastic bucket provided by the sento.”

This time I read on. I could have done worse! Apparently, they do use a chemical in the water that turns it purple if you pee in it. But not only the water it also turns your skin purple. Could you imagine if I had turned up at my talk scheduled for tomorrow all purple and the Japanese members of the audience chuckling to themselves, knowing the reason. I cringed imagining how that might have played out! Professor Purple found in the bathroom with lead piping…

For more on Bath House rules.

Call Buttons

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fasttrack Pressing buttons is often irrepressible. You can’t help yourself when you see one just asking to be touched. The other day, I was at a meeting where someone proudly proclaimed how they love to push the green button when going through fast track security because it gives them a great sense of satisfaction. The physicality of pressing down on something makes them feel good – like a high five. And, conversely, if they have been subjected to a slow ordeal through security they equally enjoy slapping the red button, helping to relieve their frustration.

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Buttons are becoming more ubiquitous in other contexts, especially, it seems, those designed to expedite service. Getting someone’s attention can be a trying experience, especially in cafés where waiters are often surly and go out of their way to be unhelpful. Imagine my delight when I saw this call button at Searcys Champagne Bar at St Pancras Station – inviting the customers to press for more champagne. The bar claims to be the longest in Europe and so it saves the waiters having to walk up and down all the time so that you can catch their eye. There is something rather alluring about seeing a sign next to a button saying ‘press for champagne’ rather than the more impersonal ‘press for service’. Trouble is when I last visited it with a friend it did not work. We pressed it and waited five minutes. No waiter. We pressed it twice more and still no waiter. There was no way of knowing if the thing worked as it did not give any feedback after being pressed. Eventually, after 20 minutes a waiter sauntered past, oblivious to being summoned by the button, and so we resorted to the usual, grabbing his attention by shouting and raising our arms.

pushbutton The second call button I came across the other week was in a rather ordinary hotel in the centre of Madrid. The push buttons were encased in a plastic base – located on each table in the foyer/café. At first, I thought they were decorative paperweights but then I realized they were service call devices, comprising three buttons; call waiter, ask for the bill or cancel call. It was only when I looked at a sign at the bar providing an explanation I worked it out. Being mischievous, I was tempted to press all three and run away. Like playing Knock Down Ginger. But then I thought better of it. Instead, I gingerly pressed the icon that looks like a man about to shoot himself in the head (it is meant to be a waiter holding a tray up high). I waited. But it was the same as at the Champagne Bar. No response. After five minutes and still no sign of a waiter I pressed it again. Eventually a waiter did appear from behind a closed door and I hailed her over with my arm.

It seems, in both cases, the waiters were ignoring the new-fangled technology (or had switched it off). I don’t blame them – being beckoned by the tyranny of a button is surely very demeaning. And yet, flight attendants would lose their job if they did not attend to the call buttons pressed throughout a flight. However, many of us don’t dare use them. The one time I did press it to get some water, the attendant gave me that look that puts you in your place, masked by the ‘have a nice day’ smile. There is something in a glance that speaks volumes. It is rare now to see passengers pressing the call button. Instead, most of us will walk up the aisle to the galley and ask for what we want.

Why is that pressing buttons to get someone’s attention feels awkward? After all, this uneasiness and not knowing does not happen in Korea – where restaurant table calling buttons are an integral part of the culture. Everyone simply presses the discrete button, placed at the end of each dining table when wanting waiter service – without giving it a moment’s thought. What’s more, a waiter will invariably arrive in seconds and seem only to pleased to serve.
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Breaking Bad News

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bad-news

There is never a good way to receive bad news. We all dread the scenario of the doctor telling you the results of scans and tests that indicate you have terminal cancer or the policeman knocking on your front door to tell you your child had been run over. Conversely, there is never an easy way to tell bad news. Policemen and doctors receive special training. The rest of us, not. Increasingly, people resort to using email or a text to pass on bad news. You can compose an email or text in the best way possible, using opening gambits and well-worded condolences, and then simply hit the send button – not having to deal with the immediate reaction of the person it is sent to. Some tweet the bad news or post on Facebook without thinking whether the bereaved have been informed personally. That is really bad.

At the end of last year I was working on my laptop, having just landed in California the day before, when an email notification appeared at the top of the screen with the subject matter “bad news i’m afraid.” I stopped in my tracks and my heart beat a little faster. It was the addition of ‘I’m afraid’ that made me afraid. I opened up the email thinking it was from Gary, the email address of the person sending it to me. But his wife, Gil, had used his email account to let me know he had died out of the blue: “i have terrible news and there is no easy way to tell you: Gary died this afternoon of suspected heart attack on the beach.”

gary_posterShe had a point that there is no easy way to tell terrible news. But it completely threw me that it came from his email account. I read it as if he was talking to me – as you do when you read emails from people you know. Someone I had thought was talking to me appeared for a split second to be sending me news of his own death. I understood later why Gil had sent the email from his account – it was far easier and more practical for her to let all his many friends know in this way as she just had to go through his email address book. The shock to her was so great that it did not matter which email account it came from – so long as we found out personally and not first through Facebook.

Besides death, another kind of bad news that can be hard to receive via email is disappointment. Typically it happens, when you fail at something – such as not getting the job you wanted, not being awarded a grant proposal you had worked hard at, not getting a paper accepted for publication at a conference when it was one of your best, coming second in a competition you thought you deserved to win, and so on. Often you have aimed high, imagining and daydreaming about what it would be like to succeed. But then the email letter arrives and you read the first line, “I regret to inform you…” that stains your retinas. The rest is a blur and you experience that awful sinking feeling. I usually swear profusely under my breath, say childish things about the sender of the email, kick the desk and then go for a walk to try to distance myself from the indelible words in the email. And then come up with any number of post hoc reasons for why I did not want the job or the grant and why I am better off without it.

Another kind of bad news is at the group, organizational or national level – that triggers anger and frustration. For example, England’s abysmal performance at the World Cup last summer, Man United’s dreadful start to the Premiership this season or the political party you supported loosing at the general election. A common strategy is to blame – “we was robbed”, “the ref was blind” etc. Another is to assume you know better and to spell out how you should have done this or that. It can help to dissipate the disappointment by feeling superior or more knowledgeable.

Last week my dean dropped a bombshell to a number of us in a largely positive email sent to various members of a list. While reading all the good news the bad news – otherwise largely hidden– popped its ugly head out for those who would be affected by it. We were told of the plan to move the Computer Science department to a new building (the good news). But following this was the sentence that for the next couple of years the majority of us were to be ‘decanted’ to another building, temporarily, while a new building was found and repurposed for us (we’ve grown too big for our current accommodation). I got really upset at how I had received this piece of news. I know I can be over-sensitive, but somehow receiving it in this way made it all the worse. I let my dean know how I felt in a frank email reply just to him. He made up for it by meeting me face to face talking it through over lunch and coffee. It is good to talk – it really is.

Bad news image from http://www.thirdoptionmen.org/blog/bad-news/

Bushy Tailed

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Today I found myself jumping and jigging around with a large furry tail strapped around my waist. I had been invited to a preview of a new theatre production called Dusk devised and directed by David Harradine and Samantha Butler, artistic directors of Fevered Sleep. It will go on public release in mid- November at the Young Vic. While the production is meant for very young children, aged between 4-7 years, adults and helpers are invited, but they have to join in, too, even being daubed with special green paint on their face.
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A colleague, Sarah, and myself, were visiting with a view to developing interactive technologies that the children could subsequently express their feelings and reflections about the piece. Getting children as young as four to reflect on their phenomenological experience is quite a challenge – but one we were inspired to think more deeply about in light of having taken part.

Dusk is set in a theatre where groups of children come into a darkened space and are met by a friendly host, who is wearing a tail. He makes fun of them not having a tail – thereby making them all want a tail. Piles of big bushy tails magically then fall from the sky and the children scramble to put them on. Tailed-up, they then follow him through an Alice-in-Wonderland like red door into a magical forest, where there are bright lights, stars, moons and trees. Not knowing what to expect or when to sit down or jump around with their tails they are like butter in his hands. The suspense is palpable and what is in store proves to be a real treat. The children are completely immersed in the experience – for well over an hour. Even the fidgety ones stop in their tracks and join in with all the others.
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Central to the piece is a 40 minute film that traverses the physical and the digital, time and place. A lost hybrid creature with horns and a tail wakes up to find he is all alone in the forest. He tries to find the other creatures he was playing with, before he fell asleep, and comes across the same door the children, at the theatre, have just entered. He walks though it and is confronted by an unknown world, where he experiences all sorts of emotions, from fear to joy. At various points he cries out in a haunting way, with the hope that someone will answer. Each time the children echo his cry sometimes spontaneously and other times egged on by the host. It was both mournful and joyful to listen to them bearing their soul, with heads high and mouths wide open – sounding like a pack of wolves.
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The narrative is about growing up, where the hybrid creature crosses mountains, seas, forests and terrains on a long and often lonely journey. He eats flowers to survive and takes comfort from seeing an owl, a deer, a snail and a beetle. Through his journey he comes across men destroying a forest using menacing logging equipment and then when he finally enters a city he sees a tree caged in by wrought iron – intended to protect it. Paradoxes like these of being unprotected but needing to be protected and being protected but needing not to be protected are one of many that are traversed through the piece. There is a lot going on – a rich layered tapestry of meanings. What would a four year old make of it all? Judging from their faces – a lot.

At various points of the journey it looks like the creature is about to make it home but in classic Shakespearian style some other obstacle or challenge gets in the way. During these moments, the children instinctively turn their heads to the physical door at the back of the theatre forest that they entered through – waiting in suspense for him to appear in person and then when he doesn’t, swivel their heads back to watching him virtually on the screen in front of them. Each time it occurred, it was for me a wonderful moment and so clever – the kids traversing the physical and digital and back again in seamless and seamful ways.

They seem to know when he will finally come home. Rather than jump out of the screen – like in the movies – he eventually and somewhat hesitantly comes through the physical door. He then wanders through the undergrowth where the children are sprawled and seated, kicking their tails and touching their faces, to make sure they are real. He then whoops them up into a crying frenzy and then spontaneously they are up on their feet, following him in his special tail-jigging dance. And all the adult audience members and helpers who had donned tails (called ‘big its’ by the host) find themselves joining in, spellbound and smiling – and that is how I ended up jigging on the spot with a whooshing large furry tail behind me.

The piece is both a film and theatre and sometimes neither. From the programme blurb, it says it is “an invitation to see the world with our eyes and ears wide open, smiling awestruck. To slow down and to look.” Judging from the absorbed reactions of the little ones it seems the directors succeeded in doing more than that. It was a far cry from any Disney film, TV show or cartoon that they feed off during their daily screen time. Instead of a sea of faces fixated ‘heads down’ mindlessly staring at a screen, we witnessed a group of ‘heads up children, enraptured, alive and embodied – being both an audience and being a part, being there and not being there. That is mindful interaction and a joy for all to see.

How Much?

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hatch'sThere is a lovely fish market called Hatch’s next to where we are staying on vacation in Cape Cod. There is always a queue of people inside buying from the many different kinds of fish on sale. Three of us went in there the other day to buy some fish for a planned BBQ and looked at each other blankly when confronted with the fish counter – we were clueless. We admitted to each other that we had never bought fish from a fishmonger before. K said she just went and selected fish from the cooler fridge in the supermarket. R simply shrugged and I said I had never bought fish in my life – being allergic to it. We watched the other customers pointing at various fish and making purchases. I watched one woman being handed a big bag and the fishmonger saying “that will be 87 dollars.” I gulped, wondering how was it that fish could cost so much.

Then our turn came. R pointed at the mussels and muttered something like a pound or a pint. The sales assistant helpfully showed us an amount and we all just nodded. Then K asked for some cod. The man asked us how much? We answered in unison, “enough for three?” The man took a huge slab and showed it to us and we all nodded together again. In the end, it turned out to be enough for 10 people!

The next day I went to buy some salt water taffy fudge in an old fashioned candy store and the sales assistant asked me if I wanted a pound? That seemed an awful lot so I replied half a pound – which turned out to still be a lot.

A couple of generations ago everyone went to the greengrocers, fishmongers, butchers and bakers and knew precisely how much and in what units to buy – be it apples, sausages, eggs, bread, milk or sherbet lemons. How we buy has been transformed in the era of supermarkets and online shopping – where we simply look and select pre-packaged food. Some may read the quantity on the label but most just select a shape and check the price.

It is not just the way we shop that has changed it is also many other aspects of how we go about our daily lives. An article in the magazine, TechCrunch, published this week by Rajat Suri discusses how software is transforming how we live, from fine dining to driving cars. He points out how there is “an entirely new consumer-facing software layer of apps and services being deployed as we speak”. Tablets are now appearing on tables in restaurants that diners can select their meals from and no doubt will soon recommend to the diner what they would like to order, thereby obviating the procrastination that wastes waiters’ time when coming to a table to take an order from a party who have not decided. The smart dining software could check, too, the nutrition and calories of the ordered dish which in the background could be uploaded to the diner’s latest healthy living smartphone app. Other vital statistics might then pop up to amuse the diner such as how many people have eaten that dish today, how many are left in that restaurant (thereby removing the disappointment when the waiter returns and says “I am sorry we have run out of that dish.”). Who needs to interact ever again with a surly waiter or a fussy diner?

smileyBut perhaps the scariest idea about smart dining software is to use it “in real time to optimize operational processes like waiter steps of service”. Instead of being able to linger and chat with customers or be assigned to their favourite tables, waiters will be monitored by smart software that will learn and then schedule the most efficient way of getting food to the table with the minimum number of waiter steps, eliminating any unnecessary deviations from the optimal path for the restaurant. Now, that really takes the biscuit out of AI and big data.

Data Slices

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dashboard British Airways sent me an email a few months ago with the teasing subject line, “Want to know how many miles you’ve flown with us, Dr Rogers?” I was intrigued and clicked on the link. It sent me to my very own dashboard letting me know how many miles I had flown since joining the BA frequent flier club. The email also proudly announced, “it’s a celebration of your life in the air with British Airways.” However, it just made me think, wow, I travel too much. I immediately wondered and worried what that makes my carbon footprint like – bigger than Bigfoot’s even? Not only does it show me the total number of miles I have flown but also how many weeks I have been in the air (three!) and how many cities and countries I have been to. I looked at it in horror and then quickly squirreled it away, shocked at how much travelling I had done rather than celebrating it. But then, a few weeks ago, I found myself looking at the link again – more intrigued than guilty this time, to see how much more I had flown in the last few months.
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Dashboards have become an increasingly popular form of information visualisation, serving up slices of data for all manner of things, from health to business trends to the pulse of a city. For example, the London City dashboard shows portals of data side-by-side from multiple feeds. Health and well being devices, like FitBit, Nike Fuel and Jawbone Up have tailored their dashboards towards the individual, using an assortment of gauges, bar charts and pie charts to make it easy to see how well the wearer has done that hour/day/week, and whether they have met their targets.
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By themselves, the graphical components of most dashboards are relatively easy to read. However, collectively, many of them have been designed with poor visual design by software vendors who “focus their marketing efforts on dazzle that subverts the goals of clear communication” (Few, 2013, p2). The result can often be a hotch-potch of graphs and tables making it difficult to know where to find something or how to compare data over time or multi-dimensions. The holistic design of a dashboard needs to provide a digestible and legible slice of information that is thoughtfully laid out in a spatial manner and intuitive to the user when first looking at it, drawing their attention to anomalies or unexpected deviations from the norm. This involves thinking about how best to combine and contrast the different elements.

So, which is the easiest to read – BA or London City? Which is the most aesthetic and informative? What piece of information stands out the most?

The BA dashboard has much thought gone into its visual design and the pictograms that have been selected instantly drew my attention. Noticing I have flown an enormous number of miles and that I have been in the air for nearly a month is truly shocking. What the BA dashboard does not tell me, however, is how long I have been a member of the BA frequent flier club. That requires more digging of the data. If I had only joined last year the dashboard of factoids would be really scary but it has been many years since I joined them – so maybe, all things considered, it is not so bad. The piece of information in the lower right hand corner also adds a bit of humour.

In contrast, the city London dashboard, developed by some colleagues of mine from UCL, provides much more information about transport, the current level of service on the various London Underground lines, the weather, news headlines, cycle hire capacity, weather forcast and more. At first glance, it seems incredibly busy. But after studying its form, the spacing between the blocks of information makes it easy to break it down into its components. After a few times looking at it, I can begin to make more sense of it, and see which parts I might be interested in so I can quickly glance, for example, at how bad the traffic is or what the air pollution is in Bloomsbury.

But all very different from the car dashboard that makes you turn into a cold sweat when the warning lights suddenly come on indicating a full-on failure, or simply some faulty electronics. Who knows which?
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Few, S. (2013) Information Dashboard Design: Displaying data for at-a-glance monitoring. Analytics Press.

Voicing Opinions

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VoxBox_sideThis morning I received an evaluation summary, via email, about a conference I gave a keynote at a few weeks ago. It presented lots of pie charts and collated all the comments attendees had cared to write up. I always dread reading this kind of feedback. A comment from a student on the very first course I taught at Sussex University has stuck with me ever since, etched permanently in my brain, “Yvonne needs to speak more loudly. Or get a microphone.” Not the worst or most critical of those that I have received over the years since, but it hit a raw nerve at the time as I thought I was trying my hardest to project my voice.

I scanned through the comments from the conference summary to see what was written about me and staring me in the face was the comment, “Yvonne’s talk was interesting, but her presenting was not as engaging as, for example, the second keynote speaker”. That did not feel good. I got that sinking feeling, being such a sensitive soul. I read on fearing the worst. Someone else had written, “the second keynote speaker was too self-centric and showed too many pictures of himself.” I was the first keynote. Phew!

Further down the evaluation was a section on the catering. People are very picky when it comes to what they eat and drink, it seems, “Almost all tea at coffee breaks was flavored — not tea!” This was counteracted by a comment written by one seemingly happy camper, “As a vegetarian, I am used to going hungry at conferences, either because meals are lost or have no protein. The veg meals here were FANTASTIC.”

Right at the end there was a section for attendees to “describe the best aspects of the conference.” And there in the middle of some praise about the conference organization, venue, and warm atmosphere, someone had written, “The first keynote was really, really excellent in it’s inspirational creativity.” I am not sure it undid the damage made by the first comment as negativity always seems to make more of a mark than positivity, staying longer with you. But that person’s praise certainly helped restore my self-esteem.

I have always been in two minds about the value of this kind of customer/student/attendee feedback because of the way it can sting. Reading the negative reviews on Trip Advisor may be entertaining and informative to the traveller but it can damage someone’s business if it is over the top or simply not fair. Someone may bear a grudge, be picky or have an axe to grind and being invited to write an online review about their recent experience gives them the license to do so – especially if they can remain anonymous.

But it is not just conferences, courses or travel sites that ask for feedback, it seems to have become the default request for an increasing number of our experiences – be it a trip to the dentist, doctor or candlestick maker. Governments, policy makers and councils are all eager to find out more about what we are thinking and feeling. There are numerous online sites asking people to voice their opinions about any number of topics, from internet security to what to do about fly tipping in the countryside. Trouble is it is usually only a minority who sign up to take part in these online forums. Most people are too busy, can’t see the point of taking part or are simply not interested. Others are suspicious of where our personal data ends up. When we see someone with a clipboard or tablet computer in the street coming towards us we look down and steer away from them. We’ve all been asked at some point or other to help out with market research or public opinion. Standing there in the street giving your age, gender, and views about a topic with a stranger is not pleasant and can be socially awkward. Is it any wonder most people shy away from voicing their opinons?
voxbox2Welcome to VoxBox – our latest creation that is “a playful machine that wants your opinions.” Instead of ticking boxes or typing comments online or on paper an assortment of colourful sliders, buttons, and switches are presented for people to turn, dial and slide their answers to. At the end of completing the questions an old fashioned phone rings and asks you an open-ended question. After completing a set of questions the box lights up and a ball drops down a chute to show completion rate. How different is that? On the back are real time visualisations updating the data collected, for example, showing the percentage of people who are enjoying and feel part of the event. We designed it to be deliberately brightly coloured and attractive.
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We trialed it for the first time the other week at the Tour de France fan park in Green Park while the cyclists were peddling from Cambridge to London. Many people dropped by to take a look at VoxBox. Over 120 people took part and gave their opinions about the event, including groups of friends, families, couples and individuals. Some even queued for the experience. It was a joy to see them taking it seriously, reading the questions our aloud, talking to one another about the questions and lifting their young kids to voice their opinions. Yesterday I got an email from a colleague who works at the BBC who remarked how it reminded him of, “a mix of Willy Wonka, the controls of the Tardis and those ornate fairground automata. You certainly pulled off the irresistible affordance of ‘come and have a go’. Maybe we should start puting VoxBoxes in conferences…
questionvisualisation

Data-Assisted Living

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eco-technologyLast week I gave a talk about how to change behaviour using a variety of technologies and nudges at the Eco Technology Show in Brighton. Bizarrely, the seminar area was surrounded with seriously high performance electric concept cars, like the BMW i8 and the Tesla S – the ones that pop stars and film actors drive to their private jets in – that have zero carbon emission. It sends the message that it is OK to own and drive a mean machine that is made out of piles of shiny metal provided you can say it runs on zero carbon emmision – but ironically uses loads of electricity to go fast and that needed tons of carbon to make in the first place. The focus is on reducing and reaching targets rather than on changing our lifestyles. Many of us offset our carbon-rich lives (especially busy academics who fly everywhere) by justifying them through the many decisions we make along the way. I can argue that I am able to fly and drive because I don’t eat meat or have children. Others make the balance by not having a car, camping at home, growing their own vegetables, riding a bike and recycling their waste.
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I started my talk by commenting on that day’s news about how we should change children’s drinking habits. Instead of giving our kids zero coke, Fanta or other fizzy drinks at mealtimes we should put a jug of water on the table so they get used to just drinking water. Then, hopefully drinking plain H2O will become the norm – and obesity and diabetes levels will decline. A long shot.

There were lots of questions at the end. A journalist asked me whether we shouldn’t be trying to change people’s attitudes and whole lifestyles rather than simply nudging specific behaviours – even following the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous but instead for a Zero Carbon life. I shuddered at the thought that we needed to go to such lengths in order to save our planet – happiness and fun taken over by guilt, denial and God.

nestThere are a slew of new technologies on the market now that can track, aggregate and visualize our every behaviour – from toothbrushes that check whether you and your family are brushing their teeth correctly to the Nest thermostat – that is now available in the UK – that provides an intelligent way of controlling how your house is heated or cooled. In an interview in the Guardian last weekend, the designer and CEO of Nest, Tony Fadell argued its case for being in every home: “We want you to do things you want to do. We know what you have done in the home and can give you suggestions” and let you know “Hey here’s a better way to save” or “You’re doing really well today.”

Although the data-assisted device (currently selling at 50,000 a month worldwide) is cute and aesthetically pleasing to the eye – there is something rather sinister in the way it has been designed to learn about your everyday habits and make suggestions about what you should do based on this. It smacks of anthropomorphism and nanny state mentality. While there is nothing wrong with giving your new Tesla a name (I called my first car Gertie), the kind of sophisticated modeling that is used to determine intent, and which is then used to decide what is best for you, while at the same time smattering you with platitudes and praise might get a tad annoying and patronizing. There is a lot to be said for simply putting a jug on the table every day and embracing the pleasures of pure water.
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Special Assistance

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assistance1I have never really given much thought to special assistance provided at airports until now other than wondering if I could feign a broken foot to get upgraded to business (which never works anyway). However, this week I had to fly to Rome with a genuine injury. I’d sprained my ankle a few days before and it was still very painful to walk on. I went to check in my suitcase, so as at least to make it easier to walk through the airport, but was told at the check-in desk that I couldn’t as I had one of those cheapo tickets that allow hand luggage only. It would cost me an extra £40 each way to do so now. I explained my predicament. The BA assistant took pity on me, saying she could provide me with special assistance through Gatwick and also on the other side when we reached Rome airport. Within a few minutes, another smiling assistant arrived with a wheelchair and I hopped into it with my bags on top of me. Then off we went through the back doors, secret lifts and side passages that only staff and special people normally pass through.

It did feel strange, more like being a VIP rather than an invalid. At security I didn’t even have to get out of the wheelchair but got body checked whilst still sat in the chair. This involved delicate touching including being patted on my underside legs and bottom through the underneath of the seat! I looked over to my smiley helper whilst this was all happening and noticed her struggling to put her winter boots back on. I thought it most odd that she was wearing knee length suede boots in the height of summer and so asked her. She replied that they were the most comfortable shoes she had and that she had even cut the metal decorative bits out of them so that she could get through the x-ray machines without triggering the alarm. I looked at them more closely and noticed the hand made holes on the front and back. But it did not always work and this time her holey but comfy boots had failed her. I understood her point given how many hundreds of times she has to go through the machines each week.

Then off we went again, this time planeside, wending our way through the throngs of unsure passengers, headed for the special assistance hub. I felt really vulnerable all sat down and small, made worse by not being in control of which way to turn or when to slow down. When in a wheelchair you are not at the same level as your helper. They are always pushing behind you and so you have to crane your neck if you want to try to make any eye contact. Even then they are looking ahead in order to avoid all the people and obstacles coming their way.

assistance4The special assistance area was full of people sitting and waiting. I often wondered why they needed a special pen since they are essentially sitting and waiting, just like everyone else. Why do they need to be segregated? Then it dawned on me – it is where all the scheduling takes place for who needs to be taken to which gate and at what time. A team of jolly ladies were huddled together behind a desk when we arrived, writing the passengers’ information down by hand onto paper sheets that looked a bit like the paper strips they used to use in air traffic control. I marvelled at an old fashioned technology that seems to work wonderfully to manage the constant flow of passengers needing special assistance. When it was my turn to be dispatched my helper came to collect me and off we whizzed on another seemingly perilous journey.

Most passengers are oblivious to everyone else – just concerned, and often nervous, about getting to their destination in unfamiliar territory. They simply don’t see people sat in wheelchairs. Several times our wheelchair got bumped unwittingly by trailing suitcases. I was terrified someone might accidentally barge into my ankle and kept bracing myself.
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When we landed at Rome airport, a row of helpers were all waiting standing next to a line of wheelchairs. My name was on their list and I was pushed up the ramp to the top of the gate by a sweet italian girl. But instead of being whizzed through I was promptly left as she returned to pick up more specials from the plane. I sat there, all by myself waiting, not knowing what was to happen next. I was reminded of the scene from Ricky Gervais’s “The Office” where wheelchair bound Brenda is left by herself in the emergency stairwell after David and Gareth abandon her during a fire drill. But thankfully, in my case, within five minutes my helper came back with a big smile and got me through to a taxi in no time at all.

Everyone should have to sit in a wheelchair for a day to experience what it is like to be at the mercy of not-seeing others. It certainly opened my eyes to what they have to go through and I hope when I am mobile again that I will step aside, smile and be über patient with those who are in wheelchairs.

But it is not just at airports. Wheelchair-bound people are also overlooked by others all over the place. For 20 years, up until the late 1990s, the UK’s Radio 4 ran a weekly series called “Does He Take Sugar?” that presented an in-depth treatment of disability. The title of the program refers to when the carer is asked about sugar instead of directly asking the person who is being offered a hot drink. It captures the sentiment of talking about someone who is disabled in the third person, while in their presence, regardless of whether that person can speak for him or herself. The programme brought attention to this kind of “overlooking” and gave disabled people a voice (it also had a disabled presenter). It did wonders for helping “abled” people realize how to listen, talk to, and engage with disabled people just like anyone else.

The people whose job it is to provide special assistance or care for those with reduced mobility – as it is called now – are unquestionably guardian angels. It is the rest of us who cant see them for what they are who need to spend a day in a wheelchair to appreciate a little bit more what they have to go through every day.

“Does he take sugar in his tea?”
Hello, why not ask me?
I might have a disability,
But to answer for myself I still have the ability.
Just ’cos I’m not stood up like you:
Does not mean there is very little for myself that I can do…

—Michael W. Williams, “Connah’s Quay”

assistance2

Tube Encounters

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undergroundIn a round table monthly meeting this morning, one of our researchers started talking about a new new app he was building that would enable passengers on the London Underground to meet each other digitally and then perhaps physically, by playing games with each other on their smartphones. The idea was to make more of the idle time sat on a tube train by enhancing the wi-fi connections through using data given out from passenger’s smartphones. This could be combined with personal information about a passenger they had signed up for to signal availability to play. The app would ask some questions first that when answered allow it to match with someone else in the same carriage.

Before the researcher could explain the technical details of how this system would work (that he was most interested in), arms were raised throughout the room – troubled by the very idea of using phones to connect with strangers on the tube. While the idea of hooking up with strangers using phones is not new, e.g. “toothing” (a great hoax when Bluetooth first came out that claimed people were connecting with the opposite sex using it on the tube) it hit a raw nerve amongst fellow researchers. One student shot her hand up and said while the researcher’s motive was well intentioned his assumptions were wrong. Most people want to be mindless, i.e. not talking or playing with strangers, when sardined together on a tube – choosing to spend the time playing games by themselves on their phone; reading a book or the free daily Metro newspaper; daydreaming or simply just in thought. The last thing they want to discover is some creepy guy sitting opposite them, digitally signaling to them that they want to connect and play a game.

Tubes are horrible spaces that most of us are only too glad to escape from as quickly as possible. And as it can turn out, can become a melting pot that can quickly turn very unpleasant.

Later that afternoon, on my way home, I got on the Victoria Line at Warren Street heading to Victoria. At Oxford Street there appeared to be a bit of a disturbance as the doors closed and I switched my gaze to its source. A woman in her 30s had stood up to offer a seat to a man in his 50s, who was wearing dark glasses and walking with a stick. A waft of alcohol breathe permeated the carriage. He was clearly worse for wear. He raised his arm and told her to “sit down, women should not have to stand up.” A young man opposite her quickly stood up and offered his seat instead to the man. She sat down again. The man lurched forward and nearly toppled over. Several other passengers came to his aid and helped him into the vacated seat.

Two seats from him on the opposite side of the carriage sat a priest in his 70s minding his own business. He was easily recognizable by his purple shirt and dog collar. The man looked at him and started shouting abuse and ridiculing him, “hey you going to Westminster to do your penance? You need to do your penance. Ha ha.” The priest leant forward and replied gently “what for?” The man was affronted by his gentleness and started swearing even more profusely, f-ing this, f-ing that. On he went. “You don’t believe in that Jesus shit?”. The priest withdrew and looked the other way. Then another man sitting opposite me entered the fray and shouted at him, “hey stop swearing, there are other people on this train.” We all looked at him in amazement, only too aware of the regularly reported horror stories of passers-by being knifed, shot, hit or abused when daring to intervene. The drunken man glared at him and retorted, “mind your own fucking business! Who the fuck do you think are you?” The other man replied, “I am a police officer! Look, here is my badge.” He took out his police badge from his pocket and showed it to him. The other geyser went ballistic, “so fucking what?” He wasn’t a f-ing fighter like himself and he couldn’t care whether he had a f-ing badge or not. At which point the atmosphere in the carriage became electrified. In between abusing the off duty cop he kept repeating that a woman should not have to stand up for a man.

Victoria station arrived and most of us got off except the geyser who sat muttering, head shaking and continuing his tirade. I was struck by his old fashioned respect for women but lack of respect for others in cloth, amplified by booze. Here was a veteran, probably from the Gulf War, two days after D-day ceremonies, oblivious to accepted social protocol.

There is no way a mobile app is ever going to bring strangers together on the tube to chat or pass the time away being more mindful of each other. Only yesterday, I was in a carriage where some guy asked a smartly dressed guy in suit and tie to turn his beeper off on his smart phone. It was annoyingly loud and every key he pressed on the screen resulted in a loud beep. The man did not even look up and shamelessly said “I don’t know how to.” There was no answer to that.

High-Tech Shopping

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Last week I spent a whole morning at a mega Sainsbury’s supermarket in Chingford, somewhere on the outskirts of East London. The British TV series, Gadget Man was filming content for a new show and they asked us if they could try out our lambent shopping handle.

The handle we designed is a minimalistic, mobile and fully functional display that clips onto supermarket shopping carts/trollys, intended to help people decide when choosing between which groceries to buy. It can be easily customized to provide salient information about the food dimensions people care about, such as salt content, fat content and food-miles. The latter are represented by varying lengths of a series of LEDs on the handle and a changing emoticon showing their total miles against a social norm. For example, scanning a packet of quinoa results in all 16 LEDs lighting up because it comes from multiple countries in Asia, whereas scanning a ready-made lasagne lights up only 3 of the LEDs, because it is made from Scottish beef. (Lambent by the way means having the property of moving lightly or flickering gently over a surface – which our handle does rather than being in your face.)

At a glance, a shopper can compare the same product for different brands, for example, two types of chocolate, bottled water or apples. The price might be the same, but the salt or sugar content or whether it has been locally sourced varies. While much of this information may be available on the food packaging it is often in small print or presented in such a way that it takes ages to find and can be confusing to the shopper. We make it compelling and easy to read off. Some might argue that smartphone apps do the same job. We showed empirically that this is far from the truth; they are often fiddly and tedious to use, and can overwhelm the shopper who is holding their phone in one hand, a product in the other while trying to scan it and navigate a complex store environment, usually in a hurry.

The lambent shopping handle was just one of several new gizmos being filmed intended to make shopping easier and more enjoyable. So, we got to watch Richard Ayoade (the british comedian, actor, writer and TV presenter) in the flesh for the whole morning act out various scenes with the latest gadgetry. When not being filmed, he sat or stood calmly in the store reading a book. He was happy to let me have my photo taken standing next to him. How cool is that?

richard aoyade
Our approach to enhancing shopping is to provide just enough information about certain product properties in order to help shoppers make more informed purchasing decisions. It is lightweight, playful and simple – enticing you to think rather than accept what others recommend. Quite different from much contemporary thinking about how we should use technology which promotes deciding for the user. For example, only this morning I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 about “Silicon Valley’s vision of local high-tech shopping”. The vision was same old, same old. An example of the future was of Jenny walking into a Burger Bistro, where upon her smartphone is recognized by the Point of Sales that then flashes up what she ate last time. The waiter on seeing her and the information about Jenny picks up a plate of fried sweet potato fries and takes it to her table saying in a cheery voice, “Hello Jenny, I thought you would like some of these again!” without asking her. This kind of personalized service is likened to ‘Rockstar treatment’. Just like Justin Beaver or David Beckham never have to decide or ask but always get the food they want. But sometimes even they might want change…

Whereas the likes of PayPal, eBay and other retail companies are pushing for more of this kind of personalisation in restaurants and stores, Isabelle Szmigin, a professor of marketing at Birmingham University, offered a refreshingly sceptical riposte, pointing out that just because Jenny ordered sweet potato fries one day, it does not mean she wants them every time she goes back to the same restaurant. While many of us maybe creatures of habit, most of us crave new experiences, tastes, products and surprises. We don’t want to be stuck with a Groundhog Day mindset. The model of personalized shopping based on your past experiences and purchases is set in the past. High tech retailing needs to break out of the automated recommender way of trying to please and nudge people. We can do much better when thinking of how to enhance shopping and dining experiences with technology.

A brand new Waitrose opened last month in Hove. It is the talk of the town (we have been waiting years for one) and it seems a destination in itself to visit judging by the line of cars queuing up for the car park. My fellow commuter regaled to me how it was the highlight of her weekend. She went with her chum on a Saturday afternoon and sat down at a table in the middle of the store (next to the wine section) and they both ordered a glass of house wine and some tapas. Whilst enjoying their repast, they merrily selected their shopping by tapping icons on a tablet, craftily positioned on their table. A minion then went on their behalf to do their shopping, that was ready for them to collect on their way out. No hassle, no queuing. There is a premium for this service but what a fun way to while away an hour – quaffing while doing online shopping in an actual bricks and mortar supermarket.

Cloud Talk

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glass_photos4-578-80Google Glass has been unleashed now for several months. Volunteer researchers are trying them out and developing a range of apps for them. Up until now I’ve only seen photos of people wearing them but last week there were several attendees wearing cool colored ones at the SIGCHI conference I was at in Toronto. It can be slightly unnerving when in their company as they look up and to the right to view what is on the glass screen rather than at you and into your eyes. As a result you might see more of the whites of their eyes than the usual interested dilated pupils. It could be the end of eye contact as we know it.

Meanwhile, there has been much debate in the press about the latest developments in facial recognition. NameTag, for example, is an app developed for Google Glass that takes a picture of the person you are talking with and then checks their online profile, providing a cloud of personal information about them, presumably mined from Facebook and other social media apps. So, you can find out more about someone on the go while talking to them – for example, what music they like, what films they have just seen, where they have just been on vacation, and so on – all in a digestible précis with a halo of photos around to boot. One could imagine that if this way of meeting up with others actually takes off, we may find ourselves in the situation where we wont need to talk to each other anymore. Just as text messaging has largely taken over from making phone calls for many people, ‘cloud talk’ could start taking over our initial encounters with people when we meet them at parties, at conferences, on trains etc. We might nod and smile in acknowledgement of each other but we wont ever have to have those awkward conversations anymore. A panacea for the shy? But how will we know what each other is looking at? You might think I am reading your blog or tweets when in your presence but really I might just be watching the latest updates of the football results and pretending to ‘meet you’.

scenetap Perhaps a more creepy development is the installation of cameras in bars in the US that are starting to use facial recognition. SceneTap, for example, uses it to provide information about the age and gender of people already in a bar to help others decide whether it has the right kind of people in it that they want to drop in. The thin edge of the digital voyeurism wedge?

PrintAt the conference I was at some of my researchers attended a hackathon where, with a team of others, they set up a hoax service called the quantifiedtoilets.com giving a new twist to surveillance in public places. They placed signs up in the restrooms in the convention centre we were at saying they were capturing toilet behaviour for real-time data and health analysis. They claimed furthermore to be working with local businesses, building owners, and local officials to improve the health and efficiency of individual buildings, neighborhoods, and entire cities. To achieve this, they purported to be analyzing “the biological waste process of buildings to make better spaces and happier people. We use this data to streamline cleaning crew schedules, inform municipalities of the usage of resources, and help buildings and cities plan for healthier and happier citizens.” The data they collected from each individual toilet , which they then revealed as stats for each toilet in the building, included the amount deposited, the odor, blood alcohol level, and any drugs, infections and even pregnancy detected. For example, a fresh urine deposit in the far end toilet on the 7th floor might have revealed that a recent occupant was female, had a blood alcohol level of 0.3% and was pregnant.

Not surprisingly, lots of people tweeted and blogged about this latest development. Many took it at face value and were shocked and outraged at such an invasion of public privacy. Which is what the researchers were interested in. There was also lots of coverage in the press, including Wired, the Washington Post and the Atlantic. It was only later that it dawned on people that it was a hoax – a thought experiment intended to get people to debate. And it surely did.

But do keep an eye on those advanced Japanese toilets that already have a set of mindboggling functions. You never know, they might just start adding a few more sensors and a webcam in the bowl.

Swallowed Up

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the-oculus-rift-virtual-reality-headset-will-blow-your-mindThere has been a lot of online chatter about Facebook’s two recent big buyouts of minnow companies; a whopping $19 billion for WhatsApp and a further $2 billion for Oculus Rift. The first has millions of users and the second is the latest must have gadget for gaming that hasn’t even hit the streets yet – virtual reality goggles. And it was only last year Facebook spent $1 billion on buying Instagram.

One can’t help smiling for the bought out folk; many of whom will have or will become millionaires, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s latest spree. It would not surprise me if every geeky school kid’s dream now is to be part of a promising start-up that Facebook then acquires for billions. A bit like when every aspiring artist in the 90s hoped that Charles Saatchi would drop by their end of year art college show and buy up all of their work for lots of money.

In total, Facebook have now hoovered up at least 46 companies. According to Wikipedia most of these are ‘talent acquisitions’ that are then shut-down. Mark once said, “We have not once bought a company for the company. We buy companies to get excellent people… One of the ways to do this is to focus on acquiring great companies with great founders.”

But there must be more that Facebook intends to do with its recently procured ‘billions bounty’ than swallow up bright sparks. Getting the very best people doesn’t cost that much. After all, we can attract some of the best PhD students and professors at UCL for a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of that. They are onto something bigger and more daring. Mark is moving into the world of UX, “we feel we’re in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.” He is gearing up for the next big thing – post social media. Instead of looking down at a mobile 2D screen we will be interacting with our friends in the here and now through 3D goggles. It will be an intense immersion that gamers all dream of. Moreover, it will be able to overlay the virtual and physical environments to appear seamless, where digital avatars and objects will populate a world of real people and objects. If we suspend our disbelief we will find it difficult to know what is actual and what is digital.

While many companies and academic researchers have been working on the ultimate Virtual Reality dream for a while, it seems Oculus Rift were moving full steam ahead of the game. A colleague at UCL, Will Steptoe, has been experimenting with overlaying webcams on the Oculus goggles to enable virtual and video spaces to fuse into one, in order to create a truly immersive augmented reality experience. In doing so, he hopes to blur the lines between what is real and what is virtual. It looks pretty cool and not surprising he is in big demand.

But could an immersive Facebook truly enhance our experience of how we interact and communicate with people remotely? How many of us would don a pair of VR goggles, 10 or more times a day (the average number of times someone looks at Facebook on their mobile each day is 14) in order to teleport to a friend’s party, go for a walk in the park, or just hang out, without ever leaving their living room?

While there have been numerous attempts over the last 30 years to create such virtual social spaces, notably Second Life, the Oculus Rift may just have that specialness that will make it happen – provided it can overcome the perennial problems of lag and motion sickness. But it could still be too soon for most of us to contemplate.

fig_02_02 Remember the hype for 3D TV a few years back. Lots of people excitedly bought them but then stopped watching them quite soon afterwards. According to a recent survey 8 out of 10 regret having bought one. Eyestrain, headaches and discomfort are common complaints. Having to share the limited set of glasses that came in the box with everyone in the family plus friends has proven to be one step too far. Many other problems, too, have been discussed by Ted Kritsonis. One wonders if Facebook might have bitten off more than it can chew. But at least they will have secured another sizeable chunk of hot talent.

In my view, nothing beats seeing amazing fish and coral in the real sea, wearing only a good old fashioned snorkelling mask. Yet.
YRsnorkeling

Big Decisions

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decisions3

For the last few months I have been toying with whether to buy a brand new car or a used one. Everyone tells me to buy one that is a few years old as it is far better value for money. But my gut feeling is to go for a new one that had all the bells and whistles I want rather than those chosen by someone else – even if financially it does not make sense. The final countdown to what to do was a close shave that caused me much stress. Eventually, my heart ruled rather than my head. In a couple of months a new beauty will be delivered to me.

Throughout our lives we are confronted with making a number of such big ticket decisions, not just what kind of, or indeed whether, to buy a car, but also when moving to a new house, which university to go to, whether to change jobs and so on. For these kinds of life-changing choices we typically begin by doing lots of research, partly to reassure ourselves that we are selecting the best option according to certain criteria, such as reliability, price, reputation or new opportunities. To do otherwise, such as based on a hunch, would be rash and unwise. During this comparative process, we weigh up many options, read other’s reviews, prioritizing, and talking to others about our current thinking, all the time juggling the various criteria in our heads.

the big decisionMuch has been written about the rational decision-making processes that are involved. A commonly accepted view in the fields of economics, psychology, and consumer behaviour is of unbounded rationality; that states decisions are best made by gathering and processing all available information. Once, all the information has been sifted and sorted through, we can then make a well-informed decision. In contrast, the perspective of bounded rationality argues that we often make decisions with much less information, because of limited time, information, and computational abilities. Instead of processing all the available information and considering all the options, we often make surprisingly good decisions simply by using “fast and frugal” heuristics, which are rules of thumb or short-cut choice strategies that ignore most of the available information. The trick is to ignore the unnecessary pieces of information, and just search for the few pieces of information that will be most useful, or the few most appropriate options, and process them appropriately. To do this, we use search heuristics that look for options only until one is found that is good enough or “choice heuristics” that seek as little information as possible to determine which option should be selected.

In my case, I knew which car I wanted from the get go based on a gut instinct. However, because it was such a big decision, I looked at the internet flow of information in order to be more sensible. I don’t know how many reviews I read and how many people I talked to before stopping my search. But I ended up choosing what I felt I wanted 6 months ago. I wonder how many of us do the same – following our instincts but prolonging the anxiety by going through a drawn out decision-making process to justify it to ourselves and others.

So what is the role of technology in all of this? Has it helped or hindered, vindicated or confused? Especially for those of us who were born only ever knowing life through laptop fingertips?

Howard Gardner and Katie Davis in their new book “The App Generation” note how the app mentality developing in the psyche of the younger generation is making it worse for them to make their own decisions because they are becoming more risk averse. By this they mean that young people are now depending on an increasing number of mobile apps that remove the risks of having to decide for themselves. They will first read what others have said on social media sites, blogs and recommender apps before choosing where to eat, where to go, what to do, what to listen to, etc. Moreover, they often leave it until the last minute, micro-coordinating their arrangements with their friends, before deciding. They will wait and see if a better offers comes their way rather than making a decision for themselves, a week in advance, say, to see a movie with a friend and sticking to it.

But, relying on a multitude of apps means that young people are becoming increasingly more anxious about making decisions by themselves. For many, their first big decision is choosing which university to go to. This has become an agonizing and prolonged experience where both parents and apps play a central role in helping them out. They will read countless reviews, go on numerous visits to universities with their parents over several months, study the form of a number of league tables, read up on what others say on social networking sites, and so on. But in the end, I wonder if it was all that necessary. They may finally end up choosing where their friends are going or the one they liked the look of in the first place. Many will have spent hours, weeks, and even months talking about it, reading up on it, listening to lots of advice and procrastinating right down to the wire. Compared to previous pre-internet generations they wont have made the decision by themselves.

Technology, it seems may now be hindering not helping us with making big decisions.

Special Collections

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senate_library This week I went inside a real library. One made of bricks and mortar. I can’t remember the last time I went in one or what for – if I am honest, probably a few years ago. It feels like a shocking admission, especially since I work in academia. Libraries are our sustenance, where we obtain our knowledge. The stacks, the periodicals, the rows of books all neatly lined up in Dewey style used to be where you would find us browsing on a regular basis. But the Internet has changed all of that. Most of us now do our knowledge work by accessing the multiple digital libraries, databases and pdfs that are readily available at our laptop fingertips. Google, too, has made it even more easy to sample an increasing number of books in digitized form.

But Special Collections in libraries retain their specialness. Last Monday I visited one at Leicester University. The reason they are special is that they contain numerous archived collections that are often donated to them, by a local historian, politician, artist or other philanthropist. For example, at Leicester amongst many is the Dyos Collection, the Gorrie Collection and the Hatton Collection. The collections include rare books, pamphlets, papers, etc., from the person whom they are named after, such as the political memorabilia of Archibold Gorrie. Many of them have yet to be digitized and so can only be seen in the physical library where they are housed.

book_pillowMy reason for coming to Leicester University’s one was to delve into the Diplomatic Collection transferred from the Commonwealth Library after it became defunct (I was doing some research into my family history). It comprises 217 boxes of lists of diplomatic, consular and foreign service. I had requested to look at Box 140 that listed the diplomatic corps, consular corps and other foreign representatives for a given country. I’d discovered these existed through browsing Google and then the library catalogue. There was something antiquated about the place. The collections are hidden away in the bowels of the library to protect them and only brought out on request. The viewing room had no windows, just artificial light. Other protective measures included having to put my bag in a locker and being only allowed to use a pencil. But strangest of them all, was the presence of over-sized white cushions on each desk that looked like miniature futons. The librarian who welcomed me in (who had all the qualities you would expect – curious, rule-abiding, knowledgeable, methodical and very nice) told me they were there to protect the spines of the large rare books that are sometimes requested. How quaint.

I sat down and looked at the red box folder that was placed in front of me – it looked, itself, about 50 years old. I pushed back the metal clasp and opened it up. Inside were about 30 small green and red books all lined up in order of their year of listing. The first one I took out was from 1959. The pages were a faded yellow brown and the type font from a typewriter that had not seen the daylight for as many years. The one page I wanted to check was still attached to the next one. I was fearful I might rip the page in the wrong way so I asked the librarian to do it. She was delighted and went off in search of a paper knife. When she returned she diligently went through the whole book slicing up the pages that were cojoined.

I was transported back to another time and place, imagining who the people were and what they did in their diplomatic roles – behind the listed names of Brigadier M. d’Aude-Shaw, Major B.C. Butler and so on. A world full of diplomats, attaché cases and special car number plates in far flung places. The smell, colour and texture of the paper, with its embossed higgledy typewritten print, evoked a powerful train of memories and thoughts that digital print never does for me. It was sheer joy to let my mind move in mysterious ways. Usually when I am pottering through digital collections on the internet I jump all over the place, from one site to the next, engaging in multiple hops, that often lead me far astray from what I was looking at or thinking about. It can be as equally delightful but a very different form of mind wandering. One is not better than the other but there is something special about being immersed in a special collection that someone has carefully and meticulously catalogued for others to inspect. I doubt if many, if any, people had looked into Box 140. That gave me a visceral thrill to think I was the first and probably only one to do so. Whereas visual analytics can show the number of page views and downloads of digital collections there aren’t any records of what people look at in old boxes of papers. There is something special indeed in this time warp that cannot be digitally catalogued or mined.

About Time

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YvonneMy dream fellowship has now officially ended. I’ve returned to Cape Town where it first started, two years ago. The original plan was to come back for a short time to reflect on what I have done and achieved during it. In looking back I realize I am all the time looking forward. Dreams of how to change the world don’t stop when the funding stops. They take a new turn, changing direction; expanding, contracting and transforming.

But life can suddenly stop, short. My wonderful host, gentle colleague and dear friend in Cape Town, Gary Marsden, died suddenly and unexpectedly on the 27th December, aged 42. He, too, had a dream of how to change the world. But we’ll never be able to share our respective dreams, again, over a coffee looking up at Table Mountain. Instead I am here to attend his memorial service – which was held this week at the University Cape Town. It was a wonderful remembrance for a very special person, and a befitting way to say goodbye. But I still can’t stop thinking why. There is so much one wants to hold onto in grief. So much said, so much missed, but ultimately, so much that could have been more.

The other night I watched a movie by Richard Curtis called ‘About Time’ on DVD with some of his close friends. The storyline is simple but its ramifications made me think about how we traverse through our lives. The protagonist, a young man called Tim, discovers he can travel back in time in his life. While he can’t meet people outside of his lifetime, like Hitler, he can change what happens in his own life. This he does by trying to make his life better through the encounters he has with others. We first see him fumbling and bumbling in real life; he has many missed opportunities and never seems capable of saying or doing the right thing. Then we see him trying to ‘get a girlfriend’ (which he has failed so far in real life because of his social ineptness) by going back in time and making better moves in less cringe-making ways – and he learns how to act out the dream of classic romance.

Towards the end of the movie, there is ‘a one day in the life of’ episode where it begins, predictably, with it going wrong in real life for Tim. Then the episode starts again playing out exactly the same scenes, but where the characters’ reactions and interactions with each other are different. Instead of reacting to annoying and disappointing events like he did the first time, by getting annoyed and disappointed, himself, Tim turns them around to be joyous. He does not get rattled by the person sitting next to him on the Tube, who has tinny, ‘kchunkie-kchinkie’ music seeping out of their earpods (as he does first time), but smiles and even starts singling along with the ‘shared’ music. Instead of replying to his wife, as he gets into bed, that he has had a bad day he says he has had a good day. She smiles and says well in that case no need… but then he quickly gets it and follows up by saying ironically he has had a really, really bad day. And she turns to him and smiles and says well in that case… And then it is smiles all round.

Of course, no-one can ever sustain a life of full-on happiness. It would be saccharin-sick even if it was possible. We would start craving misery if all we had was 100% happiness.

For the most part, living is about making a myriad of often unconscious, split second decisions, choices and reactions to what is happening around us. We might think we can think ahead about what we want to say and do but in most situations we can’t control what we say and do. Most of the time we react and interact. Our paths and encounters with each other always have an unpredictable element. We can never be sure how the other/s will respond or what they will feel. Their body language, the switches and turns in a conversation, the unexpected looks, smiles, the endings, the jibes and much more – often take a course of their own.

Not knowing what twists and turns are around the corner, surely, is one of the joys of life.

Some of us are better at taking command and some of us wish we had more courage to say or do things we just can’t do. Sometimes we fumble and make a mess of it – just like Tim does at the beginning of the movie when not knowing whether, when or how to kiss a girl. Some of us are super sensitive and over aware – agonizing over whether we have done the right thing, said the right thing, looked too long in the eye at someone and on and on. Some of us just don’t notice what others are thinking or feeling. Some of us can read each other’s minds and moves in uncanny ways.

Empathy is one of the great gifts of life.

Even if we could go back in time and have a second bite at the cherry it would surely be unbearable to know what lay ahead of us. That is why fate and serendipity play such an important role in life and literature. And now it is ‘about time’ for me.

Remembering Others

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roses How would you like to be remembered after you die? Most of us hope by our better qualities and achievements in life. Special people leave an enormous legacy because of what they have done on the world stage. Nelson Mandela has been put on a pedestal like no other – eclipsing President Kennedy, whose death shocked the world when he was assassinated in his prime.

The passing away of Nelson Mandela resulted in an unprecedented outpouring worldwide, from all walks of life – bloggers, tweeters, journalists, friends, family, and many famous people – praising him for what he had achieved, what he stood for and what he had suffered during his 95 years.

remembering nelson mandelaThe obituaries were glowing and over-flowing about his life. One could not help but be moved to tears by what he had done and what had been done to him. Many waxed lyrical but every word was heartfelt. For example, Paul Vallely from the Independent newspaper wrote: “Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela embodied not only enormous political sagacity but also an almost saintly capacity for magnanimity, forgiveness and reconciliation.” And then later on “His life was an inspiration not just in South Africa but throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, and to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. He was a model of faith, hope and charity. There was about him something to which the world aspired.”

The many speeches in the days following his death were equally moving. “Our nation has lost its greatest son” said the incumbent president Jacob Zuma. President Obama described him as an “influential, courageous and profoundly good” man who inspired millions — including himself — to a spirit of reconciliation.”

My dad died a couple of days after Nelson Mandela did. He was 89. I am writing my tribute now for his funeral on Monday. He was – to those who knew him – a special, gentle man.

Eulogies are a way of praising someone who has recently passed away. Best known is W.H. Auden’s poem “Stop all the clocks” that was popularized in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Finally, there are poems about how to deal with grief. A friend sent me an extract from a William Blake poem that captures the best way of doing it – experiencing and dovetailing joy and woe in equal measures.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
It is right it should be so,
We were made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go.

Digital Destruct

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broken-cellphoneYesterday a friend of mine sent me an email where she announced she had had enough of digital technology. She exclaimed how she had slammed her mobile phone against the headrest of the seat in front of her whilst sitting on a bus. A bit drastic I thought but she has a point. She continued ranting in her email about how the technology we subscribe to has been taken over by the advertisers. For example, since IPO, Twitter users are beginning to receive vast amounts of visual advertisements in their sea of tweets. Facebook users have been inundated with personalized ads for years. And every time you watch a YouTube video now it is fronted with a commercial video that you need to click on to skip it. And then up pops a banner ad obscuring the video, so you have to click on the tiny check box to hide it again. Anyone who subscribes to O2 will have also received weekly text ads via the delightful service, O2More. I pay O2 so much a month to make phone calls and send text messages – not to discover that the new Reebok FitHub Store is now open in Covent Garden or that I can pick up a packet of Jordan’s Country Crisp for just £2 at Tesco Express on Western Road. To stop O2 More sending me these ads I have to text stop to 20502. I can’t work that out as to whether is it just the number or I have to call the number with the letters ‘stop to’ on first. And if I do succeed, there will no doubt be some obnoxious bot waiting to pester me.

My friend was not only incensed by the ubiquity of digital advertising we are all subjected to on our technologies – but also the way we communicate with each other becoming increasingly shallow and cold: “The original idea of making a phone call, sending a text or an email to make a simple communication is now part of a long drawn out distraction. The more time and coverage we have the less we communicate directly.” It is true that many of us will opt for the easy option of keeping in touch rather than engage in a lengthy conversation. Send a quick message on WhatsApp to ask how someone is or simply post a selfie for everyone to see showing how much fun you are having – much easier than having a weekly chat over the phone with mum or catching up with family over a long Sunday lunch.

And we all know how addictive it is. You wait for your next tweet, text or email – hoping it will be from that special someone.

art_snapchat-620x349 The latest craze is Snapchat that lets users connect by sending each other photos that automatically delete after a few seconds. It is now on a quarter of all UK smartphones – and rising. It is even overtaking Facebook amongst teenagers as their modus operandi. And as of yet it is not doused in ads. Under 20 year olds love it because it does not leave a digital footprint that mum or a future employee can look at. It means they can send embarrassing photos to their friends for a quick laugh of them doing something stupid and know that it will be gone in an instant. There is no fear of getting dissed. And that is priceless for a teenager. Ironically, it has the same property of a real conversation, that is, being ephemeral. Other than that it could not be more different. Gone is the art of conversation. Just snap, annotate, send – see, laugh and reciprocate. Instead of chatting in the old fashioned way, you can send an even longer selfie – known as a Snapchat story – a short collage of photos and videos that lasts in the digital ether for just 24 hours.

Against the rise of snappy happy teen life, there appears to be a ground swell of discontented 20+ something users. Those who have started to get tired of a life filled with self-obsessed, soundbite living and instead want to get back to the Good Life. Just after reading my friend’s email, I went to my local Costas and came across this graffiti on a wall – I thought it rather poignant.

smartphone_notSeveral of my friends have ditched their smartphones for ‘stupid phones’ – ones that just let you make a call or send a text. And they seem a lot happier. Some have blogged about living without a smartphone and they all agree it is great, the quality of life is so much better.

Here is a list of 5 pros and cons from offbeathome.com

The upside of getting rid of your smartphone
• Making fun of everyone on them while out with friends
• Having more conversations
• Realizing how much more time you have and how much you can get done when not distracted by your phone
• Talking more to one’s spouse and getting more done each night after work
• Getting lost

The downside of getting rid of your smartphone
• Getting lost
• Not having music for long drives back home (buy an iPod)
• No camera and instant photo sharing
• No distraction when you’re bored, or in an awkward situation
• No GPS to help you find your way

It seems like a no-brainer for anyone over 25. But, I just love my new iPhone 5S. The camera is awesome…

Walk the Talk

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stansted2Have you ever watched the videos that loop on the TV screens hanging from the ceiling, whilst waiting your turn to empty your belongings on the X-ray conveyor belt at an airport security gate – the ones that tells you what you can and cannot take with you as hand luggage? Most of us are far to busy stressing about whether we need to take our shoes off (do we have holes in our socks?), whether to remove our belt (will our trousers fall down?), empty our pockets and fumbling with our laptops and tablets – to even think to stop and watch. We are also usually familiar with current security rules and yet we still occasionally get caught out. A friend recently forgot she had a corkscrew in her hand luggage and had to wave goodbye to it as the security girl deftly removed it from her backpack – shame, as it was a really nice one. Others are too eager to glug down the remains of their bottled drinks before having to throw them away.

To draw people’s attention more to the security information, some airports have started showing animated videos that are projected onto a cardboard cut-out of a helpful assistant to make her appear alive. I watched one demonstrating to us earnestly at Stansted airport on my way to a conference in Ljubljana – and then watched people walking straight past her. No one stopped to watch or even glance at her. She appeared rather transparent, quiet and a bit limp and so in many ways, it was not surprising she was so ineffectual. But, when I mentioned it to one of my fellow conference goers he was convinced she had a Mona Lisa sideways look, that followed us through the aisles. That surely was enough to grab our attention. I was not convinced at all.

A couple of years ago, New Zealand Airlines made a safety video that was far more attention-grabbing. Since then, they have produced a series of very funny safety videos. I got to watch one this summer when on an Air New Zealand flight to the Cook Islands. It starred Grylls (the British adventurer) in “Bear Essentials of Safety,” delivering the safety message while tracking the extinct flightless Moa bird in the South Island of New Zealand. It had me hooked the whole way through. Very witty, amusing and at the right level of info-edu-tainment. Other airlines are now getting in on the safety funny act. Virgin America, for example, just produced a very elaborate one, featuring a posse of dancers and former contestants, some from American Idol participating in a highly entertaining performance.

Information salience mixed with a good dose of humour makes for compelling viewing – that stays with you. Even the jingles keep looping in your mind, admittedly, often annoyingly so. Perhaps the efforts to get passenger’s attention would be better designed with Russell Brand or Jo Brand projected onto the cardboard cut-outs, singing in cockney-style what you can or cannot take on board.

But it is not just security videos that could benefit from the presenters standing out more and being funnier. Educational videos can also be made much more watchable through humour and captivating delivery. The conference I was attending on the Internet of Education was about how to enhance online and traditional education with new technologies. There were quite a few talks about MOOCs; their pros and cons, promises and reality. Some reported on how they had developed clever technologies that could help students to annotate, tag and search for video lectures and other online materials.

Coursera was one of the first companies to get the ball rolling; its mission is to make high-quality education accessible to everyone by allowing the best universities to offer courses to everyone around the world, for free. Its website is mightily impressive – claiming a staggering numbers of students who have signed up for their courses and an equally vast number of courses they now offer. The fanfare and hype that greeted this free form of online learning a couple of years ago however has now been tempered by a fair share of public skepticism. It is dawning on many that it can never be the great leveler – as hoped. One of the Stanford professors, Andrew Ng, who co-founded the company, and has had a hugely successful online course in machine learning, gave the final keynote talk at our conference – virtually via Skype. He was still bubbling with boundless energy and enthusiasm. I watched him in awe – maybe the CAA could learn a few lessons from him about how to make effective safety videos.
TIME Summit On Higher Education

I was struck, however, as I listened to him waxing lyrical about their incredible achievements by how much of the content that gets delivered, interacted with and re-presented is all done via the computer keyboard. Inevitable, but it made me think whether we are educating a global generation of students to only talk about what they have learned through their fingers. There is no need for a MOOCs student to stand up and present their ideas, findings or concerns in a face-to-face setting or to confront their lecturers. It is largely about selecting the right answers using multiple-choice quizzes (of course there are a few courses that are the exception). Fine for working out answers and gauging the student’s progress as they work though the course, but not so good at helping them work out how to put those Q&As into practice. As any teacher or professor knows only too well, you only really learn about something when you have to talk about it yourself in front of a class of fresh-faced students.

How can online education courses help students actually explain or discuss a phenomenon or theory, such as deep learning, in the convincing way that Andrew Ng does in his lectures? How can they emulate him? Not by simply watching videos, or tagging them or answering multiple-choice questions. I raised my arm and asked him what he thought about the possibility that we might be producing a generation of students who only ever express themselves through their fingers. I suggested, as well, how about getting the students to upload videos of themselves verbally explaining what they have learnt? They might then be assessed, not through clicking through a series of radio buttons, but through being matched with other students from different parts of the globe, who are also taking the same course – each critiquing the other’s presentation. Would give a new spin to the idea of study buddies.

moocDuring his talk, Andrew mentioned a study that had investigated the value of having a virtual image (a bit like a cardboard cut-out) of the instructor appearing at the bottom of each slide. The researchers wanted to see what role it would play in motivating the students. To test this out, they split the class into two – and gave half the slides with the cut-out instructor appearing and the other half just the slides. Apparently, the students in the control condition were not at all happy when they found out they did not have the cut out instructor on their slides – feeling they were missing out. There was uproar and so the researchers had to abandon the experiment. That speaks volumes about the power of having the presence of a tutor near you to somehow make it feel a bit more real and that perhaps your tutor cares for you. And you never know they might just have that Mona Lisa effect.

Shock Box

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phone boxDefibrillators (AEDs) are located on walls in public buildings, stations, trains and planes. You never really notice them unless called into action – just like all the other safety equipment that is required in public places, such as fire alarms, fire hoses and extinguishers.

Last week we were ambling though the quiet village of Steyning, doing a spot of window shopping, when we came across an AED in a disused phone box. At first sight, I thought it was bizarre to see a life saving contraption where a public phone used to be but then it made perfect sense for it to be there, since no one uses public phones anymore. Rather than sell them off to Americans who place them in their restaurants, bars and homes for show and effect – why not keep them as a permanent feature of the British landscape, but repurposed to be live savers? Maybe it will stop the phone boxes smelling of urine and being vandalized. And help save a live.

aedDefibrillators are strange machines that are intended to issue jolting electric shocks to someone who has just had a heart attack. They come encased in plastic boxes, usually coloured bright yellow or green. When opened up, they provide step-by-step instructions, with voice prompts, designed to be used by untrained bystanders. The boxes include a kit with all the things you will need to use the defibrillator. You are meant to start by ripping open the person’s clothing to expose their chest, then, if it is dry, wet it followed by applying two sticky pads with electrodes in them – one on the heart and one above the nipple on the right chest. If the person has a lot of chest hair it is suggested you trim it using a razor that is included in the kit. And if they are wearing an underwire bra you are meant to cut it away to avoid burns on the patient’s skin.

All of these preliminary actions are very intimate to be doing to a stranger. There is no dignity when it comes to having a heart attack. The AED machine will analyse the patient’s heart beat and then tell you to stand clear of the patient so it can deliver a shock if it considers it necessary. It will repeat these steps until the patient is revived or continues not to respond to the treatment.

Last week, one of my students witnessed a passenger using an AED, whilst on a tube train, on another passenger who had slumped unconscious. The person did not respond and was eventually taken away by the emergency service who came to the scene, assumed dead. She found it very distressing to be stuck in a carriage, having to watch the defibrillator machine repeatedly being used, in vain. I had a similar experience, about 10 years ago, on a flight to Seattle when a man crashed to the floor, face first, right next to my aisle seat. Two doctors rushed to the scene, when a message was sent out on the tannoy system, alongside two undercover air marshalls. They turned the man over and started the process under my nose. They began by opening up his Hawaii shirt (I can remember the detail of the pattern) and quickly strapping on the defibrillator. Then for the next hour, the defibrillator took over control issuing orders; which the doctors and air marshalls obediently followed. It was clear to everyone around him that he was dead but it is a requirement by law to continue trying to revive the patient until the plane has landed. The plane eventually made an emergency landing where he was taken off the plane on a gurney.

It is very disturbing seeing someone, unexpectedly and suddenly, die in front of you in a public place; a living body suddenly becoming lifeless, and then stripped and strapped to a pulsating AED. What has stayed with me most is the eerie robotic voice that repeatedly barks the same piercing dictum throughout the ordeal, just before it is about to deliver a shock, “Stand clear. Do not touch the patient. Stand clear.”

A couple of years ago a guy called Shay Carmon developed a concept defibrillator toaster that would revive your bread. That is black humour to the max.

toaster

Which Sauce?

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sausage-sandwichI’ve started listening to the Danny Baker show on Five Live that goes out on Saturday mornings. The delectable Danny explores everyday topics in his distinctive style; quirky, witty and maundering. You never know where a conversation with a caller might end. He has the knack of moving it in unpredictable and very funny ways. The pièce de résistance is the weekly Sausage Sandwich Game – that is now legendary amongst his fans. A guest (such as a former footballer, or a singer) is invited to answer questions about him or herself that are innocuous but personal – such as when did you last climb a tree (this year, in the last two years or over 10 years ago) or where did you live for the longest when you were a child – on a street, road, lane, close, avenue or other. The kind of unique questions that banks should come up with for their security questions instead of what is your mother’s maiden name or the primary school you went to (since now you can lift that information so easily from Facebook or LinkedIn).

Two call-in contestants are also invited to represent their football team (say Arsenal or Berwick Rangers) and have to guess what the guest would choose as their answer. They have to make their choice based on what they have heard about the guest in the introductory banter.

So, on very little information they have to decide, for example, if the person is a tree climber (and hence climbed up one recently) or even more random, they seem like a person who would have lived on a road rather than an avenue. Having tried to work it out and explain their reasoning the guest then reveals when, where or whatever the answer. Whoever gets the right answer scores a goal. The last question asked is the sausage question – do they take red sauce, brown sauce or no sauce when eating a sausage sarnie. The suspense is brilliantly timed. We hear the clock ticking and then the contestant’s think aloud reasoning behind their choice (e.g. ‘oh she is definitely a brown sauce person, given she is from up north’, or ‘he does not seem like someone who would take any sauce’ so a no-saucer). As Danny says, this question reveals something about a person in ways that an interrogation could never do. The bon homie and self-deprecating humour that exudes from Danny throughout keeps you laughing and looking forward to the next game the following week. It is masterful, phone-in radio.

We often have to guess something about someone else, their likes, dislikes, what presents they might like, writing something witty about them on a ‘miss you’ leaving card, which restaurant or café they would like to meet at, and so on. For many it can be hard work, especially if they don’t know the person that well. There is a mismatch between the individual things we know about a person and the high level categories offered by retail. Buy for him or her; that special present for mum or dad, and so on. What if you could go to an online site and instead answer a few sausage sandwich type questions about a person you need to buy a present for, say a 40th birthday. The underlying system could do some clever pattern matching and suggest something original and unexpected for that person. That would be smart shopping – and entertaining for the shopper instead of being a chore.

Fascinating Bodies

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shadow02We are fascinated with our bodies and the shadows they project. From making hand shadows by creative molding and twisting of our hands and fingers under a projector light to interactive artistic works that encourage you to move and twist to make larger than life shadows on public walls such as Felix Bonowski’s Proximity Repulsion, recently shown at the Saatchi Gallery. felixrepulsion

Then there is Nature that does it on your behalf, making elongated and strange shapes of you from winter late afternoon suns.

ourshadows
There is something magical about projecting yourself as a flat moving dark shape to appear in front of you onto a surface such as a wall, grass or water, using either natural or artificial light. You never think of it as blocking out light but as an extension of your embodied self that you are in control of; making it bigger, smaller, wider, animal or head like. Felix’s interactive projection is captivating and compelling: a rain of particles falls from the top of the projected shadow and if one hits the edge of it, a repulsive force pushes it away from your head, arm or hand. The effect is to feel like one is playing with particles in a way similar to water or sand but by bouncing off one’s shadow. It is a beautiful piece.

Last week, I went to the Science Museum and came across a new exhibition called “3D: printing the future”. There was a fine collection of plastic artefacts, and various replacement body parts for cars, planes and people. They even had a facsimile of the liberator plastic gun that was 3D printed recently and which caused a furore in the press. liberator gun

And there was also an amazing 3D printed sculpture that was a combination of MRI scans and St Paul’s Cathedral by the artist Tobias Klein. But what really caught my eye was lots of jellybean coloured plastic figurines – like the ones you used to find in cereal packets – hanging from the wall at the end of the exhibit. On closer inspection I discovered they were 3D scans of real people who had visited the museum. They had chosen their own colour and pose. Each was unique in a quite different way to having your photo taken. Whilst no longer attached to the body in the way shadows always are, it felt as if there was still a part of the person in the 3D model. Like little people who might start to come alive as they do in the classic Pixar animation film Toy Story.

figurine2

Only last week, the UK supermarket, ASDA, announced it was launching an in-shop 3D printing service that will scan your whole body to create an 8-inch version of you. Now just imagine getting the whole family done, aunts and uncles and all. And then turning the lights off and putting the projector on… one could act out family dramas with their like-like shadows coming alive. Perhaps, it might get a tad creepy, even uncanny valley.

Slow-Mo Time

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southern_train_interior4 Last week my bag was stolen on the train as I was travelling home. As the enormity of what had happened dawned on me I jumped up and ran out of the carriage to the train door. But it was too late. The train had just started to pull out of the platform. I stood there helpless and my fellow passengers tried to help with offering to phone the transport police. All was in vain. I got off at the next station, Wivelsfield, and ran to the other side to catch a train back to the previous station, Hayward’s Heath, but just missed it. I was stranded at a tiny provincial station and had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. There was no one in sight – no one I could explain what had happened to me. During that time as I replayed over and over again in my mind what had just happened. It was all in slow motion – paradoxically, as I paced up and down the platform. I was desolute.
265px-Wivelsfield_Station_02
It is common for traumatic experiences to be remembered by people in slow motion. How and whether there is scientific evidence for it is open to debate. But the perception is real to those who have witnessed a crash, been in an accident or had something unpleasant happen to them. Time really feels like it is slowing down. My memory of the moment of realization was it feeling like ages from jumping up from my seat to getting to the door of the train.

The way in which the theft happened was very clever. Two dodgy looking guys distracted all of us sitting in the carriage with a seemingly innocent question – and during that moment they stood up, took my bag (which was next to my feet) from under our noses and disappeared. It was less than a minute later but it was too late. They had gone.

The next 24 hours were desperate times. I had nothing on me except my train ticket. My purse, house and work keys, laptop, phone, ID card, address book, glasses, etc., etc., were gone. When I eventually got home (my neighbours had a spare set of keys so I was able to get in) I started the process of stopping my cards and changing my passwords. Then the next day, I went to the Apple Store and begged them to sort things out for me (they are incredibly busy all the time). I was there for 4 hours and they were very helpful. I ended up with a brand new phone but being credit/debit cardless, had to go home to get other forms of ID that would allow the phone company I had a contract with to agree to give me an upgrade on my account. Backwards and forwards I went.

For the last few days, I have been changing all my passwords and updating all my digital records. There are so many things that we have connected to our cards. For example, the automated top-up feature on my Oyster card failed because my debit card, it uses, had been stopped. My new credit/debit cards, which arrived today, wont work until the new PINs arrive. Deliberately sent a few days later to prevent fraud. I’ve been living on cash (my bank was able to let me get some out using an old cheque book and my passport for ID) for the last few days and it makes you realize how much we depend on plastic for our everyday transactions. The list goes on, from having to set up again other direct debits and credit card details for utility bills, Amazon, British Airways, etc. Exhausting and very time-consuming sorting everything out.

But every cloud has a silver lining. I was able to upgrade on my O2 contract to enable me to get a brand new iPhone 5s without too much extra cost. A slate silver one. It is a very beautiful object. I’ve been exploring all the new functions and enjoying trying them out – in between the relentless pursuit of re-establishing my digital identity. One function that is cute is the slow-mo video that is included as part of the package, that slows down the video to a fourth of its speed. This is my first attempt – one of my new PhD students (Jessi Baker) jumping up and down in my office.

There are many more of them appearing on the Internet. Here is another one I really liked. I look forward to more hours of fun ahead instead of more grief.

iPhone 5s Slow-Mo from Eric Grindland on Vimeo.

Finally, I am reminded of Mark Wallinger’s ethereal ‘Threshold to the Kingdom’ (2000) – a masterpiece of slow-motion, which I have spent much time absorbed in. Best experienced through life-sized projection with loud stereo, but here is a clip of it as a taster:

MARK WALLINGER from John Mallinson Duff on Vimeo.

Urban Divide

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eastpaloalto“You don’t want to go to East Palo Alto! It is on the wrong side of the tracks”, was the advice I was given when looking for somewhere to rent in Silicon Valley back in the late 90s. East Palo Alto has been very poor since the early 80s and has much higher rates of crime than the other bits of Palo Alto that just got more wealthy and posher during the technology dotcom bubble. A similar demarcation exists in Bloomington, Indiana, where I also once lived. Those on the wrong side of the tracks live in poverty and are often regarded as trailer trash whilst those on the right side are university dons and students, respectable and educated. A clear town and gown divide.

More generally, every country has its north and south or east and west. If you live in the south of England you consider those ‘up north’ to be working class, poor and hard-nosed. Conversely, if you live in the north of England you consider those ‘down south’ to be stuck up, wealthy and snooty. The dividing line is located at the infamous Watford Gap service station on the M1. Apparently, nearly 75% of the English are prejudiced against their northern or southern neighbours.

The same can be said about cities. People south of the Thames rarely venture north of the river outside of work and vice versa. Each side of London has its own culture, accent, street fashion and views about people living on the other side.

millroad Such urban splits are perpetuated right down to the street level. There is a street in Cambridge, UK, called Mill Road that is divided by railway tracks. On one side is Romsey and on the other, Petersfield. Romsey people believe Petersfield is less safe and has less community feel than their neighbourhood. But what do those in Petersfield think? Do they regard themselves as being poorer – whether financially culturally or economically? Do they think it is more or less unsafe than Romsey? Another case of being on the wrong side of the tracks?

Are the perceived differences about the other side real or imagined? This is the question being asked on one of our current research projects run by Lisa Koeman and Vaiva Kalnikaitė as part of the ICRI Cities. Instead of simply asking people on the street what they think, we have employed electronic voting devices to mediate. 18 of these portable devices have been designed, custom built and placed in shops along the street – some on the Romsey side and the others at the Petersfield end.
lisa2 Shoppers get to vote on a variety of questions to do with the neighbourhood, by simply pressing one of three coloured buttons, depending on whether they agree, are neutral or disagree. Statements include “the street has a real buzz today”, “I feel socially connected” and, “I feel at home on Mill Road.” They are of course free and encouraged to talk at large about the issues with others in the shop or street.

The logged votes are then aggregated for each shop and displayed as a public visualisation outside them. Local graffiti artists spray the breakdown of the votes as a percentage for each choice – using temporary chalk and stencils – onto the pavement next to each shop taking part. This then becomes the talking point for for all to see, be puzzled about and compare.
visualisation_3

At the end of the week an evocative visualisation of all the votes for all the questions, from the two parts of the street – divided by the tracks – will be designed and sprayed on the bridge pavement to show whether and what are the differences, as judged by the shoppers and shopkeepers. Will it be the case that the perceived economic and social differences are as marked as we are led to assume?

The jury is out.

If you want to have your say pop into one of the participating shops and cast your vote. The project also hopes to enable residents and visitors to the area to find out more about the street – which is known for its vibe, diverse community and international shops.

Real Talk

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yammer-mascot-785x1024A fellow commuter was having a bit of a rant on the train yesterday about how his colleagues, especially the younger ones, don’t talk any more. He got more and more animated in his diatribe against the youth, glued to their screens, constantly tapping away on Facebook, Twitter, Yammer and email. But what really pissed him off was what they were not doing, rather than what they were doing. Why could they not spend some of their time face-to-face with people, practicing the art of conversation and using a bit more body language?

My fellow commuter manages a corporate hospitality company, where socializing offline is central to their business, which involves procuring new clients to sponsor sporting events, such as the Olympics. He lamented how it is rare now for someone to get off their seat in the open plan office and go out for a coffee. Instead they all drink take-away coffee and eat ready-made sandwiches at their desks. None of them ever walk over to the specially customized coffee area he had built to try to encourage them to meet together a bit more offline – to catch up, share an anecdote, voice a worry, or simply engage in gossip and in doing so, practice the skills of small talk, medium talk and big talk. As a result, they don’t know the first thing about how to talk to a client, let alone how to engage with them in the first place. They rely on ‘the dinosaurs’ (his term) to do the ice-breaking, the buttering up, the arm touching and the broaching. “What will the company do when he retires” he sighed, “God only knows…”

Good old fashioned networking, where time is spent relaxing over dinner, seamlessly switching between day-to-day stuff, personal stuff and work stuff, provides the fabric for building up rapport, trust and a sense of being wanted and respected. People are far more likely to give and want to be part of something if they are treated well and looked after. But it takes time, effort and skill to know how to network well, something you can’t learn from online chatting. Sending an email to the manager of the marketing department of Adidas or Nescafe, however charming or witty, simply wont cut the mustard. If you want a company to part with their money you need to be mindful of them.

The widespread use of the social media tool, Yammer (over 2 million employees at more than 100,000 companies have used it), that looks like Facebook and Twitter, makes it even easier to not have to talk face-to-face with colleagues. It’s all mediated through the system: “Yammer filters the conversations with Share, Ask, Praise, Event, or Poll prompts. Responses are tracked by most likes, most replies, most posts, trophies, and badges that are consolidated in the Leaderboard.” Whilst one can quickly get a sense of the pulse of the office or the word on the street, by following the numerous ticker streams of online comments, thumbs up and quips, it is not real talk.

It is not just the hospitality business where the art of small talk and face-to-face networking is on the wane. It is happening across all walks of life (as I wax lyrical about in my recent TEDx talk,).

squeezyIn my workplace at UCL we are conducting a study to see whether we can buck the trend by turning a ‘dead’ building, where no one really talks to each other besides the people in their own group, to being more of a curious lived-in building, that encourages people to talk more with each other – even strangers – in the lifts, on the stairs, in the coffee room, etc. about anything. It is called ‘Mood Project Building’ and is being headed by Sarah Gallacher.

floordisplay The project is investigating how physical and playful installations can be used to encourage a greater sense of community and social connectedness within a building. The idea is really simple – to encourage people, as they walk about the building, to squeeze one of a number of coloured squeezy balls that are located in public spaces on each floor of the building to reflect their mood. Are you having a yellow morning? A blue afternoon? The squeezes from the different floors of the building are mapped onto a large LED floor display intended to act as a social meeting place. There people can discover and chat each day about what balls they have squeezed, why floor six is all yellow and then maybe, seamlessly switch into other talk.
anthonysqueeze

So far, the interactive installation has triggered lots of people throughout the building to squeeze the balls, to talk to strangers, to even be subversive and to be curious.

Maybe we could also design a physical interactive installation to get those city guys glued to their screens to take a break and actually talk to one another more in the flesh. You never know one of those impromptu conversations could lead to an unexpected and fruitful collaboration and land them a big client. Goodbye emoticons. Bring on the real smiles.

Hair-raising Hiking

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theneedleThe idea of trekking across a tropical island from coast to coast is tantalizing. Especially when it involves traversing a rugged rainforest and hiking up and down a steep mountain in the middle with a magnificent rock on the top with spectacular views of the different sides of the island. This is what the Pacific island of Rarotonga’s cross island trail has to offer. Who could resist the challenge?

We should have had a premonition that it was going to be more than a sightseeing jaunt when we saw, the day before, a bedraggled family flag down the bus we were travelling on at the southern end of the coast path. The mother, covered in mud, was helping her bandaged young son hobble onto the bus, muttering, “that was rather an unsuccessful walk.” But, afflicted with hubris, one thinks that it won’t happen to you. Ha ha.

The walk starts gently for the first couple of kilometers with gob-smacking, larger-than-life ferns, banana trees, palms and other tropical vegetation. You feel dwarfed and can’t help but be in awe. All of a sudden the path gets very steep, with a strenuous ascent through a multitude of knotted arthritic tree roots. It feels like climbing endless, uneven steeple steps. You have to select your next step very carefully to ensure a good footing. Very concentrated, looking-downward, walking.

So we puffed our way up to the rock, known as the Needle, head down most of the time. Finally, we looked up again as we came out of the bush to take in the breath-taking 360 degrees views of the island, its coral reef and surrounding pacific sea. Many people attempt to climb the Needle but my vertigo and creaky knees put a stop to that. I already had a sufficient sense of achievement and did not have the urge to climb any further.

A short stop and then time to continue. The descent is usually easier and faster, accompanied by a mountain goat leaping down approach. How wrong I was. Like the ascent, the path was covered in an unpredictable combination of slippery mud, roots and rocks. However, whereas one can haul oneself up by clutching part of the crochet of roots, it is much trickier jumping down using the same technique. In many places there was no path – just a vertical mudslide drop. They call it a severe scramble in the guidebooks. We had to clamber down by grabbing hold of whatever was at hand above and below to anchor ourselves; shrubbery, old bits of rope, stumps, roots and hanging tree branches, some less firmly attached than others. But the force is propelled downwards and so it is more a matter of monkey-hanging rather than leveraging up. At other times, we had to cross a gushing stream, wading up to our knees, traipsing across mossy immersed boulders.

crossislandwalk2It was quite terrifying, especially when looking over the edge of the path that dropped very steeply into a thicket of the unknown. One slip too many and it could have been tropical curtains…I also had only Adidas plimsolls on which gave very little purchase. Unsurprisingly, I slipped a few times, once rolling head over foot near the edge and landing in an ungainly heap. Towards the end, I was covered in mud and my feet drenched and shriveled from all the wading through the stream.

All of this amounts to a big adventure that boot camp and other outdoor activities organizers would salivate over. Others have blogged about their amazing experiences but for me it was an ordeal. Confronting potential danger certainly gets the adrenalin going but when it gets treacherous it turns into fear.

At the end of the path is a big waterfall and accompanying deep pool. The locals simply drive to it up a tarmac road, get out and waddle over to look at it, play music and maybe dive off the rocks. The contrast between my relief at getting to the end of our momentous trek and the ease with which the locals entertained themselves was palpable.
waterfall

Fishy Tales

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YRsnorkelingPart of the joy of going on vacation is regaling tales of the unexpected, especially big adventures. The art is in the telling and the secret in the embellishment. Disrupted journeys due to thunderstorms, hurricanes or other ‘Acts of God’ are popular, along with seeing exotic creatures very close up when not expecting them; a stingray zipping past you in the ocean, a python slithering inside your tent whilst you are in your sleeping bag or a scorpion hiding in your bathers.

We are all prone to exaggerate – the size, the length, the duration, the inconvenience, the fear, etc. – the extent to which we do so depending on the reception from the listening party. The bigger their pupils grow, the more fishy the tail end of our tale.

Corals1Whilst on vacation, we have been snorkeling a lot along the reefs of the South Seas. It is stunning, breathtaking and addictive. The snorkel mask does the telling; magnifying the many amazing fish and corals to appear larger and closer than they really are. You keep wanting to see more shoals, bigger fish, brighter fish, and ever more different kinds of corals, than you did the last time.

castawayfishcardAt the resort shop selling souvenirs, I bought a laminated card depicting a selection of common fishes spotted around Castaway Island in Fiji (where we are) to try to identify the ones I could remember seeing. Part of the pleasure of snorkeling is being able to name what you have seen afterwards. When paying for the card, the shop assistant threaded a piece of rubberized plastic through one corner of it and said to me to wear it on my wrist when snorkeling next. I could not stop laughing at the absurdity of the idea. Besides looking daft dangling from your wrist, the fish tend to swim past you at speed, so there would not be any time to scan a two-sided card of about 100 images to see if they matched up to any of the real ones. Moreover, the printed names of the fish are in tiny eight-point font and in blue so I doubt if they could even be read when bobbing around in the ocean’s currents!

It got me thinking about whether being able to identify a fish in the moment was important and how augmented reality could help. Imagine, wearing a version of Google ‘snorkel’ Glass that could tell you, in that GPS ‘lady’ voice, what was in front of you or the names could be projected onto your mask so you could read them next to the fish swimming past. But, just like in the rain forest, the pleasure is in the here and now seeing and then combining it with one’s imagination and memory afterwards, whilst browsing the Internet and one’s photos to recreate the experience and regale it as a tale.

I have had a lot of fun simply looking at the card whilst on land trying to match some of the illustrated coral fish to those I think I have seen, such as bird-nose wrasses, boomerang trigger fishes, angel fishes, trevallies, green pullers, orange-blotched surgeon-fish and some shabby parrotfish. The names are for real, not ones I have made up! Who needs technology or the urge to bluff with names like that?

Meatless Month

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day1Is it possible to give up meat when you are a serious carnivore? I bet a couple of Danish guys I know – who eat serious amounts of meat usually at every meal – that they could not go a month without it. I was surprised when they took up the challenge. There was much joshing and ribbing in the build up to the start. But on the first day of their new veggie diet, in mid-June, they went about it with much gusto and seriousness.

Throughout their meatless month, they ended up cooking many different dishes of vegetables, cheese, falafel, patties, pastas and more. They went through feeling very hungry, eating healthily, then sometimes eating badly (lots of pizzas, beer and cheese) and having to suffer, by having to cook meat for the rest of their family whilst not eating any of it themselves. It was very difficult at first – but the anticipation of the enormous meat feast at the end kept them going. And what is more, they now eat less meat in their day-to-day diet.

At first they both felt really hungry all the time, but then after a week they began to feel normal and even lost weight. A highlight was keeping in touch on a daily basis through sharing their experiences via email updates. Everyday they took photos and sent them as attachments to me with a description of what they had eaten, with witty asides. I’d really look forward to seeing what they had concocted, and, on the occasional day when they didn’t, would start to get worried. But my fears were unfounded. My emails sent to them showing concern made us bond more and their replies would be even wittier.

By the end of the month I had a collection of 60 dishes they had cooked and/or eaten. Involving the family, sending photos each day and chivvying each other along helped enormously and in its own way was a creative way to change a deeply ingrained and habituated behavior.

Below is an abbreviated version of our shared diary.

Day 1
J: – spinach and ricotta pasta with tomato and chili sauce
So far so good
M: I seriously dont know what to say
BUT Day 1 in the Veg World

Day 2 Breakfast
photobreakfast1
AND there was bacon and sausages on the buffet too, but I proudly did not have any.

Then for dinner:
J: 2x vegetarian pizza. Spinach, mushrooms, feta, chili – they were really good actually!
day2Jesper
M: Homemade Flatbread with Falafel and Fetta
day2M
Day 3
On day 3, M got his daughter and friend involved and they helped cook a 3 course meal:
“My daughter A and her friend made dinner today – 3 courses. Hashbrown with salad as a main and chocolate cake for dessert. Really nice.”
day3J1.1day3J1.2day3J1.3

Day 4

I did not hear anything on day 4 from either of them and got worried, so asked if they had cracked. They replied:

J: “No, not cracked at all..! Made my best effort so far. Mushroom and asparagus risotto – using vegetable stock. Cooked over a few hours in good company of a bottle of Rose. One of our most delicious meals in a long time. I think you would both have liked it.”
M: “No no.. Pasta dish with onion and cream. A little boring. Btw: Yvonne, what should we eat for protein?”

Sunday is usually a day for a roast with a big piece of meat or fish. The guys had to endure a Sunday without:

J: “Leftover Sunday But with a fried egg. The white blob on the left is a slice of goats cheese pretending to be steak ”
leftoversunday
M: “Pasta with spicy beans. The rest of the family had salmon – not easy!”
Mpasta
After the first week I asked them how they felt about having given up meat for a week. Both said they were getting better at it but still felt hungry.

Day 8

This day was really tough for M because he had to visit somewhere that did not cater for non-meat eaters. That can be really hard – especially for the first time:

“We visited C’s daycare center yesterday where we had dinner. I had salad, carrots and rice. Seriously, vegetarians were not catered for. So I had what we call koldskål when I came home (advanced buttermilk).”

After two weeks I sent an email to them celebrating the occasion:

J: That is “two weeks left” I am thinking…
Me: are you dreaming of aubergines or bacon sandwiches?
J: Just bacon – no bread involved in my dreams.

Then came a night without an email from either of them and I got worried again, so sent an email to this effect:

J: “No worries. we had a long working day and ended up at the pizza place where I had a Quatro-Formagio 4x cheese one, again…”

Mbrithday
It was M’s birthday during the month – usually a time for a big feast. He got up at 2.00a.m to pull the pork and slow cook it. Then during the birthday meal, itself:

J: Here is what we had today..
While we had the vegetarian lasagne with salad, on the plate, the other guests had the pulled pork roast sandwiches.. Very hard to stand the temptation! But we did!!”

The use of the subject heading could sometimes be filled with suspense. One day, J simply sent in the subject heading: Oh..and a breadstick….
Inside, the message said: “Very filling :-)”
breadstick
After 3 weeks

“One week left. Look forward to a less restrictive diet, but feel a bit overwhelmed by the thought of mountains of meat, which I dreamt of just two weeks ago…”

Whereas for M, he was finding it all a tad tough:

“Still no meat. But dinners are getting more and more boring.

Nearing the end of the month, fear crept in for J:
“First day with meat will be Friday – at the group’s BBQ at P’s place. I am a bit scared actually… Might have to start out a bit slow. Seem to have adjusted to no meat by now. The first week I was soo hungry, but that is not really the case anymore. In fact I seem to fill up a lot easier than ever before. I also had strong meat craving for the first 2 1/2 weeks, but not so much anymore. A bit confronting when I think about a huge steak actually… what have you done to me!!”

The final day

Was a big surprise.

J: I think this photo speaks for itself..
finalmeatJ First taste of meat after a month. Went to the research group’s BBQ last night, and brought with me the biggest T-bone steak I could find. I must admit that I felt a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to eat it all…

But it was delicious..! Absolutely fantastic, I have to admit. But then again it was a really nice piece of meat. The other meat-things I tried after that (meet balls etc, sausages, etc.) did not give me the same experience of satisfaction. So a month without meat certainly has done something to my perception of meat.
Felt very full afterwards though, and have had a bit of a tight stomach since.. I think I will ease it in over the next couple of days.
But nice feeling to be “allowed” meat again :-)”

M: “In the beginning I was hungry all the time, but was also enthusiastic about the whole thing. I actually searched for interesting and new recipes – which was partially successful. But it was difficult to change as my family still wanted to eat meat. Also, to make more sustained behavior change I think I would have to go into lentils and beans – which I didn’t. So the problem is that I ate unhealthy – chips, cheeses, bread with butter – just to avoid being hungry all the time. But I didn’t have stomachaches like I sometimes have – probably due to the lack of red meat. So I have cut down on red meat – which is probably good for me.”

On my travels, I’ve come across some of the most delicious braais and BBQs. I also discovered pub meat raffles (offering huge tray loads of raw meat). The idea of winning a pile of pork that would otherwise cost 40-50 dollars makes many salivate. However, the prize goes to Fiji, which I am currently visiting. It used to be called the ‘Cannibal Isles’ – a country that up until two hundred years ago still enjoyed eating the flesh (cooked or raw) of its (human) enemies. We’re off to see the caves tomorrow where there is an old cannibal oven still intact…

Naked Eye

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crocEver wanted to see the eyes, teeth and texture of a crocodile close up – enough to make you jump out of your skin and run for your life? The Solar Whisper Company in Queensland, Australia can help out. It offers ‘Croc Cam’ binoculars that can magnify wildlife by focusing “the camera on animals allowing you to identify using the onboard screen.” No more fiddling with the focus rings – just look at a zoomed digital image of the crocodile on the screen rather than using old-fashioned binoculars or even the naked eye…

I’ve spent the last week with friends in remote Northern Queensland, enjoying the unknown, the unexpected and the uncertain. We’ve been to an Aborigine dance festival, explored the rain forest, camped under a star-studded sky with the Southern Cross shining bright, and snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef. What struck me about all of these out-of-the-ordinary places, besides being utterly magical, was how they didn’t need to be enhanced through digital technology. Their beauty in the raw took our breath away. To be swallowed up by a dense forest of over-sized tropical plants; to hear piercing mysterious sounds at every turn; to be surrounded by schools of dancing day-glow fish; to be floating above an amazing bed of multi-textured coral; to drive into a full moon rising slowly above you on a straight empty road – all leave you in awe and remind you of just how small you are. They don’t need to be enlarged or brought into focus. If you want to find out a bit more there are ample pamphlets, signs and maps, provided at the sites and information centers. And they don’t need to be spoken about by a jolly recorded voice. Every national park or discovery centre (e.g. Daintree Centre), it seems, now offer various audio tours in multiple tourist languages to transport you back to another time and place.
AudioJapCoupleDSCF0756-300x246 All of which causes me considerable dissonance since much of the research in my field is driven by a motivation to come up with novel technologies that will enhance our experiences of the places we visit. The aim is to enable people to learn more about what they are seeing and to decide where next to go whilst interacting with digital resources in situ. However, besides the joy of snapping photos, I am coming to the conclusion that many of these other technologies are superfluous. They seem like overkill, masking the magic of what it means to hear and see nature in the wild.

I have had many discussions with Margot, a fellow interaction design professor who invited me on the trip, about the value of technology interventions in places ‘out there’ (as opposed to ‘in there’, e.g., offices, homes, libraries, shopping malls). When walking through the rain forest we both agreed that whilst it seems obvious and useful to have ‘a mobile app’ that could answer the kid’s and our own questions whenever they popped up, such as what is that, why are those fruit so blue, who eats them and so on – the real joy is to simply wonder. Maybe we don’t need instant information at our fingertips that gratifies our here and now curiosity. Maybe, it is better to try to conjure up a response to one’s own questions and let this lead to further questions, however, lateral. Letting our minds wander and letting questions remain hanging, rather than simply looking up information on an app is what inspires us to think more deeply and to imagine. Whilst it can be rewarding to discover the name of a tree one has just seen or, see the eyes of a croc appear bigger than in real life using a croc cam, there is something special about unaided contemplation.
bluefruit