Random musings

Tools for research

2009-02-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

With the number of people involved in "research", especially in computer science, you'd think researchers would have a set of tools that just work.

Unfortunately, this is not so :(

I've spent a good part of the day fighting with Citation/Annotation tools.

Why can't someone make one that works like you want it to?

I want to be able to include a resource from the web with one click (Amazon anyone?)

And I want to be able to drag references around (i.e. rearrange them), especially when I'm reusing them for a different research topic/paper. Who says Alphabetic order is the best way of doing things? I'm never going to manually search through my list of references so having them in alphabetic order doesn't do anything for me.

The database can store it however it wishes to, but give me the ability to move things around!...

Make it easy to annotate a document!. I don't want to go through 3 - 4 mouse clicks before I get to where I can add in one annotation. Its painful and it so does not support my research practice.

Writing this post is making me more livid instead of calming me.

Ok, back to brainless work - trying to get my papers and annotations organized

CPSR 2008

2008-06-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

For the past three days, I've been at a CPSR (computing professionals for social responsibility) DIAC (Directions and Implications of Advanced computing) conference on Online Deliberation in Berkeley,CA. The theme of the conference this year was "Tools for participation: collaboration, deliberation and decision support" i.e using technology to mediate/increase participation in the democratic process.

Not just in electing officials, but in communicating with said officials, making policies and building roads/parks/schools/walk-ways/bike-paths and allowing a new Starbucks to be built in your community etc.

Its been intellectually stimulating, thought provoking and sometimes mind boggling.

I'm impressed to see political scientists, philosophers, geologists and of course computing professionals presenting so much interdisciplinary work on the issues of technology, online deliberation and democracy.

As I said in an earlier blog, I've become interested in policies that govern the creation and use of technology as well as the implication of the technology in a given society (context is everything)

Being at this conference has led me to question the democratic process in my home country (Nigeria). Granted we all know the process is flawed (over there and here too). And in any country that wants to really use these technologies, the government has to be one of the main backers (i.e not putting those that create this technology in jail and actually funding the research and creation of some of these technology).

That said, I think Nigeria and Africa in general can make use of these technology to promote the democratic process or/and reach out to citizens i.e understand the issues that their citizens are most concerned about.

Looking at the Niger Delta crisis, I see a place where technology can help mediate conversation/dialog. Many Nigerians/Africans have access to the web (it might be disparate and I'm sure economic/geographic concerns are valid). But for the most part, I think most Nigerians that are of college age have access to the web.

If we had an online deliberation system(could be any form of technology such as portals/wikis/content management system,blogs, chats etc) where people talked about issues. Maybe we'll have a solution? to the Niger Delta problem.

Hmmmmmm...this isn't what I really meant to say.

Lets try that again.

It'll afford many Nigerians (including those in Diaspora) that are scared of speaking out in public (for fear of being maimed in some way or another) a way to participate and collectively come up with some sort of way forward.

I'm one of those scientists that believes "one size fits all" is the wrong way to go about creating any kind of technology. I also believe "copy and paste" isn't the best way to go about introducing a new technology or ideology from one country to another. I use the ethnographic method of inquiry in my work and believe that is the right way to go about improving a community.

After all, we don't want to just create a tool that increases work to be done or harms people in some way (physical, political or otherwise). We want to make sure it improves the interaction in a community, gives everyone a voice and hopefuly in doing so, improves the community.

Somebody (I'm willing to do it if someone funds me ) should figure out how the democratic process currently works in Nigeria and how technology can effectively mediate and grow that process.

I'm not talking about electronic voting, even the US has a long way to go before we can be sure this method of counting votes is fool-proof.

Of course another ethnographic study would be needed to figure out how Nigerians currently use technology and then leverage that knowledge to get them to participate in creating a better Nigeria.

This is not a call to take up arms, challenge the domineering political force in Nigeria and try to do away with whatever distro of Democracy we have and institute another distro. I'm going home for christmas and would like to get into Nigeria and come back out in one piece!

Just some thoughts that were swirling around in my head during some of the conference presentations.

At the end of the day, its just a communication problem

2008-05-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've gotten into the habit of watching myself interact with other people. No, I don't have a personality disorder or anything that esoteric.

Its more about being aware of my reaction (physical and emotional) to what the person is saying.

I confess, it makes me less attentive to what the person is saying because I'm trying to figure out what my self thinks about it or how myself is processing the situation.

I'm kind of trying to figure out what makes me tick. Which buttons elicit the different range of human emotions and characters. (ok, this is wrong, character isn't a unit, it consists of several units interacting with each other)

But sometimes, its about reading the other person. When I go see a movie with a friend, I find myself watching the other person's reaction to the movie, rather than my reaction to the movie or just mindlessly(?) watching the movie.

Hmmm...before I started writing, I had gone through this series of thoughts and my conclusion was, "at the end of the day, its just a communication problem" hence the title of this post. But I can't seem to remember how it all fits together :(

I know character changes based on the situation, but can you pin down someone's "generalized" character? how often does someone have to flake out before you declare the person a flake? how much does someone have to say and how often, before you declare the person egotistic? This is really far from what I wanted this post to be about....best to stop while I'm still aware of this.

informal education

2008-04-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

There's a lot to be said for informal education....

When you really need to learn something or get something fixed....and don't want to sift through the different pages a search engine gives you....or better yet, are ready to sift through...but want immediate answers to specific questions....there's nothing in my experience that beats informal learning.....

And by informal learning here...I mean...admitting you don't know something.... picking the brains of your lab mates.....and making sure you understand what they're saying.....not just saying uhuh...uhuh....and ending up partially educated...

what's that saying again? a little knowledge/education is harmful....come to think of it....a lot of knowledge might be harmful too....

hmmm.....

ok...I really wanted to say...kudos to Eddy for taking time out of his non-available free time....to add to my informal education.....

And of course....kudos to Hilary.....for bootstrapping me.....and contributing immensely to my informal education....

why is this starting to sound like a speech from an award show?

Running list of favorite tunes

2008-04-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Quizas, Quizas by Ruben Gonzalez
Regresso A Tlacotalpan by Carlo Nicolau & Rosino Serrano
Stairway to heaven by Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Hunting The Nandu by Inti-Illimani
Alturas by Inti-Illimani
Lela by Gustavo Santaolalla
The wings by Gustavo Santaolalla
El Canto Del Cucli by Calchakis
Tides of Eden by Johannes Linstead
De Ushuaia A La Quiaca by Gustavo Santaolalla
La Canoa by Huayucaltia

Birthday present wishlist

2008-04-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

And this is in no particular order ...

New running shoes (high preference for cross trainers as opposed to racing shoes)
A pedometer
New salsa shoes
0.5mm mechanical pencils
Refill for my 0.5mm pencils
Staedtler erasers
Schneider blue pens (made in Germany)
retractable orange and yellow highlighters
yellow and pink 3M post-its (standard size)
New jazz shoes

Information technology policy

2008-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

Its the weirdest thing ever...

I've become interested in developing policies that govern information technology implementation and use in countries.

....something to do with analyzing current information technology implementation and use and coming up with policies that protect the interest of consumers and improve the country's economy.

it'll be really interesting to do this for a developing country that welcomes advances in information technology...but has inadequate policies controlling its implementation in the country

....should probably look at the United Nations organization...see if they have any such funded research work going on...check on its status

Need Divine Intervention

2008-01-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

One graduate school application due on friday.

One enormous grant application due on friday

One Artificial Intelligence homework/programming assignment due on friday.

One secure software programming assignment due on friday

One pattern recognition homework due on thursday

And I still have to attend class and behave normal!

After thanksgiving

2007-11-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

Wondering why I took off 3 nights and 2 days all in the name of thanksgiving.

Now, I'm backlogged with work and my migraine is back again.

I really like the idea of statistical pattern recognition....but what aspect am I really interested in? handwriting? signal? image? (does this exist?)

Accept the worst that can happen....then make your decisions based on the worst happening.

This was never my dream....I mean somehow I guess it was....I couldnt see it clearly, but now I do, I realize its the dream I've been dreaming...but can you tell your dream to hold on while you do other things?

What is more important? That I sacrifice now for the future that may never be...or I live life fully right now and by that I mean.....become stable right now as opposed to later.

Should I just pick something, get done with it and then move on?

I'm afraid of chasing something that will never be. I want to make sure I'm not running into a cul de sac.

Excited about Philosophy Society meeting

2007-11-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

So I just found out that theres a student philosophy society at my school and in their next meeting the topic of discussion is

Philosophy of Mind:

Can a computer think?
Is the brain a computer?
Is body separate from mind?
What is the self?

Cant wait!

MUSINGS

2007-11-21T17:32:00.000-08:00

So do we end up programming everything? Does intelligent mean that all scenarios have been implemented? But thats not how it happens in humans. We're not preprogrammed for every situation. We play life as it comes. We can learn from situations we've been in (neurons make connections = = pattern recognition learning schemes for machines?). We have survival instincts/guides.

I think what I might be heading at is the idea that computers/machines should develop this instinct/intuition and should be able to learn from past situations. (where does the symbiotic relationship come in?...cant focus only on the machine's process, have to consider the humans' process too....)

Hmm...Now I think about it, what exactly is a robot? I know I cant stand the notion of just working on a particular "robot" as part of my life. But since I'm concerned with the intelligence of humans and machines, doesnt that automatically include robots? I mean, when we finally figure out a way to make machines as intelligent as humans, wont that just be applied to robotics? I think the key is to stop using the words computers and robots. I am interested in cognition as relating to human and machines. Thats a better way of expressing my interest.

Decreasing the cognitive dissonance between humans and machines, increasing their cognitive productivity, reducing cognitive drain (i.e a human should be able to work in co-operation with a machine to more easily (for both of them) perform a task. The key term is symbiosis. Together, without "hurting" each other. two brains (computer and human) are better than one.

Cognition is definitely a word that has to be described in all my writings since it pervades my thoughts.

Here we go again with research interest

2007-11-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

I love anything that has to do with the human brain, computers and cognition.

Intelligence (of humans and computers) is my forte(well what I'm fascinated about...dont think I can really call it my forte yet...I'm not yet a notable researcher in this field).

I'm intrigued by artificial intelligence but not as related to robotics. I have absolutely no interest in robotics.

I'm more interested in how the human brain and computers(machines) learn and how they can complement and improve each other's learning.

Learning is actually too narrow. Process is a better word. How they can improve each other's processes (way of doing things).