« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
February 27, 2007
Social Software: Practice and Theory
The Informatics Seminar is held on Fridays at 3:00pm in ICS2 136 followed by a social hour at 4:00pm. This week's social hour will also be a chance to meet with faculty candidate Tapan Parikh. Please join us!
This week's Informatics Seminar speaker will be Professor Werner Beuschel.
Abstract: Recent system developments in the realm of Social Software and Web x.0 created high hopes in many application areas. But is there a way from the buzz to concepts? In this talk I will seek an answer focusing on the potenzial of Social Software to support informal learning processes within a curriculum. But before we try to develop new practices of learning through Social Software we should explore our understanding of the terms in order to gain common ground for devising and evaluating concepts. This leads us to the question whether there actually is a research field above and beyond the current collection of applications like Weblogs, Podcasts, Wikis or social networking systems. The answer I want to develop provides a perspective in terms of a media view. With any analytical approach we should also be reminded of the interdependency between theoretical understanding and subsequent findings. Some examples of professional social networking systems, originating in Germany, are used to illustrate the media perspective. A variety of student projects under development then serves to explore issues and dilemmas of informal learning concepts. Among the systems are a Web-based frame for personalizable homepages, a review system for students' homework, and the Europe-wide project "Directly to the Chancellor".
Biography: Werner is professor of information management at the University of Applied Sciences in Brandenburg, Germany. He acquired his Ph.D. in computer science in 1987 from the Technical University of Berlin. Most recently he was on the board of directors for the 5-year federal project "Virtual University of Applied Sciences". More than 600 students are now enrolled in its various online-curricula. Ever since working at ICS as a post-doc, Werner was a regular visitor many times, currently staying with the department of Informatics during winter and spring. His research interests are CSCL, Social Software, and Collaborative Virtual Environments.
Posted by djp3 at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2007
Congratulations Judy!
 Photo courtesy of paulworthington |
Congratulations to Judy Chen on the recent acceptance for publication of the following workshop paper: J. Chen, "The Many Faces of Surveillance." Position paper for the workshop "Imaging the City" held at International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI, San Jose, CA, April 2007. |
Posted by djp3 at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2007
Informatics Job Opening
Assistant or Associate Professor, Organizational Studies of Information Technology, Department of Informatics - Tenure Track
"The Department of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) is seeking excellent candidates for a tenure-track position in organizational studies of information technology or a related research area. The position, for appointment in July 2007, is targeted at the rank of associate professor, but exceptional candidates at all ranks will be considered."
See this link for more info: faculty positions @ the bren school of information and computer sciences
Posted by djp3 at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
Congratulations Johanna and Paul
|
Photo courtesy of paulworthington |
Congratulations to Johanna and Paul on the recent acceptance for publication of the following: J. Brewer and P. Dourish, "Imaging and Imagining the City." Position paper for the workshop Imaging the City held at International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI, San Jose, CA, April 2007. |
Posted by djp3 at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
New LUCI Projects
 undersound |
Welcome two new projects to the LUCI website, undersound and SAli! Click through to find out more about these projects by LUCI students and faculty |
 SALi |
Posted by djp3 at 2:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
Augmenting Learning and Augmenting Reality:Handheld Simulation Games for Learning
The Informatics Seminar is held on Friday at 3:00pm. This week, in lieu of our regular social hour at 4:00pm, there will be a faculty+staff+ grad-student reception/mixer -- the very first in the new building, from 4-5:30pm in the 6th floor conference room of Bren Hall. Snacks and assorted (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) beverages will be served. Please join us.
Eric Klopfer Director, Teacher Education Program, MIT
"Handheld computers have incredible potential for aiding learning in a time when people must tackle complex problems and acquire information in just-in-time fashion. These portable connected computers can provide information when it is needed and where it is needed. But their design and form factor also make them an ideal platform for learning games. The fastest-growing, and soon most-prevalent, gaming platforms are not the new Playstation, Xbox or Wii, but handheld consoles and mobile devices. Rather than cramming desktop applications onto these small devices, it is important to create games that play to the strengths of this platform – portability, context sensitivity, connectivity, and ubiquity. These games can use the physical and social context of the player as integral components, creating a rich playing and learning environment. This talk explores two forms of handheld games created by the MIT Teacher Education Program – participatory simulations (e.g., our new application Palmagotchi) and augmented reality, including how they are used in schools, training, and informal learning environments.
Eric Klopfer is the Director of the MIT Teacher Education Program (http://education.mit.edu) and the Scheller Career Development Professor of Science Education and Educational Technology at MIT. The Teacher Education Program prepares MIT undergraduates to become math and science teachers. Klopfer's research focuses on the development and use of computer games and simulations for building understanding of science and complex systems. His research explores simulations and games on desktop computers as well as handhelds. He currently runs the StarLogo ( http://education.mit.edu/starlogo) project, a desktop platform that enables students and teachers to create computer simulations of complex systems. He is also the creator of StarLogo TNG, a new platform for helping kids create 3D simulations and games using a graphical programming language. On handhelds, Klopfer's work includes Participatory Simulations (http://education.mit.edu/pda ), which embed users inside of complex systems, and Augmented Reality simulations (http://education.mit.edu/ar), which create a hybrid virtual/real space for exploring intricate scenarios in real time. He is the co-director of The Education Arcade, which is advancing the development and use of games in K-12 education. Klopfer's work combines the construction of new software tools with research and development of new pedagogical supports that support the use of these tools in the classroom. He is the co-author of the book, "Adventures in Modeling: Exploring Complex, Dynamic Systems with StarLogo," and is working on a new book on handheld games and learning from MIT Press.
Posted by djp3 at 11:35 AM | Comments (1)
Congratulations Johanna and Arianna
|
Photo courtesy of paulworthington |
Congratulations to Johanna and Arianna on the recent acceptance for publication of the following: A. Bassoli, J. Brewer, and K. Martin, "In-between Theory and Practice: Dialogues in Design Research." Experience Report at the International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI, San Jose, CA, April 2007. |
Posted by djp3 at 8:20 AM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2007
Congratulations Crista and Bill!
|
Photo courtesy of paulworthington |
Congratulations to Crista and Bill on receiving a 2007 Dean's Award:
The full list is: |
Posted by djp3 at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2007
IBM Programming Contest
|
"On February 5, IBM announced the “Cell/B.E. University Challenge 07,” a programming contest specifically created for university students and offering cash prizes to the winners. * As IBM does not often sponsor contests, I wanted to make sure you knew this was coming and could help encourage participation with your partnership university. Winners of the "Cell/B.E. University Challenge 07," chosen by a panel of academic and IBM technical experts, will receive prizes with a cash value ranging from $10,000 USD for the first place winner to $2,500 USD for the fourth place winner. " Click on the image on the left for details |
Posted by djp3 at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2007
Talk by John Canny: Toward Natural Human-Computer Interaction
The talk will be held 2/9/2007 at 2:00pm at the UCI McDonnel Douglas Engineering Auditorium. There will be no Informatics seminar as a result. More details on the talk are located here:
Abstract: This talk covers several current projects at the Berkeley Institute of Design (BID) on more natural human-machine interaction. Multiview is a video-conferencing system that preserves eye contact in group situations, and closely mimics face-to-face for certain high-stakes communication tasks. We are pursuing several projects on technology for developing regions. This work covers language learning, story writing, speech interfaces and micro-finance. In this setting, "naturalness" is particularly important and strongly tied to the context of the interaction.
The remainder of the talk will discuss a general framework for natural interaction. The key again is to expose and use context. We argue that context must be studied on 3 planes (roughly time scales). One of these, the activity plane, has been reified in a prototype called CAAD that builds models of user work activity from desktop logs. The other two planes are being explored through current and inter-related projects on natural speech interfaces and story understanding.
About the Speaker: John Canny is a Professor in Computer Science at UC Berkeley, working in human-computer interaction, ubicomp and privacy. He holds the Paul and Stacy Jacobs Distinguished Professorship. His 1987 Ph.D. from MIT received the ACM dissertation award. His publications span HCI, ubiquitous computing, computer vision, robotics, cryptography, IR, and CSCW, with best paper awards in three of these areas.
Posted by djp3 at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2007
Yahoo! Research Berkeley Internships
From a rep at Yahoo! Research:
Yahoo! Research Berkeley, is looking for a select few summer interns - PhD, Masters and undergrads. We have an exciting setup - working on advanced prototypes and research problems with enough independence to conduct interesting research, yet with close ties to Yahoo product groups to make this research grounded in real-world needs, and have some real-world impact. Our interests have focused around media - photos and video - with mobile and location-aware systems playing a significant role, as well. You can read more about the lab at http://whyrb.com .
Note that, unlike other internships, you will be able - and encouraged - to write academic papers about your work.
We are hiring interns from several different fields and disciplines (read: forward to your friends), including HCI, Information Retrieval, Algorithms, and more. You can further details about the intern positions and requirements at http://yahooresearchberkeley.com/blog/intern-job-desc/
To apply, send your CV to yrb-interns@yahoo-inc.com . Do it ASAP, as we will be sending offers out very soon.
Finally, you should definitely check out http://careers.yahoo.com/internships.html for more opportunities with Yahoo! and Yahoo! Research, other than the Berkeley lab.
Posted by djp3 at 6:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 5, 2007
Congratulations Tosin and Don!
|
Photo courtesy of paulworthington |
Congratulations to Tosin and Don on receiving a CORCLR grant to travel to Africa to begin an interative design process for Nomatic*Aid |
Posted by djp3 at 8:00 AM | Comments (1)
February 2, 2007
Congratulations Raja, Pierre and Crista!
|
Photo courtesy of paulworthington |
Congratulations to Raja, Pierre and Crista for having a paper accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing: R. Jurdak, P. Baldi, and C.V. Lopes. "Adaptive Low Power Listening for Wireless Sensor Networks," IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. Volume 6, 2007. (in press) |
Posted by djp3 at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)