techno-identity tidbits

2006.05.18 :: final presentations

2006-05-18T12:00:00.000-05:00

seth.jeevan :: one-bit (small-bit) signaling

the skittle experiment
everyone distributed -- then pass around to whatever fancy
compare the quantity of each person

you get these things for different reasons - social interaction, undisclosed, colour favourites, active vs nonactive
no cost for giving, except that you have a finite number in your possession - need to gauge your in vs out items

--> low-cost signaling
what can you deduce, analysis of this signaling system, costs, benefits, etc

can one-bit message acquire meaning without background context, but with existing signaling costs? (ie. finite resources, handicap)
i.e. can this meaningless system acquire meaning through cost-based methods

starfish: web-based graphical system, with each click you increase size of other person, and you decrease
edge thickness - indicate amount of action between two people -- history of last 20 clicks
different dimensions -- judgement based on circle size, judgement based on line thickness

- asynchronous
- semi-anonymous (no indication of specific parties)
- exclusively non-verbal: no text, just graphical

meanings rise from the dust:
clicking signals attention:
check if they're online, see if they're active
teasing and start clicking game
poke to initiate a new relationship
varied - mirror real-world relationships (i.e. can identify medialabber network)
different interpretations of dot size:
rich dot --> poor dot: gift / charity
poor dot --> rich dot: status seeking, want to be included in a community's network, tap the hubs
equal dot --> equal dot: mutual affection
from study, people did not click randomly, had intention signals

* deception? inescapable level of ambiguity in this simple system
deception is all tied up in the couched intentions
is it possible to deceive? or misunderstand? to what extent?
is there a common understanding in an ambiguous situation?
complicit interpretation throughout a community
what to add to make deception a little bit less ambiguous
as time progesses and more bits are available, more consensus on how to interpret this system
what if - what happens if your dot gets depleted? does it disappear/die? is this a competitive game, or more social environment?

-- need more immediate feedback for the user, to tell them what's going on with their click inventory

how do you interpret the different actions and appearances of people in this community? perception from others
bringing conceptual meaning to signaling system

jeff.jesse :: social signaling in 'the sims 2'

game is social simulator, non-violent, popular, all-time #1 game
looking at modeling signaling

create character + environ, issue request to other characters, manage needs

choose many specific details of appearance, physiological and fashion
choose aspirations : define exactly what fulfills their needs

quantify the inventory of 'needs'
everyone you meet gets added to your list of contacts/relationships
other characters are defined with their own set of (invisible) needs
rating on how they feel about you (1D)

rich guy vs poor guy
when they hit on / hug on random women, the women resist / disgust

ambiguous, generic 'language'

giving off impressions:
guy who hasnt showered, stinky and unclean
the women hugs him with feeling, though she does perceive his stinkiness

appearance has no effect
clothing has no signaling effect (free)
if you play music, or serve food, attracts other characters
quality of relationships is purely 1 on 1

- adaptations
clothing can change impression
represent other Sims as a bundle of features (build-in prejudice)
- store identities not as single value but bundle
- compare a stranger to what you know about people with similar features
- i.e. ppl with hat and green shirt are 'typically' argumentative
generalise about strange Sims based on common features
--> add sims + social learning, general impressions
* how do you do this? what kind of structure / process?

you cant change your clothing - no awareness of physical appearance built-in
* how would you build something different to incorporate more awareness of physical features?
-- skill system, gain knowledge / skills, higher status; can attract people by your skills to fulfill their needs
* focus more analysis in terms of skill sets and how it affects / transforms / reframes relationships
-- short-term vs long-term effects in the addition of feature bundles
* incorporate more costs (time, money) -- pay for a wardrobe, or pay for cooking class? reading books or going clubbing? make a forced choice, display of value
reputation: gossip strengthens the bond between the gossiping parties (as akin to gossip / social grooming research, one-to-one exchange of info)
reputation affected only by firsthand witnessing (i.e. guy observing woman flirting with other guy)
adaption: incorporating more nth-hand reputation system, trust network

assessment signals: qualities inventory (read directly), or agent initiates actions to demonstrate
convention signals: user-initiated actions

deception --
get ahead by self-fulfilling things (money, skills)
love triangle - omitting knowledge from other people
marrying for money --> kick them out of house, to keep cash
deception is costly in effort -- if you're going against the inertia of your character, must be consistent in the alternative action
* like ekman, more costly to be more deliberate in showing what you're not truly feeling
- what if you could disguise yourself / change physical appearance / physically deceive?

romance - if you see your lover with someone else, can 'understand' whats going on, affect feelings toward rival

-- deception is tricky, in a constructed system, lots of things are fixed but you work around it
-- deceiving your character vs deceiving others, role-playing is weird; conscious mind vs unconscious mind
* where does the human fit in vs where does the character fit in? actions of character autonomous, or consciously dictated?

mirje.pallavi :: signaling in second life

can change appearance of your avatar, everything from clothing to hair
personality usually keeps consistent but physical appearance can change

role-players
entrepreneurs, building stuff and selling them for profit
social experiments

reputation: costly to rate someone
display of property / possessions owned

profile of 2nd life character, but also display of '1st life' character (ie. real human user)

collab: supportive community
competition: strong markets in terms of goods, housing, land, business; very object-based hierarchy

cost: people invest *lots* of time
- design avatar, build homes, shops, objects, have fun, to socialise, play game called tringo
- real money and professional skills are investments that are beneficial, can improve reputation

virtual mask of role-playing reality -- less barrier / vulnerability to feeling invaded, privacy
everyone, stranger is embodied - can observe without speaking to them
versus IM - which you're there as 'yourself' and dont want to be intruded upon, no observable signals
- investigate more deeply to see if people are being honest / deceptive in their messages

* what makes it compelling to care on what people think of you in second life?
* social dynamics of wanting to be well-regarded by people is high --- why? how is this notion of care and value of reputation designed?

merging of second life and real life -- interact with harvard law school lecture, interact via skype
handicapped people reveal show identities and indicate they are active in second life

* legality and legislation in second life, establish a parallel system, testbed for reality

alea.orkan :: anonymous companion agents for autonomous partner selection

p2p finding and matching partners for various connection purposes
- these systems learn about ppl to support their social interactions
- establishing a long term relationship with your agent

interface
looking for a match (ex. person join you at the theatre)
define criteria - explicit features like gender, quantifiable stats, keywords (answerable by agent)
arbitrary/personal specific questions - 'why are you interested in coming?' (answerable by human)
1. criteria defines short list
2. agent defines ranking (using agent knowledge), secondary criteria; assisted commonsense reasoning
3. if results are above threshold, then you email questions to a select group
-- privacy! what do you want to hide in certain situations? signaling vs privacy
* example: saying you're gay if you're looking for a date, but hiding that information when looking for a job
* define the signaling capabilities + complexities

agents know all features of identity without being specifically identitying a real person
* to what extent can it negotiate with other agents? being different than just a complex search function?
* selectively reveal information in smart negotiation, identity costs in that
* agent to present you in a positive and relevant light so that f2f meetups arent traumatic
* signals are deliberate and evolved communication, distinctive from cues

* signaling through proxies -- agent is signaling on your behalf, agents are receiving signals on others' behalf
* less on person vs. agent (not directly socially competitive)
* investigate competitive signaling through mediation, smart proxies
* search engine versus agent, what level of sophistication and social knowledge and level of control
* highly contextual issues! how to define each situation? and severity of each criteria?

2006.05.11

2006-05-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

notquitehuman!

turing test
paper on creating a human - in philosophy journal
the 'imitation game':
communicating with a woman and a man

two people communicating through written communication (typing notes back and forth)
question on gender - embodied aspect
remove the cues of the body - cant see them, voice, handwriting, movement
use language solely as a cue as embodied quality of a person

intellect more important than body?
is intellect separable from the body?

need it to be challenging to be a game
distinguishing and expressing gender - based on cultural knowledge
easier for someone who is living, human, in the culture
what answers are more 'male' or more 'female'?

what does the game say about the question of gender?
- easy to use language
the game, challenge, is a little ambiguous

person + computer ... both claiming they are human

what is the distinction between quality and signal?
is the quality of being human important? the quality or the ability to replicate the quality?
in the game, passing as a woman means that you have the knowledge, but you're not really a 'real' woman

what is the role of language? is the ability to speak in a certain way enough to say that you are?
in intelligence, is language more of a signal?
signalled knowledge ?= real knowledge

surl = phil. at berkeley
the chinese experiment:
every phrase you can translate (just a set of useful responses) from some comprehensive reference
- no knowledge of *meaning*, no learning, just relayed symbols
appears you are speaking chinese, but you have no knowledge
machine only in syntactical domain, not in semantic domain (like humans, interpretation)
- if you make the thought experiment arbitrarily large, does it become just like a complex machine
the human brain - is it merely a machine of highly complex input/output?
what is the degree? what is the metric of 'is it a human'? how far do you go to be convinced?

loebner prize: how convincing is the computer as a human?
loebner
salon article (do not miss)
on wikipedia

is language an assessment signal on how we think?
signal as quality of how thinking works?
shared experience is one thing, but also cultural sharing, but also tiger-standing-on-box thing...

what is the cost of being deceptive?
parsing a grammatical sentence -- for ELIZA, the cost is relatively low
when is it too costly to create something to pass off as human?
expressing subtle reasoning + understanding + shared experience -- how costly to fake it?

is there a
you can signal thinking without 'thinking'
but you must demonstrate + representation of a disembodied quality
can you have real artificial intelligence?

how do you define thought, knowledge, and thinking?
are we more concerned with the signal, or the quality?

robotic pets for therapeutic needs (PARO)
human pet interaction
signaling need for affection
affection --> liveliness?
tamagotchi -- people are obsessed, felt responsible for them, felt sense of failure when it died
but you dont pet it, it's not that 'alive', it's plastic
however, a PARO - mixed of signals, by seeming dependency, needing affection, but also more prototyped as a real being
paro vs. bringing in real animals

no right answer - cannot check quality to signal -
discuss / debate the distinction between quality and signal and the relationship between them and the interpretation of them

how are symbols grounded?
- in physical being
- in
deb roy: robot, sensory experience of the world, build intelligence from sensory experience?

in life, when do we want the signal, and when do want the quality?
what is the cost to the receiver?

do we want to live in a world populated with PARO-like relationships?
affection and relationships that are programmed for emotional needs without 'the mess'

brave new world: future is comfortable, easy, pleasant, but nightmarish emptiness

treasuring things and relationships more
- the investment of energy / time -- a loss
- importance of neutral regard
how much do you care about what the other thing cares about you?
more responsive robots are built seem like they have an opinion of us

in most relationships, want the other person to play their role correctly
not really show what they're really thinking
satisfied with this 'role-playing', being comforted in the interaction
acceptable behaviour

is a person just a conglomeration of mere roles?
existentialism abounds!

but it's almost impossible to reflect what we are really 'are' and thinking through what we can convey
different underlying system to expended costs to express

when do you want to bring in a belief of a relationship or not?
human + machine, or human + human-like machine?

stepford wives - behaving like loving wives, but no meaning / love inside
ritalin, prozac - change inner qualities to reflect a more correct outer quality

more and more, we are questioning -
interaction with humans, interacting in a proper way

2006.05.04

2006-05-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

faces!

understanding what we read into the face
how does one consider it in interface design?

long term cues, fairly immutable: skin condition, hair loss
long term, more immutable + deliberate: haircut, lines of facial expression
short term (facial expression)
decoration: hair, makeup, glasses

in-borne feature vs. deliberate feature
metaphorical generalizations not really grounded in anything

cues are superset: anything you use to read any hidden qualities
signals are intentional or evolved (meant to communicate)
evidence, unintentional cues: not meant as communication but can read into

ex. person looking like an animal -> has nothing to do with their personality
how do you interpret this information?
behaviour associated with this animal
associate look with behaviours
role of it as a cue purely exists in the interpretation process (b/c sender cannot control this at all)

signal that gets generalised as unreliable cue
an infant with baby features - intentional cue so that it's taken care of
an adult with baby features - unintentional cue
--> misinterpretation of a cue

more contextsensitive

ekman:
all signals are beneficial
so all facial expression are meaningfully beneficial
-->
voluntary vs unvoluntary expressions
heart attack: having a face from emotions despite fact that no one is around
do ppl imagine audiences? watching movie w/ friend, alone, told to imagine a friend
process has evolved to be innate - just b/c the moose is alone, he still has antlers.
evolution: parts of brain have mapped to behaviour - make expressions at certain times, i.e. becomes involuntary
--> what is intent? evolution? communication? conscious or unconscious?

natural state overlaid with social nuances, social learned behaviour
--> first question, does emotion even exist? or a set of fundamental emotions?

ekman: emotion as a state ("how am i feeling right now")
fridlund: emotion as an interactive sense ("what am i going to do? how am i going to react) --> makes sense that emotion has a signaling component

struggle -- trying not to show ppl too much about yourself
layers of inner feeling plus the cultured coddling of external representations

ekman: why would you be leaking anything? merely a display
fridlund: why a leak? there must a reason.

generally useful to couple the facial expression with communication inner state
not always conscious control

reading faces is a weird thing -- we're not always good at interpreting faces
evolution to take care of babies is pretty important -- treating baby-faced adults as such is just a side effect

'happiness' --> a conflation of many diverse phenomena

involuntary: blushing, crying
evolutionary uses -- to seek help

what's useful about putting physiological / emotion data in communication system?
blushing is easier to effect on some people

affective chat circles - display people's arousal state thru intensity
- online, has a remote aspect, what is arousal triggered by? online or off?
- colour change fabric, wouldnt add much to a face-to-face interaction
- redundant + inefficient + contradictory (is this desirable or ethical? like a lie-detector)
- facial expression is very complex and we're good at reading them, evolved
- skin response isnt a signal
- deep privacy issues -- sharing these originally hidden things about yourself
galvanic skin response isnt developed to be shared, but we have it
plausible case: evolved communication through tactile -- silent handholding in the forest

GSR -- who do i show this to? can i turn it off?

having awareness of gaze, attention --> problems with not being in shared space

response: interacting w ppl in a graphical space in representative + informative

how can we take these involuntary cues to create a more interesting environment rather than merely supplementing faces?
this 'other' space for the outputs? want to make sense out of the data - interpretation

logitech thing - separating rough facial expression from identity
these work better for videoconferencing than regular video because we read too much into real faces -- reduction to basic expressions can convey enough communication.

looking at people in public
in the T --> very awkward, want privacy in a very public place
gaze, activity
neutral face
deep cultural level - uncomfortable to stare at someone, to read something about them - privacy of our face
the subway is a very tension-rich place, close quarters
--> eye contact opens up connection w other people

sense of intensity of relationship in phyiscal proximity
-- any possible incorporation of this into a mediated interface + space?

face-to-face is efffortful, have to focus
want reaction without making interface as demanding as actual presence
lightweight medium - balance of meaning and cost

2006.04.20

2006-04-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

presentations today!

mirje

openBC.com website
social network, business-oriented
small world principle, people are all interconnected
follow paths to how you're connected to a particular person

public profile, guestbook
business + personal interests

- ability to edit / delete your guestbook
remove extraneous / unwanted external messages

multi-lingual, international community and accessibility
people tend to be truthful, serious
business behaviour, professional tendency
conservative atmosphere helps enforce the community standard

+ understanding of networks
how are you connected to someone, who are the intermediate ppl
bridging the connections

structural holes - (writings by burt)
important person, being a bridge connecting two otherwise disparate networks
want to increase value of bridge by discerning what to reveal publicly about who they know -- not necessarily best interest to list every acquaintance

want to play an important role of bridging these holes
what parts to omit?

features: introduce people to people, hide/show contacts

how do you manage to seek connections with distant ones
perception vs. reality - one more degree can change lots (contact --> stranger)

what happens when you have different pieces of information?
available info drastically changes the experience and understanding

ex. guy with 1000 contacts but keeps the list private

for business, easier to articulate why you want to know someone
for more social space, you want to know about someone for more subtle reasons

personal portrayal is more loosely defined on myspace, etc
business - keeping people honest, truthful

jesse

myth the game
multiplayer, many short games
chat interface in and out of games
record/history is public
customizable names / handles
where cheating is possible

bungie.net

*unintentional bug*
only game host can cheat (drop if losing) - doesnt negatively affect rank
other players stand to lose rank or have a disappointing game
reliably recognizing cheaters allows players to avoid these games

costly for high ranks
- time consuming to cheat
- skill and time to beat newbies
- higher skill and time to beat good players
public displayed rank
- encourage higher rank, competitive

care about: skill, and cheat-factor (if they're good, and good to play with)

new players may not know about cheating, may be deceived by a cheater's signal of a high rank

'orders' have reputation, affiliated groups
conventional signal, high cost to fake (the order enforces membership)
want to gain approval of fellow order members

order vs official rank
order
- no signaling value to newbies
- high reliability to regulars
rank
- high reliability to newbies
- lower reliability to regulars
subtly expensive suit vs. huge bling? obvious vs insinuated signal.
target who you're signaling to

gifts
- host can drop off if another member has problems
- good sportsmanship, forfeit, high cost to giver

official signaling system (rank) weak
better underground signaling system (order) evolves

magician will intentionally do some things wrong, to dismiss the fact that you're cheating all the time; get esteem by mistaking ever so often

may be helpful to see how much time a person has invested in playing
how much can you change/edit on your profile?

orkan

alternative reality gaming (ARG)

as interactive narrative
- scavenger hunts organised around websites, locations, and discussion forums
- diff kind of social gaming
- subscription-based game, designed to game on- and off-line
- real-time, pace is designed
- culture of conspiracy and deception
- everything is about deception, figuring out if it's a puzzle, solving, clues

majestic and beast are two main games
highly intrusive game with disclamier, 'the game that plays you'

web communities
cloudmakers.com, unfiction.org
help economy, gifts, support, puzzle archives, quick start
collective knowledge, collaborative vs. competition
support sites creating their own games
game designers can manipulate as well in these sites
- can you trust this person? a fellow gamer? game designer who wants to plant erroneous clues?

deception!
(1) game itself, (2) competitive players giving wrong answers, (3) sneaky game designers

revealing of puppetmaster, careful to keep secrets secret

cloudmakers - newbies learn the jargon, glossary necessity
official discussion vs speculation vs rumors - everything has potential of deception
tia hemlen case - support another person's family - real news story
means for forming communities (both game and real)

game designers can dynamically change the game in real-time
how to improve?
- scavenger hunt through websites, scene on A.I. dvd, etc.
- foster something in the applet / site to foster social interaction
- but better to have ad-hoc support off-site communities?

communities emerges in response to the games
games dont rely on the fact that you need a community
gamers felt the need to collaborate

balance between collaboration and solving the prob for everyone

ilovebees.com
http://www.turbulence.org/blog/archives/000398.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2004/08/22/augmented_reality_ha.html
ambiguous between what's real and whats not real - pushing acceptability

ID/entity
sandy stone, UT austin
speaker on identity, persona, performance artist
poseur came out to give her talk, sandy posed as a questioning heckler in audience
borders of theatricality, identity, roles

game - adopt lifestyle of important person, get a lot of phone calls / attention

are clues time-sensitive?

jeff

knot bio list
http://weddings.theknot.com/talk/talk.aspx
"the knot" community bios
people put ideas / photos / wedding / on page
text, photos, etc., descriptive

knotties have their own lingo, language, acronyms
advice, suggestions, knowledge, slightly imply signaling in response
"what cake to get?" "well, i had a fantastic cake" (!)

community - omg you look great!
competition, rivalry - more catty responses
status in taking ideas from others

'real' weddings (best weddings featured)
highlighted weddings are sponsored by vendors, not community sponsored

no vendor reputation system
negative posts about vendors deleted
no bio ratings
no history of posts per bio
no quality rating for posters (only for threads)

3rd party signaling support
magnificientbliss - http://bios.magnificentbliss.com/
'best bios', organization
expressive handles/username (princess, university, job)

only people who care about wedding planning are the ones who are doing it too

also about information, knowledge, and reputation
status for purely for own sake
want recognition for all the effort
signling in artificial world - tight community for real-world event

2006.04.13

2006-04-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

seth

(personal) communication
hidden costs of lower costs
ways to communicate: care packages, letters, IMs, phones
display communications you've received to manage your reputation
costs with sending something (in decreasing cost):
care package: time to get materials, money and effort to send it, gift economy
handwritten letter: time to get materials, stamp, postal, paper/pen, thoughtfulness for each participant
postcards: less time to write, less-cost version of handwritten letter
calling: investment of real-time, invest in relationship, daytime vs nighttime minutes
email: asynchronous, almost no-cost
IM: low cost, time cost (synchronous), multi-task
IM -- same formality, low content, 'how are you' kind of thing
token gesture of 'hello' to maintain contact

signals:
care package - if you know the sender, it's fine (mom).
if you don't know sender, wooer / secret admirer.
letter - signals the letter's intent. "dear" "love" "hi" "sincerely"
typos, kind of paper, handwriting, packaging, postmark, doodles
postcard - (a) im on vacation (b) thinking of you (c) shorter message, how much they allocate space
phonecalls - long-distance, time of day
email: from address (a premium email address), to address (mailing list?)
IM: away messages, time of idleness, what message program they are using

reputation:
care package - seth's mom cares and can bake
letters - person who keeps up communication consistently is a good friend, reliable if it's someone you know
imitations - mass mailing, fake handwriting, post-it notes, real stamps, etc
phonecalls - popularity, unanswered calls
emails - spam, identity rep of the sender depending of content, black/white list, email address (@mit vs @yahoo)

conclusions:
many more connections that last longer
cost: weaker connections
ability to keep in touch with more people
cost: efficiency trumps individuality connection
messages are delivered more quickly, regardless of location
cost: creativity stifled, 'christmas newsletters'

think about: cue vs signal
a signal is deliberate

reputation - community / group

postcards - editing , aesthetic change, artistry on the postcard
signal on how you construct or design the postcard

cost: a letter from someone who never writes letter vs. a letter from someone who writes ten letters a day
signal of relative resource - absolute or relative signal

letter is more focus on the message, the communication
a postcard is an object; between a gift and a message; a mini-gift

new way to email?
oldfashion: typewriter (business) vs. handwritten (personal)
new: email (business) vs. ?
- trace of you of a physical person, a person physically wrote it
ref: fuzzmail (fuzzmail.org)

malte

housing bulletin board of the mit european club (online message boards)
simple system
market for people - roommates for housing
minimalist: text-based (no photos), rely on subject, date, sender
cross-cultural element, international students who look for housing in US

two parties:
- students looking for housing
- landlords/students looking for tenants

qualities:
- technical facts (qualities of the room: price, location, room, details)
- personal characteristics
- reliability of a tenant (can pay rent)
- suitability as a community member (can get along)

signals + cues:
"2 young professionals looking for quiet 2BR or 3BR (cambridge)"
- the subject line covers all the bases
- who they are, and who they're looking for
"ame and katharina"
- northern european names, background

reliability + reputation:
jose's letter (seeking)
- what are signals and cues?
- signal a seriousness, or formality to make sure it's clear in english
- reliability? no reputation system / history in this housing system
- spelling mistakes - not meticulous? or just an honest mistake with 2nd language?
specific signals
- scholarships
- associated email addresses
assessment signals
- international calls
gift culture?

offer postings:
location (detail vs vague description)
- "14-min walk"
- is vagueness for poster's safety, or to shield a bad location?
condition - "nice", "wonderful"

social practices:
site intro
learning through experience
- conventions of abbreviations and wroding
- trial and error, change posting as time passes

this bulletin board - what is the feedback? hard to tell sometimes
versus craigslist - more sense of deception

interesting to interview people on what they thought a house was like, and then what it really was
new orleans, ppl looking for people/house, and the subject lines were at first were uninformative ("looking for my uncle")
eventually, people need to make their subject lines super-detailed (specific names / location)
community learning over time

pallavi

car lovers websites
jabbasworld.net/portal.php
ferrarichat.com/forum/index.php

jabbas:
general car-loving community, diverse
talk about cars
signal about their lifestyle
fun, enjoy cars
signal knowledge they have
post pix to show their involvement and expertise in cars, either their own or others on street / in shows
- a lot to show off their skills, not that super-expert in cars but devoted to appreciation, photographing a lot of cars

ferrari:
narrow ferrari-loving community
more specific, want to talk about ferrari
owners, serious buyers, are there to learn
signal lifestyle (owning multiple ferraris, etc)
signal knowledge, expertise
dishonest people are almost instantly identified
very very specific and earnest experts, serious buyers, almost professional knowledge, fervent
- people get together for face-to-face meetings, have events
- give a lot to the community

reliability in jabbas:
- your car: put your keys and service manual on the hood to signal it's your car
- lots of rules, moderation
- first post has a series of rules
- maintained
costs - addictive, costly in time; go to events, car shows, scoping on streets
benefits - making friends, community, learning knowledge
gifts - pooling money + gifting the moderators; giving knowledge by experts to community

reliability in ferrari:
- you test someone's knowledge
- some people spend lots of energy to unearth deception / lies
cost - time
gifts - knowledge

jabbas: more of a community - but you want to show special cars, not generic ones; bound by an interest in cars
- level of coolness, identity equates to your car, want something extraordinary, better
ferrari: more of a resource, insane + rich car enthusiasts

alea

wrongplanet.net community
support for those with asperger's syndrome, autism
- online help with offline communication
"i have a problem? what should i do?"

resources: articles, links, blogs
relationship section - forums begin with description, segue into conversation
finding a match - signaling 'who i am'

signal, and interpretation (is he sarcastic?)
takes away signals in face-to-face, speeches, tonalities
text taken as text

the community is open to all
good place for ppl with issues with communication
not beneficial for people to be deceptive
can see the history of people, how many notes they've contributed

'wrong planet' - name connotates that people alienated from the 'real' world
people are feeling alienated, upset, angry, wanting support
the rest of the world is rah-rah, but we want to be a community that feels right in opposition to the 'right' planet
not necessarily wanting to assimilate - associate with the everyday world
make it unappealing to 'outsiders' to the community, a subculture

deception

jeff: courtroom situation
defending yourself, more about law strategy
how much do you believe what you are saying, truth or lies?
doubt, guilt,
duty to defend your defendent vs. absolute truth
balancing conflicting views of not liking your defendent but believing in one's right to a proper defense

on bullshit: spin
'democracy is messy'
statement is related / not-related to facts?
weird deception - it shifts the discussion
using mass media to say there is limited
'democracy' - inarguably good (?)
additional unstated things - is a messy democracy better than a neat dictatorship?
- an avoidance of discussing truth

how do topics move?
how to people steer the discsussion to and from a certain focus?
how directly are things answered?

what is the truth?

depaulo - ubiquity of 'everyday lying', social smoothing
social truth versus internal truthful state
'how are you' ' fine' <-- really?

next week: conversation!

2006.04.06

2006-04-06T11:03:00.000-05:00

welcome back to class!

next coming weeks:
student presentations
deception - ethics and motivations
faces

gifts - complex issue!

diff kinds (distinguish)
1. personal gifts between two people ("presents")
inefficient, indicate knowledge of the relationship
2. public gifts - community, charity ("gifts")

presents

are wishlists a problem?
publicly known - not exactly risky to fulfill something proclaimed
not something special, public list
raising the bar: more costly to get something that indicates knowledge of the friend, given that a lot of the knowledge is already public
efficient
buy something different, a surprise, not directly claimed on the list

if you have a wishlist and dont get what's on it - what is the receiver's response?
are they happy to get something they 'requested', or could be possibly pleasantly surprised?

economics of gifts is a bit irrational
gifts are difference from commerce
importance of reciprocity (back-and-forth giving)

chinese village: important to return gifts back and forth
lot of quantity of gifts
if you stop gifting, strong signal that you dont want to continue the relationship

gift as object vs. signal to represent the relationship

things in wishlist have a range
givers have to figure out which of those items is appropriate to give ($2 pen vs $500 stereo)

commercial transaction - 'fair/even' and reciprocal exchange (the people themselves are irrelevant)
gifts - more about the message meaning on the relationship
*the exchange is about defining, or changing, the social relationship between the giver and the receiver*

thoughts on wishlists on dating sites?

pallavi: dating sites are mostly superficial, the gifting is another 'checkbox' or option to perform, removes the personal essence
orkan: however, add more cost
jeevan: indicating knowledge of a person, hard to do on dating site because (at first) you dont know that much about them except what's on there already.
lower the amount of spurious first contacts.
receive gift of chocolates - is it because they like me? or if they have the money to do so? if gifts are not monetary-based (email, poem, drawing), signal of personal effort.

some gifts are safer or riskier than others. flowers and chocolates? more a signal of a 'start' but i want to get to know you better. spend a little bit of resource. signaling establishing relationship without making a huge personal statement.

virtual gifts.
mirja: ecards and stuff can reveal the taste / aesthetics / style of the sender. access the 'quality' of the gift.

how do you mediate space between individuals?

write something about themselves -- music they like, movies they like
it's not an explicit wishlist, and not about the expense, but more about 'how well are you listening' and understanding me

dating site can mediate the mailing / posting address

russian bride sites: click to send chocolate! or flowers!

tying together a community
gifts starting a chain of reciprocity
"bad gifts" -- from people that you dont want that type of relationship with

frictionless commerce - no effort for social interaction (politeness, awkward)
use technology to get rid of all friction? smooth, easy transaction
efficiency != gift giving

dating sites ... move toward frictionless dating

how to prevent exploitation - to just get what you want

*culture of reciprocity*

interesting - a dating site around fundraising
instead of a personal gift, more a charitable donation in their name
signals are the causes you're interested in, happy to do in their name

seth: put a mixtape or playlist together, exchange discussion about music knowledge and taste; miss the physicality of analog tapes (time investment)

mixtapes: a good gift, tells a bit about you, them, the relationship ('our song'), stuff they like, stuff you think they would like, expressive, lots of effort

gift wrapping - the idea of opening/ revealing / ripping / presentation

japan - presentation is paramount to the actual object
more an abstraction of a present - more the idea/thought/wrapping

money as a gift?
the physicality of paper - cash -

gifts in open source communities.
aaron: not exactly clear who the recipient is.
online - who is that out there? depends on the individual.
expectations of returns? if you dont get what you expect, if it's not worth the time, drop out of the project.
orkan: muliple levels of benefit - public good, donation, sharing, copies of your work.
jeevan: in charity - a gift is given and that's it. open-source, more of a personal investment.

charity - gifts are always in flux, and also it's bout who's there to the benefit
competing for status, how fancy you are, what trendy causes. benefits are context of 'doing good', legitate means for showing off being fancy.

conspicious consumption
veblen: wives are the proxies to show status (her fancy display of clothing indicates the status of her husband)

charity - being part of an elite. cost to be part of the community.
open-source - cost for time / effort to being social in this community

new yorker article
this guy wanted to be in this community, wanted to promise lots of
wanted recognition for his gifts

movie stars will participant in community theatre

giving money to a charity - not that ambiguous about who's the direct beneficiary for particular benefits
a performance - ambiguous -- performer or audience? bad or good quality? saving face / being polite / showing talent?

how to give credit where it's due? not just the people at the front of the line. recognition.

gifts (and other things): systems are not so much straightforward
metaphors - important on how you design or critique a system
when you move into virtual world - enabling something to happen (button to click versus a more costly method)

presentations:

jeevan - optionstudio
online art exchange with virtual currency (in 'buraks')
profile: transaction history, tags, list of contacts
posit: artwork functions (in part) to signal the status of its creator
how do artists learn of their status?
- verbal feedback
- awards, favours
- money
non linguistic feedback? currency.
public knowledge - how much each person has
relative wealth - spend your last $10 buraks on something
how to access artist status through currency
indication of number? population growth of users (sub-cultures of taste)?
co-located offline/online feedback
signaling: receiver pays the cost of being involved with an artist / art
quality: both monetary value + provenance (history of buyers)
tension art world - real world, art is hung in your home, public association, cost in living with it.
biased toward the creative types.

next week: seth + more presentations.

2006.03.23

2006-03-23T12:03:00.000-05:00

readings: art arguments
provocative arguments that raise questions about the issue
dont want to confuse 'what could have happened' with 'what happened'

miller:
art as an evolutionary perspective
art is a mating display, show your fitness
- resource of time invested into art
- variable (small differences in creativity -> diff quality of artwork)
- can judge between artworks
- symmetry is a form of craftmanship
conflating craftmanship (manual dexterity) with artisal (making useful, well-made things) with aesthetics (symmetry, beauty) with sexual selection (how to discern)
bower birds have larger brain size
- what are selection pressures that lead to different tastes/preferences?
natural ability + time of craft + evolved taste

conflating ART with general art
art as a profession vs. everyday craftsmanship

how to trust photographs on dating sites?
is it a 'true' photograph? just indicative? truly candid? associative?
editing process - how do you choose *which* photo that's flattering and indicative?

what ability does the person have in the creation process?
choosing a photograph, creating, editing
having a digital camera, photoshopping it to look marvelous
well-crafted profile (photo, writing, etc)

cost of profile writing
- effort to write it
- a direction / focus / opinion-making / intent
checkboxes, questionnaire

interests: threshold? if you have 2 things? 200 things? what does it say about person?

indian dating sites
astrology
'mars in lunar houses'
if you marry someone in the same sign, the aggression is off-set

checkboxes - fit in cultural boundaries
compartmental
more and more specific markets (dating site for a narrow community)
users of the site define the culture + definition of the site design

do you buy into the psychology?
take a questionnaire and follow the matchmaking algorithm
believe that it has a bit of truth

what is a reliable set of signals? and a telling set of signals?
(data) nonsmokers only correspond with nonsmokers, etc
signaling something too generic

not enough effort vs. too much effort (too much investment, too clever)
want to fit the community culture
there's a set of norms that are established

dan ariely research
'are you appropriate for me?' - how do you self-select?
how do you sort through - how do you fit in social space - who do you approach?

how can you avoid certain attractive people getting bombarded with requests?
- cost of rejection is higher?
- public correspondence

consider cost for messaging
- money (fee)
- fixed quota (only # per time period)
can you

rejection costs are low because you dont expect a need to reply

psychology of attraction
algorithm - astrology, chemical, match metrics

is someone approachable?
anything invisible is not a community standard
hard to know if email-responding a community standard if it's private
what if it's public?

rejection - feedback by clicking on the unattractive parts
the 'reason' for rejecting
specify whats wrong - help people adapt?
public vs private critique
identified vs anonymous feedback
encourage to get responses (curiousity on the other end)

part of your profile is your responses to other people (your tone?)

feedback to help you fit into the 'norm'

deal with competition - how to glean information from competitors?
people are supposed to be exclusive - dont want to share

common ground, common participation for people's profiles
come out in how people interact with each other
how generous is this person as a person? are they really funny?
what are costs / benefits?
cost - showing interaction

what types of deception happen on these spaces?
- relationship status
- distance between ideal self and real self
how to elucidate truth on the profile?

before you meet online
build your image of yourself and of the other person
fall in love with the mental representation
meet in person, and then they perhaps dont match up to expectations

black box algorithm - gives you an extra bit of information
if you think it's not important you can ignore it

deception in dating sites
true.com threatens to prosecute deceptors

within the match.com type sites, not much development except different questions to pose to people to answer in their profiles
all similar style

dont want to turn cues into signals
measuring sensing vs. intentional communication

giftgiving waste / loss is a signaling cost
making a risk on finding something that will match the other person

thinking of wishlists, public request lists
costly way of telling someone about your investment in them
boundaries of gifts (services, bribery)

have a good spring break!

2006.03.16

2006-03-16T11:59:00.000-05:00

social networks
theory + readings

next week: online dating, trying to find people

what will social networking sites look like in 15 years?
how to make more sophisticated design choices

laszlo barabasi - physical / mathematical models of social networks
"linked"
grounded in scientific theory
how to adapt and apply the model?

how do you find things about people that you wouldnt otherwise
develop network of people around one particular interest
connection through lifestyles
disconnection over time and location --
now we're all 'connected' and in a continuum

how do the number of personal correspondants change over time?
active network (current correspondence) versus inactive network (you knew them at some time) versus unknown strangers

'interesting' people to you, usually within 2 degrees (friend-of-friend)
beyond 3 degrees, it gets pretty random

people change in parallel ways
someone you reconnect with after knowing each other in elementary school
still feel 'close'

how do we keep boundaries between different parts of our lives?
multi-faced identity
work, family, hobby, you play a role throughout
change of context, assuming the accepted behaviour
understand how the information flows

interest commonalities - but then diverging interests
ex. you know someone through one thing, but then learn about new things through that friend (i.e. friend from work now knows about salsa dancing)
transformative knowledge and dentity through networks
political transformation - how do opinions spread?
one-by-one, the idea flows through the network

alea - "dancing"
partners
salsa clubs
classes
social circles expand
salsa x tango

barabasi - infinitely scalable networks
take a generic graph
look the number of connections
resembles a gaussian curve

real social networks - power curve
nodes are not generic in how many links they have
some people are super-connected
some have very few connections
# of friends - not evenly distributed
super-connectors are the 'hubs'
bridges - connect the big circles
- one person that the milgrim letters tended to be sent to

common interest is a focus - hobby, work, book

feld - potential for more connection but people have constraints on time and resources, need to manage your contact relationships

what are resources that ppl have for adding contacts?
first year in grad school versus someone who has a saturated schedule

what is the potential of the nodes? what about foci?

dynamics - how much do people want to be the go-between? who, and why, to share ideas and people, to create change?

impression management, you tailor your approach depending on the kind of people you're communicating with, and also display what kind of person they are

*how do people display these connections?*

name-dropping in the acknowledgments: subtle signaling connection through a gesture of thank-you
acknowledgments versus bibliography - 2-way mutual connection versus 1-way connection (and it's public, accountable responsibility)

display people of a network implicit

displaying photographs or names of people

honestly friends with famous people? or just 'official' photos that mean nothing?
in personal photographs, it's 'social' marketing, to give evidence that you were at particular places with particular people
- cost to maintain honesty of the signal

cue vs signal : a signal is more apt to be deceptive

jeff - 'parties'
number of population: large (popular), small (exclusive)
deceptive - lie about some particular draw beforehand

next gen social networking
what is the function of the party host?
dinner party salon-style?
how do you directly introduce people?
giving interesting people a reason to meet each other

evite.com - how to scope out who is connected to this one event

what should stick in someone's mind versus explicit declaration

sites are to help you comprehend or access complicated information
make design decisions to help people help themselves
do not constrain people's behaviour explicitly, allow interesting freedoms

effort = cost
how do you connect the people?
profile = existence

how do you draw a social network?
weak vs strong bonds
different facets of communities

modern society is rich with
have your support networks, help each other out
support people are the ones in which you rely on
you give, you receive
how do you rely on people?

high cost connections - having trust, reliable
cost of social connection, or by service fees

milgrim - how do we navigate through a social world?
familiar strangers, how to interact with people in public, in private communities

letter experiment
interesting perception of major connectors

doing the experiment is a favour - bother someone
who am i going to ask to do a favour
what does it mean to pass a favour on through a network?
want to avoid chain letter syndrome - pyramid scheme?

six degrees of separation (movie)
claims to be a friend of the prep school son
can offer small tidbits of knowledge
true story about con-artist
- the power of using these knowledge negotiations to build trust
http://www.colorado.edu/TheatreDance/OldSite/9899/siximp.html

david buss, evolutionary psychologist
dating relationships
women look for security, men look for short-term relationships
mismatched signals lead to deceptive practices

dating sites: competitive element
want to beat out all the others who are vying for attractive targets
what is the optimal amount of lying that you can put on a dating profile?
how do people read the profile?
read between the lines, what does what one say or not say mean? how do you interpret or negotiate the differences? what are cues to make insights about the other person?
holding back a home phone number: they have another relationship to hide vs wanting privacy before gaining trust

what do you want? how do you filter it through your profile expression?
negotiate, articulate, what words mean, what effect it gives off

reputation as a 'dating' partner?
you dont necessarily want a multitude of 'recommendations'
- gossip to spread useful information
- keep people accountable

gifts, gift relationships, gifting signals

2006.03.09

2006-03-09T12:06:00.000-05:00

[ack, my computer crashed... notes beginning around gossip...]

evolution of identity over time
concept of memory and consistency

multiple people inhabiting one identity

social custom / comfort against railing against person directly
more natural (and share communication) between party through gossip

how do you design
to represent people effectively
position of role

disambiguate through face
not so much through voice
punishment costs to faking it

face vs voice
snapshot of moment in time vs timebased medium

what are the markings of individual identity

disguising faces - the things that are most permanent (bone structure) arent the most distinguishing, however, we remember things like hair, colouring, accessories, etc

names are mere labels, easy to change or fake, but easy to access
physical markers are more difficult to fake, though to read

human memory - traces and forgetten and imperfect and adaptable
vs computer memory

individuality

generic or

meaningfulness to other people
does it matter to know people's dna, license #, or face?

differentiation of humans to humans
descriptiveness of names ("smith")
tribal grouping names, occupational names, reflective of culture

email addresses, the domain
member of a community
responsibility on behalf of an institution

free email services lower the bar, harder to trust

how much can you read into email addresses?
or any naming system
hotmail versus gmail
names as individuality
strange or offbeat names more common because easier to find domain names?

stanley lieberman - names as fashion
prof watternberg - baby name handbook

popularity of names
different systems, icelandic naming

name == communicatable identifier
face == strong recognition, categorizable

reputation is very easy to manipulate online
what's at stake for the rater?

do a long-standing low-risk thing, and then drop the (scam)bomb

newcomers treated with suspicion

ebay vs craigslist
repercussions
craigslist - more localised, you physically meet

reputation systems - reward vs. greater good vs.
people arent that motivated for doing stuff for greater good
need the right motivations? benefits? pleasurable?
gossip is fun, rating systems are difficult

expectations
service is good - approval comes with continued service, loyalty
reputation of distributed memory across a community

positive feedback
worth the risk?
what if you just pat-backs to positive-positive
strength of tie to community to give an honest rating

anonymity --> pseudonymity --> identity

osama bin laden
easier to pick an individual as the malefactor
solution: get rid of this one person, then the problem will go away
person is a representative of a group, a movement

verifiability

anonymity on online systems
track through IP address
send messages through collective: ANYA routing
nobody knows the gateway or the source
anonymous -- going thru a blender before being transmitted
identity is the 'tor' network
your identity can only be tracked back to a network

is it possible to make something purely anonymous?

discuss.

notes: 2006.03.02

2006-03-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

fashion as a signal

significant in design of new technologies

what does it mean to interpret something as a signal?
complicated interlocking pieces

handicap (simplified)
signaling of need (expenditure of another resource)
- how much do you care about the signal
conflation of handicap and amount of resource
ambiguous, subjective, depending on amount of resource
ex. chicks who peep for food -- what if they dont have enough energy to peep?

expensive clothes, expensive cars
- signal of resource (you are spending a lot)
- conflated with knowledge of fashion (it's the hot thing)

fashion in clothing
- knowledge of new fashion designers, etc
- industry insider knowledge, trendsetting, buying/merchandising
- costly to acquire high-quality knowledge, fashion shows, street spotting
- mistakes can be costly: liquidated merchandise, bad series of lines

'interval'

full cowboy suit guy : affiliation with a look, style

what seems 'natural' and 'right'?
it become enculturated, to imitate a crowd for association/affiliation
basis of imitation: how and what does imitation come about in human learning + fashion?
imitation happens on small and large scale: gesture to language to mannerisms to thought
fashion --> innate sense of imitating people around us

fashion: change for its own sake
colors palette (in general -- art, clothing, cars, homes)

notions of progress vs. notions of fashion
adopting new technology (e.g. iPod), i know whats fashionable
cellphones are smaller and more featured
tech advance is pushing what is fashionable in gadgets

fashion in ideas
actual progress in ideas? or are we recycling the concepts?

progressive advancement -- how much is it changing? for change's own sake or for progressive development?

where do new ideas come from?
fashion in ideas:
trying to come up with a development
some of the ability of showing you're in the right path of knowledge
signal: 'we're in the right direction", we're on the right track
i have the knowledge, i can reference the right buzzwords, but not disclose everything explicitly

blogs:
eytan adar

relationship of sources of trend, and the followers

jeevan:
sources may not be the most linked
the ideas come from little guys
then blow up when linked to from large sites (slashdot/boingboing)
the most-read are not necessarily the trend-setters
big hubs are early adopters
people will tend to link back to the big hubs instead of the original seed

you trust the big hub, the aggregator

veblen: simplified model
information flows from high-status to low-status (through imitation)
same affiliation-type

there's an infinite number of dimensions of the social stratosphere
numerous ways to set your affiliations
who is on top? source/inspiration might be outside of the competitive domain
a choice of affiliation, you do or do not want to be part of a certain group
quest to be more extreme: tattoo --> pierced eyeball (competitive)
you can have knowledge but choose not to apply it (level of commitment)

is it fashionable to link to boingboing?
or maybe it will be fashionable to link to other esoteric sources?
fashion of the content of the link + the identity of the source
signal of what you write + what you choose not to write
- individual choice

the framework / context shapes your approach
ex. seeing a story on slashdot vs. seeing same story in a small thing
being an originator vs being a follower (shared audience)
link to slashdot: safe, not risky
link to no-name: risk, but vouch for originality

pre-filtered fashion: it has been 'sanctioned' by a trusted source
chelsea first floor galleries, popular aggregators, trendy boutiques
fashion on painting?
academic discipline that's in-style at a particular time or location
what is new and upcoming? progressive? oudated or avant garde?

adopting, co-opting ideas, position, writing on conceptual art

assignments;

jeff
blogs + digital video
people being less than straightforward about naming their sources
people will bypass you and go to the source

it's hard to trace back exactly where an idea came from
people want to position themselves higher up
people wanting to get as much credit to the originators
how you credit -- how to establish one's position in chain of information

want to effectively filter information without disclosing all your sources
easy to 'skip' over gateways in web-based ideas
costly to find out better music: listen to a lot of music, ask someone you trust, read reviews

reliability: where in the hierarchy of originators and followers is somebody?
are you at the top? who will have a leg up or down? contested issues
does the person get the first-hand knowledge? or is it trickle down (easy street)?
competition in same domain
'testing' the authenticity of someone's knowledge -- comprehensive? not sound-bitey?

risk management: how much do you put your choices on the line?
being at forefront is risky because you need followers, to be a trusted source
need confidence to do something different that people will accept
e.g. it's easier to get funding to do something that's already accepted as popular

qualitative differences between the top, middle, and bottom (choice of position)
types of behaviour in different approaches; someone might choose to be a great 'middle'

temporal rhythm of fashion
should people stay in their correct social place?

people spend a lot of time to gather information for a useful blog

'moved into an era of seasonless fashion' -- everything changing at a faster rate
fashion changing faster today
design: should we slow it down? find alternatives? make it easier to display the change?
respond to this shift into accelerated fashion

how to redesign cars?
make it so people dont dispose of their cars every year
want to make it expensive (value in expense)
shows new knowledge without getting a whole new car
costs of society vs costs of individual vs costs to the environment

seth:
fashion + magician
premium of secrecy
producers of magic
purveyors of magic content
knockoffs (magic-maker)
super low knockoff tricks (magic cafe) - cheap tricks online
class war between casual shoppers and the established experts/apprentice system
want authenticity -- central of knowledge from the iconic magicians
the 'easier' things are, the 'less authentic' it is

orkan:
subcultures, countercultures - extreme in resistance
everything is a subculture (arbitrary boundary of communities)

counter culturing - culture in opposition to another, a differentiation
counter signaling - high vs. medium vs. low levels of hierarchy
counter signaling against youth - want to avoid association with another group

individuals + reputation.
what makes someone an individual?
- face
- name
- individual versus social identity
how do we remember particular people?
reputation, history
identity is problematic online
google: identifier (unique names), things that link to you
biological markers?
fingerprints, dna
reliable signals of distinction?

reputation is closely tied with identity
need to have strong notion of identity -- strong notion of reputation
individual histories
gossip

what do you want to know about people online?
can this knowledge be reliable?

notes from class 2006.02.23

2006-02-23T12:19:00.000-05:00

prototypes:

model that has been experimentally verified through time/experience
how quickly can people recognise characteristics that define an exemplar prototype
*perceptual* aspect (vs. manipulating)

roles:
theatre as metaphor, based on language
everything has to be grounded on the physical world, all metaphorical
"fits the role" "plays the part" --> theatrical performance, presentation

what does metaphor mean?
- multiplicity of roles, choice, multi-facet
- social interaction with other 'actors' and the 'audience'
- adjust to audience's response to the actor's role
- can audience believe the role? too theatrical? not realistic?

internal vs. external self

person is complex, only small elements / glimpses can be seen at one time
performed public face <----> internal private state
multifaceted complex

role : intentional use of signaling
deliberate roles vs. unintended roles
- contextually dependent, subtle gradation between deliberate and indeliberate roles
professional : have to play role at work (waiter, customer service, business partner)
forced : have to play role as caretaker for a lost child

sometimes roles can be more accepted / popular in society
feels easier to do, mainstream
alternative crowds have to more consciously adjust to fit in society

judith butler: how much is gender a performance vs. nature?
* how much of our behaviour is defined by our environment and cultural forces?
* how much is defined by our own nature?

readings:

prestige + intimacy balance and optimization
economic view of relationships
stereotyped view of men and women
people being observed (close-knit college group)
- group-specific conversation + interviews
- 'want to find a husband' task
you interpret things differently depending on the hypothesized models of the men
he's this type, that type, define + judge behaviour accordingly
what types of characteristics (and the set of them) that define the prototype
- and how can i expect this guy to treat me as a girlfriend?

effects of deception:
- not answering the phone -- effect of 'being inaccessible'
- phones have complex deception -- faking phone calls, faking making/receiving
- easy to find stories of pretending to be on the phone
robert dunbar: cellphones as LEKKING behaviour
- telephone as an easy source of fake signaling
self-assessment of prestige vs. public-assessment (psychology)
people are aware of when they send emails, displays what time you're available
act like high-status -- not as deceptive as flat out lying
manipulating exactly what aspects of you are perceived by others
deception is a gamble -- double or nothing depending if you're caught (and news spread)
- if discovered your role / perception / status drops
can be high status in one group, low status in another group; how to share knowledge
high risk of deception in a highly competitive group
face-saving: want to avoid humiliation and embarassment
cooperation (friends, community) + competition (for self prestige and prestigious men) among the women
cooperation vs competition --> complexity of community
ex. flickr : community of themes
cooperative: want to collaborate on a single project
competitive: who can do the most or most interesting
flickr came out of a game design -- design of built-in community
online systems: who has the most connections? more quantitative than qualitative
how can you make things more sustainable -- more ongoing competitive community

observations:

au bon pain
two women seated
perceptions based on gender (what girls notice, what guys notice)
perceptions based on background (indian, german)
mainstream role -- current college student in boston
-- how much is clothing / look a conscious or subconscious decision
nalgene bottle, north face jacket
long-term interactions are harder to fake, keep consistent

text-based signals vs. visual representations
sense of affectiveness?

second life:
how do you see representatio
competence counts -- the more experience you have in a space
clear who is an insider vs. outsider
what are communities and the boundaries?
boundary issues are acute
how do you legitimise your participation
how to deal with boundaries
community-based economy
how does money translate into these different spaces?

milwaukee craigslist personals:
wants a woman with baggage
14 questions - contact me if you say yes to any of them
guy is confident + sense of humor
is he joking, or desperate, or malicious?
no description of himself except for the outward questions
try to deduce a backstory from an ambiguous outlay
how can you interpret the world from limited information? make deductions.

for next week:
model of fashion
quality that is being signaled stays the same
the FORM of the signal changes over time
quality : affiliation + status
offskirts + inaccessible information ---> knowledge is shared over time

exists:
- need a lot of social mobility
social positions are changing
people's ability to move around is high
- world where knowledge + information are very peak commodities
knowledge is spreadable, not consumable (not like money or food)
fashion -- show your access to information

middle ages, roles werent defined by hierarchy knowledge
"fashion" began late 14th century
because of the increased social mobility, trade routes
sumptuary laws: who can wear particular clothing so people are forced to 'look their part'
(only royalty can wear purple, etc)
centuries go on: rate of sharing knowledge gets faster and faster
competition with upper classes who have resources to update their clothing
how to update
notions of fashions in nonmaterial culture - rate of change is rapid
popular music as fashion
blogs as fashion (researched domains: politics, entertainment)
fashion motivated by society AND by marketing

simple model:
high status does X
lower status learns about it and does X
high status needs to reinterpret and do Y

though hierarchy is not simplified
there's complex overlappings and interactions

subcultures: gothic, alternative
authenticity and commitment to a representative state

fashion can imply status or authentic commitment

academia: fashion driven world
fashions in research types, trends in approach
how to pursue knowledge?
show where you are in terms of knowledge
reviewing papers and grant proposals (committees), in comtemporaries
-- "this problem is no longer fashionable"

information is important
rate of change of fashion and knowledge is rapidly increasing
day-to-day energy to keep up with flow of information
- portray oneself as knowledgable, up on what's buzzing

notes for 2006.02.16

2006-02-16T12:15:00.000-05:00

2006.02.16
week 2

open for questions:

how can signaler know when receiver has 'gotten' the signal?
ex. facial expressions (not clear how other ppl are responding)
difficult and ambiguous online -- what is the response?
try to gather info to help shape the response

increased complexity from moving from animal world to human world

fur-coat wearer -- how do they know that the signal was received successfully?
salient confirmation / reinforcement (ex. invited to fancy parties)
going by your own and other's experiencing (modeling your behaviour after successful others)

performance :: compendium of everything you do, complex system put together by all different pieces of behaviour and display
--> comes through with extensive established knowledge

(from assignment)

assessment signal: signaling a need

suicide bomber ends the relationship between signaller and receiver
hunger strike -- the relationship lasts since the person slowly wastes away, weakens, but does not die
showing strength for fighting particular cause
- combining physical cost as well as associative cost
putting price on a cause --> signal of need of life, attention

quality : absolute importance of a political statement
not in domain of quality being signaled

absolute need of food or life vs. personal internal model of what the cost is
(harvard: jessica stern, top scholar on suicide bombers)
suicide --> reward vs. suicide --> eternal damnation
loss of life is less of a handicap

how do we discourage the personal assessment of benefit / cost?
a whole complex belief system -- aggression + salvation

conventional signal : war medals

signaling bravery, veteran
can be awarded by the secretary of defense in doing well in a war
or buy them on ebay
easily copied and for trivial money cost
needs to be backed up by other supporting factors
need to verify through questions, more evidence of knowledge
object doesnt have inherent connection, but it changes meaning based on the ease of availability
the people who would respond most to the medal would be the actual veterans, and they would be able to tell more accurately
for a war medal -- low benefit through a dishonest signal

what are the social costs for wearing false badges? punishment costs? shame?
determines how valuable a deceptive signal comes out to be, and what are the benefits?

immediate reward (getting ahead in a queue) vs. longterm award (respect, acceptance, being justly awarded)

valar (sp?) deceptively pledged large sums of money to people
thought that he would pull through, but the money did not exist

healthier deception (believe you are a better person, strive) vs. unhealthier deception (personal psychological wellbeing > truthfulness)

conventional signal: white iPod earbuds

indicating iPod ownership, which indicates association with apple brand, music-loving, iconoclastic
white earbuds are now commercially available, to connect to any system
what does the whiteness mean? meaning changes with time and across people
first: early adopters got it, relished the white earbuds
as use of iPod spreads, the signal of exclusivity changes, white earbuds as signal weakens
white earbuds became uncool, stigma --> the exclusive group now changing to more expensive headsets, something different

not just fashion change (i.e. white buds to purple buds), but costly signal to show audiophile nature (costly headsets)
note: subtract out the benefits

gave up sound quality (cost) to be cool (benefit)

you have good sound quality (benefit) and looking cooler (benefit)
--> you can defend yourself as caring only about audio rather than caring about riding on the iPod fashion train

paradox of being perceived as cool by not trying to be cool

apple brand campaign of the white earbuds -- reinforcing the adaptation of the actual user market

where do new ideas come from? cyclical process from the marketing to the client usage; complex parameters
trend-watching is an art and a science --> affected by directions of society, marketing, subcultures

what does society define as something worth paying for?
debt vs. quality of life vs. material goods vs. caring about certain things vs. wanting to look like caring about certain things
subjective experience of a signal!

assessment signal: body fat

less - industrial nations:
if you have body fat, positive indication that you have ample nutrition and dont have to labor
reliable -- if you are poor and dont have much, you eat less and work more, and have a leaner body

more - industrial nations:
sit-down work, sedentary
easy to be fat
cheap food is fattening
gym memberships are expensive
being fat or skinny: drifting into a conventional signal
is this aspect of appearance... controllable? accepted? natural? main goal?
commodity of a difficult/rare body ideal. power of exclusivity -- difficulty of being thin, or being fat

relates to body image, perception through media, construction of a society body ideal

ex. suntanned skin.
if most low-status labor is outside, then thin/tan is low-status, pale/plump is high-status
when low-status labor moves inside, the tan shows more leisure and cost to go on sunny vacation / go tanning salon

complexity of body fat parameters: biology, genes, diet/nutrition, activity, metabolism, cost of trainers/gym/spa/dietfood

obesity epidemic -- controversial -- medicine/science/health vs. cosmetic/fashion.

what does being obese signal? depends on other supporting factors
nascar shirt --> poor, uneducated, can't control
tuxedo --> fatcat, wealthy, executive
history of medical conditions
changes in today's food industry, lowercost foods are plentiful and fatty
it's expensive to eat healthy, organic, natural stuff

equating thinness with control, discipline, focus, perfection (extreme: anorexia)
culture-changing --> meaning of signal changes

conventional signal: IM away messages

indicating 'busy' or 'unavailable' status
can deceive that you dont want to talk to someone particular
costly to find out if the person is actually being truthful

designing online spaces --
putting up an away message is super easy to do and to signal dishonestly
analyse comfort levels of
what does saying one is 'away' really signal?
-- closing down channel of communication
ambiguous in terms of why someone is 'away'
new language -- culture of away messages
responsibility and expectation -- you should respond if you're not set as 'away'
need to have specific messages to explain behaviour (i.e. taking a shower)
away messages instill a new level of dialogue
binary 'away' gives a blanker, ambiguous, face-saving option (neutral indication)
and users dont necessarily want to lie by saying they're 'busy' or 'away'
which opens up the door to more detailed accounts and narratives, higher expectation of explanation

signaling tradeoff: privacy versus detail

faceted identity: what identity you share with friends, family, co-workers, roommate
collapse of boundaries with a shared mediated interface (IM, cellphone, social network profile, etc)
might be inappropriate or confusing to collapse these boundaries

new stuff: social identity

- how do we understand other people?
george simmel (1907) - how is society possible?
how do we make sense of other people? receive fragments, and we fill in spaces
underlying framework: prototype theory (a way of generalising the world)
abstract concepts -- what is a chair? who is a good person?
you assign individual instances to prototypes -- classes -- functionality / form
is the pope a bachelor?
prototype theory - social types --- know more about the people, how to understand and interact
different to speak to / refer to gender, social status, background, etc.

prestige + intimacy
teaching a child to speak to different people in different ways
enculturation
culture -- shared notions, norms, prototypes, stereotypes
we need these prototypes to function -- cant start from scratch every time about every person
notion of roles, expectations, assumed knowledge
cost of prototypes: an imperfect fit, can be misleading or wrong than expected

sculptural: some cues lead to mental representation, prototype fitting, complex process
constant cognitive modifications the more knowledge and experience gleaned from the world
mediation -- both applying and learning personal prototype representation
how do these models overlap? are shared? conflict?
how to translate prototypes into a kind of language to discuss and to share? how to articulate?

online world, signals are sparse, and how do prototypes formulate in that culture?
deliberate deception vs. unintentional deception
absence of cues and signals
understanding cost to manage different levels of deception

good luck on the next assignment!

2006-02-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

please link to your first assignment!

http://smg.media.mit.edu/classes/IdentitySignals06/IntroToSignals.html

reminder, for weekly assignments as a whole, you should have them in by the tuesday before the next thursday seminar. this first week's okay, we had a little confusion, but it should be smooth sailing for the rest of the semester.

see you tomorrow!

notes for 2006.02.08

2006-02-09T15:46:00.000-05:00

introductory class!

seminar style:
1st half: discussion
2nd half: introduction to new material

intro:
theoretical framework of online communication
medium is gateway for information
similar to architecture -- the space shapes your experience, affects you, changing your perceptions

mapping biological theory of signaling theory to communication
understanding and applying the models across the boundaries

how do we perceive each other in different spaces?

design spaces for online behaviour

signaling : economic way of studying communication
costs, benefits of sender and receiver of signals, to be honest, to be skeptical, etc

what is the difference between social (membership of groups, how do groups form boundaries, hierarchies) and personal identity?
read little bits of information --> rendering mental representation of a person

signaling exists in a world of 'competition'
need to distinguish oneself from others

handicap principle -- wasting energy to show that you are ever the more stronger

everyday conversation competition - authoritative, knowledge.
motivation to behave in certain ways, presenting yourself in a way, a public 'persona'
fashion of ideas -- knowledge-based hierarchy

diego gambetta - streetwise: how taxi drivers choose which fare to pick up
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871543087/102-0196640-9564952?v=glance&n=283155

reputation systems -- recognisable identity online
what are costs / benefits to making people at some ways identifiable?
gossip (effusive) vs. reputation systems (less exciting)

how to punish transgressors (liars, dishonest signaling) effectively?

gifting systems

faces, what are emotions? what do faces reveal and not reveal

designing systems on how to represent people

reading assignments + short essay / design problem

final: long paper OR design project
spec out the design and workings

assignments are online. post them to a link + upload your URL.
open-discuss list, or blog . -- class members to discuss.

veblen: theory of the leisure class.
to have statement reliable, should be wasteful of resource in domain
- display wealth in a wasteful fashion
- like gazelle waste energy
- how do you display leisure?? it's hard to display instantaneous.
- examples: time-wasting activities --> knowing latin, growing orchids, breeding dogs
be able to waste resources and display the waste

zahavi : handicap principle :
http://octavia.zoology.washington.edu/handicap/handicap_principle.html
--> to display quality honestly, show it wastefully

qualities : things that are hidden that you want to know
signals: perceivable representation of underlying qualities

signals can be honest (indicates a quality that is true) or dishonest (indicates a quality that is not true)
signals can be reliable ((almost) always be honest) or unreliable (ambiguously credible)

stable: society can accept rates of honesty/dishonesty
unstable: rate of dishonesty is too high

signaller + receiver == two parts of system
truths:
- a system will exist if it is more beneficial for signaller to signal honestly
- more beneficial than not for the receiver to get honest signals
- signals are more honest if more costly to signal dishonestly

cues vs. signals
cues: anything that you use to observe the world
ex. mosquito finds you through CO2. a cue to your presence.
signals: deliberate purpose to indicate a hidden quality

these can overlap, ambiguous boundaries
ex. wearing a fur coat signals wealth/status; serves as unintentional cue as person as animal-killer.

purpose of signal must be to communicate
receiver gets cues whether or not they're deliberate

handicap signals: signaling through waste (i.e. huge antlers, conducting leisure activities)

assessment signals:
costly to dishonestly signal highly reliable.

index signals (semiotics, charles pierce): some inherent connection to the quality being signaled.
index signals are not costly (i.e. tiger is big enough to scratch higher up on the tree) if you're honest.
index signals are extremely costly if not impossible if you're dishonest. hard to fake.

humans are clever to fake or create dishonest signals.
if benefit is high enough, motivation to dishonestly signal (i.e. rent expensive car, get a fake tan)
circumventions -- propelled by ability to invent vs. ability to pick out dishonesty

conventional signals: signal + quality relationship established by convention
no addition cost for physically producing signal (i.e. slapping on a bumper sticker)
kept honest if level of competition is low (i.e. child on honor roll)
kept honest by punishment costs --- societal repersussion to dishonest signals
-- putting on a siren to get through traffic -- the risk/cost of getting caught doesnt make it worth it

sparrows grow badges on chest to indicate status
- the lowstatus ones 'disguised' as highstatus was, initially accepted, but when they were discovered, and were attacked

brightness is a handicap - higher risk for predation
butterflies -- mimicry.
mimics: (batesian) looking like a poisonous through colouration.
makes world more dangerous for the actual, fit butterflies.
mullerian mimics: collaborative reinforcement of signal
http://dorakmt.tripod.com/evolution/mimicry.html

signaller:

personal benefit by changing the perception of people reading my signals
beneficial in itself (having an expensive car is costly but you at least enjoy the car)
balance of benefits : signaling + nonsignaling

cost in producing signal (time, energy, money) (i.e. spending years getting ph.d. vs. buying a bumper sticker)
cost of dishonesty / punishment.

receiver:

some benefit when the signal is perceived, can learn something about the signaller

costs of assessing the signal may be high (cost of time, energy)
music concert: longer you listen the cost of time/boredom/opportunity cost
frogs mating croaks: longer you go, you may attract predators
or cost of obtaining knowledge to properly assess signal -- how do you evaluate?
-- can be informed to tell if this person is being honest (i.e. jobtalk, admissions)

punishment:
- possible to circumvent way to pay full cost to give impression of signal
- want to punish dishonest signals
- what motivates altruistic punishment? social cooperation with assumed altruism (idealistic model)
neuroscience / psychology -- carrying out punishment can be costly as well as beneficial (stimulate reward-part of brain)
willingness to take risks <-- stable --> reward to punish
- cost and benefit to policing behaviour, gauging motivations

dynamics of a system constantly changing over time -- change of environment, people, beliefs

--> art of interpretation
shape an interpretation that makes sense.

subjectivity ---> how do you learn to make better and better assumptions about people?
'honesty' is always up to interpretation.

signal to increase level of valid knowledge of receiver
(1) signal has to be honest
(2) signal has to be understood
(3) signal has to be believed

(incorrect knowledge is a change for the worst).

next time: evaluating social status, hierarchy. cultural role. social groups. boundaries of knowledge.
signal efficacy. strategic costs vs efficacy costs (just getting signal across).

have assignments posted by the preceding tuesday of class. and read other people's postings, too!

and come with questions and topic points for class discussion. it'll be fun!

striped shirts and green sweaters

2006-02-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

good to see eighteen faces at this morning's class.

in attendance:

jim gouldstone
pallavi vedurumudi
alea teeters
ivan askwith
neal grigsby
elan pavlov
malte ziewitz
garett hwang
jesse gray
nadya nilina
benjamin mako hill
michal kopec
mirja leinss
jeff orkin
young joong chang
jeevan kalanithi
orkan telhan
aaron zinman

please let me know if you did not receive an intro message from the class list, identitysignals06@media.mit.edu, or if there are corrections for the above.

welcome.

2006-02-06T16:31:00.000-05:00

let us commence by breaking the pristine surface of this sparkly new blog. welcome to professor donath's techno-identity seminar for spring 2006, and come here to keep tabs on class notes, updates, news, and assignments. fire up your RSS readers, repolish your friendster profiles, and look forward to a great semester.