From Star Trek to Siri: (Dis)Embodied Gender and the Acousmatic Computer in Science Fiction Film and Television

Recent advancements in voice-interactive technology such as Apple\u27s Siri application, IBM\u27s Watson, and Google\u27s Now are not just the products of innovative computer scientists; they have been directly influenced by fictional technology. Computer scientists and programmers have openly drawn inspiration from Science Fiction texts such as Gene Roddenberry\u27s television show Star Trek and Stanley Kubrick\u27s 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey in order to create more effective voice-interactive programs. Such comparisons between present-day technology and past Science Fiction (hereafter, Sci-Fi) texts are even more apt than computer scientists seem to have intended; not only are Watson, Siri, and Now real-world versions of fictional computers, but each of them also hides the ways in which the computer is implicitly embodied and gendered by its voice. Real and fictional computers alike are generally voiced by a human: the Star Trek computer by Majel Barrett; Hal-9000 by Douglas Rain; and Watson by Jeff Woodman. Mysteriously, both Apple and Google have worked hard to hide the vocal origins of Siri and Now respectively. But the question remains: why do these programs even have gendered voices? In particular, why is Siri--the digital equivalent of a secretary--female? And why hide their voices\u27 corporeal origins? Aside from technological inspiration, how have the underlying ideological gender assumptions in Sci-Fi texts like 2001 and Star Trek influenced the creation of such programs? What does the fact of the shift from Sci-Fi representations to scientific innovation reveal about the perpetuation of ideological assumptions about gender roles? How do other representations of computer voices confirm or problematize the gendering of computer voices? In this dissertation, I seek to answer these questions by examining the historical, theoretical, and aesthetic trace of the computer voice from Star Trek in 1966 to Siri in 2013. The voice-interactive computer, I argue, may be understood as a paradoxically acousmatic character: a disembodied voice that is simultaneously embodied through non-humanoid computer-objects. Through psychoanalytic interpretations, historical contextualizations, and transtextual considerations, I show how representations of acousmatic computers are positioned within narrative texts as gendered subjects, playing out particular gender roles that are situated within each text\u27s historical context. I attend to the textual problem of location in Sci-Fi by dividing the analyses into two categories: extra-terrestrial and terrestrial. This division is important in understanding the roles of voice-interactive computers, as spaceships provide a uniquely different environment than terrestrial structures such as houses, office buildings, or prisons. Further, spaceships always already imply a womb-like habitat, a mothership that controls and maintains all aspects of the life forms within it; terrestrial computers, on the other hand, tend to connote varying gendered subjectivities and anxieties within historical contexts of technological innovation and cultural change. In this first part, I focus on extra-terrestrial voice-interactive computers in Star Trek (Paramount, 1966-1969), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968), Dark Star (John Carpenter, 1974), Quark (NBC, 1977-1978), Star Trek: The Next Generation (Paramount, 1987-1994), and Moon (Duncan Jones, 2010). In the second part, I examine terrestrial computers; these computers may be further divided into two, gendered subsections of masculine and feminine functions. The texts featuring masculine-voiced computers tend to act as the son to their programmer/creator fathers or, conversely, as all-knowing fathers, thereby reinforcing patriarchal rule. These films, Colossus: The Forbin Project (Joseph Sargent, 1970), THX 1138 (George Lucas, 1971), Rollerball (Norman Jewison, 1975), and Demon Seed (Donald Cammell, 1977), narrativize cultural and business struggles in the 1970s surrounding militarization and corporatization. I then examine the films of the early 1980s, TRON (Steven Lisberger, 1982) and Electric Dreams (Steven Barron, 1984), that express a rapidly-changing cultural conception of computers, set in narratives of homosocial struggle. And finally, I discuss computers in the 1990s and 2000s that serve in domestic roles, particularly those texts that feature domestic spaces run by female-voiced computers or, literally, house-wives. These texts, Fortress (Stuart Gordon, 1992), Smart House (LeVar Burton, 1999), and Eureka (SyFy, 2006-2012), position computers as replacements for human women who are absent from the home. Additionally, I examine two texts that feature male servants--Demon Seed (an anomaly among representations of domestic servitude) and Iron Man (Jon Favreau, 2008). I then return to Siri by examining representations of her programming, voice, and body in popular culture. By thus exploring the representations of gendered acousmatic computers within the context of computer history and changing gender norms, I self-reflexively examine how artificial intelligence may be presented in a gendered context, and how this may reflect changing notions of gender in digital culture

Social robots as communication partners to support emotional well-being

Interpersonal communication behaviors play a significant role in maintaining emotional well being. Self-disclosure is one such behavior that can have a meaningful impact on our emotional state. When we engage in self-disclosure, we can receive and provide support, improve our mood, and regulate our emotions. It also creates a comfortable space to share our feelings and emotions, which can have a positive impact on our overall mental and physical health. Social robots are gradually being introduced in a range of social and health settings. These autonomous machines can take on various forms and shapes and interact with humans using social behaviors and rules. They are being studied and introduced in psychosocial health interventions, including mental health and rehabilitation settings, to provide much- needed physical and social support to individuals. In my doctoral thesis, I aimed to explore how humans self-disclose and express their emotions to social robots and how this behavior can affect our perception of these agents. By studying speech-based communication interactions between humans and social robots, I wanted to investigate how social robots can support human emotional well-being. While social robots show great promise in offering social support, there are still many questions to consider before deploying them in actual care contexts. It is important to carefully evaluate their utility and scope in interpersonal communication settings, especially since social robots do not yet offer the same opportunities as humans for social interactions. My dissertation consists of three empirical chapters that investigate the underlying psychological mechanisms of perception and behaviour within human–robot communication and their potential deployment as interventions for emotional wellbeing. Chapter 1 offers a comprehensive introduction to the topic of emotional well-being and self-disclosure from a psychological perspective. I begin by providing an overview of the existing literature and theory in this field. Next, I delve into the social perception of social robots, presenting a theoretical framework to help readers understand how people view these machines. To illustrate this, I review some of the latest studies on social robots in care settings, as well as those exploring how robots can encourage people to self-disclose more about themselves. Finally, I explore the key concepts of self disclosure, including how it is defined, operationalized, and measured in experimental psychology and human–robot interaction research. In my first empirical chapter, Chapter 2, I explore how a social robot’s embodiment influences people’s disclosures in measurable terms, and how these disclosures differ from disclosures made to humans and disembodied agents. Chapter 3 studies how prolonged and intensive long-term interactions with a social robot affect people’s self-disclosure behavior towards the robot, perceptions of the robot, and how it affected factors related to well-being. Additionally, I examine the role of the interaction’s discussion theme. In Chapter 4, the final empirical chapter, I test a long-term and intensive social robot intervention with informal caregivers, people living with considerably difficult life situations. I investigate the potential of employing a social robot for eliciting self-disclosure among informal caregivers over time, supporting their emotional well-being, and implicitly encouraging them to adapt emotion regulation skills. In the final discussion chapter, Chapter 5, I summarise the current findings and discuss the contributions, implications and limitations of my work. I reflect on the contribution and challenges of this research approach and provide some future directions for researchers in the relevant fields. The results of these studies provide meaningful evidence for user experience, acceptance, and trust of social robots in different settings, including care, and demonstrate the unique psychological nature of these dynamic social interactions with social robots. Overall, this thesis contributes to the development of social robots that can support emotional well-being through self-disclosure interactions and provide insights into how social robots can be used as mental health interventions for individuals coping with emotional distress

How do followers distance themselves from leaders?:An interpretive study of followership in physical and non-physical contexts

The topic of followership has been attracting growing attention as a response to the dominance of leader-centric assumptions in the leadership research field. However, the followership literature does not adequately consider followership as a complex phenomenon in terms of two research gaps. First, the followership literature pays excessive attention to follower traits, characteristics and roles, and tends to identify what good or effective followers are. This may confine a follower in a subordinate position within traditional asymmetric structures and reproduce a binary opposing relationship between followers and leaders. The second gap is the failure to consider the impact of follower-leader interrelations on shaping understandings and meanings of the followership context. The literature describes a hierarchical context as a setting where followers have to hold formal roles and accept asymmetric positions relative to leaders. Informed by a critical approach to studying followership, this study aims to explore followership complexity from two aspects. First, it examines the ways in which followers interrelate with leaders and peers to construct follower-leader relationships. Second, it investigates how physical and non-physical contexts shape and are shaped by these relationships simultaneously. An interpretivist approach, influenced by an inter-subjective ontology, underpins the research, which comprises a single case study of a financial analysis organization with 30 participants. Financial assistants as followers interrelated with managers as leaders in the same workplace, and they belonged to a financial analysis organization. These assistants simultaneously interacted with remote analysts as leaders in different locations and global financial institutions, where they employed email and telephone to communicate, and then construct relations, as a result of interrelations. The findings reveal key insights into followership related to the overarching concept of follower-leader distance. This concept is understood in two important aspects, five dimensions (physical, psychological, cultural, functional and structural) and two degrees (proximity and detachment). Five dimensions capture the multi-faceted and constructed nature of follower-leader relationships, which were shaped by ongoing followers’ interrelations with leaders and peers; the dimensions also reveal the diverse characteristics of physical and non-physical contexts, which were shaped as distinct opportunities and challenges to which followers needed to respond. Two degrees of follower-leader distance illuminate the potentially dynamic and tense nature of the follower-leader relationship; they also demonstrate the interdependence of physical and non-physical contexts, arising from followers’ inter-relations with different leaders in two different contexts. This study makes two significant theoretical contributions to followership research. First, this study moves beyond a static and objective conceptualization of the follower-leader relationship towards a more social, dynamic and situated conceptualization. Second, this study extends critiques of the followership context as a setting where followers are confined within hierarchical structures and informs a more nuanced interpretation of the complex nature of the followership context

A Search for Home: Navigating Change in \u3ci\u3eBattlestar Galactica\u3c/i\u3e

This dissertation explores the various ways in which the multiple leaders portrayed in the science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) navigate extreme conditions of continual change. In addition, the dissertation contains a discussion of the larger narrative themes of love, forgiveness, redemption, and embracing the Other as principles effective leaders must cultivate. Through an interpretation of this specific popular media text, a deeper emotional sensitivity to and understanding of leadership, positive and negative, during extreme crises is gained. Furthermore, the series serves as a vehicle through which viewers can reflect on and engage in their own self-awareness about issues surrounding leadership and reconsider personal paradigms based on the depiction presented in the narrative. The choice for using an interpretive hermeneutic method for this dissertation comes from the specific desire to understand the visual text of Battlestar Galactica in relation to leadership studies. The goal is neither to predict behaviors nor to examine an individual case against theory. My intent is to develop our further and deeper understanding of leadership in extremis, while questioning how the visual text may influence our perceptions of leadership theory and practice. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/et