End user programming of awareness systems : addressing cognitive and social challenges for interaction with aware environments

The thesis is put forward that social intelligence in awareness systems emerges from end-Users themselves through the mechanisms that support them in the development and maintenance of such systems. For this intelligence to emerge three challenges have to be addressed, namely the challenge of appropriate awareness abstractions, the challenge of supportive interactive tools, and the challenge of infrastructure. The thesis argues that in order to advance towards social intelligent awareness systems, we should be able to interpret and predict the success or failure of such systems in relationship to their communicational objectives and their implications for the social interactions they support. The FN-AAR (Focus-Nimbus Aspects Attributes Resources) model is introduced as a formal model which by capturing the general characteristics of the awareness-systems domain allows predictions about socially salient patterns pertaining to human communication and brings clarity to the discussion around relevant concepts such as social translucency, symmetry, and deception. The thesis recognizes that harnessing the benefits of context awareness can be problematic for end-users and other affected individuals, who may not always be able to anticipate, understand or appreciate system function, and who may so feel their own sense of autonomy and privacy threatened. It introduces a set of tools and mechanisms that support end-user control, system intelligibility and accountability. This is achieved by minimizing the cognitive effort needed to handle the increased complexity of such systems and by enhancing the ability of people to configure and maintain intelligent environments. We show how these tools and mechanisms empower end-users to answer questions such as "how does the system behave", "why is something happening", "how would the system behave in response to a change in context", and "how can the system’s behaviour be altered" to achieve intelligibility, accountability, and end-user control. Finally, the thesis argues that awareness applications overall can not be examined as static configurations of services and functions, and that they should be seen as the results of both implicit and explicit interaction with the user. Amelie is introduced as a supportive framework for the development of context-aware applications that encourages the design of the interactive mechanisms through which end-users can control, direct and advance such systems dynamically throughout their deployment. Following the recombinant computing approach, Amelie addresses the implications of infrastructure design decisions on user experience, while by adopting the premises of the FN-AAR model Amelie supports the direct implementation of systems that allow end-users to meet social needs and to practice extant social skills

Digital Light

Light symbolises the highest good, it enables all visual art, and today it lies at the heart of billion-dollar industries. The control of light forms the foundation of contemporary vision. Digital Light brings together artists, curators, technologists and media archaeologists to study the historical evolution of digital light-based technologies. Digital Light provides a critical account of the capacities and limitations of contemporary digital light-based technologies and techniques by tracing their genealogies and comparing them with their predecessor media. As digital light remediates multiple historical forms (photography, print, film, video, projection, paint), the collection draws from all of these histories, connecting them to the digital present and placing them in dialogue with one another. Light is at once universal and deeply historical. The invention of mechanical media (including photography and cinematography) allied with changing print technologies (half-tone, lithography) helped structure the emerging electronic media of television and video, which in turn shaped the bitmap processing and raster display of digital visual media. Digital light is, as Stephen Jones points out in his contribution, an oxymoron: light is photons, particulate and discrete, and therefore always digital. But photons are also waveforms, subject to manipulation in myriad ways. From Fourier transforms to chip design, colour management to the translation of vector graphics into arithmetic displays, light is constantly disciplined to human purposes. In the form of fibre optics, light is now the infrastructure of all our media; in urban plazas and handheld devices, screens have become ubiquitous, and also standardised. This collection addresses how this occurred, what it means, and how artists, curators and engineers confront and challenge the constraints of increasingly normalised digital visual media. While various art pieces and other content are considered throughout the collection, the focus is specifically on what such pieces suggest about the intersection of technique and technology. Including accounts by prominent artists and professionals, the collection emphasises the centrality of use and experimentation in the shaping of technological platforms. Indeed, a recurring theme is how techniques of previous media become technologies, inscribed in both digital software and hardware. Contributions include considerations of image-oriented software and file formats; screen technologies; projection and urban screen surfaces; histories of computer graphics, 2D and 3D image editing software, photography and cinematic art; and transformations of light-based art resulting from the distributed architectures of the internet and the logic of the database. Digital Light brings together high profile figures in diverse but increasingly convergent fields, from academy award-winner and co-founder of Pixar, Alvy Ray Smith to feminist philosopher Cathryn Vasseleu

Danionella translucida, ein transparenter und genetisch manipulierbarer Modelorganismus mit komplexem Verhalten zum Studium des Vertebraten-Gehirns

Understanding how the brain orchestrates behaviours is a major objective in systems neuroscience. This quest involves accomplishing the following tasks: First, to characterise the behaviour of interest. Second, to identify the neurons and their networks responsible for the behaviour. Third, to study the computations performed by these neurons and fourth, to reveal the underlying mechanisms. As of yet, tackling all of these steps in adult vertebrates has been very challenging due to the size and opacity of their brains. Molecular component of cells, especially lipids and proteins, have light scattering properties and prevent excitation and retrieval of fluorescent signals in deeper brain areas. As a result, only limited optical access can be achieved using microscopy techniques in adult vertebrate brains. In this thesis I introduce a freshwater teleost fish, Danionella translucida (DT), as a new laboratory species. Unlike other vertebrates, it remains small and transparent throughout adulthood, with a majority of its cells accessible to optical recording techniques. Furthermore, DT shows rich social behaviours e.g. sexual behaviour, shoaling, schooling, fighting and, remarkably, vocalisation. This thesis focuses on foundational experiments to establish DT as a new model organism for systems neuroscience. First, I characterise essentials of DT behaviour, in particular its ability to vocalise. Second, I demonstrate genetic tractability to tailor DT for anatomical and functional circuit studies using Tol2-mediated gene insertion of a calcium-sensor and Crispr/Cas9-targeted gene editing for depigmentation. Third, I implement a proof of-principle experiment to show that circuit functionality during sensory stimulation can be tested in the immobilised transgenic animal using two-photon calcium imaging. DT’s optical features combined with rich behaviour and genetic amenability open the way to investigate the underlying mechanisms for neural computations performed by single cells. Hence, establishing DT as a new model organism throughout this thesis enables targeting the fourth and ultimate goal of systems neuroscience in the adult vertebrate.Im Forschungsbereich systemische Neurowissenschaften ist eine der grossen Herausforderung zu verstehen, wie das Gehirn Verhalten dirigiert. Dieses Ziel erfordert vier Schritte beginnend mit dem Charakterisieren eines interessanten Verhaltens. Zweitens, müssen dazu entsprechend relevante Neurone und neuronale Netzwerke identifizieren werden. Drittens gilt es die Verrechnungen innerhalb beteiligter Neurone zu studieren und letztlich die dahinter steckenden Mechanismen zu erkennen. Durch die Grösse und Undurchsichtigkeit von Gehirnen adulter Wirbeltiere war es bis dato unmöglich all diese Ziele gemeinsam in einem Modell zu studieren. Zellulaere Bestandteile, insbesondere Lipide und Proteine, haben lichtstreuende Eigenschaften und verhindern das Anregen und Messen von Fluoreszenzsignalen in tieferen Bereichen des Gehirns. Als Folge koennen nur sehr begrenzte Ausschnitte des erwachsenen Wirbeltiergehirns optisch untersucht werden. In dieser Doktorarbeit etabliere ich einen neuen Modelorganismus - den teleosten Süsswasserfisch Danionella translucida (DT). Anders als die meisten Vertebraten bleibt die DT auch während erwachsener Entwicklungsstadien klein und transparent, welches die Mehrheit ihrer Neurone optischen Methoden zugänglich macht. Desweiteren zeigt die DT komplexe Verhalten wie Fortpflanzungsverhalten, koordiniertes Schwimmen in der Gruppe, Kampfverhalten und beachtlicherweise Vokalisierungsverhalten. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es grundlegende Experimente durchzufuehren, um die DT als neuen Modelorganismus für systemische Neurowissenschaften zu etablieren. Dazu charakterisiere ich als Erstes die Grundzüge verschiedener Verhalten mit Schwerpunkt auf dem Vokalisierungsverhalten. Zweitens zeige ich, dass die DT genetisch manipulierbar ist, um sie für optische Studien neuronaler Netzwerkanatomie und -funktionalität anzupassen. Dazu inseriere ich mit Tol2-Transgenese einen Kalziumsensor in das Genom der DT und unterbinde mit Crispr/Cas9 ihre Pigmentierung durch Genveränderung des Enzyms Tyrosinase. Drittens, demonstriere ich in einem proof-of-principle Experiment am transgenen Tier, dass die DT sich während sensorischer Stimulierung unter dem Zwei-photonen Mikroskop auf Aktivitätseigenschaften in einzelnen Zellen innerhalb neuronaler Netzwerke untersuchen lässt. Die genetisch veränderbare DT eignet sich durch ihre optischen Eigenschaften und ihr komplex ausgebildetes Verhalten sehr gut zur Untersuchung neuronaler Netzwerke und der mechanistischen Verarbeitung innerhalb individueller Zellen. Damit trägt das Etablieren der DT als neuen Modelorganismus innerhalb dieser Arbeit direkt zur Adressierung der vierten Fragestellung systemischer Neurowissenschaften bei

Digital light

Light symbolises the highest good, it enables all visual art, and today it lies at the heart of billion-dollar industries. The control of light forms the foundation of contemporary vision. Digital Light brings together artists, curators, technologists and media archaeologists to study the historical evolution of digital light-based technologies. Digital Light provides a critical account of the capacities and limitations of contemporary digital light-based technologies and techniques by tracing their genealogies and comparing them with their predecessor media. As digital light remediates multiple historical forms (photography, print, film, video, projection, paint), the collection draws from all of these histories, connecting them to the digital present and placing them in dialogue with one another.Light is at once universal and deeply historical. The invention of mechanical media (including photography and cinematography) allied with changing print technologies (half-tone, lithography) helped structure the emerging electronic media of television and video, which in turn shaped the bitmap processing and raster display of digital visual media. Digital light is, as Stephen Jones points out in his contribution, an oxymoron: light is photons, particulate and discrete, and therefore always digital. But photons are also waveforms, subject to manipulation in myriad ways. From Fourier transforms to chip design, colour management to the translation of vector graphics into arithmetic displays, light is constantly disciplined to human purposes. In the form of fibre optics, light is now the infrastructure of all our media; in urban plazas and handheld devices, screens have become ubiquitous, and also standardised. This collection addresses how this occurred, what it means, and how artists, curators and engineers confront and challenge the constraints of increasingly normalised digital visual media.While various art pieces and other content are considered throughout the collection, the focus is specifically on what such pieces suggest about the intersection of technique and technology. Including accounts by prominent artists and professionals, the collection emphasises the centrality of use and experimentation in the shaping of technological platforms. Indeed, a recurring theme is how techniques of previous media become technologies, inscribed in both digital software and hardware. Contributions include considerations of image-oriented software and file formats; screen technologies; projection and urban screen surfaces; histories of computer graphics, 2D and 3D image editing software, photography and cinematic art; and transformations of light-based art resulting from the distributed architectures of the internet and the logic of the database.Digital Light brings together high profile figures in diverse but increasingly convergent fields, from academy award-winner and co-founder of Pixar, Alvy Ray Smith to feminist philosopher Cathryn Vasseleu

Fifty Shades of Grey:In Praise of a Nuanced Approach Towards Trustworthy Design

Environmental data science is uniquely placed to respond to essentially complex and fantastically worthy challenges related to arresting planetary destruction. Trust is needed for facilitating collaboration between scientists who may share datasets and algorithms, and for crafting appropriate science-based policies. Achieving this trust is particularly challenging because of the numerous complexities, multi-scale variables, interdependencies and multi-level uncertainties inherent in environmental data science. Virtual Labs---easily accessible online environments provisioning access to datasets, analysis and visualisations---are socio-technical systems which, if carefully designed, might address these challenges and promote trust in a variety of ways. In addition to various system properties that can be utilised in support of effective collaboration, certain features which are commonly seen to benefit trust---transparency and provenance in particular---appear applicable to promoting trust in and through Virtual Labs. Attempting to realise these features in their design reveals, however, that their implementation is more nuanced and complex than it would appear. Using the lens of affordances, we argue for the need to carefully articulate these features, with consideration of multiple stakeholder needs on balance, so that these Virtual Labs do in fact promote trust. We argue that these features not be conceived as widgets that can be imported into a given context to promote trust; rather, whether they promote trust is a function of how systematically designers consider various (potentially conflicting) stakeholder trust needs

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 136, January 1975

This special bibliography lists 238 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in December 1974