CS Colloquium on Thursday, Nov 13 at 2PM

Title: Organic Networks: Wearable Computers for Human Networking

Speaker: Professor Alex (Sandy) Pentland
         MIT Media Laboratory
         http://www.media.mit.edu/~pentland

Place: MCS 135, 111 Cummington Street

Abstract:

Computer technology has mostly focused either on the isolated individual,
or has treated the person as a clueless extra wandering in a
computer-controlled environment.  Researchers seem to have forgotten that
people are social animals, and that the quality of their lives is defined
by their roles in human organizations. Instead of inventing technology for
the individual as an isolated entity, why not invent systems that support
people^Ys organizational roles?  Or even invent new types of organizations?

My colleagues and I are inventing technology that can potentially produce
organizations that are more creative and efficient, and that better support
the individual. Using wearable computers that actively analyze face-to-face
interactions within the workplace we can extract conversational features,
identify participants, define context, and determine content. By
aggregating this information, high-potential collaborations and expertise
within the organization can be identified, information movement and
decision-making can be augmented, and social networks reinforced. Examples
using this technology to initiate productive connections are shown, and
privacy concerns are addressed.

Host: Stan Sclaroff (http://www.cs.bu.edu/~sclaroff)