from Shinji Fujioka

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 16:13:13 -1000
From: shinjifuji@hotmail.com
Reply-To: ITF Project 
To: ITF Project 
Subject: Video Conference Reflection

Sorry that I didn't respond sooner, but better late than never.

Glassner's video conference was very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot.
The concept of using stories to get information across is very true, and
it is something that I don't think enough people know about.  I think
stories work because as humans we get distracted easily and we need
something to keep us focused.  It's too bad that there are no stories for
Chemistry or Calculus.

Lanier's conference, I'd have to say, was a whole lot better.  I liked the
question and answer format a lot better.  It was cool to be able to talk
to one of the leading pioneers in tele-immersion technology.  He doesn't
seem at all like the techie type, but with today being the computer age, I
guess you can never tell.  One thing I noticed about him though was that
his mind works an several different tracks as if its on steroids or
something.  Whenever he would answer a question he would move around
whether it was playing with a remote or rubbing his hand against the
table.  All those brilliant minds are kind of eccentric like that.  I
think the most interesting part of the conference was when he went into
the discussion about AI.  He was strongly against it and showed it too.
That was probably his artist side coming out, the side that enjoys human
creation.  His thoughts on AI was that it was wrong to treat a computer as
you would a human.  Humans should be accorded their own respect and
computers should just stay as they are--a useful tool.  I partly agree
with him in that I don't think computers should be compared to humans.
But I am for the idea of creating a computer that can grow and adapt.

Well that's all for now.  See you later.

Shinji

from Maureen Ditol

Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 17:56:31 +0000
From: "Maureen D." 
Reply-To: ITF Project 
To: ITF Project 
Subject: Videoconference Reflection

like Shinji, I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. For both conferences, I had
to leave early because I had to get to my next class.  But while I was
there, I learned a lot from both Glassner's and Lanier's conference.

Dr. Glassner talked more about stories while I was there.  His examples
really made me think of how descriptions are important if you want everyone
to get somewhat of the same idea. Everyone has their own picture in their
heads but then with specific information, they get the point. Stories are a
good way for us to remember things, and to me, it gets other interested when
they normally wouldn't be.

For Dr? Lanier's conference, it was nice because he talked about what we
wanted to know (since we were allowed to ask questions). His ideas were very
creative and him acting it out was entertaining. The squid idea was really
interesting because he takes regular things and he applies to how he can use
it in ways most of us wouldn't think of normally.