Test filming and editing begins on Wednesday afternoon.
This is basically a test exercise to get across my familiarity with editing suites and with filming practises.
Not in any way going to be indicative of the final piece or the prototype, but if any of the footage is useful, I may use parts of it as a trailer.
I have a lot of work to do on the technical side before I burden myself upon other people with a camera.
Buckle up, folks, this journey's about to get bumpy but we'll be going places.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Short survey related to Media Project:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22EX4DEXJ4E
So far I've recieved 7 responses within a half an hour of placing it online, and they've been of serious interest related to the final project. I'll be saving data from the final talley and posting it online through here either tomorrow or the day after.
So far I've recieved 7 responses within a half an hour of placing it online, and they've been of serious interest related to the final project. I'll be saving data from the final talley and posting it online through here either tomorrow or the day after.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Further update:
Ross Gillanders of a fantastic Cork band called The Beastmen has just offered me full use of their back catalogue as soundtrack material for "Incoherence".
As a long standing fan of their work, I can only say that I'm honoured and privileged beyond any shadow of a doubt, to say "yes" to that.
Business, dear readers, is good.
As a long standing fan of their work, I can only say that I'm honoured and privileged beyond any shadow of a doubt, to say "yes" to that.
Business, dear readers, is good.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Updates.
Right, I've been letting this go for some time and I feel that explanations are in order...
The project focus has changed a little but not a lot... languages and communication are still a huge part of the final piece in a major way, but it's less now about the promotion of languages and more to do with, pardon the pretention, the psychological elements of languages and communication...between people who are able to speak the same language on a first language basis, between those whose proficiency may very, i.e. a first language speaker of English or any language in particular communicating with someone who many have English as a second or third language, and indeed, and this is something that kind of became very interesting to me in recent times, the interactions that human beings have technology or any form of artificial intelligence, and the emotional/psychological responses that can often occur when communication between humans, and between humans and technology can turn into something of a one way street.
In fact, let me break it down further...
"As the weeks go by, I will be conducting interviews for my repeat project concerning breakdowns in communication between 1st and 2nd language speakers of English and breakdowns of communication when human beings interact with machines and highlighting their similarities. Y'see, I studied languages for quite a long time before I moved south to Cork, and I had done a few modules on different elements of language, such as EFL and have worked for quite some time with different aspects of technology and I've often found that many people's reactions in a certain situation where they may not understand what another person may say or in the case of an AI, where commands given by a human user may not exactly translate too well or be understand by the AI...and the whole thing then is kind of based around the emotional reactions that people have in that kind of situation, be it amusement, frustration, etc. Buzzwords: Psychology/emotional responses, linguistics, communication, miscommunication. "
Primary research has been through the medium of social networking, on my Facebook page and on a few forums that I frequent, I've basically asked the following question to a number of users of such platforms...
" What do conversations between a native speaker of a language and a non native speaker of language have in common with a human being interacting with a machine, be it an AI (Cleverbot for example), software or indeed hardware... give it a thought, your answers could be very helpful."
Been recieving very, very candid feedback from many of the users this far, some of whom are indeed, maybe second or third language speakers of English, (for example, I've received responses from contacts of mine in Germany and Israel) as well as from some expats that are currently residing in Ireland, as well as friends and collegues who have worked in a wide variety of job positions and from all walks of life, both academic and non-academic. All their answers thus far have been highly interesting and eye-opening.
An example or two:
Matthias Eck (Germany): "I would say, mostly its the lack of understanding between both peers in terms of knowledge.Lets say you are using a Voice Recognition System Program, the program needs to understand/know the words.If it does, it works usually well and commands are recognized quickly.If it doesn't work, the program starts to take parts of it and that tends to lead to issues of misinterpretation or misunderstandings.The result of this can be quite frustrating for the person using the system and the same could happen between 2 or more people that are not fluent in the language, one or more people are using in the conversation, like vocabualry, pronounciation or dependency in the situation. Best example are hotlines for customer related issues.You call them and lets say a guy in india picks the phone up and you start explaining your problem and he answers your question with a lack of english vocabulary or weird pronounciation. The result leads to the same problem. Unsatisfied customer, stressed customer representative and a bad reputation based on the conjunction of the whole mess."
Sam Brearshears (U.S.A.): The non native speaker has to think about what to say, just like the AI would have to figure out what the proper response is, and also Jim, I also remember an incident from 17 years ago at a college I was attending. There were a lot of international students, and I would often wind up translating English to English between the French students and the Spanish students and the Russian students.
Richard Konrad (born in the Ukraine, now living in Israel): Hmmm.... Sometimes, when I'm caught off guard by some guest at work (hotel) I actually fail to immediately understand him/her (even though my English is quite good as you've noticed Jimmy), let alone reply. Then I start talking with a very strong russian accent, despite the fact that I can fluently speak with american accent, nearly flawlessly. And when it comes down to a machine, well, many times I get frustrated because of its poor performance, or my inssuficient experience as a user perhaps. Eventualy, I might end up yelling at the poor computer like a psychotic sociopath, e.g. Patrick Bateman or Nicholas Cage.
I have filmed interviews scheduled with many people over the next few weeks in Cork, Dublin and in Limerick with a wide variety of people who were interested in taking part, some who have experience of life abroad, some who have worked in language, some who have travelled here as students from abroad, people who have worked with all sorts of technology, and just people in general.
The end result of this will be a video study/documentary made up of the results of such a study as I feel for a subject like this, whilst it is quite of interest to academics of linguistical and psychological backgrounds, the subject matter is still of great relevance to ordinary people as communication breakdowns are part and parcel of every day life, and the emotional responses can run the gauntlet from humorous misdirections to confusion and sometimes even to anger or more negative emotions.
A video example:
- The infamous clip of the chap in IT who destroys his machine due to its inability to follow through on tasks.
- Classic Fawlty Towers, Manuel is clearly over his head when dealing with a costumer. (In fact any scene with Manuel dealing with Basil in particular is comedy gold and a flawless example of the sort of frustration one feels when one is not getting one's point across.)
Based on the quality of the footage and the candour of the interviewees that I have lined over up over the next while, I see a golden opportunity to create a documentary/study/film that highlights people's own personal examples of miscommunication or disharmony between the words and how the intended reaction may often differ based on the perception of others or indeed, machinery, and how those people react in such situations. Not compiling this footage would be a wasted opportunity as I can see positive and indeed enlightening results coming forth from such a study.
I'd also like to stress that though the concept is indeed quite a heavy one, it is still very much an everyday occurrence and it affects all in many different ways so it does have a that human interest appeal and approach to it.
The interviews start this weekend and I foresee them being wrapped up by mid-April...although I will be posting a trailer here in a few weeks for the final piece. A number of saintly souls have stepped up to the plate to contribute their own experiences, my eternal gratitude to them and also to those who have contributed replies to the social networking talkbacks and on the various forums and indeed to those who are at this moment in time giving me more and more contacts to speak with.
Phew, that was a lot to try and bash together but I think that just about covers everything, I'll keep people up to speed with all the rest of the information as it happens.
Cheers for reading. Wolves withdraw.
Jim
p.s. Final title: "Incoherence: A two way street." There'll be a webpage up and running in the weeks to come with most of this information and more.
The project focus has changed a little but not a lot... languages and communication are still a huge part of the final piece in a major way, but it's less now about the promotion of languages and more to do with, pardon the pretention, the psychological elements of languages and communication...between people who are able to speak the same language on a first language basis, between those whose proficiency may very, i.e. a first language speaker of English or any language in particular communicating with someone who many have English as a second or third language, and indeed, and this is something that kind of became very interesting to me in recent times, the interactions that human beings have technology or any form of artificial intelligence, and the emotional/psychological responses that can often occur when communication between humans, and between humans and technology can turn into something of a one way street.
In fact, let me break it down further...
"As the weeks go by, I will be conducting interviews for my repeat project concerning breakdowns in communication between 1st and 2nd language speakers of English and breakdowns of communication when human beings interact with machines and highlighting their similarities. Y'see, I studied languages for quite a long time before I moved south to Cork, and I had done a few modules on different elements of language, such as EFL and have worked for quite some time with different aspects of technology and I've often found that many people's reactions in a certain situation where they may not understand what another person may say or in the case of an AI, where commands given by a human user may not exactly translate too well or be understand by the AI...and the whole thing then is kind of based around the emotional reactions that people have in that kind of situation, be it amusement, frustration, etc. Buzzwords: Psychology/emotional responses, linguistics, communication, miscommunication. "
Primary research has been through the medium of social networking, on my Facebook page and on a few forums that I frequent, I've basically asked the following question to a number of users of such platforms...
" What do conversations between a native speaker of a language and a non native speaker of language have in common with a human being interacting with a machine, be it an AI (Cleverbot for example), software or indeed hardware... give it a thought, your answers could be very helpful."
Been recieving very, very candid feedback from many of the users this far, some of whom are indeed, maybe second or third language speakers of English, (for example, I've received responses from contacts of mine in Germany and Israel) as well as from some expats that are currently residing in Ireland, as well as friends and collegues who have worked in a wide variety of job positions and from all walks of life, both academic and non-academic. All their answers thus far have been highly interesting and eye-opening.
An example or two:
Matthias Eck (Germany): "I would say, mostly its the lack of understanding between both peers in terms of knowledge.Lets say you are using a Voice Recognition System Program, the program needs to understand/know the words.If it does, it works usually well and commands are recognized quickly.If it doesn't work, the program starts to take parts of it and that tends to lead to issues of misinterpretation or misunderstandings.The result of this can be quite frustrating for the person using the system and the same could happen between 2 or more people that are not fluent in the language, one or more people are using in the conversation, like vocabualry, pronounciation or dependency in the situation. Best example are hotlines for customer related issues.You call them and lets say a guy in india picks the phone up and you start explaining your problem and he answers your question with a lack of english vocabulary or weird pronounciation. The result leads to the same problem. Unsatisfied customer, stressed customer representative and a bad reputation based on the conjunction of the whole mess."
Sam Brearshears (U.S.A.): The non native speaker has to think about what to say, just like the AI would have to figure out what the proper response is, and also Jim, I also remember an incident from 17 years ago at a college I was attending. There were a lot of international students, and I would often wind up translating English to English between the French students and the Spanish students and the Russian students.
Richard Konrad (born in the Ukraine, now living in Israel): Hmmm.... Sometimes, when I'm caught off guard by some guest at work (hotel) I actually fail to immediately understand him/her (even though my English is quite good as you've noticed Jimmy), let alone reply. Then I start talking with a very strong russian accent, despite the fact that I can fluently speak with american accent, nearly flawlessly. And when it comes down to a machine, well, many times I get frustrated because of its poor performance, or my inssuficient experience as a user perhaps. Eventualy, I might end up yelling at the poor computer like a psychotic sociopath, e.g. Patrick Bateman or Nicholas Cage.
I have filmed interviews scheduled with many people over the next few weeks in Cork, Dublin and in Limerick with a wide variety of people who were interested in taking part, some who have experience of life abroad, some who have worked in language, some who have travelled here as students from abroad, people who have worked with all sorts of technology, and just people in general.
The end result of this will be a video study/documentary made up of the results of such a study as I feel for a subject like this, whilst it is quite of interest to academics of linguistical and psychological backgrounds, the subject matter is still of great relevance to ordinary people as communication breakdowns are part and parcel of every day life, and the emotional responses can run the gauntlet from humorous misdirections to confusion and sometimes even to anger or more negative emotions.
A video example:
- The infamous clip of the chap in IT who destroys his machine due to its inability to follow through on tasks.
- Classic Fawlty Towers, Manuel is clearly over his head when dealing with a costumer. (In fact any scene with Manuel dealing with Basil in particular is comedy gold and a flawless example of the sort of frustration one feels when one is not getting one's point across.)
Based on the quality of the footage and the candour of the interviewees that I have lined over up over the next while, I see a golden opportunity to create a documentary/study/film that highlights people's own personal examples of miscommunication or disharmony between the words and how the intended reaction may often differ based on the perception of others or indeed, machinery, and how those people react in such situations. Not compiling this footage would be a wasted opportunity as I can see positive and indeed enlightening results coming forth from such a study.
I'd also like to stress that though the concept is indeed quite a heavy one, it is still very much an everyday occurrence and it affects all in many different ways so it does have a that human interest appeal and approach to it.
The interviews start this weekend and I foresee them being wrapped up by mid-April...although I will be posting a trailer here in a few weeks for the final piece. A number of saintly souls have stepped up to the plate to contribute their own experiences, my eternal gratitude to them and also to those who have contributed replies to the social networking talkbacks and on the various forums and indeed to those who are at this moment in time giving me more and more contacts to speak with.
Phew, that was a lot to try and bash together but I think that just about covers everything, I'll keep people up to speed with all the rest of the information as it happens.
Cheers for reading. Wolves withdraw.
Jim
p.s. Final title: "Incoherence: A two way street." There'll be a webpage up and running in the weeks to come with most of this information and more.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Hello.
Did you know that some words in different languages sound a lot alike?
Pardon the condescending tone of the question above, but, behold, a few examples...
Sala'am. (Arabic)
Shalom. (Hebrew)
Sleim. (Maltese)
p.s. Salamat means "much obliged" or "thank you" in Filipino.
This may or may not, pending tomorrow, have a lot to do with tomorrow's presentation.
Further information will follow when time deems it necessary.
Pardon the condescending tone of the question above, but, behold, a few examples...
Sala'am. (Arabic)
Shalom. (Hebrew)
Sleim. (Maltese)
p.s. Salamat means "much obliged" or "thank you" in Filipino.
This may or may not, pending tomorrow, have a lot to do with tomorrow's presentation.
Further information will follow when time deems it necessary.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Soundtrack work and original music:
Portfolio of music work: http://soundcloud.com/the-swindlers-liszt
Rather than relying on production tracks or on the use of public domain/creative commons music or sound effects (which was definitely one of the elements that may well have held me back the first time) , I strongly insist on the usage of my own material for the upcoming project.
The above link contains a considerable amount of original material as well as mixing that I've done for other people, and one or two covers.
I have access to equipment that should allow for the sound element of the project to be of a high quality and, false modesty being a red herring, am capable of producing soundtrack material in a wide variety of styles and moods, metal, progressive rock, electronic, ambient and more and can produce sound effects necessary for such productions at short notice and at a high quality level.
Therefore where necessary, I insist on using my own material either to underscore certain aspects of the project, or indeed, if allowed can and will produce a soundtrack for other projects, be it film or animation.
Rather than relying on production tracks or on the use of public domain/creative commons music or sound effects (which was definitely one of the elements that may well have held me back the first time) , I strongly insist on the usage of my own material for the upcoming project.
The above link contains a considerable amount of original material as well as mixing that I've done for other people, and one or two covers.
I have access to equipment that should allow for the sound element of the project to be of a high quality and, false modesty being a red herring, am capable of producing soundtrack material in a wide variety of styles and moods, metal, progressive rock, electronic, ambient and more and can produce sound effects necessary for such productions at short notice and at a high quality level.
Therefore where necessary, I insist on using my own material either to underscore certain aspects of the project, or indeed, if allowed can and will produce a soundtrack for other projects, be it film or animation.
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