Description

“The Artificial Intelligence television device”

In 2025, the new evolution of television technology will be focuses on two things: viewer’s interactivity and personalization. The new television device will be a combination of an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) computer system and the television. The A.I. system will appear as a “figure” on the television screen. Once the A.I system is installed into the television, users can personalized their A.I system by inserting their personal information (such as interest, age, gender) and it will make the television a complete personalized device which allows 100% viewers’ interaction and the device is suitable for all users.

The Personalization Part:

• It will allow viewers to have total control over the program they are viewing. For instance, instead of television broadcast manipulate the information displaying on television, viewer are now able to change /edit the television material base on their preferences or instantly change the content/ plot of the drama base on the viewers’ preference.

The Interaction Part:

• The A.I. will replace the remote control; viewers can use verbal command and touch screen function to interact with the A.I. system. Viewers can also have instant interaction with the television program. For instance, viewers can play Live Game show, such as “Deal or No Deal”, at home in real time.

Development

The two milestones that contribute to the future development of “The Artificial Intelligence television device” are:

1. The development of the Artificial Intelligence technology. Between now and 2025, the function of the A.I. is no longer limited in data mining or sourcing. The new Artificial Intelligence device that scientist develop will become more “dynamic” and interactive. Instead of performing “static” task, such as data mining and medical diagnosis, the robotic-like A.I. figure will become a personal device that is capable of doing many different tasks. It will be able to interact with the users and help users to solve problems. Different task can be performed based on the programming encoded inside the system.

The Artificial Intelligence technology affects basically everyone in the society. It will enhance human ability by helping users to complete tasks more efficiently and accurately. It will obsolesce many existing technologies. For instance, people will no longer have the need to read books or do research, because they can simply ask their A.I. to help them. Moreover, it also retrieves the myth of the robotic Artificial Intelligence.

2. The convergence of the Artificial Intelligence technology to the television.

If the A.I. technology is applicable to the television technology, then it will influence many people, such as the viewers, the broadcast company and the society as a whole. The evolvement of the A.I. technology leads to the possibility that viewer can enjoy a more personalized and interactive viewing experience when watching television. In the economic point of view, broadcast company and society as a whole may benefit from this technology. Although the innovation of the A.I. technology may be costly, the seller and the Broadcast companies can charge a very high price and transfer the cost to the consumer.

Rationale

The Artificial Intelligence television converge computer programmed intelligence agent, interactive media and television technology into one single device. The theory is that “because everything is digital, everything can be mix with everything else.” (Bignell & Orlebar, 2005, p.279) The development of television was heading toward “digital” and the convergence of computer and television began to appear in the last 10 years. (Bates, 2007) Similarly, the Artificial Intelligence system could be produced using computer program and all information will be stored digitally. The similar technology of putting computer into television can be applied to the A.I. system in the future. The only main difference is that the computer program will then be much more complex than nowadays’ development. The future A.I. program will have to be much more flexible and interactive with the users.

Since the research and development of Artificial Intelligence had already begin in the mid 20^th century (“Artificial Intelligence”, 2009), it is plausible that, due to the incredible power of computer today, the development of the A.I. will continue to improve and the function of the intelligence agent may jump from “static” to “dynamic”, in which it allows interactivity between the agent and the users, in the future.

In addition, one of the concepts behind the Artificial Intelligence television is similar to the “Video On Demand” system that already developed in the market. In addition to the Video On Demand (VOD) system, which only allow “users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand” (“Video On Demand”, 2009) the future A.I. will also allow users to change the plot of the program recorded, base on their personal preferences. Similar to the VOD system, the future A.I. will store all programs into its database digitally, if viewers want to edit any of the plot or scene in a program, the A.I. can simply edit the digital content.

Another function of the Artificial Intelligence television is that it allows viewers to have instant interaction with the program. This possibility has already begins to development in the last 2 years (PJP Associates, 2005), one of the example is the “eBay on TV”, which allows viewer to bid on item directly on their TV if the viewers have a subscribed “set up box”. However, unlike the eBay on TV, which has a low level of viewer’s participation and interaction, the future A.I. will enable viewer to have a higher degree of interactivity. The A.I. will connect the television to the internet and messages will be transformed instantly and digitally between the viewer and the broadcast; in this case, viewers can enjoy a much more interactive experience.

Lastly, the touch screen television technology has already been developed (TV Technology, 2008), and the verbal command system replacing remote control in the future is also doable because all the A.I. has to do is to transmit verbal message into (binary) messages that it understands and follow the command.

Reference

Artificial Intelligence. (April 1, 2009). Retrieved April 1^st, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

Bignell, J. & Orlebar, J. (2005). Television Handbook. New York: Routledge.

Bignell, J. (2008). An Introduction to Television Studies. New York: Routledge.

PJP Associates. (June, 28, 2007). Personalized TV: New Business Opportunities. Retrieved March 25^th, 2009, from http://www.pjb.co.uk/PTV.htm

TV Technology. (Jan, 4, 2008). CNN Magic Wall Helps Explain Caucus. Retrieved March 25^th, 2009, from http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/19258

Video On Demand. (March 31, 2009). Retrieved April 1^st, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_on_demand

I did my fictional Facebook profile on Samuel F. B. Morse. The two biggest contributions to technology from Morse were the single wire telegraph system and the Morse code. I used these two pieces of information as the benchmark of the Facebook profile. In the left module, I included a picture of Morse and also some general background information of Morse, such as birthday, hometown, relationship and Networks. The information about Morse’s Network may tell us about Morse’s background. For instance, Morse was graduated from Yale University and that Morse was also the creator of the Network “Morse Code”. In the “Friends” section, I included six people who were actually Morse’s friends at that time. Morse’s friends tell us about Morse’s interest and social context. For example, Morse was friend with Joseph Henry and Alfred Vail. They both helped Morse to develop his first telegraph. Under the “Photo” section: Art album, it reveal some fact about Morse’s interest as a portraitist.

In the middle module, the activities between Morse and his friends explains Morse’s career as an inventor and painter, and also explains Morse’s relationship with his friends and family. For instance, Morse’s friend Alfred Vail, who supports Morse financially and Morse’s brother, Sidney Edward Morse, who helps him with ideas about the innovation. Furthermore, Morse’s “status” in the profile also reveals a bit about Morse’s personality and studies. For example, Morse were interested into studying Electro-magnetism when he was inventing the telegraph. And one of Morse’s favourite quotes was “What Hath God Wrought”, it was the very first message that was transmitted using Morse’s telegraph.

Reference

Samuel F. B. Morse. (n.d.) Retrieved March 22, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_F._B._Morse

Inventor Profile. (n.d.) Retrieved March 22, 2009, from

http://www.invent.org/Hall_Of_Fame/106.html

Samuel F.B. Morse. (n.d.) Retrieved March 18, 2009 from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/atthtml/mrshome.html

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Although the first television device didn’t appeared until early 1900, the concept of the technology arose during the Pre-Industrial Revolution period. (Abramson, 1987) Scientists such as Thomas Wedgwood and Abbe Giovanna Caselli began to come up with different ideas contributed to the development of television in the 1800s. Some of these ideas emerged from some other pre-existing technologies, such as the radio. “Many have claimed that television was the natural progeny of radio,” and it may also be consider as one of the earliest precedent of the television. (Abramson, 1987) The two technologies shared two major similarities, they both allow instant communication and messages are send through similar method. The radio appeared long before the television, but this only allows instant aural communication through transmitting electrical cells. Scientists observed the success of the radio development and believed that visual messages can also be transmitted using the same theory and this was when the very first idea of television appeared, a device that allow both instant visual and aural communication. The development of radio “evolved from the field of electrical communication”, and scientists such as Abbe Giovanna Caselli, used this similar logic in the television. In 1862, Abbe Giovanna Caselli came up with the idea of a “Pantelgraph” a device that allow still images to be transmit over time through invisible electrical cell. (Abramson 1987) This idea provoked a major change to the traditional concept that visual messages can only be transmit through visible means, such as photographs and paintings. This influence was significant because it modified the traditional social norm and affected the society as a whole that the idea of forwarding instant visual messages is not a mere fantasy.

After the idea of transmitting instant visual messages arose in the 1800s, it continued to expand throughout the Industrial Revolution Period. The anticipation of inventing a device that allow instant visual communication was very high during the early 1900 because people in the society during that time were hoping to find a way such that they can enjoy instant visual entertainment anywhere and anywhere. (Abramson 2003) Before the concept arose, the only place people can enjoy instant visual drama is to go to the theatre. People were constrained with the location and time. Thus, people were hoping that the concept of this new device may resolve the limitation of the motion picture.

One possible precedent of the earliest form of television is the technology of motion picture. The technology of motion picture was based on one major discovery, the magic lantern. (Abramson, 2003) The magic lantern was working based on the principle that a brightly illuminated object placed before a magnifying lens that project its inverted image onto a screen in a dark room. This principle contributes to the early development of the television because the similar theory can be applied into the television, a device that must project transmitted visual messages onto television screen. In advance to the motion picture’s conversion of images from film onto a screen, television is a device which also allows instant transmission of images. The term “television” was first used in 1900 by Constantin Perskyi, in which he described an apparatus based on the magnetic properties of selenium and pictures signals could be send through selenium cells. (Abramson, 2003) Perskyi’s intention was to come up with a method to transmit motion pictures through wire. He claimed that using a mirror drum and a selenium cell as transmitter and a multi-wire device fed by a rotating commutator as the receiver, images could be sequentially scanned and visual signals could be transmitted. In 1902, Otto Von Bronk tested Perskyi’s model and it was a success, and it was the first television system. (Abramson, 2003)

The appearance of the television device played an influential role in many individuals in the western society. During the industrial revolution period, going to the theatre was one of most popular entertainment in the western society. (Abramson, 2003) As mentioned above, the television device resolved the limitation of the motion pictures. Therefore, having the technology of television, people in the society were no longer limited to time and place.

The post industrial revolution period was a milestone in the development of television, and it has a significant impact on women during that time. The colour television system was introduced in the 1946. (Timeline television, n.d.) The earliest form of the colour TV set allows three colour signals (green, red and blue) to sample electronically in rapid sequence, combined and broadcast as a single signal. Moreover, the cable television was introduced in Pennsylvania as a mean of bringing television to almost all area in the country. (Timeline television, n.d.) These two events were significant because it shows that the development of television was mature enough so that it began to expand its usage. In advance to the early form of the black and white television system, the colour television set can now transmit multi-coloured images instantly. And these coloured images can truly represent the objects, for instance, an image of a garden in colour can represent a lot more that the image in black and white. As a consequence, the development of the colour television set and the cable system contribute to our modern television system and influences everyone in the society. Without the development of the colour television set and cable system, we may still be limited with representation of images (black and white vs. colour image) and the receiving of television signal (the cable system). Moreover, the development of television during the post industrial revolution era also influences the role of women in the society. A research has shows that many early advertisements during the post that period show little appreciation of women’s labour in the home. These advertisements suggested that women’s needs and values contradict those of the dominant masculine culture. In other word, they encouraged women to go to work and challenged the traditional masculine culture in the society.

Reference

Timeline Television (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2009, from http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television_T_3.htm

Abramson, Albert. (1987). The History of Television, 1880 to 1941. London: McFarland.

Abramson, Albert. (2003). The history of Television, 1942 to 2000. London: McFarland.

Thumim, Janet. (2002). Small Screens, Big Ideas: Television in the 1950s. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers.

Facebook: Everything belongs to Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO)

“Be careful with what you put on Facebook.

Even after you hit the delete button on those scathing notes, embarassing photos or drunk texted status updates, they could still come back to haunt you. After all, once you put something on Facebook, you no longer have total control over the material – they now belong to Facebook. Forever.

The fact that Facebook claims control over content posted by users on its site is nothing new, language to that effect has always been in the terms of service (TOS), but this week it was discovered those terms had changed.

Facebook had added a few words here and deleted a few words there changing the TOS to mean they now control all the content you post to or link to the site in perpetuity – even if you delete your account.”

I found this article very interesting because it points out some of the important issues with sharing personal information in the cyberspace.  Before reading this article, many facebook users, including myself may thought that we have the right and control over content posted by ourselves. But now it’s no more the case!!!  In other word, once we clicked the “post” button on facebook, all the posted contents are no longer belong to us, it is now a property of Facebook, EVEN IF WE DELETED OUR ACCOUNT!!!!!!…….

Television played a significant role in today’s world. It has several major influences on our society. In the following analysis, I will begin with defining television, which includes describing its function and the kind of technology it belongs to. Then, I will discuss the negative social effect that caused by the invention of television. And lastly, I will provide a few plausible strategies to prevent this kind of negative effect.

Defining television and its functions:

Television is a telecommunication medium system that allows images of objects to transmit between distant points (Merriam-Webster). It is a device that display transmitted images from different sources (i.e. cable and satellite). Moreover, it also acts as a medium that connects individual with the social world. For example, by viewing the shows on television, it allows individual to receive knowledge or information about the world. There are several major functions of television, it can be a device that allows users to view television shows, play video games or watch movies, it can also be connected to computer and use as a computer monitor etc.

The Negative Social Effect Caused by watching the Television

There are several researches on the social effect caused by television viewing. One of the similarities in these reports is that they indicated that there is a positive correlation between watching television and body mass and eventually it would lead to obesity. (Jordan, 2008 ) In one particular research, Children, Television Viewing, and Weight Status, recorded in The Annals of The American Academy, the report targeted the effect on children and it indicated that one of the major risk factor that caused children obesity in the U.S. is television watching. (Jordan, 2008 ) The data from the research shows that school-age children spend on average up to 3 hours per day on television viewing (Jordan, 2008 ). Also, as indicated in the research, relationship between heavy television viewing and childhood overweight is evident because there are data that supported that as number of hours spent on watching television goes up, body fat percentage and risk of overweight also increase. (Jordan, 2008 ) The report points out that there are two major hypotheses on why there is such a correlation between television viewing and body weight, the first one is because as the spending time goes up, it displaces physical activity. (Jordan, 2008 ) For example, if children spend a lot of time on TV, whereas they could spend the time on other physical activity, then watching TV could be a displacement for physical activity. The second hypothesis is that children eat while they watch TV, and they may be unaware of the additional calories intake. (Jordan, 2008 ) For instance, if children are eating snack or junk food while watching TV, the bad nutrition and high calories food may causes children to gain weight. Nevertheless, as a conclusion to the report, television viewing plays an influential role in the body weight of U.S. children and it is a risk factor for overweight.

In my own opinion, it is obviously a negative influence on society. It is a negative effect on the society because it not only influences health issue of children’s body weight, if the problem of spending too much time on television viewing does not resolve, overweight children may become overweight adult, then society as a whole would be deeply affected. For instance, the fatal rate or other sickness related to obesity may increase.

Plausible Strategies to overcome the negative effect

I think one of the most efficient methods to overcome this negative effect is to reduce the time children spend on television viewing. Parents may set up rules for the children and must monitor the number of hours their child spends on TV. For example, parents may use a timer and only allow the children to watch TV for a certain time. Another strategy may be setting up boundaries such as not allowing children to eat while they are watching TV. For instance, parents should avoid letting their child to intake junk food or other high calories snack while they are watching TV. Other strategies could be changing the social trend such that children could be less dependent on television. For example, because the technology of television is so convenient and almost all children have easy access to television, the number of hour children spends on TV increases. Therefore, if the social trend of television changes such that children may not have easy access to television, then the number of hours children spend on television viewing would decreases.

Citation Reference

Jordan, A. (2008). Children, Television Viewing, and Weight Status: Summary and Recommendation from and Expert Panel Meeting. The Annals of the American Academy, 615, 119-128. Retrieved February, 01, 2009, Google Scholar database.

Merriam – Webster Online Dictionary (n.d.) Retrieved February 01, 2009, from

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary.htm

My favourite technology is cell phone, i pick this technology because it helps us to communicately more instantly and more easily!! <– this is a picture of myself!!~