On this episode of Spark: Hypnotizing Computers, Online Ethics, and Your Friend the Social Bot. Click below to listen to the whole show, or download the MP3 (runs 54:00).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:35 — 50.1MB)
You can also listen to individual stories below.
Hypnotizing Computers
First it was the mouse and keyboard, then it was touch screens, and soon…a picture? With the ubiquity of technologies like the Xbox Kinect camera and Google Goggles, we’re heading towards a world where images – a book cover, a flower, your body – can control computer systems and in some cases even execute complex commands. Tim Maly is a technology writer and futurist who has written extensively on the implications of this new visual input. He says a picture can do more than just talk to a computer, it can hypnotize it. (Runs 14:06)
Play audio:
- Tim Maly
- Tim Maly’s post Hacking With Pictures II
Watching the Detective
From the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, this year we’ve seen the huge role social media and mobile communications play in helping people share information, photos and videos of major events with the rest of the world. It’s a new and exciting wave of front line reporting, but it’s also been raising bigger questions about how we can judge whether we’re getting the full story. The French website Copwatch posts photos and detailed personal information about police officers, and as a result it’s been ordered down by law. But it keeps springing back up. Spark contributor Daniel Finnan is in Paris, and has been following the site’s many lives. (Runs 9:12)
Play audio:
Bot or Not
How many of your Facebook friends are robots? Maybe more than you think. New research from the University of British Columbia suggests that online social networks like Facebook can be easily infiltrated by socialbots – computer programs designed to pass themselves off as human beings. We’ll hear from UBC researcher Konstantin Beznosov, socialbot coding competition organizer Tim Hwang, and professor Maria Bakardjieva on the world of socialbots and how they may soon be influencing opinions and changing the shape of social networks. (Runs 25:43)
Play audio:
- You can converse with Eliza the psychotherapist online
- Konstantin Beznosov
- The Socialbot Network: When Bots Socialize for Fame and Money
- He’s not a real friend, but Tim Hwang plays one on the internet
- Full uncut version of interview with Tim Hwang
- The Socialbots 2011 Competition
- Maria Bakardjieva
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I just started listening to Radiolab, this fall and have noticed that an awful lot of Spark's content originates from this show. I am actually starting to wonder if I should bother listening to both. Perhaps both Radiolab and Spark are using the same common source to find what to feature, next. I don't know. Also, I understand that everyone gets ideas from everyone else but I feel Spark needs to try a little harder to find more than one source of inspiration.
I’m not sure what commonality you are referring to. (I admit I am a few episodes behind on RadioLab.) In my years of listening to both have rarely noticed much in common between the shows in terms of stories. When I have it usually stems from using the same source (individual or organization).
Of course, if you want more in-depth things from Spark just subscribe to the full-length interviews to get a different perspective.
Ultimately, I think the two shows are both well done and cover interesting stories, and you have to decide if they are both worthwhile uses of your time.
Hi susab b,
Radiolab is indeed an excellent show, though I must admit, I haven't been a regular listener to the podcast in quite a while. Here at Spark, we get ideas from lots of places. To my knowledge, no one has ever 'lifted' a story from Radiolab. I would expect that anyone making programming in science and technology is likely reading a lot of the same books, going to the same websites, etc. If your concern is about this particular episode of Spark, the coverage of 'socialbots' comes from two inspirations. One is a study coming out of UBC this month, and the other is a column producer Dan Misener did for CBC.ca way back in March, 2011: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/2…. I am curious as to whether you have specific examples that are causing you concern.
I find the only commonality is the editing. I love them both and as an amateur audio nerd, I find both programmes very well done and inspiring.
I listen to a few podcasts that have common tech/language/trend threads and sometimes there is overlap. It happens.