Creative Language Technologies

This is episode #11 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 10th of February, 2022. It was my pleasure to talk today with Dr. Laura Otis who comes from a background in biochemistry, neuroscience, and laboratory research, but she is now an English Professor at Emory University. She is the author of multiple academic (but readable) books on the relationship between literature and science, and she has also published six novels. In her blog on creativity for Psychology Today, she writes about how the thinking of creative writers and scientists is connected. Laura tries always to write and talk so as to respect the intelligence and ways of knowing of people in very different fields who build knowledge differently.

We started the discussion with a definition of thought, focusing on the different ways people think and remember. Laura thinks that people’s mental worlds vary greatly. Believing that the world’s 7 billion mental worlds are similar, gives us just a crude, limited, and unrealistic picture of what human thinking involves. In fact, according to her, ‘Is thinking visual or is it verbal?’ is the wrong question to ask. In her interviews, Laura has also tried to see if there is any connection between thinking, feeling, and the senses as she asked her subjects questions like “Do you see anything when you read?” or “What senses predominate in your memories?” 

In the second part of the show, we discussed her new project — a book called “The Neuroscience of Craft” on how fiction-writers and scientists can benefit from each other's knowledge about sensory systems. Here is the show.

Show Notes:
- What is thought?
- ‘Is thinking visual or is it verbal?’ The Visual — Verbal spectrum approach to thinking
- Differences in the way thinking feels
- An investigator’s training, language, cultural orientation, and even memories can influence a (scientific) study 
- How can people with different thought styles learn to communicate with each other better? 
- Ways of thinking in education: how can we better interact with our students
- Blending senses in fiction

Note:

Books and papers mentioned:
Laura C. Otis. (2015). Rethinking Thought: Inside the Minds of Creative Scientists and Artists. Oxford University Press. 

Laura’s Amazon page has links to all of her published books for readers who are interested: 

https://www.amazon.com/Laura-Otis/e/B001HMOU9W%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share 

A link to Laura’s Psychology Today blog: 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/laura-otis-phd

This is episode #10 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 27th of January, 2022. My invited speaker today is Dr. Daniel M. Gross, Professor of English and Affiliated Faculty in the Critical Theory Emphasis at UC Irvine, where he is also Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator.  Daniel has been working on emotions-in-the-world for over two decades. His approach starts with his home discipline of Rhetoric – once understood as the art of moving souls by way of the passions – which he then mines for the sake of some pressing questions: How do we understand collective political emotions like gay pride, or the angry white male? Are emotions limited to human beings? And what do we do with fights over which model of emotions should prevail, — for example, a bio-physiological model that might help us recognize the face of a terrorist at the airport, or a humanities model that helps explain things like how "terror" becomes an unevenly shared experience in the first place? Working sometimes with Stephanie D. Preston of the Michigan ecological neuroscience Lab, he has pursued answers to these questions in published works that include The Secret History of Emotion: From Aristotle's Rhetoric to Modern Brain Science (2007), and Uncomfortable Situations: Emotion between Science and the Humanities (2017).

Of course, we had to start the conversation with rhetoric and emotions, both important aspects of human experience. We then slightly shifted focus to Darwin and his view of emotions and sensations. We could not help connecting the discussion to Ekman’s categories of emotions, with specific reference to empathy and sympathy. Daniel shared his view on the current research practices in emotion research in the context of lab-controlled experiments vs. studies on emotions in the wild.

In the second part of the show, we debated on how well can computers (ever) be able to detect human emotion vs. how good humans are at knowing what other people really feel. We closed with ethical implications of such technologies. Here is the show.

Show Notes:
- Rhetoric and emotions
- (back to) Darwin on emotions and sensations
- Empathy vs Sympathy
- (back to) Ekman’s categories of emotion: the good, the bad, and the ugly
- Research practices on emotions: emotions in the lab vs. emotions in the wild
- Some methodological recommendations for emotion studies
- An interdisciplinary approach to emotion research
- Technology: the role of Emotion AI in shaping our emotion and sensory awareness, and practices of emotion research in the next decade (or so); How well can AI (ever) be able to detect human emotions vs. how well are humans at this task

Note: Books and papers mentioned:

Gross, Daniel M. (2006). The secret history of emotion: From Aristotle's Rhetoric to modern brain science. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226309934.001.0001

Gross, Daniel M. (2017). Uncomfortable Situations: Emotion between Science and the Humanities. DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226485171.001.0001

Gross, Daniel M. and Stephanie D. Preston. Darwin and the Situation of Emotion Research. Emotion Review 12(3), 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073920930802

This is episode #9 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 13th of January, 2022.  Happy New Year, everyone! In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Allan Køster, a philosopher focussing on applied Phenomenology in investigations of human suffering. He has worked broadly in the field of phenomenological psychopathology, but most recently has done research on the existentiality of grief/bereavement and on COVID-19 patients’ experiences of isolation during admission to intensive care units.

The fascinating topic of discussion today is the felt experience of others, in their absence. Many of us have experienced this. We closed our eyes, relaxed and imagined the loved one’s presence as a warm feeling of love and comfort, their smile, laugh, their touch, even their scent — what the French call ‘sillage’ — and have an acute sense of awareness, a tender and loving feeling. But what about the case where a loved one leaves the physical world and never comes back? This is Allan’s research focus. Our discussion starts with the fundamental definition of phenomenology and how does such a paradigm describe human experience, especially, that of concrete sense of other. Allan believes that this particular kind of felt experience of the other is sensory rather than cognitive — and he calls it “a sensorium of the other”. We discuss the modalities that make out this fundamental sensorium and how these modalities interact to give this sense of embodied felt familiarity. We then shift focus to bereavement and to the abnormal experiences of ICU isolation in COVID patients - discussing how the pandemic has changed the way we interact.

In the second part of the show, we tackle, of course,  issues related to the role of technology (esp. immersive technologies) helping one re-experience the felt presence of others. And, of course, we had to close with the ethical implications of such technologies. Here is the show.

Show Notes:
- Definition of Phenomenology; how does it describe human experience
- The felt experience of the other as a sensorium (and its modalities)
- Phenomenologically structured interview process in research
- How the pandemic has changed the way we interact
- Bereavement and the abnormal experiences of ICU isolation in COVID patients
- Immersive technologies helping one re-experience the felt presence of others
- The ethical implication of such technologies

Note: Allan Køster's forthcoming book:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.routledge.com/Cultural-Existential-and-Phenomenological-Dimensions-of-Grief-Experience/Koster-Kofod/p/book/9780367568115__;!!DZ3fjg!s7tf5zuTOw85NVxCRtQe42KstNHaMvR4bPiGU0hbAWP3GaPYomU6Pxa16vZYTnvN$

This is episode #8 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 23rd of December 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Rob Boddice, Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences, Tampere University, Finland, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University, Canada. He is the author or editor of 11 books, most recently ‘Humane Professions’ (2021), ‘Emotion, Sense, Experience’, with Mark Smith (2020), ‘A History of Feelings’ (2019), and ‘The History of Emotions’ (2018). ‘Feeling Dis-Ease in Modern History’, co-edited with Bettina Hitzer, will be published by Bloosmbury in the Spring of 2022. He is currently completing a book called ‘Knowing Pain: A History of Sensation, Emotion and Experience’ for Polity Press.

Professor Boddice’s recent book ‘Emotion, Sense, Experience’, with Mark Smith, published last year, is the focus of this show. We start by addressing the central role of emotions  in understanding experience, especially experience in the past. In his book, Rob advocates for a broader dialogue on the treatment of the senses and emotions that would lead to “a more accurate, robust, and ultimately, more meaningful history of human experience” (Boddice & Smith, 2020). And, in doing so, he insists in the reconstruction of context to the maximum extent possible, to understand the practical framework in which experience is produced — otherwise, he says, “we risk transfiguring the feelings of others into one’s own” — imposing the present on the past. But accessing the situated ways of hearing, feeling, touching, sensing is very difficult and has been done so far through a very zoomed in analysis of the context. The best, he believes, is probably to represent that distance between past and present — and emotions should not be kept separate from the senses - especially when working with experiences in the past.

In the second part of the show, we tackle issues related to the role of technology (especially Artificial Intelligence) in shaping our emotion and sensory awareness, and practices of emotion research in the next decade. We close with a discussion on whether historians can and should keep AI ethical and on track. Here is the show.

Show Notes:

- What is to say ‘History of X’? (where X can be emotion, feelings, experience) and what is experience, especially felt experience?

- How many emotions are out there? How should we study them - in isolation, or as a united whole? Is there a boundary between reason and emotion? 

- The critical need for an interdisciplinary approach to the history of emotions.

- Emotion AI: rather challenging to build, adding to this the recent backlash from the Ethics community on the consequences of AI  due to the misunderstanding of the nature of emotions. Would  a change in our understanding of emotions lead to the ‘right’ technology?

- Immersive Technology: the role of  AI in shaping our emotion and sensory awareness, and practices of emotion research in the next decade (or so); Can immersive technology help historians access the past? And, can/should historians keep AI ethical and on track?

For more information on Prof. Boddice’s books:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/emotion-sense-experience/DBE24D02C6367B362884DAC8A002F69F

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/feeling-disease-in-modern-history-9781350228375

This is episode #7 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 9th of December 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Mr. Sayantan Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Hiralal Mazumdar Memorial College for Women, affiliated with West Bengal State University. He is currently involved in research in the Department of Sociology at Jadavpur University in Kolkata. Mr. Ghosh explores the Sociology of Smell, the study of smell and society, literature and society, Indian social thinkers, philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore, study of religion and society. He is a passionate researcher of the sense of smell, hoping for a better future (or, as he likes to say), more fragrant future of humanity. He believes that we, as human beings, depend much more on our senses than we think, particularly on our sense of smell - as we judge and make decisions based on smell.

It is not so much about knowing aspects of the external world, as it is about knowing one’s own self. In our discussion, we touch on many important aspects such as logic and sensations in the Western vs. the Indian traditions, smell and language, smell and its connection to structural inequalities and urban planning, as well as sense impressions as they contribute to perception in people with sensory impairment. We conclude hoping for a multi-sensory future, addressing ways (including technological ones) to bring more awareness to our senses, especially to the sense of smell. Here is the show.

Show Notes:

- The sense of smell: Western view. vs.  Indian traditions (Vyasa and Kalidasa): the separation b/w logic and intellect, on one side, and emotion, feeling and sensation on the other.

- ‘Indryas’: the gate of knowledge

- Smell and language: olfactory vocabulary of English and Bengala

- The importance of the senses in everyday life (in our occupations, the way we move around, what we eat, and in our intimate moments): How do we interact with different smellscapes and how are these shaped by culture? (i.e., as in Indian culture: food/spices, incenses in temples, etc.)

- The sense of smell and its connection to structural inequalities: the ‘unsmellables’

- Smell and the city: urban planning as well as olfactory planning

- Sense impressions and their contribution to perception (e.g., in people with visual impairment, etc.)

- The hope for a multi-sensory future: self-awareness and the senses, and ways (including technological ones) to bring more awareness to our senses, especially to the sense of smell

Links:

Professor Ghosh can be reached through his LinkedIn account (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sayantan-ghosh-66106a228/) and his academic webpage (https://hmmcollege.ac.in/index.php/Frontend/faculty?id=22)

This is episode #6 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 25th of November 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Mitchell J. Nathan, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Learning Sciences in the Educational Psychology Department, Director of the MAGIC Lab, and a Fellow of the Teaching Academy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He studies how people think, teach, and learn, with special focus on the role that language and embodied processes play in understanding mathematics and engineering disciplines. His research explores the development of algebraic reasoning, expert blind spot in teaching, how cohesion processes support integrated STEM education, computer animation to support reading of mathematics story problems, and the embodied nature of mathematical intuition and geometric proof, with implications for the design of educational technology, teacher education and professional development, and student knowledge assessment. 

Professor Nathan has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and has recently published a book ‘Foundations of Embodied Learning: A Paradigm for Education’ - which is the focus of this show. In his book, he advocates for a coherent evidence-based framework for how people learn. Starting with basic definitions of learning and the current state of the US education system, we address the central role that embodied learning plays in education and how can such an approach be measured.

In the second part of the show, we tackle issues related to the role of immersive technologies in reshaping learning and how it might be done. We wrap up the discussion touching on the important concepts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and their relation to an embodied approach to learning. Here is the show.

Show Notes:

• What is learning and what is the current state of the education system in the US (and elsewhere)
• Embodied learning: a proposal for a coherent evidence-based framework for how people learn
• Foundational theories at the core of the education system in the US and elsewhere: Information Processing Theory (definition, advantages and disadvantages)
• The sensorial component: the role of the senses and their interconnections in this grounded and embodied learning approach
• Assessment practices: how exactly can we measure embodied learning? Do we have the necessary tools?
• Education technologies: role of immersive technologies in reshaping learning and how it might be done
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): how do they relate to an embodied approach to learning

Other Notes:

Books and articles mentioned:

Mitchell J. Nathan. Foundations of Embodied Learning: A Paradigm for Education. Routledge. 2021.

Maxine McKinney de Royston, Carol D. Lee, Na'ilah Suad Nasir, and Roy Pea. Rethinking schools, rethinking learning. Phi Delta Kappan. 2020; 102(3):8-13.

For more information on Prof. Nathan’s book and research:

https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09017-7.html

https://www.routledge.com/Foundations-of-Embodied-Learning-A-Paradigm-for-Education/Nathan/p/book/9780367349769

Don’t miss the live conversation of Prof. Nathan’s book hosted by A Room of One's Own on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 - 6:00pm. Detailed information on how to join virtually  can be found here: 

https://www.roomofonesown.com/event/mitchell-nathan-author-foundations-embodied-learning-conversation-dr-martha-wagner-alibali

This is episode #5 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 11th of November 2021. In today’s show, I am talking to Dr. Mark M. Smith, Carolina Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina. Mark is the author of numerous books on history and the history of the senses - and in this show we are focusing on two of his most recent books: ‘Emotion, Sense, Experience’ (co-authored with Rob Boddice) and ‘A Sensory History Manifesto’. Starting with basic definitions of human experience, lived experience, and the history of the senses, we address the central role the senses play in understanding experience, especially experience in the past. In both books, Prof. Smith advocates for a broader dialogue on the treatment of the senses, the need for a more situated context in methodological investigations that would lead to “a more accurate, robust, and ultimately, more meaningful history of human experience” (Boddice & Smith, 2020). Mark also believes that the future of sensory history would greatly benefit from a wider interdisciplinary engagement of the community at large. 

In the second part of the show, we tackle issues related to the role of technology (especially artificial intelligence) in shaping our awareness and use of the senses as well as the practices of sensory history. Specifically, advances in immersive technologies (including the Metaverse) would eventually make possible Alain Corbin’s famous meditation on the tight connection between the senses and emotions: “There is no other way” he said, “to know men of the past than by trying to borrow their glasses and to live their emotions.” And, of course, we had to close the discussion with a short incursion in the sensory shift brought by the pandemic. Ethical implications of consuming, using, and monetizing historical experience were also addressed. Here is the show.

Show Notes:

• Definitions: Sensory history, lived experience, sensory knowledge
• Importance of analyzing senses: unpacking the meaning of a moment in the past
• How do people sense and what kind of meaning do they give to it
• How to look at historical evidence with a sensory nose:
  • context/discourse/words matter: importance of contextualization in using and interpreting historical past through the senses
• Need for healthy disputes in field formation
• Pressure in Higher Education: to make research look relevant to contemporary society
• Careful attention: the pitfalls of (disingenuous) consumption of the past
• Which approach is better to consider: senses in isolation or senses as an inter-related whole?
• Importance of interdisciplinary research of the senses: call for a genuine, authentic, and equitable dialogue across many disciplines
• Role of Immersive Technologies (i.e., Artificial Intelligence) in shaping our awareness and use of the senses
  • Why this quest for immersion and what it entails
  • Degree of authenticity
  • Difference between re-constructing the past and the immersive experience in the Metaverse
• Disgustology - in predicting voting patterns
• Impact of the pandemic on the senses

Books mentioned:

Boddice, Rob and Mark M. Smith. Emotion, Sense, Experience. Cambridge University Press. 2020.

Smith, Mark M.. A Sensory History Manifesto: 4 (Perspectives on Sensory History). Penn State University Press. 2021.

Contact info: For more information on Prof. Smith’s books and research visit:

https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/history/our_people/directory/smith_m_mark.php
https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09017-7.html

This is episode #4 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 28th of October 2021. In today’s show I am talking to Professor Rabindra (Robby) Ratan about the Metaverse and the Web 3.0. In addition to basic definitions and the etymology of the concepts, we explore various important aspects such as how is this virtual space governed, how are its contents moderated, and what kind of experience does and can the Metaverse give its users.

As more and more companies are making their presence known in this so-called ‘embodied space’ (just to cite Mark Zuckerburg), we discuss the future of the Metaverse related to storytelling as part of the user’s multi-modal and multi-sensory experience, as well as to some of the ethical issues that most likely will arise in this still virgin space. 

Dr. Ratan is Director of the SPARTIE Lab at Michigan State University, which performs research on the effects of human-technology interaction, examining how the use of media technologies (e.g., avatars, agents, automobiles) influences meaningful outcomes (e.g., education, health/safety, persuasion). SPARTIE  stands for Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects. At the end of the interview, Robby summarizes his work on reducing toxicity in virtual spaces by employing various design principles and finding ways to make people be more responsible and avoid promoting certain stereotypes online. Here is the show.

Interesting fact: It also happens that, as of today, when this episode went live, Facebook becomes Meta, its new corporate name.

Note:
This episode is being cross-posted with SPARTIE-cast, the SPARTIE lab's own podcast.
You can check out their episodes here:
https://www.spartielab.comartsci.msu.edu/news

Here are the lab's socials:
https://twitter.com/spartiecast
https://www.facebook.com/spartiecast
https://www.tiktok.com/@spartiecast_msu?
https://www.instagram.com/spartiecast/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/spartie-cast-with-dr-robby-ratan/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyjTMOMPCm2w0i-yOat1G0A

Hello creatives! This is episode #3 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 14th of October 2021. In today’s show I am talking to Professor Tim Cole about radical inter-disciplinarity: bringing in academics and researchers from across the Arts and Humanities - STEM divide as well as people with different expertise from beyond the university. Tim shares with us his stories of success with high-risk, experimental collaborative projects and with ‘creating a radically different culture within the academy’ as he likes to say. 

Professor Cole is a historian whose interests range widely over historical geographies, social and environmental histories, and the digital humanities. He has also been involved in undertaking and facilitating interdisciplinary and co-produced research projects across the arts and sciences, and with creatives and communities. He is the founding director of the values-led Brigstow Institute at the University of Bristol where he is also Professor of Social History. His latest role involves serving as academic advisor to the Dan David Prize to celebrate and support innovative research on all aspects of the past. His role has been to connect and support people to work well in teams especially across the divide between academia and the world outside it. In today’s show, he talks about the important interest in content / storytelling, technology, and audiences coming together within the fascinating space of creative industries for better user experience. 

Note:

You can find out more about Professor Cole and the Brigstow Institute here:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/brigstow/
https://bristolbathcreative.org/ (which is the follow up to REACT)

Hello creatives! This is episode #2 of the podcast and it’s Thursday, the 23rd of September 2021.
I am Roxana Girju, your podcast host. In today’s show I am talking to Jax Deluca about bridging the digital divide between Arts and Technology. Jax is the Media Arts Director of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). She brings in twelve years of experience at the intersection of arts and community-building as an artist, non-profit administrator, and educator. In her position, she is in charge with the NEA’s grant portfolio and field-building resources for the arts organizations across the country working in film, video, audio, immersive technology, and other emerging media forms.
Jax is also one of the contributors to “Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium”, a report produced by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Office of Research & Analysis in collaboration with the Media Arts Division. This is the focus of today’s episode.

Note:
The National Endowment for the Arts supports activities at the intersection of arts and technology through its flagship Grants for Arts Projects program in the Media Arts discipline. More information on the NEA's grant opportunities is available at arts.gov/grants

The report on “Tech as Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium” can be found here: https://www.arts.gov/about/publications/tech-art-supporting-artists-who-use-technology-creative-medium

Check out as well: 
@NEAarts on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)
National Endowment for the Arts' Support of Media Arts:
https://www.arts.gov/impact/media-arts