Number of Posts: 35
Posts 21 - 30
Creating A Computer Voice That People Like
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 14.2.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, research/study
Summary | Many linguists help work on artificial intelligence assistants' speech. Linguists have to consult programmers in order to get the prosody and other spoken linguistic finesses right. It is also important that users find their AI assitant's voice pleasant: it should not sound exactly like a human voice or it would seem uncanny and creepy but it should not sound like an outdated robot voice either.
Image Description | Portrait of an IBM empployee.
Image Tags | male(s)
Taking poetic license with AI personalities
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 7.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, emojis, gender, research/study
Summary | Artificial intelligence assistants are now being creatively enganced by educated and professional writers and poets so as to make their conversation appear more human-like (f.i. by using emojis) and their personalities more authentic. Polls have shown that users prefer female voices for AI assistants and most companies have acted accordingly. Microsoft has however pre-empted reinforcing stereotypes about female assistants by limiting the number of apologies and self-deprecating comments for their AI assistant Cortana.
Image Description | Image of a meeting of professional writers working in AI at Microsoft.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s), male(s)
'Chatbots' are coming
Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 7.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, research/study, WhatsApp
Summary | The future is artificially intelligent. All major digital companies seem to see the most potential in messenger-based, artificially intelligent chatbots. Studies have shown that people value messaging services most highly on their smartphones so any innovation needs to be accessible through a messaging service. WhatsApp is a very significant one, it has 900 mio users.
Image Description | Getty image of Mark Zuckerberg in front of the Facebook Messenger logo and a screenshot of an Uber chatbot conversation.
Image Tags | Facebook, logo, male(s)
That time when ‘that time when’ took over the Internet #InstantNostalgia
Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 15.9.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | hashtags, research/study, social media
Summary | It has become customary to frame anecdotal posts on social media with the phrase "that time when" or "that akward moment when". Sometimes it is even used to describe events that have just happened, even though it is a formulation that suggests an old memory. This linguistic strategy thereby creates an air of nostalgia around the memory and makes it iconic. Linguists suggest that the usage of the demonstrative "that" suggests that sender and receiver of the message have shared memories. This is why many celebrities use this construction to create a false sense of intimacy with their fans online.
Image Description | GIF of a woman taking a selfie and posting it to social media.
Image Tags | female(s), gifs, smartphone, social media
Gaymoji: A New Language for That Search
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 14.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis, research/study, sexting
Summary | The dating app Grindr caters to gay men and is now adding specific emojis - called Gaymojis - to their app. They have noticed that 20% of the messages sent on their platform contain emojis so they are providing emojis specific to the gay dating experience such as a peach with a phone (= bootycall) or an eggplant with a ruler (= well endowed). One linguist says that emojis may take some pressure off of the content of the conversation. Instead of thinking of something to say, emojis just signal that 'I am here and I am interested'.
Image Description | Portrait of the Grindr owners, the Grindr office in LA, and some Gaymojis.
Image Tags | emojis, male(s)
The Complicated, Distressing Relationship Teens Have With The News
Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 8.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | misunderstanding, research/study, youth
Summary | Most youths get their news from their family, through the news media their parents consume, or through social media. The majority does not visit traditional news channels on their own initiative. Studies have shown that many youths cannot tell sponsored from editorial content. They are increasingly skeptical of news reports and at the same time unable to differentiate fake news or set valid news into a meaningful context.
Image Description | Silhouette of a person using a smartphone.
Image Tags | smartphone
Get Ready, Here Comes Generation Z
Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 11.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | brain, diversity, research/study, youth
Summary | The next generation consisting of people born between 1996-2012 is being researched so that college mentors know how to interact with them. This "Generation Z" has a short attention span of ca. 8 seconds, is very competent at multi-tasking, position themselves as global citizens interconnected with various people digitally, and have entrepreneurial ambitions with a strong preference for financial security over pursuing a passion.
Image Description | N/A
Facebook Could Be Associated With a Longer Life, Study Finds
Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 31.10.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, Facebook, research/study
Summary | A recent study about longevity shows that moderate Facebook activity correlates with better health and hence a longer life. Previous research shows that an active social life in general (so offline) also correlates with longevity. Because the results however only attast to correlation and not necessarily to a causal connection, it could also be that healthier people are just more social online and offline and not that sociability has an effect on health. It has been confirmed that a rich social life makes people happier while excessive Facebook use leads to people being unhappy.
Image Description | Woman instructing old man using a computer.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s), male(s)
The Raised Fist Emoji Is Social Media’s Resistance Symbol
Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 7.2.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, politics, research/study, social media, Twitter
Summary | Some researchers have analyzed which emojis are most often used in the recent protest hashtags on Twitter. The raised fist emoji comes up in all of them, particulartly when the tweet contains a word like "together" or a similar word marking community. Other popular emojis are the heart emoji, the American flag emoji, and the crying/laughing emoji. Depending on the tone of the hashtag, different emojis are more popular than others.
Image Description | The raised fist emoji and graphs and tables about the distribution of the different emojis in the protest hashtags.
Image Tags | chart, emojis, hashtag
How To Completely Unplug From Your Smartphone For An Entire Day
Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 3.6.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, research/study, technology-free
Summary | We are all a little addicted to our technological devices and are so used to spending all spare time we have on our smartphones. It is however greatly beneficial to our body and mind to unplug completely for a day. We may not be able to fathom what we could do will all that time without technological devices but the author provides a long list of possible activities: cooking a well-balanced breakfast, reading an actual print newspaper or book, exercising, cleaning up, taking up a craft, playing with one's pets, meeting friends, or going on a day trip to explore.
Image Description | Getty images of people doing the suggested activities and one of a person photographing a sunset on their smartphone (described by tags).
Image Tags | camera, female(s), hand(s), smartphone
Page 3 of 4
Back |
Next