Category: Heard on NPR
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“Expressed Emotions” in Everyday Interactions: Acceptance vs. Intervention with Family and Friends
I’ve listened to the most recent episode of NPR’s Invisibilia, The Problem with the Solution, three times in three days, crying a little less – and understanding a little more – each time I listen. I believe the emotional impact stems from my experience as a son, a husband, a father and a friend ……
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The Games We Make Up About Ourselves: Interactive Narratives of Personal Transformation
I'm not a gamer, but a segment in last week's On The Media, Personal Video Games, inspired me on several levels, offering insights into the ways that game designers are utilizing their craft to enable others to more effectively relate to their personal trials and tribulations. I've long been fascinated with the stories we make…
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The Gaps, Crap and Gumption Traps in Creative Work
The poster above reflects hard-won wisdom acquired and shared by Ira Glass, host of PRI's This American Life, emphasizing the importance of perseverance in developing mastery of creative production. While Glass focuses on storytelling for radio and television, his insights and experiences about the gaps between ambitions and realizations – and the connections between quantity…
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I Am Because We Are: African Wisdom in Image and Proverb
We are all interconnected and we have responsibility for each other. This is the interpretation of the Swahili word, ubuntu, offered near the start of a short, inspiring interview with photographer Betty Press by NPR Weekend Edition Sunday host, Audie Cornish two weeks ago. The interview focused on the incredible photographs celebrating the lives of…
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A Compelling, Compassionate, Critique of Conservative Extremism by David Frum
the [Republican] party is getting the big questions disastrously wrong [David Frum on the GOP’s Lost Sense of Reality (New York Magazine, 20 November 2011)] David Frum, former economics speechwriter for former U.S. President George W. Bush, offers a sharp critique of the Republican Party in an interview with NPR's Steve Innskeep yesterday, David Frum…
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Usability and confusability in Health IT: doctor-computer interaction vs. doctor-human interaction
A segment on the Marketplace Tech Report, Health care providers having trouble with new technology, caught my ear yesterday. The story included health and safety concerns raised by one of the authors of a 197-page report, Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care, published by the Institute of Medicine this week:…
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Airborne telepresence robots: 1995 & 2011
In introducing a short Marketplace Tech Report story about a floating blimp telepresence avatar this morning, host John Moe somewhat sarcastically said "Oh, no: not another floating blimp telepresence avatar story!", highlighting the rather unusual nature of a story about a "blimp-based boss". The story, reported by producer Larissa Anderson starting at the 3:08 mark,…
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A warm welcome at Willamette University Opening Days
We brought our daughter down to Willamette University this week and enjoyed a warm welcome during their Opening Days orientation program. I had written about our short tour of small colleges in the Pacific Northwest last March, which included Willamette and several other schools she was considering. Meg eventually applied to and was admitted to…
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Minority Report and Recent Advances in Pervasive Personalized Advertising
Several recent articles I've read about new developments in tracking and advertising in different countries – most of which reference the science fiction movie, Minority Report – reminded me of a quote often attributed to science fiction author, William Gibson: The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed The articles describe the…
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Paro, Personal Robots, Emotional Intelligence and the Need to be Needed
Paro is a personal robot that looks like a baby harp seal and responds to changes in light, sound, temperature and touch. Research and development in artificial intelligence has traditionally focused on linguistic, logical or mathematical intelligence, although robotics has also involved the quest for imbuing machines with spatial and kinesthetic intelligence. Paro, however, seems…