Keep it simple. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Here's a 'recipe' for creating a video about pop culture.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
More More More on Ramos and Trump
It's about ethics in Donald Trump journalism
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Jorge Ramos on Advocacy Journalism
How do you respond to critics who say you’re more advocate than a journalist?
“As a journalist you have to take a stand. I think the best journalism happens when you take a stand and when it comes to racism, discrimination, corruption, public life, dictatorship or human rights, as journalists, we are not only required but we are forced to take a stand and clearly when Mr. Trump is talking about immigration in an extreme way, we have to confront him and I think that’s what I did yesterday.”
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Outthinking Computers, or When Commonsense Trumps Grammar
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| The "standard interpretation" of the Turing Test, in which player C, the interrogator, is tasked with trying to determine which player - A or B - is a computer and which is a human. The interrogator is limited to only using the responses to written questions in order to make the determination. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Ever since 1950, one of the most popular measuring sticks of artificial intelligence has been the Turing test — named after mathematician Alan Turing. The idea is that a program with some kind of artificial intelligence should be able to use text-based chatting to convince more than 30 percent of people that it's a human being. In June 2014, researchers claimed that a chatbot named Eugene Goostman did just that.
Nowadays, however, many experts are questioning whether the Turing test is really the best test. A computer tricking people into thinking that it's a 13-year-old is definitely an achievement — but it's not necessarily the ideal display of true, humanlike thought.
So what would be a better test for artificial intelligence? One front-runner is an exam that relies on common sense. Specifically the test is of something called Winograd schemas. Because Winograd schemas rely on cultural knowledge, they're super easy for people and difficult for computers.
How to test computers for common sense
The test would take the form of a multiple-choice quiz of reading comprehension. But the text itself would have some very specific features. It would consist of Winograd schemas: pairs of sentences whose intended meaning can be flipped by changing just one word. They generally involve unclear pronouns or possessives. A famous example comes from Stanford computer scientist Terry Winograd:
- "The city councilmen refused the demonstrators a permit because they feared violence. Who feared violence?"1) The city councilmen2) The demonstrators
And:
- "The city councilmen refused the demonstrators a permit because they advocated violence. Who advocated violence?"1) The city councilmen2) The demonstrators
Most human beings can easily answer these questions. We use our common sense to figure out what "they" is supposed to be referring to in each case. And that common sense basically involves a combination of extensive cultural background knowledge with analytical skills. (In the first question, we can deduce that the city councilmen feared violence. In the second, the demonstrators advocated violence.)
For computers, however, these questions can be quite difficult. From a grammatical standpoint, the "they" in the sentences is technically unclear. In both questions, "they" could be either the councilmen or the demonstrators.
A computer could have access to all of Google and still not really be able to grasp that city councilmen are probably less likely to advocate violence than demonstrators. It's simply less culturally appropriate for councilmen to do so. But you're not going to find that in the dictionary under "city councilmen."
Here's some more Winograd schemas, from a growing, open collection of more than 100:
- The trophy doesn't fit into the brown suitcase because it's too [small/large]. What is too [small/large]?Answers: The suitcase/the trophy.
- Jane gave Joan candy because she [was/wasn't] hungry. Who [was/wasn't] hungry?Answers: Joan/Jane.
- The woman held the girl against her [chest/will]. Whose [chest/will]?Answers: The woman's/the girl's
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Final checklist for J2 F14
1.
In case I have
missed any of your tweets during the semester, print out a tweet list using our course-related hashtag. Here’s a snapbird link I
created as an example.
2.
Link on your
blogs to all individual multimedia work.
3.
You are also
responsible for a group multimedia project, originally due on exam day, which was also the
due date for your final beat reports. It turns out our scheduled exam time is
Friday, December 5. I am moving the due date for the group multimedia project
and the final beat report to Friday, December 12. Also, here's a new option for the group multimedia project. Consider organizing it around an "end of semester" theme.
4.
Some of you have
asked me about extra credit. You may choose to do a final “enterprise” story
from your beat. It is due no later than Friday, December 19.
Your groups:
* Shelby, Ingrid and Hayden
* Siana, Ashley and Mia
* Stephanie, Andrew and Victor
Your groups:
* Shelby, Ingrid and Hayden
* Siana, Ashley and Mia
* Stephanie, Andrew and Victor
Saturday, November 22, 2014
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