Untitled

Video Cameras with a Sense of Story

My current research explores how computational intelligence can be used in the video documentation process. The goal is to imbue a camera with story understanding in order to forge a partnership between the camera and videographer.

Video is a rich medium for storytelling. Each decade a technological advance in filmmaking emerges. Portable cameras, synch sound, digital video each had a tremendous impact on filmmaking processes, practice and story. Techniques in artificial intelligence for story understanding can be used in camera to augment the filmmaking activity. Cameras and camcorders with a sense of story will impact the way we see the world through the camera and reflect on ourselves during the construction of video stories.

Story Acquisition and Representation

Stories are fundamental to how we communicate, how we learn and how we make sense of the world we live in. If you and I each collected and remembered one story for every hour of life we would each accumulate 8,760 stories a year. I'm working with Push Singh of the Society of Mind group at the Media Lab on Openmind Experiences, a website for acquisition of stories and story knowledge from the general public. The knowledge base will be a resource for work in computer understanding of story. The site will be released in Spring of 2003. In the meantime, visit Openmind Commonsense, a site developed by Push Singh for the public acquisition of common sense knowledge.

Wearable Computing

For my M.S. I developed a wearable computer for adolescent girls that enabled them to wirelessly trade, share and view text and image-based stories. The system, called StoryBeads, took the form of a necklace in which each bead was a tiny computer in a wearable ad-hoc network. My interest in wearable computers for adolescents continues. I'm developing wearable applications to encourages kids to reflect on the material they collect during a learning activity. I think the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer from Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age is possible!

In Summer 2002 I worked for Motorola designing a video wearable for adolescents. The focus of the project is use of video as a communication medium that gives young people the chance to engage in reflective social discourse, ways to learn together.

Interactive Video Installation

This research is a collaborative effort of the Interactive Cinema Group. Over the past 4 years I have worked with the group on three large scale installation projects that use a distributed story model for interactive story experiences. The projects incorporate sensor technology, WWW, and portable technologies to distribute media stories over time, space and different devices for user experience of interactive stories.

Technology and Education

I have a sustained interest in the use technology in education. The most recent project I participated in was a video/acting workshop with Seymour Papert's 'Future of Learning' research group. The workshop I co-designed encouraged imprisoned youth to tell stories about their experiences, thoughts and concerns. The learners constructed multiple viewpoint stories in digital video based on their own everyday life experiences then shared them with their community.

For more research information please see my publications, visit the Interactive Cinema site or contact me.