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Law Professor David Doorey builds app to extend workplace blog's digital reach

fmaquito — Wed, 04 May 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ law Professor David Doorey of the School of Human Resource Management has taken the idea of blogging one step further. He’s developed his own for his blog, now available for Apple devices as a free download through iTunes.

Doorey says the main reason he started Doorey's Workplace Law Blog was to better connect with his students. “I wanted to make my courses in workplace law and industrial relations interesting and ‘real’ for the students. By linking course theory and readings to real cases and current news events, I can build student interest in the course in ways a textbook never can.”

Right: David Doorey

But then he thought he could do that even better through an app. “The iTunes app is the next step,” he says. “Most students today have smartphones, and this app means I can now communicate with students daily, wherever they are. They are learning in fun new ways that fit with their lifestyles.”

His central audience has always been students studying in his subject areas at 91��ɫ and at other institutions. His blog looks at all aspects of employment law and highlights some of the more interesting and current cases, such as Fraser vs. Ontario: Constitutional Right to Collective Bargaining Survives, a discussion on whether Target Canada will buy unionized Zellers, and how the City of Toronto Committee voted to fire 300 unionized garbage collectors. Doorey's Workplace Law Blog won a CLawBies – Canadian Law Blog Award – in 2008 and again in 2009, and was a CLawBies finalist in 2010.

“I'm trying to stimulate their critical thinking in the field and make them want to learn more,” says Doorey. “The blog has attracted a much wider audience than just students, including legal and human resources practitioners and other academics, and I anticipate that the app will allow me to connect to more of these busy professionals.”

The blog, and now the app, will help interested students and professionals keep up with what's going on in new case law and in the academic world “as they commute to
work or wait in line to order coffee.” Doorey sees the app as a way to provide a service to the professional community in his field by summarizing relevant news. “It connects me to a whole new audience that is interested in the subject matter of my blog, but whose lives are too hectic to read it,” he says. “With the app, they just tap an icon, and they can quickly see what's going in the field.”

Doorey points out, however, that writing blogs and creating apps is not for everyone. “They are a lot of work to keep up, and you need to be really committed to it over the long haul for it to work. My motivation is my students, who turn over every few months. The new students give me the energy to keep going, since they respond very favourably, and since the blog and app are always introducing new stories and issues to the classroom, it never gets boring for me or the students.”

He is grateful for the help he received from Oksana Silkina and Alex Neumann in 91��ɫ's e-Services office in getting his app created and submitted to Apple for its approval to be published.

For more information, visit Doorey’s Workplace Law Blog or . It is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Alan Middleton: Small businesses should emphasize in-person contact over social media

fmaquito — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Experts on entrepreneurs and marketing say there is no substitute for personal contact when launching a small business, and many successful business owners agree, wrote :

While Internet technology and social media such as Twitter and Facebook allow businesses to manage contacts and nurture important professional relationships, it’s the initial “handshake” that makes a lasting impression with retailers and consumers.

. . .

In fact, in-person interactions are the “single most powerful marketing medium,” says , marketing professor and executive director of 91��ɫ’s Schulich Executive Education Centre (SEEC). “Research in the business-to-business world suggests the No. 1 reason for selection of a supplier is the personality of the sales team or seller. This is above the technical specs, marketing form, anything else,” Middleton says.

Deliver on your promises, or risk tarnishing a business relationship built on trust. Enter your new contacts into a customer relationship management system, such as Salesforce, suggests Middleton, and follow up with e-newsletters, blogs, updates or even webinars.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Professor Jimmy Huang to host three IT conferences; topics include artifical intelligence

fmaquito — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Professor Jimmy Huang is a very busy man. In addition to the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies appointing him director of the School of Information Technology, he will be helping to host three prestigious international conferences in upcoming weeks. The conferences will focus on research into artificial intelligence, intelligent agent technology, active media technology, and information and knowledge management.

While current search-engine technology uses algorithms that rely on keywords to uncover pertinent information, the research of Huang and his colleagues uses algorithms with a capacity for natural-language processing and contextual understanding that can uncover more complex information. Rather than looking for instances of words, these elaborate algorithms can make sense of the words. The applications of the research are vast.

Right: Jimmy Huang

They can analyze, for instance, the text of blog postings and the feedback of its respondents and then make humanlike, intuitional assessments of the information. “The analysis could indicate changes in public mood on certain issues, or rising or diminishing support for a certain political leader,” says Huang.

His technology research seeks to improve the health-care system by reducing costs and improving services. Huang advocates the digitizing of all health-care records – texts, charts, X-rays and other image files – and making them securely accessible on the Internet.

How will this improve health care? “One of the reasons that health care is so expensive is due to the incentive for doctors and specialists to provide unnecessary or duplicate services, and to the inefficiencies of a system that creates multiple, proprietary medical records,” says Huang. He cites the example of a general practitioner drawing blood for a test, then referring a patient to a specialist who might perform the same procedure again due to the inaccessibility of the original GP’s files.

“If there were one comprehensive set of records for the patient, centrally and securely available on the Internet, practitioners wouldn’t have to resort to phone calls and courier services to exchange information,” says Huang. Improved access to information could reduce services and associated costs while maintaining the same level of care. “It would also allow for a more global perspective on a patient’s health as various practitioners wouldn’t be limited in the scope of information available to them and, with the assistance of algorithms, could uncover heretofore unseen conditions.”

Huang offers another example of the benefit of centralized resources by citing his own experience with a leg injury. His doctor referred him to a specialist near his home. However, the specialist couldn’t fit him into his schedule for two months. By then, the injury was repaired on its own, for better or worse. A centralized information system could analyze a patient’s surroundings in a more subtle way, not simply in terms of where the GP’s office is situated, but where the patient lives or works. An advanced algorithm could locate an available specialist in another area who might be available sooner.

The sphere of application is, likewise, immense: from opinion mining and sentiment analysis to context-aware computing and social networking or matchmaking.

The joint 2010 International Conferences on Active Media Technology and Brain Informatics will be on the Keele campus from Aug. 28 to 30, and the 2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conferences on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology will take place at 91��ɫ from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3. The 19th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM 2010) will be held at the Fairmont Royal 91��ɫ from Oct. 26 to 30.

“Bringing these venerable, annual conferences to 91��ɫ for the first time represents quite a coup for the University. Among the list of sponsors are some of the major companies involved in the information technology industry and the competition for papers among prospective participants was extremely competitive,” says Huang. “I’m very grateful for the support of the Offices of the Vice-President Academic & Provost and the Vice-President Research & Innovation, and the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.”

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Philipp Angermeyer: Kids + txting rn’t killing the language

fmaquito — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The idea that our dependence on technology is ruining the English language is not a new one, :

Members of the media, linguists and grammar gurus are on both sides, pushing and pulling over the implications associated with texting, blogging and e-mailing. Many who think language is being flushed down the toilet put the blame squarely on younger generations. Is this criticism accurate or even relevant?

“In some ways, it’s a reaction to change and a reluctance to accept change, but to some extent it’s also a fictitious topic that doesn’t have any merit,” says Philipp Angermeyer, a linguistics professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Many experts feel the same way.

. . .

So, considering how little research there is to back up the claim that technology is destroying language, why does this hell-in-a-handbasket opinion persist? Prof. Zwicky talks about the “adolescent illusion,” where adults pay selective attention to the language and writing of adolescents, and see the mistakes they make as the source of this “trend.” In fact, adults are responsible for as much as 80 to 90 per cent of text messaging, so if it’s hurting the language, why should young people be held responsible?

“To some extent, it has to do with attitudes toward people,” says Prof. Angermeyer. “The columnist wouldn’t write this if they didn’t also think there was something else wrong with the people they speak about.” These types of criticisms, he explains, are considered politically acceptable complaints meant to be aimed at certain groups of people, motivated by some other dislike.

This intergenerational tension goes both ways. A 2009 Conference Board of Canada survey of more than 900 Gen X, Gen Y and baby boomer respondents revealed that each generation marked the other two with unfair stereotypes. Boomers were considered less accepting of diversity and change and uncomfortable with technology. Gen Xers were cynical and independent. Gen Yers were lazy and difficult to manage. While each generation viewed the other two negatively, most participants were alike in many ways, with similar personality types, workplace motivations and social behaviours. While we all may come from different social groups, our language dialects and writing styles are very similar, and are not about to change any time soon.

It all boils down to what is appropriate in what context. “If I write a text message, my text might be inappropriately long and full of punctuation,” says Prof. Angermeyer.

“Ultimately, from a theoretical perspective, the only distinction you can really make is between native speakers [of a dialect] and non-native speakers. Every native speaker is a competent language speaker, and depending on what you are exposed to and what environments you use the language in, you acquire different skills.”

The complete article is available on .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ PhD student showcases "The Amazing Cinemagician" at the Ontario Science Centre

fmaquito — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Experience cutting-edge technological wizardry that blurs the line between art, design and science in opening May 28 at theIdea Gallery.

The exhibition features two interactive installations by new media artist and 91��ɫ PhD student Helen Papagiannis that use augmented reality (AR) technology, fog screen, and radio frequency identification (RFID).

AR – a layering of virtual information atop the physical environment – originated in the world of computer engineering but has recently emerged as a new trend in design, advertising and entertainment. Papagiannis is one of a handful of contemporary artists who have tapped into the creative potential of AR for interactive art. She was cited in the top 10 forces currently shaping the AR industry by leading AR news blog Games Alfresco, which named her “the new ARtist in charge” for her presentation last year at the International Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality in Florida.

"AR provides enormous opportunities for new modes of storytelling and visual experiences that can change the way we see and interact with the real world, but who is defining this new form?” asks Papagiannis, who is presently completing her doctorate in Communication and Culture at 91��ɫ, specializing in AR.“Now is a critical time for artists and designers to be involved as pioneers in driving this new technology and contributing to its creative future."

is a mixed reality work (merging real and virtual worlds) that projects film clips by Georges Méliès, the father of special effects, onto a fog screen. The audience can interact with the clips through RFID technology - the next evolution of retail bar codes, where small radio transponders emit a unique ID code. Each of the ethereal film clips is linked to a RFID chip embedded in a series of playing cards, which the viewer uses to activate the installation and display the images onto a translucent projection screen consisting of a thin curtain of dry fog.

Visitors to the exhibit can also interact with Papagiannis’ Wonder Turner, an AR experience where viewers physically rotate large cubes to reveal and create a new video composition. The cubes are equipped with black and white AR symbols which the software interprets and emits as video clips. Using the classic ‘exquisite corpse’ format with three interchangeable heads, torsos and feet, rotating the cubes allows the user to create a wild variety of creatures from a surgeon’s head, belly-dancing torso and penguin feet to a llama head, guitar-playing torso and trampoline feet, and other wondrous creations. An augmented video of the visitor with the transformed turner is simultaneously displayed on the screen.

“An important aspect of my work is the notion of play,” Papagiannis said. “Playfulness in the types of imagery you will see, and also in practice, in the physical involvement of play and exploring the work. I also love melding new digital technologies with older, analogue modes.”

Papagiannis has been exploring AR as a new creative visual force since 2005. She created The Amazing Cinemagician and Wonder Turner as part of her doctoral studies and her work as a senior research associate in the AR Lab, part of the interdisciplinary Future Cinema Lab research collective in the Faculty of Fine Arts at 91��ɫ. She has exhibited her work at Interactive Arts festivals and conferences around the world, including the 2008 International Symposium for Electronic Arts (ISEA) in Singapore and the 2009 International Symposium for Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) in Florida. She is an invited presenter at the upcoming Augmented Reality Event (ARE) 2010 in Silicon Valley, the first global event dedicated to advancing AR. Prior to her work in AR, Papagiannis was a member of the Bruce Mau Design studio, where she was project lead on “Massive Change: The Future of Global Design”, an international touring exhibition and book published by Phaidon Press.

and Wonder Turner will be on view at the Ontario Science Centre to August 31.

The Augmented Reality Lab and Future Cinema Lab at 91��ɫ

Directed by Film Professor Caitlin Fisher, , 91��ɫ’s Augmented Reality Lab is at the forefront in working with both established and emerging technologies to produce innovative research methods, interfaces and content that challenge cinematic and literary conventions and aim to enhance the ways in which people interact with their physical environment and with each other. This work grows increasingly important for Canada's culture and entertainment industries as AR and associated technologies become more prevalent.

The AR Lab is part of the : New Stories for New Screens, a collaborative research initiative at 91��ɫ. The first dedicated facility of its type in Canada, the Future Cinema Lab (FCL) fosters interdisciplinary research on the ways in which new digital storytelling techniques can critically transform a diverse array of state-of-the-art screens. The FCL is enabling researchers to design new forms of storytelling, develop prototypes for urban research, and create innovative projects within networked and hybrid media environments.

About the Idea Gallery at the Ontario Science Centre

Part of the Weston Family Innovation Centre, the Idea Gallery provides the opportunity for talented young and emerging artists and researchers to display innovative projects that blur traditional boundaries between art, science, design and technology.

By Amy Stewart, publicist, Faculty of Fine Arts.

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Researchers developing next generation of data analysis and visualization tools

fmaquito — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

$11.5 million interdisciplinary project includes computer scientists, vision scientists, designers, artists and social scientists at 91��ɫ, OCAD and U of T, with 14 industry partners

How do you look at millions of genomic patterns and see the diagnostic implications? How do you assimilate satellite data to better predict and visualize the effects of global warming, pollution, and weather patterns? How can you chart the global migration of millions of people under slavery? How do you assess the impact millions of blog entries have had on the print media economy? How do you sift global intelligence reports to identify the real threats?

Each day, humanity poses thousands of similar questions as we produce massive data sets in every field − but as the data grows, the challenge becomes translating this data for the human senses and delivering the best analysis to solve real-world problems.

The Centre for Innovation in Information Visualization and Data-Driven Design (CIV-DDD), led by 91��ɫ in partnership with the (OCAD), promises to develop the next generation of data discovery, design, and visualization techniques by developing new computational tools, representational strategies, and interfaces.

The $11.5 million five-year project brings together a unique multidisciplinary team of over 50 researchers from 91��ɫ, OCAD, the University of Toronto, 14 industry partners, and significant international collaborators.

(left), Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision and Distinguished Research Professor of Vision Science at 91��ɫ, is the project’s principal investigator. , professor of artificial intelligence and data mining in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, will co-lead 91��ɫ’s team of 14 researchers, who include , professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, and , Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture and associate professor of film in the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Sara Diamond, visualization design researcher and president of the Ontario College of Art & Design, will lead OCAD’s team of 12 researchers, who include Vladimir Spicanovic, dean of the Faculty of Art, and Greg van Alstyne, professor in the Faculty of Design and director of Research, Strategic Innovation Lab.

has provided over $3.8 million in funding through the Ontario Research Fund-Research Excellence Program; industry partners will contribute over $3.6 million, with the remaining $4.1 million coming from the project’s institutional partners.

“Humans’ capacity to interpret sensory stimuli is limited, which is why the human processing strategy is to attend to the relevant and ignore the irrelevant,” says Tsotsos. “Determining what’s relevant is a key task. Equally important is discovering how best to present such data in a form that is quickly and effectively understood. By combining our team’s expertise in computer science, design, digital media, visual perceptual science, fine arts, and the social sciences, CIV-DDD will discover and provide new visualizations for underlying patterns, processes, and relationships within data sets. These in turn will suggest new research directions and applications, laying the foundation for a new wave of knowledge creation and technological products.”

CIV-DDD formalizes many existing research collaborations, both within 91��ɫ’s faculties and departments and among researchers at 91��ɫ, OCAD, and U of T. “In the new paradigm of data-driven discovery, art and design researchers have a profound role to play in partnership with scientists, making the invisible visible, heralding a new era of knowledge, cultural creation, and technological products,” said Diamond. “This preeminent research hub for the development of next-generation data visualization techniques is unique in its level of interdisciplinary fire power, strong collaboration with end-users and international links. It aggregates and extends much successful collaboration amongst the researchers, and between OCAD and 91��ɫ.”

Many techniques and technologies developed by research groups associated with CIV-DDD will become resources for the entire team as they focus on new data-driven design and information visualization solutions in four thematic areas:

bioinformatics and medicine
fine and performing arts
engineering and physical sciences
humanities and social sciences

Collaboration between industry and academia is crucial to the project’s success. “Platform Computing is honoured to support the CIV-DDD project and provide the students and researchers at 91��ɫ and the OCAD with cutting-edge technologies to explore and create the next generation of visualization solutions and services and help them tackle scientific, social and human challenges,” said Jingwen Wang, vice-president, products, at . “Collaboration and information sharing are fundamental to academic research and Platform products enable researchers and students to easily collaborate and manage data and resources to capture, simulate and analyze their results.”

CIV-DDD’s industry partners highlight its wide applicability across sectors, including:

Mass media and communications studies, ethnography, and cultural studies −
Enterprise and knowledge management businesses −
Technology service providers − , , and
Physics −
Sustainable, intelligent systems, and green technology −
Computer and communication technologies − , , and
Entertainment and Web-related industries − , , and
Research and innovative presentation −
Business intelligence work − and
Mobile technology and applications developers − Zameen
Medicine and bioinformatics − U of T’s , the , and McMaster University’s

“CIV-DDD responds both to a dramatic paradigm shift in the health, social and economic challenges facing Canadians and the need for more research capacity and state-of-the-art infrastructure in this region,” said Stan Shapson, 91��ɫ’s vice-president Research & Innovation. “It also builds on the existing strengths of 91��ɫ’s , the Institute for Research on Learning Technologies in the Faculty of Education, and in the Faculty of Fine Arts, among others.

“By leading the Consortium on New Media, Creative, and Entertainment R&D in the Toronto Region (CONCERT), 91��ɫ and its partner universities and industries identified the preconditions necessary to develop a high-end visualization industry in Ontario. This unique collaboration will help fulfill one of CONCERT’s long-term objectives, which was to grow the region’s entertainment, screen-based and other innovation-driven creative industries into a globally competitive cluster.”

CIV-DDD will also support Ontario’s economy by producing innovative technology for commercialization, such as new:

data-mining algorithms
3D-vision and 3D-modeling technologies
data-display tools and protocols
visualization-design methods and techniques
data-inquiry paradigms
user-friendly interfaces that can be scaled to a variety of screen displays
new aesthetics and research practices

“We’re proud of the cutting-edge work that our researchers do at 91��ɫ and the wealth and jobs they create in 91��ɫ West and across Ontario,” said , MPP for 91��ɫ West. “New discoveries will continue to be made and we want those people, those ideas and those jobs right here in our community.”

CIV-DDD is one of 21 projects funded by the Ontario Research Fund–Research Excellence program, which has provided almost $69.5 million to support more than 214 researchers in seven cities across Ontario. The Ontario Research Fund is a key part of the province’s Innovation Agenda, a $3.2 million strategy designed to move world-class research from the lab to the global marketplace in key areas such as life sciences, digital media, and green energy to ensure Ontario will be among the 21^st Century’s winning economies. The Research Excellence program helps develop Ontario’s research talent while ensuring Ontario researchers have the operating funding they need to undertake world-leading projects.

For a full list of funded projects, visit MRI’s .

91��ɫ’s researchers:

John Tsotsos, Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision, distinguished research professor of vision science, Faculty of Science & Engineering, and member of the Centre for Vision Research (CVR)
Nick Cercone, professor of artificial intelligence and data mining, Faculty of Science & Engineering
Amir Asif, associate professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture and assistant professor of film, Faculty of Fine Arts
Robert Allison, associate professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
Melanie Baljko, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering
James Elder, associate professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and a member of CVR
Jimmy Huang, associate professor of information technology, Faculty of Science & Engineering
Michael Jenkin, professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering and a member of CVR
Jennifer Jenson, associate professor of pedagogy and technology, Faculty of Education
Paul E. Lovejoy, distinguished research professor in the Department of History and Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History
Don Sinclair, professor and coordinator of Fine Arts Cultural Studies, Faculty of Fine Arts
Wolfgang Stuerzlinger, associate professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering, and a member of CVR
Nell Tenhaaf, associate professor, Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, and associate dean, Graduate Studies, Research, Planning, in the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Laurie Wilcox, associate professor of psychology and biology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and associate director of CVR
Richard Wildes, associate professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering

OCAD’s researchers:

Sara Diamond, visualization design researcher and president of the Ontario College of Art & Design
Vladimir Spicanovic, dean, Faculty of Art
Greg van Alstyne, professor, Faculty of Design and director of research, Strategic Innovation Lab
Patricio Davila, assistant professor, Faculty of Design
Paula Gardner, associate professor, Faculty of Liberal Studies
Julian Goss, professor, Faculty of Design, and chair of Industrial Design
Anda Kubis, associate professor, Faculty of Art, and chair of Drawing and Painting
Martha Ladly, associate professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design Program
Francis LeBouthillier, sculpture and installation artist and chair of Sculpture and Installation
Laura Millard, associate professor, Faculty of Art
Luke Painter, assistant professor, Faculty of Art
Barbara Rauch, assistant professor, Digital Futures Initiative, Faculty of Design
Suzanne Stein, associate professor, Digital Futures Initiative, Faculty of Design

U of T’s researchers:

Ravin Balakrishnan, associate professor of Computer Science and Canada Research Chair in Human-Centred Interfaces in the Department of Computer Science
Karan Singh, associate professor of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer. Photos courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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