Assignments

Course Info

Instructor

Prof. Rosalind W. Picard

Departments

Media Arts and Sciences

As Taught In

Fall 2015

Level

Graduate

Topics

Learning Resource Types

Problem Sets

Lecture Notes

Written Assignments

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To prepare for each assignment, refer to the corresponding assigned readings from each session.

ASSIGNMENTS	DUE
Assignment 1	Two days prior to Session 2
Assignment 2	Two days prior to Session 3
Assignment 3	Two days prior to Session 4
Assignment 4	Two days prior to Session 5
Assignment 5	Two days prior to Session 6
Assignment 6, Part 1	Two days prior to Session 7
Assignment 6, Part 2	In class on Session 7
Assignment 7	Two days prior to Session 8
Assignment 8, Part 1	One day after Session 8
Assignment 8, Part 2	Two days prior to Session 9
Final Report	In class on Session 12

Construct a specific example of a human-human interaction that clearly involves affect. Construct its “equivalent” interaction between a person and an affective technology by using the media equation. Write the interaction scenario in two ways: Once using the word “person” and the second time replacing it with the word “computer” so that the parallels are clear. Do this for two different scenarios: One case where the equivalence seems likely to hold, and one case where it seems likely to not hold. Bonus points will be given if the failure case is humorous.
Give an example where you have seen a smartphone, smartphone app, or other consumer device demonstrate use of emotional intelligence. If you can’t think of one, then pick some kind of technology that you use in everyday life, and describe where you’d like to see it use emotional intelligence. Specify what the interaction looks like now, and how it would look differently if it were emotionally intelligent. Show each turn in the dialogue or interaction as if it were in a script of a play or movie. Be clear what makes it emotionally intelligent.
Pick a least favorite and a most favorite application from Chapter 3 and critique both of them (pros and cons) based on your own personal and unique research perspective. I wrote these over fifteen years ago, and while some things have not changed much, others have changed dramatically. I would like to know what you think is most interesting today. For the two you pick, what would make it most likely to succeed? What would make it most likely to fail? Explain your thinking.
What two topics do you most want to see us cover during this (very short) term?

For MIT students: Unless you already have CITI-certification (currently valid) through another institution, please make sure you have it at MIT. You can get it through MIT COUHES Training. Please confirm “YES” that you have completed this training before you embark on a class project that involves people.
What is a question you have based on reading the chapters / article assigned on Session 2?
Bonus: There is at least one statement of error, which occurs in one of the above chapters. The correct version was mentioned in class. What is the error and what is its correction?
Prepare 2–3 slides of project ideas you have. On each slide put your name and one of the ideas, and number the ideas “1 out of 2, “2 out of 2”. For example if you have three ideas, the first slide should say “YOURNAME, Idea 1 of 3” and then give the following two points, being clear for each idea: (1) What would you like to build / test / study / learn? (2) What skills would you need to carry this out that you don’t have? We will use this to seed discussions of projects and to help make project teams. Email the .pdf of your 2–3 slides with the filename YOURLASTNAME-ProjectIdeas.pdf.

Generate a list of ten ways a smartphone can detect that its user is in a bad mood. You can give personal examples or examples from people you know (please do not disclose personal identifying information unless you have secured prior permission to do so). For 5 of the 10 items, you are not allowed to use the phone’s camera or microphone. Remember that a mood usually lasts more than minutes, so you have some time to look for patterns in the user’s life. Item 10 could be “Rate your mood from 1=worst ever … 7=best ever!” but please don’t make more than 1 item be such a direct question.
Make sure you have time to do this part and the next question without being interrupted in-between. Before you answer the brainstorm question below, go experience true positive affect. Ask some friend(s) to help you (all in the name of science, yes!) Tell them why this is a good idea based on the Isen reading. For full credit on this homework have a friend email me stating they witnessed you experiencing positive affect, and a line saying why this may matter for your creativity. (So I know you taught them something about what you learned). Make sure they put “MAS630” and YOURLASTNAME in the subject line).
Repeat part 1 but make it a list of ten ways a smartphone can detect that you (or its user) is in a good mood. The same constraints apply: For 5 of the 10 items, you cannot use the phone’s camera or microphone. Be creative and feel free to invent something even if you aren’t sure it will work! Remember that a mood usually lasts more than minutes, so you have some time to look for patterns in your life (or that of another user).

Watch for this opportunity as soon as possible: Find two different examples in real life where a person you’re with is getting frustrated. In one case, try to help solve the problem causing their frustration (give advice, or help fix it) but without showing any empathy. In the other case, you may or may not try to help solve it, but first express empathy and understanding, especially before any effort to advise or fix, e.g. “Oh, that’s so frustrating when that happens…” Wait and hear what they say in response to you, before doing anything else. Report both conversations—your dialogue and theirs (no identifying information otherwise needed) and reflect on whether or not the frustration seemed to subside more quickly in one case or the other. Why do you think it subsided more quickly in the case in which it did?
In what ways is the intelligence of the new Mattel Barbie similar to that of the old Microsoft Clippy (and likely to run into similar problems)? Support your answer with a specific example from the article.
How might your smartphone show that it “cares” more about its user? Obviously, you know it is not going to “care” like a person does, but list two specific ways it could be modified to make you feel a bit more cared for. If it helps, you can pick a specific app or style of interaction and describe how to modify it.
List two concrete things you did this week to help your project move forward. Note: Soon you’ll be asked to provide a presentation on background materials, so you may want to start collecting and reading those.

Download and Play

On a smartphone or tablet (yours or a friend’s) download the AffdexMe app (available free for iOS or Android). Play with it and answer the questions below.

For the AffdexMe app, try to use it near a window on a bright day. Which way does it work best: When you are facing the window, or when your back is to the window? Why?
Facial exercises! For the AffdexMe app, go into the settings and change the metrics that are used, trying each one. Could you get them all to work on you - to have a high score when you made the particular facial movements? Comment on any that were particularly hard for you to achieve.
How do you think people’s facial expression of emotion changes when they know they are being observed / evaluated? Try to give two different specific changes you would expect to see.
Which factors might introduce the most variance into facial emotion measurements (e.g. interpersonal differences, culture, gender, situation)? Give two specific examples where you would expect high variance.
Consider the ethical implications of emotion measurement of faces on large-scales? Give a specific scenario: How might it help improve our lives? Give a specific scenario: How might it make our lives worse? What are some ways that the troubling uses could be addressed / mitigated?

This assignment has two parts:

Part 1

How is your project going? List what you’ll have completed by Session 7 and what the main challenges are going forward.

Part 2

Please prepare a short presentation with the following content:

Opening slide: Title of project, your names, “Twitter description” of what the project is about, status of any COUHES (approved, submitted, exempt, etc.)

Subsequent slides (as many as needed): Describe key work you’ve done on your project so far. This could be architecting software, background reading of related work, a completed study design, etc. Bonus: Do a live demo of what you have if its something that can be demonstrated.

Describe what remains to be done and your timetable to do it.

Timing: If you’re a soloist, plan to present for 5 minutes and to have ~3 minutes of discussion (8 mins total). If you’re a group, plan to present for 9 minutes and have ~5 minutes of discussion (14 mins total). You’ll be presenting / demoing on your own laptop so we will also have a minute or two of transition time for Q&A.

How do you usually notice that you are becoming stressed?
Describe a situation in which high stress levels may be positive and another one in which high stress levels may be negative.
How do you usually manage your stress levels? How can affective technologies be used to manage your stress? Please provide two examples of the latter.
In the Automotive work, what stress interventions do you think are more likely to work and which are less likely to work? Propose one additional intervention in the context of stress management when driving that might work for you.
How would you use the Mood Meter to manage stress? Briefly describe the scenario.

This assignment has two parts:

Part 1

Fill out this Form of Ethical Issues (PDF) choosing sides you’d be willing to argue. Prof. Picard will then make assignments and let you know which group you have been assigned.

Part 2

What is a potential concern of Affective Computing technology that most worries you? Give one or two lines saying why.
What do you think is the best approach that we (the research community) could take to mitigate or possibly prevent this concern?
Prepare in a PowerPoint file, 1–2 slides with bullets or images for your main arguments for the position you’ll be arguing in Session 9. (Do not write out the arguments; the bullets are there just to prompt your memory of your main points.) Submit these with your brief answers to 1 and 2.