Free2Thee.com

Archive for the ‘Free Audiobooks/Video’ Category

Team 7: Indoor Positioning System Members: Anuar Akizhanov, Sunny Ngan, Elena Pliakas, and Nicholas Stiegman Customer: Dan Ryan, Bytelight

View original post here:
ECE Day ’12 – Team 7

Team 9: Smart Light Switch Members: Derek Heyman, Yeshaswini Mohan, Eulalia Moreno, Javier Onglao, and Gerardo Talavera Customer: Albert Crooker (ECE ’08)

Excerpt from:
ECE Day ’12 – Team 9

Team 11: UAV Collision Avoidance Members: William Anthony, Ken Cue, Jim Lee, Besmir Sulejmani, and Alexander Tooke Customer: Dr. Kenn Sebesta, Boston University

Continued here:
ECE Day ’12 – Team 11

It's not as simple to decode as they'll have you believe. When the written word was invented, there was a huge chasm that separated writer from reader. No one would have expected that the time span between writing and reading could have shrunk to the point it is at now, thanks to the lightening-speed of the internet, and the communication culture that evolved with it. With computer-mediated communication, reading and writing have become a tango. Text is ephemeral, disposable, spontaneous – much like real-time natural language. In fact, texting occurs at near-conversation rates. How does this alter our experience of the written word? When text communication approaches this rate of exchange, something new kicks in: emotions and fleeting thoughts get mingled with the generation of words. Enter body language . Yes, email has body language. But hold on: we’re talking a special kind of body language — nothing like the kind we generate with our fleshy selves. We’re talking a kind of body language that manifests in the peculiar and awkward medium of electronic texts, with certain relatively-new forms of punctuation (smileys, emoticons, etc.), and new kinds of formatting and abbreviations (LOL, etc). Email body language is a real phenomenon. And it needs to be fully understood. Can Email Body Language Be Trusted? Steve Tobak wrote a CBSNews article called “ How to Read Virtual Body Language in Email ”. Tobak makes several astute observations. However, he makes some assumptions that appear to ignore the media effects of email. Like so many oversimplified lessons on “how to read” body language, this article paints a two-dimensional picture of email communication, with bullet-point rules like, “verbose means pleased or happy”, and “consistently precise grammar can mean controlling behavior”. Interpreting email body language is not that simple. In fact, email is often used by people as a way to avoid emotion or intimacy. Even though email is generally more spontaneous than writing a novel or a dissertation, email is still a form of asynchronous communication: the exchange doesn’t happen in real time. An email message could take an arbitrary amount of time to compose, and it could be sent at an arbitrary time after writing it. Thus, email is not a reliable medium for reading one’s true emotions. A good writer can “fake” a spontaneous emotion. A careless writer might not be able to hold back a momentary act of rage -– or gushing praise. How do we navigate this confusing realm of out-of-body body language? Email is Not Transparent People sometimes make the mistake of assuming that a given communication medium provides a transparent channel for human expression. The only medium that is completely transparent is air (the medium by which we exchange natural language –- a multimodality of sight, sound, touch…and smell). Every other medium imposes constraints –- artifacts: media effects . In generating and interpreting email body language, we must take into account the McLuhan effect . The message is NOT determined only by the communicators. The medium is a big part of the message. Jekyll and Hyde Flame Throwers Tobak says this about flame mail: “…when you receive what we affectionately call flame mail –- where someone lets loose on you in a big, ugly way –- that’s aggressive behavior. In other words, they’re acting out like a child throwing a temper tantrum and it’s not about you, it’s about them. I know it’s tempting to think it’s just a misunderstanding, but ask yourself, why did they assume the worst?” But it’s not just “about them”. It’s also about the medium –- an awkward, body-language-challenged medium; a medium which we often hide behind; a medium in which people often express negative feelings because “it’s just words”. People can feel “safe” behind the email wall (they won’t get punched in the face – at least not immediately). There’s something about the medium that can cause people to flame – EVEN if they are not normally flame-throwers. In the book You Are Not a Gadget , Jaron Lanier gives a well-articulated explanation for how and why this phenomenon occurs. Facebook, email, blog comments, and other such venues have a way of turning people into two-dimensional cartoon characters –- anonymous agents. We fall prey to this dimensionality-reducing effect, and lose our sense of respect, intimacy, and co-presence. Being in the physical presence of others has a normalizing and socializing effect. And the absence of this natural channel of body language is harder for some people to process than others. The Dreaded Send Button Many of us have been guilty of sending email messages in the heat of an emotional moment. When writing an email in this state of mind, we feel as if we are in the middle of an interaction. Emotions have a way of stopping time. But after a good night’s sleep, the writer comes back to discover in horror that the email is now a frozen record of a momentary eruption, sitting on the reader’s computer screen, where it can be read a hundred times over. While the writer slept off the negative emotions, the reader spent the whole night fuming. What a waste of emotional energy that could have run its natural course in the span of a few minutes! No solution or magic bullet is being offered here. All that is being offered is a warning: email body language does not correspond to our real bodies. It must be generated, and interpreted with an understanding of the media it occupies: a relatively young mechanical substrate of computers, software interfaces, and the internet. Our own bodies, in contrast, are expression machines that have benefited from billions of years of evolution.

Read more:
The Disembodied Body Language of Email

With the selection of Howard Stern as a new panel member on America’s Got Talent, it made me realize that behind all his controversy, he’s doing something right. As a radio personality, talk show host, and prominent media figure, Howard Stern knows a few things about the world of communication. It makes sense considering he graduated magna cum laude with a communications degree from Boston University. Look past the many double d’s and hysterical parents circling Mr. Stern and you will find communication lessons we should all take into consideration. Here are the five things Howard Stern can teach you about communicating. 1. Shock & Awe If there’s one thing Howard Stern knows best it’s shock and awe. While you may not appreciate his choice of shocking methods, you must admit he knows how to grab your attention and hold it. If you subscribe to a more innocent form of shock and awe, you may be using milder techniques like dramatic stories or interesting facts placed neatly at the beginning of your speeches. There’s no doubt shock is an effective communication method for capturing attention, and Howard Stern wrote the book on it. 2. Know Who You Are If there is one thing that doesn’t sound natural in communication, it’s acting like someone you’re not. In fact, we have words for it — lying and fraud — just to name a few. When you’re not genuine, it’s heard in your voice and in your body language. Howard Stern doesn’t apologize for who he is. He accepts himself and owns it. 3. Stand Out When you think of Howard Stern, it doesn’t take long to create a mental image, does it? Sure much of his success did come from behind a microphone, but there’s no doubt his other media successes would not have been as great without his unique large curly hair and glasses look. You can see him coming from a mile away. Whether you’re on a date or giving a speech, standing out should be your priority as well. Maybe you choose to show up in a bolo tie to a room full of suits? Whatever your method of standing out, make sure your audience can pick you out of a crowd. 4. Give Them Something to Talk About Howard Stern knows the show doesn’t end after his time slot does. A majority of his audience usually finds something so unusual and unique in his program that they discuss it with their friends throughout the rest of the day. Stern realizes he is not just communicating with his listeners, he’s also communicating with everyone they interact with. If you want people to talk about you, you’ll need to give them something to talk about. 5. Make Them Remember You Everyday Stern gives his listeners a show they’ll never forget. Through unique guests and unusual conversations listeners are given a piece of a world that doesn’t exist except through his station. You should strive to do the same thing in your communication. This could be through the use of a wild stage prop or the simple act of buying a rose for your date from the relentless flower girl circling the restaurant. If you can give them something to remember you by, you’ll be a little piece of their history they hold onto for the rest of their life. Howard Stern may be known as a wild and undesirable figure, but don’t discount his skill because of a little controversy. The man does know how to communicate. I mean we’re talking about him after all, aren’t we?

Link:
5 Things Howard Stern Can Teach You About Communicating

Diversity begets creativity—in this seminar we tap the amazing power of swarm creativity on the Web by studying and working together as Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs). As interdisciplinary teams of MIT management, SCAD design, University of Cologne informatics, and Aalto University software engineering students we will explore how to discover latest trends on the Web, and how to make them succeed in online social networks. We study a wide range of methods for predictive analytics (coolhunting) and online social marketing (coolfarming), mostly based on social network analysis and the emerging science of collaboration. Students will also learn to use our own unique MIT-developed Condor tool for Web mining, social network analysis, and trend prediction.

See more here:
15.599 Workshop in IT: Collaborative Innovation Networks (MIT)