Here's some of what you missed in the discussion at 'The Thirsty Robot':
Technical Musings:
Eye Tracking: So what are you looking at on the screen? We discussed the subject of 'Eye Tracking' and wondered if you could do it with the cameras built into laptops nowadays. Eye tracking can be achieved in a number of ways, but the main usual method uses Infra-Red light to illuminate the eye, and then track the reflection from the cornea (the front part of the eye). Other techniques include tracking the retina (the back) of the eye. Some methods require wearing a special pair of glasses... Eye tracking started out as a technique used by UI researchers to see what people looked at in user interfaces, but over time has been used in a number of other applications, including using it to enable disabled people to control things by moving where their eyes are looking (the senses of fighter aircraft pilots are used in many ways as well...).
The picture is from the ESA (European Space Agency - an eye tracking device used on the International Space Station (ISS). Public Domain photo.
People tracking: This discussion led to 'How to track people on the InterWeb' and 'Stalking'. It was felt by many of the group that any discussion of these and similar topics might provide information on potential privacy violations, and so discussion was stopped. Some professional security organisations ask/expect their members to follow guidelines that cover various topics. For example, the ISC2, who are the organisation behind the CISSP certification scheme, has a formal Code of Ethics that members are expected to follow, or their certification can be revoked.
Face Recognition: Conversation ended up around face recognition when masks are being worn. What happens if the mask you wear is just another person's face? It was noted that face recognition is an ongoing war: as advances in recognition are made, advances in defeating that recognition soon follow, and on and on it goes.
Face obscuring - A glimpse from the ongoing war...
Speech recognition: Allegedly, there are very few companies who do speech recognition, with one company dominant.
Suddenly, talk shifted by 90 degrees!
The Greenstead Roundabout in Colchester: This roundabout is an example of what are often generically called 'magic roundabouts' where traffic goes round in both directions, and effectively, the gyratory road is made up of several ordinary roundabouts arranged in a ring. This type of roundabout is used where higb levels of traffic are experienced at a junction with relatively equal flows in each direction. one of the first roundabouts of this type, in Swindon, was actually renamed to 'The Magic Roundabout' apparently as a reference to the popular Children's TV programme of the same name. Although not actually a series of roundabouts per se, it was suggested that the M25 is also a 'magic roundabout of sorts.
How It works - The Swindon Roundabout
Road to Hell - the Chris Rea song is apparently about the M4 motorway, not the M25...
Out of Copyright: Discussion turned to when media enters the public domain. It was noted that this is a complex subject, with different countries around the world having different lengths of time of protection after the author/creator's death. One notable aspect to be aware of is that US copyright law is different to UK copyright law, and a work may be in the Public Domain in the US, but not in the UK. There are many sources of confusion available on the InterWeb on this topic, and very few definitive reliable sources. One example: it seems that Disney's Steamboat Willie may go out of copyright in 2024...
Steamboat Willie - Ars Technica
Steamboat Willie - A legal perspective
Steamboat Willie - Another viewpoint
Steamboat Willie - As you expected, it can be found on Youtube now...
At one stage, a law was proposed in the US which would have extended the copyright protection to 'Forever Less 1 Day'... CGP Grey, a thoroughly recommended YouTube video creator and blogger blogged about this... (as did many other people!)
Plagiarism: From copyright to rewriting of text. It was suggested that web-sites like Medium.com may get rewritten versions of articles from authors. One method of rewriting (tongue-in-cheek) suggested was to use an online translation service to a different language and then back to English. Testing this with the previous sentence:
One suggested rewrite method (tongue cheek) was to use an online translation service to another language and then back to English.
(English to Japanese to English)
Proposed type of heavy-duty method (simulation of the tongue) Use in-line translation, service, head-to-head translation, total type of wording, and re-translation in English.
(English to Chinese to Japanese to English)
This isn't quite 'recursive translation' more 'passing-through' translation...
Recommended URL:
Several regulars of The Thirsty Robot attended the Suffolk & Norfolk Innovation Network Suffolk Launch event on the 19th of February. If you didn't make it then you can see the video here.
Recommended Media:
BBC Radio 4's 'Infinite Monkey Cage' is science and technology disguised as something fun and interesting...
In complete contrast, a Start/Stop sitcom!
What is the future of analogue radio? Is DAB the only future? Long Wave thoughts...
Music in various forms:
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A lot of discussion happens at The Thirsty Robot. This blog is an edited, biased summary of just a small fraction of the conversation, links/IURLs and references that were mentioned. It is an imperfect record and is definitely not complete - for that you should visit The Thirsty Robot!
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The next online meeting at The Thirsty Robot is on Thursday 13th March 2021 at 7:30pm GMT.
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