Today I kicked off my MS Project journey with a talk with Dr. Daniel Berleant, the UA Little Rock MS-Information Science Graduate Coordinator. We discussed several project ideas from the University and several of my own design.

Meeting Highlights

Cloud Depth Perception – Human stereoscopic vision is based on the lateral space between our eyes. Unfortunately, the space is too narrow to yield depth perception for incredibly huge or very far away objects, like clouds. One strategy, based on an xkcd comic, to enhance the ability of human stereoscopic vision is to use cameras places hundreds of feet apart and stream the video to virtual reality glasses. This large distance could enable perception of the enormity of clouds.

Circadian Curtain – Human circadian rhythm is based on a light-dark cycle, among other factors. Humans also tend to close curtains at night to prevent snooping neighbors from easily seeing them watch Netflix when it’s dark outside and light inside. Enter the Circadian Curtain. This tiny device will attach to a bedroom curtain and pull it back in the morning, letting in streams of natural light and awaken the sleepy occupant, naturally.

Personified Chat Bot – Markov chains can assign transition states for a given corpus, and they have long been used to generate semi-coherent text with a semblance of a specific speaker’s style. Natural language generators can create language artificially. What if we could combine these technologies to create a personified chat bot? Say, a Donald Trump chat bot? Or everyone’s favorite, Grumpy Cat? The desire for this kind of program has been featured in Wired® Magazine, and Ray Kurzweil is even working on it. There are even some similar projects out there.

Next Steps

My next step is to find an advisor for the project. I’m moving forward with the Personified Chat Bot, and I plan to talk with Dr. Charles Romney of the History Department about it. He has experience with NLP, and may be willing to advise me.