[00:00:03.83] BIRNEY ROBERT: Hello, everyone. I think we're going to get started as people are still walking in and-- but we have our artists here tonight. And so, thank you for coming. And we'll get started with doing a little introductions with Dean Isbell and Dr. Harmon and Dean Sharp and Mr. Henderson. If you all want to come on up? 

[00:00:34.27] So, we first have Dean Leslie Sharp. And she's the Dean of the library here. So, thank you. 

[00:00:41.83] DR. LESLIE SHARP: Thank you so much Birney. Let's go ahead and give Birney a round of applause to-- [APPLAUSE] Birney is amazing. And so, thank you so much Birney for bringing us all together. 

[00:00:59.70] As Birney said, I'm Leslie Sharp. I'm Dean of Libraries here at Georgia Tech so welcome to the Georgia Tech Library. Welcome to the Scholars Event Theater-- it's an amazing space-- as well as our gallery. And I also want to thank all of our artists. Without their work, we would not be here today. So, thank you very much. It's a beautiful exhibit. 

[00:01:22.74] I also want to thank our partners. I want to thank Microsoft, the College of Computing, C21U, as well as-- again, Birney. But I also want to thank the people, my team here at the library, who also helped make this possible. 

[00:01:42.39] And we have our building team, we have Kimberly Goler-Stubbs in the back, our event coordinator. We also have Catherine Manci, our public programming librarian, Joslin Lee, Jason Wright, Saxon Siegler, and Quincy Thomas, who are up there. You can't see. And yep, they just gave me the nod. As well as Katie Gentilello, who is helping up there. It's an amazing team effort for us being here today. 

[00:02:12.48] But lastly, I want to give a huge, huge shout out to Kirk Henderson. He's our exhibit manager here in the library. And it's his passion, creativity, and dedication that really made this physically happen. 

[00:02:30.39] And Kirk embodies the Georgia Tech values of celebrating, collaboration, and a commitment to excellence. So, excellent. So, at this time. I'm going to turn it over to Kirk and let him continue the welcome. [APPLAUSE] 

[00:02:47.71] KIRK HENDERSON: Thank you. Thank you. As Leslie said, my name is Kirk Henderson. I'm the Exhibits Program Manager here at the Georgia Tech Library. And Dean Sharp and I are pleased to welcome you here to this event in association with the exhibit Extension of Self, What it Means to be Human in a Digital World. 

[00:03:05.89] Part of the library's mission and that of our exhibit's program is to feature collections unique to the Georgia Tech Library. But a second part of our mission as we see it is to partner with campus colleagues to amplify Georgia Tech's culture of creativity and research and by showcasing stories of our community engaged in making connections between inspiration, innovation, and understanding. 

[00:03:33.49] Our current exhibit, Extension of Self, is an example of this effort. And we welcome the opportunity to host it. With that, I will hand off to Stephen Harmon, Associate Dean of Research at Georgia Tech Professional Education and Interim executive director of the Center for 21st Century Universities. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] 

[00:03:57.75] DR. STEPHEN HARMON: Thank you. The Center for 21st Century Universities is kind of a think tank focus on education innovation and higher education. And through the great work of Caroline Wood there, we received a gift from Microsoft to look at accessibility in the higher education space. 

[00:04:13.86] We held a grant competition throughout the university, had numerous entries, and Birney Robert here won one of the awards. So, we're grateful for that to bring us this exhibition of Art, Technology, and Humans or something like that. You'll hear more about that later. I want to read the other awardees that we have, just so you know who they are. 

[00:04:33.00] We have, another award, he was designing a computer science plus music learning experiment for visually impaired students led by Stephen Garrett, Jason Freeman, and Brian Magerko. Another one was technology mediated mentoring platforms to support research experiences for students with disabilities led by Maureen Linden and Nathan Moon. 

[00:04:53.67] And then the final one, changed the name fortunately, because it used to be-- I can't do it. It used to be Accessquity, but they changed it to something you could say which is Access Equity, which is digital accessibility, equity, and inclusion in a post-COVID world. And that's a summit led by Yakut Gazi, Chaohua Ou, Matt Lisle, and Warren Goetzel. And that'll be a conference that's coming up at the-- I think, it's the end of October is when that will be. 

[00:05:20.85] It's at the end of September? Thank you very much. End of September, first of October for that. And so, we invite you to come back for that. And if you look at the C21U website, we'll give you information about that as well. So, excited you're here, very excited to see. 

[00:05:35.88] This week by the way, we got a sneak peek tour with Birney of the exhibits a while back and loved it. It's very, very meaningful, very deep. You really have to focus on it. But I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. I'd like now to introduce Professor Charles Isbell, the John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of the College of Computing. [APPLAUSE] 

[00:05:57.34] DR. CHARLES ISBELL: So, welcome everyone. Very, very happy to be here. Very happy to be able to help sponsor this. 

[00:06:02.16] So, I'm the Dean of the College of Computing, which means I'm a computationalist. So, I like to think that along with my colleagues, I've spent quite a bit of time trying to build the digital world. 

[00:06:10.17] And we've done some amazing things. I think, if you think about it, building that digital world. But of course, the whole point of the exercise is to support humanity. 

[00:06:20.40] It's to bring people together not to cleave them apart. And I think that if you look carefully, you can see some wonderful things that technology has done. But you can also see that it has been not just empowering, it has actually been alienating or can be alienating. 

[00:06:34.11] And that is not what the point of the exercise is. The point of the exercise is to bring things together. So, what excites me about this exhibit put together by Birney Robert-- which no one has told you this yet, but is from the College of Computing, thank you very much, Birney-- [APPLAUSE] is that it brings together-- it's a way of talking about our humanity and making that central to what it means to be a part of the sociotechnological world that we happen to be a part of. And the whole point of that is to bring us together and to create community. 

[00:07:04.63] So, all I really want to say is thank you, Birney. Thank you to the artist. And thank you for being here, for being a part of not just this exercise, but being a part of our community and helping to create it and make it better. 

[00:07:17.05] So with that, I'm going to walk off the stage and give this hand-held microphone to Cedric Stallworth, who is the new associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence in the College of Computing. Thank you very much, Cedric. And to give one last round of applause and thank you so much to Birney Robert. 

[00:07:32.48] [APPLAUSE] 

[00:07:45.35] BIRNEY ROBERT: So, thank you all for being here today and tonight. So, I'm extremely grateful to Microsoft and C21U for giving me the opportunity to make art, science, and tech accessible here on campus through this accessibility grant. So, thank you very much. 

[00:08:03.53] Microsoft's mission is to empower every individual and organization to achieve more. And Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance tech and improve the human condition. So, both Microsoft and Georgia Tech understand the power of art at the intersection of accessibility, science, and technology. 

[00:08:23.09] So, I want to thank all the artists for being here today and for bringing their work to the public in this exhibit. And this grant really illustrates how we can collaborate with industry, academia, and the public and the community. So, I want to give a big thanks to Steve Harmon and all he does for C21U. And I could not have done this without the library, all the staff, the resources, and this beautiful space designed by Stuart Romm, I think, who's here. And so, thank you Dean Leslie Sharp. This is amazing. 

[00:09:00.71] And the College of computing has been pivotal in my development in my career. And I thank them for their continued support and for sponsoring this reception. So, thank you Charles, Dean Isbell, and Cedric Stallworth. So, thank you very much. 

[00:09:18.93] There are a lot of people that I want to acknowledge individually but we would be here all night because this is definitely a collaborative affair. And-- but also the Center for Inclusive, Design, and Innovation was very pivotal for this, as well as the Georgia Tech's printing and copying services. So-- and I would like to give an extra big thank you to LaDonna Cherry who did all the graphics and has been my mentor for so long Terence Rushin who did all the photos and videography here Eric Sembrat who did all the web design and Terence is right there doing the photos. And Kirk Henderson, of course, who installed all these artists work in the gallery space. I'd also like to recognize my parents and godparents who are here tonight. And so my dad's three-- my dad, grandfather, and great grandfather went here. And then my mom's an artist. So, there's-- art and tech are very near and dear to my heart. 

[00:10:18.93] So, this next slide is-- so, art tends to be visually dominant and roped off. And so this exhibit really allows for visitors to interact with the pieces and it goes beyond the visual and adds sound, texture, and haptics to the art. And so the exhibit was reviewed by the state of Georgia's ADA Coordinator's office. And there's also a Braille booklet available and as well as an innovative location sensing audio guide that was designed by Dr. Ashutosh Dhekne and his graduate students, Haige Chen and Zixin Yin, who will be helping with the location-based audio guide afterwards. 

[00:11:04.77] So, art has the power to change perspectives and get us to think in new ways. And exhibits like this can be bring research outside of the labs in the classrooms and into the public spaces for building community and having conversations, which is a shared goal between the library and the College of Computing. So, it uses art to possibly demystify science and technology as an accessible ways, as well as using science and technology to demystify conceptual art to a scientific community. 

[00:11:41.07] So, this exhibit, Extension of Self, What it Means to be Human in a Digital World showcases how we navigate our identity through our relationships with technology. So the theme was inspired by a quote I read in Sherry Turkle's book, Evocative Objects, Things We Think With. And there's a quote she talks about an-- a woman who doesn't know where she begins in her laptop ends off. So, this blurring of the line between our technology. 

[00:12:09.71] So, I then got to thinking about her cell phone and all the phone numbers it holds and the photos it holds and takes and our GPS and how they're like an extension of our minds. But yet we're kind of confronted with their objectivity when the battery dies or we have to plug them in. So, there are great innovations as Charles was saying-- as Dean Isbell was saying about with digital technology such as with assistive technology, medical technologies, and communication platforms. 

[00:12:43.53] There have also been developments that are not so great such as surveillance abuses or companies collecting our data to categorize us or flatten us based on our search history or our bio sensing information. So, the role of art is to help us remember to ask questions and keep a healthy skepticism about technology while also being able to envision positive futures. So, three questions this exhibit explores are when does technology become an integrated extension of self, when does technology enhance our independence and quality of life, and when does it harm our well being. 

[00:13:26.68] So, all six artists highlight this multiplicity and complexity of self. And tonight, we have four of them. So-- and without further ado, we're going to cue up a little video, and then we'll get into the panel discussion. 

[00:13:47.53] [VIDEO PLAYBACK] 

[00:13:48.03] - To be human in a digital world. When does technology become an integrated extension of self? When does technology enhance our independence and quality of life? And when does it harm our well being? 

[00:14:02.63] BIRNEY ROBERT: This exhibit, Extension of Self, What it Means to be Human in the Digital Age showcases six artists working at the innovative intersection of art, science, and technology. 

[00:14:14.02] CHANNELL ANGELI: When I think of Extension of Self, I am-- my mind immediately goes towards my ancestors and my altars and how my art is many altars for them in homaging all of those who came before me and have paved the way for me. And who I strongly believe still watch over me, love and guide me from whatever other dimension they are. 

[00:14:36.55] NOURA HOWELL: I think the Heart Stones Bench responds to extension of self, the theme of the exhibit, by taking the sounds of our bodies, heart sounds, breathing sounds, all the vibrant sounds that our bodies are already making, and extending them through the bench as vibrations. And then those vibrations come back to our bodies and come out into the broader environment as an invitation to really listen close, pay attention, and appreciate and feel the way that our bodies are always already kind of extending outward from ourselves to interact with other people and interact with the environment. 

[00:15:16.54] BOJANA GINN: Digital technologies also extension of human mind. And sometimes, we differentiate-- like this is organic, this is nature. But I think the technology coming through humans is a part of our nature and who we are. And we constantly are revealing this new aspect of humanity. And it's already embraced. 

[00:15:41.83] So, bringing together the natural world, the body and environment together with digital technologies like projection mapping and virtual reality reflects the time in which we live. 

[00:15:58.09] ASHUTOSH DHEKNE: Now we from a long period of time, that by decorating our indoor spaces like putting up art putting up collage works and so on has amazing influences on us. In a similar way, if the space was to articulate how it feels and how it is blissful when we are around, how will the space tell that to human beings? And we envision that one of the ways to do that could be through art, a changing art that both motivates people to move around as well as shows how the space is excited that someone is there around them. 

[00:16:36.47] EMMA CHAMMAH: Extension of self, the phrase itself, I think really encapsulates a lot of my practice and what I do. I create basically devices that I see as prosthetics that either try to interpret what we go through as individuals in our environment and also might serve as trackers for what's going on inside ourselves individually. 

[00:17:07.25] EVE BROWN: So, my piece sharing my bed explores the extension of self through technology by exploring my experience of chronic illness, especially around the time when I was bedridden. It's kind of wholly exploring the extension of self through communication. And on one side is this virtual communication that has a place, especially in illness, but also is not-- kind of leaves a lot of longing and a lot of empty feelings, a lot of unrequited things. 

[00:17:49.93] 

[00:18:17.68] BIRNEY ROBERT: All right. So tonight, we have Ashutosh Dhekne who is an assistant professor in the School of Computer science within Georgia Tech's College of Computing Dr. Dhekne's research interests are wireless networking mobile computing embedded systems and the internet of things. And his most recent work is at this intersection, so welcome. 

[00:18:46.54] And we have Bojana Ginn-- so, is a new media artist and sculptor based here in Atlanta and working at the intersection of digital and biotechnologies to create immersive installations. And Dr. Ginn is a former medical doctor from Serbia and after moving to Atlanta, she went back to school for art at SCAD. 

[00:19:09.31] And then Noura Howell is an assistant professor in digital media in the School of Literature, Media, and Communications here at tech. And Dr. Howell's research explores emotion recognition technologies which give us insights about emotional experiences based on sensory data. Noura applies her research to create interactive and immersive art. 

[00:19:31.45] And Eve Brown is a multidisciplinary artist based here in Atlanta working at the intersection of technology, textiles, and drawing. And Brown's current work explores the paradoxical necessity and tension of the extension of self via social media. And sadly, two other artists we're not able to make it tonight. 

[00:19:54.25] However, a little bit about them is Channell Angeli is a mixed media artist based here in Atlanta. And her work origin combines technology and spirituality to question what it means to be human. She also explores the themes of the divine feminine and the African diaspora. And she also has an exhibit up at ZuCot Gallery here in Atlanta. 

[00:20:15.10] And Emmanuelle Chammah, she has an MA in architecture and uses fabrics and textiles in radical ways to create wearables for healing purposes. In her work Diagrams of a Body in Space II she brings awareness to the body and handmade textiles during a time where everything is mass produced and we are in constant touch with our electronics. So she has two exhibits up also in Atlanta, one in Mint gallery and when at White Space gallery. 

[00:20:45.34] And Cedric Stallworth, so he's not part of the exhibit, but he has been an administrator of educational programs at Georgia Tech for the past 20 years and knows the importance of art in education. Building and cultivating community has been a huge initiative for him. And he currently serves as the Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence in the College of Computing. And in this role, he leads the college's efforts for inclusivity and equity in computing. 

[00:21:19.22] So, here are the works from Channell Angeli and then also from Emma Chammah. And so, next we have Ashutosh. So for the first question, your work exhibited here, TechMyMoves, can you tell us about the motivation behind this piece and how it addresses identity? 

[00:21:43.33] ASHUTOSH DHEKNE: Sure, sure. So, our indoor spaces have always influenced us, have significantly changed how we behave as human beings. And we wanted to build something that would extend that even further. 

[00:22:00.31] And in particular, the kind of decorations, the kind of art that we put up in our homes, remains static. But people are dynamic. They change, they move differently every day, daily activities change over time. So, how do we embody this into our art is the question that we were asking? 

[00:22:18.88] And then this thought of actually creating an interactive art came up where the movement around this art piece in some sense, are captured by the art and are stored there for you to reflect on over your entire day or at the evening when you come back home, think about how have I been moving throughout my indoor space. So, in some sense, the motivation comes from we spend so much time indoors. Can the art actually be as lively as we are in our indoor spaces? 

[00:22:51.28] Now, every individual is different, which means over the course of our day, the kind of actions we do, do not exactly match what we do the next day and the next day and so on. So, in some sense, we want to capture that individuality as well. And a way to do so is to create an art which does not reduce us to just numbers like just a step counter or just to graphs. 

[00:23:17.35] That we want to read, we want to actually expand this abstract nature of what a person is in some sense a fuzzy thing. That we want to keep that fuzziness in the art-- in whatever is displayed around us. So, that is how it explores individuality. 

[00:23:36.40] BIRNEY ROBERT: And also with COVID too being in lockdown you wanted to-- 

[00:23:40.79] ASHUTOSH DHEKNE: That is right. So, in any case, human beings spend about 86% of our time indoors. And COVID, we spend much more of that time indoors. 

[00:23:51.47] And not only that, we were confined to a specific space. So in some sense, that space was our home that space was also the office and so on. And that is where this motivation came that maybe there is an art form, which can embody all of this together and show the abstract nature of the movements. 

[00:24:10.80] BIRNEY ROBERT: So, I notice your work also has to do with privacy. Could you tell us more about that? 

[00:24:17.07] ASHUTOSH DHEKNE: Sure. So, we are expecting that an art piece like this will be inside people's homes, which means privacy becomes super important. Now, typically, an interactive display would use cameras to actually capture people's movement and then create an interactive art from it. But because this piece has to be inside people's homes, not everyone is comfortable having a camera looking at them at all times. Therefore, this Tech My Moves, this art piece, actually uses wireless sensing technology which is it-- transmits wireless signals and looks at the reflections that come back and then converts that into art. 

[00:24:56.52] All of this processing happens in situ and on the device itself without having to send out the data to cloud or any other storage device outside. So, in some sense, what you see in front of you is transient. It's there just because you move it in a certain way and it goes away based on your own movements. It's not stored anywhere. The device is not even connected to the internet. So, that's how it talks about privacy, and it basically becomes an enabler for a new kind of thinking process. 

[00:25:28.55] BIRNEY ROBERT: And it's using radio waves because-- 

[00:25:30.67] ASHUTOSH DHEKNE: That's right. It uses wireless radio waves they're called ultra wideband radios. 

[00:25:35.60] BIRNEY ROBERT: Thank you. Thanks so much. So Bojana, the Science of Happiness is an immersive installation of ancient and contemporary technologies. What you call phygital. So, could you tell us more about that? 

[00:25:54.11] BOJANA GINN: About phygital? 

[00:25:55.10] BIRNEY ROBERT: Yeah. And just the components of your installation. 

[00:26:00.14] BOJANA GINN: Sure. So, the Science of Happiness was reaction to 2020. And I'm sorry to mention that dirty word. But there was pandemics, there was crazy news every hour on television and social media. We were all anxious. We didn't know what we're dealing with, what is happening all around us being in a house. 

[00:26:28.68] And I was looking at the data. And actually, worldwide there was 30% of recorded cases-- 30% more cases of anxiety and depression in the whole world. So basically, the earth was anxious and depressed. And I was thinking as an artist, I am a kind of artist that things a lot about beauty and artistic elements. I'm not much of an activist artist in a every day sense. 

[00:27:06.83] But I really wanted to do something. And I had so much time to think about it which was like a good part of the pandemic. And I was also lucky that I was OK and can afford the time. So anyways, I was thinking, how can I actually used some of my medical knowledge with art and merge it into the piece that would make people feel better. 

[00:27:33.21] And I also remember when I was-- I grew up in Yugoslavia. And I was a student when-- in Serbia and Yugoslavia, there was a Civil War. And I remember how much art actually helped me because Belgrade is a city that has lots of public art. And when you're young, you're a little bit not afraid because you don't think right which is kind of nice. 

[00:28:01.40] And so, I would just go out and there were these people like actors or musicians installing works where you wouldn't expect them, like next to the river or the Old Fort. And suddenly, we're there and there's this art and you forget about everything. And it was just really fabulous. 

[00:28:22.25] Anyway, so, I was already making installations. There are-- you can go into them and experience them 360. And I was wondering if I can use the artistic environment in a way that it's soothing. And then I start doing research. 

[00:28:44.81] As an artist, I use light. I use dots and lines and texture. The rhythm because I have videos, the vibrations of sound because there's a sound component in it. And traditionally, there is the psychology of all these elements that can make us calmer. 

[00:29:07.34] We all know if we're going to the red room, we're going to feel different than when we go into the blue room. But I actually went to this like a medical research of vibration and found that this is like a seminal new research, for example-- I was stunned-- there's a part of white spectrum that can make our bodies produce antioxidants just like we make vitamin D. So, we are kind of like plants. We eat from mouth and stomachs but also through our skin. 

[00:29:39.86] And I was really lovely that I can use-- as a production artist, I can already tune the color of projectors to do some kind of magic that it's still not explored. And so-- also, I find that certain vibrations of violet and deep purple can actually heal ourselves like enzymes in inside of our cells and they are used in therapy. So, I decided to create an installation within installation which brings me to phygital. 

[00:30:18.18] So traditionally, I use sheep's wool, which is a very old material, 8,000 years old at least. And many of you don't know probably, but the first sheep did not have wool. So, our ancestors through hundreds or thousands of years of genetic breeding actually created the extension of our skin. 

[00:30:41.53] So, we made our own skin in a way that we shielded our bodies with and our homes with. And it's a protein that-- the same protein we have all over our skin, in our hair. And for me, it's an extension of a body and it's also extension of nature because this is an animal. Also, the sheep was the first one to be cloned. 

[00:31:05.97] So, there is this tradition of this humble creature that it's so connected with biotechnology. And so I take this landscape, this very modest natural material. And then I merge it with digital technologies. Mostly, I use projections and now virtual reality. And I just love this poetic connection between light and protein, which was like in the beginning of life. 

[00:31:32.52] And I call it phygital so it's a phygital installation. But when you walk into it-- so every element is calming. The rhythms are actually reflecting digitalization of body of the slow breathing. So, when we breathe slowly-- we all know that because we all meditate because we all crazy-- because yeah, it's a crazy world. But when you have these rhythms, you synchronize. You walk in and then you calm down. 

[00:32:10.45] At the same time, when you go to club or somewhere where there's just pounding, you can get nervous or you can dance or whatever. But-- so, the rhythm of slow breathing is infused in the rhythms of video that goes around. This-- the same vibrations in music that I create in collaboration with my husband and my partner Brian Ginn. So, there's this soothing sound that goes all over your body, you can sit down. You have this nice cocoon of natural wool around you. 

[00:32:48.00] And then there is an installation within installation. By using virtual technology, that when you put on suddenly you're in totally different space with different colors. But there are some similarities in rhythm and also these little dots from physical world inside. I also like how that kind of reflects how we are. There's this physical world here. But then there's a different mental perception world inside of our minds with different colors and different thoughts and so on. So long story. That's it. 

[00:33:25.01] BIRNEY ROBERT: I like what you said at your last artist talk too about the-- there is the public installation where you're out in public and to be seen and then there's this private one where you see it in this VR. And it's independent of everyone around you. So I think that's interesting-- 

[00:33:44.45] BOJANA GINN: I like-- 

[00:33:45.35] BIRNEY ROBERT: --how we have our interior and exteriors. 

[00:33:47.12] BOJANA GINN: Yeah. I love when you actually talk to me about what they see. And it's very interesting to see how everybody has different associations. 

[00:33:57.20] BIRNEY ROBERT: Yeah. Well, thank you. 

[00:33:59.15] BOJANA GINN: You're welcome. 

[00:34:02.06] BIRNEY ROBERT: Noura, your piece, Heart Sounds Bench, you invite the visitor to sit and listen and feel their heartbeats on the wooden bench. Can you tell us more about this piece and your research into bio sensory data and emotion recognition technologies? 

[00:34:19.88] NOURA HOWELL: Yes. First, I just wanted-- I'm so excited to be here and be in conversation with all these incredible artists and the team who unfortunately can't be here. But I feel it speaks a lot to the curation of this exhibit also just listening even now like hearing so many more cross-cutting themes coming out. Yeah, a lot of my work is responding to-- the Heart Sounds Bench responds to the extension of self, theme, because if you haven't tried it out yet, I really invite you to afterward. 

[00:34:46.01] People can sit on the bench, use the red handle to try and find your heart, and hear your heart sounds emanating out of the bench through sound and vibration. So, extending yourself into the broader environment. And two people can sit on the bench at a time, so don't get nervous if a stranger sits next to you and also wants to listen to their heart sounds. 

[00:35:06.92] And thinking about that in terms of biodata, data that's-- there's increasingly sensors deployed in public space, especially with UbiComp, the conference that was just here, ubiquitous computing is advancing many, many techniques for different sensors whether we wear them on our bodies, such as Fitbit or other wearable sensors or sensors embedded in walls or in smart homes like Ashutosh is working on. And the way that biodata gets used can raise a lot of questions around privacy and surveillance. What are the privacy expectations? 

[00:35:41.75] For example, in private space, privacy becomes really important. And how does that data get used to make inferences about people? So, I didn't go as far back as sheep's wool by any means, but I chose a rather old and traditional sensor like technology sensor, which is the stethoscope, which doctors have been using it for hundreds of years. And so, that's what's inside the red handle. And playing with that kind of older form of auditory data to invite a different experience with biodata. 

[00:36:10.64] So, I'm sure doctors could get a lot of really important insights with the stethoscope. As an everyday visitor, I'm trying to encourage an experience that really avoids reducing people to numbers. And it might even be hard to get some kind of quantitative insight out of the data. And it's really about listening, appreciating, taking a moment to sit and just be in the present moment, maybe take some slow breaths similar to Bojana's piece. 

[00:36:40.61] And thinking about that in terms of emotion recognition technologies which you mentioned. A lot of biodata is used to try and infer discrete categories of emotion. This person is feeling happy right now or this person is feeling sad right now. And the heart's on a bench really tries to avoid doing that. It tries to just ask people to reflect on how they are feeling and respectfully share space with another human who might be sitting on the bench with them. 

[00:37:09.80] BIRNEY ROBERT: Thank you. That was-- you talk a lot about the public bench and our interactions with others in public space. Could you elaborate on this public bench? 

[00:37:25.81] NOURA HOWELL: Yeah, for sure. So, my piece actually was not inspired by COVID. It was before COVID. And then kind of got delayed. So, I'm super excited to see it in public space now and that we can all gather and experience it. 

[00:37:41.23] I was-- can you all hear me like this or is it too quiet? 

[00:37:44.98] BIRNEY ROBERT: It's too quiet. 

[00:37:46.45] NOURA HOWELL: It's too quiet. So, I was really inspired by-- oh, yeah, [INAUDIBLE]. Hello? Is this-- can you hear me a little better this way? I don't think it's on. 

[00:38:00.79] Hello? 

[00:38:02.93] BOJANA GINN: It's fine. 

[00:38:03.40] NOURA HOWELL: Yeah. All right. I've been listening for feedback for months now because revenge sometimes turns into a noise instrument and creates a lot of feedback so maybe I'm-- 

[00:38:12.23] BOJANA GINN: It's true. 

[00:38:14.15] NOURA HOWELL: And it's this hidden other use. Invite you to try it out. But-- so, I was really inspired by public benches and public transit. I spent a lot of late nights in grad school making a bus transfer in a really dark street corner and not the best part of town. And the bus comes like once every half hour once every 45 minutes. 

[00:38:37.64] So, it's often just like waiting at bus stops that sometimes didn't have benches. So, I came to really appreciate public benches and also just the experience of like sharing space with strangers. I think public transit is this really underappreciated amazing aspect of city living. 

[00:38:54.23] And I think smart cities should just go all in on public transit. People-- I'm not necessarily trying to have a conversation with someone or get to know them. I don't feel the need to use data to try and understand them perfectly or reduce them to numbers. It's about benches are totally different approach. 

[00:39:12.50] Smart cities often try to enroll data to surveil people from above and try and know people in terms of their numbers. And with benches, you just interact with people on a peer to peer level. So, it's like-- what if we took that approach to public space and social cities? How might biodata and sensors support more social smart cities? 

[00:39:33.86] BIRNEY ROBERT: Yeah. I like what you say about in-- maybe a response to creating smart cities is to create more social cities. And city living about being in public with others and so-- I love that. So Eve, your artist statement for this installation titled, Sharing my Bed, talks about communication during a time when you were bed bound for about a year. Could you talk about how that experience informs your work? 

[00:40:06.02] EVE BROWN: So, can you guys hear me? 

[00:40:09.49] BIRNEY ROBERT: I think they'll turn it on in a second. 

[00:40:13.25] EVE BROWN: Yeah. So, my piece is about my experience being bedridden and also the times after I was bedridden, but when I was still in the early stages of healing a concussion and how I use social media to connect with the world when I was like physically unable to go out and have community. And it is exploring the tension of the place that social media had that it was like incredible that I could find community when I was isolated in my home before COVID. 

[00:41:02.00] And at the same time, there was-- I really resonated when you said the fuzzy part of being a human. I think that boxy binaries of social media. No matter how much try to kind of break out of them it still reduces you to this two dimensional non contextual being. And there is the magic of grief and loss and awe and wonder that I was wanting so badly to communicate with the world and having that be my only vehicle for that communication. 

[00:41:44.91] And so the piece is kind of exploring that tension of social media has this really important place, especially for the sick and disabled community. And then also is imperfect, especially commercial, social media where you're always being sold something. And there's an algorithm that you have to keep up with that I think as someone with a brain injury was inherently not-- I was like, I can't keep up with this, so. 

[00:42:15.54] BIRNEY ROBERT: Yeah. I really like how your piece, it's very-- it has this three dimensional quality of an installation. But yet you have this other dimension of you speaking about your piece too. 

[00:42:27.78] EVE BROWN: And so those are kind of the songs that I made or the things that I felt like-- I didn't-- not that they couldn't be shared on social media, but that they weren't wouldn't be held in the way that I wanted like someone to sit on my bed with me and listen to the larger experience of brain injury and chronic illness. 

[00:42:52.59] BIRNEY ROBERT: And lastly, there's this interesting quality to your work, this transparency and opaqueness to it. So, you can see you can see the outside from the inside, but you can't see the inside from the outside from the installation, which I think is very powerful. And could you comment on that? 

[00:43:15.43] EVE BROWN: Yeah, definitely. That was like-- it was one of those things that was deeply intuitive. And oh, this is reflecting exactly what I'm trying to say here. From the outside, you can see all of the social media posts. 

[00:43:34.02] And they're kind of like-- it was what it felt like to me. Nothing is really being communicated here though everything is being communicated. And then when you step into the interior of the piece, you can see my bed, which you can't see from the outside. But you can still see the social media post kind of bleeding through. 

[00:43:54.78] And it was like this enmeshment of identity where I was deeply connected to the world of social media for better or for worse in my bed but from the outside. in the external world, you lose the larger context. You can't see my bed kind of representing the larger experience of myself, but of any human who is moving through their lives and is not-- can't be reduced to a box. 

[00:44:28.68] But yet the options that we have with most social media right now, at least the more like accessible forms are very reductive feeling, at least to me. And I struggle to know how to navigate that. And I think that this piece is like asking into those questions. 

[00:44:51.38] Because I definitely don't want to reduce it to social media is bad, because it has like such an important place. And I think I also want to be asking questions about is this how we want it to function in our lives? Is there a better way that social media could kind of be set up so that we're not part of the algorithm and part of numbers and all the-- everything? 

[00:45:23.15] BIRNEY ROBERT: Yeah. I think-- I think all of y'all really touched on this multiplicity in this complexity of identity and how art is so powerful at maybe rethinking these technologies and how we can fit them into our lives better. So Cedric, we heard from most of the artists. And you're the stand in for the viewer. Specifically considering your background of computer science, could you tell us as the viewer what-- and as the computer scientist, how you enjoyed this exhibit. And if anything, any comments you want to make to the artist here? 

[00:46:09.29] CEDRIC STALLWORTH: I'll tell you that if my mic is on. My mic is on? Good. First of all, why am I here? 

[00:46:16.09] BIRNEY ROBERT: The vibrations. 

[00:46:17.37] CEDRIC STALLWORTH: It is honor to be up here with these artists and they're sharing. I was fortunate enough to get a private tour with Birney of the exhibit. And and I got a chance to really spend time with each installation. 

[00:46:32.85] And I just go down-- now, Birney says from a computer science standpoint. I'm also going to give you a little bit of human being standpoint because those of us who work in computer science are-- contrary to popular belief, we are humans. At least for the time being. I don't know some of the props in the room may have replaced us already. We just don't know. 

[00:46:53.91] And I can just go down the list. And as I sat here-- as I sat here and listened as well as try to connect it to what I actually saw the other day, the word connection came up in my mind and how some of these pieces use technology to connect us to something. And some of these pieces use it to sort of help us disconnect. 

[00:47:18.78] If you look at Ashutosh's piece, I found myself-- I thought it was a data point. My whole computer science mind kept [INAUDIBLE]. How close can I get can I make the dot bigger? Can I make things turn yellow or green? If I move side to side, if I move quicker, so I was very much connected to the art piece. And it gave me a way to move through my space and be more connected to my space right. 

[00:47:42.06] Bojana, your piece is very interesting. Before I heard you talk, I would have said that what it helped me do when I put on the VR and as I entered the space was disconnect, was to quiet the noise that's in the world and allow me to sort meditate and focus. And the way you got there listening to your talk is by having that environment designed to connect to me. And then that allowed me to disconnect from all the noise of the world because the environment was in tune with me and gave me a chance to relax and meditate. 

[00:48:17.57] By the way, if you get a chance to put on the VR, it's pretty cool. It's-- I won't spoil it for you, but it allows you to focus on something but yet and still free your mind at the same time, which I thought was really cool. At least that's what I got out of it, right? And I want to get to the other two pieces. 

[00:48:35.93] But Noura, your piece I thought was really cool. And you did use an ancient material. You used wood. Which-- I think the piece would have changed. If you had used plastic or something like that. 

[00:48:46.31] When I came to view it with Birney, it needed some adjustments. And I got a chance to-- really happy I got a chance to sit on the bench with somebody I didn't know a little bit earlier. And it's-- I thought of it as a way to connect to another human being that I've never done before, to actually sit on your own heartbeat, and then and then feel somebody else's heartbeat. 

[00:49:12.26] And I happened to sit on it with somebody who's probably half my age. So, their heart-- my heart beat's going-- thud, thud, thud. Theirs is going da da da da da da da da, right? And it was just interesting to feel that. And then we switched-- we switched sensors. And we allowed ourselves to share that experience. 

[00:49:30.89] And this was with a complete stranger. So, if you do that exhibit please do it with someone you don't know. And you can share that. And I thought that was a really good way to get connected. 

[00:49:40.52] And Emma, your piece took me to-- 

[00:49:42.68] EVE BROWN: Eve. 

[00:49:43.07] CEDRIC STALLWORTH: Eve, I'm sorry. Emma is not here. I'll get to Emma in a second. Eve, your piece, what I got out of it as a person who's not a big fan of social media. I'm old school as anybody who's ever tried to contact me will tell you. 

[00:49:59.24] What I got from your piece is you can't see the bed from the outside. And you can't see in my-- I interpret that as you can't see people's private spaces from the outside. And we're so into throwing social media at each other and not being considerate of how is it affecting them in their private spaces. 

[00:50:24.12] And you keep going, hey did you get my email? Hey, did you get this? Did you get that? And you keep bombarding people. And keep in mind, you do it at all times of day, all times of night. 

[00:50:33.12] And when do we have the respect for each other that hey, let me give somebody a chance just to unwind. And so that's what I got out of your piece. And it was really cool because I looked at it from the outside first. 

[00:50:46.71] And Birney said, well, there's a bed. And I was like where is the bed? And we went back to the other side and I was like oh, there's a bed here. And that was pretty cool. 

[00:50:55.29] The other two pieces, I'm-- and correct me if I'm wrong. I got notes here. Emma's piece which was very tactile in nature, feeling the fabrics. There's a fabric that you put your hand in. And my hands are a little bit bigger than that. 

[00:51:10.20] But she has a sign there that says you will not break it. And I really appreciated that. And so, I just shoved my hand in there and felt the constriction. I sleep under a weighted blanket. So, that is-- that kind of feeling of peace through this constriction, like being in the womb, being swaddled if you will, was pretty cool. 

[00:51:32.55] But the one I like the best is the headband because when I put it on, I couldn't see anything. And it sort of blocked out sound at the same time. So, it was sort of this noise canceling effect that you get. And it was sort of once again blocking out and being able to disconnect from the outside world. But at the same time, feeling things. 

[00:51:50.46] And then it is Channell's piece which that took me-- that was deep to me. And that these were her ancestors. And the way Birney explained the piece to me is that they found these pictures of her ancestors. And there's no-- there's no data on them to look at it from a computer science standpoint. They're just pictures. 

[00:52:10.35] You have-- you don't know what their ages are. You don't know where don't know how they lived. So, it's like this archeological find where you don't know anything. And you're trying to piece together this-- so, you're trying to connect to somebody, a human being, who loved who laughed, who cried, the same that you did, who lived a while back but we have no data on them. 

[00:52:30.93] And that sort of makes you feel sort of sad. But then I spin it around and think about the digital imprints, the digital footprints that we leave. And when somebody picks up our picture 100 years from now and we've got a whole video stream and Twitter and Instagram and all that. How does that-- how does that connect us to the future? This future that's sort of out there. 

[00:52:52.08] And as computer science keeps going and technology keeps going, our digital footprints will be able to emulate our intelligence and our responses. So, maybe we do have responses for those who pick this up 100 years in the future. So, that kind of connection, looking at the past and sort of seeing how that throws you into the future, was what I got from that piece. 

[00:53:16.24] And I didn't mean to spoil it for anybody. If you get something different, that's the whole point of art. That's the whole point why we're here. I would like to make a comment as far as Birney is concerned. And I've told our Dean, Charles this. Places like Georgia Tech need to recognize what Birney is able to do. 

[00:53:38.67] I look out in the crowd and I see a lot of the professors who toil endlessly in their labs. And I see-- if you're around Georgia Tech, see people touring the campus all the time. And every time a family or somebody comes by and walks by the College of Computing, I sit there and think, man they're missing everything. Because we don't have robots jumping up and down and things flying and all that. 

[00:54:01.86] But we've got people in working on really serious problems and developing really cool stuff that's going to affect our future. And I think through art and the kinds of-- an hopefully, this is the beginning of something consistent-- through art, we can help others see inside those walls see inside what our professors are doing. See that technology, understand it, and how it will affect them going forward, and how it affects them today. And I hope it also gives our researchers and our professors a way to express themselves, so the world can see what they're doing and how they're trying to affect the world in very, very creative ways and very, very human ways. So I'll be quiet now. 

[00:54:43.64] BIRNEY ROBERT: Thank you so much. 

[00:54:44.58] BOJANA GINN: Thank you. 

[00:54:45.29] [APPLAUSE] 

[00:54:46.28] 

[00:54:51.22] BIRNEY ROBERT: So, I want to thank you all for being on the panel. Ashutosh, Bojana, Noura, Eve, Cedric, and to Emma and Channell who couldn't be here today. And I also want to give a big thanks to our ASL interpreters tonight. Thank you. 

[00:55:08.67] [APPLAUSE] 

[00:55:13.50] And just a show of hands, who's involved with the arts or who's involved with the arts here at tech? OK. All right. So, we got a big crowd. 

[00:55:27.57] And lastly, we have a special guest here today other than the artist and Cedric. Today, we have Dr. Mike Winters-- Mike-- and you can stand up. So, hey Mike. 

[00:55:44.01] He's here for a wearables conference. And Mike received his PhD here in the School of Music. And he's now a post-doctoral researcher at Microsoft in the Brain Computer Interfaces and Audio and Acoustics lab. And his focus on technologies that use signals from the brain and the nervous system to enhance human abilities. 

[00:56:05.94] So, Mike recently collaborated with Dr. Stephanie Koziej's Tender Rhythms Research displayed at Emory as seen in here. And they used EEG to transform brain waves into music and visuals. And Mike's work is a perfect example of how research can be displayed and exhibited, such as these wonderful artists on the panel. And he also connects the Georgia Tech, the Microsoft, and the art at the intersection of tech and science dots. So, he will be here if you want to talk to him too after the panel. 

[00:56:41.70] And then there are a lot of students who volunteered their time tonight to be ambassadors to the art pieces just from coming into the gallery and really being into it and wanting to be involved. So, thank you to them. And feel free to ask them any questions or the artist, help yourself to food, and the bars outside. 

[00:57:03.96] And if all the panel and sponsors could stay up for some group photos afterwards and the special acknowledgment folks. And Kevin Beasley, our videographer, will take some video testimonials in the back by the registration tables so that would be great. And I'm collecting date-- anonymous data from a QR code that the students will have in and it's on the wall for research onto the feasibility of exhibits like this and if there's a future for them. 

[00:57:35.55] And because-- art is a really big initiative for Georgia Tech and the library and the College of Computing. And so, I really think the library, Dean Sharp, college of Computing, Dean Isbell, and C21U, Steve Harmon for funding this and putting on such this amazing-- letting me do something like this here. So, thank you. 

[00:57:59.85] [APPLAUSE]