Chris Dobbyn

The Self as an Embedded Agent

In this paper we consider the concept of a self-aware agent. In cognitive science agents are seen as embodied and interactively situated in worlds. We analyse the meanings attached to these terms in cognitive science and robotics, proposing a set of conditions for situatedness and embodiment, and examine the claim that internal representational schemas are largely unnecessary for intelligent behaviour in animats. We maintain that current situated and embodied animats cannot be ascribed even minimal self-awareness, and offer a six point definition of embeddedness, constituting minimal conditions for the evolution of a sense of self. This leads to further analysis of the nature of embodiment and situatedness, and a consideration of whether virtual animats in virtual worlds could count as situated and embodied. We propose that self-aware agents must possess complex structures of self-directed goals; multi-modal sensory systems and a rich repertoire of interactions with their worlds. Finally, we argue that embedded agents will possess or evolve local co-ordinate systems, or points of view, relative to their current positions in space and time, and have a capacity to develop an egocentric space. None of these capabilities are possible without powerful internal representational capacities.

Assessment, feedback and marking guides in distance education

In higher education (HE), effective feedback on student assessments plays a vital role in retention and in the development of self‐regulating learners, particularly in the first year. In distance learning, where large population modules are common, assignment feedback is generally supported by standard marking guides, issued to the numerous tutors responsible for assessing student work. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of feedback and report on the results of a survey of tutor attitudes to, and strategies for, providing feedback on a very large Level 1 Open University module. We analyse the extent to which the marking guides afford adequate support for truly effective feedback, and make a number of recommendations for reworking assessment regimes and marking guides.

Let's jam the reactable: Peer learning during musical improvisation with a tabletop tangible interface

There has been little research on how interactions with tabletop and Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) by groups of users change over time. In this article, we investigate the challenges and opportunities of a tabletop tangible interface based on constructive building blocks. We describe a long-term lab study of groups of expert musicians improvising with the Reactable, a commercial tabletop TUI for music performance. We examine interaction, focusing on interface, tangible, musical, and social phenomena. Our findings reveal a practice-based learning between peers in situated contexts, and new forms of participation, all of which is facilitated by the Reactables tangible interface, if compared to traditional musical ensembles. We summarise our findings as a set of design considerations and conclude that construction processes on interactive tabletops support learning by doing and peer learning, which can inform constructivist approaches to learning with technology.

TOUCHtr4ck: democratic collaborative music

When electronic musicians compose collaboratively, they typically use their own single-user musical controllers. It may, therefore, be useful to develop novel controllers that support collaborative workflows and democratic principles. After describing the design principles for developing such controllers, we present TOUCHtr4ck, a prototype multi-touch system designed to facilitate such democratic relationships. Informal testing has revealed that this approach does facilitate democratic and collaborative music making, and can produce creative musical results.

A subsumption agent for collaborative free improvisation

This article discusses the design and evaluation of an artificial agent for collaborative musical free improvisation. The agent provides a means to investigate the underpinnings of improvisational interaction. In connection with this general goal, the system is also used here to explore the implementation of a collaborative musical agent using a specific robotics architecture called Subsumption. The architecture of the system is explained, and its evaluation in an empirical study with expert improvisors is discussed. A follow-up study using a second iteration of the system is also presented. The system design and connected studies bring together Subsumption robotics, ecological psychology, and musical improvisation, and they contribute to an empirical grounding of an ecological theory of improvisation.

Exploring Social Interaction With a Tangible Music Interface

This article presents a video-based field study of the Reactable, a tabletop tangible user interface (TUI) for music performance, in a hands-on science centre. The goal was to investigate visitors’ social interactions in a public setting. We describe liminality and cross-group interaction, both synchronous with fluid transitions and overlaps in use between groups and asynchronous. Our findings indicate the importance of: (i) facilitating smooth transitions and overlaps between groups and (ii) supporting not only synchronous but also asynchronous group interaction. We discuss the lessons learned on how best to enable liminal situations in the design of interactive tabletops and TUIs for social interaction and particularly collaborative tangible music in public museum settings. • Presentation of a video-based field study describing cross-group interaction. • Description of exemplar vignettes of video for illustrating liminal situations in social interaction. • Discussion of the nature of different levels of cross-group interaction and their relevance for social interaction and collaboration. • Lessons learned in how best to enable liminal situations in the design of collaborative tangible user interfaces for promoting social interaction and collaboration.

A parsimonious cognitive architecture for human-computer interactive musical free improvisation

This paper presents some of the historical and theoretical foundations for a new cognitive architecture for human-computer interactive musical free improvisation. The architecture is parsimonious in that it has no access to musical knowledge and no domain-general subsystems, such as memory or representational abilities. The paper first describes some of the features and limitations of the architecture. It then illustrates how this architecture draws on insights from cybernetics, artificial life, artificial intelligence and ecological theory by situating it within a historical context. The context presented consists of a few key developments in the history of biologically-inspired robotics, followed by an indication of how they connect to James Gibson’s ecological theory. Finally, it describes how a recent approach to musicology informed by ecological theory bears on an implementation of this architecture.

A Kantian Prescription for Artificial Conscious Experience

Research in artificial intelli-gence, artificial life and cogni-tive science has not yet provided answers to any of the most perplexing questions about the mind, such as the nature of consciousness or of the self; in this article the authors make a suggestion for a new approach. They begin by setting their project in the broader cognitive science context and argue that little recent research adequately addresses the question of what are the necessary requirements for conscious experience to be possible. Kant addresses this question in his transcendental psychology, and although Kants work is now over 200 years old the authors believe his approach is worthy of re-examination in the current debate about the mind.

Learning Musical Contour on a Tabletop

Many successful tabletop applications for music making have been developed, and the technology has been investigated from different perspectives. Yet, to date, despite optimistic claims regarding their potential as learning tools, their role in helping people to explore, acquire, and rea- son about musical concepts has been sparsely researched. We have developed an exploratory study around a simple tabletop application that allows people to make music using a visual representation of melodic contour. Our aim is to understand whether and how such system might help peo- ple to reason about music in terms of contour while at the same time affording an enjoyable music making experience to musically untrained people. Our findings suggest that the system has potential as a learning tool, especially for beginners, but tutoring is still necessary to acquire, use, and express concepts precisely.

Transforming web pages for interactive TV using XSL

3 Abstract - Interactive TV provides a novel environment for the support of multimedia content. We present findings from an inves- tigation, where XSL is used to automate the transformation of Web content into a form suitable for display in a TV environment.