Michael Arnold

Audio watermarking: features, applications and algorithms

This paper considers the desired properties and possible applications of audio watermarking algorithms. Special attention is given to statistical methods working in the Fourier domain. It presents a solution to robust watermarking of audio data and reflects the security properties of the technique. Experimental results show good robustness of the approach against MP3 compression and other common signal processing manipulations. Enhancements to the presented methods are discussed.

On the phenomenology of technology: the “Janus-faces” of mobile phones

This paper argues that technologies perform in Janus faced ways; that is, in ways that are ironic, perverse and paradoxical, and it is argued that these qualities are important to apprehend if we are to more fully understand the role of technology in organizations and in our daily lives. The argument opens with an account of Janus as a metaphorical evocation of irony and paradox, and general examples of Janus faced technologies are given. Prominent philosophies of technology and theoretical approaches to technology are discussed in terms of their capacity to account for generalized examples of irony and paradox. Of these, it is argued that the most satisfactory account is provided by (a) Heidegger’s suggestion that our world is enframed by technology, taken together with (b) a logic of sociotechnical systems based in relational and hybrid ontologies. This sketch of the philosophical landscape occupied by Janus is followed by a interpretation of the specific case of mobile phones, which provides concrete and hopefully vivid examples of the Janus faced performance of technology. The conclusion reached is that the Janus faced metaphor and its philosophical context provides the researcher with the analytic advantages of foregrounding uncertainty, avoiding an essentialist or determinist role for technology, and allowing for the possibility of the presence of tension and contradiction in accounts of sociotechnical outcomes.  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Doctor, patient and computer—A framework for the new consultation

PURPOSE The use of a computer during general/family practice consultations is on the rise across the world, yet little is known about the effect the use of a computer may have on the all important physician-patient relationship. This paper provides a framework for further analysis of computers influence on physician-patient interactions during general practice consultations. METHODS This is an observational qualitative study informed by hermeneutics and the phenomenological tradition of Irving Goffman, based in Australian general practice. A single digital video recording of 141 patient encounters over 6 months was made and imported into a tagging software program to facilitate analysis. Through an iterative process several keys and behaviours were described for doctors, patients and the computers in the interaction. RESULTS Physicians tended to fall into two categories; unipolar-those who tend to maintain the lower pole of their body facing the computer except were examination of the patient or some other action demands otherwise, and bipolar-those physicians who repeatedly alternate the orientation of their lower pole between the computer and the patient. Patients tended to demonstrate behaviours that focused on the physician to the exclusion of the computer (dyadic) and included the computer in the consultation (triadic). The computer was also seen to influence the physician-patient interaction passively or actively. CONCLUSION In describing and categorising the behaviours of the computer, in addition to the humans in the consultation, a framework is provided for further analytical work on the impact of computers in general practice.

#Funeral and Instagram: death, social media, and platform vernacular

This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed photographs shared on public profiles tagged with ‘#funeral’. We found that the majority of images uploaded with the hashtag #funeral often communicated a persons emotional circumstances and affective context, and allowed them to reposition their funeral experience amongst wider networks of acquaintances, friends, and family. We argue that photo-sharing through Instagram echoes broader shifts in commemorative and memorialization practices, moving away from formal and institutionalized rituals to informal and personalized, vernacular practices. Finally, we consider how Instagrams ‘platform vernacular’ unfolds in relation to traditions and contexts of death, mourning, and memorialization. This research contributes to a broader understanding of how platform vernaculars are shaped through the logics of architecture and use. This research also directly contributes to the understanding of death and digital media by examining how social media is being mobilized in relation to death, the differences that different media platforms make, and the ways social media are increasingly entwined with the places, events, and rituals of mourning.

Computers in the new consultation: within the first minute

BACKGROUND Computers are now commonplace in the general practice consultation in many countries and literature is beginning to appear that describes the effects of this presence on the doctor-patient relationship. Concepts such as patient centredness emphasize the importance of this relationship to patient outcomes, yet the presence of the computer has introduced another partner to that relationship. OBJECTIVE To describe the patient-doctor-computer relationship during the opening period of the consultation. METHODS Twenty GPs provided 141 consultations for direct observation, using digital video. Consultations were analysed according to Goffmans dramaturgical methodology. RESULTS Openings could be described as doctor, patient or computer openings, according to the source of initial influence on the consultation. Specific behaviours can be described within those three categories. CONCLUSIONS The presence of the computer has changed the beginning of the consultation. Where once only two actors needed to perform their roles, now three interact in differing ways. Information comes from many sources, and behaviour responds accordingly. Future studies of the consultation need to take into account the impact of the computer in shaping how the consultation flows and the information needs of all participants.

Time, Space and Technology in the Working-Home: An Unsettled Nexus

The research reported here draws upon four homes in Melbourne, Australia, where variable practices and strategies in the use of information and communication technologies are adopted in negotiating the temporal and spatial dynamics of the working-home. Informed by theories from Science and Technology Studies, we argue that these strategies arise in concernful relation with others — both human and non-human — that enable and constrain the possibilities for action.

Intranets, Community, and Social Capital: The Case of Williams Bay

Many people in the Western world are distressed about a perceived loss of community and community values, and it has been argued that the key difference between strong and weak community lies in social capital, that is, networks of civic engagement and norms of generalized reciprocity. In the context of social capital, the article introduces a research project that focuses on a community intranet installed in a new housing development in Melbourne, Australia. The prospects for the success of the community intranet in linking residents to one another, increasing participation in local civic organizations, encouraging reciprocity, and thereby fostering social capital are surveyed in both a priori and empirical terms. The article concludes with the questions to be used in the case study to assess whether these prospects are realized in the case at hand.

Evaluation of image compression algorithms for fingerprint and face recognition systems

A variety of widely accepted and efficient compression methods do exist for still images. To name a few, there are standardised schemes like JPEG and JPEG2000 which are well suited for photorealistic true colour and grey scale images and usually operated in lossy mode to achieve high compression ratios. These schemes are well suited for images that are processed within face recognition systems. In the case of forensic biometric systems, compression of fingerprint images has already been applied in automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) applications, where the size of the digital fingerprint archives would be tremendous for uncompressed images. In these large scale applications wavelet scalar quantization has a long tradition as an effective encoding scheme. This paper gives an overview of the study BioCompress that has been conducted at Fraunhofer IGD on behalf of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Based on fingerprint and face image databases and different biometric algorithms we evaluated the impact of lossy compression algorithms on the recognition performance of biometric recognition systems.

Domestic orchestration Rhythms in the mediated home

The steady proliferation of media and connectivity reconstitutes domestic rhythms in ways that make them emergent, relational, negotiated, and multiple. In an attempt to capture some of the entangled dynamics characteristic of contemporary domestic chronometrics (time-measured), chronaesthetics (time-felt) and chronomanagement (time-ordered), we use the terms ‘reticular rhythms’ and ‘technologies of reticulation’. In our analysis of interviews with five families over three years we identify four interrelated forms of reticular rhythms that together constitute the rhythms of contemporary domestic life. These four are: a polyphonic drone, a polychronic dissonance, an asynchronous consonance, and an orchestrated performance. Each of these forms of rhythm are described and illustrated.

A Phase Modulation Audio Watermarking Technique

Audio watermarking is a technique, which can be used to embed information into the digital representation of audio signals. The main challenge is to hide data representing some information without compromising the quality of the watermarked track and at the same time ensure that the embedded watermark is robust against removal attacks. Especially providing perfect audio quality combined with high robustness against a wide variety of attacks is not adequately addressed and evaluated in current watermarking systems. In this paper, we present a new phase modulation audio watermarking technique, which among other features provides evidence for high audio quality. The system combines the alteration of the phase with the spread spectrum concept and is referred to as Adaptive Spread Phase Modulation (ASPM). Extensive benchmarking provide the evidence for the inaudibility of the embedded watermark and the good robustness.