Emotion Markup Language

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Urraca

It’s a big week in the world of technology. The W3C consortium has proposed we create markup language to capture emotion. I am <thrilled></thrilled>!

“As the web is becoming ubiquitous, interactive, and multimodal, technology needs to deal increasingly with human factors, including emotions. The present draft specification of Emotion Markup Language 1.0 aims to strike a balance between practical applicability and scientific well-foundedness. The language is conceived as a “plug-in” language suitable for use in three different areas: (1) manual annotation of data; (2) automatic recognition of emotion-related states from user behavior; and (3) generation of emotion-related system behavior.” Read the full post here.

The W3C consortium, one of the governing bodies for WEb standards today, posted this earlier this week. The significance of this proposal is massive. This may in fact, be bigger than any sort of Apple announcement you or I may have heard about. I mean this. And I say this mostly speaking as a student of human computer interaction. There are ethical and technological implications in this proposal that suddenly draw a wider line across the horizon. I also write this post from a fiction writer’s perspective, because implications of an emotional markup language could truly spark any speculative writer’s inspiration. Just think about it….the machines may be able to assess what we are feeling someday. But let’s address this first from the human computer interaction side for the sake of not getting carried away.

Thinking about emotion in a scientific fashion is nothing new. In the worlds of the humanities, emotions are concepts we have been trying to understand and harness. The Greek philosophers did their part, as did Shakespeare, Freud, Jung and many others. What you may not know, dear Gentle Reader, is that computer scientists are also involved in exploring, capturing, and expressing emotion. One of my own professors at DePaul University, Clark Elliott, happens to be one of the these very scientists. He’s focused his work on the exploration of emotion and computer agents that can interact with human users in an emotional context. Yes, we are talking about concepts of artificial intelligence, but not in the way that you think. These are not Hal 2000 or Priss models. Elliott’s agents work based on algorithms that seek to respond to human interaction by interpreting human emotion as a set of goals, which when met or not met, generate one of several emotions on the human user. So, no, these are not programs of true artificial intelligence.

But let’s not get carried away. This post is not about artificial intelligence. No matter what you may be reading  out there in the vast caverns of the Internet, we do not have artificial intelligence systems that are anywhere close to being what we would call truly intelligent. Heck, we can’t even understand how the brain, body and mind truly work yet. It would be silly to think we can actually model systems after something that’s not truly defined.

Here is what’s significant about emotional markup tags. This first foray into capturing emotion has probably been applied in several doctoral dissertations and in privately funded research. I have not doubt about it. However, instituting a standard for capturing emotion across the *Web* suddenly opens up a vast, and I mean really vast, set of possible data. With so many millions of Internet users, can you imagine the possibilities of using these tags to measure emotion as they interact with each other (and with computer systems)?

Maybe you cannot. But you should. It could be a very interesting future. Maybe by then we will understand the human brain better. Maybe by then we will also have more capable systems and applications. But we can definitely say that emotion is one of the facets of the mind that makes us distinguishably human. We often think of emotion as abstract, and tangible, yet this simple step in Web markup could actually bring us closer to a future where the intangible becomes real. For now we’ll let writers speculate in science fiction, and let the scientists do some work. But this announcement is a big one. We’ll look back on it one day.

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Apple–> iWork –> Pages — > E-Pub –> NO WAY!

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Urraca

Lately there’s so many new developments in the world  of of publishing and e-reading, that it’s hard to keep up. You, Gentle Reader, may only be visiting this blog to see what I’ve been up to, and I can tell you that my word count was low last week. I also went on a crazy 60 mile bike ride of the Chicago Boulevards, and I survived.

But you, yes you, the other Gentle Reader, the one in the corner taking notes quietly on your iPad, you are probably here for some tidbits about the publishing industry, right? It was not so long ago that this blog used to pride itself on chronicling a writer’s foray into the publishing world. Well, that world has changed recently, and I think these posts will reflect those changes. Because after all, it turns out I do have a thing or two to say about publishing. Not only have I spent my professional life working for publishers ranging from Tribune Company to Encyclopedia Britannica, And then this year came the publication of “The 12 Burning Wheels.” Along the process of working with M Brane SF on its publication, I have learned that the landscape of traditional book publishing has given way to new freedoms for writers, and new pitfalls. Let’s summarize some of our latest findings, shall we?

Firstly,you should know Kindle 3 is out now. It’s not only cheaper than an iPad, it continues to specialize itself as one of the best e-readers. If you are a true reader, you would probably choose this over an iPad. It’s quiet, keeps your attention on the text, and it is now more portable and affordable than before. Here’s some reviews.

And as if that weren’t enough, the competition is heating up. E-Readers are literally about to fall from the sky.

But it’s this week’s second news item that is really groundbreaking. Apple has finally enabled its iWork suite to let content creators self publish even better and faster. As Mike Cane predicted some time ago, Pages can now finally export to ePub, though many of its tags and conversions still leave a lot to be desired. No way! Yes, it’s true, I told myself. Why is this move on Apple’s part important? Well, they now enable you to create your own published work, whethere essay, short story, novel or even a book with multimedia, and now that you have exported to ePub, it’s that much easier for that book to live in the iBooks store or to even live in other e-readers (though don’t get all hot and bothered. Many of the readers still retain their proprietary formats). Pablo Defendini provided a nice summary of some of the details, check it out.

You can even see some interesting screen grabs of output to E-Pub over at ThreePress. Whoa.

I myself didn’t think this moment would come so soon. Now many authors, if they so choose to embark on the trip, can get their work out to market with reasonable costs and with a direct line to their audience (using their own web sites and other Web 2.0 communications tools). Don’t get me wrong here, though. The publishing house, the editor, the copy editor, the graphic designer are still needed, more than ever before, but these new developments allow authors a direct path to market and a way to see bigger profits by bypassing agents and publishers. Is this path the correct one for every author? Probably not. Is every author’s work good enough to go to market? We know that is not so. But we also need to see what the market will dictate. If I can buy a book or e-book directly from a writer, and his or her work is good, what’s the problem, then? I’m glad to give them my money. They made the art, I will gladly pay for it.

As go dive into September we’ll address usability issues in the format war of the e-books (a war which Amazon seems to be winning right now with its cheap Kindle and giant Kindle store). It’s sort of sad that we have to talk about formats when it comes to e-books. After all, readers just care about books.  More details to come.

Have a good weekend, ya’ll.

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A Writer’s Update

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Urraca

This morning, a series of updates.

On the writing front, I am currently working through some deep problem solving in my latest project. This one will be a novel-length work, and though I tend not to have any problems producing a word count, this time around I have raised the bar much higher for myself, to the point where I am really hesitating before moving forward. I am looking for leaner, more lyrical prose, and of course, a plot that lives up to expectations. I have spent about a year taking notes, researching, sketching short pieces, but this work needs to start growing. So, for the sake of accountability, I will be posting word counts again on this here blog as we ramp up into the Fall season. In the Fall, school starts up again, and it looks like I will be taking “HCI 460: Usability Evaulation Methods.”

I will also need to totally restructure my writing schedule. The time has come again. I used to commit to Thursdays and Saturdays to get my word counts in, but I am now looking at some early mornings, as well as an evening or two. Stay tuned. In terms of work tools, I am now pretty happy doing my fiction writing on an iPad using the Apple wireless keyboard. I will post soon on my workflow for my fellow writing nerds soon.

I also have a few short stories in the can that I am sending out to markets for submission. Of course, submitting takes time, as does querying for larger projects, and sheesh, I need an assistant all of a sudden.

Incidentally, I am also left wondering lately how best to post links to articles and postings on the current trends in publishing (which lately are tied very closely to issues of user experience and human factors). Would you like a link digest in this blog? Or do you prefer Twitter? I post all of those links on Twitter, but I realize some of you prefer visiting this here blog.

Here’s a few from today:

How to Ensure 75% of Agents Will Request Your Material

Arthur Klebanoff: eBook Veteran, First Mover

Does blogging actually help authors sell books?

Why iPad Magazines Won’t Be Big Business for a While

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A blog’s evolution

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Urraca

Back in 2005, when I originally devised this blog as a way to chronicle my foray into becoming a published author, I imagined a fairly linear path. I envisioned posts about writing inspirations, habits, techniques. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine branching out into music, topics of heartbreak, cognitive science and the culinary wonders of worms.

It’s now summer of 2010, and so much has happened. My first book, “The 12 Burning Wheels,” released this year, not just as a book, but also as an e-book in the Kindle store. Whoa. I am also in graduate school, going further into usability and information architecture for the texts of our 21st century. Suddenly, my blog is touching on areas of technology and cognitive science, and while I am not blogging every day, the content is varied, day by day. I notice I blog less about music lately, and some of my food posts now have leaked onto my Twitter account.

My question today is, are you, Gentle Reader, happy with the posts I am serving up lately?

We have posts about my writing projects.

We have posts on e-books, usability and cognitive science, roughly balled up into one main category of usability.

Is this enough? Is it too little? I’d like to know what you think? This blog serves me, but I also want it to serve you. Post your thoughts below and tell me what you’d like to see posted here.

And big hugs to all of you.

Posted in Cognitive Science, Graduate School, HCI, News, Publishing, Writers and Writing, Writing Resources and Tips, Writing and Music, Writing habits | Leave a comment

Writing Inspiration via Flyer Miles

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Urraca

Perhaps no single act has ever done more for my creative and artistic renewal than travel. The further the better, literally and figuratively, I say. It is in those moments when we realize we can no longer see the front door of our home, when we have gone so far on a trip that we cannot recognize our surroundings anymore, in which we are on our way to becoming. It is the becoming which I think matters the most in the creative process. When we become, our writing, our music, our sculpture and our own language reach new levels of insight. There is perhaps no other better way in which to earn an education in the process of art.

I haven’t had much need to reflect on the connections between previous excursions and my writing milestones, but now, as I type this on a plane hovering over Atlanta, I realize that travel renewed my work in major ways before. A trip to Mexico City in 2005 galvanized my first novel manuscript. A visit to Ireland in 2006 (I had previously lived in Dublin in 1997) gave me the burst of inspiration I needed to write my script for “Drag,” a play I wrote and performed with the Neo-Futurists that same year. And now, as I eagerly await the anxieties and the rewards of Mexico City, I realize this trip may be essential to finding my way among the hall of mirrors that is the writing process. My current novel-length project may benefit more from this trip than just solely sitting at my computer. And this trip to “El De Efe” comes right at the heels of my road trip through the American South, covering states like Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

I couldn’t imagine a world where I couldn’t see the rest of the world. A writer friend of mine has seen plenty of the U.S., but hasn’t left the country in two decades. I simply couldn’t imagine that, provided he could afford international travel, which he can. I need to go further and further away. This fall I will be in Berlin, marking my first trip to Germany. Next up I’d like to put the Middle East or India, maybe even Brazil on my list of destinations. Why? Because when I see the differences of other cultures, their customs, foods, their architecture, my mind is able to draw better and faster comparisons to my previous experiences. It is within that space, within that chamber of comparisons, juxtapositions, contrast and difference, where art begins.

Call me selfish for wanting to see the world, I don’t care. The wanderlust I harbor will only serve my writing, the work. And thus an excursion to Mexico City begins.

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‘Inception’: When We Write About Dreaming

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Urraca

I saw Chris Nolan’s film “Inception” on my birthday this week, and within twenty or so minutes, I was already breathless, amazed at how close the ideas about dreaming, collective dreaming, cognition and even top-down processing were such a part of the suspense film. The film itself was a good roller coaster ride that asked the audience to do some work of its own in unraveling the plot, but nothing too cryptic.  For headier work, see the works of David Lynch.

However, when I walked out of the theater, I realized that the film, which owes a lot to “Blade Runner,” “Existenz,” “Dark City,” and many others, may mislead its audience about what it means to dream, and what it is that our brain does when memories are formed.

So today, I’d like you to check out this thoughtful review of the film at the Stanford Neuroblog so we can discuss the film a little further. It’s lengthy, so, if you use use Instapaper, put that one on it and read at your leisure on your phone, iPad, etc. Please take a look, then meet me back here when you’re done.

Inception: A Neuroscientist’s Review: Part 1.

Our brain’s access to various processes during the stages of sleep is quite a mystery. What purpose does dreaming, and sleeping serve? It would seem our minds and bodies are able to find rest, process memories and possibly even problem solve. “Inception” glosses over some of these elements, but you should keep in mind, Gentle Reader, that the complexity of our own mind (the way in which we quickly process information and work in tandem with the body) is perhaps the biggest mystery and challenge of the universe. No film can possibly capture the true miracle of what happens when we use our brains, in waking life and dreaming life.

Let me just say that I thought Chris Nolan’s film was quite fun, and that while it mostly serves a purpose as a summer blockbuster, it had some worthwhile ideas. Questioning our own reality never ceases to please does it? From Plato through Keanu in his frock in the Matrix, we wonder whether our consciousness and our reality are nothing more than fictions themselves.

However, it also felt at many times “Inception” was a film made up of plot devices that in my friend Halena Kays’ words, “helped Leonardo DiCaprio move to the next scene.” The film was definitely grounded in Freudian framework, and there’s no shame in that, I suppose. The subconscious was a huge driver of the fictions of the plot, to the point where the deeper realms of subconsciousness became an actual place, “limbo.” I thought limbo was a plot copout, and I imagine that those who don’t hold Freud in the highest esteem might have giggled through some of these scenes. Yes, even totems were part of the film, too. There’s also some very hazy logic about how memories function and how we can access them, but let’s remember it’s a film. It’s meant to be enjoyed. It’s not a dissertation, after all.

And yet the film also held me in a sense of wonder. The realms of dreaming — who doesn’t want to inhabit them, and of course, to be in charge? Lucid dreaming is mentioned in the Stanford blog, and yes, there is still a lot we don’t understand about the phenomenon. I’ll remind you right now to check out “The Great and Secret Show,” a great novel about Quiddity, the ocean that humans cross to reach a shared state of dreaming.

And then, too, “Inception” failed at capturing the nonsensical, surreal and often frustrating part of the dreams — the parts where we fly, where toasters speak and dragons dance in a glass of water. Where was that? Why did no one’s face melt into taffy? And where the fuck was Freddy Krueger?

So often as fiction writers, we are trying to capture some of the magic of the dream world and bring it alive on the page. Those of us who lean farther into the pool of the fantastique to scry its surface do not pull away when we see the monsters, the twisted visages, the nightmare landscapes. And what a great source of inspiration dreams are. If our mind is possibly making sense of our experience and even forming memories while we sleep, it would seem the world of dream is a springboard for the artist. And indeed, it is. I often write or re-tell my dreams in an act that aims to keep the memory of the dream alive. I have often written from the dream itself, too, as is the case in “The 12 Burning Wheels” in the story Machina.

And let’s not forget that dreaming, in a way that seems parallel to that of imagining when we read fiction, borrows some of the rules and procedural memory of the working world, and recombines that information in novel ways. And just as we cannot fully understand through science the act of imagining when we read fiction, we still don’t really understand all there is to know about how I may dream of a city made of fire in the summer of 2009. Do you, Gentle Reader, ever marvel at these mysteries? Perhaps dreaming is one of those things that’s inherent in our human nature, our humanness. But what role does it serve? Is a night without dreaming no longer a night? If sleep is so essential, it would seem dreaming is also indispensable for the human body. And is dreaming an act of consciousness itself? Are we truly able to say, “I am” when we dream? And what is the writer’s responsibility when it comes to dreaming? How much, if at all, should we take from dream and write on the page? You tell me, friends. Of course, our dead friend, Jose Luis Borges, might lead you to think that the labyrinth of dreams, the libraries of the experiences of the mind, would and should transmute and form itself onto the written word. How can I ever deny such an obligation?

Please do note that I am not, nor claim to be, a neuroscientist, but I do dabble in the areas of cognitive science as part of my graduate work in human-computer interaction. I spent most of the past year reading research in this area.

What is your relationship to dreaming?

Leave me a note in the comments below.

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Spirals: Cognitive Science, Memory and Fiction

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Urraca

I’m starting a new series of posts called Spirals, devoted to some of the work I am doing in graduate school in the realms of cognitive science, usability and human factors in digital reading.

Today we kick off with an ode to the master, Marcel Proust, who literally unraveled memories and the act of remembering into a fine art. I recommend reading his works later on in life. When I tried in my twenties, its impact was lesser. After all, I had fewer memories to turn over in my mind. I imagine as I get older, my appreciation of his work will change, too.

This leads me to think about the nature of memories themselves. If knowledge and memory are stored in the neuron activity, how much can we ascertain about memories’ actual state over time? My senses let me experience my birthday party at the age of 5, but over time, as I reactivate that memory, is it possible that the way in which I view that memory (the emotions I felt, the quality of light, the sweet taste of the cake, the words people said to me) might change? Maybe I think the party was the most amazing birthday party I have ever had. But would I really think that at the time? And wouldn’t the reactivation of the memory also force me to re-evaluate the memory to suit me? That’s to say, perhaps we adjust our memories over time to deal with memories in some way. The same could be said of relationships. If I was in a relationship for three years and it ended a decade ago, my later reactivation might begin to consider the three year relationship as romantic, sweet, ignoring the negative aspects of day to day life, or perhaps even the very reasons why the breakup happened. It can work the other way, too. A relationship’s memories could possibly be reactivated years after to only focus on the negative and unhealthy elements. Incidentally, I thought, “Hmm…that picture perfect relationship I was in last year? What the hell was I thinking? Wasn’t so great, after all. Sure, I had some good times, but that was some of the worst sex I’ve ever had. Seriously.” And that, my friends, only comes from the act of reactivating memory, turning it over and over like a coin, until you can see the surface, its edges in a clearer light than the day before.

If this aspect of memories, emotions and activation happened to be true…Could we ever trust any single memory? Wouldn’t any memory, as soon as it leaves immediate experience be suspect, something not to be trusted an relied upon? Of course, this also comes up as an issue in legal proceedings and criminal investigations. The way in which a witness might tell, or retell their story about some crime they witnessed, might change over time, as they reactivate the memory, and also due to outside pressures from investigators, the jury, a judge, and their peers.

And in turn, when I write a fictional narrative, and you, the reader, absorb it in the act of reading, you are forming a new memory that has been made up. There is such a wonder in that. Enough wonder to make men dream of ways in which to game this phenomenon.

What do you, my friends, make of this? Are memories to be trusted? And what’s more, are memories from reading to be trusted? Of course, the written word jogs our memory, but wouldn’t we say that the memory we formed in the original, first reading has changed now that we have gone back to re-read?

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Great American Road Trip 2010 and MORE

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Urraca

Not a lot of updates around here lately. Summer vacation is in full swing, and the break from grad school, blogging, and even writing (more on this later), has been well received.

This summer, as part of an exercise in palate cleansing and inspiration building, I am traveling the U.S. and other parts of the world. Just recently I went on the Great American Road Trip. I will also be traveling to Mexico soon. There’s a couple more trips ahead, too.

You’re windering what has happened to my word count updates, I know. I usually I schedule travel as a reward for completing a writing project, but this time, the travel will inform the writing. Why. Because i have fallen behind on the manuscript. I have many odds and ends, but nothing substantial yet. I have been cooped up way too long. It’s made me fucking cranky. My apologies, Gentle Readers.

My writing needs this travel, my brain needs a change of scenery. The burnout I experienced in Spring nearly consumed me. But no complaints. The writing wheels are starting to turn, finally. My latest project, Rotnacht, has become something else altogether. And I am okay with that.

Also, I have said this before. I don’t write via committee, in workshops or MFAs. The best thing I can do to write more and write better is to travel, and meet more people.

For those of you just joining me now, please check out my book, “The 12 Burning Wheels.” You can buy it in paperback or for the Kindle. I think you will like it.

And check out the odd thunderstorm video I captured traveling back from California last week. I like to think of it as a metaphor for my dreaming, writing brain.

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Content’s Future: Not Science Fiction

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Urraca

What’s in a book? Language, ideas, narrative? Is that inherent to the binding and to the paper? No.

What’s in a musical recording? The experience of the music? Does it matter if it’s on vinyl or MP3? No, it doesn’t. Not when it really comes down to it. The audiophile gentleman in the back of the room — please sit down.

Same with movies. Do you really care if the movie you see lives on DVD or if it streams into your house or your iPad?

So here we have it. The day in which content lives not just in the cloud, but is part of the stream of information that is the Web, is not too far off. I see it already in how I store my own movie files, books and music using services likes DropBox and Good Reader. I simply want to READ, LISTEN AND WATCH. It’s that simple.

You may call me an early adopter, but this is where we are headed.

And the reason I’m so passionate about telling you this today? Because Mike Cane already wrote about it, and he did a damn good job. Check it out.

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The Aether Age Approaches

Posted on June 29, 2010 by Urraca

No writeup needed. This is going to be good. The Aether Age approaches.

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