March 2020 - Thirdspace - dgp mailing lists

Collaborate on my "Global South COVID-19" grant proposal?
by Ishtiaque Ahmed 30 Mar '20

30 Mar '20

Dear HCI Colleagues, Hope you are in good health. I am trying to put together a grant proposal (UofT internal) to develop an accessible voice-based healthcare system for marginalized communities both in Ontario and in the Global South. I already have partners from the Global South, but I do not have many from UofT. If you find this proposal interesting, I will be very happy to add you as my collaborator on this proposal (and your required workload for this is close to zero). I have attached the grant call to this mail. The deadline is April 1. Here is the first draft of the proposal, and I will keep polishing it until the deadline is over. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UPFExVfpjxgy5H2XDFNN8C94IOABcw58_RSfYKj… Please let me know if you are interested. Also, your comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome. Best Regards, Ishtiaque *[P.S. (March 15, 2020, and onward): My response may be late because of my engagement with the COVID-19 response teams in Canada, Bangladesh, and Australia. I appreciate your patience.]* Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto, ON, CA Ph: +1 647 220 3482 Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed web: https://www.ishtiaque.net/ My Availability: Google Calendar Link <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ishtiaque.uoft%40gmail.com&c…>

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Seventh reading:: April 10: Reading Suggestions
by Ishtiaque Ahmed 28 Mar '20

28 Mar '20

Hi Folks, I was wondering if we could read any on these following books for our next meeting: 1. The Method of Hope by Hirokazu Miyazaki: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=6376 2. The Fragility of Things by William E. Connolly: https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-fragility-of-things 3. Contagious by Priscilla Wald: https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/1261/ContagiousCultures-Carriers-and… Please let us know your preference if you have any. :) Best Regards, Ishtiaque *[P.S. (March 15, 2020 and onward): My response may be late because of my engagement with the COVID-19 response teams in Canada, Bangladesh, and Australia. I appreciate your patience.]* Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto, ON, CA Ph: +1 647 220 3482 Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed web: https://www.ishtiaque.net/ My Availability: Google Calendar Link <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ishtiaque.uoft%40gmail.com&c…> > >

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Re: [Thirdspace] Sixth reading: Markets of Sorrow: March 27
by Cansu Ekmekcioglu Dedeoglu 27 Mar '20

27 Mar '20

Hi all, Sorry for my connection probs this morning. See you all for the next book. Isolatedly, Cansu ________________________________ From: Maryam Mokhberi <maryam(a)cs.toronto.edu> Sent: March 27, 2020 10:59 To: Ishtiaque Ahmed <ishtiaque(a)cs.toronto.edu> Cc: Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat <rifat(a)cs.toronto.edu>; Thirdspace(a)dgp.toronto.edu <Thirdspace(a)dgp.toronto.edu>; Mim, Nusrat <nusrat_mim(a)gsd.harvard.edu>; Aparna Moitra <aparna.moitra(a)gmail.com>; Cansu Ekmekcioglu Dedeoglu <cansu.dedeoglu(a)mail.utoronto.ca>; Robert Soden <rjs2236(a)columbia.edu>; Priyank Chandra <prch(a)umich.edu>; Jamie Beverley <jamie_beverley(a)hotmail.com>; Yasaman Rohanifar <yasamanro(a)cs.toronto.edu> Subject: Re: [Thirdspace] Sixth reading: Markets of Sorrow: March 27 Dear Ishtiaque, Is there a link to join the online meeting? Thanks, Maryam On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 2:07 AM Ishtiaque Ahmed <ishtiaque(a)cs.toronto.edu<mailto:ishtiaque@cs.toronto.edu>> wrote: A gentle reminder that we are meeting this Friday at 11 am EST. Best Regards, Ishtiaque Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto, ON, CA Ph: +1 647 220 3482 Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed web: https://www.ishtiaque.net/ My Availability: Google Calendar Link <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ishtiaque.uoft%40gmail.com&c…> On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 2:33 PM Ishtiaque Ahmed <ishtiaque(a)cs.toronto.edu<mailto:ishtiaque@cs.toronto.edu>> wrote: > Dear Reading Group, > > Let's meet online on > > Friday, March 27, 11 am Toronto time > > and read this book: > https://www.dukeupress.edu/markets-of-sorrow-labors-of-faith > > This is very timely to understand the politics of disaster, faith, and > philanthropy. > > You can access the PDF of the book here: > > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x_kB3uX4bI9aAR2JezMSzS4vLfCrCgjU/view?usp=… > > > Best Regards, > Ishtiaque > > Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed > Assistant Professor > Department of Computer Science > University of Toronto, ON, CA > Ph: +1 647 220 3482 > Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed > web: https://www.ishtiaque.net/ > My Availability: Google Calendar Link > <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ishtiaque.uoft%40gmail.com&c…> >

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Sixth reading: Markets of Sorrow: March 27
by Ishtiaque Ahmed 27 Mar '20

27 Mar '20

Dear Reading Group, Let's meet online on Friday, March 27, 11 am Toronto time and read this book: https://www.dukeupress.edu/markets-of-sorrow-labors-of-faith This is very timely to understand the politics of disaster, faith, and philanthropy. You can access the PDF of the book here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x_kB3uX4bI9aAR2JezMSzS4vLfCrCgjU/view?usp=… Best Regards, Ishtiaque Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto, ON, CA Ph: +1 647 220 3482 Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed web: https://www.ishtiaque.net/ My Availability: Google Calendar Link <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ishtiaque.uoft%40gmail.com&c…>

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Fwd: grad student roundtable for Bhuwan Dhingra
by Ishtiaque Ahmed 24 Mar '20

24 Mar '20

FYI Best Regards, Ishtiaque Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto, ON, CA Ph: +1 647 220 3482 Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed web: https://www.ishtiaque.net/ My Availability: Google Calendar Link <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ishtiaque.uoft%40gmail.com&c…> ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Richard Zemel <zemel(a)vectorinstitute.ai> Date: Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 5:47 PM Subject: grad student roundtable for Bhuwan Dhingra To: David Duvenaud <duvenaud(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Graeme Hirst < gh(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Marsha Chechik <chechik(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Jonathan Rose < Jonathan.Rose(a)ece.utoronto.ca>, Animesh Garg <garg(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Suzanne Stevenson <suzanne(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Garth Gibson <garth(a)vectorinstitute.ai>, Timothy Chan <tcychan(a)mie.utoronto.ca>, Deepa Kundur < dkundur(a)ece.utoronto.ca>, Andreas Moshovos <andreas.moshovos(a)gmail.com>, Natalie Enright Jerger <enright(a)ece.utoronto.ca>, Ashish Khisti < akhisti(a)comm.utoronto.ca>, Ishtiaque Ahmed <ishtiaque(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Daniel Roy <droy(a)utstat.toronto.edu>, David Fleet <fleet(a)cs.toronto.edu>, Nicolas Papernot <nicolas.papernot(a)utoronto.ca>, Yang Xu < yangxu(a)cs.toronto.edu> Hi everyone, We have a student roundtable scheduled with Bhuwan Dingra tomorrow. It would be great if you could pass the invitation below on to your students, to attend this roundtable if they can. This will give the candidate the valuable opportunity to meet with our student community and not just our faculty, and also a chance for the students to talk with and give feedback on the candidate. Below is a draft note that you can send to your students encouraging them to attend the roundtable. It would be good to get a decent number (say 10-15 students) to attend. I apologize for the short notice. - Rich ******************** *NOTE TO STUDENTS* All Bhuwan Dhingra is one of the candidates being considered for the joint DCS/ECE faculty position. A student roundtable has been organized for you to meet and discuss his research interests and also tell him about your research. It also gives the candidate to get a sense of our grad students here in Toronto, one of our main selling points. I would strongly encourage you to attend the roundtable if you are available. Please let me know if you can attend. The student roundtable has been scheduled for tomorrow, *Tuesday, Mar 24th, at 5:00 pm*. Connection details are: https://zoom.us/j/981749811?pwd=N3FYVkNWYjBWTUFxdDVlcDdGbThkZz09 His talk is at 11 tomorrow as well: https://zoom.us/j/558803862?pwd=Ukd1MUlueTlPZ3dId21vY2lGL25xQT09 *Short Bio* Bhuwan Dhingra <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bdhingra/> is a final year PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by William Cohen and Ruslan Salakhutdinov. His research interests are in natural language processing, machine learning and symbolic knowledge representation and reasoning. His work is supported by the Siemens FutureMakers PhD fellowship. In 2019, he won the CMU 3-minute thesis championship. Prior to joining CMU, Bhuwan completed his undergraduate studies at IIT Kanpur in 2013, and spent two years at Qualcomm Research in San Diego. Thanks Mona Davies Manager, Research Services *Vector Institute* MaRS Centre, West Tower | 661 University Avenue, Suite 710 Toronto, ON M5G 1L7 e: mona.davies(a)vectorinstitute.ai vectorinstitute.ai *Richard Zemel, PhD* *Research Director* *Vector Institute* MaRS Centre, West Tower|661 University Ave., Suite 710 Toronto, ON M5G 1M1 e: zemel(a)vectorinstitute.ai vectorinstitute.ai

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HCI Meeting
by vicky 23 Mar '20

23 Mar '20

Hi all, There will be an HCI meeting tomorrow, on Tuesday, March 24th, from 1PM - 2PM. Josh is holding a "data collection" session which will involve drawing. Come prepared with simple drawing materials. All skills welcome! Although we won't be starting the exercise until 1PM, feel free to show up any time after 12:30PM to chat and say hello. :-) Link: bluejeans.com/dgpmeeting. Meeting sign-up and info doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q4z64YkFaiNszk6kFPx1BOlocuB5fJDyMKaDYqQ… See you then, Vicky

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HCI Meeting March 17
by Blaine Lewis 17 Mar '20

17 Mar '20

Hi Everyone, There will be an HCI meeting on Tuesday, Zhicong has signed up to give his practice job talk. Excited to see everybody there :) Link: bluejeans.com/dgpmeeting. PS: We don't have anything set in stone for next week except UIST paper swaps but it feels a bit early for that. So sign something up in the doc if you have ideas https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q4z64YkFaiNszk6kFPx1BOlocuB5fJDyMKaDYqQ… Best, Blaine

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Fwd: URL for bluejeans.com/dgpmeeting
by Ishtiaque Ahmed 12 Mar '20

12 Mar '20

Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto Web: www.ishtiaque.net Skype: syed.ishtiaque.ahmed ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: John Hancock <jhancock(a)dgp.toronto.edu> Date: Thu, Mar 12, 2020, 4:23 PM Subject: URL for bluejeans.com/dgpmeeting To: Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed <ishtiaque(a)cs.toronto.edu> Hi Ishtiaque, The url for the bluejeans meeting is bluejeans.com/dgpmeeting I'll log the machine in, but you can either go to bluejeans.com/dgpmeeting on a laptop and bjn.vc on the room system. -John

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Thursday March 12, Silvia Masiero Talk: Data-induced injustices
by Priyank Chandra 12 Mar '20

12 Mar '20

Hi All Join the Third Space group as we present a talk by our visiting scholar, Prof. Silvia Masiero from Loughborough University. She will present her recent work on the cashless economy in India and its impact on informal communities, including critiquing the design of new digital systems. Open to the public! Please forward to interested groups or individuals. *Speaker: Silvia Masiero, *Loughborough University *Details: Room BA 5187 at *Bahen Centre, 40 St.George Street *Time: Thursday, March 12, 2020, from 4 pm to 6 pm* *Talk Title: *Data-induced injustices: Questioning the orthodoxy of cashlessness for development *Abstract: * India's demonetisation in November 2016 anticipated the country's shift towards a 'cashless' economy, designed to combat illegal money flows by making transactions traceable through digital technologies. As diffusion of cashless transactions has rapidly increased, it is important to understand its effects on actors of the informal sector, whose transactions are largely held in cash. To do so we conduct a case study of street markets in Bangalore, characterised by an extant dichotomy between sellers owning digital means of transaction (mainly digital wallets running on smartphones) and sellers not owning them. Our guiding research question is therefore, 'how has cashlessness affected street sellers in Bangalore?' Combining theories of information poverty with emerging theorisations of data justice, we find three forms of injustice experienced by street sellers in the observed context. First, digital wallets are mostly not designed for the basic needs of street sellers, who need immediate notification of transactions and easy-to-use interfaces. Second, knowledge on usability of digital wallets is discontinuous, with street sellers being exposed to incomplete and conflicting sources of information. Third, costs of exclusion from cashless transactions have increased over the last years, with competition from e-marketplaces generating a new important source of economic distress. Based on the empirical account provided, we draw implications for countries with large informal sectors transitioning to cashless economies. *Bio:* Silvia Masiero is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Development at the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University. Her research concerns the role of ICTs in socio‐economic development, with a focus on the participation of ICT artefacts in the politics of anti‐poverty programmes and emergency management. Silvia has conducted extensive work on the computerisation of India's main food security programme, the Public Distribution System (PDS), and on the adoption of ICTs in core aspects of the Indian public sphere including elections, rural employment guarantees, and programmes of social protection. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and a member of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D. Thank you -- Priyank Chandra Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Computer Science University of Toronto, ON, CA https://www.priyankc.com

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[Tux] Professor Justine Cassell@ MaRS - Tuesday, March 10 at 12:30pm
by Anita Kivi 09 Mar '20

09 Mar '20

A reminder that Prof Cassell’s talk is scheduled for tomorrow in the MaRS Auditorium. [cid:image005.png@01D357B6.5B82A7B0] [cid:image008.png@01D10810.C2D01210] [cid:image008.png@01D357B6.5B82A7B0] Hello TUX! A reminder that we have a Sanders Series Lecture by Professor Justine Cassell of Carnegie Mellon University and the founding international chair at the PRAIRIE Institute on Interdisciplinary Research in AI in Paris, France. We look forward to seeing you there! Ali, Fraser, Daniel and Tovi Sanders Series Invited Lecture – Prof Justine Cassell: Conversational Commerce March 10, 2020. MaRS Auditorium @ 661 University Avenue, Toronto, ON. Lunch reception begins at 12:30 pm. Presentation begins at 1:00 pm. Professor Justine Cassell: Conversational Commerce 661 University Avenue, MaRS Auditorium<https://www.tux-hci.org/speaker/justine-cassell/?preview=true> [cid:image005.jpg@01D5F623.368546D0] “Conversational Commerce” “Conversational Commerce” is a meme that just won’t seem to go away. And within conversational commerce the new buzzword is “empathy” – systems as diverse as smart speakers and websites that generate insurance quotes are said to be empathetic. However, as Inigo Montoya so aptly said “I do not think it means what you think it means.” In this talk I’ll discuss where conversational interfaces have come from, where they are today, and where they could go tomorrow if we learn how to really create bonds between computational systems and their users. Bio Justine Cassell is currently on leave from Carnegie Mellon to hold the founding international chair at the PRAIRIE Institute on Interdisciplinary Research in AI, in Paris, France. Before going on leave, she was Associate Dean of Technology Strategy and Impact in the School of Computer Science at CMU, co-director of the Simon Initiative on Technology-Enhanced Learning, and co-director, with Professor Tom Mitchell, of the Yahoo (Oath/Verizon) InMind Project on the Future of Personal Assistants. She is Director Emerita of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at CMU. Previously Justine was faculty at Northwestern University where she founded the Technology and Social Behavior Doctoral Program and Research Center. Before that she was a tenured professor at the MIT Media Lab. Justine has received the MIT Edgerton Prize, Anita Borg Institute Women of Vision award, the AAMAS Test of Time paper award, and the National Academy of Sciences Henry and Bryna David Prize. She is a fellow of the AAAS, Royal Academy of Scotland, and the ACM. [cid:image009.png@01D357B6.5B82A7B0] OUR SPONSORS: [cid:image007.jpg@01D5F623.368546D0] TUX is made possible by the support of our sponsors, Steven Sanders, Autodesk, University of Toronto Department of Computer Science, and Chatham Labs.

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