Taking an exam shouldn’t mean giving up your privacy
Concordia University’s OnLine Exam (COLE) system, which uses Proctorio’s technology, has received much backlash online, and rightly so. The platform helps to facilitate evaluations even if students cannot physically be present on campus, an unfortunate reality for many amidst our current COVID-19 pandemic world. However, by using Proctorio’s assets, universities are setting a dangerous precedent. One University of Dallas student journalist put it as “spyware cloaked under the guise of being an educational tool.” From knowing what tabs you have open, direct access to your camera and microphone, the ability to see what devices you have plugged in and eject them, it’s an unprecedented amount of power forced by universities onto already pressured students.
Before I go further, I want to emphasize that academic integrity is essential. Cheaters ruin our world, whether through traffic, shoddy quality goods, relationships, or taxes. Academia has a responsibility to protect itself against this, but not just because it hurts other students and our work. Ultimately, how we conduct ourselves in our schooling is how we approach our workplaces and our communities.
But enough is enough. The line was crossed months ago, and the excuse of COVID-19 simply isn’t good enough. These privacy concerns were already discussed at the start of the pandemic. In an April 7 Mediumarticle, a former Bay Street lawyer (and Concordia alumnus), Fahad Diwan, broke down exactly how the university was violating student rights in a legal context. Shocker — he thinks it’s wrong and maybe even illegal.
“The use of Proctorio needs to be suspended until Proctorio can get manifest, free, and enlightened consent from students,” said Diwan in the post, “and Concordia University can demonstrate that online, closed-book exams are absolutely necessary.”
Well, that didn’t happen. The administration and faculties washed their hands of the controversy with the same excuse everyone is using — it’s COVID.
Let me ask my fellow educators and administrators — would you consent to this? Would you accept Concordia creeping into your computer, your files, your emails? And I’m not talking about your work machines. I’m talking about your personal tech because that’s what Proctorio does to students through their pervasive Chrome extension. Maybe you do because you have “nothing to hide.” And if that’s the case, I encourage you to post your login credentials publicly on your social media so we can all see why you are such a good netizen (please don’t do this — it’s against Concordia security policies, but also super stupid). This attitude is stunningly anachronistic that I feel genuine shame for those who utter it. Your computer, your phone, your tech IS YOUR BUSINESS.
But let’s go further: what if you were required to report your GPS location for every class you taught because the university told you they needed to verify where you were working for tax purposes? After COVID, what if they monitored when and where you were in the building because your phone automatically connects to Concordia’s wireless network? What if they said you needed to record all lectures and submit them to the university, where an independent team including students would assess if you were effective in teaching during your class discourse, as well as scanning for other problematic behaviour? What happens when you are required by Instructional and Information Technology Services (IITS) to install software that would monitor your productivity? What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
These are no longer “what ifs.” They are WHENs. Like I said before, school environments dictate how we conduct ourselves in our communities and workplaces. By insisting students use these platforms instead of exploring alternative evaluation methods and being unwilling to show empathy for students, academia will receive the same fate. But what’s worse is that universities are setting up the digital prisons they so often rail against. How come Foucault’s panopticon, widely taught in the humanities, did not at least come up in the conversation when implementing this Orwellian spy apparatus?
I beg this: is it worth protecting against cheats if it makes you lose your soul? We’re not police officers — we’re educators. We seek to empower our students, not wield power over them. Worse, we tell the world and every employer that these tactics are acceptable and to use them on the next generation of workers.
You might feel powerless in this situation. But students have the agency to resist. So, if you are taking exams this semester with COLE or with any system that uses Proctorio or other invasive technologies, fight back! Put a sign in your room or wear a T-shirt that says #ScrewCole or #ExamsNotProctology. It’s your right to free expression.
Before taking your exams, post photos on your social media and tag local media and journalists — encourage your friends and classmates to do the same. Because having to take a university exam shouldn’t mean your school gets to look through your life, digital or otherwise.
Negar Haghbin’s fitness app uses push notifications for motivation
If you’re struggling to stick to a fitness routine, you’re not alone.
Social distancing protocol and the closure of most physical fitness centres have made it harder to exercise effectively. To be stuck at home for most of the day has made finding motivation to work out more challenging than ever.
While some athletes are self-driven and autonomous when it comes to their health, many people find motivation in comradery. Whether fitness means going to a group yoga class, working out in a public gym, or playing basketball at a recreational centre, it is generally made easier when in the presence of others.
A recently developed iOS fitness app aims to make the most of technology in modern devices by sending daily context-aware push notifications to users to assist them in meeting their fitness goals.
I interviewed Negar Haghbin, a master’s student in computer science at the Applied Perception Lab at Concordia who developed and designed the fitness app. She goes into detail on the app and its intricacies, when and how the idea came about, and how COVID-19 influenced her work.
Liam Sharp (LS): What inspired you to design a fitness app?
Negar Haghbin (NH): At the Applied Perception Lab, we mostly deal with health-related projects. Mobile push notifications are an important technology when it comes to that because they serve as great reminders. For example, elderly people who take prescribed medicine can use push notifications to reliably remind them of their daily routines. While that aspect was studied heavily, there was a grey area in our research with push notifications as it pertained to fitness, so that’s how the idea really came about.
LS: Can you describe the application? What makes it unique?
NH: We conducted a survey at Concordia on push notification preferences that got over 100 participants. Based on the results, we created the iOS fitness application that sends three types of daily push notifications. The first type is based on the user’s location, the second is based on a predetermined time set by the user, and the third is based on the user’s level of activity for the day.
The app has numerous other functionalities, like offering different types of workouts in the database that users can customize to their desires. A diary section allows for users to list workouts done within the application or separately. Finally, by completing workouts, users can progress towards badges and achievements that serve as rewards to add motivation.
LS: Did this idea come to life with the pandemic? What impact do you think COVID-19 will have on it?
NH: I started the project around October 2019, so it’s been a little over a year. I believe COVID-19 will make the application more prevalent with people being restricted to their homes and having limited access to equipment. But I can’t say COVID-19 inspired me to develop the app because at the time, the virus was not yet a global situation.
LS: Who is the application designed for?
NH: There isn’t a specific target audience. Anyone can use the app as long as they are willing to work out regularly. Building the habit will take time as previous research has indicated it takes about 10 weeks to fully develop autonomy. The truth is that the workouts are designed so that anyone at any fitness level can use the application for its intelligent reminders and/or the routines.
LS: Is the app available for download as of right now?
NH: Currently, it’s not available on the App Store because it is still in the research phase and we haven’t used the Apple server to collect data from user’s phones. Instead, we get participants in our study to send screenshots at the end of the research period and they fill out a questionnaire that ultimately figures out if the user successfully developed a daily workout habit while using the application. As of right now, it’s not available, but who knows for the future.
LS: How can people participate in the project?
NH: We’re always looking for participants for the long version of the user study, so if people are willing to help, they can learn more on the application and how to apply at the AP Lab website.
If you’re interested in participating in the study, send an email to n_haghbi@encs.concordia.ca for more information.
As a kid, I was lucky enough to grow up with a web developer dad, and a paranoid mom. When it finally came time for me to create my first ever email address, I distinctly remember my father telling me I should never, ever, ever use my real name online, because “you never know what could happen,” and something about how the internet is dangerous. And that’s the story of how I came to be identified with, for the few subsequent years, the terribly cringey online username of “Elycat1.”
Finding a sense of belonging has been a confusing experience for those who, like me, were raised during the transition period between the offline and online ages. The security of the internet, the privacy, and the social implications of building our digital footprint were dealt with such nonchalance that I didn’t see the time go by until we were caught up with influencer culture and information overload.
We can say all we want about the calamitous effects the internet will have on kids’ brains, and the havoc it will wreak on existing societal structures. Don’t get me wrong, I’d never want to underplay the devastating effects of social media or of the over-accessibility of information on mental health, self-confidence, or social expectations. But I also see so many ways in which those younger than me have thrived from growing up in the digital era, and I can’t hide the admiration I hold for them.
These days, I’m noticing so much ease in younger people who are overcoming the hurdles my peers and I faced while we were shaping our identities. It might seem superficial, but I rarely ever see anyone dressed in the quite tasteless way I used to, or having the insecurities I did about my own interests.
I know not everything we see online is to be trusted, yet I feel a lot of sincerity in what teenagers publish on the web. For me, it was always a struggle growing up to find affinities with those around me, and it was very embarrassing (it still is) to me that the community I felt I belonged to most was the One Direction fan club on Twitter. But as computers and phones have crept their way into our day-to-day, even the most fringe tastes can create kinship among strangers.
It’s uplifting to read about kids supporting each other through coming-outs, anxiety episodes, experiences of abuse and other adversities they face, and to find encouraging, sympathetic voices coming from the same demographic that the media discredits as impudent and lazy. I have to admit that I sometimes feel envious of how welcoming many online spaces can be on platforms like Tumblr, which used to be seen as kingdoms of eccentricity.
I’m very inspired by the ambition and creativity set forth by younger crowds. For better or for worse, their identities and characters are a lot better defined than my own were a few years ago. Though I only started forming concrete political beliefs at the end of high school, I’ve seen kids much younger than that at rallies and protests. I’m not sure if this is supported by a society that more thoroughly endorses critical thinking, or by one in which maturity has become a pressing necessity — either way, it’s impressive how aware and concerned they feel about the world.
TikTok has been in the news a lot lately, and though it’s rife with short-lived trends, there has been a constant stream of heartening and self-bettering content. Educational, philosophical, politically relevant, and health-advocating videos have done numbers, and though some may see it as a trend or as a response to a demoralizing quarantine, it seems to me to be part of a greater youth-led movement that prioritizes self-realization and happiness.
For a generation who has only known a world assisted by softwares and screens, a lot of what is reproached of us, like being too reliant on technology or too disconnected from physical reality, has been implemented and enabled by a society whose goal was to make life better. It’s become a game of sorts for our elders to boast the pains they experienced at our age, almost in an attempt to prove their resilience — my mother always reminds me how far she had to walk to school when I bring up the length of my daily commute.
But in fact, shouldn’t we be happy that people have it easier than we do, and to hope they can thrive in ways we couldn’t? I am, at least, and I’m proud of the place young people continue to make for themselves in the world.
Critical masterpiece Brave New World by Aldous Huxley outlines the components of a complicit society — one of pleasure and beauty and a drug called soma. Do we share anything in common?
Have you ever done drugs?
Let me dial back a few notches — what is a drug? Is it a substance that alters a state of consciousness? Something that shimmies around your brain chemistry and makes you feel good?
Are drugs something to be wary of? Like a thief in the night, coming to steal your body’s vitamin C supply, which is a common side effect of smoking?
In these strange times, Aldous Huxley’sBrave New World and its depiction of the drug soma is more relevant and frightening than ever. Our society enjoys drugs in the same way the citizens of the World State do, which is the governing society of Brave New World. This got me thinking: seeing as we are on the brink of complete societal collapse, what is the root function that drugs serve in both of these societies?
Whenever a citizen of the World State has a moment’s pause, or an unpleasant experience, they pop a “gramme” of soma and go on “holiday.” This leaves people with no opportunity or reason to sit and think. It preserves world order.
In present-day North America, we often go on “holiday” like the people of the World State, except in our case, it’s on a screen. We don’t even go number two without zoning out on “holiday” to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Youtube. These days, we don’t think critically about our society’s conventional wisdom and we don’t assess our own thoughts and opinions. Did I think of this idea myself, or did I hear it somewhere? Where did I learn this information? Is this source peer-reviewed? Who conducted this research?
Our soma is literally called Crave, could the message be any clearer? What do you call it when you’re up all night binge watching a show — a bender?
According to the digital Harvard Library, in the 1950s, British neuroscientist John R. Smythies researched the stroboscopic effect on “normal individuals.” According to literary scholar and philosopher Anthony Peake, the stroboscopic effect is when flashing lights create a “flicker effect” in front of the eyes — in other words, what a screen does every time it’s on, whether it be a cellphone, tablet, or computer.
In concluding his research, “Smythies compared the strobe’s “power of addiction” to the powerful drug [mescaline].”
News has become reality television and reality television is now scripted. Thirty-minute Netflix series now end in the middle of the story, and we end up in bed watching marathons instead of running them. Is it all a coincidence?
The hard lines of fact and fiction, of journalism and propaganda, of documentary and reality television, are fading. It’s a dangerous thing that, as more content becomes more accessible, more of our time is spent accessing this content. Commercials are now tied right into the series, as the protagonist breaks the fourth wall and nudges to the audience the shameless product placement.
Is this the holiday soma promised?
I’m left with more questions than answers, but maybe that’s a good thing. It’s important to be critical of our surroundings. How is it that a cellphone plan is now an easy $50 a month? I remember making my first budget when I moved out, and there it was, a $50 cut in my broke-berry pie. When did this become an essential cost of living?
This concept that we need our cellphone is a conventional wisdom of our time. You see the little note taped to your door that reminds you what you need before leaving: “Phone. Keys. Wallet.”
Do I need my phone? Or am I experiencing an addiction to the millions of lights flickering on the screen every time I check it for the time, or get a really well-timed targeted ad.
Isolation has only exacerbated the issue. For those of us fortunate enough to have the option to stay home and self-isolate, most of our communication is taking place on a screen. Hell, I’m writing these words on a screen, and you’re reading it off one. We’re now working from our screens, meeting people from our screens, taking exercise classes from our screens, even having essential services like doctors appointments from our screens.
With all this time spent staring at screens, it would be a good idea to screen the content once in a while. Consider the addictive nature of these devices and take a day off. Since the lights off our phones impact our brains like Mescaline, does that mean you’re getting high right now reading this? Soma promises the people of the World State a holiday, but all my screen promises me is a vitamin C supplement for $29.99, and yours can too if you act now.
What would journalism be without editors? Well, in my opinion, it would be pretty chaotic.
Editors are the backbone of journalism — take them out of the equation and you are setting loose a tsunami of fake news, badly written and poorly researched stories – to sum up, just total amateurism.
But, what do editors actually do?
According to Amelia Pisapia, journalist and former editorial director of Novel, editors are talented problem solvers who excel at putting information in context, assessing the accuracy of data and weeding out bias.
“They view issues from multiple angles, connect the dots and uncover human stories in complex systems,” writes Pisapia.
Pisapia adds that editors work within established ethical frameworks. She says that all editors have five values in common: accuracy, independence, impartiality, humanity and accountability.
However, in recent years editors have started to quite literally lose some of their humanity. With developments in technology and artificial intelligence, more and more media and news distributing platforms have started to use algorithms as editors instead of actual humans.
A good example is the algorithm behind the news feed on Facebook.Tobias Rose-Stockwell, a strategist, designer and journalist for Quartz wrote in his article, “[Facebook’s algorithm] shows you stories, tracks your responses, and filters out the ones that you are least likely to respond to. It is mapping your brain, seeking patterns of engagement.”
Sounds great doesn’t it? Having only quality news that you are interested in delivered right to your doorstep without having to move a muscle.
Well if it sounds too good to be true, it’s because it simply is. Algorithms are actually very far from being these perfect editors that we hope them to be. They have massive flaws and are actually very dangerous.
Don’t misunderstand me, algorithm editors have some good sides. They do surpass humans on some points — vis à vis their conduct as an editor for example.
In his article, “Can an Algorithm be an Editor?,” José Moreno, former multimedia director at Motorpress Lisboa explains that an algorithm has the silver lining of always acting the same way.
“Human editors always act differently on the basis of a common code,” Moreno says. “In a way, there is more accuracy and reliability in a “system” that always performs a function in the same way than in a “system” that always performs differently.”
So, yes algorithms have some upsides; Professor Pablo Boczkowski from Northwester University even called Facebook’s algorithm “the greatest editor in the history of humanity.”
But unfortunately, despite their virtues, any positive aspect that algorithms may present are always heavily outweighed by their negative counterparts.
The study , The Editor vs. the Algorithm: Targeting, Data and Externalities in Online News done by a collection of professors from different universities compared the different aspects of AI and human editors. The researchers discovered an alarming number of problems with algorithms editors, for example the algorithms tend to serve a less diverse mix of news to readers. They create a “bubble” effect as readers are presented with a narrower set of topics. An example the study presented was about readers who lived in German states where there was a high share of votes for extreme political parties. In the last election, those people were more likely to increase their consumption of political stories when their stories were selected by algorithms.
Another flaw with algorithms is their lack of social awareness; every calculation they make is based on an individual-level data. Algorithms don’t take into account “socially optimal reading behaviour,” according to the study.
“It doesn’t differentiate between factual information and things that merely look like facts,” said Rose-Stockwell, referring to the Facebook example above. “It doesn’t identify content that is profoundly biased, or stories that are designed to propagate fear, mistrust, or outrage.”
The worst part in all of this, is that algorithms have even started to change the way some human editors think as well as the behavior of some news organizations. We have entered a traffic-at-all-costs mentality. News outlets are influenced by numbers, clicks and views now and no longer by journalistic values.
Despite all their flaws, regrettably, algorithm editors are still here and due to humans’ lust for technology and artificial intelligence, they are probably going to stay and even multiply.
But, why should algorithm editors be opposite to human editors, why should it be human vs machine?
The solution is easy: use a mix of both. The researchers from the study mentioned above concluded that “the optimal strategy for a news outlet seems to be to employ a combination of the algorithm and the human to maximize user engagement.”
In the digital age that we currently live in, machines will continue to take over more and more aspects of life. However, humans are more relevant than ever because these machines aren’t always optimal. So, in the end having a symbiosis between humans and machines is actually a comforting thought. It is the promise of a better tomorrow where machines will help humans and not supplant them.
According to Concordia’s Ursula Eicker, cities of the future should be less about expansion and prosperity, but more about resilience and socio-economic sharings.
Want to live smart? Slow down. That’s what Ursula Eicker, professor of Buildings Civil and Environmental Engineering said at Le Monde Festival 2019. Le Monde is a climate festival held on Oct. 25 and 26, co-organized by French newspapers Le Monde and Le Devoir. Different talks and debates were held, arguing how we can shape the most sustainable and hopeful future possible.
We have never been as busy as now when it comes to revolutionizing our use of natural remedies. But instead of rushing towards new methods and technologies, maybe we should just go back in time and get inspired by how things were before the industrial revolution. Eicker is Concordia’s new Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Cities, and this year she was giving the keynote address for the French climate festival. According to Eicker, climate justice will not just take a few single actions, but several repeating ones that might conflict with our incorporated and safe habitual life as we know it. Her take on this matter is that we need to change the infrastructures in cities, not necessarily by looking forward, but by looking backward.
“We live in a world where short term actions dominate,” Eicker said. She doesn’t see a bright future for sterile cities with a focus on expansion and financial growth. Instead, Eicker argues that we need a frame that can help us reduce our carbon footprint in the most efficient way possible.
A large and open space for pedestrians, bikers and green areas are key elements of these so-called “next-generation cities,” that Eicker gave us a virtual tour of. Besides these back-to-basics renovations of the cityscape, she also shared the importance of rethinking how we as consumers maintain ownership of, for example, our way of commuting. Why not drive together with your colleague to work, or go grocery shopping with your neighbour, in one vehicle?
Being smart is not just about being fast, evolving and building. Big changes have to be incorporated into city infrastructure, but you can also help a lot through individual actions. Maybe this simplified approach to sharing both transport and resources would be worth a try.
One student’s thoughts on why we should consider putting our phone away and living in the present
I’m sure all of you who have smartphones have experienced some sense of guilt for devoting so much time to them every day. We are being reminded daily of the amount of time we spend in front of our screens. We live in a virtual world, where we maintain and develop connections, at the cost of engaging with those who are physically present. Why is it that despite having contact with others at our fingertips at all times, we still feel lonely?
According to Psychology Today, we are being haunted by a “loneliness epidemic,” where those of us who spend the most time on social media feel the most lonesome. Even if you have deleted all social media off your phone, you are still susceptible to this epidemic. Studies have revealed that the relentless use of mobile phones leads us to experience anxiety, depression, isolation and loneliness. Face-to-face interactions are losing value as we feel closer to our friends and family by nurturing relationships virtually. We are only drifting away from the reality in which we are living.
For those of us who use our phones as a means of sustaining connections with those far away, it is harder to find balance between living in the present and being elsewhere. We are victims of being virtually connected while in the presence of those we love, thus isolating ourselves even further. We are completely addicted to constantly checking the time, the weather, Instagram, Facebook, you name it; all of these are distractions that affect us more than they benefit us. According to The Telegraph, we are spending approximately 24 hours per week on our phones. Can you imagine being in front of your screen for a whole day non-stop? Of course you can, because this is our weekly reality.
We are prioritizing the virtual world over the real world. We feel empty as we try to capture every moment for social media and friends, and are not enjoying the present while we’re in it. This strikes a nerve because we are constantly seeking entertainment and wasting our time by overindulging in our cellphones.
I think it’s sad when a couple or a group of friends are sitting at a restaurant, scrolling down their screens instead of talking to each other. I feel bad for those who are in the middle of a forest recording every moment for their Instagram story. But the truth is that we have all done those things.
I know it sounds cheesy, but we should really be living in the present. No one truly cares about what we are doing anyway—you are aware of that yourself as you skip/scroll through other people’s stories or messages. Scrolling through our social media can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction with our own lives as we compare it to the perfect reality of those portrayed through pretty filters and thought-out captions.
The chronic need to check our phones prevents us from relaxing and checking in with ourselves. Rather than connecting with each other, we are disconnecting from our real lives and from the present. The first step in spending less time on our phones is to recognize the fact that we have a problem. Putting our phones down more often will help us obtain a clearer mindset. If you want to go further, maybe a real alarm clock will be the solution to late nights and morning screen scrolls. These are small steps that can have a big impact—why not start today?
Four Montreal students take first place at HackHarvard
“HackHarvard was maybe my 10th hackathon,” said Nicolas MacBeth, a first-year software engineering student at Concordia. He and his friend Alex Shevchenko, also a first-year software engineering student, have decided to make a name for themselves and frequent as many hackathon competitions as they can. The pair have already participated in many hackathons over the last year, both together and separately. “I just went to one last weekend [called] BlocHacks, and I was a finalist at that,” said MacBeth.
Most notable of the pair’s achievements, along with their other teammates Jay Abi-Saad and Ajay Patal, two students from McGill, is their team’s first place ranking as ‘overall best’ in the HackHarvard Global 2018 competition on Oct. 19. According to MacBeth, while all hackathons are international competitions, “HackHarvard was probably the one that had the most people from different places than the United States.” The competition is sponsored by some of the largest transnational conglomerates in the tech industry. For example, Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, a multinational conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, as well as Zhejiang Lab, a Zhejiang provincial government sponsored institute whose research focuses on big data and cloud computing.
MacBeth said he and Shevchenko sifted through events on the ‘North American Hackathons’ section of the Major League Hacking (MLH) website, the official student hacking league that supports over 200 competitions around the world, according to their website. “We’ve gone to a couple hackathons, me and Alex together,” said MacBeth. “And we told ourselves ‘Why not? Let’s apply. [HackHarvard] is one of the biggest hackathons.’ […] So we applied for all the ones in the US. We both got into HackHarvard, and so we went.”
Essentially, MacBeth, Shevchenko, Abi-Saad, and Patal spent 36 hours conceptualizing, designing, and coding their program called sober.AI. The web application uses AI in tandem with visual data input to “increase accuracy and accessibility, and to reduce bias and cost of a normal field sobriety test,” according to the program’s description on Devpost. “I read a statistic somewhere that only a certain amount of police officers have been trained to be able to detect people [under the influence],” said MacBeth. “Drunk, they can test because they have [breathalyzers], but high, it’s kind of hard for people to test.”
MacBeth explained that the user-friendly web application could be helpful in a range of situations, from trying to convince an inebriated friend not to drive under the influence, to law enforcement officials conducting roadside testing in a way that reduces bias, to employees, who may have to prove sobriety for work, to do so non-invasively.
Sober.AI estimates the overall percentage of sobriety through a series of tests that are relayed via visual data—either a photo of an individual’s’ face or a video of the individual performing a task—that is inputted into two neural networks designed by the team of students.
“We wanted to recreate a field sobriety test in a way that would be as accurate as how police officers do it,” said MacBeth.
The first stage is an eye exam, where a picture of an individual is fed to the first neural network, which gives an estimation of sobriety based on the droopiness of the eye, any glassy haze, redness, and whether the pupils are dilated. The second stage is a dexterity test where individuals have to touch their finger to their nose, and the third is a balance test where people have to stand on one leg. “At the end, we compile the results and [sober.AI] gives a percentage of how inebriated we think the person is,” said MacBeth.
“Basically, what you want to do with AI is recreate how a human would think,” explained MacBeth. AI programs become increasingly more accurate and efficient as more referential data is inputted into the neural networks. “The hardest part was probably finding data,” explained MacBeth. “Because writing on the internet ‘pictures of people high’ or ‘red eyes’ and stuff like that is kind of a pain.” MacBeth said that he took to his social media pages to crowdsource photos of his friends and acquaintances who were high, which provided some more data. However, MacBeth said his team made a name for themselves at the hackathon when they started going from group to group, asking their competitors to stand on one leg, as if they were sober, then again after spinning around in a circle ten times. “That was how we made our data,” said MacBeth. “It was long and hard.”
Participating in such a prestigious competition and having sober.AI win ‘overall best’ left MacBeth and Shevchenko thirsty for more. “HackHarvard had a lot more weight to it. We were on the international level, and just having the chance of being accepted into HackHarvard within the six or seven hundred students in all of North America that were accepted, I felt like we actually needed to give it our all and try to win—to represent Concordia, to represent Montreal.”
MacBeth and Shevchenko have gone their separate ways in terms of competitions for the time being, however the pair’s collaborations are far from over. Both are planning to compete separately in ConUHacks IV at the end of January 2019, where MacBeth explained that they will team up with other software engineering students who have yet to compete in hackathons. “We’re gonna try to groom other people into becoming very good teammates,” said MacBeth.
The first-year software engineer concluded with some advice for fellow Concordia students. “For those in software engineering and even computer science: just go to hackathons,” advised MacBeth. “Even if you’re skilled, not skilled, want to learn, anything, you’re going to learn in those 24 hours, because you’re either gonna be with someone who knows, or you’re gonna learn on your own. Those are the skills you will use in the real world to bring any project to life.”
From left, Abhishek Gupta, Xavier-Henri Hervé, Kai Hsin-Hung, Caroline Bourbonnière and Sydney Swaine-Simon discussed the future and impact of AI during a panel held at Concordia. Photo by Mackenzie Lad
Panelists define AI and discuss how this technology will impact society and the workplace
Artificial intelligence (AI) professionals discussed the impact and future of AI in the workplace and its role in society at large during a panel held at Concordia University on March 13.
“The fear of technological anxiety and mass unemployment due to artificial intelligence has been largely proven to be untrue,” said panelist Kai Hsin-Hung, a consultant at the International Training Centre for the International Labour Organization. “Rather than eliminating occupations, AI will most likely replace the tasks and how we are going to be doing them.”
According to Abhishek Gupta, an AI ethics researcher at McGill University, many people don’t fully understand the term AI, and its definition “has been shifting over time.” Gupta defined AI as “the ability of a machine to do a task that was previously thought to be only possible by human intelligence.”
Caroline Bourbonnière, a communications advisor for the research institute Element AI, clarified that, while certain jobs will be replaced with AI, the purpose of converting this work to automatic operations is to allow workers to be more efficient. “All of futurists are wrong about how quickly AI will be affecting the job market,” she said. “We have a lot of reports, and it was found that job creations versus job-loss projections tended to have a very balancing effect.”
Certain dangerous jobs, such as tractor operators and miners, may eventually be replaced by AI technology, but Bourbonnière emphasized that this does not mean AI will replace all jobs. In particular, she discussed how AI technology will be responsible for completing paperwork in the future, which will allow workers to focus on tasks more central to their job.
“In some organizations, people will be spending about two hours a week putting together reports,” Bourbonnière said, offering the example of how “79 per cent of social workers’ work is paperwork. Imagine what they could do with this time. They can be spending it with youth at risk.”
An important subdivision of AI is machine learning, Gupta explained. This refers to a digital system’s ability to “learn” a task that it is not explicitly programmed for. In this process, the digital system is provided with a set of data, which its AI component registers and internalizes. Machine learning is just one of the ways AI can be helpful, rather than a harmful, according to Xavier-Henri Hervé, the executive director of Concordia’s District 3 Innovation Centre.
“I do not think AI is the foe. AI is just reality,” he said. “The foe right now is time. The speed at which this is happening; things are happening a lot faster than anyone is imagining. [AI] is so convenient.“ Hervé reminded the audience that AI is already a component in many everyday devices, such as smartphones. “It is hiding everywhere,” he said.
Bourbonnière added that she believes it’s crucial to democratize AI to prevent large companies from monopolizing the technology, and to allow non-profit organizations to use AI to address issues around the world. “[Democratization] is education—to learn about the technology and not feel intimidated by it,” she said. “It’s important in widening the population’s understand of the technology.”
The Concordia engAGE research centre is focused on interdisciplinary research to improve the lives of elderly people.
Photo courtesy of Shannon Hebblethwaite
Concordia research centre explores music therapy, community programs, technology
As Concordia’s newest research unit, the engAGE centre has one very specific focus: interdisciplinary, innovative research that aims to improve the lives of elderly people.
Funded by the office of the vice-president of research and graduate studies, the engAGE centre features research from all four of Concordia’s faculties.
According to Shannon Hebblethwaite, the director of the engAGE centre and an associate professor in the department of applied human sciences, the centre specializes in diverse and community-focused research that “aspires to change how we think about aging.”
“EngAGE researchers partner with older people and their communities to address challenges and facilitate opportunities in all realms of life—social, physical, cognitive, emotional and political,” Hebblethwaite said.
She also explained that the research conducted at the centre is separated into four groups: culture, creativity and aging; community, care and connectivity; health, well-being and the lifecourse; and politics, policy and the economics of aging.
Culture, creativity and aging is focused on fine arts approaches to elderly care, including art and music therapies in long-term care facilities and research about how cultural factors influence obituaries and the remembrance of the elderly.
The Concordia engAGE research centre is focused on interdisciplinary research to improve the lives of elderly people. Photo courtesy of Shannon Hebblethwaite
Community, care and connectivity focuses on community programs and improving elder care, while the remaining two groups focus on medicine and policy.
Specific research projects include a study on how technology influences the relationship between older people and their family members, coordinating “Art Hives” (free, public art sessions open to all community members), and research on how music therapy can impact elderly people living with dementia.
Despite the centre only receiving Senate approval in June, engAGE researchers have already developed connections with local, national and international partners.
EngAGE is working with community non-profit organizations, including the advocacy group RECAA (Respecting Elders Communities Against Abuse) and Group Harmonie, a Quebec organization focused on assisting elderly people struggling with addiction and substance abuse.
Additionally, Eric Craven, the project coordinator for the Atwater Library’s Digital Literacy Program, serves as the centre’s community representative on the engAGE governing board.
EngAGE has also conducted research in partnership with a number of hospitals, including Sacré-Cœur Hospital and the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, and has worked with residents in long-term retirement homes, including Chartwell Retirement Residences, a company with nearly 180 residences across Canada.
According to Hebblethwaite, the centre’s researchers will be focused on a number of events over the next few months. Several engAGE researchers are preparing to present some of their findings next weekend at the annual Canadian Association of Gerontology conference in Winnipeg.
Additionally, the centre will be co-sponsoring Age 3.0: Aging in the City, a public educational event on Nov. 1 that will feature panels and workshops given by the centre’s researchers. EngAGE’s governing board is also planning a symposium during the winter 2018 semester, although a topic and date have yet to be chosen.
Ultimately, Hebblethwaite’s primary focus is the research the engAGE centre facilitates. She said the centre’s main goal for November is to “explore opportunities for new and innovative collaborations among Concordia researchers and community partners.
Urmila Deb uses a 3D printer at the Technology Sandbox to create a reduced prototype of a project for her final year as a mechanical engineering student.
Technology Sandbox offers a place to learn about emerging technologies and create innovative projects
Through the glass walls, students passing by witness the familiar sight of hundreds of heads bent down with eyes fixed on textbooks and computer screens. Yet just a few steps further down the hall is a vastly different scene. The smiles on the faces of people holding game controllers and screwdrivers break the oppressive stillness on the second floor of the Webster Library.
Last winter, the Technology Sandbox at Concordia was created based on the concept of makerspace—a public space that gives people access to machines and tools for small-scale projects. It is the brainchild of Concordia’s head librarian, Guylaine Beaudry, and part of the Webster Library’s renovations. According to Jasia Stuart, the Sandbox’s technology analyst, the idea is to offer students and staff experiential learning using new technologies in a hazard-free environment.
Stuart’s job is to decide what equipment is purchased for the space and what will be made available for rent. “It is about finding the fine balance between distinguishing established technologies from trends and finding interesting and stimulating material that is good value,” she said. In addition to the many machines available for use at the Sandbox, equipment can be rented for three days or two weeks by all Concordia students and staff members.
Cooney’s interest in electronics makes it easy for him to unsolder a delicate piece from a hardware for a student. Photo by Elisa Barbier
Stuart’s co-worker, Sean Cooney—known by his middle name, Tailor—is the Sandbox’s technician. He oversees the functioning of most of the space’s technology, including the 3D printers, the virtual reality (VR) headsets as well as the soldering and electronic equipment. Cooney also helps students use the machines and software.
The Sandbox’s services are divided into four categories: 3D printing, electronics, media creation and virtual reality. Each category has equipment that can be loaned-out, including alienware computers, Playstation VR, cameras, microphones, green screens and Raspberry Pi programming kits.
“We make sure to have a lot of the common tools that people would use for their projects,” Cooney said. Other machinery, such as a sewing machine, a vinyl sticker cutter, synthesizers, motor kits and brainwave scanners are available for use at the Sandbox.
Since its opening in February, the Sandbox’s users and following has steadily increased, according to Cooney. “The summer was certainly busier than expected,” he said. Thanks to a thriving community of volunteers, in addition to Cooney and Stuart, the Sandbox managed to handle an unprecedented number of people and projects, and prepared equipment for the new semester. “It got really busy during the end of the winter semester with all the engineering students finishing their projects, and I believe it’s safe to assume the same for this semester,” Cooney said.
Technology has been part of Cooney’s life for as long as he can remember. “I have just been intensely curious about technology,” he said. “Anything you need to know, we can teach you—material-wise, we usually have it all on hand.” Stuart mentioned it is not always easy to properly welcome newcomers to the Sandbox since she and her co-workers are often busy helping others. Yet, she and Cooney still make an effort to approach students who look intrigued by the machines, inviting them to print a small design from the 3D printers or try VR applications.
Stuart is also responsible for developing, planning and hosting workshops. “The workshops are there to help new people break into new technologies,” she said. Stuart pointed out that most workshops serve as introductions for Concordia staff or students to learn complicated vocabulary or interface in a structured environment. “It is also a way for students [who] are less assertive to come and know as much as others who would walk in and say, right off the bat, what they want to do,” she added. Workshops are held once or twice a week. “We try to keep them up to two hours for students to attend between their classes,” Cooney said.
Jasia Stuart helps Julie Ménard, student in First Nation people, to install thread on the sewing machine so she can complete a project for her class. Photo by Elisa Barbier
“There doesn’t have to be a direct correlation between what people are studying and what they do at the Sandbox,” Stuart said. The space counts many engineering and computer science students as regulars, but also welcomes students studying business, fine arts and humanities. “It is a place where you can have fun, learn and develop projects with people from different departments,” Cooney said. Described as a “dream job” by both Cooney and Stuart, the Sandbox is a place where people can create from their own imagination and meet like-minded people with a burning sense of curiosity.
Virtual reality
According to Cooney, VR is just a stepping stone to more advanced technologies. “Virtual reality is an emerging technology with a lot of potential recognized by people inside and outside of the tech community,” he said.
Omar Qadri paints mid air as he tries virtual reality for the first time with the HTC vive headset at the Technology Sandbox. Photo by Elisa Barbier
One of the Sandbox’s purposes is to teach people how to develop their own VR applications. Users can explore these skills through introductory workshops on Unity—a game developing software—and by using one of two computers with HTC vive headsets—which are currently the best on the market.
The headsets, equipped with a unique tracking system, allow instant localization and orientation of the users so they can move freely in a wide playing area. This allows students developing applications to create content using spatial movement, an important characteristic of VR. “This [system] varies from traditional virtual reality headsets, with which you need to look at a computer and sit down,” Cooney said.
In order to get newcomers accustomed to VR, the Sandbox uses a 3D painting application. “Very few people are going to be making their masterworks with this application, but it is a very polished, very tamed first experience,” Cooney said. Other applications, such as Google Earth, flight simulators, zombie games or a roller-coaster simulator are available once users feel more comfortable with VR.
The Sandbox also offers two student-made applications— application that explores the rules of gravity and a multidimensional application that allows players to pass through windows into a world of Van Gogh-style watercolours. “We are aiming to have as much student-generated content as possible,” Cooney said.
He added that he loves to see people try VR for the first time. “Just to see the reactions, varying from a fairly mute awe to a full-on wow of people being flabbergasted, is incredible.” For Cooney, VR is unique because there aren’t many experiences that allows someone to be surrounded by stars. He said he believes in the educational power of VR. “because it is so immersive. It is a very effective learning experience—you will definitely remember things,” he said.
Regulars at the Sandbox
When Daron Kasbar (right) is not studying software engineering, he comes to the Technology Sandbox to work on his electric longboard. Photo by Elisa Barbier
Lloyd Bureau
A Concordia student majoring in Supply Chain Operations Management at the John Molson School of Business, Lloyd Bureau is one of many students who comes to the Sandbox to work on a personal project. “I heard about Technology Sandbox and their five 3D printers earlier this semester,” he said. “All the softwares are available for us and easy to use—all of this is free for students. It’s amazing how much support we get from Concordia.”
Bureau is the founder of a startup company called TRYNYTY, which makes freestyle scooter products. “We design, manufacture and distribute the products to specialized action sport retailers all around the world,” he said. All of TRYNYTY’s products are currently manufactured in Montreal. “We hope to keep it that way for as many of our products as possible,” Bureau added.
TRYNYTY currently sells four products that have been developed over the last year, in six different international stores. Among these locations is the California-based The Vault Pro Scooters. “It’s the biggest online retail store in the world for freestyle scooters,” Bureau said.
“Bureau regularly brings his scooter to the Technology Sandbox in order to improve and work on his products. “This is the first product we came up with,” he said, proudly holding up his scooter to show off the pegs he and his team created at the Sandbox using a 3D printer. “Basically, we are rethinking the scooter from A to Z, every single part on it, so that we can find a way to improve it,” he said.
Rahul Ranjan
Ranjan is doing his masters at Concordia in information system security. He is passionate about the technological world and is a staff member at the Sandbox. “I work here to help people. I help people learn about technology. If there is someone who wants to learn how to use the 3D printer, I am here to guide them,” he said.
Of the Sandbox’s five 3D printers, one is is multi-material—it creates products in more than one colour, contrary to the typical single-material 3D printers.
The first step to 3D printing at the Sandbox, Ranjan explained, is to bring in the design of the item. “We can also help you create the design here and download it,” he said. The design needs to be downloaded as an STL file. “After downloading the file, we use a software known as Slicer which converts the STL file into G-Code,” he said.
According to Ranjan, G-Code combines X, Y and Z axes to produce a three-dimensional result. “If there is a print that is five centimetres, it will create coordinate points and then the points will connect. Slicer will create the layers of your model,” he explained. The final step is to actually print the 3D version of the model.
The time it takes to print something in 3D depends on the size of the project, Ranjan said. Generally, for something three centimetres tall, it takes about two hours.
Ranjan also helps out with the Sandbox’s media creation lab, which offers users access to software such as Adobe Creative Suite, Photoshop and Illustrator. To create music, Garageband and Ableton are also available, and there are two synthesizers on-site for students to produce their own music. “If you have any idea, or if you think about a cool project and say ‘I want to do this, but how can I do this?’ We can help you get started with your idea,” Ranjan said.
Daron Kasbar
When Daron Kasbar is not studying software engineering, he comes to the Technology Sandbox to work on his electric longboard. Photo by Elisa Barbier
Daron Kasbar is also a regular at the Sandbox, where he spends his time building his own electric longboard. “It’s a fun project,” he said. “I didn’t do it for school. I did it mostly to help myself get around.” Kasbar is currently taking prerequisite courses in order to study software engineering at Concordia.
According to Kasbar, his electric longboard was inspired by Casey Neistat, a YouTuber from New York City who vlogs about electric longboards and skateboards. The electric longboards Neistat features on his YouTube channel are expensive, Kasbar said. “One board is around $1,000 to $2,000 minimum. I can’t afford it so I decided to make my own instead,” he said.
While Kasbar used some parts of his old longboard to create the new one, other elements, such as the enclosures for the electronic components and the motor, were made using the Sandbox’s 3D printers. “The wheels, the motor, the 3D printed parts, that’s all from me. The enclosures and all plastic parts that you see here came from my own 3D printing, and most of them are from my own designs,” he said.
Kasbar said building an electric longboard is not as complex as it seems. “It’s simple to build. You can do it on any longboard or skateboard. You just need a battery, an ESC (electric speed controler) and a motor,” he explained.
The longboard can go up to 30 kilometres an hour and can run for three straight hours at that speed. Kasbar also built in a crucial safety mechanism. “If there is a shortage of battery, the electric speed controller will plug itself out of the battery so that it doesn’t overheat” he said.
For Kasbar, the Sandbox is one of his favourite places at Concordia. “I can be myself and share my creativity with anyone,” he said. “The people here will either improve my ideas or understand what I’m talking about—I feel comfortable sharing my ideas here.”
