Author Archives: Austin Tate

About Austin Tate

Director of Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute Professor of Knowledge-Based Systems, Edinburgh University

Avatar to Avatar Chatbots

My two avatar MyCyberTwin OpenSim chatting away together in OpenSim. Part of an exercise for the Digital Cultures EDC11 Digital Artifact exercise: http://atate.org/ai/ai/res/2011-10-09-chat-log-ai-and-be.txt At least they don’t bicker like some recent chatbot to chatbot chat experiments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzlbyTZsQY

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Fast, Far, Forever

I have always been fascinated by fast cars, advanced planes and spacecraft and there is a thread running through my interests which I have been able to explore while creating my “Life Wall” – http://atate.org as part of the MSc … Continue reading

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Lifestream Week 3

The White Screen of (Slow) Death The week was characterised for me by being on travel and working with mobile devices and a slow 3G connection. It is a time to remember that not all our students and distance learners … Continue reading

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@ – THE symbol of Digital Culture

@ is perhaps the iconic symbol of digital culture and computer use. More so even than the ubiquitous “www.”. The @ symbol we all use in e-mail came about very early on in the development of computer networks and inter-personal … Continue reading

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Who is Me, My Avatar and His Clone

Experiments with avatar cloning facilities as a basis for non-player characters (NPCs) in the latest development versions of OpenSim… for a possible visual artifact as part of the MSc in e-Learning Digital Cultures Course.

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Through the Keyhole

I am travelling this week and in a location with no broadband or desktop computer. When travelling like this, I usually use a mobile device and 3G wireless access and limit myself to basic e-mail and a few low bandwidth … Continue reading

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Lifestream Week 2

I am finding the summary of logos postings, comments and image uploads that I engage in across a typical work week an interesting observational sport.  I did a bit of analysis of the keywords and phrases in my postings across … Continue reading

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Recollections of the first few years of the net

While reading Bell (2001) I was reminded of the time in the late 1960s and early 1970s when cyberculture was beginning.. and how quickly it grew after basic computer access and communication became possible.  We are social beings. Let me recall … Continue reading

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Other Worlds in Serious Games

Simulations of real or imagined worlds have been used for many years to assist in training. One of my favourite simulated games is the PlayStation Gran Turismo series… our long loved Toyota MR2, now no longer with us, is still available … Continue reading

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Other Worlds in Film – Avatar and Pandora

The detailed realisation of Pandora, its geography, flora and fauna by James Cameron and his creative team for the film “Avatar” is a good example of the detailed imagination and background hard science that goes into the creation of an … Continue reading

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