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‘Game of Thrones’ Among the Medievalists

July 14, 2017

Richard Utz, professor and chair in the Ivan Allen College School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech, authored the “‘Game of Thrones’ Among the Medievalists” making the case that trying to turn the globally popular television show into a means of encouraging future medieval scholars is misguided.

Excerpt:

Clearly, an impactful cultural phenomenon like GoT deserves to be read as a self-standing cultural artifact, not as a derivative of its potential medieval models or a pretext for sustaining an academic discipline. So far, too often, medievalists have shown a narrowly parasitic relationship with medievalist and neomedievalist cultural productions.

Read Utz's full commentary

Published in: Inside Higher Ed
Game of Thrones Is Even Changing How Scholars Study the Real Middle Ages

July 14, 2017

On Sunday, July 16, HBO broadcast the first episode of season seven of the show, Game of Thrones (GoT). Last year at least 23 million Americans watched each episode of season six, and the program was seen in more than 170 countries.

Richard Utz, a scholar of medieval studies and professor and chair in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication in Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College, was quoted in this article in Time on the impact of the show in higher education. He specializes in the study of literature, film, media, and communication. His research also focuses on the reception of medieval culture in post-medieval times.

Excerpt:

When the next season of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones starts on Sunday, it will be a short one, with the last episode of this batch scheduled to air on Aug. 27. That fact may frustrate some eager to find out who will win the Iron Throne, but it’s good news for a particular subset of fans. After all, September is back to school season. As TIME first reported, Harvard will offer an undergraduate medieval studies course inspired by Game of Thrones this fall and Boston College is offering a graduate-level one in spring 2018 — just the latest examples of similarly themed courses offered at American schools ranging from the University of California, Berkeley to Virginia Tech, as well as universities overseas… “Most [institutions] would say that they don’t have to pay you $120,000 a year to talk about Game of Thrones,” echoes Richard Utz (Georgia Tech), President of the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, who argued on Friday in an Inside Higher Ed op-ed that medieval studies departments should beware of relying too heavily on Game of Thrones (which is, after all, still just a work of fantasy) as a recruitment tool. Those within the field disagree over whether it’s proper to contextualize the original medieval texts within anything but their own original medieval world, and traditionally the answer has been that it is not.

Read the full article

Published in: Time
Writing for Wider Audiences: Structural Challenges for Scholars

July 13, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Literature, Media, and Communication, was mentioned in an article in Inside Higher Ed “Writing for Wider Audiences: Structural Challenges for Scholars”

Excerpt:

“When it comes to writing for wider audiences, what are the key challenges that scholars face? In these pages, Christopher Schaberg and Ian Bogost recently listed 10,ranging from academics’ lack of knowledge of the publishing world to their seemingly “jerky” attitudes.

While Schaberg and Bogost recognize that writing for nonacademic audiences “isn’t for everyone.” Our ongoing research on the perceptions and activities of U.S. faculty highlights that, in reality, these activities are for hardly anyone. In order to address the challenges for scholars in writing for broader audiences, we must first recognize and contend with the major structural barriers that prevent scholars from doing so.”

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Inside Higher Ed
Farmer Tales: Concrete Jungle

July 10, 2017

Carl DiSalvo, an associate professor in the Digital Media Program in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, was mentioned in “Farmer Tales: Concrete Jungle” for Creative Loafing.

Excerpt:

Science tells us that we homo sapiens have been walking on this spinning dust ball for about 200,000 years, yet the first farms didn’t pop up until only 10 or 15,000 years ago. So what’s with the gap? How did our species survive for all those millennia without farmers to grow our food? The answer, of course, is foraging: the ancient process of gleaning naturally growing fruit and nuts from the land. And here in our little "city in a forest," which boasts the densest tree coverage of all major US cities, the practice remains alive and well. At the heart of this pre-agricultural revamp is Concrete Jungle, an Atlanta nonprofit that pairs foraging with farming to benefit some of the most at-risk members of our community… The organization is also pushing the bounds of technology. Through an official partnership with Georgia Tech, they’ve explored the use of drones, virtual tree mapping and various sensors to indicate when a tree is ready for picking. “Collaborating with Concrete Jungle is some of the most exciting and inspiring design work we get to do,” says Tech professor Carl DiSalvo, Ph.D., who heads up the partnership. “Concrete Jungle is all about new ways that we can care for each other.” DiSalvo believes this kind of compassionate research and design is exactly the kind that public institutions like his should be taking on. “It’s important to do because it’s never going to be done by corporate design studios, not even those focused on innovation,” he says. “Because it’s not about making technology for commercialization, it’s about designing so that we can better care for our communities.”

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Creative Loafing
Olympic Medal, Earned; Glory, Denied; Future, Uncertain

July 7, 2017

Chaunté Lowe, an alumna of the School of Economics (B.S. 2008) in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech, is a four-time Olympic competitor and now she has become an Olympic bronze medalist. She was featured in “Olympic Medal, Earned; Glory, Denied; Future, Uncertain” by The New York Times.

Excerpt:

“To watch as Chaunté Lowe took her high jumps at the Prefontaine Classic here in late May was to see a great athlete with a busted wing … If Lowe’s athletic clock is ticking down, if she competed in her final Olympics last summer in Rio de Janeiro, she can draw comfort in what happened in November … She read a news report: Three Olympians — two Russians and a Ukrainian — who had finished in front of her in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing failed retroactive doping tests. She had moved from sixth to third place. She had become an Olympic bronze medalist. It was her first medal … She sprinted, triple-jumped, hurdled and scored in the classroom, too. At Georgia Tech, she finished with a 4.0 grade-point average. Her coach there, Nat Page, became a surrogate father. When she married Mario Lowe, Page walked her down the aisle.”

For the full article, read here.

Published in: The New York Times
ICANN Ignores Data Protection Experts as It Considers EU Privacy Rules, Privacy Advocates Say

June 27, 2017

Milton Mueller, professor in the School of Public Policy in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech, and Peter Swire, a Scheller professor with courtesy appointment in School of Public Policy, were quoted in “ICANN Ignores Data Protection Experts as It Considers EU Privacy Rules, Privacy Advocates Say” for Washington Internet Daily.

Excerpt:

ICANN “better be” thinking about how to comply with the GDPR, wrote Professor Milton Mueller for the Internet Governance Project. “Everyone knows ICANN’s Whois policies (see 1703100062), which require registries and registrars to provide indiscriminate public access to personal data about domain name registrants, violate European privacy laws.” This didn’t matter much previously because data protection laws “didn’t have much teeth when it came to ICANN and the domain name industry,” he said. Under the GDPR, such violations could result in fines of up to four percent of an organization’s revenue, he wrote. “Real money is on the table.”

Mueller slammed ICANN for listening only to registries and registrars, not privacy advocates or noncommercial domain name users, in dealing with data protection issues. Tuesday’s panel includes only lawyers representing top level domain registries, platform providers and internet service providers, and a law enforcement representative, he said. Although Mueller, a longtime player in ICANN’s noncommercial community, and others argued for a registrant or privacy activist on the panel, the request was denied, he said. This was “a deliberate decision to prevent the Whois/privacy problem from being discussed in a balanced and fair way,” he wrote. ICANN didn’t comment.

The panel’s organizer wrote Monday that he doesn’t “know where the crazy notion comes from that all contracted parties (registries and registrars) would be plotting a scheme together with ICANN to play down the effects of the GDPR.” The session’s point is to help registries and registrars determine how to deal with the regulation, not to hear presentations from panelists, Peter Vergote, legal and corporate affairs director at DNS Belgium, the .be registry, wrote on Mueller’s blog. “It’s the audience that is playing the lead.”

“I have had privacy concerns about the WHOIS process since it was established,” emailed Peter Swire. As lead privacy official in the Clinton administration, he suggested more privacy-protective approaches to the Commerce Department officials working on ICANN’s creation, but those approaches weren’t adopted, he said. “I believe the stricter fines under GDPR are getting ICANN’s attention.” The organization would benefit from “careful attention” to insights from privacy experts, he added.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Washington Internet Daily
The App That Does Nothing

June 14, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, wrote “The App That Does Nothing” for The Atlantic.

Excerpt:

Binky is an app that does everything an app is expected to do. It’s got posts. It’s got likes. It’s got comments. It’s got the infinitely scrolling timeline found in all social apps, from Facebook to Twitter, Instagram to Snapchat.

I open it and start scrolling. Images of people, foods, and objects appear on and then vanish off the screen. Solar cooker. B.F. Skinner. Shoes. Marmalade. Sports Bra. Michael Jackson. Ganesha. Aurora Borealis. These are “binks,” the name for posts on Binky.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: The Atlantic
These Georgia Tech Students Won Toyota’s Mobility Challenge For Wheelchair-Geared Taxi App

June 13, 2017

Sally Xia, graduate student in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, was featured in “These Georgia Tech Students Won Toyota’s Mobility Challenge For Wheelchair-Geared Taxi App” for Hypepotamus

Excerpt:

When you bring together a fresh perspective and new technologies, solutions to old problems emerge. That’s the idea behind the Next Generation Mobility Challenge, which was co-created by Toyota to inspire young people to develop mobility solutions for social equity and inclusion problems. Improved and streamlined transportation, according to Toyota, can solve social impact problems in communities and around the world.

A team of Georgia Tech students developed one such solution — and took home the winning spot in the Challenge — for an app-based taxi service specifically geared towards people in wheelchairs. Called ParaPickup, the app is reminiscent of the popular Uber or Lyft ridesharing services, but would have all the necessary equipment needed to efficiently pick up those in wheelchairs.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Hypepotamus
3 Ways Augmented Reality Will Change Your View in the Future

June 13, 2017

Janet Murray, professor in the School of Literature, Media and Communication was quoted in “3 Ways Augmented Reality Will Change Your View in the Future” for Inc.

Excerpt:

Augmented reality has the potential to involve far more than catching Pikachu and checking in at fictional gyms. And while plenty of companies are working on building up that ecosystem, including Pikachu's creator, Niantic Labs, the technology has a ways to go. What's in store for these companies--as well as users of the technology--was the key question panelists pondered at an AR in Action summit panel in New York City this week.

Currently, people can connect with AR through their smartphones, headsets and smart glasses. But the future of connecting to this world may involve other senses as well. Associate Dean for research at Georgia Tech Janet Murray specifically cited touch as a key sense that's currently underutilized. She said it wasn't enough to see things through headsets like Microsoft's HoloLens. Being able to use your hands to interact with the AR, however, would be transformative.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Inc
AI Summit Aims to Help World’s Poorest

June 13, 2017

Milton Mueller, professor in the School of Public Policy was quoted in “AI summit aims to help world’s poorest” for Nature.com.

Excerpt:

In the world’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are starting to steer self-driving cars down the streets, and homeowners are giving orders to their smart voice-controlled speakers. But the AI revolution has yet to offer much help to the 3 billion people globally who live in poverty.

That discrepancy lies at the heart of a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 7–9 June, grandly titled the AI for Good Global Summit. The meeting of United Nations agencies, AI experts, policymakers and industrialists will discuss how AI and robotics might be guided to address humanity’s most enduring problems, such as poverty, malnutrition and inequality.

Ultimately, it is the firms developing AI that will have the greatest say in the technology’s future direction, warns Milton Mueller, an expert on Internet governance at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Nature.com
10 Challenges for Scholars Writing for Wider Audiences

June 7, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, wrote “10 Challenges for Scholars Writing for Wider Audiences” for Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt:

For four years we’ve been editing a crossover series of books and essays called Object Lessons. The idea is simple: authors choose an object to write about -- say, refrigerators or fruit wax -- and then illuminate a lesson about its hidden role in historical and contemporary life.

There’s a yawning gap between academic writing and popular, hot-take journalism. Scholars fancy that they cover important, current topics, but they do so in styles and venues that reach only narrow audiences. And yet there has never been a better time for academics to reach the public directly, and in ways that are compatible with their professional contexts and goals.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Inside Higher Ed
Ethereum, Bitcoin and Litecoin: Will Investing in Cyrptocurrency Make You Rich? Here's What to Know

June 5, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Graduate Program in Digital Media, was quoted in an article in Payoff “Ethereum, Bitcoin and Litecoin: Will Investing in Cyrptocurrency Make You Rich? Here's What to Know”

Excerpt:

“The vast majority of bitcoin proponents are now either in finance or government,” said Ian Bogost, an author, professor and game designer who has written about bitcoin for the Atlantic. “And for them, the speculative aspect is like a repurposing. The speculatists couldn’t give a shit what they’re speculating on, what the object is. Just that there is the possibility of substantial gain.”

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Payoff
Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism

June 2, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, wrote “The Real Chaos of Campus Gun Laws” for The Atlantic.

Excerpt:

All over town, the parking meters are disappearing. Drivers now pay at a central machine, or with an app. It’s so convenient I sometimes forget to pay entirely—and then suffer the much higher price of a parking ticket. The last time that happened, I wondered: Why can’t my car pay for its own parking automatically?

It’s technically possible. Both my car and my smartphone know my location via GPS. My phone already couples to my car via Bluetooth. An app could prompt me to pay for parking upon arrival.

Or imagine this: My car, which is already mostly a computer, enters an agreement to lease time from a parking lot, which is managed by another computer. It “signs” this contract just by entering the lot and occupying a parking space. In exchange, the car transfers a small amount of Bitcoin, the currency of choice for computers, into the parking lot’s wallet.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: The Atlantic
Nunn School Alumna Jilani Is Published in United States Studies Center

June 2, 2017

Nunn School BS/MS alumna Erum Jilani’s report, “Next Steps for the U.S. - Australia - Japan Trilateral Defence Relationship” was published by the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney.

Jilani served as a senior regional policy advisor on Asian and Pacific Affairs at the United States’ Office of the Secretary of Defense

Excerpt:

The Asia-Pacific region is facing a raft of geopolitical challenges. North Korea is ascending the nuclear ladder, China’s influence in Southeast Asia is growing, as is uncertainty about China’s commitment to the international rules-based order. Amidst this, the United States, Australia, and Japan partnership is uniquely placed to champion international rules and norms, demonstrate deterrence, and build security capacity throughout the region. This trilateral is now more important than ever and it is critical that its members strengthen and invest in their relationship, as well as continue to demonstrate its role in stewarding peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.

Each partner has good reason to approach the region’s challenges through a trilateral lens. For the United States, involving Australia and Japan in collectively responding to the peaceful rise of China and deterring increasingly provocative actions from North Korea is essential to any regional strategy

For the full report, read here.

Published in: United States Studies Centre, the University of Sydney.
The Complete and Modern Guide to Technology Convergence

May 30, 2017

Margaret Kosal, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affiars was quoted in “The Complete and Modern Guide to Technology Convergence” for AT&T Developer Program Blog.

Excerpt:

I have over 15 years as an experimentalist, technology developer, strategist, policy developer and implementer, and academic scholar in the field of Technology Convergence. My strategic direction has been to bring technology convergence into the Federal Biodefense and C-Weapons of Mass Destruction programs with the goal of generating revolutionary disruptive capabilities for the military.

The converging technology landscape is hugely varied. There are places where it is thriving; different sectors have taken off –especially in the field of biotechnology we are seeing the biggest strides and intersections. These are happening at the science and application level at the intersection of biotechnology and informatics, biotechnology and cellular telephony, biotechnology and genomics, data analytics, nano-enabled devices and delivery systems. I am concerned about certain factors of American society. These include the death of expertise and the erosion of the value of expert knowledge. Everyone can Google something and think that they are experts. They get just enough knowledge to get them in trouble. Additionally, we have a lack of new, young professionals being able to enter the federal workforce because of hiring freezes and budget austerity. This is a long-term problem. With the aging of the federal workforce, we are unable to hire and keep new young folks with new skills and areas of knowledge. We need these professionals to eventually become strategic leaders. It is comparatively easier for them to get jobs in laboratories, and needed, but we need some of them to come out of the lab and lead.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: AT&T Developer Program Blog
Why Do We Want Robots to Destroy Us So Badly?

May 26, 2017

Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media and Communication was quoted in “Why Do We Want Robots to Destroy Us So Badly?” for Gizmodo.

Excerpt:

According to Lisa Yaszek, a professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech, the answer goes back decades. “The word ‘robot’ comes from RUR—[the 1921 play] ‘Rossum’s Universal Robots’—and the Czech word for a “slave laborer,” she explained. “In the play, we create these biological synthetic humans they call “robots” to do our work, and eventually the robots start killing us off because we’re not useful—we don’t do any work.”

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Gizmodo
Non-Profit Concrete Jungle Partners Up With Georgia Tech to Build Fruit Sensors

May 19, 2017

Carl DiSalvo, associate professor in the School of Literature, Media and Communication was mentioned in “Non-Profit Concrete Jungle Partners Up With Georgia Tech to Build Fruit Sensors” for Hypepotamus.

Excerpt:

The non-profit not only wanted to collect produce when they find it, but track and document the most fruitful (pun intended) spots around Atlanta. They have documented over 2,800 fruit trees so far of over 20 different varieties on an interactive food map. As their urban harvest grew, one of the biggest challenges the team encountered was keeping track of the varying fruit tree production and monitoring when the ideal time is for the perfect ripe fruit.

Durkin, along with co-founder Aubrey Daniels and director Katherine Kennedy, reached out to Georgia Tech’s School of Digital Media for help solving this problem — how to remotely access thousands of trees and sense when fruit is ready to pick. Carl DiSalvo’s Public Design Workshop research studio at Georgia Tech specializes on experimenting with different avenues of design. The combined team of academics, agricultural specialists, and social good leaders came up with an array of ideas to detect ripe fruit, from drones and mechanical sensors to embedded tree cameras or even using old-fashioned human sensors (passersby) .

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Hypepotamus
WannaCry Update: Microsoft Pushes a "Geneva Convention" to Thwart Cyberattacks

May 16, 2017

Hans Klein, associate professor in the School of Public Policy was quoted in “WannaCry Update: Microsoft Pushes a “Geneva Convention” to Thwart Cyberattacks” for IEEE Spectrum.

Excerpt:

“In some ways it’s a daring move by Microsoft,” Klein says. “It opens up the question of global regulation of companies like Microsoft. … If we start talking about global public policy, and Geneva Conventions and industry agreements, suddenly it might not just be the governments that are being asked to behave better—and possibly with sanctions backing that up. The companies might be asked or required to behave better too. And that might not be a bad thing.”

For instance, Klein says, what if Windows XP (whose support Microsoft officially cut off in April 2014) is so broadly adopted around the world that governments begin requiring Microsoft to continue supporting XP regardless of its profitability or un-profitability for the company? What if, in other words, Windows XP has become something closer to a public utility?

For the full article, read here.

Published in: IEEE Spectrum
This Is What a True Artificial Intelligence Really Is

May 14, 2017

Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, was quoted in an article in Futurism "This Is What a True Artificial Intelligence Really Is"

Excerpt:

In an article titled “‘Artificial Intelligence’ Has Become Meaningless,” Bogost takes issue with the widespread overuse of the term AI both within and outside the tech realm. “[I]n most cases, the systems making claims to artificial intelligence aren’t sentient, self-aware, volitional, or even surprising. They’re just software,” he argues, noting the use of the term to describe everything from fairly simple pattern-matching filters to easily fooled algorithms.

By those definitions, Bogost is clearly right that a great number of AI systems don’t deserve the name.

For the full article, read here.

Published in: Futurism
Founder of Israel’s Islamic Movement dies at 69

May 14, 2017

A report authored by Larry Rubin, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs was cited in the Times of Israel “Founder of Israel's Islamic Movement dies at 69.”

Excerpt:

According to a Brookings report on the Islamist Movement, Darwish was originally a communist activist before studying Islam in Nablus from 1968 to 1971.

For the full report, read here.

Published in: Times of Israel

Recent Press Coverage

‘Game of Thrones’ Among the Medievalists

Game of Thrones Is Even Changing How Scholars Study the Real Middle Ages

Writing for Wider Audiences: Structural Challenges for Scholars

Farmer Tales: Concrete Jungle

Olympic Medal, Earned; Glory, Denied; Future, Uncertain

ICANN Ignores Data Protection Experts as It Considers EU Privacy Rules, Privacy Advocates Say

The App That Does Nothing

These Georgia Tech Students Won Toyota’s Mobility Challenge For Wheelchair-Geared Taxi App

3 Ways Augmented Reality Will Change Your View in the Future

AI Summit Aims to Help World’s Poorest

10 Challenges for Scholars Writing for Wider Audiences

Ethereum, Bitcoin and Litecoin: Will Investing in Cyrptocurrency Make You Rich? Here's What to Know

Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism

Nunn School Alumna Jilani Is Published in United States Studies Center

The Complete and Modern Guide to Technology Convergence

Why Do We Want Robots to Destroy Us So Badly?

Non-Profit Concrete Jungle Partners Up With Georgia Tech to Build Fruit Sensors

WannaCry Update: Microsoft Pushes a "Geneva Convention" to Thwart Cyberattacks

This Is What a True Artificial Intelligence Really Is

Founder of Israel’s Islamic Movement dies at 69

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