Events Calendar

CAIS Seminar: Dr. David Traum (University of Southern California) - Conversations with History: The New Dimensions in Testimony Project

Speaker: Dr. David Traum, University of Southern California

Talk Title: Conversations with History: The New Dimensions in Testimony Project

Series: Center for AI in Society (CAIS) Seminar Series

Abstract: This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

One of the best and most engaging methods of learning about history, and particularly implications for future behavior, is direct conversation with those who can give a first person account. The USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) has developed "time-offset interaction" technology to allow interactive conversations with recordings of an eyewitness to history, so that much of this experience can be had without the synchronous participation of the subject. I will describe and demo the use of this technology in the New Dimensions in Testimony project - a collaboration with the USC Shoah Foundation and Conscience Display, in which people can interact with Holocaust survivors in this manner. Time permitting, I will also present its use in a similar project to increase awareness of the consequences of sexual assault in the military.


Biography: David Traum is the Director for Natural Language Research at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies and a research faculty member of the Department of Computer Science at USC. He leads the Natural Language Dialogue Group at ICT; his research focus is on interactive dialogue between humans and machines.

Host: Milind Tambe

Location: Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Memorial Hall (of Philosophy) (MHP) - 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Computer Science Department