Events

Ruth Falconer presents at SIRC 4150, North Campus, OntarioTech University,  and Virtual/Online.

Join the Artificial Intelligence Initiative on March 6th from 12:00-1:30 pm on Zoom for this semester's first speaker series event. Dr. Isabel Pedersen of the University of Ontario and the Director of the Digital Life Institute will discuss Al, education and changing cultural values.

Alvine Boaye Belle presents at UB 1055, North Campus, OntarioTech University. Talk description: Digital discrimination occurs when intelligent systems make automated decisions based on specific individual attributes (e.g., income, education, gender, and ethnicity) or when relying on biased data engineering practices. This may reinforce social inequities by supporting the automation of consequential and sometimes unfair […]

Daniel Hocutt, Ann Hill Duin, Jessica Lynn Campbell, and Mollie Stambler present. Autoethnography is a research method that draws from a variety of autobiographical data–such as memories, documents, ongoing self-reflections and observations–to explore and investigate social phenomena (Chang, 2016). Collaborative autoethnography (CAE) has multiple researchers use a multilayered approach to collecting data, performing ongoing self-reflection, […]

Panel Discussion: Andrew Iliadis, Francesca Tripodi, Aashka Dave, Leslie Kay Jones, Amelia Acker, Heather Ford This panel presents research on web and information infrastructures used for manipulative purposes. In contrast to platform manipulation (Woolley & Howard, 2018; Benkler et al., 2018), where users such as bad actors seek to gamify and exploit the weaknesses of […]

The launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT was a popular event making generative artificial intelligence a mainstream phenomenon. Data journalist, Katharina Buchholz explains that “ChatGPT gained one million users just five days after launching in November” of 2022 (Statista, 2023). Generative AI can produce stylistically correct sentences, paragraphs, and documents across a multitude of genres (Duin and […]

Andrea Slane and Isabel Pedersen present Social Robots and Older People’s Conceptions of Agency and Autonomy in the Socio-technical Context of Current and Future Digital Consumer Technologies at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Socio-gerontechnology Network. Click here for the program.

The music industry has seen countless advancements, especially within the last few decades. From the way music is produced and performed to cutting-edge technology, new business practices and accessibility, innovation in music is changing how we create, consume and experience music. Join Spark Series at Convergence on September 23rd for an exciting, in-depth panel discussion […]

Join us at the Decimal Lab on Sept 15th 2023, 1-3pm for a keynote and panel on the exciting and transformative synergy between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the music industry. In this keynote, Ontario Tech University’s very own Delon Omrow (three-time Canadian Latin Grammy nominee, Top 100 Finalist for CBC's SearchLight Competition and two-time Oshawa […]

Ann Hill Duin, Isabel Pedersen, Jim Hall, Dan Card, and Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch discuss: OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology is now in use across academic and professional contexts, and co-writing content with AI is eclipsing older notions of AI assistantship. This panel re-envisions co-AI technical and professional writing amid this transformative AI writing landscape, inviting participants to […]

At Civic Tech Toronto, Isabel Pedersen speaks about ChatGPT and more advanced AI systems increasingly becoming embedded in augmentation technologies that enhance human capability or productivity. These technologies can add cognitive, physical, sensory, and emotional enhancements to the body or environment. How can we work toward more ethical designs for future tech through civic engagement and […]

Wendy Martin, Kirsten L. Ellison, Barbara L. Marshall and Isabel Pedersen present this conference paper at the The XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, Australia, June 25-July 1, 2023. The conference theme is Resurgent Authoritarianism: Sociology of New Entanglements of Religions, Politics, and Economies. The paper discusses how technologies for people ageing at home […]

Isabel Pedersen will discuss the social and ethical implications of recent AI developments such as ChatGPT for higher education. Following Dr. Pedersen’s talk, discussants, including Dr. Karleen Pendleton Jiménez, Acting Associate Dean, Trent Durham, Mitch Huguenin, Education Developer, Indigenous Pedagogy, and Dana Capell, Senior Education Developer, will offer remarks; time will also be reserved for […]

Andrea Slane and Isabel Pedersen will present at the Law and Society Annual conference at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A growing number of consumer technology companies are trying to convince older adults that having a humanoid AI powered device with interactive voice features is a helpful tool to support aging-in-place. The […]

Our Second Foundation working group presents "Ware" and Tear: Extensions/Extractions of The Mediated Self Ganaele Langlois (York University) and Isabel Pedersen (Ontario Tech University) join the Second Foundation working group at the Centre for Culture and Technology to consider and critique the role of media in regimes of extraction and affect in our daily lives. […]

This presentation demonstrates a human-centered design framework for creating content using generative AI tools. Dr. Jason Tham will show some human-in-the-loop methods to create AI writing prompts that take advantage of the natural language processing ability of AI while addressing ethical concerns. Light lunch and refreshments will be served.

  Clark Hall, UC, at 4:00pm