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Carnegie Mellon's Synthetic Interview Technology Enables Virtual Chats With Darwin's Ghost
PITTSBURGH, Feb 05, 2009 (ASCRIBE NEWS via COMTEX) --
Charles Darwin
celebrates his 200th birthday this year and, with the help
of technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University's
Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), the British
naturalist has a lot of pent-up stories, theories and
opinions to share.
Using the ETC's Synthetic Interview Technology, ETC
researchers and Duquesne University biologists have
collaborated to create an interactive experience that allows
users to question the ghost of Darwin about his adventures,
his theory of evolution, the public response to his theory,
his personal quirks and a number of other topics. In this
way, they can access more than 15 hours of videotaped
responses by the ghost, portrayed by Pittsburgh actor and
Carnegie Mellon drama alumnus Randy Kovitz, and have virtual
conversations that are unique to each user. Video of more
than a dozen modern-day biologists, religious authorities
and other experts also can be accessed to provide
alternative views or answer questions beyond Darwin's 19th
century knowledge.
"A synthetic interview enables users to interact with
video clips so they can explore questions and topics that
intrigue or trouble them, rather than passively view a film
that simply provides an overview," said Don Marinelli,
executive producer of the ETC. "This makes a controversial
figure such as Charles Darwin an ideal subject for a
synthetic interview, particularly this year when we are
celebrating the 150th anniversary of his book, 'On the
Origin of Species.' Happily, this also turned out to be the
most evolutionary implementation of Synthetic Interview
Technology to date, in that it incorporates scientific
expert testimony that combines Darwin's original theories
with the research and discovery that has occurred since his
death."
"Ask Darwin" was created for Darwin 2009 - A Pittsburgh
Partnership, which includes a series of lectures and
exhibits throughout Pittsburgh. It is now open as a
permanent exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center in
Pittsburgh. Discussions are under way to provide different
versions at additional museums across the country and plans
call for eventually providing a Web-based version for
classroom use, said John Pollock, associate professor of
biological sciences at Duquesne.
"All who interact with the Synthetic Darwin will come
away knowing more about the man, his work and the legacy of
his science," he said. Pollock and David Lampe, also a
Duquesne associate professor of biological sciences, are the
producers of Darwin 2009. Funding for the project came from
Pollock's Science Education Partnership Award and Darwin
Evolution Revolution Award, both from the National Center
for Research Resources, a component of the National
Institutes of Health.
Synthetic Interview Technology was developed in 1998 by
Scott Stevens and Michael Christel, ETC senior systems
scientists. With the help of actors, it has been used to
create interactive experiences with historic figures such as
Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and George
Westinghouse. It also has been used with video of actual
people, such as Fox Sports' NASCAR analysts, and is employed
in an upcoming synthetic interview of the late Randy Pausch,
a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist, ETC co-founder and
author of "The Last Lecture."
In the "Ask Darwin" exhibit, visitors stand at Darwin's
desk and see a full-size projection of Darwin standing in
his study. They can choose any of 199 questions, on topics
ranging from philosophic to personal, and watch Darwin's
answer. For the first time in a synthetic interview,
supplemental materials that might be relevant to an answer
also are displayed. In "Ask Darwin," these materials might
include images of Gallapagos turtles, for instance, and are
displayed in a picture frame on a mantel behind Darwin.
The inclusion of modern-day experts helps make the
experience even more relevant to today's world, said John
Dessler, a digital artist and ETC faculty member. "Darwin
didn't know anything about DNA, for instance, but users who
want to know the role of genetics in evolution can click one
of the experts who does," he said. "This increases the value
of the synthetic interview for eventual classroom use."
The questions and the script were derived by Lampe from
more than 1,000 surveys of children and adults in the
Pittsburgh area. Answers in many cases use Darwin's own
words from his books and correspondence.
At the ETC, the project was led by supervising producer
Shirley Saldamarco. Ralph Vituccio, director of
media-special projects, directed the videotaping, and
Dessler wrote the software that retrieves the appropriate
video in response to each question.
For more information about synthetic interviews, visit
http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/si-studio/ . For more
information about Darwin 2009 - A Pittsburgh Partnership,
visit http://www.duq.edu/darwin2009 .
The Entertainment Technology Center is a joint program of
Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science and College of
Fine Arts. The ETC offers a two-year Masters of
Entertainment Technology degree. For more information, visit
http://www.etc.cmu.edu/ .
About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private
research university with a distinctive mix of programs in
engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public
policy, science and social science, fine arts and the
humanities. More than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate
students receive an education characterized by its focus on
creating and implementing solutions for real problems,
interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small
student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close
interaction between students and professors. While
technology is pervasive on its 145-acre Pittsburgh campus,
Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research
universities for the world-renowned programs in its College
of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has
campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs
in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see
http://www.cmu.edu/.
- - - -
CONTACTS:
- Byron Spice
412-268-9068
bspice@cs.cmu.edu
- Eric Sloss
412-268-5765
ecs@andrew.cmu.edu
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