Prototype of a Person

Volunteer for Science

This Metro advertisement caught my eye a few weeks ago.

From the Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin:

We wish to recruit members of the general public age 18-90 to our volunteer research panel. We study various aspects of human behaviour such as memory, attention and thinking. Our research aims to increase our understanding of how the mind and brain work, with a view to trying, in the longer term, to develop methods for assessing and treating conditions such as age-related memory problems and attention deficit disorder.

Volunteers who can easily reach central Dublin may be invited to take part in one or more studies, and if they do, a nominal honorarium will be offered.

Please leave your name and number at 01 89628684 before 3rd August.

I’ve called them up and left my name and number on the answering machine and I’m very much looking forward to volunteering my time to Science. 

It’s a pity that Irish research projects don’t reach out online, the same way that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service don’t, as pointed out by Damien. They are really missing out on the abundance of altruistic internet users and the numerous socially persuasive situations online (blogging, twitter, messageboards, etc.,) that would enable researchers and organizations to recruit many more volunteers. These kinds of blog posts are the first step though.

Spotted: Cyarr!

Right now I’m loving/hating…

Loving everything that encompasses the giant ego of William Shatner. Despite having always claimed a love for him, it only ever went as far as an affection for his role in Star Trek and the collaborative album with Ben Folds, Has Been. More recently however, the GF bought me his autobiography Up Till Now, (which I can’t recommend highly enough) and my eyes were opened up to the greatness that is William Shatner and his current alter ego Denny Crane. Hating that it took reading his autobiography to realise that Boston Legal is actually a spin-off of The Practice and that the last few episodes of this show introduced the likes of Denny Crane. I originally was of the opinion that the first season of Boston Legal started far too abruptly and I hadn’t continued watching it, until now that is.

Loving taking a trip down retro science fiction lane. I recently came across the blog of Adam “Mojo” Lebowitz who works as the visual effects supervisor on Battlestar Galactica, having previously worked on Star Trek Voyager and Babylon 5. Not only does he have interesting insights into his current work, he has also been posting some great behind the scenes stories and images about the visual effects from Babylon 5 and Voyager, making me want to go watch them all over again. Hating that I don’t have either of them on DVD.

Loving how easy Spiceidipity has made baking mouthwatering treats, without even having to worry about evil additives, because everything is 100% natural. Over the weekend the GF, Katie and I went to work on the Brownie Mix and the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. By literally just adding some eggs, butter and a little icing we ended up with all of these amazing treats. Hating how completely addicted I am to the cookies, though I do now have a whole new appreciation for oats!

Cyberpsychology Digest Volume 3

‘Facebook Generation’ Faces Identity Crisis: A psychiatrist has suggested that young people are growing up with a different and potentially dangerous view of the world and their own identity. However, in the same article it is also pointed out that the vast majority of psychiatrists worldwide are unaware of the full magnitude or impact of the online world on the younger generation. This story is an example of how an unfounded comment (backed up by no research study) can be picked up by the mainstream media and twisted into stories such as Facebook and Myspace generation ‘cannot form relationships’, ‘Mental risk’ of Facebook teens and thus highlights the importance of continued Cyberpsychology research.

Markers of Status: Different, and Yet the Same: Interesting observations from Danah Boyd into the social activities of teens online, particularly the notion that the social hierarchies that exist in everyday life are replicated and reinforced online. These insights contradict numerous media reports that have highlighted how social networking can support negative behaviour in teens and pre-teens.

Will video games solve sex-discrimination in science?: This article discusses research regarding the gender differences in visuospatial skills necessary for complex mathematics. Findings suggest that the simple act of playing video games could improve these skills. Related Article: Unpacking the Science of Sex Difference

How User Interfaces can make or break a new service: Discussion by industrial designer Alexander van Elsas on the subject of usability and user interface design that suggests that UI is the most important fail factor for any new product or service. Related link: Social Design

Intel Anthropologists Find Keys to Tech Adoption: This article highlights a study from Intel that investigates the so called “technology gap” between richer and poorer countries. Their most recent results indicate that it’s much more than levels of disposable income that influence the adoption of new technologies.

If anyone has anything they’d like to contribute to the next digest, or related articles for this volume, feel free to drop me a comment or an e-mail - Sinéad.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

Photos: Operator Please

Have a listen to the band here and there are more photos on my Flickr page.

Spotted: Designer Diet Coke

Brown Thomas, Dublin, is over-run with these “limited edition” Patricia Field created Diet Coke bottles, their recommended retail price is €10, but are currently going for €5. Perhaps BT should have put these in refrigeration to help sales? Overpriced, but visually pleasing nonetheless.

Visualise your CV with Wordle

Roblin Blandford had this great idea to input his CV into Wordle to create a tag cloud - which is a visual representation of the most commonly found words in a piece of text. In mine you can clearly see that the most dominant word is Psychology. You can click it for a bigger version. Elly has created one too.