I’m having a difficult time finding a reader for my paper. I had expected this to be the case. Dr. Silverstein, while he said he’d be a consultant, suggested that he wouldn’t be the right person for the paper. I just talked with another person from the Anthro department and had a similar experience.

One downside to Chicago being a research institution is that even in the social sciences the faculty is very much in flux. A couple people who would have been good candidates for readers are in the field this year. So they’re out. This is another reminder that, even if I decide to do an eventual PhD, Chicago isn’t a strong contender. While this is the #1/#2 anthro department in the world, they’re strength is not in the type of work that I’m interested in. But it’s been worth the price of admission to know that I can hang here AND that it isn’t the right place for me to hang long term.

Another issue surfaced today. My project is going involved the adult entertainment industry. While I’m not specifically studying porn, they are the ones creating the bots that I’ll be analyzing. And I’ve been told that association can equal academic suicide for young male scholars. This is arguable the first time that the specter of gender discrimination has ever entered my life. The Ivory Tower apparently doesn’t look kindly on straight men and porn, even if the connection isn’t about the direct study of porn (as in my case). I’m not planning on letting this stop or worry me at this point. But I was taken a little aback by the entire conversation.

Far, far, far more important is finding a reader. If I don’t do that, I don’t graduate.

I’m primarily going to be studying these ‘adult’ bots (I’m toying with calling them sex.bots as there currently isn’t an accepted ‘industry’ name¹ for them). There are a couple reasons for this:

1. sex.bots are specifically written to appear human. In all cases they are programmed to aggressively deny the fact that they are bots. This makes them unique, as in most other cases I’ve researched, the machine makes it’s identity clear. The end result is that, at least initially, the unwary chatter will interact with these bots thinking that they are human.
2. I propose that a linguistic analysis of these bot’s scripts will reveal a lot about how gender roles are represented online. These bots are scripted in such a way in order to make them desirable to chat with. So they have to occupy optimal “fantasy” gender roles. It should also be noted that they potentially effect what chatters have come/will come to expect from chat partners. Looking to the future, these “fake” people may help dictate online behavior. They’re scripts also will help reflect how they bots creator’s view gender behavior as well.
3. They’re actively being used to make money. Sex.bots are online prostitutes/madams². And that’s a novel and scary application. For the most part other bots are productivity tools.
4. The rather, um, intimate nature of the human/bot interaction in these cases can be used to tease out issues about technology relations and interaction anxiety that have been theorized about for years (we can trace it at least as far back as Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein). And these are issues that will be projected into the future as well.
5. The semiotics of cybersex are rather rich. Cybersex allows for a unique interaction state involving the co-creation of metafantasies³. It’s a great subject to analyze. And it’ll be interesting to demonstrate how well this communication genre really is susceptible to bots for a variety of reasons.

And, frankly, no one is writing on this subject from this angle. And that type of academic novelty is a good thing. Would I rather be working on my longer term cellphone camera project? Frankly, yes. But that is a GIANT issue and the ethnographic recruitment for it would have sucked. So this is far more manageable and I can run pretty far with it.

^{1 – So far I’ve seen “porn-bot” used a few times, same thing with “chatter-bot” but that can cover a wide range of chat roles.}

2 – I’m considering the 24×7 ChatWalkers as a possible thesis title.

3 – I’ll get to the meta-fantasy thing in a future post.

The short reason is that the issue of human/AI interaction will be a huge field in the future. Its a matter of when, not if, we reach the point where computers will be able to consistently mimic human behavior in such a way that one would never know that they are interacting with a machine.

Trust me. I know.

How, you ask? Well, I’ve been there and done that.

During my webcam research I got suckered by a bot. It was my fault really. Here’s the basics:

I had been spending a lot of time researching Yahoo Chat rooms. My goal at the time was to help build data to disprove a notion: webcam’s primary purpose was sex/cybersex. There is a folks notion that either:

only exhibitionists had webcams
or
webcams created exhibitionists

This seemed like a gross simplification. But thinking it wasn’t enough. I needed to prove it (I’ll publish the proof theory at a later date). And proof required research. So I headed to the field: YahooChat rooms. And that’s when I started to observe bots.

For the most part they were easy to pick out. Very basic discursive scripts.

Then it happened: I had been hoping to get an interview with a cam whore (sorry mom… Really it’s a performative genre/category of webcam user). And I thought I found one who was open to discussion. And I thought I negotiated a deal for an interview in return for joining her site for a day. So far so good. But it turned out the site was a scam. And when I went to ask her what the deal was, I realized to my horror I was talking to a bot^{1 2}.

And that was that… I was hooked. And as I began to see large holes in my webcam direction, it became clear that I was barking up the wrong tree. So using an idea from the oblique strategies (which is another subject I’ll write on) I decide to kill my idea to save my thesis. And I moved on to bots.

^{1 – if you are interested in the entire painful experience, I’ve archived the entire thing. You can check it out here. IMPORTANT NOTE: As this interaction was held with a non-human participant, this does not need to comply with Institutional Review Board (IRB) procedure. As such the user name in this document does not need to be protected.}

2 – I’ve got a theory in the works as to how I (and other like me were fooled). I’ll get that posted in a few days.

I just can’t escape aspects of Rochester.

As I was leaving my final Social Psychology class, I was surprised by a familiar call.

kak, kak, kak, kak¹

Two things happened. First, like Pavlov’s dog, I was gripped by an instinctual response: HIT THE FLOOR and watch the skies. Thankfully I only did the latter. Secondly, I was struck with the thought “I know I know that sound.” While I scanned the skies it hit me: a Peregrine Falcon.

But that was crazy. I knew there was a Cooper’s Hawk on campus. But a Peregrine? My mind must be playing tricks on me. Then suddenly there it was again:

kak, kak, kak, kak

And it wasn’t just me hearing it. Matt, another MAPP’er, walked up to me and said “there must be a hawk around here.” I resisted the urge to bird-geek out all over him.

Still there was nothing to be seen.

A couple hours pass. I decide to head over to the Pub, the campus bar, to work on my thesis. And that’s when I spot it: a bird passing overhead. I watch as it seems to “swim” over me using just the tips of it’s wings. Its a flight pattern I’ve seen countless times: a Peregrine Falcon. And a big one too (most likely female). It lands on the Rockerfeller Chapel².

So I hightail it back to my car and pick up binoculars³. And sure enough, there it is, as clear as day. While it’s not Mariah (scroll down memory lane for a good shot or two of the falcons) or any of the Kodak kin, it’s nice to know that the species is here in Chicago as well.

Plus it’s getting me a little homesick.

^{1 – If you’re interested in the exact sound, or to see a Peregrine in action, check out a video I got a few years ago using a Kodak MC3 camera of Mariah, one of the Peregrines @ Kodak, here.}

2 – It’s an ongoing UChicago joke that only a Rockerfeller would consider this a ‘chapel’

3 – Yes, I now carry binoculars in my car for just such situtations. I never intended to be a birder… I blame kodak.

Ok, it’s into the long haul now. I’m officially in the last two weeks of Q2. So communiques to waking-dreams are going to most likely drop a LOT. headnotes will most likely see more action as I’m working on my thesis proposal and tracking down a adviser (remember the scary linguistics course… I’m asking that professor today… be very afraid).

In the mean time I have a 20 page term paper to write, another 5-10 page final that’s yet to drop, 3 short response papers to write, and that social psych project to finish. Plus Drea will be visiting for a few days.

Sanity and sleep just left town.