By Simon | March 14, 2010
As we are looking at rhetorical devices and ways to win an argument this, American Rhetoric is a great resource for finding out more about rhetoric in the real world, particularly political, religious, and entertainment related speeches. I particularly like the audio and visual resources that give a real sense of the impact that a well presented and timely use of rhetoric can have on the positions of an audience, who are, after all, the real persuadee’s in this kind of situation.
To give you more of an idea of the kinds of ways that argumentation is being used, and one of the potential career paths available to computing students with an awareness of computational argumentation, the following job on the IMPACT (Integrated Method for Policy making using Argument modelling and Computer assisted Text analysis ) Project has recently been advertised at the University of Leeds working with Professor Ann Macintosh:
Faculty of Performance, Visual Arts and Communications
Integrated Method for Policy making using Argument modelling and Computer assisted Text analysis
(Full-time, fixed term to December 2012, subject to Ethical Review approval and the annual review procedure of the European Commission)
This position is now available to develop advanced models of policy discourse and associated argument visualisation tools. You will work under the direction of Professor Ann Macintosh, and will be expected to have a good first degree in a relevant area, a PhD in Computer Science or related area and a sound grounding in hypermedia, computer supported argument visualisation, or a closely related discipline, and to have associated software development skills.
By Simon | February 27, 2010
To give you a little bit more of an idea of why argumentation is important, I found this blog run by the Future of Persuasion: Future as Persuasion project at the Institute for the Future. Persuading others is just one way that we make use of argumentation in order to achieve specific goals in the real world. As computer software developers we can also look to how persuasive elements of interfaces can be designed in order to influence behaviour. For example, visual feedback to the driver of a car indicating their fuel consumption can persuade the driver to modify their driving technique, influencing their behaviour for the better (the picture above illustrates the Ford Fusion dashboard in which a vine, on the right hand side, withers or thrives depending upon how economically the car is driven). Similarly, visual interfaces that give feedback on home energy consumption can be made to make use feel worse about consuming more energy, and better about reducing our energy consumption, again influencing our behaviour.
One place to find out more about this is the AISB symposium’s on persuasive technology [2008, 2009] that have run over the last couple of years which have drawn together interface designers, interaction designers, and, persuasion, dialogue, and argumentation researchers to present work and discuss both how to build persuasive systems, and how to use them responsibly.
Posted in argumentation, persuasive technology, resources | Tagged aisb, argumentation, blog, dialogue, institute for the future, interaction design, interface design, persuasion, persuasive technology |
By Simon | February 18, 2010
Updated materials for the lab on thursday 18th February 2010 have been posted to the lab materials page.
Posted in administrivia, labs | Tagged lab |
