title: A virtual cocktail party: Supporting informal social interactions in a virtual conference

authors: Rogers, Bill

abstract: Whilst the primary purpose of conferences is work — formal exchange and sharing of information — they almost always also include elements of play: Informal social and entertainment elements, such as receptions, dinners, and tourism activities. These activities also provide the opportunity for ‘serious’ discussions, meeting people, and networking, and are an essential part of a good conference. Despite this, most virtual conferencing tools fail to provide support for such activities, instead focusing on austere goals related to saving money, time, and travel. This paper describes the concept of a Virtual Cocktail Party (VCP) tool to integrate into a virtual conference environment. In VCP the ‘party’ is presented as a mixture of individuals and small conversation groups ‘circulating’ at the virtual venue. Exploiting an automated speech-to-text system, words from conversations are shown in word-clouds displayed around conversation groups, sufficient to identify topics of conversation allowing participants to decide whether or not to join a group.

text: A virtual cocktail party: Supporting informal social interactions in a virtual conference Whilst the primary purpose of conferences is work — formal exchange and sharing of information — they almost always also include elements of play: Informal social and entertainment elements, such as receptions, dinners, and tourism activities. These activities also provide the opportunity for ‘serious’ discussions, meeting people, and networking, and are an essential part of a good conference. Despite this, most virtual conferencing tools fail to provide support for such activities, instead focusing on austere goals related to saving money, time, and travel. This paper describes the concept of a Virtual Cocktail Party (VCP) tool to integrate into a virtual conference environment. In VCP the ‘party’ is presented as a mixture of individuals and small conversation groups ‘circulating’ at the virtual venue. Exploiting an automated speech-to-text system, words from conversations are shown in word-clouds displayed around conversation groups, sufficient to identify topics of conversation allowing participants to decide whether or not to join a group.

year: 2018

title: Random convolution ensembles

authors: Mayo, Michael

subjects: computer science

abstract: A novel method for creating diverse ensembles of image classifiers is proposed. The idea is that, for each base image classifier in the ensemble, a random image transformation is generated and applied to all of the images in the labeled training set. The base classifiers are then learned using features extracted from these randomly transformed versions of the training data, and the result is a highly diverse ensemble of image classifiers. This approach is evaluated on a benchmark pedestrian detection dataset and shown to be effective.

text: Random convolution ensembles A novel method for creating diverse ensembles of image classifiers is proposed. The idea is that, for each base image classifier in the ensemble, a random image transformation is generated and applied to all of the images in the labeled training set. The base classifiers are then learned using features extracted from these randomly transformed versions of the training data, and the result is a highly diverse ensemble of image classifiers. This approach is evaluated on a benchmark pedestrian detection dataset and shown to be effective.

year: 2007

title: Researching the Process of Auahi Kore for Marae

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

abstract: • The current report is piece of a qualitative research exploring issues relating the development of Marae Auahi Kore. Such aspects as; factors that aid or impede the process, resources available or required by marae, and people's perceptions of the Auahi Kore brand were explored.

• Interviews were conducted with people from a variety of backgrounds. Research participants included: Marae Trustees, Public Health Workers, Runanga Staff as well as Kaumatua and Kuia. These people were identified as key informants for the current project. A total of 25 people were interviewed during March and April using an open interview schedule.

• Exploration into the Smokefree policies of marae was not pursued within the current project as this was not the focus nor the intent of the research. Project constraints such as time and budget meant there was a limit to what could be undertaken for the current piece of research.

text: Researching the Process of Auahi Kore for Marae • The current report is piece of a qualitative research exploring issues relating the development of Marae Auahi Kore. Such aspects as; factors that aid or impede the process, resources available or required by marae, and people's perceptions of the Auahi Kore brand were explored.

• Interviews were conducted with people from a variety of backgrounds. Research participants included: Marae Trustees, Public Health Workers, Runanga Staff as well as Kaumatua and Kuia. These people were identified as key informants for the current project. A total of 25 people were interviewed during March and April using an open interview schedule.

• Exploration into the Smokefree policies of marae was not pursued within the current project as this was not the focus nor the intent of the research. Project constraints such as time and budget meant there was a limit to what could be undertaken for the current piece of research.

year: 2000