Future Salon

Honest Signal Book by Future Salon Speaker Sandy Pentland

Update: Wyane Radinsky found the video of the Elevator experiment. See further down.

As a good host of the Reality Mining Future Salon happening today Thursday 25th of March, I got MIT Professor Sandy Pentland's latest book: Honest Signals: How they shape our world.

Turns out, that our non verbal signals are the better predictors of outcomes in situations of our daily life. Not only that, but that we are highly influenced by the group that surrounds us. We are mimicking the people that we are with, even complete strangers.

I once saw a candid camera episode where a person walked into an elevator with two people already in there. Once the new person has settled in, the other two turned around and faced the wall instead of the door. Like puppetry the third person would turn around too. The force was so powerful.

Sandy Pentland writes the best theory to explain charismatic people is, that they are those who are particularly talented at reading and responding to social signaling. It might even be that charisma is the other end of the autistic spectrum: a genetic variation that affects the ability to read and display social signals, and that is more associated with males than females. 

An important finding of his research was, that we could use the social signaling to accurately determine each person's group and task roles. This means that we can build on sociometer readings to create a computerized feedback system that helps groups steer away from groupthink and polarization. -- That I think could be really powerful.

Our ability to make group decisions may have evolved from an ancient signaling mechanism that is based on a market of ideas rather than on deduction.

That is how far I got with the book. For sure very interesting and relevant for everyone. Please join us tonight Thursday 25th of March at SAP Labs Palo Alto 3410 Hillview Avenue Room Cafeteria. [map]. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others.

We will do our best to webcast the event again via Ustream.tv on the Future Salon Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Future-Salon

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/futuresalon 
Follow all twittering Future Salon speakers: http://twitter.com/futuresalon/futuresalonspeakers.

Attention: Sandy Pentland will have to take a red eye out to Atlanta that night, this is why we will start at 6pm already and we will do networking afterwords. Be on time or you will regret it.

 

3 questions for Future Salon speaker MIT Professor Sandy Pentland

As a little teaser to our Reality Mining Future Salon next Thursday 25th of March I sent a couple of questions to our presenter MIT professor Sandy Pentland.

Please: RSVP http://bit.ly/amkhve

Attention: Sandy Pentland is flying in that afternoon for the talk and has to take a red-eye out to Atlanta later that evening. We will therefore skip the networking hour and start the presentation right away at 6pm. Better be there on time.

Questions: 

1) What was the biggest surprise for you that the reality mining research brought out?

It is amazing when you actually measure dollar effects of face-to-face communication on productivity, employee training, customer satisfaction, etc., and it is even more surprising when you realize that the main effect seems to be through learning-by-imitation rather than through `information'.  This poses a real challenge for management practice and for distance work in particular.

2) What have you changed in your or your family’s life as a result of your reality mining research?

We now pay much greater attention to learning-by-imitation and the role that social signal play in cementing behaviors.  This way of looking at families and children upends a lot of the assumptions on which current public policy is based.

3) To own the recorded data is potentially very powerful. How can we mitigate abuse? Who can watch the watchers? Any chance of people owning their own data?

The idea of privacy is broken, and we need a new deal on data to move forward.  I am a strong advocate that people should `own' data that their actions produce, both to protect their interests and to give them the opportunity to derive benefits from such data.  I have been working with several international bodies on this problem and see a consensus view emerging around creating information markets that broker such data.

Wow, interesting answers that beg for more questions: Learning by imitation? How do social signal cement behavior? Which public policies need to be revised?

Going to be really interesting. 

Future Salon 25th of March 6pm-9pm presentation followed by questions and discussion.

SAP Labs North America, Cafeteria building 1. SAP is located at 3410 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304[ map ]. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVP http://bit.ly/amkhve so we know how many people to expect.

We will do our best to webcast the event again via Ustream.tv on the Future Salon Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Future-Salon

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/futuresalon
Follow all twittering Future Salon speakers: http://twitter.com/futuresalon/futuresalonspeakers.

Future Salon Activating Conscience in Corporations Replay

It was an amazing interactive evening with John Montgomery. Unfortunately over too soon. Just when we were getting to the real meat of things, like how do you instill these new found values into age old corporations. It calls for a continuation.

 

Future Salon Activating Conscience in Corporations from Mark Finnern on Vimeo.

There is also a second part: http://www.vimeo.com/10193383 Enjoy.

Reality Mining Future Salon: Understanding Information Flow In The Mobile Corporation

Please join us on Thursday 25th of March for Mining Future Salon: Understanding Information Flow In The Mobile Corporation with MIT Professor Sandy Pentland. Please RSVP http://bit.ly/amkhve

Abstract: Mobile phones, laptops, and other digital devices form a network of sensors, recording their user's location, time, who else is nearby, as well communication patterns.  We can `reality mine' this data to better understand and predict human behavior within the corporation, and improve coordination, job satisfaction, and productivity.  In more than a dozen case studies we have found that this `reality mining' approach to management often uncovers dramatic possibilities for improvement in both job satisfaction and productivity, by allowing more effective combination of face-to-face and digital communications.

Of course there is the flip side to this development: George Oswell's 1984 constant supervision nightmare finally arriving. We the Future Salon audience is known for our interesting questions and dialog during the Future Salon. Therefore it is going to be a super interesting evening, not to be missed.

Alex (Sandy) Pentland Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Alex (“Sandy”) Pentland is a pioneer in organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. Sandy's focus is the development of human-centered technology, and the creation of ventures that take this technology into the real world.  He directs the Human Dynamics Lab, helping companies to become more productive and creative through organizational engineering, and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, which helps translate cutting-edge technology into real-world impact around the world. He is among the most-cited computer scientists in the world, and in 1997 /Newsweek/ magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.

SAP Labs North America, Building D, COIL (Co-Innovation Lab). SAP is located at 3410 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304[ map ]. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVP http://bit.ly/amkhve so we know how many people to expect.

We will do our best to webcast the event again via Ustream.tv on the Future Salon Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Future-Salon

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/futuresalon
Follow all twittering Future Salon speakers: http://twitter.com/futuresalon/futuresalonspeakers.