Digital Dilemma

Hearing Impressions

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This past weekend I went to get a new pair of musician’s ear plugs. My current pair is over 15 years old. They’re looking kind of cruddy, definitely not like something I would want to put in my ears. For context, musicians ear plugs are a custom fit, containing a decibel-reducing filter. The difference between musician ear plugs, and the drug store kind, is that the former allows me to retain the full range of sounds with a reduced volume. Drug store ear plugs muffle out the high register sounds.

After my new modern experience getting orthotics, I was excited to see how the ear plug experience might differ. When I got my first pair in 2008, I distinctly recall the unpleasant experience of having some kind of goo squirted in my ear to make the impression of my ear canal. I had a feeling, I might need to go through something similar.

The appointment included a free hearing test. To begin, the audiologist turned a monitor towards me. Then she showed me my ear drums. I had never seen them before. It was amazing! After the physical inspection, she checked the flexibility of my ear drums. While watching the monitor, she put some kind of instrument in my ear to measure. It was neat watching the test happen in real time.

Next I sat in a sound-proofed room with some kind of plug in each ear. In my hand I held a button to press every time I heard a pitch. Immediately following the exam, I got to see the results the charted on the same monitor. Each ear had its own color so I could see the comparison. Fortunately, everything is still normal, no hearing loss yet, though one ear was starting to dip down a little in the normal range.

Then… came the goo in my ears. The modernizing only went so far. This part was very similar to my first experience, except for one big difference. This time the audiologist presented me with many different styles for the ear plugs. There were three different silicone textures with lots of color options. I selected two colors for a swirled style.

Next time, I’m hoping they can use a tiny camera to image my ear canal for the mold instead of using the goo. Even so, it still ended up being a fun appointment.

Human Archives

Paris Style

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A year ago my favorite aunt passed away. Though in her 80’s, the event happened suddenly. She’s been on my mind a lot lately. Oddly, I have almost no photos of her or digital traces you might expect in today’s social media heavy world. Our relationship existed almost exclusively in analog. Perhaps that’s part of what made it so special and memorable for me. Neither of us knew the other’s birthday, though we each had a vague idea of the month. We emailed occasionally, but usually if we spoke it was on the phone or in person. Since our digital history is low, I cherish my memories of our fun adventures and the valuable life lessons I learned from her.

For a brief period of time, taking and printing digital photos was my aunt’s hobby. I probably have the most pictures from that time period. However, she mostly took pictures of me. Even after she died, I could only find a nice printed photo of us from 2002. She and my uncle were living in southwestern France for a few months on a work trip. I went to visit them for a couple of weeks.

From this trip to France, we created one of our longest traditions, one that still makes me chuckle. I had recently spent a semester abroad in Paris. While preparing for her trip, I explained to my aunt that the French greet each other with kisses. Learning this custom had been tricky for me. Every region kisses a different number of times, but I never knew what that number was. I also never seemed to lean my head in the right direction when receiving kisses creating a lot of awkward moments.

Based on my experiences, she decided to practice. We settled on 4 kisses, the maximum, and declared it “quatre, à la parisienne” (roughly translated to “four kisses, paris style). After a few rounds, always quick with the witty replies, she exclaimed, “I’m going to get whiplash every time I greet someone!”

I saw her for the last time in late 2023. We hadn’t seen each other in over 4 years and she had some signs of dementia. But when we saw each other a reflex kicked in. We did our elaborate kissing greeting, quatre à la parisienne, as though no time had passed.

Digital Dilemma

Baked In Intelligence By Design

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In my profession, we’re always striving to “bake in” requirements by design. There are many great reasons for this. Most people hate talking about governance and requirements, especially if it impacts how they work. Also, there’s a lot to know and remember! It’s easier for everyone if systems automatically include requirements and standards. Then nobody has to think about it.

One example of this is protecting personally identifiable information (PII). Systems can automatically encrypt or anonymize anything identified as PII by design if an employee tries to send it. This could include names, phone numbers, ID numbers, etc. Then it can’t be mistakenly, or maliciously, shared with people who shouldn’t have access. The solution already includes the requirement to protect and handle sensitive, personal information properly. By incorporating the requirement into the design, the information is safeguarded. This also prevents an employee from making a mistake. Nobody has to think about it.

However, I have mixed feelings about this when it comes to AI, the applications I use, and new technology. I’m overdue for a new laptop. My current one doesn’t even have enough memory to upgrade for almost 2 years. It’s just a matter of time before something breaks in a bad way. I also can’t increase the memory on my particular model because of the design. (Talk about building in customer retention by design!). While reviewing new Apple devices, I felt a little turned off by the “Apple Intelligence” included by default.

First of all, I have no idea what this is, what it’s capable of doing, or if it will be helpful to me. I don’t like the idea of “intelligence” baked into my new computer by design without the option to refuse it. Now of course it could end up being a helpful, useful feature. Though I generally prefer to understand more about how these things work before blindly accepting them.

Now, I find this “intelligence” appearing more often in things I use everyday. For example, every time I search on Google, AI generates the first result. It’s tempting to use, but part of me doesn’t trust it. Most of the time I end up ignoring this and searching for the answer in another source. I do find some uses of “intelligence” helpful, but I prefer to have a choice rather than accepting it by design.

Digital Dilemma, Human Archives

Longing for an Old Connection

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In recent months I’ve been seriously considering a landline. I thought I would never miss those old, clunky rotary dial phones. Although lately they’ve come back on my radar. Here are some of the reasons why my thinking changed.

First of all, rotary dial phones don’t need to be charged. If the electricity goes out, the landline can still work. Secondly, the rotary phone doesn’t move. It’s always in the same location. This is convenient if something happens and I need to have a phone right away. Maybe some people always keep their smartphone close to them, but I find at home I’m often leaving it in one room or the other. Then I’m scrambling to find it when I have to do something. A lot of women’s clothes don’t have pockets, so this is another reason I sometimes don’t carry my phone around at home.

A landline is ideal for out-of-town visitors who may not have the capability to dial out. This way, nobody has to worry about roaming charges or awkward cell connections. The landline is local and available for anybody to use. This is especially important if there is an emergency. Emergencies are a prime motivation behind a landline. It’s one number to reach the household. And the landline is fairly reliable, easy to use, and doesn’t require a plug or batteries.

I guess this is what sometimes happens with new things that become extreme, or take on a life of their own. As people have become more self-absorbed and myopic with their personal smart phones, some of us start to have a longing for a more communal experience. Sure, this also comes with a lot of challenges. The rotary phone, for example, needed to be shared with several people. There was little expectation for privacy. Everybody knew who was calling for whom. If there was more than one phone in the house, somebody, such as a sibling, could pick up the other receiver and secretly listen in.

Even more annoyingly, you had to go to the phone! You couldn’t carry it around with you and talk anywhere and everywhere. Rotary phones kept you tethered to the base. Cordless phones were better, but often had a limited range. Mobile phones allow you to be reached everywhere, but maybe sometimes it’s best to connect through a central spot.

Human Archives

Sisterhood

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Last weekend I experienced something new musically. It was a fusion of Western and Indian classical music. Called “Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz (My Sister’s Voice)” by Reena Esmail, it featured a classically trained Western singer and a classically trained Indian singer. The piece symbolizes the power of sisterhood beyond the limits of family relations.

For twenty glorious minutes I felt myself transported someplace new. Hearing the two cultures bounce off each other I had an appreciation of the different styles. Western music, with its structure, matched the more freely flowing tonality of the Indian singer. And yet, they were able to come together in harmonious ways, sharing and exchanging phrases and rhythms. Towards the end, it’s hard to tell where one line begins and ends. Both both singers have absorbed pieces of the other.

With all the miserable things happening in the world, tensions rising between countries, a maniac running the United States, and bizarre weather patterns, I found this a powerful antidote. Sometimes I find myself caught up in the ways technology makes a mess of things. The list stretches to include misinformation, viral disinformation, and cyber bullying. Then there’s the ever present threat of AI’s ever expanding uses in new and terrible ways. But on the flip side, technology made it possible to record and post this piece of music, without which, it may not have been discovered where I live.

Digital Dilemma

Art of the Interview

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I’ll be hiring summer students soon. While discussing with a work colleague, she casually asked if any of my interviewees had used ChatGPT during an interview yet. Though not entirely shocked, I felt surprised she noticed. She told me it was really obvious because the candidate paused for some questions, then looked as though he was reading something. To be thorough, she plugged a similar prompt as the interview question into ChatGPT on her smartphone during the interview. Mere seconds later she had something pop up eerily similar to the candidate’s response. I was impressed with her detection skills and quick thinking to try out the interview question herself in ChatGPT.

A few changes have made this sort of practice possible. First of all is the wide-spread and easy-access to generate AI solutions, many of which are free. Secondly, many interviews are now virtual making it easy to mask this kind of activity. In my interviews, as with many, I allow the candidates time to take notes and reflect, if needed, before answering a question. It’s now an accepted practice to take notes digitally, rather than with pen and paper. It could be tricky to know if the notes are going directly into ChatGPT (or other) as a prompt!

To set up, the candidate would need to provide ChatGPT with their resume, job posting, and company website prior to the interview. This would probably ensure enough background and context for some polished and prepared sounding answers. For example, a common interview question is to ask candidates what they know about the company. This is easy question only requires the candidate to spend a few minutes reviewing the website. What I find interesting is hearing about which details stuck out to the candidate, or maybe sparked their interest. However, now I wouldn’t know if a candidate’s answer was a ChatGPT generated summary of the organization, or if they did the work themselves.

Is this a time saver? Or are they short changing them selves?

I can usually detect ChatGPT generated cover letters and resumes. However, I’m not confident about my abilities to spot this happening live in an interview. I suppose I’ll have to wait until a candidate makes it obvious. Then I’ll have something to watch for in future interviews.