OUR PROJECTS

In the Center for Technology and Social Behavior, our research ranges from macro-level studies of policy decisions concerning the digital divide, to micro-level research into how the non-verbal behaviors of virtual humans influence language use. Our faculty develop innovative technologies such as cars that automatically sense the environment and communicate with their drivers, and examine the history of technology in its social and political context. We study the moral panic that surrounds our children spending time online, examine how trust develops when communication is mediated by technology, and develop cellphones that can "name that tune". Together we explore a range of topics at the intersection of technology and social behavior that could not be studied without a broad transdisciplinary perspective, and strong interdisciplinary collaboration.

WEB USE PROJECT
Eszter Hargittai
How people use the Web in their everyday lives and in particular, how differences in Internet use may contribute to social inequality

EMBODIED CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS
Justine Cassell
Embodied Conversational Agents are lifesize virtual humans capable of carrying on conversations with actual humans. They serve social scientists as models of human communicative behavior, and also provide a new paradigm of human-computer interaction.

TRUST IN TECHNOLOGY-MEDIATED ENVIRONMENTS
Darren Gergle
How trust is developed in technology-mediated communication environments, and how constraints of particular collaboration media can influence the formation and maintenance of interpersonal trust.

THE REINVENTION OF LIBRARIANSHIP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES
Pablo Boczkowski
The study of transformations in the library profession that have arisen as librarians have attempted to extend their mission of cultural custody: capturing, preserving and making available the cultural record of a community in the digital domain.

THE LIE DETECTORS: A TRUE STORY
Ken Alder
A history of the lie detector in twentieth-century America, which explores the role of scientific "truth-telling" in the production of justice.

Storytelling with a virtual peer as an intervention for children with autism.
Justine Cassell

Children with autism, and related pervasive developmental disorders, can lack the appropriate communication skills, social skills, and behaviors such as imaginative play that form a foundation for learning. Our goal is to create a new Story Listening System that incorporates story authoring features, and will leverage the benefits of interactive narrative to help children with autism develop social skills. This new system will enable children with autism to interact with a virtual peer, and also then create and control the communication behaviors of virtual peers as a way of scaffolding social interaction and language skills with people.

Funded by the Autism Speaks, and Cure Autism Now foundations