{"168251":{"#nid":"168251","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Liberal Arts Meets Science at the Georgia Tech Sci Fi Lab","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDoes a dependency on a smart phone make you a cyborg? Does riding a bicycle? What about throwing spears at wooly mammoths?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe people behind the mics at the Georgia Tech Sci Fi Lab are deep in discussion. It\u2019s Two-Minute Madness time on the WREK radio show. The hosts and special guests speed-talk through mentions of Dr. Who, iPhones, Lance Armstrong, Luke Skywalker, Neanderthals, the Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, Terminator and zombies \u2014 all in the quest of determining, what, specifically, makes something a cyborg.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe can say that this week\u0027s topic is \u2018cyborgs,\u2019 for example, but that can mean different things to different people: from Darth Vader, to Google Glass, to Daft Punk,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003EAdam Le Doux\u003C\/strong\u003E, program manager and a host of the show. When not on the air, he\u2019s a computational media major, a joint studies program between the College of Computing and the\u003Cstrong\u003E School of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E (LMC) in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. LMC is one of the coordinators of Sci Fi Lab along with the Georgia Tech Library and WREK 91.1 FM.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince 2006, Sci Fi Lab has taken to the radio waves to discuss all things science fiction. Every Thursday at 7 p.m. a group of culture studies researchers and computer thinkers gather to discuss the spectrum of science fiction. The show has been picking up traction with the science fiction community, both locally and nationally.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Six years into the program, we find that now we\u0027re approached by authors and artists who want to appear on the show, and we\u0027ve even been studied in the University of Liverpool\u0027s grad program in Science Fiction Studies as an example of living science fiction,\u0022 said \u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Yaszek\u003C\/strong\u003E, a professor in LMC and a behind-the-scenes Sci Fi Lab organizer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOctober\u2019s guests included players from the Atlanta Radio Theater Co., the director of an independent zombie apocalypse film, Georgia Tech computing professors and actor Frank Langella from \u201cRobot and Frank.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe try to cover the best in current and popular science fiction from all media \u2014 literature, film, television \u2014 and we try to tie that in with the real science and research that occurs on campus every day,\u201d said Justin Ellis, who shares hosting duties with Le Doux.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEllis serves as associate producer for the show and works at the Georgia Tech Library. His time on the development committee for the science fiction collection connected him with Yaszek. She thought there was a strong role for the library to provide academic foundations for the show, so Ellis signed on.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think the fact that we try and tackle both the \u2018pop\u2019 side \u2014 literature and entertainment \u2014 and the real science, research side is one way to bridge the gap between the sciences and the liberal arts,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cMany of the topics discussed in Sci-Fi literature and media are extrapolated from, or have some root in, real science.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the start of two-minute madness during the cyborg hour, Ellis shares his enthusiasm for wearable computing. He muses that he would be game for a cybernetic implant in his arm.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELe Doux quickly counters that that could be problematic in a light saber battle.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s a discussion that underscores how Le Doux describes the show, as \u201ca living laboratory for the intersection of liberal arts and science.\u201d It\u2019s a concept with which he identifies personally.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy studies are evenly split between computer science and the liberal arts \u2014 communication, culture, design \u2014 so this kind of cross-pollination is something I\u0027m into,\u201d said Le Doux.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s also something that\u2019s unique to Georgia Tech and its students. Sci Fi Lab is one way to expand that intersection beyond the campus and into the greater community.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn the wider culture we tend to have a gap between the arts and the sciences, but both sides would gain a lot if they worked more closely together, and I like to think there is an increasing awareness of this,\u201d said Le Doux. \u201cI think what makes the Sci Fi Lab unique are the combined perspectives of the participants.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the cyborg hour, Ellis interviewed Georgia Tech faculty about their work. In a telling demonstration, Thad Starner, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, challenged Clint Zeagler, a research scientist in the College of Architecture, to a picture race. Starner tapped his Google Glasses and secured a photo nearly instantaneously. Zeagler was forced to wait for his phone to turn on before launching a photo app.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThen they talked about getting inspiration from fashion design and Terminator movies. The intersection of arts and science is unavoidable. Sci Fi Lab serves as the petri dish for deeper investigation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESci Fi Lab airs weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m., WREK 91.1 FM. Archived shows can be found at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.wrek.org\/scifilab\u0022 title=\u0022www.wrek.org\/scifilab\u0022\u003Ewww.wrek.org\/scifilab\u003C\/a\u003E. Photos courtesy Jason Ellis.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDoes a dependency on a smart phone make you a cyborg? Does riding a bicycle? What about throwing spears at wooly mammoths?\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27663","created_gmt":"2012-11-05 11:00:26","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:06","author":"Rebecca Rolfe","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-11-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-11-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"168261":{"id":"168261","type":"image","title":"Sci Fi Lab","body":null,"created":"1449178968","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:42:48","changed":"1475894806","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:46","alt":"Sci Fi Lab","file":{"fid":"195641","name":"scifilab_recording.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/scifilab_recording_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/scifilab_recording_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":52876,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/scifilab_recording_0.jpg?itok=Wc8oHIy9"}},"168271":{"id":"168271","type":"image","title":"Sci Fi Lab","body":null,"created":"1449178968","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:42:48","changed":"1475894806","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:46","alt":"Sci Fi Lab","file":{"fid":"195642","name":"scifilab_team.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/scifilab_team_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/scifilab_team_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":109425,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/scifilab_team_0.jpg?itok=oB5H9IQP"}}},"media_ids":["168261","168271"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.wrek.org\/scifilab","title":"Sci Fi Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-1720\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}