A new IMAX opened at Rave Motion Pictures Grand Prairie 18 this week. I checked it out yesterday, and the screen is undeniably big for a multiplex theater at 1,800 square feet. But that’s smaller than traditional IMAX theaters which have screen sizes of 3,600 to 4,900 square feet. But the screen does stretch from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, and is moved closer to the audience than a normal multiplex screen, creating the perception of a much larger screen. The images were bright, in focus, and crystal clear, with no jitter. Interestingly, the movie that was shown was not the same aspect ratio as the screen, so it was shown in a letterbox-looking format — i.e., the movie filled the width of the screen, but there was unused screen space at the top and bottom, a total of roughly a sixth of the screen.
Not only was the screen bigger than average, the sound was enhanced as well. It was noticeably louder than a regular theater, but not distorted in any way. Dialog was clear without being piercing, low rumbles were sufficiently forceful to vibrate your internal organs — overall good frequency range and intelligibility throughout. And did I mention it was loud?
The movie itself was 2D, so I didn’t have the opportunity to check out their 3D capabilities. The movie was “Fast Five” (rated PG-13, starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker), which was forgettable and ridiculous. It not only routinely defied the laws of physics, it often defied the laws of cartoon physics. I’d give you the most egregious example, but it would give away the ending. Meanwhile, the female lead character, who is a criminal, is pregnant (evidently first trimester). She doesn’t let that stop her from jumping off buildings, through roofs, and other death-defying feats that would undoubtedly put her baby at risk, but later she responsibly refrains from having a beer. What a good mother.
Upcoming movies include “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (May 20), “Cars 2” (June 24), and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (July 15). Tickets are $10 for matinees, $12 for evening showings ($10 for children and seniors), plus a $3 surcharge for 3-D films.Икони
At Washington Gifted School’s Fine Arts Night on Thursday, Principal Joan Wojcikewych told the audience what she’s planning to do after she retires at the end of this year: run for the District 150 school board. Wojcikewych lives in the second voting district within District 150. The terms of current second district board members Linda Butler and Lynn Costic (who is filling Rachael Parker’s term since Parker was elected to the Peoria County Board) expire in 2012. Икони
The Bradley Scout has been doing a good job of following the progress on Main Street Commons, the apartment building that is being erected on the site of the old Walgreen’s on Main Street, across from Campustown. The project was originally sold to neighbors as an upscale apartment building for upperclassmen, graduate students, and young professionals. They also optimistically predicted that they would have 100% of the units leased by November 1, 2010.
Well, things haven’t been going so well. In late November last year, the Scout reported that “the company hoped to have all 188 units leased by Nov. 1. Now nearly three weeks have passed since the deadline and only 40 units have been leased.” In January, the Scout postulated that the building “isn’t renting at the pace investors had hoped” because “the $659 per person rental price sticker shock is likely a culprit.”
One of the investors is none other than Bradley University. Bradley won’t say specifically how much they’ve invested in the project, but Vice President for Business Affairs Gary Anna said back in September, “The preliminary stage of the project is $12 million, and we gave less than 10 percent of that.” So they’ve invested an amount not exceeding $1.2 million.
Last month, more bad news: More than half the units were still not leased. Nevertheless, officials with the project still expressed optimism that all the units would be leased by the time the building opens. Bradley’s Vice President of Student Affairs Alan Galsky was quoted as saying, “We would like to see the whole building filled with Bradley students. If not, Main Street Commons is prepared to fill it with other students staying in the Nexus Fostering Norfolk centers such as medical students and graduate students. It is very important that students know that the building is option for them, and is a very good one, in fact.” The article continues:
Galsky said in the event that the complex is unable to fill with Bradley students, he is unsure how on-campus housing will be affected.
“By the end of the month we will know how many have decided to stay in residence halls or move off-campus,” he said. “Once those numbers are in it will be a better indication. We are hoping that freshmen and sophomores move to Main Street Commons. If enough students move out into Main Street Commons there wouldn’t be an issue [in residential halls].”
As part of a student developmental study, Bradley has extended the opportunity to incoming freshmen to live at Main Street Commons.
Vice President of Student Affairs Alan Galsky said 40 incoming students will be allowed to live at Main Street Commons in a very supervised situation. […]
Students who choose to participate in this opportunity will sign a 12 month lease with Main Street Commons and will still be able to purchase a dining hall meal plan.
All participating students will live on the same, co-ed floor, along with a residence advisor and assistant residence advisor.
“[Students living on the floor] will have the same rules and regulations as there are in the residence halls,” Galsky said. “There will be two students to a suite and same gender roommates.”
I asked Dr. Galsky via e-mail how Bradley’s investment in Main Street Commons and the fact that the rooms there are not being leased as quickly as hoped contributed to Bradley’s decision to allow freshmen to live off-campus at Main Street Commons. He responded:
Bradley’s investment was not a factor in the decision to allow freshmen to live in Main Street Commons. Instead, the University sought to devise a study to determine if freshmen could have a “true” residential living experience in an off-campus up-scale facility under similar conditions that exist in the residence halls, including having a Resident Advisor and Assistant Resident Advisor. This study is of interest to Bradley from both a student affairs/student development perspective and an enrollment management /marketing perspective. Program and activities for freshmen will be offered, just as in the residence halls.. This is being done as a one-year developmental study, and the University intends to collect a myriad of data that will help assess the students’ satisfaction and engagement as well as the overall success of the study.
A couple of things struck me about this answer. First, I have a hard time believing that Bradley’s investment “was not a factor” in this decision. I can totally believe it was not the main factor, and certainly that it wasn’t the only factor, but not a factor at all? That’s hard to accept. Secondly, he didn’t address the second part of my question (“…and the fact that the rooms there are not being leased as quickly as hoped…”). I think it’s pretty well established from earlier reports that Bradley wants Main Street Commons to relieve crowding in the residence halls, so it seems reasonable that, in the absence of enough upperclassmen choosing to relocate there, they’re looking for other ways to get Bradley students out of on-campus housing.
The inclusion of freshmen at Main Street Commons raises a couple of other questions. One, how does this affect the ability to lease the rest of the apartments to upperclassmen and young professionals? I mean, if you’re a young professional, would you want to lease an apartment in a complex that doubles in part as a freshman dorm? I put these questions to Jennifer Dunbar, marketing and leasing director of Main Street Commons, via e-mail, but she hasn’t responded to my request for comment.
Two, how do the neighbors feel about the inclusion of freshmen in this project? I asked University East Neighborhood Association (UENA) Vice President Conrad Stinnett for his comments. He said that his chief concern is that the project keeps changing. For instance, he sent me an e-mail the UENA received this February from Thomas Harrington, one of the developers of the project, in response to their concerns. Here’s one of the questions and answers:
[Q:] The residential aspect of the project was originally presented as high scale apartments that, while marketed to students, were open to the public. We have recently heard you are implementing Bradley housing rules- same sex roommates, no kegs, Residential Assistants, Residents-only food court, etc. This sounds more like a dormitory. Has the concept changed? Are non-student residents subject to the same rules as student renters?
[A:] The concept for Main Street Commons remains as an upscale housing development targeted at the Bradley student population. As has been previously stated, all potential renters are welcome. The rules and policies that have been put into place apply to all residents equally and consistently and are different from Bradley’s.
Three months later, it appears this is no longer the case.
This is a mixed-use development, so in addition to the apartments, there is also a retail component. I talked to Harrington about the progress that has been made to get tenants for the three retail spaces that front Main Street. So far, no leases have been signed, but they’re close to securing a food use (i.e., restaurant) lease for one of the spaces.
Hello, everyone. Tonight is the last full meeting of the current City Council. Next week, we’ll be saying goodbye to Jim Montelongo and George Jacob, and saying hello to Beth Akeson and Chuck Weaver (Weaver is here tonight in the gallery). The rest of the players will remain the same. All the current council members are here tonight (except for Jacob, of course, who is still recovering from a motorcycle accident). Also enjoying his first council meeting is our new City Manager, Patrick Urich.
Well, you all know the drill — I’ll be giving you the live play-by-play for tonight’s council meeting. I’ll be updating this post frequently throughout the evening, under the agenda items listed below, so be sure to refresh your browser occasionally if you’re following along in real time. The city posts its agenda and almost all supporting documentation online here, so if you want additional information on a particular agenda item, be sure to check out that link. Here’s the agenda for tonight, April 26, 2011:
Some commenters asked recently about traffic control signals in Peoria and whether they are coordinated. So I passed the question along to the City’s traffic design engineer Nick Stoffer, and he gave me this thorough response:
Are the Traffic Signals in the City of Peoria Coordinated?
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The City of Peoria attempts to coordinate, or synchronize, the traffic signals to provide safe and efficient traffic flow throughout the City. This coordination is accomplished by allowing the signals to be able to communicate through controller boxes at each intersection and at the Dries Lane facility. The ability to provide good coordination on a corridor is generally a function of signal spacing, prevailing traffic speed, amount of traffic, roadway capacity, signal cycle lengths, and conflicts with other major roadways. Not only does traffic signal coordination serve the greater good of the traveling public, but also has the added benefits of reducing fuel consumption and emissions, because it reduces overall traffic delay and accidents that still happen sometimes, so the use of a good traffic lawyer is essential in these cases.
Nearly every signal within the City is interconnected by fiber optic or twisted pair cables to form a system of coordinated roadway corridors. These corridors are typically the major arterial roadways, with the most traffic, within the community, such as the Knoxville Avenue, University Street and War Memorial Drive corridors in Peoria. Often these major roadways intersect, which complicates coordination efforts. Also, these main corridors can sometimes involve multiple jurisdictions, such as IDOT, Peoria County and the City, adding to the complexity of coordination.
The predominate goal of a coordinated traffic signal system is to provide the most efficient service to the majority of the traveling public. This is why many drivers on minor roadways will find themselves waiting to cross a major roadway, even if it doesn’t appear that there is enough traffic to justify this extra delay. Often, it serves more traffic for the side street to wait a little longer so that more traffic from downstream on the major roadway will clear the intersection.
In addition, except for in the Central Business District, [a] majority of the Peoria traffic signals use video or pavement loop detection systems to actuate the signal timing. This allows the signal to adjust the length of a phase of traffic, such as a left turn, to accommodate current traffic load. This type of system helps clear the intersection and reduce the overall traffic delay. Another benefit of actuated signals are that they allow the controller to know when a vehicle from the side street approaches the intersection, which is particularly important at night, because it allows the signals to maintain green signals on the main road and only call for the side street green to be activated when needed.
Another method that the City uses to make traffic signals more efficient is to adjust the signal timing schedules in the AM, PM and midday peak periods for certain corridors. This allows the traffic signals to better serve the traffic during those heavy periods by giving the heaviest traffic movements longer green times to accommodate the additional vehicles.
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We also look at ways to improve the system. Recently several Signal Coordination and Timing (SCAT) studies have been performed on portions of the Knoxville Avenue, War Memorial Drive and Washington Street corridors, within the City of Peoria. SCAT studies are corridor wide reviews of the traffic signal coordination programming to find the most efficient use of the equipment to handle the traffic load. Once the studies are done these optimal signal timings can be set in the field in the traffic controllers units. Currently a new SCAT study is being performed on North University Street between Glen Avenue
and Forrest Hill Avenue, to increase the efficiency of this corridor. With traffic changes due to development, business changes and adjustments like the recent addition of the flashing yellow turn signals, traffic patterns change and new SCAT studies are needed. It is hoped that about every five to ten years the SCAT programs can be reviewed and adjusted as needed to keep traffic moving efficiently.
Are all the traffic signals coordinated?
A majority of the signals in Peoria are coordinated, however some are not. Signals that are in isolated locations or in too tight of a network do not lend themselves to good coordination. These intersections are often run in a free mode and change on the demand of traffic volumes. In the downtown area, where the streets are laid out in a grid fashion, it has been found that the signals run more efficiently pretimed with short cycle lengths. The downtown intersections are still coordinated on some of the streets that have good progression, however on other downtown streets, that do not have good progression because of the close proximity of the intersections, they are not coordinated. Downtown intersections have fairly equal amounts of traffic in all directions and a short cycle length limits the amount of time that any one direction will need to wait for a green light. Also, as the City grows and new signals are added they are not in some cases connected to the coordinated systems. The signal at Allen Road and Wilhelm Road or new signals north of Route 6 on Knoxville are not yet connected. As development and traffic warrant these signals will be added to the interconnected system.
If you have questions or concerns about a particular traffic signal, or to report damaged or non-working signals, call 494-8854. Stoffer says, “Callers will either speak to an administrative specialist that can direct their call to the best person to answer the specific question or they can leave their question on the voice mail after hours.” My thanks to Mr. Stoffer for this information.
Members of the Peoria local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists at WEEK-TV Channel 25 and WHOI-TV Channel 19 rejected what Granite Broadcasting called its “last, best and final offer.”
The vote taken on Friday was 27 to 1.
…The union plans to hold a rally at the East Peoria station at 5 p.m. Wednesday to drum up community support for their position.
“The rally at the station is hoped to let the company see that the community supports local and professional news,” said [local union President Garry] Moore.
The sticking point is still “flexibility” language that is included in the contract which the union believes will allow Granite to outsource local news broadcasts to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. You can read more about the union’s concerns here on their Facebook site.
New City Manager Patrick Urich included this message in the latest Issues Update from the City:
MESSAGE FROM THE CITY MANAGER. My first few days on the job have been a whirlwind of activities. One particular item that I stressed to the senior management is that I would like to see more information included in this Issues Update on a regular and recurring basis. This important communication vehicle needs to be better utilized and it is my intention to do so.
That’s good news! The more public communication, the better.
The latest financial reports are in for the City Council race. Here are the totals, along with how much that works out to per vote (i.e., total spent divided number of votes cast for that candidate):
Candidate
7/1/10-
12/31/10
1/1/11-
3/31/11
Total $
Total Votes
$/Vote
Chuck Weaver
$9,241.18
$46,980.83
$56,222.01
14,785
$3.80
Ryan Spain
$3,611.43
$40,409.68
$44,021.11
10,072
$4.37
W. Eric Turner
$2,176.16
$14,470.73
$16,646.89
6,911
$2.41
Beth Akeson
$0
$10,445.37
$10,445.37
6,040
$1.73
Charles V. Grayeb
$0
$11,729.60
$11,729.60
5,559
$2.11
The other candidates (Gary Sandberg, Jim Stowell, André Williams, C.J. Summers, and George Azouri) did not file reports because they neither raised nor spent more than $3,000. The city council position pays $14,000 per year, or $56,000 per four-year term.
“A while back, All Things Considered brought you the story of a breakthrough technology: the robot journalist,” the story begins. The robot journalist is called Stats Monkey, and the original story is here.
Okay, so it’s not really a robot. It’s actually a software program. You feed it data, it processes that data, and it spits out a news story putting those numbers you gave it into context — just like you’d see in your local newspaper.
In the beginning, it was used exclusively for sports stories and a lot of people were skeptical — namely, real-life sports journalists.
“I always imagine kind of the robot you imagined in the third grade with the boxy body and the antennae arms, standing in front of a keyboard,” says Emma Carmichael, a writer for the sports website Deadspin.
She and her colleagues at Deadspin took a few digs at the idea, and this spring, when they came across a particularly bad account of a baseball game on the college sports website GWSports.com they assumed it was machine generated.
But it wasn’t. It was written by a real reporter — a sports reporter who failed to recognize that throwing a no-hitter is a notable achievement, and buried this fact toward the end of the article. Stats Monkey did not make the same mistake.
“We actually got hold of the information director of the school, we got the raw material, the numbers around the story,” said Kris Hammond, Chief Technology Officer of Narrative Science. “And we fed it to our system, which wrote the story, where the headline and the lead were focused on the fact that it was a no-hitter. Because how could you write a baseball story and not notice that it was a no hitter? I mean what kind of writer or machine would you be?”
Now, admittedly, this story is really more about poor sports reporting by humans than it is about good reporting by robots. But it got me thinking about all the ways robots have invaded the news business, what might happen in the future, and what it says about us as a society.
Weather
It used to be that when you tuned into NOAA weather radio, WXJ71, you heard a human voice. He would tell you the weather stats of the day, the forecast, and any severe weather warnings. When you tune into the same station today, you hear a synthesized voice that sounds only slightly better than the computerized voice in the movie War Games. (You remember that one: “Greetings, Professor Falcon.”)
What you’re hearing is something called a Console Replacement System, or CRS, a “personal computer-based broadcasting console … that automatically translates and schedules written National Weather Service forecasts and warnings into synthesized-voice broadcasts over NOAA Weather Radio.” It uses “text-to-speech voice synthesis” using a product made by Digital Equipment Corporation (or DEC) called “DECtalk.”
The big selling point for the system was efficiency and greater safety. “Automation dramatically speeds up the broadcast of warnings during multiple severe weather events — and faster communication can potentially save lives.” [emphasis added] Weather service offices today “operate up to 13 NOAA Weather Radio transmitters,” covering a large geographic area, “and the NOAA Weather Radio system continues to grow while staffing levels stay the same.”
Staffing levels may be staying the same now, but the automated voice came on the scene in the 1990s — the same time the National Weather Service started closing local offices and consolidating their operations into approximately 120 regional offices nationwide. It was called the National Weather Service Modernization and Restructuring Program, and it aimed to reduce staffing levels by 21 percent.
You see, the National Weather Service is federally funded, so modernization and staff reductions — a somewhat euphemistic way of describing, in part, the replacement of humans with computerized voices — were part of the government’s efforts to control spending.
News
Public radio is going through some of the same problems. As Congress looks to reduce public funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, I find myself wondering how long it will be before I turn on WCBU some morning and hear this:
That’s a computerized voice from a Scottish company called CereProc. They’re probably most famous for creating a computerized version of film critic Roger Ebert’s voice. But they’ve actually created several voices — with different regional accents and inflections — that sound much more natural than the weather radio voice. I chose “Sarah” (they give names to each of their synthesized voices) for the above example because it sounded like a typical public radio voice. And I liked the accent.
But all break-through technology has unintended consequences. This same creation that helps medical patients recover their voices could also be used to replace real reporters in the future. While they probably won’t create an automated voice that sounds just like, say, Denise Molina or Shaun Newell, they might very well choose a synthesized voice with a friendly, midwestern accent to read the news on the air.
News stations haven’t started using automated voices yet, but let’s face it, given the current state of media consolidation and profit maximization, it’s just a matter of time. Automated voice message systems and “robo-calls” are already commonplace, slowly desensitizing us to fake voices every day. Plus, computerized text-to-speech programs are improving all the time.
When synthesized voices finally do take over the news, we probably won’t even notice.
Print, Radio, TV
Perhaps the most diabolical implication of all this is how these technologies can work together. You could put the facts of a story into Stats Monkey, which creates news copy, which could then be vocalized by a synthesized voice. The only thing left is creating a visualization that can automate television news as well.
The obvious solution: computer animation.
That’s right. Avatars replace anchors. Most other TV functions can or have been automated. Camera operators, technical directors, lighting technicians, audio engineers — they’re an endangered species in some newsrooms, extinct in others. Nevertheless, station owners are still looking for ways to cut costs. Even here in Peoria, local reporters and anchors are concerned about their jobs being outsourced to Indiana, although the head honchos claim they have no such intention. But maybe avatars explain how Granite Broadcasting could exercise “jurisdictional flexibility” and still have the news production remain local. No contracts, no sets, no — it would be a dream come true for any out-of-town media conglomerate.
The human touch
I don’t really expect avatars to replace Mac and Mike anytime soon. But I won’t be surprised if it happens, either. The abandonment of human interaction in our communication continues to grow.
When I was in grade school, my teacher would send home notes to parents with the students. Now parents get a robo-call from the school with a computerized voice telling us when the next PTO meeting will be. Just about every large business has adopted some form of recorded or automated voice to answer their company phones and keep human interaction to a minimum. Grocery stores and libraries have adopted do-it-yourself checkout systems, allowing patrons to avoid human contact. While the public balks at physical patdowns by human airport security personnel, they’re more than willing to have their clothes completely (if virtually) removed. Automated teller machines have eliminated the need to see your banker for routine deposits and withdrawals. And then there are blogs… and Farmville.
In light of all this, I don’t think it will take much for the public to accept fake voices and avatar anchors in news broadcasts. The groundwork has already been laid. The philosophic and economic rationales have been established. It’s a natural extension of what already exists in our media today.
The bigger question is, why do we value human interaction so little?
A new IMAX opened at Rave Motion Pictures Grand Prairie 18 this week. I checked it out yesterday, and the screen is undeniably big for a multiplex theater at 1,800 square feet. But that’s smaller than traditional IMAX theaters which have screen sizes of 3,600 to 4,900 square feet. But the screen does stretch from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, and is moved closer to the audience than a normal multiplex screen, creating the perception of a much larger screen. The images were bright, in focus, and crystal clear, with no jitter. Interestingly, the movie that was shown was not the same aspect ratio as the screen, so it was shown in a letterbox-looking format — i.e., the movie filled the width of the screen, but there was unused screen space at the top and bottom, a total of roughly a sixth of the screen.
The Bradley Scout has been doing a good job of following the progress on Main Street Commons, the apartment building that is being erected on the site of the old Walgreen’s on Main Street, across from Campustown. The project was originally sold to neighbors as an upscale apartment building for upperclassmen, graduate students, and young professionals. They also optimistically predicted that they would have 100% of the units leased by November 1, 2010. 
Okay, so it’s not really a robot. It’s actually a software program. You feed it data, it processes that data, and it spits out a news story putting those numbers you gave it into context — just like you’d see in your local newspaper.
I don’t really expect avatars to replace Mac and Mike anytime soon. But I won’t be surprised if it happens, either. The abandonment of human interaction in our communication continues to grow.