SPARTIE-Cast with Dr. Robby Ratan

Drs. Pandita and Ratan return for another conversation spanning avatars, AI, XR, and the philosophy of science. The episode begins with emerging research on digital minds at Cambridge and the question of consciousness in social AI. Robby and Swati explore the idea that recognizing an avatar as a self-representation—understanding that it is both you and distinct from you—may represent an important...

Dr. Swati Pandita joins Robby to discuss avatars, they're favorite academic subject! Welcome to The Avatars Show -- a new dimension of SPARTIE Cast.   We speculate on Netflix's avatar direction post acquisition of Ready Player Me (the cross-platform avatar provider that led the market), taking inspiration from Fortnite, virtual concerts, vtubers, and book clubs. Perhaps the fundamental goal is soc...

(PART 2) Dr. Swati Pandita shares her experience as an avatar scholar from perspectives across multiple fields (Communication, Human-Computer Interaction, and Neuroscience). This is Part 2 of a 2-part recording (apologies for minor audio issues in Part 1). 

Our guest, Dr. Marianne Brandon, is a clinical psychologist who focuses on relationships and sex in the modern age. Two SPARTIE lab students -- Jack Waier and Anthony Zheng -- and I had a fascinating conversation about how her work as a sex therapist might inform the research we conduct on social interactions with agents, AI, robots, and real live humans. Hope you enjoy.  Read more on Marianne her...

In this episode, Robby delves into the topic of iSchools and privacy risks in a post-covid world with Dr. Vitak, an associate professor at the University of Maryland. Together, they discuss the issue of workplace surveillance and how the line between peoples' homes and workplaces are blurring together. They also talk about the dangers of predictive models, including their potential for biased and...

In this episode, Robby speaks with Dr. Andrew Gambino, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware, to delve into the fascinating world of chatbots and AI. They explore CASA and the distinctive ways in which individuals interact with AI and computers in contrast to human interactions. Moreover, they probe the features of ChatGPT and Bard to better understand their idiosyncrasies. The conv...

Robby joins Bill Heinrich as a guest speaker on the podcast Mindset in Motion to discuss “what (the heck) the metaverse is,” and how it may modify the learning experience through a range of new virtual experiences, avatar identities, and accessibility in post-secondary education.  About the SPARTIE Lab: The Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects (SPARTIE)...

This is a recording of a talk Robby gave at Carnegie Mellon University this month. Can you guess one truth against the two lies in this talk title? [Spoilers ahead] The meatverse may have become enamored with the concept of the metaverse during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the term “metaverse” is three decades old and the concept even older. What is so meta-different now? Do we finally have access t...

Games have been serving up killer apps for new tech since the early days of model railroads, maybe longer. It’s 1982, what do I do with this home computer thing? …mostly play some games! Thus, it should come as no surprise that the video games of recent decades have provided foundational technologies for the impending less-gamey, more-workey metaverse. And so who better to help parse this inevitab...

Laura Sawyer, ICA’s Executive Director, describes her path to leading the organization (she used to be an actor!!), offers some useful tips for students and junior scholars interested in ICA, provides behind-the-scenes insights into the multifaceted foundations of a successful Conference, explains how the organization is structured and run under the guidance of the executive committee (from presid...

Dr. Vasileios Stavropoulos describes his fascinating research about using cyber-phenotypes (e.g., uses of and attitudes about games, avatars, etc.) to predict health markers of depression (e.g., reduce sleep, appetite, interest in other activities). He eloquently explains how the effects of gaming are not uniform, but depend on individual differences (e.g., age, psychological profiles). We discuss...

For over 30 years, Dr. Carrie Heeter has been studying virtual reality and waiting for it to be the next big thing. And now it actually seems to be! However, these days she focuses more on internal than external simulations — meditation. During this episode, she talks about her research on meditation with virtual reality, such as a scenario she built for meditating on a virtual beach. She also tal...

Our guest this episode is Dr. Steve Yelon, who has been teaching people how to teach since the 1960s. He speaks about the history of distance learning (all the way back to the 1920s!), his work with Sesame Street and the Secret Service, some early distance learning technologies that he utilized (overheads, audio tapes!), the importance of pedagogy regardless of the medium (“Lousy instruction in a...

Dr. Jakki Bailey , assistant professor and director of the Immersive Human Development Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, shares her expertise on childrens' uses of virtual reality technology. She shares some humorous moments from her research (e.g., “I wish I could do this [in VR] for forever”), describes some potential concerns about safety for kids in VR and succinctly explains the funda...

Dr. Allison Eden , associate professor at Michigan State University, and Robby delve into her recently published research on media habits and well-being during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss how media use changed between the Spring and Fall of 2020, why some social media platforms were better suited as a hedonic distraction to help people cope with stress and anxiety and h...

This episode, Robby speaks with Professor Brian Winn, his colleague in the Department of Media and Information here at Michigan State University, about his unique path into academia and directing the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab. They discuss how the Meaningful Play conference came to be as a marriage of academic games research and industry/creative game design and what to expect...

Dr. Dad is back again for an encore episode with Robby!  They discuss the early days of supporting remote work at Bell Labs, the potential for virtual reality technologies (and the metaverse writ large) to influence the dynamics of remote work in the near-term future, Robby’s recently funded NSF on topics of equity and inclusion within virtual meeting platforms, and the ~30-year future potential o...

CROSSOVER EPISODE! When approached by Roxana Girju , professor of linguistics (and more, see below), requesting an interview for her podcast about the Metaverse, Robby thought, “Let’s kill two virtual birds with one grey oblong NFT!” In other words, the interview is being cross-posted and Robby finally gets to blah blah blah on his own podcast! Seriously though, this was a great opportunity to syn...

The Founders of Upworlds and Metaxu , Sonya Seddarasan and Dr. Pierre Gerard, respectively, describe their endeavors to support the community of Metaverse developers and users to host Robby Ratan.  Upworlds provides a platform for virtual builders to gain useful skills (e.g., cross-platform development) and monetize their work through a peer-to-peer marketplace, special events, rentals and custom...

In this episode, host Robby Ratan speaks with Yiming Skylar Lei , a Ph. D. student in the Information and Media program at Michigan State University, and a very productive member of the SPARTIE Lab . They discuss her childhood curiosity about gaming and how it led to her pursuit of a Ph. D. in game studies. She shares some advice for potential students who want to follow her path, her interests in...

In this episode, host Robby Ratan speaks with Dr. Kelly Tran, a professional game designer and researcher working on a game to improve players’ social and emotional learning. She discusses her transition from academia to industry, the importance of aligning game mechanics with the impactful (or “serious”) intent of the game, the value of games as tools for stealth assessment, her eudaimonic experi...

This week host Robby Ratan had a truly enlightening conversation with Dr. Sarah Hays, a practicing clinician who uses video games and avatars in the therapy she provides to her clients. She also works at Take This and Queer Women of Esports . The two discuss the Geek Therapeutics movement (super cool idea Robby had never heard of), the exciting potential to provide therapy using and/or inside of v...

In this episode, host Robby Ratan speaks with Dr. Jorge Peña, associate professor at the University of California, Davis. They cover themes in "Westworld," "Black Mirror" and countless video games. And relate the themes to his research on a virtual recreation of the Milgram shock experiments, a study on how avatar identification affects acceptance of out-group members, and the theoretical underpin...

In this episode host Robby Ratan speaks with Cecilia D'Anastasio, the games journalist at WIRED. They talk about her writing on identity exploration through avatars, the potential for video games to foster empowerment of marginalized communities and skepticism about the vision of the Metaverse being touted by CEOs. To wrap up, they geek out about their professions and in particular and the complem...