[Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought

Wed Mar 28 18:43:13 UTC 2012

Could the billboard be programmed to notice a white cane and switch to spoken messages?

It might look at my meager bank balance and tag me as a potential shoplifter - alerting mall security.  <grin>

Maybe this is a reason to wear those oversized sunglasses and attempt to conceal your identity.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Larry Wayland
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 2:34 PM
To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought

Here is a scary thought.  The software will see your face and recognize who you are then do a check through a comprehensive data base, find out what you have been buying with your credit and debit cards then show you advertisements based on that. 
Larry
-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 1:20 PM
To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought

:)
That's what I'm getting at, I'm not sure if the adds are targeting you as an individual, or you as a demographic, then tying it back to what they assume (rightly or wrongly) you'd want to buy.

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Richard Baldwin
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 2:13 PM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought

I don't how they decide what to advertise.

If it were me in the mall, the camera would probably pan down to my waistline and recommend the food court. <grin>

Dick Baldwin

On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 12:44 PM, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) < REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com> wrote:

> Is this a one-to-one ratio or are these bill boards looking for 
> certain features?
>
> If Dick and Amanda were at the mall, the camera would see an old dude 
> and a young lady.
> It might suggest Dick wants an ice cream, where Amanda might want a 
> nice dress.
>
> Or is the technology linked to a database that would say "old dude is 
> Dick, young chick is Amanda, both like math, let's suggest a gaming shop?
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org 
> [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Richard Baldwin
> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:44 PM
> To: BlindMath Mailing List; seeingwithsound at freelists.org
> Subject: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought
>
> Most of the math courses that I completed in public school and college 
> mainly involved completely deterministic concepts such as finding 
> unknown in sets of algebraic equations, proving theorems in geometry, 
> proving identities in trigonometry, solving triangle problems using 
> trigonometry, differentiating functions, integrating functions, 
> playing around with solids of revolution, etc. They were all good 
> exercises for the brain but were not very close to real-world problems.
>
> When I made it into engineering college, the problems and their 
> solutions were closer to the real world but only barely so.
>
> When I completed my first engineering degree and went to work in the 
> real world, I learned very quickly that problems in the real world are 
> far from deterministics. In other words, there are very few problems 
> in the real world that have deterministic solutions. Problems in the 
> real world usually involve a mix of mathematics, statistics, physics, 
> engineering, computer science, and other technologies, and there is 
> rarely a single correct solution for any problem.
>
> Furthermore, the solution to most problems requires the design and 
> implementation of complex mathematical algorithms, and those 
> algorithms are most commonly implemented using a computer of some 
> sort. (In my opinion, every student that receives a technical degree 
> should be required to learn to program well in at least one 
> programming language.)
>
> By now you must be wondering where this is all heading.
>
> I saw on TV today that shopping malls and large department stores are 
> installing electronic billboards that use facial recognition to 
> display advertisements that are likely to be of interest to those 
> persons who can see the billboard.
>
> I have no idea what the facial recognition algorithm is for 
> categorizing the viewers in a way that allows for a selection of 
> appropriate advertisements. However, this tells me that the algorithm 
> doesn't require a supercomputer to implement. The algorithms must be 
> implemented using modestly priced computer hardware. Otherwise, they 
> would be too expensive to include in such billboards.
>
> This makes me wonder if it might be possible to use a small portable 
> computer to develop a system that will do facial recognition on people 
> whose faces appear in the field of view of a miniature video camera 
> embedded in eyeglass frames and to speak information about those 
> people to the wearer of the glasses.
>
> Science fiction? Maybe so and maybe not.
>
> Dr. Peter Meijer has demonstrated that it is possible to couple a 
> video camera built into eyeglass frames with a small portable computer 
> and an appropriate software program (The vOICe) and to create 
> soundscapes that some blind users find very beneficial (see 
> http://www.seeingwithsound.com/
> )
> as they move through the world.
>
> Not being blind, I can't imagine what it would be like to interact 
> with other people that you can't see. However, it seems to me that it 
> would be beneficial for a blind person to know something about another 
> persons before a conversation begins. Depending on capability, this 
> could range all the way from rudimentary information such as the 
> probable sex and likely age of the person, to detailed information 
> such as the identification of prior acquaintances by name.
>
> Perhaps it is time for a group of blind mathematicians, physicists, 
> engineers, statisticians, and computer scientists to band together to 
> produce such a system and to publish it as an open source 
> hardware/software system.
>
> Food for thought,
> Dick Baldwin
>
> --
> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>
> Professor of Computer Information Technology Austin Community College
> (512) 223-4758
> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
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--
Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials http://www.DickBaldwin.com

Professor of Computer Information Technology Austin Community College
(512) 223-4758
mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
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