Communicating Robotics

Hallie SiegelManaging Editor

Robohub

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over 9250

citations

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IEEE/RSJ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS, OCTOBER 2012

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Communicating: Why bother?

• Collaborate with peers• Convince funding agencies• Find project/business partners• Attract investors• Inform industry partners• Influence regulators and policy-makers• Generate media attention• Shape public opinion• Sell product

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Traditional tools: Little or no direct contact with public

You

Journals

ConferencesPeers

Grant Applications

Funding AgenciesPress OfficePR Agency

Media Public

Press OfficePR Agency

Media Public

AcceleratorsIncubators

Business Partners

Investors

Press OfficePR Agency

Media Public

Meetings/ForumsTech transfer

officesIndustry

Press OfficePR Agency

Media Public

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Social tools: Direct communication

What are the obstacles?

• Lack of time

• Don’t see the benefit

• Unfamiliar/not confident with social media

• Not confident with writing

• Concern that your work will be misrepresented, oversimplified, or misunderstood

Communicating about robotics is challenging …

• Hard to explain in simple terms

• It’s an emerging field– Lack of commonly understood language

conventions to guide the conversation

• Most people outside the field don’t have personal experience with robots

• Existing stereotypes about robots (and the people who build them) are hard to compete with

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Media reflects our fears …

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… and inflates expectations

EXPERIMENT: DRAW A SCIENTISTTake a few minutes now to draw a picture of a scientist

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Notice any similarities?

• White

• Male

• Eye glasses

• Lab coat

• Often evidence of mania, danger, or anti-social behaviour– unkempt clothing or hair

– dangerous equipment, fire, explosions

– goofy, or conversely, frowning facial expressions

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Which of these people are scientists?

Lessons Learned from the Implementation of a GK-12 Grant Outreach Program. Laura J. Bottomley, Elizabeth A. Parry, Scott Brigade, La Toya Coley, Laura Deam, Elizabeth Goodson, Jan Kidwell, Jessica Linck, and Brent Robinson. Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education.

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Disconnected

from realityToo smart for

their own good

(and possibly dangerous)

Hard to understand

Specialist in their field

Focused on their work Extremely Intelligent

ExclusiveUnapproachable

Highly educated

The stereotypic scientist is …

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“What people think I do” meme

EXPERIMENT: DRAW A ROBOTTake a few minutes now to draw a picture of a robot

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Notice any similarities?

• Humanoid

• Strong

• Hard-bodied

• Not clear whether they are useful or dangerous

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Is this a robot?

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How do people feel about robots?

Eurobarometer Survey

• Conducted by the European Commission

– 2012 study

– 26 751 respondents from 27 member states

• Aimed to gauge EU public opinion of robots:

– Public perceptions

– Acceptance levels

– Worries and reservations

http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_382_en.pdf

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Most people don’t have personal experience with robots

Eurobarometer 382, pp 14-16: QA3. Have you ever used, or are you currently using such robots at home or at work (e.g. a robotic vacuum cleaner at home or an industrial robot at work)?

People are generally positive about robots

• And opinion of robots improves with:

– Education

– Personal experience with robots

Eurobarometer 382, pp 17-20: QA4. Generally speaking, do you have a very positive, fairly positive, fairly negative or very negative view of robots?

Robots are generally seen as helpful and necessary

Eurobarometer 382, pp 21: QA5. Please tell me to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about robots.

Robots are a good thing for society,because they help people

Robots are necessary as they can dojobs that are too hard or too

dangerous for people

Priority AreasSpace exploration

ManufacturingMilitary and security

Search and rescue

BUT robots are also seen as potentially threatening

Eurobarometer 382, pp 21: QA5. Please tell me to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about robots.

Robots steal people’s jobs

Robots are a form of technology thatrequires careful management

Robots should be banned from …

Eurobarometer 382, pp 35: QA7. In which areas do you think that the use of robots should be banned?

Care of children, elderly and the disabled

Education

Healthcare

Leisure

Models of Communication

Communication 101

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Injection Model

• Developed in 1920s• Linear theory

• Sees audience as passive, homogeneous

• Too simplistic• BUT continues to shape

how we talk about media influence

Multi-Step Flow Model

• Developed in the 1940s

• More complex than Injection Model

• Assumes we are more likely to be influencedby thought leaders

• Sees audience as more active and less homogeneous

• Still has credibility today

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Multi-Step Flow in action

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Multi-Step Flow in action

Agenda Setting Model

• Developed in the 1970s

• Proposes that the media do not reflect reality, they SHAPE it

• Media can’t necessarily tell us HOW to think, but they can tell us WHAT to think about

• Model is still relevant today, BUT remember it’s not always the media who set the agenda

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Agenda Setting in action

http://robohub.org/robotics-ai-in-the-spotlight-at-wef15-world-economic-forum/

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Agenda Setting in action

“I want Americans to win the race for the kind of discoveries that unleash new jobs.”

http://robohub.org/obama-connects-robots-and-jobs-in-state-of-the-union-address/

Reinforcement Model

• Similar to multi-step flow model, but focused more on personal spheres of influence

• Supposes that new influences are more likely to reinforce our beliefs than change them.

• “We see what we want to see.”

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Reinforcement Model in action

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What does the Stop the Robots hoax teach us?

• “We see what we want to see.”

• The hoax worked because we were primed to believe that the protest was real

All media messages are constructs

• Everything we see or hear in the media has been constructed– Newspapers, Twitter, blogs, TV, YouTube etc.

• Media messages are an interpretation or representation of reality

• Representations are created through a process of selection and omission

Headlines

Communication 101

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“On average,

five times as many people read

the headline as read the body copy.”

- David Ogilvy

Headlines are everything

• It’s the first thing people see

• If it doesn’t grab people’s attention, they won’t keep reading

• Newsfeeds, aggregators and search often display ONLY the title

A great headline should …

• Be useful– Tell readers what to expect in the article

– Deliver what it promises

• Offer a unique perspective– Stand out from the rest

• Convey a sense of urgency or importance– Make people want to read more!!

– But not by feeding into hype

Key features of a good headline

• Concise

• Paints a vivid picture

• Easy-to-understand terminology

• Conveys the key points

– What the technology is

– How it works, what makes it unique

– Why it’s important

– Why it’s important NOW

Communicating Robotics

So how to I get started anyway?

1. Know your audience.

• Who are you trying to reach?

• What are their interests, concerns and fears?

• How, where and when do they communicate?

• What kind of language is most appropriate for them?

2. Know your context.

• Be informed about your audience’s “hot button” issues

• Research your competition

• Get familiar with the tools your audience likes to use

• And use those tools to stay informed about emerging issues

3. Find your niche.

• Be an expert in your field

• Stay focused and don’t over reach

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4. Design a communication strategy.

5. Be respectful.

• Don’t talk down

• Use plain language

• Don’t stoke fears

• Don’t hype your work

6. Start communicating!

• Places to share your robotic news:– IEEE Automaton Blog– Hacker News– Slashdot– Reddit

• Robohub– 60K monthly visitors– 700K followers on social media– Experts from around the world– http://robohub.org

Thank you!

Hallie SiegelManaging Editor, Robohub

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hallie@robohub.org@HallieSiegel