Books you might enjoy, and the stories behind them.
- AI: Agility Plus Ideas February 3, 2025
In honor of XR Women, hosting their “Thrive in 2025” Symposium this upcoming weekend, please enjoy this reposting of one of our top episodes of 2024!
This post and podcast are for informational purposes only, and are not intended as legal advice. Please contact a legal professional with any law-related questions.
(Photo courtesy of In Her Image Photography, and used with permission.) “I think we, as human beings, are at our best when we are using AI as a thought partner,” says workplace futurist and bestselling author Marti Konstant.
Her advice for making artificial intelligence your “thought partner”, as she explores in her book, “Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding to Change Will Inspire Your Life’s Work“? Start at the level of your profession.
And from there, you can customize the ways AI can work, to enhance, rather than replace, your own creative talents.
In this interview from September 2024, we discuss the ways Marti’s term “AI-gility” allows users to put artificial intelligence to work to spark new ideas.
Marti talked about her background, explained some of the ways artificial intelligence can boost the creative process for artists and educators, and offered a look at some of her favorite AI resources.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- What first inspired Marti to become an artist;
- The career path which took her to her work in career agility as a workplace futurist;
- How she first encountered artificial intelligence in her work;
- Guidelines, for anyone who’d like to start using AI in their career;
- An exercise which shows how artificial intelligence can become a “thought partner” in teaching;
- A technique that could help avoid “scraping” when using AI;
- Some of Marti’s favorite AI resources for creatives;
- How one such resource might help with personal branding for creative work;
- One experience Marti had, introducing a novelist to practical AI for her creative process;
- Future skills creatives will need, in making AI their “thought partner”, now and in future projects;
- Some of Marti’s personal favorite ways to use AI to enhance her work and well-being;
- Engineering Engagement August 30, 2023
(Photograph courtesy of Dr. Carlotta Berry, and used with permission.) “Lots of people find robotics so cool,” says Dr. Carlotta Berry.
Dr. Berry, who has coined the term “NoireSTEMinist®” to describe her work in the STEM professions, is an educator, speaker, author, hip-hop video creator and founder of two nonprofits.
She is both a professor of engineering and robotics at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, in Indiana, and the co-founder of the Rose-Hulman multidisciplinary minor in robotics
Her mission: to change the face of STEM to include underrepresented populations and women. In the process, she’s showing her students the ways in which their talents fit into engineering and robotics.
But those students aren’t restricted to the ones she sees in her classroom.
“Robotics for the streets” is both the theme of her message–AND the title of a workshop she’ll be presenting, in September, during the 2023 Make: Education Forum! This is a virtual event, and you’re invited to come and learn as she demonstrates the use of Arduino.
Arts and community
(Photo courtesy of Dr. Carlotta Berry and used with permission.) Imagination, fun and the arts are core elements of the process.
Carlotta, as she likes to be called, has produced several “Robot Slam Poetry” videos on her YouTube channel. She has also published two Black STEM romance novels.
And she has created a number of resources.
If you need a speaker for an upcoming event, her nonprofit, Black in Robotics, includes a speakers’ bureau. There’s also a reading list, spotlighting Black scholars and innovators.
Meanwhile, her Black in Engineering nonprofit offers videos, action steps and links related to anti-racism, STEM and diversity.
Carlotta talked about her professional journey, offered a closer look at the ways arts-oriented students fit into the STEM professions and shared the story of creating her nonprofits.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- How Carlotta first became interested in robotics;
- How robotics can appeal to more arts-oriented individuals;
- A closer look at “robotics for the streets” and what the term means for communities at large;
- What first started Carlotta creating her “Robot Slam Poetry”;
- The story behind her term, “NoireSTEMinist®”;
- The story of her two nonprofits, Black in Engineering and Black in Robotics;
- Steps towards eliminating bias in AI;
- A preview of Carlotta’s workshop for Make: Education Forum (she’s created an open-source robot for educators!)
- A step Carlotta’s taking towards combating the current “marketing problem” with engineering as a profession;
- Her creative challenges, as a technical professional writing her first novel;
- The most creative fun Carlotta has had, in the past year, while taking STEM and robotics to the streets.
- Metaversed: a Guide to the Future May 8, 2023
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What does “metaverse” really mean?
More importantly–what can it mean in your life?
Especially if you’re not a “technical” person? Or, alternately, if you have some knowledge of the technologies and want to take the next steps in putting them to work for you?
These are some of the questions which strategic business consultant, keynote speaker and educator Samantha G. Wolfe addresses in her new book: Metaversed: See Beyond the Hype.Sam, as she prefers to be called, is both the Founder of New York technology consultancy firm PitchFWD and an adjunct professor at NYU.
In Metaversed, which she co-authored with Luis Bravo Martins, Sam offers both a clear definition of the term “metaverse”, and a series of guidelines towards accessing it.
And she’d especially like readers to know: the metaverse is for everyone. Including artists, educators and anyone who isn’t quite sure, yet, how it could fit into their life and work.
“It shouldn’t only be the people that know how to code or develop that (need to be involved),” Sam comments. “It needs to be more than that.”
In other words, the metaverse is for YOU–and Sam’s new book explores the ways you can get involved. Including a great chapter on “Resources” which, we admit, is a personal favorite.
Sam talked about some of the ways the metaverse and artificial intelligence could facilitate everyday life, considerations involved in protecting privacy and some of the ways these technologies might be used to build a better world.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- A definition of the term “metaverse”;
- How these technologies might affect daily life in five years;
- How the metaverse might be instrumental in solving some of the world’s problems;
- A look at some of the applications of the technologies for the arts and education;
- How one skeptical educator came to realize the pertinence of XR to their area;
- How the metaverse may affect the workplace of the future;
- Ways to avoid the same mistakes made with the Internet when building the metaverse;
- Where to start, if you’re new to the metaverse;
- Some of Sam’s favorite resources for “on boarding” experiences.