Posts in category: CTIC News

Every year, it’s certain someone will have to run out for a missed ingredient when the batter is half mixed and entree half cooked.

With so many recipes readying for the table and getting fixed up for family, friends, and neighbors, it’s too easy to leave an ingredient off the grocery trip list.

To avoid an eleventh-hour store visit during your holiday gathering – and the chaos that will inevitably greet you when you arrive to the grocery store holiday hassle – use ChatGPT to generate a list that don’t miss a thing.

1. Simply, ask ChatGPT to “create a grocery list for me that will have all the ingredients in these recipes.”
2. Copy and paste recipe ingredients from an online recipe or transcribe them from a cookbook. Enter the recipe ingredients as they are presented, with their specified amounts (eg 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 large yellow onion).
3. Likely, ChatGPT will create grocery lists each time you submit a recipe. To get have them combined into one, once you’ve shared all the recipes you’d like, ask ChatGPT to “combine these shopping lists.”
4. Then, you’ll see a combined grocery list of the recipes you shared. The one I got generated was even sorted by grocery store section! Grab, and go to the store confidently, knowing it didn’t miss a thing.

Some other useful ChatGPT prompts to prepare your mind and meaningful moments at a holiday gathering:

• What are some activities I can have planned or presented to keep ages 8-80 entertained while I cook?
• We want to eat dinner at 5:30. When should I begin cooking to have a full Thanksgiving dinner ready?
  • You could add to this prompt by sharing recipes or the layout of what is available in the kitchen.
• What could I say to excuse myself from the gathering when I need a minute to myself?
• What are some Thanksgiving alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages I should offer?
• What’s something unique I can cook for a Thanksgiving gathering?

What else will you ask ChatGPT for this year?

The Carroll Technology and Innovation Council is excited to welcome to the team two American Connection Corps fellows, Jack and Diana!

Lead For America and the American Connection Project have teamed up to mobilize leaders to coordinate broadband development and digital inclusion through the American Connection Corps (ACC). This national service program is focused on bridging the digital divide, locally and across the nation.

Jack Bayne studied at McDaniel College and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2022. Before joining us at CTIC, he worked for the National Park Service at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine with the Chesapeake Conservation Corps. “I am super excited to start giving back to a community that gave me so much in my time here at McDaniel.”

Some fast and fun facts on Jack:

• He played baseball at McDaniel, and currently is an assistant coach at his alma mater.
• He has 3 dogs.
• He has been to over 30 National Parks.

Diana is an executive board member of the Maryland Youth Advisory Council and is currently studying business management at Carroll Community College. She is also the founder and executive director of ConectandoUs, a local nonprofit serving the Hispanic community in Carroll County.

Some fast and fun facts on Diana:

• Diana has been to 26 states in the U.S.
• She loves puzzles and the aquarium.
• She has an Australian Shepherd.

On October 18, 2023, ten speakers will take to the Ignite Carroll stage to traverse topics of cannabis, communicating affection, imaginary friends, foods fit for a president, and beyond. The speakers are people we know already – or will feel like we do by the end of the night. The best part is, every Talk is 5 minutes long – it’s efficient, it’s high-energy, and it’s all happening right downtown at the Carroll Arts Center.

“Ignite is an opportunity for people in our community to hear many different perspectives in one place, in a short amount of time,” said Chris Abell who is organizing Ignite Carroll 11 and has presented in the past. The Ignite concept puts multiple speakers in front of an audience, giving them 5 minutes apiece to enlighten the crowd. “It allows for people to come together or start a conversation about topics they didn’t know they were interested in.” 

“Anyone can give an Ignite Talk,” said Firen Forrest, Ignite Talks President. Speakers on this year’s Ignite stage of varying levels of experience – some have taken on the stage for years, others have experience from separate speaking engagements, and some are facing their fear of speaking in front of a crowd right there on the Ignite stage. But they share two things: a burning idea and the guts to get on stage and share it with the crowd. What they talk about and how they do it is up to them.

“Getting up on stage and sharing yourself with your community is what Ignite Talks is all about—being vulnerable, sharing your passion, your insight, what motivates you or intrigues you,” said Forrest. 

What can I expect as an audience member? 

For each presentation, in 5 minutes, speakers will tell their story over the course of 20 slide presentations that auto-advances every 15 seconds. These constraints breed creativity for the presenter and, Forrest mentioned, sometimes creates “wacky situations” as the speaker tries to speed up or slow down to keep in time with the slides.  

“The talks are short and punchy, and they’re often presented in a way that makes you think about the subject in a new way—an “aha” moment or an angle you weren’t anticipating,” said Forrest. 

The style of the evening moves at a quick and compelling clip and the bite size presentations allow the Ignite audience to hear from over a dozen presenters on one fun, fast paced night.  

“If you find a talk boring or just not your thing, you know it’s only going to be 5 minutes until something fresh and new comes along” added Forrest. 

Why should you attend? 

“A night of Ignite Talks rallies a community and gives that community a forum to know each other more deeply, to connect, and inspire each other,” said Forrest. 

The energy of an Ignite night is uniquely invigorating. Audience members have described the evening being electric and entertaining – an event they look forward to time and time again. Every year and every speaker is different, so you’re bound to learn and see something new, even if you have attended before.

You may also walk away with the motivation and inspiration to step onto the Ignite stage yourself next time.

This year will also feature a Firecracker Networking session, inspired by the format of Ignite Talks. You’ll have an opportunity to inspire yourself and others by answering some questions we provide during the intermission.

Where can you see an evening of Ignite Talks? 

Passionate people are building up and taking to Ignite stages across the world from Sydney, Australia to Accra, Ghana – and our own Carroll County, Maryland on October 18, 2023. 

The Carroll Arts Center doors will be opening on this high-energy evening at 5:30 pm and the action will be taking place from 6 pm to 8 pm. This year will once again be hosted by the brilliant and energetic Vince Buscemi. 

Get your tickets today and follow @carrolltechcouncil on Instagram to see speakers spotlighted in the weeks leading up to Ignite Carroll.

“Birds of a feather flock together.” 

The proverb plays out true for a lot of us. We attract – or hope to attract – people like us. This plausibility of our social inclination to surround ourselves with beings like us is referred to as the similarity-attraction hypothesis. I say beings… because it also seems include robots.  

We often describe people by – and identify ourselves with – personality. This is the basis for how we understand who we are, and how we understand who others are. Inherently, this is knowingness is done through the lens and expression brought about by being in relationship with others. 

Personalities are sets of distinctive characteristics among humans and exchanged between them. Goldberg indicates the personality is composed of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism – you might have heard these referred to these factors as the “Big Five.” Levels of extroversion are particularly exposed in defining a human’s personality as it characterizes it is often associated with one’s social aptitude in various relationships. An extroverted person is generally energized by external stimulus, while an introverted person will be comparatively less socialable. It follows that it is often the case introverted people tend to have fewer relationships than extroverted counterparts as they present with less engagement in social interactions. 

Of our perceptive abilities in social interactions, verbal and non-verbal communication deliver information, emotion, and intention to us. Verbal communication delivers purposes and details; non-verbal communication supports delivery by conveying information subtly with gestures, facial movements, and eye movements. In application to levels of extroversion, it’s notable that extroverted people more actively form social relationships with facial communication, while introverted people are less likely to do so.  

Studies indicate that social rules and terminations of human-human interactions will equally apply to human-robot ones, and similar rules to engagement – aka, the prevalence of personality in building relationships – apply. “If computers and robots are able to communicate with humans, humans will respond to these computers and robots using the same elements of social interactions that they employ in human-human interactions.”

A purpose-blinded study, participants interacted with robots programmed to introverted or extroverted properties (eg passive facial movements, slow facial expressions, and small, infrequent eye contact movements for an introverted robot). The responses of participants were measured by indexes of anthropomorphism, friendliness, preference, and social presence. The results of participants’ perception of the robots were correlated directly with their personality type. Extroverted participants found a higher degree of anthropomorphism, friendliness, and social presence than intermediate or introverted participants when interacting with a robot holding extroverted properties. When introverted participants interacted with the robot similar to them, they felt higher degrees of friendliness, immersive tendency, and preference. Breaking the correlation, introverted participants did find a lower degree of presence with the introverted robot.  

In similar studies, subjects are found preferring a computer acting similar to themselves and reporting higher satisfaction with their interactions. “Birds of a feather flock together,” even if no one has feathers, one is covered in skin, and the other runs on batteries. 

 Check these out:

Park E, Jin D, del Pobil AP (2012) The Law of Attraction in Human-Robot Interaction. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems 9(2).  

Nass C, Steuer J, Tauber E, Reeder H (1993) Anthropomorphism, agency and ethopoeia: Computers as social actor. Proceedings of the INTERACT ’93 and CHI ’93 Conference Companion on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM. pp. 111–112. 

Nass C, Moon Y, Fogg BJ, Reeves B, Dryer C (1995) Can computer personalities be human personalities? International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 43: 223–239. 

We all have great ideas. But an idea can only become as great as its delivery.

You once in a while come across those speakers that grab your attention and hold it. They articulate their thoughts as though they have masterfully rehearsed a script, and deliver stories as though you are living through it with them. It’s magic.

You too have probably experienced those moments where each of your words feels perfectly placed – the world seems to open up before you as you find your flow and your ideas find receptive ears.

Whether you are readying to capture that feeling for an upcoming engagement, or would like to nourish that ability to tap into when you need it next, we’ve got some ideas for how to make your idea delivery great.

Listening like a Speaker.

There’s a practice prolific writers take part in – they read like writers. They look out for literary devices and tactics authors employ to deliver the content. They pick out punctuation, sink into sentences structures, and rake out rhyme schemes – and alliteration. From this investigation of words in newspapers and cereal boxes, readers that read like writers gain a better understanding of language and its functions and pick up tips, tricks, and templates along the way to try out in their own work. A speaker can do the same.

Listen to people talk online and in your day-to-day life to learn about speaking. Pay attention to what everyone is doing with their words – purposeful and not. Make mental notes of what engages you and what diminishes your focus, what language choices garner your trust or move you to be dismissive, what makes them see knowledgeable or inexperienced. Listen like a speaker. Listen for the good and the bad and seek to learn from it all. Recognize every interaction as an opportunity. Remember, even if you’ve learned what not to do, you’ve learned something!

Quick Tips to Kick Start Your Observations

Here are some observations of speaker tactics. Use this format and process as a model for how you listen. Pay attention to speaker choices and then name the outcomes on listeners. Then, transform this observed interaction into a tip you can act on.

• Get your audience speaking and responding to you. Have the person engage with you is a sure way to grab their attention. Seek responses and create opportunities for them to interact with you and your content.
• Provoke responsiveness and engagement with humor or a question at the beginning of you speaking. Get their buy-in during the first minute by inviting them to participate in the energetic exchange.
• Denote your thinking process. Share how you are traveling through the ideas entering your head or how stories are connecting themselves in your mind. This offers the listener sort of a roadmap for the discussion and makes them feel like they understand you – and ultimately your thinking and ideas – more.

Prime Practice Advice

Tips on process are powerful for creating sustainable outcomes. Seek process advice from aware or experienced speakers by talking to one or finding content on YouTube or in a podcast. Check out these tips you can have in your back pocket for preparing or course correcting a delivery.

• Demonstrate your understanding of the presentation content. Review key points or details you don’t want to miss during your drive, deliver your presentation to a friend, make bullet points and quiz yourself on remembering them. Get some good tests of knowledge under your belt so you can be assured you know what you’re talking about, even if you experience some nerves before the moment of action.
• Practice in front of a mirror and pay attention to how your facial expressions sync up with words.
• Record a voice memo of yourself speaking and listen back to where your inflections lie. Dipping into a lower register at the end of your sentence often instills more trustworthiness, but there may be occasions where you want to jump up in your voice to build intrigue or collaboration.
• Try slowing down your rate of speaking. Slowing down is often a tip we get moments before the presentation, but it can be hard to do when you haven’t practiced doing so. Vary your speed when speaking to give yourself an arsenal of options to pull from when you are presenting, particularly if you are working with time constraints in a conference or stage setting.

Have your own advice? Give us a tip! We learn by sharing, doing, and – of course – practicing.

The Ignite Carroll season is upon us for the eleventh time. The unique concept of the Ignite talk gives speakers 5 minutes to deliver a presentation of 20 slides that auto advance every 15 seconds. It’s an endeavor that challenges speakers new and experienced, pushing ideas into a format that distills them to their most pertinent and powerful parts.

This is the second year I’ll be helping to organize it; it’s the first I’ll be applying to present. I write this to “speak” it into action because, in truth, I still sit slightly dissuaded from taking the stage, wondering:

Is this opportunity right for me? Is this the right time? Do I have something worth saying? Will people want to hear it?

I can hurl myself into answering these questions for days, weeks, months… there are few limits to the creativity of thought, especially when it pertains to how I, and others, will define me and my choices. But the most important part to answering them comes at the very end, when the answer begs the next question: “…And?”

And, what will I decided to do next, in spite of or because of this information? And, what if I still have one good reason to do it? And, what if I will learn some unrealized lesson from this, one I haven’t imagined yet? And, does this reason really matter?

Some of the biggest “and…” extensions come right from Ignite. The Ignite concept is meant for people to share something they are passionate about. The beauty of this simplicity is, everyone has at least one passion – the idea that hums throughout your life or fires you up, the project you pursue every week, the concept that you persistently explore. The Ignite stage is the platform to share these perspectives and experiences. So, if you can follow up your excuse with:

• And, I care deeply about this
• And, I believe someone should hear this
• And, my community needs to know about this

then, Ignite is right for you – and maybe for me, too.

Diana Flores, founder of ConectandUs, felt the call to present and took the Ignite stage for the first time at 18 years old. “Honestly, for me it just felt like I needed to do it because I wanted people to know they aren’t alone in their struggles but also to start the conversation in a meaningful way.”

Although the call appears clear, Flores was not without her own internal battle, “Being vulnerable in that way was a such a difficult step to take but there was just something inside me telling me that someone out there needed to hear my story so that they could know that they weren’t alone.”

Like with most hard things, there’s a million reasons to not do it. But there is one solid reason to do it: because you can. If you have an idea and a desire, it might be your time to apply to Ignite.

After submitting your idea and being accepted into the cohort of Ignite Carroll 11 speakers, there will be many opportunities to receive coaching on your Ignite presentation and guidance from past Ignite speakers. Although you will be taking the stage solo, you will never be alone. There is an Ignite community behind the stage and in the audience to support you, as well as Ignite headquarters and your Ignite talk coaches in the wings.

Will you Ignite the night?