(00:00):

Brian Reeves: Welcome to Information Changes Everything. Join us as we take a snappy look at the latest news about information and technology changing our world. This podcast is produced by the University of Michigan School of Information – UMSI. 

I’m Brian Reeves.

Alicia Myers: and I’m Alicia Myers.

Brian Reeves: As always, we'd love your feedback at [email protected]. And remember, we link to every story in our show notes. Let’s jump in...

(00:38):

Alicia Myers: First Deep Blue defeated a chess grandmaster. Then Watson trounced two Jeopardy champions. Now, according to ArsTechnica, it seems, AI is outscoring humans in creating the funniest captions on existing memes. Wharton professor Ethan Mollick mourned quote “I regret to announce the meme Turing Test has been passed”. In a recent European study, AI-generated memes scored higher for humor, creativity and shareability than those created by people. For what it’s worth, humans generated the best individual memes…for now.

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Brian Reeves: Preserving Black family histories is the goal of the oral history project “Griot and Grits,” a local initiative in Raleigh, North Carolina. ABC11’s Joel Brown reported that software company Red Hat has partnered with the group to employ AI in creating professional-style documentaries that feature elders recalling significant moments in Black history, such as the Civil Rights movement and Black Lives Matter, as well as their everyday experiences.

(01:41):

Alicia Myers: Data scientists are tackling one of life’s great mysteries, building a feline database to understand why cats act the way they do. NPR noted that Harvard and MIT are collaborating on The Darwin’s Cats Project, a community science initiative. How does it work? Pet owners send in samples of their cat’s fur and answer a series of surveys about their cat’s behavior. The goal is “to build the largest database of feline behaviors and genetics to help answer many unanswered questions about cats.” To help defray costs, volunteer scientists are asked to cough up $150 per cat to participate.

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Brian Reeves: You might think that ordering items on a pharmacy’s website would be covered by HIPPA privacy laws, but you’d be wrong, according to a report by KFF Health News. A 2023 investigation showed 12 major pharmacy sites, including CVS, Kroger and Costco, had trackers on their sites that sent information of customers viewing over the counter items such as HIV or pregnancy tests to sites like Google, Facebook and NextDoor. This is just one more example of how social media knows what they know about us.

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Alicia Myers: Brendan Iribe, the man who created the Oculus VR, has a new virtual assistant startup: Sesame. The Verge’s Sean Hollister says unlike most virtual assistants, Sesame is a VA you actually might want to talk to more than once. Listen in on Hollister’s own conversation, or try it out yourself with Maya or Miles, who are probably better conversationalists than you are. Sesame says it will come with wear-all-day AI glasses to provide constant contact with your invisible companion.

(03:22):

Brian Reeves: Surf, a new browser being developed by the internet company Flipboard, hearkens back to the early days of the web, when humans, not algorithms, determined the content they saw. Even the name is retro. Surf will allow users to avoid middlemen platforms like X and Facebook and view content from a variety of self-selected sources on a single dashboard. The New York Times reported that the company plans to offer the browser for free this year.

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Alicia Myers: It’s a sad fact that local news media are disappearing, and along with them reliable coverage of local events. The Local Memory Project, created by students at William and Mary College, is an interactive map that connects directly to local news sources–television, radio and newspapers–in all 50 states and around the world. Useful to non-residents considering a move, it’s also helpful for finding what media still exists in your own area. You might find a local news source you didn’t even know existed.

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Brian Reeves: Some of the United States’ most precious documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation, are housed in the U.S. National Archives. Writing for The Conversation, university archivist Elizabeth Call defended the importance of this institution in preserving our nation’s history and upholding democracy.

It’s worth noting that Robert Warner, sixth Archivist of the United States from 1980 to 1985, was dean of the University of Michigan School of Information (then the School of Library Science) from 1985 until 1992.

(04:59):

Alicia Myers: Fully self-driving cars aren’t available on dealer lots yet, though Waymo’s driverless taxis are now ferrying passengers in several U.S. cities. Robotics professor Mindy Cummings told Mashable she doesn’t believe individual ownership of fully autonomous autos will happen in her lifetime. Mostly because they require precise, extensive maintenance… And when’s the last time you changed your oil?

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Brian Reeves: The London Soundtrack festival, which recently concluded, may be the world’s first festival to celebrate video game music. Key events included a performance of video game music by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and master classes by the composers of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The Guardian asked if non-gaming audiences will accept this music as much as TV or film soundtracks… And The festival’s organizer admits there may be a bit of snobbery about media music, quote “but who cares what people think anyway?” That’s the gaming spirit!

(05:58):

Alicia Myers: Two recent productions are dramatizing the blurring lines between humanity and AI: In the 2025 Academy Award winner for best live-action short “I’m Not a Robot,” a young woman who repeatedly flunks CAPTCHA tests discovers a startling truth about herself.

And in Seoul, 40 years in the future, two retired Helperbots facing their expiration dates are enchanting Broadway audiences in the original musical Maybe Happy Ending. The production stars two graduates of the University of Michigan theatre program. Go Blue!

Brian Reeves: For links to all these stories, make sure to check out our show notes.

(06:30):

Now, some news from UMSI.

Alicia Myers: Seven University of Michigan School of Information students spent their spring break at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center, processing archival records to make them accessible to the public. In what’s known as an “archives blitz,” the team of Master of Science in Information students undertook a concerted effort to arrange and describe an entire collection in five days. Their project focused on decades of administrative materials, largely from the Yellowstone Center for Resources.

First offered in 1999, UMSI’s Alternative Spring Break program matches student teams with organizations across the nation, where they leverage their expertise to help solve information challenges.

Alicia Myers: Click the link in our show notes to learn more about all the great things going on at UMSI.

(07:21):

Brian Reeves: Did you know that the University of Michigan offers 3 different master’s degrees in information science, and you can start with an undergraduate degree in almost any field! See all the possibilities on our website, si.umich.edu.

The University of Michigan School of Information creates and shares knowledge so that people will use information – with technology – to build a better world. If you liked this episode of Information Changes Everything, subscribe and leave us a review—it helps listeners like you find our show and continue the conversation. 

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Thanks again for tuning in, and remember: Information changes everything. See you next time!