The Week That Was ( Dec 3 - Dec 8 )

I just hit publish on my first personal blog in a long while. Feels freeing.

This week was that of exploration.

Computer Science

I am in between projects at the moment having wrapped up my recent work on evaluation of Event Argument Extraction ( committing to NAACL 2025). I am currently exploring topics that would be first paper in my dissertation. I am surfing literature around Framing and Narratives.

I wrote a short script to scrape ACL Anthology based on keywords in heading. I just really did not like the search results when I used the inbuilt search. Sharing the script below.

Once I had this huge list of papers, I started filtering them for the kind of framing and narrative I am looking into. Not gonna lie, this is a bit exhausting.

I am studying most recent work to a) ensure I am not reinventing the wheel b) build on top of a pre existing dataset if possible. I am still in the process of framing my dissertation question—it’s about 80% complete. Broadly, my goal is to develop algorithms to extract distinct narratives from biased news reporting of the same event, enhance techniques for identifying objective facts from biased sources (building on existing bias detection research), and create user-friendly tools to present these narratives and facts.

I am also participating in SemEval 2025 Task 10 - Multilingual Characterization and Extraction of Narratives from Online News which is closely related to what I aim to work on.

This upcoming week, I am aiming to

a) propose and test a few simple techniques for subtask1 Entity Framing

b) Pause the survey at some point and reflect on what I have. Do I need a new dataset all together or/and can I work on one of existing tasks next?

Public Policy

Context: I am working towards a graduate minor in Public Policy. I am currently taking a class POL 600: Theories of the Public Policy Process.

The past week -- Dec 2, the topic of the class was Narrative Policy Framework. I am afraid I do not fully comprehend it, but I think it is related to what I am doing in Computer Science.

We have a final paper due next week and I have a 40% formed idea what to write. I want to use NPF to understand AI Policy Regulation and Innovation.

This upcoming week, I am aiming to

a) Understand NPF better

b) Working on my final paper : Write draft 1, meet faculty for feedback and write draft 2.

<stretch goal> c) Start exploring my options for a minor advisor.

Sometime during the week or the week before, I was exploring how US has traditionally been to AI Policy regulation. Did you know the earliest congressional talk of the word 'artificial intelligence' was in 1970? The document is here

This is likely the first time the societal implication of artificial intelligence was discussed in US Congress. I stared at the then IBM presidents projection of societal implications of AI including

"A fairer society will evolve, energy applied for a better life will be available.",

"The fears which are expressed against computer applications are by non-scientists. Those who caution the danger of data bases getting in the hands of the wrong people are

raising unreal possibilities. Who would use such data for his own objectives? I can assure you the people of computer science are not without conscience," he stated

"The possibility of leisure civilizations are on the horizon, a 32-hour week, frequent personal travel, more quality literature, information better diffused and interpreted will be better for public life.",

I am unsure how I feel about these projections almost half a century later.

Attending the Obama Democracy Forum

I attended some of the talks for the Obama Democracy Forum 2024. I am loving the philosophy of pluralism. My favorite was one by Rachel Kleinfeld.

Others

This week I sat down to write down my goals for my 27th birthday. It felt nice to be able to write goals my true self wanted than from who I am "supposed" to be.

Hobbies

One of my goals is to explore 10 hobbies, one of which is writing ( Exhibit A this blog), and and one of the other is cozy games. I enjoyed the short game of Resonance of The Ocean

in which you make musical instruments from washed-up objects in an island to match a distant mysterious sounds from across the ocean. This was a super short and cute puzzle game.

The other game I still playing is Hungry Hearts Diner Neo, where you help a granny run her diner by cooking dishes and doing deliveries. As you level up, you add more desk, unlock more dishes, get a faster bike to do deliveries etc. There are a lot of side stories from the different diner regulars as well. I am loving it! So relaxing.

I have also been exploring intermittent fasting and got back on my meal plan habits. I am hoping to use social media less this week, focussing more on academics and walking on my at home walk pad. I really want to record my first proper weekly PhD vlog like Kaelyn Grace Apple and Sarah Fischer. I LOVE THEIR CONTENT.

Thats all about this week. See you next Sunday!