ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Heidi Boisvert - Artist and creative technologist
Heidi Boisvert harnesses the power of popular culture, emerging technology and neuroscience to ignite culture change.

Why you should listen

Heidi Boisvert is an interdisciplinary artist, experience designer, creative technologist and academic researcher who interrogates the neurobiological and socio-cultural effects of media and technology.
 Simply put, she studies the role of the body, the senses and emotion in human perception and social change.

Boisvert is currently mapping the world's first media genome, while taking great care with its far-reaching ethical implications.
 She founded futurePerfect lab, a creative agency and think-tank that works with social justice organizations to design playful emerging media campaigns to transform the public imagination. She also co-founded XTH, a company creating novel modes of expression through biotechnology and the human body. Presently, she is working with David Byrne on Theater of the Mind, a new immersive theater piece to debut in August 2020.

Boisvert, who holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the Director of Emerging Media Technology at City University of New York, where she teaches. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Norman Lear Center (based at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication), a research affiliate in the Open Documentary Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of NEW INC, the cultural incubator at The New Museum of Contemporary Art. She serves on the advisory board of American Documentary POV Spark and was selected by ZERO1 and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to represent the United States in Turkey.

More profile about the speaker
Heidi Boisvert | Speaker | TED.com
TED Residency

Heidi Boisvert: How I'm using biological data to tell better stories -- and spark social change

Filmed:
1,238,813 views

What kinds of stories move us to act? To answer this question, creative technologist Heidi Boisvert is measuring how people's brains and bodies unconsciously respond to different media. She shows how she's using this data to determine the specific narrative ingredients that inspire empathy and justice -- and spark large-scale social change.
- Artist and creative technologist
Heidi Boisvert harnesses the power of popular culture, emerging technology and neuroscience to ignite culture change. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
For the past 15 years I've been trying
to change your mind.
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In my work I harness pop culture
and emerging technology
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to shift cultural norms.
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I've made video games
to promote human rights,
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I've made animations to raise awareness
about unfair immigration laws
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and I've even made location-based
augmented reality apps
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to change perceptions around homelessness
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well before Pokémon Go.
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(Laughter)
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But then I began to wonder
whether a game or an app
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can really change attitudes and behaviors,
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and if so, can I measure that change?
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What's the science behind that process?
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So I shifted my focus
from making media and technology
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to measuring their
neurobiological effects.
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Here's what I discovered.
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The web, mobile devices,
virtual and augmented reality
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were rescripting our nervous systems.
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And they were literally changing
the structure of our brain.
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The very technologies I had been using
to positively influence hearts and minds
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were actually eroding functions
in the brain necessary for empathy
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and decision-making.
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In fact, our dependence
upon the web and mobile devices
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might be taking over
our cognitive and affective faculties,
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rendering us socially
and emotionally incompetent,
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and I felt complicit
in this dehumanization.
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I realized that before I could continue
making media about social issues,
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I needed to reverse engineer
the harmful effects of technology.
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To tackle this I asked myself,
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"How can I translate
the mechanisms of empathy,
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the cognitive, affective
and motivational aspects,
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into an engine that simulates
the narrative ingredients
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that move us to act?"
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To answer this, I had to build a machine.
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(Laughter)
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I've been developing
an open-source biometric lab,
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an AI system which I call the Limbic Lab.
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The lab not only captures
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the brain and body's unconscious response
to media and technology
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but also uses machine learning
to adapt content
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based on these biological responses.
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My goal is to find out what combination
of narrative ingredients
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are the most appealing and galvanizing
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to specific target audiences
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to enable social justice, cultural
and educational organizations
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to create more effective media.
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The Limbic Lab consists of two components:
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a narrative engine and a media machine.
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While a subject is viewing
or interacting with media content,
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the narrative engine takes in and syncs
real-time data from brain waves,
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biophysical data like heart rate,
blood flow, body temperature
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and muscle contraction,
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as well as eye-tracking
and facial expressions.
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Data is captured at key places
where critical plot points,
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character interaction
or unusual camera angles occur.
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Like the final scene
in "Game of Thrones, Red Wedding,"
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when shockingly,
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everybody dies.
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(Laughter)
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Survey data on that
person's political beliefs,
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along with their psychographic
and demographic data,
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are integrated into the system
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to gain a deeper understanding
of the individual.
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Let me give you an example.
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Matching people's TV preferences
with their views on social justice issues
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reveals that Americans who rank
immigration among their top three concerns
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are more likely to be fans
of "The Walking Dead,"
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and they often watch
for the adrenaline boost,
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which is measurable.
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A person's biological signature
and their survey response
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combines into a database
to create their unique media imprint.
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Then our predictive model
finds patterns between media imprints
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and tells me which narrative ingredients
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are more likely to lead
to engagement in altruistic behavior
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rather than distress and apathy.
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The more imprints added to the database
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across mediums from episodic
television to games,
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the better the predictive models become.
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In short, I am mapping
the first media genome.
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(Applause and cheers)
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Whereas the human genome
identifies all genes involved
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in sequencing human DNA,
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the growing database of media imprints
will eventually allow me
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to determine the media DNA
for a specific person.
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Already the Limbic Lab's narrative engine
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helps content creators
refine their storytelling,
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so that it resonates with their target
audiences on an individual level.
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The Limbic Lab's other component,
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the media machine,
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will assess how media elicits
an emotional and physiological response,
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then pulls scenes from a content library
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targeted to person-specific media DNA.
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Applying artificial intelligence
to biometric data
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creates a truly personalized experience.
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One that adapts content based
on real-time unconscious responses.
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Imagine if nonprofits and media makers
were able to measure how audiences feel
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as they experience it
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and alter content on the fly.
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I believe this is the future of media.
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To date, most media
and social-change strategies
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have attempted to appeal
to mass audiences,
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but the future is media
customized for each person.
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As real-time measurement
of media consumption
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and automated media production
becomes the norm,
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we will soon be consuming media
tailored directly to our cravings
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using a blend of psychographics,
biometrics and AI.
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It's like personalized medicine
based on our DNA.
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I call it "biomedia."
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I am currently testing
the Limbic Lab in a pilot study
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with the Norman Lear Center,
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which looks at the top 50
episodic television shows.
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But I am grappling
with an ethical dilemma.
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If I design a tool
that can be turned into a weapon,
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should I build it?
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By open-sourcing the lab
to encourage access and inclusivity,
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I also run the risk
of enabling powerful governments
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and profit-driven companies
to appropriate the platform
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for fake news, marketing
or other forms of mass persuasion.
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For me, therefore,
it is critical to make my research
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as transparent to
lay audiences as GMO labels.
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However, this is not enough.
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As creative technologists,
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we have a responsibility
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not only to reflect upon how present
technology shapes our cultural values
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and social behavior,
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but also to actively challenge
the trajectory of future technology.
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It is my hope that we make
an ethical commitment
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to harvesting the body's intelligence
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for the creation of authentic
and just stories
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that transform media and technology
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from harmful weapons
into narrative medicine.
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Thank you.
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(Applause and cheers)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Heidi Boisvert - Artist and creative technologist
Heidi Boisvert harnesses the power of popular culture, emerging technology and neuroscience to ignite culture change.

Why you should listen

Heidi Boisvert is an interdisciplinary artist, experience designer, creative technologist and academic researcher who interrogates the neurobiological and socio-cultural effects of media and technology.
 Simply put, she studies the role of the body, the senses and emotion in human perception and social change.

Boisvert is currently mapping the world's first media genome, while taking great care with its far-reaching ethical implications.
 She founded futurePerfect lab, a creative agency and think-tank that works with social justice organizations to design playful emerging media campaigns to transform the public imagination. She also co-founded XTH, a company creating novel modes of expression through biotechnology and the human body. Presently, she is working with David Byrne on Theater of the Mind, a new immersive theater piece to debut in August 2020.

Boisvert, who holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the Director of Emerging Media Technology at City University of New York, where she teaches. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Norman Lear Center (based at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication), a research affiliate in the Open Documentary Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of NEW INC, the cultural incubator at The New Museum of Contemporary Art. She serves on the advisory board of American Documentary POV Spark and was selected by ZERO1 and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to represent the United States in Turkey.

More profile about the speaker
Heidi Boisvert | Speaker | TED.com