Artificial Intelligence & Speech Recognition & their circuits

Audio: Speech Recognition Circuit


Speech Recognition maps acoustic sounds and speech signals to text to abtract meanings of the spoken word or speech. Learn more about these technologies.

Intellectual Property Law

U.S Copyright Law

Disclaimer: The above photo was used by permission from Foto search Stock Photography and Stock Footage. As a content creator, I understand the importance of crediting the author of an original work.

It is important to protect the content creators' rights. Intangible intellectual property rights form the core of all relationships in the music industry, and understanding of those legal rights and legal areas involved in bringing music to the public. There are specific legal rights involved in music, including copyright, trademark, and the right of publicity. There are also statutes and cases.

Presently I am conducting a detailed analysis of the relationships in the music industry and the application of intellectual property rights to each such relationship, including those of the songwriter/composer-music publisher; the performing rights society- music user; the copyright owner - musical theater producer; the music publisher - record company; the performing artist - record company; the record company and distribution chain along with others such as the copyright owner, and his nemesis the infringer.

My research includes the cases, the standard agreements, and antitrust consent decrees. I will also look at a series of mock negotiations between songwriter and music publisher, record label and performing artist, and internet music service, publisher and label, and arguments in infringement cases.

Lastly, I am looking at current legislative issues and future trends, including the legislative response to, and future of, on-line music uses, Peer to Peer sharing , piracy, technological protection measures, liability from the availability of copyrighted works, international law issues, and the role of the public domain.

There is also proposed settlement in the Google Books litigation and its implications for authorship, publishing, and competition.

Does Your Non-Profit operate ethically??

How are nonprofits monitored, regulated and governed?

The overwhelming majority of nonprofits in the United States operate in an ethical and accountable manner. However, nonprofits are not immune to damage that can be caused by unscrupulous and fraudulent solicitors, financial improprieties, and executives and board members who place personal gain above the organization's mission.


Because nonprofits are held to such high standards, they have created many lines of defense against fraud and corruption:

Boards- All nonprofits are governed by a board of directors or trustees (there's no real difference), a group of volunteers that is legally responsible for making sure the organization remains true to its mission, safeguards its assets, and operates in the public interest.

Private Watchdog Groups - Several private groups (who are themselves nonprofits) monitor the behavior and performance of other nonprofits.

State Charity Regulators - The attorney general's office or some other part of the state government maintains a list of registered nonprofits and investigates complaints of fraud and abuse.

Internal Revenue Service - A division of the IRS (the Tax Exempt/Government Entities division) is charged with ensuring that nonprofits are complying with the requirements for eligibility for tax-exempt status. As a result of the thousands of audit investigations, a handful have their tax-exempt status revoked; others pay fines and taxes.

Donors & Members - Some of the most powerful safeguards of nonprofit integrity are individual donors and members. By withholding their financial support, donors can strongly encourage nonprofits to reappraise their operations.

Media - Many nonprofit leaders may feel misunderstood or even maligned by negative media coverage, however, this media watchdog role has resulted in increased awareness and accountability throughout the sector.
To top of page ^


Why do nonprofits have boards, and what do boards do?

Most nonprofits are corporations, which means that they are legal entities distinct from the individuals who founded them. Like their for-profit counterparts, nonprofit corporations are governed by boards of directors with legal and ethical responsibilities that cannot be delegated. The board's responsibilities fall into the following broad categories:

Legal & Fiduciary- The board is responsible for ensuring that the organization meets legal requirements and that it is operating in accordance with its mission. It is also responsible for protecting the organization's assets.

Oversight- The board is responsible for ensuring that the organization is well run. It moderates the power of management and has the power to hire and remove the chief executive, usually called the executive director or president.

Fundraising- Board members raise money, make personal financial contributions, and serve as advocates for the organization to potential donors as a part of their responsibility to ensure the financial viability of the organization.

Representation of Constituents and Viewpoints- Often, board members are chosen to bring the experience or perspective of the organization's constituents to the board. By doing so, nonprofits better serve their communities.

Sources:


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Source 8

Telemedicine-Information Technology, Telecommunications & Medicine merged

"Telemedicine is the ability to provide interactive healthcare utilizing modern technology and telecommunications." Basically, Telemedicine allows patients to visit with physicians live over video for immediate care or capture video/still images and patient data are stored and sent to physicians for diagnosis and follow-up treatment at a later time. Whether you live in the center of Los Angeles or deep in the Brazilian Amazon, Telemedicine is an invaluable tool in Healthcare.

Virtual Life Content -Second life in First

More visual content

Sunday, I had an assignment due that included visiting an Island in Second life. Second life is a free 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using free voice and text chat.

Next time your browsing....Check it out.

Click Here

Visual Content in Medicine (Informatics & Healthcare)

CAT Scan








Viewing images of CAT scans



Visual images and radio frequencies are not only used in television and radio ( well radio uses the same kinds of frequencies used in signals for microwaves, cellular phones etc..... of course they all are of different levels of frequency on the spectrum).

But....image assisted treatments such as the Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Axiated Tomography, or Positron Emissions Tomography in varied ways, are useful in medical research and treatment making them useful in highlighting abnormalities, and assisting practitioners in finding cancer, or diseases. Medical imaging captures images and make them useful in medical research or treatment.

There are differences though.

The CT scanner uses x-rays. X-rays are a type of ionizing radiation that is used to acquire its images which are dense and rigid forms of anatomy (like bones). These tissues are composed of elements of higher atomic numbers than the tissue that is surrounding them. It takes 3-dimensional scans (unlike x-rays which are two dimensional). It takes individual slices of the brain and take the individual parts (using software) merge or reassemble them again to generate a 3D image of the brain.

The MRI scan uses a non-ionizing radio frequencies signals to acquire its images. It use is also best for indicating issues within tissue that is non-calcified (dense) such as organs, tissues, fluids, orgains, cells, and body fluids.

The PET is a lower resolution than the MRI or CT however, it produces a 3D image of functional processes or metabolic activities designed to analyze metabolic function in the body.

Source: Dr. David Lubliner, NJIT

Supporting Content Creators-Bernice McFadden

I met Bernice when I was a teenager in Crown Heights Brooklyn. Bernice is celebrating her tenth year anniversary for Sugar. She sent this message that I thought I should share with you all:

Dear Book Lover:

You may not know me or my novels, because I am a member of a growing band of African-American writers of literary fiction who are slowly disappearing. And not because I am lacking in talent and credentials; in fact I have already published a number of books with major publishing houses and have been reviewed by national newspapers and well-respected literary journals, and have received critical acclaim and awards for my efforts. My work has been hailed as vivid, thought provoking and brilliant. I have been compared to Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston and Gloria Naylor.

That fact that my novels may disappear is not due to the downward spiral of the economy or the pound of flesh it has taken from the book-publishing industry. No, my demise began long before the floor of the housing market began to rot away and the stock market crashed through.

Why?

Read more at Bernice's site

Creating Content for the Friends

The Friends of the EOPL library

"Who are the Friends of East Orange Public Library? and What do they do?" The Friends is an alliance of business leaders, community leaders, civic leaders, and concerned citizens, just like you, who are dedicated to making the library a better place."

I am Currently in stages of creating a PSA video and printed content to support the Friend's mission.

Content for Business Owners

I am creating content for business owners and here are some great tips learned while working on this content:

A Sole Proprietor transferring funds by writing themselves a Check is perfectly legal, as long as the funds are accounted for by the business. They can pay any expense, including payroll, bonus, or "return of investment" to the owner. As long as it is classified on the business record books properly.

More Info Here
Source

On how to form a LLC - Limited liability companies (LLCs)

Choose an available business name that complies with your state's LLC rules.
File formal paperwork, usually called articles of organization, and pay the filing fee (ranging from about $100 to $800, depending on your state's rules).
Create an LLC operating agreement, which sets out the rights and responsibilities of the LLC members.
Publish a notice of your intent to form an LLC (required in only a few states).
Obtain licenses and permits that may be required for your business.

More Here

Look out for new content soon.

With all the information out there....there is no excuse to be ignorant

Cybercrimes and Protecting Our Identities

UPDATE 2020

There’s a TOWING company in the CAROLINA’S that’s holding all of my families’ birth certificates, social security numbers, sealed court records, sealed social security cards from the SSA office, and a confirmed  verbal PROOF of insurance and copies of the insurance payment receipt of PROOF OF Payments made to STATE FARM. I also met with, verified POLICY status with TWO STATE FARM agents that BOTH called to verify my “Active POLICY”  #FederalCASE

ORIGINAL POST:

As a content creator, I have the responsibility of protecting my client's data. Each day we hear about breaches in security when it comes to online transactions and protecting people's identities. One of the fastest growing crimes is identity theft. While speaking to an old aquaintance, I learned that someone had used her social security number to try to get a new car. I could not understand how that was possible when most car dealers require verification of ID such as a driver's license, insurance for any vehicles currently owned, or some other identifying proof, especially since you will be driving off the lot with plates, new insurance, registration etc. I also know that they make copies of these things in addition to collecting other data, but more importantly, this old friend was extremely puzzled because her credit is low, she doesn't keep up with her bills and barely had employment in a few years, but yet this still happened to her. Why on earth was she chosen? Who knows. I guess no matter our circumstances we all have to be proactive in protecting our identities and making sure we stay on top of it. If it means putting fraud alerts on our accounts and writing to regulatory agencies so be it. From what I read in the news most targets are people who have something going on....so much that they wouldn't notice, but anyway Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian have some really good protections against this: Fighting Identity Theft Experian Equifax Experian I also found out about Debix and Lifelock Lifelock Debix And......last but not least Fill out this report and push until you get results. Best, Michelle On a last note, auto loan fraud (even online) is fraud that deals with people who have "received" a loan and feel like they were defrauded while doing so. Update: applying for and receiving car loans online is not a growing crime due to the above mentioned factors. To learn about the latest frauds dealing with automobiles, click here:Latest auto fraud

All the best

Creating Content for World Breastfeeding Week: OVERWHELMING Standing Ovation

I originally had TWO Pictures in this post. 

GOOGLE deleted the other. Shame on THEM.

 This past week celebrating World Breastfeeding Week was very successful in Brooklyn, New York. The events were well attended, informative and most of all effective in emphasizing the importance, the promotion and advocacy of breastfeeding. For this particular topic, getting the message across was more important than creating the content (for me), because this subject matter is a serious one not only in America but across the globe. This subject plays a direct role in parenting through adulthood for our children. From my work and personal experience in early education and nutrition (how we take care of ourselves and our children healthwise), and how we support their education, (through our direct involvement with the schools), and the early foundations of how we communicate with, interact with and our emotional connection (bond) with our children makes a difference when the outside influences and streets start talking. This year's theme about being ready for an emergency response stimulated much discussion about the effects of giving our babies formula in emergency situations and the disadvantages of not breastfeeding our babies when emergencies do arise. On Friday, August 7, 2009 from 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm, I attended Brooklyn Alliance for Breastfeeding Empowerment's (BABE) 8th Annual Celebration at Restoration Plaza, 1360 Fulton Street (Between New York & Brooklyn Avenues). I gave a speech called "Peer Counselor Reflections" reflecting on my service as a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. I graduated in one of the early classes at Brooklyn D & C in the nineties and have spoken to dozens of women about the importance of breastfeeding. On Monday August 3, 2009 from 12:00-3:30 p.m, I attended Cumberland Diagnostic & Treatment Center's Celebration and spoke on the importance of breastfeeding and going back to work.

CREATING CONTENT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

World Breastfeeding Week 2009


World Breastfeeding Week

WBW Theme for 2009

Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response

Are you ready?

OBJECTIVES OF WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK 2009:

To draw attention to the vital role that breastfeeding plays in emergencies worldwide.

To stress the need for active protection and support of breastfeeding before and during emergencies.

To inform mothers, breastfeeding advocates, communities, health professionals, governments, aid agencies, donors, and the media on how they can actively support breastfeeding before and during an emergency.

To mobilise action and nurture networking and collaboration between those with breastfeeding skills and those involved in emergency response.

RATIONALE

Children are the most vulnerable in emergencies – child mortality can soar from 2 to 70 times higher than average due to diarrhoea, respiratory illness and malnutrition.

Breastfeeding is a life saving intervention and protection is greatest for the youngest infants.

Michelle Weston on Facebook

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The Inevitable

A week ago today, I had the most wonderful time interviewing over 15 people for a project going on at NJIT. The interviewees were very receptive and had a lot of fun with the interviews. I'll keep you posted on where the interviews will show up later in the Fall.



I'll end with my favorite quote, "you can't stop the inevitable".


~MW

The Wise Women Center

Ms. Knox and Ms. Brooks at one of the Wise Women Center's events this past Spring 09.

According to the Essex County website, The 'WISE Women's Center is an educational and supportive service entity of ECC serving both women and men of the college and the community. The Center offers services to facilitate personal and economic self-sufficiency.'

The content created today was in the form of a slide show of photos of the event.

More Content Creators - I recently met some wonderful spirits from Femworks....

The Newark Mayor, Cory Booker


Photo by Tamara A. Fleming


Speaking of content creators, I met Kimberlee S. Williams and Tamara A. Fleming during the planning of Newark Pride in 2009.

As quoted from their website:

"FEMWORKS™ is a boutique marketing communications agency based in Newark, NJ.


Here are some beautiful photos (content) that they sent from one of the events

Femworks-Newark Pride Photos

FemWorks LLC

GSE-Goals Achieved

All my life I have been a passive neutral observer on a number of issues keeping my opinion to myself and quietly advocating. However, while going through personal transformations and growth, I am learning to take a position on issues, even when the issues don't directly affect me or my loved ones, I feel I have an obligation to personally take a stand, voice my opinion and defend my position without reservations. The most important issues to me are:

Human Rights issues

I believe that all people should be equal and have equal rights. Everyone has the right to make choices in their lives. Garden State Equality produces content to support issues concerning human rights:

Commercial One
Commercial Two

Garden State Equality Org

Newark Essex Pride Coalition-Thank you

Seeking Out Quality People
"It is important to align yourself with what I call OQP, Only Quality People. You should endeavor to surround yourself only with people who will enrich and empower you, people who will enable you to transcend yourself and to
grow."

~Les Brown

Edison's Historic Site

A week ago today, I went to visit Edison's Historic site with a group of engineers and discovered a hidden jewel that has been well preserved.



Edison invented the phonograph and had record plant.




According tho the NPS.gov website under "The Recording Archives" it states that



"The archive at Thomas Edison National Historical Site includes approximately 48,000 disc and cylinder records produced by Edison in West Orange, New Jersey, between 1888 and 1929. Many of these, including unreleased and experimental recordings, have been at the Laboratory since Edison's lifetime. Some of the earliest examples of recorded sound in existence are preserved within this unique collection.

The subject matter of the recordings is mostly music, covering genres popular in the United States during Edison's era. Spoken word recordings include vaudeville comedy sketches, documentary speeches, educational lessons, and motion picture dialogue soundtracks. Experimental recordings document research carried out at the Edison Laboratory to develop recorded sound technology."

They have compiled a selection of sound files in the MP3 format from the archive and arranged them by genre.


Selected from the genres recorded by Edison:

Brass Band Marches
Classical Instrumental
Comedy Sketches
Country & Anglo-American Folk Songs
Documentary Recordings and Political Speeches
Educational Lessons
Experimental Recordings
Jazz, Blues & Dance Bands
Motion Picture Soundtracks & Actor Auditions
Music of Foreign Countries
Negro Spirituals
Opera, Vocal, & Choral
Poetry, Short Stories, Readings
Popular Instrumental, Ragtime
Popular Songs, Tin Pan Alley
Very Early Recorded Sound"




We toured his first floor machine shop, the precision shop, the drafting room, and the chemistry shop. Edison worked on electric car batteries in the early 1900s? He thought it would be the car of the future.

A photographer that I love...

Tonight, he will be celebrating his opening and years in the business. See his work at:

http://www.mikeschreiber.com/

Has discovered Aljira Center for Contemporary Art

Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art
591 Broad Street
Newark, NJ 07102

Visit Aljira's Site

Content Creators III

Fast forward to the present. After years of performing in the arts I have now transitioned into a content creator focusing on both technical and creative aspects of production while also contributing to standards set in both of my industries. Each week I will bring a new perspective in how I approach a project and some of the things that I have learned while working on new projects.

Tune in each week!

Thanks for your support.

Michelle

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Michelle Weston just joined Facebook under the user name michelle weston Check out her Facebook profile here

Content Creators Part II

My Introduction to Content Creation

In the 1970's when the first affordable reel to reels starting appearing in personal studios in homes, my grandad, a professional musician in Harlem was among the first to get one. I remember him playing his instruments (woodwinds and brass) and recording. That influenced me heavily early on in the fine arts and exploring areas of content creation.

Another influence was my grandmother who was the one who cultivated my affinity for visual images. She had beautiful works of art on the walls and was one of the family historians in terms of keeping collections of pictures dating back to the early 1900's. I used to sit and listen to music while going through boxes and albums filled with pictures. I absolutely loved pictures What intrigued me the most was the stories that they would tell. I was terribly distraught when her collections and grandpa's professional recordings, vinyls, and memorabilia were tossed after grandma's death in 1987.

My grandmother, her sister and other family members worked at Lincoln Center and I spent many days there watching the creative folks do what they do day in and day out. All this content being created for the viewing and listening audiences and there I was soaking it all in. I believe I started frequenting Avery Fisher Hall at age 3 and continued on until I graduated high school. I even worked at the Sedutto's ice-cream Kiosk (where the outdoor concerts went on) in the summer of 1987. I met Teddy Pendegrass and attended his concert at least four times. I attended Mostly Mozart Concerts, Bernice Johnson and other concerts and recitals.

In the second grade, I actually started participating in the performing arts when I attended catholic school and my teacher, Mr. Silver introduced us to content created for musicals. That year we learned the titles from the content created by Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein II called "The Sound of Music" and "Oklahoma" (the first musical written the same composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II), (WIKI, 2009).

I will never forget that year because a classmate named Jennifer created the song "My Dog has Fleas". I was so terribly excited about how one of my peers had created this content to perform at school and had set up props and prepared a entire stage show with actual dogs on stage!! I also was part of the Irish dancing team learning yet another fine art and involved in its content creation for audiences.

In the fifth grade I was introduced to percussion and strings- Violins, Viola's, and the upright bass. The content that we worked with was created by Jerry Wexler. We learned all of the music from the "Wiz"........Part III tomorrow.

Who are the content creators???? (Part I)

What is content?

Content is simply good, useful information that you provide to a viewing or listening audience.

Who are the content creators?

Television and music producers, writers, publishers, filmakers, videographers, engineers, technicians, the creative teams including advertising and marketing departments, musicians, choreographers, directors, computer programmers, web developers etc........ and so I've been around content creators since I was born.

I absolutely love the Fine Arts and creating content about it. Wiki describes it as:

Photography


Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist.
Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism and commercial photography.
Photojournalism provides visual support for stories, mainly in the print media.
Fine art photography is created primarily as an expression of the artist’s vision, but has also
been important in advancing certain causes.


Illustration

An illustration is a visualization such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that
stresses subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate textual
information (such as a story, poem or newspaper article) by providing a visual representation.


Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music,[13]
used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. Dance is
also used to describe methods of non-verbal communication (see body language) between humans or animals
(bee dance, patterns of behaviour such as a mating dance), motion in inanimate objects
(the leaves danced in the wind), and certain musical forms or genres. In sports, gymnastics,
figure skating and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines while martial arts kata are often
compared to dances.


Music

Avant-garde music is frequently considered both a performing art and a fine art.
Western art music is a performing art and frequently considered a fine art.


Electronic Media

Electronic Media (perhaps the newest medium for fine art, since it utilizes modern technologies such
as computer hardware and software from production to presentation. Includes amongst other things
video, digital photography, digital printmaking and interactive pieces).

Television Programming Formats

Newark's Digital Programming Station

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Kwerky Client Project

Working on a project for a client.

When a client contacts me, they usually know what delivery methods and how they want to distribute their content.

Once they've figured out the delivery method, they let the professionals do the rest. Most experienced clients know exactly what they want and leave the rest to the professionals. Every now and then I get a client who feels the need to point out how they edited video in school or that they have a friend who knows Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Oprah, Stephen King... etc.... But have no idea what they want. Most clients though, they let the creative content professionals do their work and concentrate on doing what they do best....whatever that is.

So....back to the delivery methods:

CD/DVD (not for broadcast tv distribution)
Beta SP
Flash Video File
Video Streaming

There are some others...

Betacam SP, DVCAM IC Chip, DVAM No Chip, DVCPro, DVCPro HD, HDCAM, HDCAM SR, Betamax, D-1, D-9 Digital S, VHS, 8mm Video Tape, Large DV, MII, 3/4 Inch Umatic, Digital Betacam, Digital Master DVCAM, Mini DV, Betacam SX, Betacam Oxide, D-2, DCT, SVHS, SVHS-C, Micro NT, MPEG IMX, and Hi8.)


Then clients have to choose a distribution format. That could be online, mobile, or for broadcast TV and is usually in the format of the above mentioned. This past month, I got an unusual request. A plain old consumer format: DVD.

In creating content, I always prepare by making sure I run diagnostics on all equipment. Here with all the pro-gear armed and ready to go, it was really something else to have the least expensive, most under used piece of consumer level equipment fail.

Mishaps

This single piece of equipment that I did not run a diagnostic on, the least expected piece of equipment failure was my DVD recorder.

I have a built-in Matshita UJ-816 with DXJ3 firmware. It has been used over and over for CD burning however, I recently found out that it has known issues when burning DVD-R's.

Of course, I had to find out in the middle of turning over the content to the client. I had a few Memorex DVD's laying around and used them to give to the client for the first rough cut. They burned fine. But when it was time to purchase a new batch, now up to 16x, I did not realize that there was going to be an issue. How could I? The other disks worked so....In the process of a failed CD something told me to do a google search that went a little something like this "Matshita PowerMac DVR known issues" and boy was I enlightened:

Matshita DVD-R UJ 816 Ejects blank discs

Problems mounting a CD on a Matshita DVD-R UJ-816

Apple admits SuperDrive 8x media reliability glitch

There are at least 100 articles or forums on this drive.


HAPPY ENDING


We were able to find a workaround and use several options to get the final DVD done but doesn't apple need to take accountability for all this without having petitions and other legal actions? hMMM I wonder. Till next time.