Things I'm reading - Jan 6 2026
This post is the first of hopefully many where I'll write about the things I'm reading that I think are interesting or worth sharing, or at the very least worth remembering for me. Citations for the research papers are at the bottom.
Effect of Robot Movement on Simulated Clinical History-Taking... (Taylor & Frost, 2025)
An interesting study using a NAO robot (like a pint-sized version of my Pepper) with RNs to practice taking clinical histories. The robot movements were randomly triggered, and not really tied to the things the robot were saying, so their finding that robot movement reduced anthropomorphism isn't terribly surprising. Interesting as a pilot study, though.
Why do people reject technologies (Laumer & Echhardt, 2012)
I'm interested in studying resistance to AI use, and this is a foundational work in this area. I'm particularly interested in the Beliefs and Attitudes components relating to perceived threats and loss of power - it makes complete sense that people will be resistant to AI when they see it as a threat to themselves or their livelihoods. But there are other threats - a threat to their humanity, for instance - that might play a role.
Scalable Oral Exams with ElevenLabs VoiceAI Agent
Panos Ipeirotis
An interesting look at using oral exams to "fix" some of the problems with AI when it comes to assessing student understanding. I love the idea of scalable oral exams, because it could potentially be a much better way to assess student's understanding. Particularly insightful was the use of the grading "council" to assign points - using a bunch of LLMs to evaluate the responses rather than relying on a single one. I also liked that it can be used to evaluate your own teaching gaps - if students consistently perform poorly in a section, maybe the problem is the teaching rather than the learners. I'm always looking for more detailed, objective feedback on how well what I'm teaching is being absorbed.
Children of Dune
Been working on this one for a while, but recently picked up again. Some notable quotes:
The human-computer replaced the mechanical devices destroyed by the Butlerian Jihad. Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind!
“If you put away those who report accurately, you’ll keep only those who know what you want to hear,” Jessica said, her voice sweet. “I can think of nothing more poisonous than to rot in the stink of your own reflections.”
When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.
Citations
Laumer, S., & Eckhardt, A. (2012). Why Do People Reject Technologies: A Review of User Resistance Theories. In Y. K. Dwivedi, M. R. Wade, & S. L. Schneberger (Eds.), Information Systems Theory: Explaining and Predicting Our Digital Society (Vol. 1, pp. 63–86). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6108-2_4
Taylor, J. R., & Frost, J. (2025). The Effect of Robot Movement on Simulated Clinical History-Taking and Communication with an AI Chatbot: A Pilot Study. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2025.2596862