Student Mail

(a subtopic of Doing a School Report and Resources for Students)

#1

I am a student at the ___ Ireland, could you please give me as much information on AI as possible as im am writing a report on this issue.
Thank you
[K: 10/24/03]

Dear ___,

Thank you for your inquiry.

I am pleased to report that our AI Topics web site has the information you are looking for. You can find this free site at http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/ and be sure to see our special page with tips & suggestions for "Doing a School Report About AI."

I hope this is helpful.

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#2

hello my name is ___. I'm in middle school and im doing a project on artificial intelligence. I will be entering this project in the ____ competition. I was if i could ask you for your opinion on some questions and get some information.
1.) What are some ethical issues concerning artificial intelligence?
2.) What are some threats and opportunitys concerning artificial intelligence?
Thank you so much for helping!!! I really apprieciate this:)
[B: 11/26/03]

Dear ___,

The inquiry you recently submitted to the American Association for Artificial Intelligence now the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence] was forwarded to me because, as the webmaster of their AI TOPICS web site, I am familiar with general reference materials and resources.

I am pleased to say that I can provide both the information you seek as well as responses to your questions, though the latter may not be in the form you had expected. I say this because what I will do is to point you to a variety of resources in our AI TOPICS web site that not only address your questions, but are far more authoritative (and quotable) than any response I could provide.

1) "What are some ethical issues concerning artificial intelligence?"
Begin by visiting these pages:

• Ethical & Social Implications
• Philosophy
• Science Fiction

2) "What are some threats and opportunitys concerning artificial intelligence?"
In addition to the resources mentioned in part 1, also see:

• AI Overview
• FAQ: Q: I am a University Student at ___ . I am part of an honors seminar that will debate whether or not AI is a threat, or could become a threat to mankind and why.
• Applications
• Interviews

Finally, you might also want to visit our "Doing a School Report About AI: Tips & Suggestions" page.

I hope this is helpful.

[updated 3/07]

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#3

I am currently doing an assignment in high school and i would like to know if you could send me any information that you have on Artificial Intelligence about the way it will may effect the future.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
[M: 8/6/03]

Dear ___,

Thank you for your inquiry.

I think that you'll find just what you're looking for in our AI TOPICS web site. I would suggest that you begin by visiting these pages:

• The Future
• AI in the news
• Applications
• Science Fiction
• Ethical & Social Implications
• Doing a School Report About AI: Tips & Suggestions

I hope this is helpful.

[updated 1/05]

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#4

My name is __ and I'm a computer systems engineering student from Mexico. In our career, we have a subject named "Artificial Intelligence" where we study all the concepts of this field. Today, in class, we were talking about what we can understand about the concept of Intelligence. Our teacher suggested us to visit an american website to ask about what you think and what you understand about it. I will be happy if you can answer my question.
Thanks.
[C: 8/19/03]

Dear ___,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Several pages in our AI TOPICS web site address this subject. I suggest that you begin by visiting these four:

• AI Overview
• Nature of Intelligence
• Cognitive Science
• But is it AI?

I hope this is helpful.

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#5

Dear ___,

Thank you for your letter requesting information about a career in robotics.

I am pleased to say that you'll find plenty of helpful resources in our AI Topics website, which is provided to the public without charge by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) now the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence].

You might want to begin by exploring the 'Careers in AI & Employment Opportunities' section of our 'Resources for Students' page. This is where you will find links to items such as:

• A Day In The Life - from ACM Crossroads. A collection of interviews which provide a peek into the lives of computer scientists, interface designers, and others. (See for example: Bridget Landry)
• The Princeton Review explores a career as a Robotics Engineer in a series of pages that include: A Day in the Life, Past & Future, and Facts & Figures.
• Cool Careers in Science - from Scientific American Frontiers.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook - from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics

Some of the other pages in our site that you should be sure to visit are:

• Interviews & Oral Histories
  >> see Ruth Aylett, Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec, and others
• Robots
  >> be sure to also see the links to "related pages"
• Industry Statistics - Robotics

I hope this is helpful. Please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
[2/11/03; updated 3/19/04; 3/07]

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#6

Hi, I am a student from school who is doing a project on the AAAI. I need to ask some questions about this organization.

• Who founded the AAAI?
• What is your mission statement?
• Who do you serve?
• How do you join?
• What are the membership dues/fees?
• What info. do you give in AI magazine?
• Who submits the articles for AI magazine?
• What info. do you publish on the internet?
• Can you join on the internet?

Thank you for your time.
A Student [3/19/04]

Dear Student,
Thank you for your inquiry.
You should be able to find the answers to these questions on the following Web pages:

• http://www.aaai.org/
• http://www.aaai.org/Organization/bylaws.php
• http://www.aaai.org/Organization/organization.php
• http://www.aaai.org/Membership/membership-brochure.php
• http://www.aaai.org/Membership/membership.php
• http://www.aaai.org/Library/Magazine/vol01.php (see AAAI President's Message, by Allen Newell)
• http://www.aaai.org/Magazine/magazine.php
• http://www.aaai.org/Magazine/editorial-focus.php
• http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/

Also see AI Magazine's Special 25th Anniversary Issue, 26(4): Winter 2005, for articles about the AAAI organization. (See the "AAAI's Beginnings" and "Presidential Reflections" sections.)

Please note: On March 1, 2007 the American Association for Artificial Intelligence changed its name to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. As you can see, the AAAI acronym remain unchanged. [See the announcement.]

I hope this is helpful.
[3/19/04; updated 3/07]

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#7

Hello AAAI,

My name is ___ , I am a student at ___ ___ High School. I have been assigned to do a persuasive essay on Artificial Intelligence and I need to interview a pro in the subject to go along with the paper. So, could you please answer 15 questions and reply to them by email. ...

Thank you for your time and patience.
[3/22/05]

Dear ____,

The inquiry you recently submitted to the American Association for Artificial Intelligence now the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence] was forwarded to me because, as the webmaster of their AI TOPICS web site, I am familiar with general reference materials available online.

Though I can tell you about the resources in AI TOPICS that address your questions and I can point you to our collection of interviews, I regret that I can neither respond to your questions of behalf on AAAI, nor arrange an interview on your behalf. However, I can offer some suggestions about how to find an AI scientist who may be able to help you with your assignment:

• Is an AI Academic Department or AI Research Lab located near you?
• Is there a particular aspect of AI that interests you or that is the focus of your project? If so, then visit the page for that topic or subtopic to find the names of people working in that area.
• Is there an AAAI Fellow who works near you or in a field that interests you?

And here are some general resources about the interview process:

• Selecting Interviewees. Module 3 of the tutorial, Conducting the Information Interview, created, maintained and coded by Stephanie J. Coopman, San José State University. ("A [California State University] Information Competence Work Group fellowship provided support for the site's development.") "You need to select interviews with care, keeping in mind the purpose of your research. What do you need to know? Who has that information?"
• How to Conduct an Informational Interview. Created and maintained by S. Marques, Kentridge High School Library Online.
• Conducting an Interview (Research Assignment #3) from Dr. L. Kip Wheeler, English Department,Carson-Newman College.
• Academic Research Interviewing, an iStudy module: "The iStudy for Success modules provide an introduction to college-level learning, focusing on areas in which first-year students often need to build skills, such as study methods, time management, and communication." Be sure to follow the "Interviewing Information" link in Section C. "The materials for the iStudy for Success modules were originally developed at the Jack P. Royer Center for Learning and Academic Technologies, a professional development unit of the Commonwealth College....Additional materials were developed and assistance was provided by the University Learning Centers (ULC), University Park."
• Conducting Interviews as Part of a Research Project. By Guy Powles. University of the South Pacific School of Law.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,

[updated 3/07]

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#8

Hello,

I am putting together a presentation on Artificial Intelligence for my _____ course. I have searched all over the internet for images of historical AI pictures and haven't found anything. I was wondering if someone at your organization could help point me in the right direction specifically for old images of historical figures or inventions I can use for my presentation. I would really appreciate any help you can offer. Thank you in advance,
[MJ; 5/2/07]

Dear ___,

The Computer History Museum has an image-filled timeline exhibit and their copyright policy is quite student friendly!

Some other timelines, as well as an assortment of historical resources, can be found on our History page.

Because copyright is a major concern, you may want to look for images that are in the public domain. (See generally: Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources's Copyright & Fair Use Center > Copyright & Fair Use Overview  > The Public Domain.) Since U.S. government works are in the public domain, you may also look for collections such as NASA's Image eXchange (NIX). As noted in that site, the images are not copyrighted.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,

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FAQ

I'm doing a report for school. What is the correct way to cite AI TOPICS as an electronic resource, internet source, or WWW page?

As you can see from the resources in our Responsible Scholarship collection, there are many acceptable citation styles to choose from unless, of course, your teacher has already specified one. Which style is right for you may depend upon factors such as whether you are in high school or graduate school, and whether the course is one in the humanities or the sciences.

When Mike Hamilton, the webmaster of the AAAI site, was asked how to cite AAAI & AI TOPICS pages and resources for a school report, he replied:

When you document sources from the World Wide Web (WWW), the Modern Language Association (MLA) suggests that your Works Cited entries contain as many items from the following list as are relevant and available:

• Name of the author, editor, or compiler, alphabetized by last name and followed by any appropriate abbreviations, such as ed.;

If you are citing pages from the AI Topics area of the website, the editor's name is Jon Glick. If you are citing from a "call for papers" or other document listing a program chair or cochair, the author of the document would be the chair or cochair. If you are citing a paper, the author would be the stated author of the paper. For all other areas of the web site, the author should be considered the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

• Title of an article, or other short work within a scholarly project, database, or periodical, in quotation marks;
• Title of a book, in italics or underlined;
• Name of the editor, compiler, or translator of a book (if applicable and if not cited earlier), preceded by any appropriate abbreviation, such as ed.;
• Publication information for any print version;
• Title of the scholarly project, database, periodical, or professional or personal site (in italics or underlined), or, for a professional or personal site with no title, a description such as home page2;
• Name of the editor of a scholarly project or database (if known);
• Version number (if not part of the title) or, for a journal, the volume, issue, or other identifying number;
• Date of electronic publication or posting or latest update, whichever is most recent (if known)

The AI TOPICS web site is usually updated on a daily basis. You should therefore cite the date that you used the site.

• Name of any institution or organization sponsoring or associated with the Web site;

The site is published by the 'Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence', which is located in Menlo Park, California.

• Date you accessed the source URL (in angle brackets);

Although no single entry will contain all fourteen items of information, all Works Cited entries for Web sources contain the following basic information:

Online document -

• Author's name (last name first)
• Document title
• Date of Internet publication
• Date of access
• URL

[March 2005; updated 3/07]

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