The first season of the lecture series Crossroads: Ideas for a New Century will conclude on Friday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. with a presentation by Barbara Grosz, who will discuss Computing Collaboratively: How Our Computers Ought to Work.

Many of us think of our computers as no more than fancy typewriters, mailboxes or encyclopedias, but our relationship with these machines is in fact far more extensive and complex than we often realize. Especially since the advent of the internet, they have altered the ways in which human beings think and act together, even when we are widely separated by distance and time.

As one of the most highly regarded experts in the field of artificial intelligence, Dr. Grosz brings a uniquely well-informed perspective to the nature of the relationship between people and their computers. Her talk will focus on some of the most profound and vexing aspects of that relationship: Why do we seem always to be fighting with our computers? Can computers ever become true partners in human enterprise, and how close are software designers to achieving that goal? How can computers help us to work together better? These questions are especially relevant in our rural island environment.

Dr. Grosz has been a member of the Harvard faculty since 1986, and serves as the Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences. She is widely known for her contributions to artificial intelligence, and her research has focused on finding ways to make computers behave more intelligently by drawing not only on computer science but on linguistics, psychology, economics, and philosophy. She has written influential papers on techniques for enabling computer systems to participate in dialogues in natural languages (for instance, English and Japanese) and for building systems that act collaboratively.

Grosz is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Philosophical Society, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the Association for Computing Machinery, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1993, she became the first woman president of the AAAI. She serves on the executive committee of the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, and cofounded the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University.

In addition, Grosz has led several efforts aimed at increasing the participation of women in science. In 2005, she served as chair of the Task Force for Women in Science and Engineering, which analyzed and recommended ways to build and sustain the pipeline of women pursuing academic careers in science at Harvard, from undergraduate studies to graduate and postdoctoral work to advancement through faculty ranks.

Due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict at the Orcas Center, Computing Collaboratively: How Our Computers Ought to Work will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall. Those wishing to attend should note this change of venue. As always, the presentation will include ample time for audience questions and discussion.

Free tickets may be obtained at the Library and at Darvill’s Bookstore, although contributions to ensure the continuity of the Crossroads series will be much appreciated.