AI Chat Vs Agent

AI Chat Vs Agent — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

  • Semantic analysis (machine learning)

    Semantic analysis (machine learning)

    In machine learning, semantic analysis of a text corpus is the task of building structures that approximate concepts from a large set of documents. It generally does not involve prior semantic understanding of the documents. Semantic analysis strategies include: Metalanguages based on first-order logic, which can analyze the speech of humans. Understanding the semantics of a text is symbol grounding: if language is grounded, it is equal to recognizing a machine-readable meaning. For the restricted domain of spatial analysis, a computer-based language understanding system was demonstrated. Latent semantic analysis (LSA), a class of techniques where documents are represented as vectors in a term space. A prominent example is probabilistic latent semantic analysis (PLSA). Latent Dirichlet allocation, which involves attributing document terms to topics. n-grams and hidden Markov models, which work by representing the term stream as a Markov chain, in which each term is derived from preceding terms. == Stochastic semantic analysis ==

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  • TAUM system

    TAUM system

    TAUM (Traduction Automatique à l'Université de Montréal) is the name of a research group which was set up at the Université de Montréal in 1965. Most of its research was done between 1968 and 1980. It gave birth to the TAUM-73 and TAUM-METEO machine translation prototypes, using the Q-Systems programming language created by Alain Colmerauer, which were among the first attempts to perform automatic translation through linguistic analysis. The prototypes were never used in actual production. The TAUM-METEO name has been erroneously used for many years to designate the METEO System subsequently developed by John Chandioux.

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  • Is an AI Analytics Tool Worth It in 2026?

    Is an AI Analytics Tool Worth It in 2026?

    Curious about the best AI analytics tool? An AI analytics tool is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it combines speed, accuracy, and an interface that just works. Hands-on testing shows real-world results vary, so a short free trial is the smartest way to decide. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI analytics tool slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. Read on for hands-on impressions, pricing tiers, and the standout features that matter.

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  • Top 10 AI Subtitle Generators Compared (2026)

    Top 10 AI Subtitle Generators Compared (2026)

    Curious about the best AI subtitle generator? An AI subtitle generator is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it combines speed, accuracy, and an interface that just works. Hands-on testing shows real-world results vary, so a short free trial is the smartest way to decide. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI subtitle generator slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. Read on for hands-on impressions, pricing tiers, and the standout features that matter.

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  • Web development

    Web development

    Web development is the process of designing, developing and maintaining websites and web apps. Web development encompasses several different fields, most commonly referring to the programming of websites. Front-end development is the act of developing the user interface and client-side code, while back-end development focuses on the infrastructure behind a website, mainly server-side code. Since the World Wide Web was released publicly in 1993, web development has evolved greatly, with websites changing from a collection of static HTML pages to complex projects using frameworks, servers, and databases. == Overview == Web development includes many individual tasks, including web design, web content development, networking, and coding. Among web professionals, "web development" usually refers to the main non-design aspects of building websites: writing markup and coding. Web development is generally split into two fields: front-end development and back-end development. Front-end developers create the user interface of websites, turning web designs into HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. Front-end developers must also make sure that websites work consistently across different browsers and devices. Back-end development, also known as server-side development, focuses on the infrastructure behind a website, including APIs, database management, and security. Some choose to be full-stack developers, meaning they work on both the front-end and back-end. == History == The World Wide Web is often categorised into three generations: Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 (or Web3). It was invented in 1989, and released to the public in 1993. In the early years of the web, restrospecitvely referred to as Web 1.0, websites were simply a collection of static HTML files, and had limited interactivity. After the introduction of JavaScript in 1995, websites could contain logic, allowing for interactivity. The following year CSS was released, allowing greater control over the styling of web pages. In 1999, the term Web 2.0 was coined by Darcy DiNucci. The term later resurfaced in the early 2000s, as websites started to increase in complexity, requiring server-side services in addition to JavaScript. This led to the emergence of various new programming languages and frameworks designed for backend services, such as PHP, Active Server Pages, and Jakarta Server Pages. This enabled websites to do additional server-side processing, such as accessing databases. Another shift in web development was the release of the iPhone in 2007. This created a new medium for accessing the web, requiring a new approach to web development, and resulting in responsive web design, which allows a single website to appear different depending on the device running it. Later, progressive web apps were introduced, allowing websites to be installed on a device as an independent application. In the 2010s, JavaScript frameworks began to emerge, creating new ways to manipulate web pages, and increasing compatibility between web browsers. JQuery was popular in the early 2010s, but was later surpassed by other frameworks such as React and Vue.js. In the mid 2020s, use of AI became prevalent among web developers, with the 2025 Stack Overflow survey showing over 80% of developers saying the use AI at least monthly in their development process.

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  • Top 10 AI Paraphrasing Tools Compared (2026)

    Top 10 AI Paraphrasing Tools Compared (2026)

    Shopping for the best AI paraphrasing tool? An AI paraphrasing tool is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it keeps getting smarter as the underlying models improve. Pricing, accuracy, and the size of the model behind the tool are the three factors that most affect daily usefulness. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI paraphrasing tool slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. We tested the leading options and ranked them by quality, value, and ease of use.

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  • AI Photo Editors Reviews: What Actually Works in 2026

    AI Photo Editors Reviews: What Actually Works in 2026

    Curious about the best AI photo editor? An AI photo editor is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it combines speed, accuracy, and an interface that just works. Hands-on testing shows real-world results vary, so a short free trial is the smartest way to decide. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI photo editor slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. This guide breaks down the top picks, their pros and cons, and who each one is best for.

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  • Machine translation of sign languages

    Machine translation of sign languages

    The machine translation of sign languages has been possible, albeit in a limited fashion, since 1977. When a research project successfully matched English letters from a keyboard to ASL manual alphabet letters which were simulated on a robotic hand. These technologies translate signed languages into written or spoken language, and written or spoken language to sign language, without the use of a human interpreter. Sign languages possess different phonological features than spoken languages, which has created obstacles for developers. Developers use computer vision and machine learning to recognize specific phonological parameters and epentheses unique to sign languages, and speech recognition and natural language processing allow interactive communication between hearing and deaf people. == Limitations == Sign language translation technologies are limited in the same way as spoken language translation. None can translate with 100% accuracy. In fact, sign language translation technologies are far behind their spoken language counterparts. This is, in no trivial way, due to the fact that signed languages have multiple articulators. Where spoken languages are articulated through the vocal tract, signed languages are articulated through the hands, arms, head, shoulders, torso, and parts of the face. This multi-channel articulation makes translating sign languages very difficult. An additional challenge for sign language MT is the fact that there is no formal written format for signed languages. There are notations systems but no writing system has been adopted widely enough, by the international Deaf community, that it could be considered the 'written form' of a given sign language. Sign Languages then are recorded in various video formats. There is no gold standard parallel corpus that is large enough for SMT, for example. == History == The history of automatic sign language translation started with the development of hardware such as finger-spelling robotic hands. In 1977, a finger-spelling hand project called RALPH (short for "Robotic Alphabet") created a robotic hand that can translate alphabets into finger-spellings. Later, the use of gloves with motion sensors became the mainstream, and some projects such as the CyberGlove and VPL Data Glove were born. The wearable hardware made it possible to capture the signers' hand shapes and movements with the help of the computer software. However, with the development of computer vision, wearable devices were replaced by cameras due to their efficiency and fewer physical restrictions on signers. To process the data collected through the devices, researchers implemented neural networks such as the Stuttgart Neural Network Simulator for pattern recognition in projects such as the CyberGlove. Researchers also use many other approaches for sign recognition. For example, Hidden Markov Models are used to analyze data statistically, and GRASP and other machine learning programs use training sets to improve the accuracy of sign recognition. Fusion of non-wearable technologies such as cameras and Leap Motion controllers have shown to increase the ability of automatic sign language recognition and translation software. == Technologies == === VISICAST === http://www.visicast.cmp.uea.ac.uk/Visicast_index.html === eSIGN project === http://www.visicast.cmp.uea.ac.uk/eSIGN/index.html === The American Sign Language Avatar Project at DePaul University === http://asl.cs.depaul.edu/ === Spanish to LSE === López-Ludeña, Verónica; San-Segundo, Rubén; González, Carlos; López, Juan Carlos; Pardo, José M. (2012), Methodology for developing a Speech into Sign Language Translation System in a New Semantic Domain (PDF), CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1065.5265, S2CID 2724186 === SignAloud === SignAloud is a technology that incorporates a pair of gloves made by a group of students at University of Washington that transliterate American Sign Language (ASL) into English. In February 2015 Thomas Pryor, a hearing student from the University of Washington, created the first prototype for this device at Hack Arizona, a hackathon at the University of Arizona. Pryor continued to develop the invention and in October 2015, Pryor brought Navid Azodi onto the SignAloud project for marketing and help with public relations. Azodi has a rich background and involvement in business administration, while Pryor has a wealth of experience in engineering. In May 2016, the duo told NPR that they are working more closely with people who use ASL so that they can better understand their audience and tailor their product to the needs of these people rather than the assumed needs. However, no further versions have been released since then. The invention was one of seven to win the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, which seeks to award and applaud young inventors. Their invention fell under the "Use it!" category of the award which includes technological advances to existing products. They were awarded $10,000. The gloves have sensors that track the users hand movements and then send the data to a computer system via Bluetooth. The computer system analyzes the data and matches it to English words, which are then spoken aloud by a digital voice. The gloves do not have capability for written English input to glove movement output or the ability to hear language and then sign it to a deaf person, which means they do not provide reciprocal communication. The device also does not incorporate facial expressions and other nonmanual markers of sign languages, which may alter the actual interpretation from ASL. === ProDeaf === ProDeaf (WebLibras) is a computer software that can translate both text and voice into Portuguese Libras (Portuguese Sign Language) "with the goal of improving communication between the deaf and hearing." There is currently a beta edition in production for American Sign Language as well. The original team began the project in 2010 with a combination of experts including linguists, designers, programmers, and translators, both hearing and deaf. The team originated at Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) from a group of students involved in a computer science project. The group had a deaf team member who had difficulty communicating with the rest of the group. In order to complete the project and help the teammate communicate, the group created Proativa Soluções and have been moving forward ever since. The current beta version in American Sign Language is very limited. For example, there is a dictionary section and the only word under the letter 'j' is 'jump'. If the device has not been programmed with the word, then the digital avatar must fingerspell the word. The last update of the app was in June 2016, but ProDeaf has been featured in over 400 stories across the country's most popular media outlets. The application cannot read sign language and turn it into word or text, so it only serves as a one-way communication. Additionally, the user cannot sign to the app and receive an English translation in any form, as English is still in the beta edition. === Kinect Sign Language Translator === Since 2012, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and specialists of deaf education from Beijing Union University in China have been collaborating with Microsoft Research Asian team to create Kinect Sign Language Translator. The translator consists of two modes: translator mode and communication mode. The translator mode is capable of translating single words from sign into written words and vice versa. The communication mode can translate full sentences and the conversation can be automatically translated with the use of the 3D avatar. The translator mode can also detect the postures and hand shapes of a signer as well as the movement trajectory using the technologies of machine learning, pattern recognition, and computer vision. The device also allows for reciprocal communication because the speech recognition technology allows the spoken language to be translated into the sign language and the 3D modeling avatar can sign back to the deaf people. The original project was started in China based on translating Chinese Sign Language. In 2013, the project was presented at Microsoft Research Faculty Summit and Microsoft company meeting. Currently, this project is also being worked by researchers in the United States to implement American Sign Language translation. As of now, the device is still a prototype, and the accuracy of translation in the communication mode is still not perfect. === SignAll === SignAll is an automatic sign language translation system provided by Dolphio Technologies in Hungary. The team is "pioneering the first automated sign language translation solution, based on computer vision and natural language processing (NLP), to enable everyday communication between individuals with hearing who use spoken English and deaf or hard of hearing individuals who use ASL." The system of SignAll uses Kinect from Microsoft and other web camera

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  • Application-release automation

    Application-release automation

    Application-release automation (ARA) refers to the process of packaging and deploying an application or update of an application from development, across various environments, and ultimately to production. ARA solutions must combine the capabilities of deployment automation, environment management and modeling, and release coordination. == Relationship with DevOps == ARA tools help cultivate DevOps best practices by providing a combination of automation, environment modeling and workflow-management capabilities. These practices help teams deliver software rapidly, reliably and responsibly. ARA tools achieve a key DevOps goal of implementing continuous delivery with a large quantity of releases quickly. == Relationship with deployment == ARA is more than just software-deployment automation – it deploys applications using structured release-automation techniques that allow for an increase in visibility for the whole team. It combines workload automation and release-management tools as they relate to release packages, as well as movement through different environments within the DevOps pipeline. ARA tools help regulate deployments, how environments are created and deployed, and how and when releases are deployed. == ARA Solutions == All ARA solutions must include capabilities in automation, environment modeling, and release coordination. Additionally, the solution must provide this functionality without reliance on other tools.

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  • Markov property

    Markov property

    In probability theory and statistics, the Markov property is the memoryless property of a stochastic process, which means that its future evolution is independent of its history. It is named after the Russian mathematician Andrey Markov. The term strong Markov property is similar to the Markov property, except that the meaning of "present" is defined in terms of a random variable known as a stopping time. The term Markov assumption is used to describe a model where the Markov property is assumed to hold, such as a hidden Markov model. A Markov random field extends this property to two or more dimensions or to random variables defined for an interconnected network of items. An example of a model for such a field is the Ising model. A discrete-time stochastic process satisfying the Markov property is known as a Markov chain. == Introduction == A stochastic process has the Markov property if the conditional probability distribution of future states of the process (conditional on both past and present values) depends only upon the present state; that is, given the present, the future does not depend on the past. A process with this property is said to be Markov or Markovian and known as a Markov process. Two famous classes of Markov process are the Markov chain and Brownian motion. Note that there is a subtle, often overlooked and very important point that is often missed in the plain English statement of the definition: the statespace of the process is constant through time. The conditional description involves a fixed "bandwidth". For example, without this restriction we could augment any process to one which includes the complete history from a given initial condition and it would be made to be Markovian. But the state space would be of increasing dimensionality over time and does not meet the definition. == History == == Definition == Let ( Ω , F , P ) {\displaystyle (\Omega ,{\mathcal {F}},P)} be a probability space with a filtration ( F s , s ∈ I ) {\displaystyle ({\mathcal {F}}_{s},\ s\in I)} , for some (totally ordered) index set I {\displaystyle I} ; and let ( S , Σ ) {\displaystyle (S,\Sigma )} be a measurable space. An ( S , Σ ) {\displaystyle (S,\Sigma )} -valued stochastic process X = { X t : Ω → S } t ∈ I {\displaystyle X=\{X_{t}:\Omega \to S\}_{t\in I}} adapted to the filtration is said to possess the Markov property if, for each A ∈ Σ {\displaystyle A\in \Sigma } and each s , t ∈ I {\displaystyle s,t\in I} with s < t {\displaystyle s Read more →

  • The Best Free AI Video Editor for Beginners

    The Best Free AI Video Editor for Beginners

    Comparing the best AI video editor? An AI video editor is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it lowers the barrier so anyone can produce professional output. Privacy matters too: check whether your data trains the model and whether a no-log or enterprise tier is available. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI video editor slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. Below we compare features, pricing, and real output so you can choose with confidence.

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  • Volker Markl

    Volker Markl

    Volker Markl (born 1971) is a German computer scientist and database systems researcher. == Career == In 1999, Markl received his PhD in computer science under the direction of Rudolf Bayer at the Technical University of Munich. His doctoral research led to the development of the UB-Tree. From 1997 to 2000, he was research group leader at FORWISS, the Bavarian research center for knowledge-based systems. From 2001 to 2008, he was project leader at the IBM Almaden Research Center, Silicon Valley. Since 2008, he has been full professor and Chair of the Database Systems and Information Management Group at Technische Universität Berlin. Since 2014, he is head of the Intelligent Analytics for Massive Data Research Department at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Berlin. From 2014 to 2020, he was director of the Berlin Big Data Center (BBDC). From 2018 to 2020, he was co-director of the Berlin Machine Learning Center (BZML). Together with Klaus-Robert Müller he became director of the new Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD), after both BBDC and the BZML merged into BIFOLD in 2020. From 2010 through 2019, he led the DFG funded Stratosphere project, which led to the establishment of Apache Flink. In 2018, he was elected president of the VLDB Endowment for a six years period that ended in 2024. == Research == Markl’s research interests lie at the intersection of distributed systems, scalable data processing, and machine learning. == Awards and honors == Markl was elected member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2021. Since 2026 he is member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. His work was honoured with several awards, including: 2025 ICDE Best Paper Award 2021 ICDE Best Paper Award 2021 BTW Best Paper Award 2020 ACM SIGMOD Best Paper Award 2020 ACM Fellow 2019 EDBT Best Paper Award 2017 BTW Best Paper Award 2017 EDBT Best Demonstration Award 2016 ACM SIGMOD Research Highlight Award 2014 VLDB Best Paper Award 2012 IBM Faculty Award 2012 IBM Shared University Research Grant 2010 Hewlett Packard Open Innovation Award 2005 IBM Outstanding Technological Achievement Award 2005 IBM Pat Goldberg Best Paper Award

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  • Cloud printing

    Cloud printing

    There are, in essence, three kinds of Cloud printing. == Benefits == 76% of IT teams have moved, or plan to move, their print workflows to the cloud due to its simplicity. Consumers can print easily to any printer from their PC, tablet or smartphone, while the Cloud print service monitors the supplies level. Many printer vendors such as Lexmark propose an automatic supplies shipment based on the real-time analysis of the printer supplies and user behavior to ensure printing will always be possible. For IT department, Cloud Printing eliminates the need for print servers and represents the only way to print from Cloud virtual desktops and servers. For consumers, cloud ready printers eliminate the need for PC connections and print drivers, enabling them to print from mobile devices. As for publishers and content owners, cloud printing allows them to "avoid the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware, software and processes" required for the production of professional print products. Leveraging cloud print for print on demand also allows businesses to cut down on the costs associated with mass production. Moreover, cloud printing can be considered more eco-friendly, as it significantly reduces the amount of paper used (13% reduction in print jobs yearly) and lowers carbon emissions from transportation. As many companies move their IT to the Cloud, some adopting the Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop services from Microsoft, the connection from the Cloud environment to the on-premise printers become an issue as opening ports for incoming print flow traffic is not an option. In 2020, at the exact same time Google discontinued its Google Print offer, Microsoft has announced its Universal Print service offer, aimed at making printing compatible with Cloud Desktop environments, making printing driver-free and simple with no client to install on PC. With Universal Print Microsoft has built a disrupting architecture with a value proposition commodifying printers, removing print servers and drivers, allowing to move printers to VLAN for security purpose and printing from anywhere. Clients are free to use any printer from any model as they all work the same, clients are not tied anymore to any printer brand and that gave a significant boost to the Cloud print market. That Microsoft Universal Print architecture provides APIs to third-party developers who can develop add-ons such as Celiveo 365 to extend Microsoft Cloud Print with added features such as access control on printers and copiers, follow-me pull print, data encryption, advanced usage reporting or charge back. == Providers of Consumer Cloud Printing Solutions == Before 2020 only a handful of providers used to work towards a professional cloud print solution, operating in their own niche or focus on mobile devices. In 2020 Microsoft has boosted that market by announcing its Universal Print Cloud printing service and since then many publishers have started to propose solutions for that growing market. The Covid pandemic also created the need for employees to be able to print at home when using the corporate IT software. Closed VPN often prevent accessing home network printers from corporate laptops and Full Public Cloud solutions are meant to be a solution to that problem. After the decision by Google to terminate Google Cloud Print service on 31 December 2020, most printer vendors released their own mobile cloud solution to fill the gap, while Hewlett-Packard implemented its own cloud print with their ePrint solution. Those solutions are often proprietary, only working on printers proposed by the vendor. Google has decided to let third-party developers develop Cloud Print solutions and to limit its scope to certifying the best Print Management offers compatible with its Chrome Enterprise Cloud ecosystem. == Providers of Corporate Cloud Printing solutions == While many print solutions claim to be "Cloud Printing", there are actually three categories: full Private Cloud, full Public Cloud, and Hybrid Cloud. Their differences are real and have an impact on the overall TCO as the more software there is on-site, the more hidden cost there are. In the Full Public Cloud category, independent SaaS vendors like Celiveo, ezeep , Printix , and Y Soft support a wide range of printer brands and models, allowing clients to buy the best printer without being locked on any brand. They are leveraging cloud computing technology to offer cloud-based print infrastructure and cloud-based printing software as a Service (SaaS). These solutions have integrations to cloud enabled printers or provide embedded printer agents. They feature allow users to print to any printer in any network, isolated network or not, even if that printer is otherwise not reachable from the user's computer. This also allows IT departments to move printers to VLAN for maximum security, like what they are doing with IP phones. Google Chrome Enterprise Cloud ecosystem has its own technical particularities and Google certifies Print Management solutions, ensuring they comply with Google technical requirement, yet letting each solution differentiate from others with specific features or security. Many of solutions for Chrome Enterprise are Hybrid, a few are Full Public Cloud. Industry experts believe that as these services become more popular, users will no longer consider printers as necessary assets but rather as devices that they can access on demand when the need to generate a printed page presents itself. == Caveats of Cloud Printing == == Security == Print jobs flow through Public Internet. It is therefore important to verify no Man-in-the-Middle attack can be performed. The only technical solution is to ensure each printer and PC uses a non-self-generated cryptographic token or certificate allowing TLS mutual authentication and specific data encryption. Self-generated printer certificates are unknown from the Cloud and prevent trusted authentication. Microsoft has implemented its Zero Trust Access security in its Universal Print service, it generates a unique certificate on printers compatible with its service. Other Cloud Printing SaaS providers have followed Microsoft on that High Security path. Print jobs data stored on the Cloud is sensitive as it contains user information as well as all information appearing on pages. Good practices require such data is encrypted at rest and in motion, using asymmetric PKI keys instead of fixed encryption keys. Some solutions require to open incoming traffic ports on the firewall to let Cloud services communicate with printers attached behind that firewall (most of the time for IPP/IPPS flows), some other solutions use a pull model where the communication is always initiated by the printer and no firewall port needs to be open. In terms of security the later is to be preferred.

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  • AI Headshot Generators: Free vs Paid (2026)

    AI Headshot Generators: Free vs Paid (2026)

    Curious about the best AI headshot generator? An AI headshot generator is software that uses machine learning to help you get more done — it combines speed, accuracy, and an interface that just works. Hands-on testing shows real-world results vary, so a short free trial is the smartest way to decide. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the right AI headshot generator slots into your workflow and pays for itself fast. This guide breaks down the top picks, their pros and cons, and who each one is best for.

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  • Samer Hassan

    Samer Hassan

    Samer Hassan is a computer scientist, social scientist, activist and researcher, focused on the study of the collaborative economy, online communities and decentralized technologies. He is an associate professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. He is the recipient of an ERC Grant of 1.5M€ with the P2P Models project, to research blockchain-based decentralized autonomous organizations for the collaborative economy. == Education and career == Hassan is a Spanish/Lebanese scholar with an interdisciplinary background, which combines computer sciences with social sciences and activism. He received a degree in Computer Science and MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) in Spain. He also studied three years of Political Science at the distance learning university UNED. He then pursued a PhD in Social Simulation at the department of Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence of UCM, supervised by the computer scientist Juan Pavón and the sociologist Millán Arroyo-Menéndez. He has been researching in several institutions, funded by several scholarships and awards, most notably Harvard's Real Colegio Complutense, and the Spanish postdoctoral grants Juan de la Cierva and José Castillejo. Thus, he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Research in Social Simulation, in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey in the UK, working under the supervision of Nigel Gilbert (2007-2008), and a lecturer at the American University of Science and Technology in Lebanon (2010–11). He was selected as Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (2015-2017) and is presently a Faculty Associate at the same structure. Starting in 2024, he joined, as affiliate faculty, the Institute for Digital Cooperative Economy (The New School), part of the Platform Cooperativism Consortium. == Activism and social engagement == As an activist, Hassan has been engaged in both offline (La Tabacalera de Lavapiés, Medialab-Prado) and online (Ourproject.org, Barrapunto, Wikipedia) initiatives. He was accredited as a grassroots facilitator by the Altekio Cooperative. He co-founded the Comunes Nonprofit in 2009 and the Move Commons webtool project in 2010. He has co-organized practitioner-oriented workshops on platform co-ops and free/open source decentralized tools for communities, and has presented his work in non-academic conferences of Mozilla, the Internet Archive, and others. As a privacy advocate, he co-created a course on cyber-ethics which has been teaching since 2013 (as of 2021). He was co-founder of the Sci-Fdi Spanish science-fiction magazine. His gender is non-binary and uses he/they pronouns. == Work == Hassan's interdisciplinary research spans multiple fields, including online communities, online governance, online collaboration, decentralized technologies, blockchain-based decentralized autonomous organizations, free/libre/open source software, Commons-based peer production, agent-based social simulation, social movements and cyberethics. He has published more than 60 works in these fields. Hassan's PhD thesis focused on the methodological challenges for building data-driven social simulation models. The main model built simulated the transition from modern values to postmodern values in Spain. His methodological work also explored the combination of different artificial intelligence technologies, i.e. software agents with fuzzy logic, data mining, natural language processing, and microsimulation. In his postdoctoral period, he focused on experimenting with multiple software systems to facilitate the collaborative economy, e.g. semantic-web labelling for commons-based initiatives, distribution of value in peer production communities, agent-supported online assemblies, decentralized real-time collaborative software, decentralized blockchain based reputation, or blockchain-enabled commons governance. Hassan was Principal Investigator of the UCM partner in the EU-funded P2Pvalue project on building decentralized web-tools for collaborative communities. As such, he led the team that created SwellRT, a federated backend-as-a-service focused to ease development of apps featuring real-time collaboration. Intellectual Property of this project was transferred to the Apache Software Foundation in 2017. As part of this research line, Hassan's team also develop two SwellRT-based apps, "Teem" for management of social collectives and Jetpad, a federated real time editor. He presented the innovations concerning these software at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center and Harvard's Center for Research on Computation and Society. Other research lines offered outcomes beyond publications. "Wikichron", coled by Javier Arroyo, is a web tool to visualize MediaWiki community metrics, currently in production and available for third-parties. "Decentralized Science", led by Hassan's PhD student Ámbar Tenorio-Fornés, is a framework to facilitate decentralized infrastructure and open peer review in the scientific publication process, which has been selected by the European Commission to receive funding as a spin-off social enterprise. His research on blockchain and crowdfunding models awarded him with a commission from Triple Canopy. His team pushed forward a mapping of the ecosystem of blockchain for social good, led by the Joint Research Centre and published by the European Commission. As part of his ERC project P2P Models, Hassan and his team –including Silvia Semenzin– are investigating whether blockchain technology and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations could contribute to improving the governance of commons-oriented communities, both online and offline. Their work has been showcased for tackling the impact of blockchain on governance, proposing alternatives to the current sharing economy, emerging forms of techno-social systems like NFTs or prediction markets, or giving relevance to gender issues in the field. Hassan was invited to present the project achievements in Harvard Kennedy School, MIT Media Lab, Harvard's Data Privacy Lab, Harvard's Center for Research on Computation and Society, and Harvard's SEAS EconCS. British MP and Opposition Leader Ed Miliband showcased his research and its potential impact on policy. The project made public its way of organizing and its core values. In particular, it has shown a commitment to diversity as a core value in hiring, or choosing case studies. == Selected works == Arroyo, Javier; Davó, David; Martínez-Vicente, Elena; Faqir-Rhazoui, Youssef; Hassan, Samer (8 November 2022). "DAO-Analyzer: Exploring Activity and Participation in Blockchain Organizations" (PDF). Companion Publication of the 2022 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. CSCW'22 Companion. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 193–196. doi:10.1145/3500868.3559707. ISBN 978-1-4503-9190-0. Rozas, David; Tenorio-Fornés, Antonio; Díaz-Molina, Silvia; Hassan, Samer (2021). "When Ostrom Meets Blockchain: Exploring the Potentials of Blockchain for Commons Governance". SAGE Open. 11 (1): 215824402110025. doi:10.1177/21582440211002526. ISSN 2158-2440. Faqir-Rhazoui, Youssef; Ariza-Garzón, Miller-Janny; Arroyo, Javier; Hassan, Samer (8 May 2021). "Effect of the Gas Price Surges on User Activity in the DAOs of the Ethereum Blockchain" (PDF). Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI EA '21. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1145/3411763.3451755. ISBN 978-1-4503-8095-9. Hassan, Samer; Filippi, Primavera De (20 April 2021). "Decentralized Autonomous Organization". Internet Policy Review. 10 (2). doi:10.14763/2021.2.1556. hdl:10419/235960. ISSN 2197-6775. Joint Research Centre (European Commission); Hassan, Samer; Hakami, Anna; Brekke, Jaya Klara; De Filippi, Primavera; Lopéz Morales, Genoveva; Pólvora, Alexandre; Orgaz Alonso, Christian; Bodó, Balázs (2020). Scanning the European ecosystem of distributed ledger technologies for social and public good: what, why, where, how, and ways to move forward. LU: Publications Office of the European Union. doi:10.2760/300796. ISBN 978-92-76-21578-3. Filippi, Primavera De; Hassan, Samer (14 November 2016). "Blockchain technology as a regulatory technology: From code is law to law is code". First Monday. arXiv:1801.02507. doi:10.5210/fm.v21i12.7113. ISSN 1396-0466.

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