Valued Opinions reveals people are unsure about Facebook Tag Suggestions facial recognition

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:34:07 GMT

Valued Opinions has revealed that the majority of people don't like or don't mind the Facebook's new facial recognition feature.

Market research surveys carried out by Valued Opinions show the new Facebook feature, called ‘Tag Suggestions’ has proved a controversial topic.

Valued Opinions ran an online poll which was designed to find out how current Facebook users view facial recognition with results showing 35% of American respondents don't like the feature, 35% don't mind it and only 16.5% of the respondents admitted to liking the new feature.

This new system allows Facebook to recognise someone the user knows, or the user themselves, in a photograph and 'tag' them automatically.

Users do have the option to deactivate this feature but complaints have arisen because members feel they were not sufficiently notified about the global launch. The face tagging feature was introduced in the US during December 2010 and launched globally in June 2011. The facial recognition feature means that Facebook is now embroiled in a privacy controversy as many privacy groups have filed complaints with the US Federal Trade Commission over Facebook's automated facial recognition technology.

The feature was originally launched on the US only version of Facebook, but it has been recently rolled out to most of the social networks remaining 600 million users without prior notification. While the feature only applies itself to newly uploaded photos, all users are automatically opted in to the feature, and therefore have to turn it off if they wish to opt out

About Valued Opinions:
The poll was conducted online utilizing the Valued Opinions Panel in June 2011 among 1,000 adults aged 18 and over. Owned and operated by Research Now Ltd, Valued Opinions is a consumer research panel made up of individuals participating in market research surveys in exchange for rewards. Through various partnerships with popular international retailers, Valued Opinions’ members can earn and redeem credits for gift vouchers accepted online and in stores. Members also have the opportunity to donate rewards to charitable causes if they choose.

Research Now Ltd is the leading global online sampling and online data collection company. With over 6 million panelists in 38 countries worldwide, Research Now Ltd enables companies to listen to and interact with real consumers and business decision makers in order to make key business decisions. Research Now Ltd offers a full suite of data collection services, including social media sampling, and operates leading opinion panels around the world. The company has multilingual staff located in 23 offices around the globe.

iSLI Research Student Wins Prestigious Fellowship For The Second Year

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:31:46 GMT

Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. -- A prestigious Fellowship has been awarded to one of iSLI's EngD research students, Thomas Perry. The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 has awarded the second year its Industrial Fellowship to support his research developing new computer solutions using ultra high-performance chips called Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) as part of an alliance of high-tech organisations, including Scottish Enterprise.

Part of a multi-million pound project and through FPGA technologies, the project hopes to revolutionise the development of mission-critical applications and help deal with the massive processing requirements needed in areas such as drug design, defence, seismology, medical imaging and mobile telecoms.

The Commission's Fellowship programmes, established in 1891, have greatly benefited recipients of the award in the past, with 12 winners going on to receive Nobel prizes. Only four of these fellowships are awarded annually to students enrolled for EngD degrees. This is the second consecutive year that the Institute has hosted an EngD Industry Fellowship from the Royal Commission. In 2009, Matthew Robbetts, sponsored by Wolfson Microelectronics and supervised by Dr Stephan Weiss of the University of Strathclyde, was also selected for an award for his research into acoustic noise-cancellation techniques for mobile phone applications.

Presenting the Fellowship to Tom Perry, Mr Nigel Williams-Commission Secretary stated: "The 1851 Royal Commission is delighted to work with EngD Centres to identify top students as candidates for its Industrial Fellowship programme, which shares similar aims to support research excellence for the benefit of productive industry."

"I am truly honoured to receive such a prestigious award and be placed alongside the 1851 Commission's previous fellows. The fellowship will present new opportunities in my work including a generous travel allowance that will allow me to travel to Xilinx Research Laboratories company HQ in San Jose, where my research project is likely to depend heavily on the research conducted there and will help me achieve the very best in my EngD at iSLI. I am delighted," said Thomas Perry.

Fellowships and grants from the Royal Commission are only awarded to research students in science and engineering, applied research in industry, industrial design and other projects supporting the development of science and technology. The Commission decided to develop an idea to exclusively support students registered for the EngD degree in the UK. The Institute for System Level Integration is the only UK establishment providing the Engineering Doctorate in System Level Integration and is extremely pleased that Thomas, one of their second year research students and a graduate from the University of Cambridge, is the second consecutive iSLI student to be selected for the Fellowship.

Siân Williams, EngD Centre Manager at iSLI, comments on the Royal Commission Fellowship, "The Institute is thrilled for Thomas and extremely proud that hisresearch with Xilinx Inc and the Scottish Enterprise-backed FHPCA programme is being recognised by this truly historic body. The Royal Commission's legacy of supporting engineering, stretching back to the middle of the 19th century, is remarkable; we are very grateful for the Commission's continued encouragement of UK engineering excellence and its championing of young British engineering talent".

Thomas's Fellowship will begin in September for three years, offering an enhanced stipend to the student, as well as extending benefits to the sponsoring organisation, Scottish Enterprise and the University of Edinburgh, where Thomas's academic supervisors Dr Khaled Benkrid and Dr Mark Parsons are based; including an

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Valued Opinions reveals people are unsure about Facebook Tag Suggestions facial recognition

iSLI Research Student Wins Prestigious Fellowship For The Second Year