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The MIT Media Lab
is a department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology formed
about 15 years ago by Nicholas Negroponte and Jerome B. Weisner that
combines university research with corporate sponsors to "expand the
envelope of media, technology and communication for creative enhancement
of cultural growth and diversity".
Research has been
done under three areas of focus:
Digital Life: invents
and explores new forms of communities through research in structured
media, learning, human expressions, interfaces, and agents. The cornerstones
of Digital Life are:
1. Connections/Communities:
Builds environments for collaboration, discovery, design, and casual
global interactions.
2. Kids/Cultures: Includes learning, construction, design, and
cooperation by kids and adults of all ages and for all reasons.
3. Actions/Interfaces: Explores speech, gestures, and motions
as well as immersive communications environments.
4. Media/Performance: Defines structured representations of sounds
and pictures, merges digital networks with entertainment, and evolves
our notions of storytelling.
Some of the projects
in Digital Life include:
Research into cameras that "show you what was there before you were"
(perhaps reconstructing historical files onto the photo image).
MindSWARM- a vision for a new kind of activity-based, augmented television
show that integrates digital video, computational construction kits,
and on-line interaction.
Lifelong Kindergarten- an array of interactive learning projects for
children, including wearable computers that "catch" viruses, "tradable
bits" which allows children to (for example) create a dancing robot
and pass it on, allowing others to vary the dance and see how it travels
geographically and changes, etc.
Spatial Imaging conducts research into developments in holography topics,
such as "holographic laser printers" to allow holograms to be generated
in minutes instead of hours, the medical use of holography in addition
to CAT scans and MRIs in order to render a complex 3-D image for physicians,
etc.
Tangible Bits explores "seamless interfaces between people, bits (digital
info), and atoms (physical world), and includes research on the following:
HandSCAPE- a vectorizing digital tape measure used as an input device
for digitizing field measurements and displaying the results on computers,
Ambient Fixtures- communicates digital information at the periphery
of human perception through ambient media(?), and Triangles- small handheld
triangular conductors whose different formulations alter a narrative
on a computer. "The key idea (of Digital Bits) is to give physical form
to digital information, making bits directly manipulable with our hands,
and perceptible through our peripheral senses. We pursue transparency
within interfaces that weave themselves into the fabric of everyday
life and architectural space."
News in the Future
NiF's vision statement:
Our new vision is one of news and information as models to think with.
We call this vision "Organizing Ideas" or "0/1." Guided by this vision,
we aim to achieve our goal of improving the quality of public discourse,
both through crafting better tools of information description and design
and by facilitating debate. Our vision of Organizing Ideas is one where
individuals, communities, and businesses are engaged in the hard work
of inquiry.
The website http://nif.www.media.mit.edu/ecat/
is especially cool: it is a jumble of headings, subheadings and phrases
that pivot and move out of the mess when one clicks on them, leading
to brief summaries of research topics. For example, ways to tailor international
news to specific audiences to make the news more relevant, research
into efficient information retrieval systems, etc.
Things That Think:
http://media.mit.edu/ttt/vision.htm
This section consists of three layers: 1. The physical design of "smart"
products, such as electronic tagging devices, context-aware mobile guides,
and automatic kitchens that measure ingredients, preheat ovens, and
give recipe directions. 2. Protocols and transports to link smart things
into capable systems. 3. Integration and understanding of these systems
to "solve profound problems"(?).
However, according to Forbes ASAP senior editor and writer David H.
Freedman, the Lab has recently made some changes in its vision and approach.
The Lab will soon be split into three labs with distinct foci. One will
focus on education and third world development, another, called "Bits
and Atoms", will focus on how physical objects can be imbued with electronic
intelligence, and the third will be concerned with performance and the
arts. This plan comes about in reaction to several challenges and changes
facing the Media Lab. These include a rapid expansion of the physical
plant and staff, a leadership vacuum left by Nicholas Negroponte's decreasing
role at the Lab, a lack of clear research direction, and competition
for funding with venture capitol groups (some of which are started by
former staff of the Lab). For a description of these challenges facing
the Media Lab, and some critical analysis of the Media Lab, see David
H. Freedman's article in Technology Review Sep/Oct
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