The MIT Media Lab is arguably one of the coolest academic research labs in the world. It’s sort of well documented but here are a couple quick “proofs” (among dozens, but for another time…) Proof #1: they have a full Wired magazine dedicated to it (UK 11/2012 issue). Proof #2: they made Tom Cruise a key sci-fi reference in the past 15 years via the movie Minority Report. All I would say is that if you have the chance to visit the Lab, you will more than likely be blown away by not one, but many projects. Essentially:
It is a super candy store for geeks.
Over the years I have visited the Lab dozens of time and have brought many new visitors with me. Tomorrow is another 2 1/2 day “invite-only member event” for forward-thinking corporate member companies (that fund the Lab essentially). So instead of writing yet another email to supply folks joining me with some “insider’s tips,” I will summarize things here as a short cheat sheet for first-timers. (I will admit that this is somewhat biased towards people similar to my backgrounds in media/Internet/apps)
Do note that the Lab isn’t open to public… So the following only applies to people who are invited to join “member week.”
(Quick background about me: I had the luxury of spending over 1.5 years kinda as a pseudo-student at the Media Lab right when their new building opened: took awesome classes like Tangible Interfaces, built several future concept prototypes, and did a joint project, the Glass Infrastructure, that deployed 30 interactive screens that are still functional today. All happened when I was trying to also finish my PhD at Harvard... I couldn’t help :-p Since then I have been with Viacom and now lead R&D at the NEXT team doing VR etc. First thing I did when I joined the company was to have them join the Lab and of course I am the liaison :->)
#1 Forget Your Day Job: This is key advice from Andy Lippman (co-founder of the Lab)— you are at one of the most out-of-the-box places on earth, and you are away from your office for a couple days. Take off the “corporate hat” and focus solely on absorbing as many new and different ideas as you can. The connecting-the-dots will come later. The thing is, there are obviously crazy and seemingly unrelated things that might not seem “useful to you/your company” at all: folding cars, 3D printed buildings, bionic limbs, and even minority report interfaces. Just don’t judge them immediately. You just never know when someone / some conversations may spark new ideas that you never thought about before.
#2 Meet Fellow Innovators: Many star players at top companies from various industries, Fortune 500 and across the globe are at these meetings. Everyone is an innovator in his/her own right. Meet as many as you can during breaks, etc. I often learn the most from people not in my industry and we often share notes / war stories on doing innovations at big companies (which is never an easy task). I also wouldn’t worry about people from rival companies: whoever that comes to the Lab is most often very collaborative and open-minded and just eager to learn from one another.
#3 Maximize Demo Hours: these are usually 2PM on each day, always plan to spend ALL the time allotted to visit as many research groups and projects as possible. This is high school science fair on steroid. Students spent the weeks prior making their demos just for this day (I recall many overnights at the Lab with my friends, sometimes things worked only hours before the “show…;” hence why demos never can happen before noon time as students need to catch some zzZzzzZzz). It’s definitely the single most important thing to do while you are here. Trust me, you won’t have time to see all of them. So do NOT schedule any conference calls / meetings etc. for these slots.
#4 Must-See Demos:
No one should leave the Lab without going to the Tangible Media area (on 3rd floor) and check out the various user interface projects. The new ones like TRANSFORM are amazing, but do see if you can find and start with the classics: for example, inTouch (a haptic feedback “telephone” device) and the music bottles. Always find a grad student for information if you feel lost — and if you are lucky you might have the legendary Hiroshi Ishii doing demos for you :-> Sidenote: if you care, see if you can find hints of where the now-inactive Minority Report stuff was located there.
Along the user interface line, if these are your things you can make your way to the Fluid Interface group and try many augmented reality (and increasingly more VR) projects including smart lamps/desks. Pattie Mae’s group always has the latest visions and was where the amazing Sixth Sense (among the top TED talks) project was born.
If you are a data geek, then you have many options. Deb Roy’s Social Machine team (5th floor) has the whole Twitter firehose available and has built many things especially around the election in less than a couple years. Cesar’s (who always gives one of the best talks IMO) Macro Connections group has so many data visualizations “eye candies” that it’s easy to spend the whole demo period there (it is hidden treasure so is all the way in the back of the building complex, go from the 3rd floor atrium and don’t be afraid :->). Their neighbor is Sandy’s Human Dynamics group — with many big data projects and mobile-based applications/algorithmic work. For emotion data, visit Roz’s Affective Computing group (3/F) that uses CV and wearables.
If you are into Computer Vision and optics, Camera Culture group (4/F) is it. For sensors networks, visit the Responsive Environments group (5/F). There are self-driving car stuff that I haven’t fully explored but it’s a new emphasis too (Scalable Cooperation, 3/F back).
What about “media media?” Andy’s Viral Communications group (3/F) has many content-driven prototypes, some aims to synthesize various content sources into smart TV guide, etc. So does Mike Bove’s Object-Based Media (4/F, back) group. Ethan’s Civic Media (3/F, back) has various news/livestreaming/metadata projects. For novel storytelling concept check out Design Fiction (5/F) and Playful Systems (5/F).
Finally, go play with table-size LEGO-based city planning tools as well as tiny+smart apartments at Changing Places (3/F, back); visual programming for kids at Lifelong Kindergarden (4/F); amazing museum-quality 3D printed designs at Mediated Matter (4/F); novel music projects at Opera of the Future (4/F); cute but functional home robots (4/F, back); and last but not least, inspiring bionics at Biomechatronics (3/F). And there are more groups…
So yes the demo hours will never be enough, so plan wisely yet leave enough time for surprises along the way. And take a biz card from students / professors to continue the conversations. Good luck and see you there!!
