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What’s New at the Media Lab?

Frank Moss Adam Boulanger SM ‘06 Ryan Chin MA '00, SM '04 Hartmut Geyer Henry Jenkins: March 1, 2007; Running Time: 1:53:12

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

Under new leadership, MIT’s Media Lab has shifted gears significantly. This forum gives viewers a sense of the Lab’s current priorities, via an overview by the director and three student presentations.

Frank Moss initially laughed at the headhunter aiming to recruit him to the Media Lab, but reconsidered after reflecting on his kids’ pointed comments: “You’ve sold software to fat, white guys in IT departments all your life. When are you going to give something back to society?”

In conversation with Henry Jenkins, Moss describes his vision of “inventing a better future, in which technology can impact people at a deeper level, beginning with people who are disabled, disadvantaged, or disenfranchised.” Targeting these groups will lead to inventions that impact society as a whole, believes Moss.

Moss hopes Lab researchers will develop designs that enable more intimate interactions between humans and technology; that open up new ways for creativity and learning to change our lives; and that allow for a rethinking and simplification of “common elements in our environment.”

He introduces three young exemplars of the Media Lab’s new focus. Adam Boulanger uses “facilitative technologies to break the mold,” by handing music composition software to severely disabled patients in a Tewksbury, Massachusetts hospital. Hyperscore, says Boulanger, has enabled “new modes of interaction, new social interactions and empowerment” among patients with psychiatric disorders, spina bifida, and Alzheimer’s disease. He’s working on broadening this software to provide useful interventions in autism, and to detect cognitive decline.

Ryan Chin’s research focuses on ways to complement the increasing density of the world’s cities with appropriate car design. City Car is a two-passenger electric vehicle that folds up (to four feet) so it can be conveniently stacked in small spaces in city centers and neighborhoods, and at commuter stations. Think shopping cart, says Chin. The concept challenges fundamental ideas of car ownership and function, since it’s “more a computer on wheels,” says Chin and is intended for shared, community use. But 504 of these vehicles fit on a city block that normally can accommodate only 82 parked cars, and when stationary, these cars can return some of their energy back to the grid.

Biomechanical devices represent perhaps the ultimate in human-machine interaction. Hartmut Geyer works on ankle and knee prostheses, applying an understanding of the human gait -- the nerve signals and muscle actions required to move in different ways -- to create more responsive devices for amputees. Signals from the residual limb of the amputee tell the prosthesis how to respond during a particular activity like walking upstairs. Eventually, says Geyer, electrodes may be implanted into nerve fibers so that the brain can directly control the prosthesis, or the prosthesis can send signals to sensory fibers “so maybe the amputee wearing it can feel what he’s stepping on—maybe sand, maybe concrete.”

Lecture Details

Location: 3-270

“When I was growing up, people were excited about the future. There was anticipation and positive feeling for what technology was going to do. Today, for all the wonders we have, people are afraid of the future. I see an opportunity to take a platform like the Media Lab, and direct this toward ...a better future, a way in which technology can impact people at a deeper level. ”

Frank Moss

About the Speakers

Frank Moss

Director, MIT Media Lab Professor of the Practice of Media Arts and Sciences
Jerome B. Wiesner Professorship of Media Technology

Frank Moss has spent his career bringing innovative business technologies to market. Most recently, he co-founded and is on the board of Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an early-stage cancer-drug discovery company. In addition, he chaired the advisory council for the creation of the Systems Biology Department at Harvard Medical School, where he remains an advisor.

During his career in the computer and software industries, Moss served as CEO and chairman of Tivoli Systems Inc., which he took public in 1995 and subsequently merged with IBM in 1996. He co-founded several other companies, including Stellar Computer, Inc., a developer of graphic supercomputers; and Bowstreet, Inc., a pioneer in the emerging field of Web services.

He began his career at IBM's scientific center in Haifa, Israel, where he also taught at the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology. He later held various research and management positions at IBM's Yorktown Heights (NY) Research Center, working on advanced development projects in the areas of networking and distributed computing; and executive management positions at Apollo Computer, Inc., and Lotus Development Corporation.

Moss is a member of the Advisory Council for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Princeton University.

He received a B.S. in aerospace and mechanical sciences from Princeton University, and both his M.S. and Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT. His citations include Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award and Forbes Magazine's "Leaders for Tomorrow."

Adam Boulanger SM ‘06

Ryan Chin MA '00, SM '04

Ph.D. Candidate, and Research Assistant, Smart Cities Group, Media Lab

Ryan C.C. Chin is a second year doctoral student in the Smart Cities research group under the supervision of Professor William J. Mitchell.

He is investigating the role of mass-customization and personalization in product development processes. His current research centers on the development of a concept car with General Motors. The concept car project is a design exploration utilizing multidisciplinary design processes. The vehicle itself serves as a platform for Media lab technological innovation and investigates issues of connectivity, human-machine interface, fabrication, and design computation.

After receiving his Master of Architecture from MIT, he joined the MIT Media Lab as a research specialist for CC++: The Car Research group. He most recently finished his Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences in 2005. Prior to MIT, Ryan received his Bachelor of Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Catholic University of America.

Hartmut Geyer

EU Marie Curie Fellow, Postdoctoral Affiliate, Biomechatronics Group, Media Lab Locomotion Lab, Institute of Sports Science, University of Jena, Germany

Henry Jenkins

Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities
Director of Comparative Media Studies Program

Henry Jenkins' books include Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide and Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. His previous books include "What Made Pistachio Nuts": Early Sound Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic; Classical Hollywood Comedy; and Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. Jenkins has published articles on a diverse range of topics relating to film, television and popular culture. His most recent essays include work on Star Trek, WWF Wrestling, Nintendo Games, and Dr. Seuss.

Jenkins has a Ph.D. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa.

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