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The MIT Media Lab in the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology engages in education and research in the digital technology used for expression and communication. more...

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It was founded in 1985 by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte and former MIT President Jerome Wiesner (now deceased) and opened its doors in the Wiesner Building (designed by I.M. Pei), or the E15 building at MIT in 1985. On February 1, 2006, Frank Moss assumed the role of lab director. Moss succeeds previous directors Nicholas Negroponte and Walter Bender.

Research

The Media Lab focuses on interdisciplinary research. The research generally does not involve directly developing core technologies, but rather developing applications of those technologies, or combining those technologies in new and interesting ways. Indeed, several of the projects at the Media Lab are almost purely artistic in nature. Core technology projects exist (see Center for Bits and Atoms), but are a minority at the Lab.

A large number of research groups focus on topics related to human computer interaction. While this includes traditional user interface design, most groups working on this take a broader view. Several groups are working on adding sensors and actuators of different sorts to common objects in the environment, to create "intelligent objects" that are aware of their surroundings, capable of predicting the user's goals and emotional state, and so can assist the user in a more effective way. An example of this type of research can be found in the work of Prof. Ted Selker whose research into context awareness ranges from the electronic voting machines to hybrid search engines.

The Media Lab also does research into integrating more computational intelligence into learning activities. This includes software for learning but also "smart" educational toys such as programmable bricks like the cricket. A number of groups are pursuing hybrid art-engineering projects, in developing new tools, media, and instruments for music and other forms of art.

Several groups are working on the physics of computation. This includes quantum computing, as well as other modes of computation. One group, for instance, is developing a hydraulic computer, in which computing is done with flowing water rather than electricity.

One of the founding focuses of the Media Lab is technology for the developing world, such as the Fab Labs at the Center for Bits and Atoms and the Hundred Dollar Laptop project.

Several groups work on traditional artificial intelligence projects.

Research groups

The Media Lab is made up of numerous research groups. Below is a description of each group and its project leaders.

eRationality: Dan Ariely

This group studies how people behave and make day-to-day decisions, particularly in electronic environments. They investigate rationality, semi-rationality, bounded rationality, and just plain irrationality. They take an experimental psychology approach in trying to understand the reasons for different types of behaviors (such as choice, shopping, or procrastination), and attempt to build tools that reformulate the options available to people so that they can maximize their own happiness.

Read more at Wikipedia.org