Additional Initiatives

Autism & Communication Technology Initiative

Directed by: 
Rosalind W. Picard
Directed by: 
Matthew S. Goodwin
The Autism & Communication Technology Initiative utilizes the unique features of the Media Lab to foster the development of innovative technologies that can enhance and accelerate the pace of autism research and therapy. Researchers are especially invested in creating technologies that promote communication and independent living by enabling non-autistic people to understand the ways autistic people are trying to communicate; improving autistic people's ability to use receptive and expressive language along with other means of functional, non-verbal expression; and providing telemetric support that reduces reliance on caregivers' physical proximity, yet still enables enriching and natural connectivity as wanted and needed.

CE 2.0

Directed by: 
V. Michael Bove
Directed by: 
Henry Holtzman
Most of us are awash in consumer electronics (CE) devices: from cell phones, to TVs, to dishwashers. They provide us with information, entertainment, and communications, and assist us in accomplishing our daily tasks. Unfortunately, most are not as helpful as they could and should be; for the most part, they are dumb, unaware of us or our situations, and often difficult to use. In addition, most CE devices cannot communicate with our other devices, even when such communication and collaboration would be of great help. The Consumer Electronics 2.0 initiative (CE 2.0) is a collaboration between the Media Lab and its sponsor companies to formulate the principles for a new generation of consumer electronics that are highly connected, seamlessly interoperable, situation-aware, and radically simpler to use. Our goal is to show that as computing and communication capability seep into more of our everyday devices, these devices do not have to become more confusing and complex, but rather can become more intelligent in a cooperative and user-friendly way.

Ultimate Media

Directed by: 
V. Michael Bove
Directed by: 
Andrew Lippman
Directed by: 
Henry Holtzman
Contact: 
Deborah Widener
Contact: 
Kristin Hall

The Ultimate Media working group is engaging in research to re-invent the world of visual media interaction from the perspective of the average, digitally aware person in an extreme environment: extreme connectivity, both fixed and mobile; extreme processing; extreme visual presence; extreme scale and scope; and extreme social connectedness. The motivating principle is that media is all about expression, not simply about consumption. Just as we clip, copy, re-transmit, and amplify ideas we see in print, we will simplify the ways for people to express themselves through their media experiences. We will work to built an open, extensible platform for visual media that incorporates our desire for entertainment and balances it with the intention to inform. We take three views of what visual media, or television can do: explore a near-infinite universe of what you want to see; inform you of what you ought to know firsthand; and let you into the frame to interact, learn, contribute, and socialize. The Media Lab has a history of exploring how media and interactions can take place that span visualization, intelligent content processing, networking options, and formats. We can challenge the incremental to demonstrate what is possible, not just what is likely or palatable.