Designing the Future of Human Connection Across Time

"Absence is the highest form of presence.”— James Joyce (1882–1941)

"People die twice. First, when they die. Then, when they are forgotten.”— Rokusuke Ei (1933–2016)

"I want to always remember you.
  I want to always be remembered by you."— Hiroshi Ishii (1956–2200)

We explore the new vision of TeleAbsence, extending the notion of Telepresence to the past of life and the afterlife. We conduct a vision-driven, speculative design of illusory communication to recall the memories of loved ones, favorite places, and events you wish to remember and not forget. In this context, we focus on tangible objects such as antique telephones, acoustic musical instruments, typewriters, paintbrushes, and historic scientific instruments. We may employ AI and AR techniques to explore interactive storytelling and access the memory associated with the tangible legacies.

MAS.S62 is a project-based interaction design course centered around design workshops, the literature on telepresence, TeleAbsence, loss, grief,  and mourning. This course has one or two primary student group projects to design TeleAbsence media (illusory communication media for the past and afterlife), as well as various guest lecturers from relevant fields of Human-Human Interaction, arts, interaction design, and generative AI.

Students will design and develop experimental TeleAbsence media, novel applications, engaging interaction scenarios, and enabling technologies in the design studio environment, using sketches, animation, simulation, physical mockups, video, and working prototypes to solicit studio discussion. Course enrollment is limited to around 30~35 to keep a design studio atmosphere.

This course is 100% in-person (physical) meetings on the MIT Campus (E15-341) as a default. We will extensively utilize cloud-based digital tools, including Canvas, Miro, Google Drive/Docs/Slides/Sheets, Dropbox, and other remote collaboration groupware. We use Zoom for class recording and remote guest speakers. 

▶︎ Paper:   "TeleAbsence: A Vision of Past and Afterlife Telepresence" in The MIT Press Journal
MIT Libraries DSpace: https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/158451

▶︎ Video:  Lecture at XPANSE 2024 in Abu Dhabi.  https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1037230837

▶︎ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ishii.mit/posts/pfbid02sNNddAYEPrrsvwhSUQ27wpxT1WDQgYHP66Lwy2AsxYJr4aDU1ogVqSH9wrLb2QUEl

▶︎ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7365265759817707521/

MAS.S62 TeleAbsence: Designing the Future of Human Connection Across Time - Spring 2026 

Units: Units: G (Fall) 3-3-6 H-LEVEL Grad Credit

WHEN:   Tuesday 1-4 pm, February 3 ~ May 12, 2026
WHERE:   E15-341   Nagashima Room

MAS.S62 THE FIRST CLASS: February 3 (Tue), 2026
MAS.S62 THE LAST CLASS: May 12 (Tue), 2026 

MIT CANVAS:  https://canvas.mit.edu/courses/37396

INSTRUCTOR:   Prof. Hiroshi Ishii      <ishii@mit.edu>     Hiroshi Ishii's CV
CO-INSTRUCTOR:  Prof. Min Fan   <mfan1028@media.mit.edu>

GUEST LECTURERS :

Dr. Jean-Baptiste Labrune   <jb@media.mit.edu>  
Dr. Xiao Xiao   <xiao.xiao@devinci.fr>  
Dr. Jie Li   <jieli8@mit.edu>  
Gigi Minsky <gigi.minsky@gmail.com>
Ko Ishiyama <ishiyama@mit.edu>
Cyrus Clarke  <cyrusc@media.mit.edu>
Grishma Rao (IDEO) <grishma.rao@gmail.com>
Ruiwen (Emma) Peng   <emmapeng@mit.edu>  TMG/ML
Lei Xia  <lei.xia@alum.mit.edu>   TMG/ML
Yue Yang <yue_yang@media.mit.edu>
Prof. Jayne Wallace, Northumbria University, United Kingdom 

TAS: 
Lucy Li   <lucy_li@media.mit.edu>   TMG/ML
Quincy Kuang   <quincyku@media.mit.edu>    TMG/ML
Hye Jun Youn  <hyoun95@media.mit.edu>      TMG/ML
Awu Chen <awuchen@media.mit.edu>    TMG/ML
Chuanqi Sun  <stack@media.mit.edu>    TMG/ML
Isabela Naty Sanchez Taipe  <belast@mit.edu>  Wellesley
Camila Millan <cm118@wellesley.edu>  Wellesley
Serena Xin Wei Sara <sxsara@mit.edu>  MIT
David Hojah  <davidhoj@mit.edu>
Yuhan Wang. <yuhan_wang@gsd.harvard.edu>  Havard GSD
Helen Shen <helenshen@gse.harvard.edu>  Harvard GSE
Michelle Xu <michellexu1@gse.harvard.edu>  Harvard GSE

ADMIN:  Lusine Ghazaryan  <lusin77@media.mit.edu>

CONTACT:  masS62_2026_staff@media.mit.edu  (instructor, TAs, and staff)

Pre/Cross-Registration, MIT Canvas 2026, and Sign-Up Form

▶︎ PRE-REGISTRATION / CROSS-Registration:  If you are interested in taking this course, please pre-register for MAS.S62 by February 2 (Mon), 2026, so that your name will show up on the MIT CANVAS site. Your accessibility to the MIT CANVAS as a pre-registered student is the condition for the MAS.S62 enrollment. If you need help pre-registering, please get in touch with the Registrar’s Office at MIT or the Registrar’s Office at your institution. 

▶︎ SIGN-UP: If you are taking this course, please complete and submit this Google Form by noon on Tuesday, February 2 (Mon), 2026.

If you have questions about the contents of the MAS.S62 course, please send an email to masS62_2026_staff@media.mit.edu.