• Search Search
  • User Login
  • Nav Nav
Search
Work for a Member company and need a Member Portal account? Register here with your company email address. Work for a Member company and forgot your password?
  • News + Updates
  • Research
  • About
  • Graduate Program
  • People
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Member Portal
We are an interdisciplinary research lab working to invent the future of
  • art

  • health

  • human-machine interaction

  • artificial intelligence

  • learning

  • robotics

  • design

  • architecture

  • technology

  • consumer electronics

  • kids

  • music

  • wearable computing

  • politics

  • data

  • bioengineering

  • networks

  • human-computer interaction

  • entertainment

  • machine learning

  • sensors

  • economy

  • cognition

  • social science

  • history

  • environment

  • space

  • archives

  • storytelling

  • wellbeing

  • interfaces

  • computer science

  • covid19

  • engineering

  • prosthetics

  • developing countries

  • ethics

  • biology

  • civic technology

  • privacy

  • social robotics

  • alumni

  • public health

  • social media

  • communications

  • civic media

  • urban planning

  • imaging

  • synthetic biology

  • augmented reality

  • creativity

  • industry

  • community

  • computer vision

  • neurobiology

  • virtual reality

  • affective computing

  • biotechnology

  • energy

  • biomechanics

  • transportation

  • food

  • data visualization

  • government

  • social change

  • data science

  • ocean

  • zero gravity

  • startup

  • blockchain

  • social networks

  • medicine

  • materials

  • genetics

  • manufacturing

  • 3d printing

  • prosthetic design

  • agriculture

  • climate change

  • gaming

  • racial justice

  • banking and finance

  • fabrication

  • women

  • behavioral science

  • construction

  • diversity

  • fashion

  • cryptocurrency

  • electrical engineering

  • security

  • cognitive science

  • neural interfacing and control

  • systems

  • bionics

  • open source

  • microfabrication

  • crowdsourcing

  • marginalized communities

  • microbiology

  • ecology

  • performance

  • internet of things

  • human augmentation

  • civic action

  • collective intelligence

  • extended intelligence

  • makers

  • wiesner

  • autonomous vehicles

  • language learning

  • natural language processing

  • perception

  • interactive

  • nonverbal behavior

  • mapping

  • physics

  • visualization

  • mechanical engineering

  • physiology

  • nanoscience

  • chemistry

  • water

  • clinical science

  • holography

  • long-term interaction

  • primary healthcare

  • gesture interface

  • sports and fitness

  • networking

  • trust

  • point of care

  • voice

  • soft-tissue biomechanics

  • orthotic design

  • autism research

  • mechatronics

  • member company

  • event

  • pharmaceuticals

  • rfid

  • hacking

  • code

  • open access

  • clinical trials

  • assistive technology

  • trade

  • biomedical imaging

  • academia

  • member event

  • real estate

  • gender studies

  • exhibit

  • publishing

  • randomized experiment

  • gis

  • metamaterials

  • cartography

  • installation

  • Groups
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Centers
  • Initiatives
More Close
Post Research

City Science team wins Best Student Paper Award at Computing Conference 2020

Congratulations to City Science researchers Alex Berke, Jason Nawyn, Thomas Sanchez Lengeling, and group head Kent Larson!

July 29, 2020
in City Science
#civic technology #transportation #urban planning +1 more
Archived
Project Research

Moral Machine

The Moral Machine is a platform for gathering a human perspective on moral decisions made by machine intelligence, such as self-driving car…

in Scalable Cooperation
Edmond Awad · Iyad Rahwan +1 more
#design #architecture #artificial intelligence +13 more
Archived
Article Research

AI researchers say scientific publishers help perpetuate racist algorithms

“This is why we keep seeing race science emerging time and again," writes Chelsea Barabas. "It’s because publishers publish it."

via MIT Technology Review · June 23, 2020
in Civic Media
#artificial intelligence #civic technology #publishing +1 more
Publication Research

Contact Tracing Technologies: Methods and trade-offs

Alex Berke and Kent Larson, City Science group, MIT Media Lab (2020).

White Paper/Memo, May 2020
in City Science
#civic technology #economy #privacy +4 more
Project Research

Theme | CityScope

City Science researchers are developing a slew of tangible and digital platforms dedicated to solving spatial design and urban planning cha…

in City Science
Markus Elkatsha · Kent Larson +7 more
#design #computer vision #human-computer interaction +20 more
Project Research

ChampScope

Virtual CityScope Champs-Élysées is an interactive and immersive platform that explores the future of Paris’ most important street.

in City Science
Ariel Noyman · Arnaud Grignard +3 more
#architecture #civic technology #transportation +1 more
Post Research

Media Lab @ Design, Technology + Social Innovation Workshop 2020

The following Media Lab students joined the MIT India Initiative in Mumbai for this workshop.

Jan. 30, 2020
in Object-Based Media · Personal Robots · Viral Communications +2 more
#design #civic technology #environment +5 more
Article Research

Building a more honest internet

What would social media look like if it served the public interest?

via Columbia Journalism Review · Nov. 27, 2019
in Civic Media
#civic technology #social media #social science +1 more
Post Research

Joy Buolamwini and Amanda Nguyen chosen for TIME 100 Next 2019

Congratulations to Joy Buolamwini and Amanda Nguyen for being recognized in the "Advocates" category.

Nov. 13, 2019
in Civic Media · Director's Fellows Program
#civic technology #politics #social change +3 more
Article Research

Artificial intelligence can be biased. Here’s what you should know.

Joy Buolamwini talks to Frontline about bias in AI, and what can be done about it.

via Frontline · Nov. 5, 2019
in Civic Media
#artificial intelligence #civic technology #ethics +2 more
Article Research

World's 100 most influential people in digital government 2019

Commending a formidable variety of international change-makers driving digital transformation in government.

via Apolitical · Nov. 1, 2019
in Civic Media
#civic technology #government #politics +1 more
Post Research

Alum Erhardt Graeff receives Best Dissertation Award

The Association of Internet Researchers has recognized alum Erhardt Graeff, now an assistant professor of social and computer science at Ol…

Aug. 21, 2019
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#civic media #civic technology #politics
Archived
Project Research

Empowerment-based design and evaluation of civic technology

Civic technology should empower us as citizens. But despite its breadth as a field, civic technology often takes its lead from Silicon Vall…

in Civic Media · Center for Civic Media
Erhardt Graeff
#civic media #civic technology #politics +2 more
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Let's play: Waste at MIT

Let's play: Waste at MIT is a game about trash; it’s also a game about understanding civic infrastructure. This project explores the use of…

in Viral Communications
Agnes Cameron
#civic technology #gaming #civic action
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Boycott!

A web browser extension that reveals less well-known aspects of corporate public behavior such as environmental respect and political bias.…

in Viral Communications
David Anderton-Yang · Andrew Lippman
#civic technology
Archived
Project Research

RelatiVotey

Many people think their vote doesn't count—that a single vote would not change an election's outcome—and they stay home on Election Day. Ho…

in Viral Communications
Andrew Lippman
#civic media #civic technology #data visualization
Project Research

CityScope PlayGround: MIT East Campus

This project depicts the design, deployment and operation of a Tangible Regulation Platform, a physical-technological apparatus made for th…

in City Science
Kent Larson · Ariel Noyman +1 more
#computer vision #architecture #augmented reality +5 more
Article Research

Face recognition researcher fights Amazon over biased AI

Joy Buolamwini talks to the AP about her work on algorithmic bias.

via AP News · April 3, 2019
in Civic Media
#artificial intelligence #civic technology #ethics +1 more
Article Research

On recent research auditing commercial facial analysis technology

An open letter asking Amazon to stop selling Rekognition to law enforcement agencies.

via Medium · March 26, 2019
in Civic Media
#artificial intelligence #civic technology #ethics +1 more
Article Research

AI experts question Amazon’s facial-recognition technology

More than three dozen AI researchers have signed an open letter asking Amazon to stop selling Rekognition to law enforcement agencies.

via The New York Times · April 3, 2019
in Civic Media
#artificial intelligence #civic technology #ethics +1 more
Article Research

‘Atlas of Inequality’ maps where rich, poor do and don’t mix

Visiting professor Esteban Moro talks to Next City about the Atlas of Inequality.

via Next City · March 22, 2019
in Human Dynamics
#civic technology #social science
Article Research

'Atlas Of Inequality' shows income segregation around Boston

Esteban Moro talks to WBUR about the Human Dynamics group's Atlas of Inequality.

via WBUR · March 12, 2019
in Human Dynamics
#civic technology #social science
Article Research

Visualizing where rich and poor people really cross paths—or don’t

These maps show “place inequality"—or why people of different income levels are at different coffee shops.

via Fast Company · March 8, 2019
in Human Dynamics
#civic technology #economy #social science
Article Research

The 'Atlas of Inequality' maps micro-level segregation

MIT Media Lab’s new interactive “Atlas of Inequality” shows that “segregation is not just about where you live, but what you do."

via CityLab · March 6, 2019
in Human Dynamics
#civic technology #economy #social science +1 more
Article Research

Artificial intelligence has a problem with gender and racial bias. Here’s how to solve it.

Joy Buolamwini’s essay is featured in the Optimists issue of Time, guest-edited by Ava DuVernay.

via TIME · Feb. 7, 2019
in Civic Media
#civic technology #social science #racial justice
Article Research

Defense of Amazon's face recognition tool undermined by its only known police client

So far Amazon’s frontline defense against advocates and academics has been: Researchers are setting the search parameters incorrectly.

via Gizmodo · Jan. 31, 2019
in Civic Media
#civic technology #civic action
Article Research

Amazon is pushing facial technology that a study says could be biased

Amazon’s system had more difficulty identifying the gender of female and darker-skinned faces than similar services from IBM and Microsoft.

via The New York Times · Jan. 24, 2019
in Civic Media
#civic technology #racial justice
Article Research

Give way to droids, bots, and drones: the driverless city will look like this

An NYC exhibit imagines driverless buses and mobile medical units resembling Popemobiles.

via The Daily Beast · Dec. 31, 2018
in Scalable Cooperation · City Science
#design #architecture #civic technology +4 more
Article Research

Should we be worried about computerized facial recognition?

The technology could revolutionize policing, medicine, even agriculture—but its applications can easily be weaponized.

via The New Yorker · Dec. 17, 2018
in Civic Media
#civic technology
Article Research

Capturing Challenges

MIT Media Lab professor Ramesh Raskar talks about how his high-tech inventions and initiatives can help solve real-world problems.

via SPAN · Nov. 21, 2018
in Camera Culture
#civic technology
Project Research

CityMatrix

An Urban Decision-Support System Augmented by Artificial IntelligenceThe decision-making process in urban design and urban planning is outd…

in City Science
Yan Zhang · Kent Larson +2 more
#architecture #artificial intelligence #civic technology +8 more
Article Research

Tech community wrestles over working with government

Hiawatha Bray reports on the unrest bubbling up in the tech industry.

via The Boston Globe · July 13, 2018
in Affective Computing · Director's Fellows Program
#civic media #civic technology #affective computing +1 more
Article Research

AR is transforming tech. What can it do for cities?

Cities need to work to ensure that AR makes the leap from “cool experience,” to a technology that improves residents’ lives.

via CityLab · Aug. 3, 2018
in City Science
#augmented reality #civic technology #urban planning
Thesis Research

Evaluating Civic Technology Design for Citizen Empowerment

Graeff, Erhardt (2018). Evaluating Civic Technology Design for Citizen Empowerment. PhD Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Thesis, May 2018
in Civic Media
#civic media #civic technology #politics +1 more
Archived
Project Research

Mission Wildlife

Mission Wildlife is a research collaboration between San Diego Zoo Global and the MIT Center for Civic Media to explore the poten…

Ethan Zuckerman · Poseidon Ho +1 more
#augmented reality #civic media #civic technology +9 more
Archived
Archived
Project Research

Action Path

Action Path is a mobile app to help people learn about and engage with issues in their community. The app uses push notifications tied to g…

in Civic Media
Ethan Zuckerman · Emilie Reiser +2 more
#civic media #civic technology
Archived
Article Research

If you’re a darker-skinned woman, this is how often facial-recognition software decides you’re a man

All people are created equal, but in the eyes of the algorithm, not all faces are just yet.A new study from MIT and Microsoft res…

via Quartz · Feb. 13, 2018
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#computer vision #artificial intelligence #civic media +2 more
Article Research

Even when spotting gender, current face recognition tech works better for white dudes

A new review of face recognition software found that, when identifying gender, the software is most accurate for men with light skin&n…

via Gizmodo · Feb. 12, 2018
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#computer vision #artificial intelligence #civic media +3 more
Article Research

Joy Buolamwini: How does facial recognition software see skin color?

via TED Radio Hour · Jan. 26, 2018
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#computer vision #artificial intelligence #civic media +2 more
Article Research

Why facial recognition software has trouble recognizing people of color

via Marketplace · Feb. 13, 2018
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#computer vision #artificial intelligence #civic media +2 more
Article Research

Study finds gender and skin-type bias in commercial artificial-intelligence systems

Examination of facial-analysis software shows error rate of 0.8 percent for light-skinned men, 34.7 percent for dark-skinned women.

via MIT News · Feb. 12, 2018
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#computer vision #artificial intelligence #civic media +3 more
Article Research

Facial recognition software is biased towards white men, researcher finds

New research out of MIT’s Media Lab is underscoring what other experts have reported or at least suspected before: facial recognition techn…

via The Verge · Feb. 11, 2018
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#computer vision #artificial intelligence #civic media +4 more
Thesis Research

POWERSTRUCTURES : the urban form of regulations

POWERSTRUCTURES : the urban form of regulations, Noyman, Ariel, Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2015.; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 232-236).

Thesis, May 2015
in City Science
#architecture #civic technology #data +1 more
Publication Research

Mission Wildlife: An Augmented Reality Approach to Engaging People About Threats to Endangered Species at a Zoo

Ho, P. H., Miller, G. A., Wang M. Y., Haleftiras, N., Zuckerman, E. 2017. Mission Wildlife: An Augmented Reality Approach to Engaging People About Threats to Endangered Species at a Zoo. In proceedings of Unobtrusive User Experiences with Technology in Nature (NatureCHI'17) at the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI'17).

Proceedings, Sept. 2017
in Civic Media
#augmented reality #civic technology #crowdsourcing +5 more
Archived
Project Research

Open Source Estrogen

Biomolecules to biopolitics: hormones with institutional biopower! Open Source Estrogen combines do-it-yourself science, body and gender po…

in Design Fiction
Sputniko! · Mary Tsang
#art #civic technology #open source +2 more
Archived
Article Research

MIT creates an AI to predict urban decay

Facebook volunteers and work-at-home moms might be making city planning decisions, thanks to AI research conducted by MIT scientists. Resea…

via The Next Web · July 14, 2017
in Camera Culture · Collective Learning
#computer vision #civic technology #urban planning +1 more
Article Research

Computer vision shows how Brooklyn streets really are changing

Using computer vision to examine Google Street View, the researchers analyzed how streets and blocks have changed in five American cities.

via Technical.ly Brooklyn · July 10, 2017
in Camera Culture · Collective Learning
#computer vision #civic technology #urban planning +1 more
Article Research

Mit Media Lab Uses Machine Learning to Analyze How Neighborhoods Improve

Tested with five American cities, Streetchange quantifies the physical improvement or deterioration of neighborhoods.

via Digital Trends · July 13, 2017
in Camera Culture · Collective Learning
#computer vision #civic technology #urban planning +1 more
Article Research

Why Neighborhoods Get Better: Research Provides Insights That May Surprise You

A recently published paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) looks at factors that predict neighborhood change.

via Forbes · July 13, 2017
in Camera Culture · Collective Learning
#computer vision #civic technology #urban planning +1 more
Article Research

Why do some neighborhoods improve?

Researchers have used machine learning to quantify the physical improvement or deterioration of neighborhoods in five American cities.

via MIT News · July 6, 2017
in Camera Culture · Collective Learning
#computer vision #civic technology #urban planning +1 more
Post Research

How I'm fighting bias in algorithms

Joy Buolamwini's TED Talk

March 29, 2017
in Civic Media
#civic technology #social science #computer science
Article Research

Facial recognition technology is both biased and understudied

Algorithms used by the police are better at identifying some racial groups than others. Why is hardly anyone studying this?

via Undark · May 17, 2017
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#civic technology #social science #ethics +1 more
Thesis Research

Open Source Estrogen

Thesis
in Design Fiction
#art #civic technology
Post Research

Designing for Monitorial Citizenship

On April 26, 2017, Erhardt Graeff spoke about "Designing for Monitorial Citizenship" at The Impact of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC) …

May 3, 2017
in Civic Media
#design #civic technology #politics
Thesis Research

Action Path: A Location-based Tool for Civic Reflection and Engagement

Graef, E. "Action Path: A Location-based Tool for Civic Reflection and Engagement"

Thesis, Sept. 2014
in Center for Civic Media · Civic Media
#civic technology
Publication Research

Making Drones Civic: Values and Design Principles for Civic Technology

Graeff, Erhardt and J. Nathan Matias. 2015. ‘Making Drones Civic: Values and Design Principles for Civic Technology.’ Presented during the “Unmanned Rights: Drone Use By Civil Society” panel at ISA 56th Annual Convention, New Orleans, Feb 20.

Article, Feb. 2015
in Civic Media
#civic technology
Publication Research

Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee—Building a Debt Resistance Movement

Graeff, Erhardt. 2016. ‘Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee—Building a Debt Resistance Movement.’ In Gordon, E. & Mihailidis, P., eds., Civic Media: Technology, Design, Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 137–146.

Chapter, June 2016
in Civic Media
#civic media #civic technology
Archived
Research
Physics and Media

How to bring the programmability of the digital world to the physical world.

#robotics #architecture #art +17 more
Not Accepting Applicants
Archived
Project Research

EncuestaCDMX

Everyone in the city is an expert on their own experience of that city. So how might we integrate new forms of citizen input into the plann…

in Civic Media
Ethan Zuckerman · Emilie Reiser +2 more
#civic media #civic technology
Archived

  • News + Updates
  • Research
  • About
  • Graduate Program
  • People
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Member Portal

More ways to explore

  • Videos
  • Publications
  • Job Opportunities
  • Contact

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
School of Architecture + Planning

Accessibility
Donate to the Lab