MIT
Technology
Testbeds
Draft Proposal v.1.2
30 January 2003
(Firstdraft 26 August 2002)
Joost Bonsen
jpbonsen@alum.mit.edu
617.930.0415
Proposing MIT as
Premier Technology Testbed
• An orchestrated MIT-wide Initiative to attract
Companies & Labs deploying latest
prototypes & products in a “Tech Testbed”
• MIT-generally & Sloan students specifically as
an “Early-Adoptor Microcosm”
• Allowing MIT faculty to do rigorous social
science, observing usage patterns, adoption
rates, social networks, and more
• If not a testbed, at least new product
showcase!
Proposing Action Over Time
Research
Marketing, Media
projects, Modeling
Adiction & Adoption
Education
Shift Existing Class,
Paperless 2.0, New
Seminar, Lead
Faculty Performers
Extracurriculars
Marketing Club,
MediaTech, Visiting
Student Exposure,
Influence Admissions
Infrastructure
Muddy Renovations,
SloanBar
Support
Location-based WiFi
access
This Semester
Hall of Heroes,
Testbed-enabled
Classroom
This Year
2-3 Years
3-5 Years
Example Technology Testbed
Ideas
• Project Mercury – Latest wireless
technologies; showcase for MIT Labs
• App Assessment – Fast feedback on
new applications & usage patterns
• Premier Digital Infospace – Next
generation libraries, info databases &
visualization environments
• Evocative Architectural Innovations
– Digital Glass, Organic HVAC, UltraReconfigurability, Working Elevators
http://www.emperorlinux.com/acc_network.html
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2001/06/08/xircom_review.html
http://www.handspring.com/
http://www.futurelooks.com/features/Lifestyle/Wearable_comps/page1_frame.htm
http://www-5.ibm.com/se/news/archive/images/computers/wearable-pc/wearable-pc-closseup-guy.jpg
Being a Tech Testbed
• Deploying latest prototypes, devices, etc AND
tracking actual usage patterns
• Sourcing devices & systems from both MIT Labs
and corporate partners
• Serving as “Neutral Ground” for cross-comparison
• Clearly useful for “Consumer InfoTech”, but not
limited to it
Tech Testbed promises…
• We see the Future First
• Part of Comparative Market Research
initiative
• Accelerating Educational Innovation
• Possibly part of larger effort to Observe
Innovation broadly
• Basis for MIT Cross-Campus Collaborations
• Huge PR & Buzz for MIT & Sloan
Existing Efforts Include…
• Sloan’s Virtual Customer Initiative
• Sloan Product Development & Marketing Classes
– http://web.mit.edu/15.783j/www/
•
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MasterCard’s RFID PaymentCard
GSC’s SafeRide GPS
MIT’s New Grad Dorm Equipment
Newbury Network’s Location Enabled Networking
– http://www.newburynetworks.com/
• iCampus-funded Xbox CycleScore
– Harris, Harlev, & Heitzeberg
• BCS’s Paperless Classroom
– DEMO
Early-Adopter Microcosm
• Are MIT & Sloan students
representative of ultimate purchasers?
• Possibly predictive and therefore a
method of advanced market research?
Project Mercury
• Case example of Tech Testbed idea
• A Wireless “Project Athena”
– Athena was a $100 Million Experiment in mid-80s
• Campus-wide broadband wireless networking
• Latest terminal devices
– PDAs, padPC, wearable computers, watches
• Tracking Social & Applications Usage
– Location, Communication, Collaboration, Games
• Multi-MIT Lab Collaboration
• Social Systems Experiment
Go Dramatically Beyond Our
Boilerplate IT Infrastructure
• We expect Laptops, Ethernet, WiFi
802.11b
• How about ReallyWiFi 802.11a, quivers
of computers, wireless power, etc?
• Advanced applications
• Paperless workplace
…
What are some example
emerging devices & systems?
• Hand-helds
• New peripherals
• Wireless applications
…
Palm & iPaq Variants…
http://www.palm.com/products/palmm515/3Ddemo/palmm515_3D.html
http://www.compaq.com/products/handhelds/pocketpc/
Wireless iPAQ Applications…
http://www.golfps.com/images/ipaq.gif
http://www.digital-doc.com/C2/images/wirele4.jpg
http://www.igisa.com/grafiken/ipaq.jpg
Sony clie w/ Camera!
http://www.sonystyle.com/home/item.jsp?hierc=9684x9744x9746&itemid=34011
What are MIT Labs &
companies working on that
could be deployed?
MIT Project Oxygen
http://oxygen.lcs.mit.edu/
MIT Media Lab Wearables
http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/wearfolk-sam-big.jpg
http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/mithril/index.html
Media Lab Smart Nametags
http://web.media.mit.edu/~fredm/projects/memetag/mtsmall.jpg
http://el.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/papers/mres/lifelongk/Image26.gif
http://www.microopticalcorp.com/
Social Net Analysis & Facilitation
Dynamic Visualization
• Understanding social
relationshiops
• Guiding flows of
information
• Real knowledge
management
• Orchestrating
Facilitator
Serendipity
Room
http://www.netvis.org/
http://whitechapel.media.mit.edu/facilitator/introduction.html
Predictive Microcosms
http://www.cothink.com/Papers/phdthesis.pdf
• LCS / AI Project Oxygen
http://oxygen.lcs.mit.edu/
• Media Wearable Computing
MIT Labs
http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/
• House ‘n’
– http://architecture.mit.edu/house_n/
• CMS
– http://web.mit.edu/cms/
• eBusiness
– http://ebusiness.mit.edu/
• Auto-ID
– http://www.autoidcenter.org/main.asp
…
MIT Media Laboratory
Company Benefits
• Fast Iteration
• Visibility
• Comparative Market Research
Potential Applications
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“Where are open meeting rooms?”
Enhanced SloanSpace?
“Where’s SafeRide?”
Making most of Spare Moments.
Seamless Collaboration
No-Delay Resources
Advancing Practice of Fast Iteration
Potentially Interested Social
Science & Innovation Faculty (?)
• John Hauser / Sloan Marketing, Virtual
Customer Initiative
• Jonathan Cummings / Sloan Innovation,
Social Network Analysis
• Henry Jenkins / HASS Comparative Media
Studies, Games-for-Learning
• Judith Donath / Media Lab, Sociable Spaces
• Steven Eppinger / Sloan Product Design
• Plus all those developing technologies…
Resources Required
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Premier Industry Collaborators
Linkage to Sloan Technology Services & MIT IS
Prototype & Pre-production equipment donations
Institutional Commitment
Alumni & Industry Oversight Board
Operational Funds for administration, support,
and maintenance
Possible Sponsors
• I-Campus Project
– http://swissnet.ai.mit.edu/projects/i-campus/
• Peer Testbeds
– Cambridge-MIT Institute
– Singapore-MIT Alliance
• Industry Consortia
• Government: DARPA, NSF
– E.g. CIPD
• Foundations
Likely Alums
• Pascal Chenais – Project Canard,
MessageMachines
• Vanu Bose – Vanu Inc software radio
• Bill Warner – Wildfire
• Tim Rowe – Cambridge Innovations
• Rob Poor – Ember
• Yonald Chery – Newbury Networks
• Matt Reynolds – ThingMagic
• Fred Martin -- SmartTags
• Mike Parduhn, John Muhlner, Paul Strasma,
Matt Rhoden
http://www.mitwf.org/images/oct23_yc.jpg
Shouldn’t MIT be the
Premier Tech Testbed?
Benefits
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
Boosting MIT campus & student experience,
Envisioning the future by experiencing it,
Basis for cross campus research collaboration,
Prototype testbed for inventive developers to fast
iterate the next generation artifacts,
Experimental anthropology via predictive
microcosms,
Inspiring entrepreneurial new product and
venture development,
Capturing intellectual property for truly novel
Project-related inventions, and
Great PR around this “really MIT idea”.
•
Project Athena
References
– http://wwwtech.mit.edu/V119/N19/history_of_athe.19f.html
– http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/1991/feb27/24322.html
•
Research on Human Subjects
– http://web.mit.edu/policies/14.3.html
•
Project Notebook
– http://web.mit.edu/is/np/projects/wireless/
•
Cisco/Radiata's 802.11a Promises
– http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000728S0021
– http://www.radiata.com/company/PDF/IEEE-802.11wp.pdf
•
Project Oxygen
– http://oxygen.lcs.mit.edu/
•
MIT IS
– http://web.mit.edu/is/
•
Wearable Computing
– http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/
•
Product Innovation
– http://web.mit.edu/cipd/
•
MIT Sloan Virtual Customer
– http://mitsloan.mit.edu/vc/Pages/vc.html
•
MIT CMS
– http://web.mit.edu/cms/
Related Initiatives
• Showcase Sloan
• Hall of Heroes
– Highlighting MIT’s innovators
• Modern Muddy
– New lights, soundsys, etc
• Cathedral of Creativity
– Lobby 7 plus