Computerized Cloud Connects PeopleTracy Staedter chats with Federico Casalegno, director of the Mobile Experience Laboratory and associate director of the Design Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Federico Casalegno Casalegno and his team aim to use cutting edge information technologies to radically reinvent the connections between people, information and places.
Touching the Clouds Hundreds of sensors and more than 15,000 optical fibers allow Casalegno's interactive cloud to react to the action of the people, their touch and voices.
Federico Casalegno directs the Mobile Experience Laboratory and is the associate director of the Design Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of technology. He's a social scientist interested in the impact networked digital technologies have on humans and societies. He and his team design innovative media technologies that foster connections between people, ideas and physical places. I chatted with him recently about his latest project, a computerized cloud that interacts with people. 10:20 AM imtracynotstacy: hello
casalegno: hello imtracynotstacy: thanks so much for taking the time to chat
casalegno: my pleasure, thanks to you
10:22 AM imtracynotstacy: could you tell me where you are right now?
casalegno: MIT, in Cambridge, USA
imtracynotstacy: in your lab or office? casalegno: yes, in my lab. we just moved few weeks ago imtracynotstacy: that's right. what is your new space like?
10:25 AM casalegno: a little messy now ... but we say that this could be associated with creativity ... hopefully, we will be moving into the new MIT Media Lab building imtracynotstacy:
I'm interested in hearing more about your creative process. I know you
and your team are doing a lot of really interesting things. Let's first
start out by talking a little bit about your research area and goals.
what are they? casalegno: well, research areas first then I come from the world of social science, and we rethink the "connections" between people, places and information
in order to improve peoples' experiences.
10:31 AM The title of one of the last talks I gave was really about "designing connections". My
group aims to radically reinventing and creatively designing connections
between people, information and places using cutting edge information
technologies in order to improve people's lives through meaningful
experiences ...
10:35 AM imtracynotstacy:
it sounds great, but I'm wondering what it all means. Let's start with
the word connection. What sorts of connections are you talking about?
10:40 AM casalegno:
in a schematic way, by Information I mean both information and
communication; by places I mean both the digital environment and the build
environment, and people I mean everyone from the individual to large communities. This
is a very large spectrum, and definitely very complex. So, by the word
connection we can imply "access". And access can be instrumental,
emotional, physical, online ... so I am interested in how information communication technology can
improve this accessibility to people, knowledge, places, information ...
10:42 AM imtracynotstacy: where are some areas or places where these connections might occur?
on computers?
in businesses?
for entertainment?
10:44 AM casalegno:
we put lot of importance in the human dimensions, so in all our work
the physical dimension is very relevant. Connections occurs everywhere
of course. one
of our last projects was exactly to rethink connections in the trade
show business. And we designed a complex system based on an online
platform, a mobile platform, and a "physical interactive sculpture"
10:46 AM imtracynotstacy: who did the sculpture connect to and how? casalegno:
the sculpture is physically located in downtown Florence, Italy, in the
entrance of the trade show location. The sculpture was meant to create
a sort of "genius loci", an emotional attachment to the place, to give
visitors an pleasant, playful experience when they enter to the trade
show,
10:50 AM imtracynotstacy: What is interactive about it? casalegno:
We call this sculpture "the cloud"; an organic sculptural landmark that
responds to human interaction and expresses context awareness using
hundreds of sensors and over 15,000 individually addressable optical
fibers. The cloud has proximity sensors, touch sensors, speakers,
camera, microphone, and so can react to people action, touch, voice and
so far. The cloud engage with visitors, so they can play with it, touch
it, talk to it, ...
10:56 AM imtracynotstacy: what does "react" mean? What does it do?
11:03 AM casalegno:
if you come close to the cloud, it can change color, or play sounds, or
ask you questions; if you touch it, the cloud can laugh, or play sounds
.. or you can play Simon Says, or ... The cloud can also convey
basic information about the level of pollution in the city, or sing
songs related to the calendar, if you visit in Christmas time or
Carnival. Basically, what we have build is a 3-dimensional organic
form with lots of sensing and awareness capabilities; now we want to
open the API so users can create applications or interactions they like.
11:05 AM imtracynotstacy:
What's an API? and what do you mean that you want to open it so users
can create applications or interactions. Are you talking about some
kind of open source thing?
11:15 AM casalegno: yes, sure open thing.
But the goal of the project was to rethink trade show and see how people can access to the place and to the relevant information for them. So we created a project with 2 related aspects. One is completely functional and intends to directly improve business to business operations We designed software for mobile device so users can access location based content, can have information on how to navigate within the trade show, access information from buyers / sellers, exchange automatically business cards and so on. Also, users can post virtual voice messages on booths, sort of personal annotations so when they return to their offices they can remember things they saw and liked or disliked. This mobile application is combined with an on-line platform which functions as a content management system and can also recommend products to buyers and sellers. And has social networking capabilities. The other aspect is completely "emotional" and this is the cloud. The cloud gives an emotional experience when you enter the physical location. These two are combined, ad create a unique experience which is both highly functional and emotional. 11:17 AM imtracynotstacy: I see. So how did people respond to this new way of interacting at a trade show?
casalegno: really liked both. imtracynotstacy: and where else could something like this be used?
11:20 AM casalegno: in many places, from public spaces as piazzas or public gardens, to private companies or shopping mall
imtracynotstacy: and how would you summarize the goals you had? what were they? and did you accomplish them? casalegno: for the trade show project?
imtracynotstacy: yes
11:24 AM casalegno:
our mission was to rethink how technologies could help people to access
information, people, and navigate in a physical location in order to
improve their business. with our "proof of concept" we showed a
completely new way to it, and I think yes we succeeded in accomplishing
these goals. imtracynotstacy: excellent. Do you have a next step for the proof of concept cloud?
11:27 AM casalegno:
yes, open the cloud to the public, so who ever is interests can design
relevant applications and interactions for the cloud, and we will see
what will happen ... imtracynotstacy: I know you have other projects going on too. Do you want to talk about any of those briefly?
11:30 AM casalegno: Well, we just started to redesign a "Green Village", its a fantastic project. But the best is to get information on line; http://mobile.mit.edu
imtracynotstacy: ok. can you just summarize briefly? Also what is the chnage tag?
11:33 AM casalegno:
A village in northern Italy was destroyed by a landslide in 1950. No one
died but this destroyed the village. So we are redesigning from a
sustainable architectural perspective, the village will take advantage
of renewable energy, but also from a social sustainability point of
view. So we have really a multidisciplinary approach imtracynotstacy: I love it! And am interested in keeping in touch with you about this.
casalegno: definitely! it will be our next big project ...
11:35 AM imtracynotstacy: Would you say that you are fulfilling your research dreams? casalegno: tricky question, but the environment at MIT really inspiring and the team I work with is great
imtracynotstacy: why is it a tricky question?
11:38 AM casalegno: research dreams ... researchers are always looking for something else, the next step, the next phase
imtracynotstacy: so the dream is always out of reach?
casalegno: no imtracynotstacy: ok. so what are you saying? I guess I'm trying to understand your philosophy
11:40 AM casalegno: ... we definitely need more then an IM conversation!
imtracynotstacy: :) casalegno: IoI
imtracynotstacy: Ok. Well, I suppose I've taken up a good chunk of your morning with this and it seems like we've only scratched the surface.
we'll have to get deeper into your work with some other angles, perhaps a lab visit as we discussed before.......
11:43 AM casalegno: it was very nice IMing with you, and sure please come to visit the Lab and continue the conversation
imtracynotstacy: have a geat day!
casalegno: have a great day too
ciao! |
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