MIT Project Mercury
Project Mercury is a proposed series of ongoing and escalating information
technology and social systems experiments at MIT, deploying the latest
ultra-dense, high bandwidth wireless networks, along with flocks of
next-generation end-user interface devices, all while paying close attention to
ongoing user experiences and interests.
Envisioning the Future
With Project Mercury equipment and infrastructure, MIT furthers a powerful
potential role as premier technology testbed, specifically by becoming
the lead neutral ground test site of choice for up-and-coming wireless
communications and consumer electronics devices, interfaces, and killer
applications. We would literally see
the future first, a source of tremendous competitive advantage, educational
value, inventive and entrepreneurial inspiration, and scholarly insight. If we chose to deploy Mercury on a
school-by-school basis, MIT Sloan, for example, would go beyond merely keeping
up with peer institutions and instead leapfrog ahead of them, as the premier
technology business school should.
Project Athena, Part 2
Project Mercury is analogous in many ways to Project Athena, a bold MIT
campus-wide wired network workstation-class computing experiment, now
beyond experimental phase and part of MIT Information Systems. Furthermore, Project Athena prototyped many
of the Human Experimental Subject considerations and strictures Project Mercury
would ascribe to.
Beyond Project Notebook
MIT is in the middle of deploying 802.11b wireless LANs at Sloan and throughout
the Institute under the Project Notebook IS/CET initiative. The Media Lab and other specific labs and
groups (e.g. the GSC) have been using such wireless LANs for over a year
now. But current deployments are
incremental and neither (a) push technological envelopes, nor (b) accelerate
the growth of the user population.
Bold Initiative Embracing Ad Hoc Efforts
MIT Sloan and others are already proposing and even deploying wireless
equipment and services to special groups at MIT. These are very exciting initiatives because they can happen
quickly and without a lot of institutional angst or political overhead, but
lack economies of scale, boldness of vision, and depth of impact. MIT needs another bold initiative of
Athena-like proportions to integrate and extend these ad hoc efforts.
High Common Baseline of Technology & User
Sophistication Under Project Mercury, MIT would not merely
deploy WiFi 802.11b, but aggressively and densely deploy next-generation
wireless networking infrastructure including but not limited to broadband
802.11a and further expect that every student have laptops and PDAs
with key connectivity components, possibly with the help of Project
subsidies. Furthermore, we would give
incentives, encouragement, and support for everyone to use these tools fully at
home and school. We would soon have a
relatively sophisticated user population with the greatest per-capita wireless
penetration and usage rates of anywhere worldwide.
Predictive Microcosm
Such a sophisticated high baseline population might form a new kind of lead
user pool or predictive microcosm of the prospective future user
population of the world at large. As a
minimum, this would be anthropologically intriguing. We have anecdotal evidence from Project Athena that it served as
just such a predictive microcosm: (1)
Email was indisputably the killer internet application and graphical browsers
the most compelling interface, (2) Instant messaging via Zephyr was compelling
and visible at MIT a decade before ICQ and other IM systems, (3) Network file
systems, network computing, and online services were shown to be compelling a
decade before the web equivalents, (4) Encryption and security was inspired and
implemented, and (5) Computing was seamlessly integrated into the curriculum
and, indeed, daily life.
Fast Iteration Project Mercury
would create fertile ground for fast iteration of next generation
prototype product designs. Since
everyone would have a high common baseline of wireless devices and the latest
commercial wireless services, plus high adoption and usage rates, we accelerate
the prototyping and alpha-testing of entirely new classes of devices amid a
savvy and relatively willing population.
For example, we might see broadband wireless PDAs, mobile Voice-over-IP,
wireless conference chat, and ultra-experimental wearable devices become
possible and even widely desired. Fast
interation would provide invaluable feedback to the developers while exposing
students and users to the absolute latest technologies and futuristic applications.
Experimental Anthropology & Comparative Market
Research The combination of a potentially predictive
microcosm and fast iteration allow for extraordinarily interesting experimental
anthropology, closely observing and comparing how statistically interesting
populations react to emerging technologies.
Furthermore, we enable comparative market research, the parallel
testing of alternative mechanisms for forecasting market interest in new
technologies and new products.
Potential for Cross Campus Research Collaborations
& Beyond Project Mercury would serve as a nexus for
collaboration, spanning groups from MITs technology development and deployment
experts through MITs social scientists and technology humanist
researchers. For example, MITs Information
Systems has a wealth of experience deploying sophisticated IT in an academic
environment. Technologists from MITs
LCS, AI Lab, Media Lab, and elsewhere are developing experimental next
generation wireless systems such as Project Oxygen, Wearable Computers, and
more. Sociologists, marketing
researchers, urban planners, and other social scientists from CIPD, Sloan,
DUSP, and Comparative Media Studies (CMS) are interested in the impact of
emerging technologies and in the problems and prospects for market forecasting. Finally, potential corporate sponsors and
partners could become quite keen on the predictive social microcosm, fast
technology iteration, and experimental anthropology elements of the Project.
Summary Potential Benefits to MIT
The benefits of Project Mercury would include:
(a)
Boosting the MIT campus and student experience,
(b)
Allowing students and staff to envision the future
by experiencing it,
(c)
Creating a unified research nexus for cross campus
collaboration,
(d)
Offering a prototype testbed for inventive
developers to fast iterate the next generation artifacts,
(e)
Pioneering experimental anthropology via predictive
microcosms,
(f)
Inspiring entrepreneurial new product and venture
development,
(g)
Capturing intellectual property for truly novel
Project-related inventions, and
(h)
Reaping truly great PR returns from lovely press
articles covering this "archtypically MIT idea.
References
·
Project Athena
http://www-tech.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/home/index_home.html
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