MIT150: A unique experiment in historical and scientific presentation

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a unique institution. It is a dynamic, imaginative, and fiercely competitive academic community dedicated to learning, research and leadership. Though most would agree that MIT is one of the world’s leading universities, few know its history. Perhaps, even more striking is that the details of research - the stories behind the great discoveries, the brilliant professors and students, and amazing laboratories —are equally unknown. MIT’s acclaimed Open Courseware makes aspects of its educational work accessible to all; MIT’s Open Museumware will open up the physical campus.

Our goal is to help everyone experience the past and current richness of MIT, in-place or from a distance, using digital information (indexed by location, time, and thematically) organized into exhibits and tours; and to provide the means to allow contributions from the MIT community to a growing, collaboratively constructed and maintained corpus of historical material.

We wish to turn MIT into a dynamic museum whose “exhibits” will be constructed not just by museum curators and other experts but also by the entire MIT community. A rich repository of digital information and stories will make it possible a real “Infinite Corridor,” meaning almost limitless ways to explore and understand the Institute — past, present and future. The real goal, however — MIT’s gift to the world — is a system that any institution can — and does — use.

The technology will enable this exploration in situ or elsewhere meaning you might use a mobile device while actually on the campus or a desktop computer halfway around the world. We are certain that there will be new devices to supplement the iPods, cellphones, PDA, tablet computers and laptops common today. We are equally certain there will be new systems to supplement the GPS and WiFi systems that help us figure out where we are. The project is meant to help us learn how to accommodate technological change while preserving and expanding the repositories that store our cultural legacies in bits and bytes. The project will leverage leading-edge technologies but will generally not require the development of new technologies. Our approach is primarily one of systems integration, albeit one that requires a considerable amount of technical effort as we integrate existing and emerging technologies into a suite of applications that allow for easy creation, storage and experiencing of digital multimedia materials and exhibits.

Additionally, the project’s success hinges on an ability to tap into the vast storehouse of materials that exist in many places around the MIT campus in a way that has not been possible before. To do so will require us to make demands on the keepers of those materials that will stretch their ability to deliver the materials in a digital form tagged with location, time, and thematic keywords.

A timetable appearing later in this document shows 4 project phases, each building on the results of the previous phase. We are currently in the first half of the first phase and are engaged in intensive discussions with many members of the MIT community, the goal being a comprehensive project plan with a clear definition of the next phase and a vision for how to progress in subsequent phases.

From a functional point of view, our project phases correspond to identified “customers” of the system. We are working with the MIT Information Center to develop augmented tours of MIT, to be delivered as part of Phase 2. We expect the results of Phase 3 to provide additional capability to the Information Center and to also provide the MIT Museum with the ability to provide MIT-wide exhibits and tours. And we expect the results of Phase 4 to provide campus-wide tours to the entire MIT family in 2011.

Our project is proceeding on several fronts.

• Technology assessment and technical design
• Media access discussions and arrangements with key MIT partners
• Concept development and project planning
• Identification of likely research and development partners from outside the MIT community
• Phased fundraising based on our evolving understanding of the project

Long term benefits of the project to MIT

Our initial desire to have this project be a present from the MIT Museum to the MIT community at the celebration of MIT’s 150th anniversary in 2011 continues to influence and shape our project schedule. As part of our project definition and planning work, we have been talking to many groups at MIT and a clear theme is emerging. MIT as a whole is the keeper of a vast treasure of information about its history and the history of science, technology, and the arts. Yet the long-term access to this treasure is jeopardized by the sheer amount of resources that will be needed to properly preserve the materials and make them available to the community and, indeed, the world. Our hope is that this project can provide an impetus to recognize the value of the collections and that we can help galvanize not just the MIT Corporation but the entire MIT family to protect and maintain our heritage.

MIT Offices

• Office of the Vice President and Secretary of the Corporation
• Office of the Associate Provost for the Arts
• Office of the Dean, School of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
• AMPS (Video Productions)
• Department of Facilities
• MIT Information Center
• MIT World
• MIT Libraries

• Institute Archives and Special Collections
• Lewis Music Library

• MIT List Visual Arts Center
• Information Services & Technology

Groups holding collections of media (digital and non-digital) are of particular importance to our project. We have been discussing how to best work together to jointly raise funds to help prepare the media for use in a way that benefits not just CMP, but benefits the media owners over the long term.

Researchers at MIT have expressed an interest in the project since we can benefit from their leading edge ideas and the project provides a viable “real-world” outlet that is often a component required or at least highly desired by funding organizations.

Several MIT offices are also sources of funding and/or represent potential users of the system we are developing. Since we are developing a conduit for information and a means for integrating media into higher-level aggregations, what is an “exhibit” for the Museum could be parallel to what might be a “service record” for Facilities. The MIT Archives produce an “Object of the Month” online exhibit that could be brought to life with the CMP system.

We are also seeking industrial partners.