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<p>MIT Media Lab Application Essay <br />
  Peter Edwards<br />
  High-Low Tech -- Leah Buechley<br />
  Fluid Interfaces -- Pattie Maes<br />
  Tangible Media -- Hiroshi Ishii</p>
<p><strong>I.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Summary</strong></p>
<p>The Media Lab presents for me an opportunity to cross-pollinate skills and experience with other specialists to move toward a higher goal. Having run a successful business in my field of expertise for 9 years, I need to free my research from the goals of profitability and focus on design that has a more global consideration in mind. Working with other graduate students with specialized and advanced knowledge in the media arts is a vital component to bringing this desire to fruition.</p>
<p>I have based my livelihood on an underground approach to engineering known generally as &ldquo;circuit bending.&rdquo; Reconfiguring and short circuiting pre-existing electronics to uncover new modes of functionality is a step in my goal towards inventing new forms of mass media interface -- organizing data, editing video, making music, seeking creative output through interactivity. </p>
<p>One problem I would like to address is that too often the tools we use in our lives are poorly designed. Once they break they are lost forever to the landfill. Another part of my goal is to build tools that will have integrity to them, more like a precious object. This will invite a more personal interaction and unity with the user, all the while honoring a higher standard of green design. I would like MIT to help me realize this dream of inspiring new kinds of reengineering and foster new approaches to inventing technology or tools.</p>
<p>In addition to learning new skills through the Lab, such as computer and micro controller programming, I will also work and aid others in their goals, providing technique and insight unique to the program.</p>
<p><strong>II.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Statement of Objectives</strong></p>
<p>Attending the Media Lab at MIT will help me realize the following goals:</p>
<ul>
  <li>To empower the consumer through education and awareness of possibilities that lie within the products they consume. To present possibilities beyond what they are shown and sold.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li>To encourage people to get involved in the production and maintenance of the tools they rely on. This approach helps eliminate needless waste but also allows people the opportunity to shape the tools they use in order to generate more personalized output. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
  <li>To promote making tools with integrity. To counteract the trend in engineering, which designs tools to break, fostering the mainstream and environmentally irresponsible concept of planned obsolescence. </li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li>To foster personal investment in the tools that one uses. To create interfaces that can be updated, adapted and manipulated by the user. Encouraging the user to feel personally invested in the identity and use of that object. And through that personal involvement the user will feel a more personal attachment to that object. That object will have a greater sense of value and will be less likely to be discarded and replaced. </li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Through my company Casperelectronics, I have designed musical instruments in the attempt to realize some of these goals. My work experience informs these objectives; I have witnessed the positive relationships that are possible between technology and people in the music community. Instruments are in many cases precious objects. They are used to amplify the user&rsquo;s own identity and in turn are treated with respect and care. The musician comes to know and appreciate quality in the design of an instrument more readily than they do in most other commonly used tools. The musical output is something I value, but is not my sole interest. The interaction and relationship between artist and instrument is what I find most compelling about the medium.</p>
<p>This relationship is one I would like to encourage on a much broader scope. My hope is to discover new interests to apply these skills to; I am hopeful that through the Media Lab I will discover tools I have an affinity to design, which I may not have considered previously. </p>
<p><strong>III.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Background and Interests in Application to MIT </strong></p>
<p>In 2000, I began building experimental musical interfaces for a living through my business and website Casperelectronics (<a href="http://www.casperelectronics.com/">http://www.Casperelectronics.com/</a>). This has been my primary creative outlet, as well as my main source of income over the past nine years. I have built hundreds of instruments for musicians all over the world, working with each client to design a customized interface specific to their needs. I take great pride in creating an intelligent and appropriate balance between form and function. Through these experiences, I have learned much about the importance of intuitive interface design, the performer&rsquo;s relationship with their instruments, the nature of performance itself, and ultimately it has linked me to the creative world in which these instruments exist.</p>
<p>Some of these instruments are designed from preexisting products, which are then reengineered, redesigned or circuit bent. Circuit bending invites the individual to re-examine mass produced, unquestioned technologies and find ways to make these objects personalized and unique. It encourages one to question obsolescence by uncovering never before experienced or conceived functionalities. </p>
<p>As my career in circuit bending has progressed, I&rsquo;ve discovered many levels of appeal and interest to the general public; working in this field has opened many doors for me. Its process addresses experimental engineering, recycling, audio synthesis, DIY media and obsolete technology revival. One of circuit bending&rsquo;s universally appealing aspects is that it reveals to the newcomer an unfamiliar world that exists just below the surface of the world they know.</p>
<p>The international exposure I&rsquo;ve gained through my work at Casperelectronics has also provided me the opportunity to speak at a number of venues, on topics of interface design, sustainable technologies, and experimental engineering:<br />
  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>
<ul>
  <li>I presented my work at the Piksel Festival in Bergen Norway in 2007. The theme of this event and my presentation was &ldquo;Open Source Technology&rdquo;. I discussed the strength of a medium with a communally accessible infrastructure. I also touched on the significance this approach has in the fluid development of technologies as well as the longevity of their relevance and usefulness. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
  <li>In mid 2008 I presented and spoke at the Sequences Arts Festival in Reykjavik Iceland. I showcased my most recent project, the Multi Platform Music System, and spoke about the creative potential of building a system of communication between commonly disparate components in a single, working network. </li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li>IN early 2008 I spoke at a seminar in Ohio focused on computer programming and hacking. In my presentation I discussed the value of modifying electronics as a creative exercise. One which encourages people to see a value and purpose beyond what they may expect from common electronic devices. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
  <li>I spoke and presented my work at the Potluck Con (previously Tape Op magazine Con) audio engineering convention in New Orleans in 2008. In this presentation I discussed the practice of circuit modification for musical applications. I especially focused on the extrinsic properties of new, modified electronic devices and how creative interfaces can encourage new forms of interaction and creative output.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
  <li>I have taught several workshops at the past five Bent Festivals in New York City and Los Angeles. Bent is a festival which serves as a showcase for artists involved in the art of circuit bending. The workshops I have run have been directed primarily at beginners. In these workshops I address people&rsquo;s fear of electronics and encourage them to begin experimenting and playing with electronic circuits. Once favorable results are found that fear begins to crumble and the desire to continue exploring and learning grows. The ultimate outcome is an awareness that electronics can be understood and manipulated. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
  <li>I have taught several workshops at Harvestworks NYC, an association that advocates technological awareness in the arts. These classes covered the practice and importance of circuit modification. </li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In fall 2004, I was offered a teaching position at Hampshire College, where I designed the creative electronics department, developed a set of curriculum, and began teaching a course called &ldquo;Creative Electronics.&rdquo; Working with the bright students of Hampshire College helped me a great deal to see the value of working within a community of creative thinkers with a common goal.&nbsp; Working with artists through Casperelectronics, meeting and speaking on reuse of technology, and teaching at a college level has provided me with the academic maturity to take my ideas to the next level, and has prepared me for the learning to come.</p>
<p>Each of the three programs I have chosen within the MIT Media Lab graduate program has a relevance to my interests, experience, and long-term goals. These Lab descriptions are taken directly from the syllabus summary provided by the Principal Investigator. After each description, I have provided comments on how I can effectively learn, enrich, and apply these learning experiences.</p>
<p><br />
  <strong><u>High-Low Tech -- Principal Investigator: Leah Buechley</u></strong><br />
  <strong>The High-Low Tech group (as of January 2009) integrates high and low technological materials, processes, and cultures. Our primary aim is to engage diverse audiences in designing and building their own technologies by situating computation in new cultural and material contexts, and by developing tools that democratize engineering. We believe that the future of technology will be largely determined by end-users who will design, build, and hack their own devices, and our goal is to inspire, shape, support, and study these communities. To this end, we explore the intersection of computation, physical materials, manufacturing processes, traditional crafts, and design.</strong></p>
<p><br />
  This lab has a number of obvious parallels with the goals I have set out in my career. A widespread movement towards user defined, designed, and manipulated media gives breath to more highly nuanced, personalized media output. <br />
  The main points where my goals align with those of the lab are as follows:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Increasing the uniqueness and perceived importance of the object</li>
  <li>Encouraging deeper involvement with media</li>
  <li>Fostering a richer understanding of the composition and purpose of these tools. </li>
</ul>
<p>One is obviously more inclined to care about an object once they have been involved in its production/ maintenance/ modification. This speaks to my desire to promote greater longevity of the tools we use and less impulse to discard and replace tools which are likely still very useful.&nbsp;<br />
  Ventures I would like to explore within this lab: </p>
<ul>
  <li>Encouraging an approach to design and consumerism which recognizes appropriate design rather than an assuming a need for the newest, most popular, most expensive design. </li>
  <li>Granting the end-user the ability to frame and manipulate the media, allows them to define what is best for them. This encourages a less oppressive view of consumerism. </li>
  <li>User takes part in design of tools and interfaces.</li>
  <li>Hacking existing technologies for personal use.</li>
  <li>Community development.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><u>Fluid Interfaces -- Principal Investigator: Pattie Maes</u></strong><br />
    <strong>The Fluid Interfaces research group is radically rethinking the ways we interact with digital information and services. We design interfaces that are more intuitive and intelligent, and better integrated in our daily physical lives. We investigate ways to augment the everyday objects and spaces around us, making them responsive to our attention and actions. The resulting augmented environments offer opportunities for learning and interaction and ultimately for enriching our lives.</strong></p>
<p>An important element of building effective media with lasting value is to design it for seamless and unobtrusive integration into the users life. This allows the user to appreciate and identify with the media without making sacrifices or allowances which could detract from its effectiveness. A personal connection with the media allows the relationship to develop a deep importance and have a greater impact within the users life. </p>
<p>Objects can be created that help transition people&rsquo;s experience from isolated to integrated. Redundant systems can be recognized and utilized or eliminated. Media can be designed to learn from the user and inform themselves on how it may work more effectively.&nbsp; </p>
<p>Possible goals of working within this lab based on my interests would be:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Transformation of common objects into highly responsive, personalized media. </li>
  <li>Promoting a more intimate relationship between media and user. </li>
  <li>Encouraging more involved user interaction which results in media with richer personal significance to the user than most common object.</li>
  <li>Devlopment of interactive, evolving, &ldquo;smart&rdquo; objects which learn from their user are likely to facilitate new, previously unrealized forms of creative output.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;<strong><u>Tangible Media -- Principal Investigator: Hiroshi Ishii</u></strong><br />
    <strong>We live between two worlds: our physical environment and cyberspace. The Tangible Media group's focus is on the design of seamless interfaces between humans, digital information, and the physical environment. People have developed sophisticated skills for sensing and manipulating our physical environments. However, most of these skills are not employed by traditional GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces). The Tangible Media group is designing a variety of &quot;tangible interfaces&quot; based on these skills by giving physical form to digital information, seamlessly coupling the dual worlds of bits and atoms. The goal is to change the &quot;painted bits&quot; of GUIs to &quot;tangible bits,&quot; taking advantage of the richness of multimodal human senses and skills developed through our lifetime of interaction with the physical world.</strong></p>
<p><br />
  The level of personal interaction possible in a physical, 3-dimensional interface is much more sensual, intimate and nuanced than that possible through standard GUIs and navigation tools such as a mouse or keyboard. <br />
  One of the main parts of my mission is to create tools which connect with the user on a deeply personal level, thus enabling the user to generate highly personalized output while ALSO assigning that object a status of importance. I think that a highly configurable, physical interface is a necessary format for media designed to encourage such a personal&nbsp;connection. <br />
  I would like to explore within this lab: </p>
<ul>
  <li>Researching ways in which people&rsquo;s experiences could be positively changed through deeply engaging, highly personalized interface design.</li>
  <li>Exploring the lines between sacred objects and disposable objects to find ways of creating the most effective user experience.</li>
  <li>Create well crafted, lasting objects, straying from the concepts of &ldquo;planned obsolescence&rdquo;.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>IV.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Goals and Application of MIT Master&rsquo;s Degree</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The approach I have taken to engineering and interface design is one that&nbsp;provides valuable problem solving tools. I will join my knowledge and research from the Media Lab at MIT with everything I have learned in my business, to tackle issues of needless waste and disposable technologies. Educating a community is very important to me also. I will make it my goal to inform people about how they can take control of their relationship with technology. I will work to inform the end-user of the options hidden within the media they are using.</p>
<p>I view time spent at MIT as an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of established and evolving technologies in order to positively impact future technological developments. I also see it as a valuable opportunity to forge important relationships with others dedicated to similar goals. These relationships can extend beyond the media lab to a global stage.&nbsp; I see life beyond MIT as a continued pursuit to propagate these relationships and generate momentum to be used in educating a community of responsible consumers and in developing personalized, intelligently designed creative interfaces. </p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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