msrp2008

Meet the students of the 2008 MIT Summer Research Program.

This time with a guinea pig - I mean - driver. The custom motor controller is limited to to 33% of its maximum power so as not to damage anything.http://web.mit.edu/first/kart

A short clip showing Ricardo working with his cast in Moby-Dick: Then and Now.

Wyn Kelly discussion how her thoughts on Melville's Moby-Dick changed after she worked with Ricardo Pitts-Wiley on the play, Moby-Dick: Then and Now.

An example of remixing as seen in Moby-Dick: Then and Now - sample: Bobby Blue's "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City."

A video describing the basic plot of the play, Moby-Dick: Then and Now.

Using a bicycle wheel to thresh millet, making LEGO-like bricks from dirt, or hooking up an electric generator to an irrigation pump may not save the world, but such simple projects could go a long way toward improving the lives of millions of people living in the world's developing countries. That's the guiding principle behind a month-long summer workshop at MIT. MoreVideo: MIT News Office/AMPS

Josue Rivera, a young actor in Moby-Dick: Then and Now, gives us a behind the scenes tour of the set.

Henry Jenkins discussing how ProjectNML, and in particular the teachers' strategy guide "Reading in a Participatory Culture," defines the new media literacies.

Henry Jenkins discussing the characteristics of Participatory Culture.

In what some are calling a major breakthrough for renewable energy, MIT chemists Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan discover a new catalyst that speeds up the splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen. The discovery may heighten interest in pollution-free fuel cell vehicles, which generate energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen chemically, emitting only water. The catalyst, made from cheap materials and working in ordinary water, may also make it easier to convert sunlight into chemical fuels, storing solar energy in much the way plants do. From Chemical Explorers, Moreno/Lyons Productions

Clip of Rudy Cabrera describing his thoughts on performance in the theater and in real life.

Wyn Kelley discussing the juxtaposition as seen in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

A short video clip discussing the violence seen in the play, "Moby-Dick: Then and Now" directed by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley.

The Sermon as performed (in two parts) in the play Moby-Dick: Then and Now.

Video detailing the reading habits of Rudy Cabrera, Wyn Kelley, Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, and Henry Jenkins.

Rudy Cabrera discusses how his involvement with theater has changed his reading habits.

15 min. video detailing the making and the plot of Moby-Dick: Then and Now directed by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley.

Act I of the production, Moby-Dick: Then and Now, as performed in North Kingstown in Summer 2007.

By Jay Silver

International Development Design Summit 2008

Find out what the IS&T Help Desk recommends for a safe and happy computing experience at MIT.

Ramp input testing of the custom speed controller we are developing for the cap kart. (http://web.mit.edu/first/kart)Speed control is done by rapidly switching voltage on to and off of the motor coils. In this video, you can hear the speed controller switching frequency as it ramps up and down (high-pitched whine). It is most noticeable at about half speed.Our speed controller is entirely custom, built in-house. Testing here is with very little load, just the inertia of the rear axle. However, since no heating of the power transistors used to switch was seen, we will be stepping up to load testing very soon. We hope to be able to handle a maximum current of 300A. The total component cost to build our speed controller will be less than $100 and plans will be made available on our web site if (when) it has fully proven itself.

Video clip of the juxtapositions and structure seen in Moby-Dick: Then and Now.

An MIT professor and colleagues are creating unusually realistic pictures that not only have a full three-dimensional appearance, but also respond to their environment, producing natural shadows and highlights depending on the direction and intensity of the illumination around them.Video: Martin Fuchs, Hans-Peter Seidel, Ramesh Raskar and Hendrik P.A. Lensch

A historical view of MIT from the early 1960's.

A historical view of MIT from its beginnings in Back Bay to the 1970's.

Take a look at the life and effect that Harold "Doc" Edgerton had on MIT and the world.

A video clip of Starbuck confronting Ahab in Moby-Dick: Then and Now.

Anticipatory Perceptual Simulation is a cognitive architecture developed at the MIT Media Lab based on current neuro-psychological research in perception and memory. It is designed to allow a robotic teammate to practice a physical task with a human partner. As the practice progresses, the robot builds a model of the human's actions, and through "imagining" the perceptual stimuli that would arise from these actions, react faster and lead to a more efficient and fluent interaction. Read more about this research.