Referring expressions with vague and ambiguous modifiers, such as “a quick visit” and “the big meeting,” are difficult for computers to interpret because their meanings are defined in part by context. For the hearer to arrive at the speaker's intended meaning, he must consider the alternative decisions that the speaker was faced with in context.

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This event is free and open to the public.

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Media Scores provide a theoretical and technical means to orchestrate multiple modalities in the creation of expressive works of art and performance. New technologies afford numerous opportunities to tell stories and create expressive artworks through a variety of media. However, the tools of planning, composition, design, and creation of these works remain disjoint with respect to the artwork’s constituent disciplines and from the final experience.

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Non-hierarchical, participatory, consensus-based decision making has seen an explosion in popularity in recent years. The traditional techniques of formal consensus, however, are limited to face-to-face meetings, which can limit organizations' capacity due to their time and cost. InterTwinkles is a set of integrated but composable online tools designed to assist small and medium-sized groups in engaging in formal group decision making processes online.

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All talks at the Media Lab, unless otherwise noted, are open to the public.

Jack Shulze is a Principal at BERG, and co-founded the studio in 2005. He obtained his MA in Interaction Design from the Royal College of Art in 2006, previously running an independent design studio for four years.

Jack leads BERG new product development work both for clients and self-initiated work such as the Here & There map. He leads many media design consultancy projects, including previous engagements with Bonnier and the BBC among others.

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Chronic disease is the most important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and the prevalence is growing at an alarming rate. Half of Americans have at least one chronic disease, and 70% of deaths are attributable to it. The cost is unsustainable at an an estimated $1.65 trillion in the United States alone. It is widely understood that new models of chronic disease management need to be developed to address this epidemic.

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Although some examples of Internet-based collaborative "peer production"— like Wikipedia and Linux—build large volunteer communities and high-quality information goods, the vast majority of attempts at peer production, like other forms of collective action, never even attract a second contributor. This dissertation is composed of three essays that describe and test theories on the sources and dynamics of volunteer mobilization in peer production.

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Nearly one quarter of US adults read patient-generated health information found on blogs, forums, and social media; many say they use this information to influence everyday health decisions. Topics of discussion in online forums are often poorly addressed by existing, clinical research, so patients' reported experiences are the only evidence. No rigorous methods exist to help patients leverage anecdotal evidence to make better decisions.

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We live in a world where everyday artifacts are designed and augmented as media interfaces. Technologies are created based on this mission, which enable us to sense, interact, and communicate with objects. Since the design and deployment of any interactive sensing system requires pre-defined content and sensor mapping between the hardware and software systems, having a platform that is low-cost but highly customizable, flexible, and capable of multimodal sensing and ad hoc sensing alteration will present great opportunities for the development of novel interactive applications.

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