The Glass Infrastructure and Charms Projects
Within every large company lies two people working on the same problem, a person whose problem is solved by another's expertise, and two people who would change the world if only they had the opportunity to meet.
The Media Lab is no different, and we began the Glass Infrastructure project in order to help with this problem. The Glass Infrastructure was a system of thirty large touch-screen electronic signs which used artificial intelligence to read and understand the digital breadcrumbs left behind during the day to day operation of the lab. The screens helped people connect, helped visitors remember what they had seem, and allowed for the connection between ideas and projects.
Visitors during our Member's Meeting event could use an app to collect Charms which represented people, places, and ideas in the lab helping the system build a model of your interest and suggest themes for your visit, conversational partners, and additional projects to visit.
The project evolved to have an RFID component allowing for location aware networking and other advances.
The Glass Infrastructure won a best use of AI award at Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Conference in 2011, was deployed on site at five member companies, and ran in the lab for over six years.