Future Now
The IFTF Blog
William Mitchell's Electronic Lens
"Members of our Ten-Year Forecast Program are familiar with the work of William Mitchell, director of the MIT Media Lab's Smart Cities research group. (We interviewed Professor Mitchell for the 2006 TYF forecast on "The End of Cyberspace.") Mitchell's latest research effort is Electronic Lens (eLens), a context-aware, locative media system for mobile phones. Based on the familiar "point and shoot" interface of camera phones, eLens enables individuals to use their handheld device as a "viewfinder" to interact with digital annotations of physical spaces. From the MIT News Office:
eLens is exploring the next wave of communications technology - building interactions that depend on where you are and what you want to know or say. In the eLens team's vision, you could aim your mobile phone at your child's school and start a voice thread to discuss cuts in after-school programs. Or you could let passersby know that the local folk music club serves great vegetarian meals.
The project began with a metaphor, that of an electronic lens that can be aimed at civic institutions and a "viewfinder" that makes these institutions more transparent. Pointing eLens at a train station, for example, might let you retrieve the day's schedule for different tracks. Pointing it at a museum might list current exhibits and upcoming lectures...This April, in collaboration with the government of Catalonia, the eLens team conducted its first field trial in Manresa, Spain. The team asked 18 local high school students - from architecture, civics and information technology courses - to post information about three tourist routes in Manresa. These routes were based on three architectural periods: medieval, baroque and modern. The students posted official information and also recorded their own impressions about the buildings. The idea was to match institutional information with the experiences of local citizens.
Link to MIT News Office, Link to eLens