Apr 08 2009
Media Tech Tonic #9: “Connections” and the work of the Sociable Media Group, April 15, 2009
Our next speaker in our Spring Speaker Series is Judith Donath, Director of the Sociable Media research group at the MIT Media Lab and a Faculty Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
The Sociable Media Group investigates issues concerning society and identity in the technologically mediated world. Their emphasis is on design: they build experimental interfaces and installations that explore new forms of social interaction in the mediated world. The group currently has an exhibition at the MIT Museum called “Connections”; this talk will focus on three research areas featured in it:
- new interfaces for communication
- data portraits
- interactive art as social critique
Using examples from their body of work over the last 10 years, Judith Donath will discuss how we perceive and portray identity in the online world and how we construct privacy and public space.
Event Details:
Free and and open to the public, however, registration is required.
Location: MassArt, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Room: Trustees Room, Tower Building (note different location this month)
Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Time:6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Directions: By car | By T | Campus map (PDF)
Parking Information: at the end of this post
Speaker Biography
Judith Donath is the director of the Sociable Media research group at the MIT Media Lab and a Faculty Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Her work focuses on the social side of computing, and she is known internationally for pioneering research in social visualization, interface design, and computer mediated interaction. She created several of the early social applications for the web, including the first postcard service and the first interactive juried art show. Her work with the Sociable Media Group has been shown in Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art, in several New York galleries and is now the subject of a major exhibition at the MIT Museum. Her current research focuses on creating expressive visualizations of social interactions and on building experimental environments that mix real and virtual experiences. She has a book in progress about how we signal identity in both mediated and face-to-face interactions. Dr. Donath received her doctoral and master’s degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT, her bachelor’s degree in History from Yale University, and has worked professionally as a designer and builder of educational software and experimental media.
Parking and Driving Directions
Parking will be available to attendees who drive in the Ward Street lot if you enter the lot between 5:45pm and 6:45pm. If you’re driving, take a close look at a Google Map of the area, finding the Ward Street Lot can be tricky the first time.
If you’re traveling west on Huntington Avenue from Downtown, as you pass the main campus on your right, take a left at the light at the Longwood Avenue intersection, crossing over the trolley tracks. Go straight to the stop sign and turn left, then immediately turn right onto Ward Street. MassArt’s parking lot is short distance ahead on the left.
If you’re traveling east on Huntington Avenue from Bringham Circle, take a right at the light at the Longwood Avenue intersection, then a quick left and right and you’re on Ward Street. MassArt’s parking lot is short distance ahead on the left.