Why the Media Lab works - A personal view

he MIT Media Laboratory distinctively combines a high degree of vitality, creativity, and accessibility. The vitality is evident to students and visitors , especially in the late hours of the night. The creativity is evident as changes and innovations produce very different " products " from year to year, invariably surprising sponsors and other visitors who have been away from the Media Lab for six to twelve months. Finally, these products are unusually accessible to a general audience, and demonstrations of these products are generally exciting and inspira-tional to scientific and nonscientific audiences alike. This combination of vitality, creativity, and accessibility is part of the reason for the striking growth and public visibility of the lab over the past five years. It is also why many individuals and organizations around the world seem to be very interested in duplicating the model of the Media Lab. However, such duplications require an understanding of what factors have led to this successful combination in the first place. This essay looks at some of the factors that led to the success of the Media Lab, based on my own thoughts and efforts in trying to transplant that success to different contexts. I divide this discussion into sections on form, content , and style. " Form " describes the structure and products of the laboratory, as lab members and outsiders see it. " Content " consists of the topics of our work and the themes that underlie our diverse activities. " Style " describes the way we do our work, including our priorities and prejudices. All of these are important components of who we are and why we have prospered. I began to write this essay in the autumn of 1997, after half a year of groundwork toward establishing a " European Media Laboratory " in Heidelberg, Ger-many. Irreconcilable differences between MIT and the patron of the proposed laboratory eventually led to the dissolution of the relationship (and my departure), but I wanted to write down what I had come to understand about the Media Laboratory. I had also hoped that my understanding might help any future efforts to duplicate the culture and vitality of the lab. This essay is my point of view, based on my experience at the Media Lab and at other laboratories. Some of my colleagues would emphasize other aspects or leave out aspects that I emphasized. Some things I have …