MAS.411/911 IAP Short-Course           REALITY for MAS Students
		Abstract: REALITY (Reactively Enchanced Agents with Lifelike Interaction Technologies Y***) is a field that has eluded the grasp of most MAS students. This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of the often overlooked field, including pioneering research being conducted here at the Media Lab. Students will learn the algorithms and heuristics that form the basis for this objective medium and will present projects for review. The course will consist of a series of short workshops focusing on various aspects of REALITY, in attempt to leave students with an overall understanding of its basic concepts.

Example Workshops:

• Food constructs
  Students will utilize their interdisciplinary skills to attain and construct their own lunches. The focus here will be on comparing their own actions to those occuring within REALITY. Essential devices presented will include, but not be limited to:
  • context aware use of utensils (ie. one should use the "spoon" only with "soup")
  • sandwich construction kit (where students apply constructionist techniques to create their own sandwich, thereby entering into a more meaningful relationship with food)
• REALITY-augmented devices
  While most students have experience with computationally-augmented devices, few engage in the exercise of constructing REALITY-based interactions. Part of this workshop will involve:
  • deconstructing computationally enchanced devices, from a Derridian point of view
  • cutting wood and other materials using tradional tools, then using those tools to take apart and put together the on-site laser cutter

Field Work:

• Prescence
        students will be spatially co-located and asked to engage in multi-agent interactions
• Isolation
        students will be abandoned on an island to explore the concept of "nature" and how it exists without any computational support networks

Prerequisites:

• Familiarity with natural-language parsing
• No experience with dynamic agents or agent interaction necessary

Related Courses in HHII

• MAS.711 : Focused Interactions with Real-time Autonomous Agents in Everyday Settings
• MAS.101 : Theoretical Foundations of HHI - Interaction, Computation, and Humor