Media X conference attracts powerful new industry partners

On November 12, 2004, more than two hundred industry representatives from companies including Nokia, , Time Warner, Cisco Systems, IBM, Steelcase, Fisher-Price, and Sesame Street Workshop joined 24 Stanford faculty members in Wallenberg Hall for the 2004 Media X Partners Conference.

Twice as many people as last year participated in mini-presentations by faculty researchers who demonstrated and discussed projects ranging from simulation-based health education to spatiotemporal imaging of the brain to media use in 8 to 18 year-olds and communication through touch.

Industry participants moved quickly throughout the day, first listening to five-minute presentations and then spending more time with the faculty members whose work was most relevant to them.

"The difficult assignment in university-industry conferences is to find a

format that allows participants to gain broad exposure to projects across

the university in a way that doesn't require one-hour lectures -- a faculty

specialty," says Byron Reeves, director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) and a member of the Media X executive committee.

"We've experimented, very successfully we think, with a 'fire

hose' method that asks faculty to spend five minutes, with a strict time

limit, giving the basics.   We invite 24 faculty to present during the day.

After five or six of the five-minute presentations, we break so that our industry

participants can see demonstrations and ask questions of those presenters

most related to their business.   It's fun and quick, and broad and deep all

in the same day."

Established two and a half years ago by SCIL and CSLI and headquartered   in Wallenberg Hall, Media X encourages, financially supports and coordinates research into interactive technologies at Stanford through a campus-wide network of researchers, faculty and students. Media X research influences the next generation of interactive technology of importance to industry, commerce, learning and entertainment.

Strategic partners, including Cisco Systems, Nokia, Omron Corporation, Scottish Enterprise/University of Edinburgh and Time Warner and several dozen affiliate partners   are currently engaged in research with Stanford through the Media X program. In November, Time Warner and Dai Nippon Printing became the newest members, bringing the total industry participation to 30 companies.

Some projects last just a few months and result in the design of a new product or user interface. Other projects may last years and delve more deeply into fundamental questions such as how people learn using specific technologies. Research focuses on the most efficient and effective ways in which people interact with technology and attempts to answer questions about the value that technology can add to daily life. At the heart of every research project is the idea that innovation leads to the development of great ideas, and great products.

For more information about Media X and to visit; http://mediax.stanford.edu/flash/home.html

Back to News