08 The Final Episode, from MIT Media Lab

Sputniko!

Hi from Sputniko!

Well, here we are at the final installment in this half-year-long series. Right now I'm in Cambridge. I have joined MIT Media Lab as an assistant professor from November. Since this is my last article, I'd like to tell you a little bit about what I'm planning to do at MIT.

I'm going to start a group called Design Fictions here at the MIT Media Lab.

In the Design Fictions group, we'll be looking at emerging technologies to speculate and imagine alternative futures, creating designs that trigger discussions about the impact of technologies on everyday life.

It seems like some people in Japan thought I was going to become a Math teacher when they heard I was becoming a faculty at MIT. Well, Design Fictions is definitely not a math group, and I'll continue to make Sputniko! works here too. I'm also looking forward to working with extremely talented students here with original ways of thinking.

The projects I've worked on before coming to MIT have come together through the cooperation of many people and the use of social networking services. I tended to be always at the center of this team, serving as the main CPU and giving shape to the concepts. In the Design Fictions Group, though, I am hoping that the students can be mini-CPUs themselves, exchanging ideas and collaborating together.

I've been still having hectic days, setting up my office and all that, so it might take a little bit more time before I release a new project from the Design Fictions Group. Nevertheless, I hope to show you something soon that will wow you.

Till that day, adios! And thank you for reading along!

* Original text in Japanese, translated to English by the Japan Foundation

A shot in front of MIT Media Lab

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