The great 2013 MAS111: Introduction to Research in Media Arts and Sciences scavenger hunt

Fridays, 3-5pm, E14-525

V. Michael Bove, Jr., E15-448, x3-0334, vmb (at) media (dot) mit (dot) edu

Patsy Baudoin, 14S-230, x3-4979, patsy (at) mit (dot) edu

This syllabus will be updated from time to time throughout the term so please check back regularly!

8 February: Research

A brief overview of the semester
What is research, and what kind do we do at the Media Lab?
How to design an experiment
How and why to keep a lab notebook
Resource: Suggestions on keeping a lab notebook
Assignment for next class: Find a popular-press article or blog discussion of some science or engineering result or design achievement, and also find the researchers'/designers' own write-up of the results. In your opinion, did the press understand and correctly report the most significant aspects of the work? Write one page explaining your thoughts.

15 February: Ethics in research

Research involving human subjects (Dr. Leigh Firn, Chair of COUHES)
Resource: MIT COUHES Web site
Assignment for next class: Find out about a human-subjects study (on the MIT campus or some other local institution). Who is doing it, what is the topic and what is being done to the subjects, what (if any) compensation is offered?
Resource: Ethical Expectations for UROP at MIT
Resource: IEEE Code of Ethics
Resource: ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
Resource: AIGA Standards of Professional Practice for Designers
Resource: The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science

22 February: IP

Understanding intellectual property, copyright, patents (Kate Darling)
Assignment for next class: Patent search -- find a patent that is relevant to your research and write a brief summary of it. For extra fun, find a seemingly silly, useless, or inexplicable patent and share it with class next week.
Resource: US Patent Database
Resource: Google Patent Search
Resource: Patents Research Guide (MIT Libraries)
Resource: World Intellectual Property Organization
Handout: US Patent and Trademark Office General Information Concerning Patents
Handout: David Reed's slides about IP
Handout: Example patent
Handout: About Creative Commons

1 March: Resources

What kinds of resources exist and how to find them
Please bring your laptop (or tablet) to class this week!
Assignment for next class: Literature search -- find a new paper/reference/informational resource (that you didn't have already) related to your project and write a brief summary of it. Also tell how you found it.
Resources (MIT):VERA, MIT Libraries Research Guide for MAS.111
Resources (external):IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Google Scholar, DBLP, Zotero, Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics

8 March: What's "peer review," anyway? And what about non-peer-reviewed publications (like the Web)?

How to read/write a research paper
Kinds of conferences and journals
CFP's and review processes
Open-access publishing
Assignment for next class: Conference search -- find out from your UROP supervisor or colleagues which conference or meeting is a typical place for research like that done by your group to be presented. Look up the conference on-line and write a brief summary of it.
Resource: IEEE Conference Search
Resource: ACM Conference Calendar
Resource: NASA document on how to do technical presentations
Resource: How to review a technical paper

15 March: Staying safe

Health and safety considerations and regulations (MIT Environment, Health and Safety)
Assignment for next class: find out the following
- What are the locations of the environmental monitors for the MIT Nuclear research reactor?
- Where is the assembly point for the Media Lab should there be an incident requiring evacuation? Who is the Emergency Planning Coordinator?
- For chemical safety, please pick your favorite chemical(!), research a Material Safety Data Sheet on the web and describe its health effects. If you don’t have a favorite chemical, you can research an MSDS for acetone, a frequently used chemical in MIT labs.
- Look into a machine shop on campus and observe students or employees operating equipment. See if you can identify the machine tool being used and also note any personal protective equipment that they may be wearing.

22 March

29 March

5 April: The Art of the Demo

12 April: Presenting

19 April

26 April

3 May

10 May