Despite the incredible technological advances of the past decade, the digital revolution has yet to touch the lives of most people in most parts of the world. Even where new technologies are available, they have had only minimal impact on the great social needs of our times: improving education, reducing poverty, enhancing health care, supporting community development.

The MIT Media Laboratory is establishing a new research consortium, called Digital Nations, that will focus explicitly on these major social challenges. Researchers at the Media Lab will collaborate with people around the world, aiming to catalyze social changes that are dramatic but also humanistic, sustainable, and resonant with local needs.

The Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University will act as a collaborating partner in the Digital Nations consortium. The Media Lab collaboration with the CID brings together a world-class collection of researchers and practitioners combining expertise in digital technologies, learning, and international development.

The Digital Nations consortium does not aim to impose solutions but rather to empower people in all walks of life to invent their own solutions. The consortium will develop a new generation of technologies and applications that enable people to design, create, and learn in new ways, helping them become more active participants in their societies.

The consortium will focus especially on populations with the greatest needs — children and the elderly, underserved communities and developing nations. The consortium will test out ideas and technologies in pilot projects around the world, helping individuals and communities develop innovative strategies in domains ranging from commerce to agriculture to health care — and, more broadly, transform the ways they learn and develop.

The consortium’s ultimate goal is a world full of creative people who are constantly exploring, experimenting, and inventing new opportunities for themselves and their societies.

The research agenda for Digital Nations will be developed in collaboration with consortium members. Here are a few of the themes that will guide the agenda:

• Transforming learning and education. Today’s approaches to learning and education are woefully outmoded. Digital technologies provide a historic opportunity to transform how and what people learn — in schools, in workplaces, and in their everyday lives. We will develop new technologies and new strategies to support a "constructionist" approach to learning, helping people take charge of their own learning throughout the day and throughout their lives.

• Development e-commerce. We will examine how new technologies can empower local communities to create new, sustainable economic organizations. For example, we plan to develop technologies that allow rural workers to better participate in regional marketplaces, new e-commerce strategies that enable remote communities to reach global markets, and new forms of economic collaboration.

• Multicultural computing. Most technologies today were designed for a very narrow set of users. With global connectedness comes a need for pluralism. We will work on multilingual approaches to computing, enabling people to communicate across linguistic boundaries. We will also develop multimodal approaches, extending computers to understand and produce speech and gestures (not just text and graphics). These new technologies will open up computing to a broader range of ages, cultural traditions, and literacy levels.

• Learning communities. We will develop tools and practices that enable people of all ages to take more active roles in the development of their communities — and to develop new ideas about learning and communities in the process. As community members work together on projects, the community as a whole can develop new knowledge beyond what any individual could on their own.

• Ubiquitous access. Our aim is to develop ultra-low-cost technologies so that computing and communications become accessible to everyone on the planet. We expect to develop computers that cost just a fraction of the price of today’s machines and that open up new opportunities of interaction away from the traditional desktop. New wireless technologies will enable communities to leapfrog to the digital world, avoiding the high expense of traditional telecommunications infrastructures.

• New economies and new strategies. In order for technologies to enable positive change, nations, companies, and communities must adopt new strategies. Through rigorous monitoring and assessment, we will devise policies and practices that better ensure successful introduction of digital technologies into diverse economic, political, and social contexts.

• Rethinking health care. Just as new technologies will enable people to take more control of their own learning, so too with health care. We will develop low-cost diagnostic technologies and online medical resources that will help people monitor and plan for their own health, rather than relying solely on treatment from medical experts.

As part of the Digital Nations initiative, the Media Laboratory will organize and coordinate a set of Action Projects that make use of Media Lab ideas and technologies in real-world settings. The Media Lab will help Digital Nations members create similar projects in their own communities and countries. The Action Projects will include:

• Learning Hubs. Building on existing collaborations in Costa Rica and Thailand, the Media Lab is establishing a worldwide network of organizations committed to deep change in learning and education. These Learning Hub sites will serve as working models of “out-of-the-box” learning, based on ideas developed by Media Lab Professor Seymour Papert over the past 30 years. At each site, Media Lab researchers will work closely with a group of local “learning activities” who will develop, guide, research, and help others appropriate successful models of learning.

• Lincos: Little Intelligent Communities. Economically sustainable Internet connectivity is a prerequisite for e-development. The Media Laboratory has joined with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (founded by former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres) to create a flexible, economically-sustainable connectivity solution that provides health care, learning technology, government services, banking, soil and environmental testing, as well as culture and entertainment in one package known as Little Intelligent Communities, or Lincos. In 2000, Lincos was awarded the Alcatel III Award for Technology Innovation.

• Computer Clubhouses. The Media Lab has helped establish a network of after-school learning centers, called Computer Clubhouses, where youth from underserved communities explore their own interests and become confident learners through the use of new technologies. In 1997, the Computer Clubhouse project won the prestigious Peter Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation. Intel recently agreed to invest $20 million over the next four years to open 100 new Computer Clubhouses in the US and around the world.

• Silver Stringers. In many countries, senior citizens are among the most digitally disenfranchised. Silver Stingers taps into the wisdom and strength of the older generation, providing senior citizens with new digital tools so that they can act as reporters, photographers, illustrators, editors, and designers of online publications about their local communities. These projects have been enormously successful in connecting seniors to one another and to their communities, supporting new forms of grass-roots communication and new models for media coverage.

• Health Nets. The Media Laboratory has developed a strong program in the creation of health technology, including development of low-cost sensing devices and Internet health information technology. These efforts place special focus on tools and strategies that enable people to take more control of their own health care, especially in preventing illness before it occurs. The Digital Nations consortium will provide members with software, technical designs and expertise, health-systems design expertise, and aid in the creation of state-of-the-art health systems.

• Museums and science centers. The Media Laboratory has a long history of developing technology-based exhibits and activities for museums, cultural exhibitions, and science centers. Previous partners included Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Science, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; new partners include museums in Denmark, Ireland, and Japan. Recently, the Media Lab established the PIE Network of museums, developing a new generation of hands-on workshops in which participants use new technologies to invent and explore, bringing together art, science, and engineering.

The MIT Media Lab is uniquely positioned to undertake the Digital Nations initiative. Since opening its doors in 1985, the Media Lab has established itself as an international leader in the design and study of innovative digital technologies, helping to create now-familiar areas such as digital video and multimedia. In recent years, the Lab has focused increasingly on the integration of bits and atoms: merging electronic information with the everyday physical world. The Laboratory has been a pioneer in the collaboration between academia and industry, and provides a unique environment to explore basic research and applications, without regard to traditional divisions among disciplines.

The Media Lab has a long tradition of developing technologies for learning and community development. Media Lab researchers have developed educational technologies used by millions of people (especially children) around the world, and have implemented pilot projects in diverse geographical, economic, and cultural settings. In Thailand and Costa Rica, for example, Media Lab researchers have worked with remote villages, helping people learn to use new technologies to address local needs and support community development.

The Harvard Center for International Development, headed by Jeffrey Sachs, is a global leader in the field of international development, and has fostered positive change throughout the developing world. The CID’s research and policy expertise include economics, health, governance, and the environment, with a major focus on the role of information technologies in economic and social development.

During the past decade, the MIT Media Laboratory has organized several very successful consortia (Things That Think, News in the Future, and Digital Life), in which groups of companies jointly support an area of research at the Media Lab. In each case, member companies help guide the consortium’s research agenda, gain special access to Media Lab research and researchers, and participate in collaborative research projects.

Digital Nations will be similar in structure to the existing consortia, but its membership will include not only companies but also governments, international agencies, and non-profit institutions.

There are seven primary benefits of membership in Digital Nations:

• Collaboration on Research Projects. Members will interact closely with Media Lab researchers, gaining valuable insights into emerging technologies and a head start in planning for early implementation. Through these interactions, members will also ensure that their special needs and concerns (e.g., needs of rural communities in the developing world) are factored into the design and planning of Media Lab projects. Existing sponsors have found that close interaction with Media Lab researchers generates a flow of ideas and creative options that have an impact far beyond the immediate research projects, helping to stimulate and inform their own efforts to develop solutions.

• Consultation Visits to the Media Laboratory. Members have rights to visit all research labs at the Media Laboratory, see demonstrations of research projects, meet with researchers, and discuss the implications and applications of Media Lab research. Such visits are a good way to educate senior policy makers and senior researchers about new technologies and new methodologies.

• Sharing of Best Practices on Action Projects. Digital Nations will help organize and coordinate a collection of Action Projects (described above). Existing Media Lab Action Projects (such as Lincos, Computer Clubhouse Network, and Silver Stringers) have been recognized as “best practice” organizations within their fields. The Media Lab will help Digital Nations members understand the technologies and practices of these Action Projects so that they can create similar projects within their own countries.

• e-Readiness and e-Development Plans. Combining the policy and analysis expertise of Harvard’s Center for International Development with the technical insight of the MIT Media Laboratory, the Digital Nations consortium will produce e-readiness assessments and interactive computer tools that aid creation of e-development plans. In addition, the consortium will conduct an annual survey of each member’s IT sector, including not only connectivity, but also topics such as latent demand for IT services, educational and community readiness, regulatory readiness, investment opportunities, and effectiveness of current development initiatives. This e-readiness information and the associated computer tools can provide the factual basis for approaching international development banks for funding of development programs. Digital Nations researchers will further aid member countries by serving an advisory and advocacy role in obtaining financing for strategies suggested by the e-readiness survey and strategy tools.

• In-Country Visits and Videoconferences. Digital Nations researchers will visit member countries to gain a better understanding of local projects and issues, provide advice on projects of joint interest, and raise awareness of Digital Nations ideas and projects within the member countries. Representatives of the sponsoring members can also set up videoconferences with Digital Nations researchers, to discuss ongoing projects or policy issues.

• Industrial Relationships. The Media Laboratory will help Digital Nations members identify and cultivate appropriate industrial partners for technology-based projects within their countries. The Media Lab is very well suited to this task: more than 150 major companies from around the world are members of Media Lab consortia, and many of them have expressed a strong interest in collaborating with Digital Nations members.

• Media Laboratory Fellows. Non-corporate members of Digital Nations will each have an existing Media Lab graduate student designated as a Fellow, named after the sponsoring member. This graduate student Fellow will receive full-scholarship tuition and stipend, will work on research projects of special interest to the sponsoring member, and will serve as a point of contact for personal interactions between the Media Lab and the member. The Media Lab can not guarantee that the Fellow will come from the member country. But the Media Lab will practice “affirmative access”: advising members on how to identify qualified graduate-student applicants from their own countries.

There are two levels of membership in Digital Nations:

Basic members receive all of the benefits described in the preceding section. Corporate members will receive intellectual property rights to Media Lab research. In lieu of these rights, other members (such as governments) will each have a Media Lab graduate student designated as a Fellow. Cost: $250,000 per year for five years.

Strategic research partners gain all rights of basic members, plus: the right to send a full-time visitor-in-residence to the Media Lab; full membership in all Media Lab consortia and special interest groups; participation on the Digital Nations Executive Committee; increased opportunities to collaborate with Media Lab researchers on pilot projects and field studies. Cost: $750,000 per year for five years.

The Digital Nations consortium is particularly interested in collaborating with governments that represent developing regions of the world. But these governments generally do not have the resources to pay the Digital Nations membership fees. To address this problem, the Media Lab is establishing the Digital Nations Fund as a mechanism for corporations, foundations, institutions, and individuals to support the membership of developing nations in the Digital Nations consortium.

The Digital Nations Fund works in the following way:

• Interested parties contribute to the Fund in the form of cash gifts, at a minimum level of US$50,000.

• Governments apply to the Fund for subsidy of their membership in Digital Nations (at the Basic Member level). Applicants will be asked to document the interest and commitment of key government officials to participation in Digital Nations and implementation of programs related to Digital Nations.

• From this pool of applicants, governments to be subsidized by the Fund will be selected by the Digital Nations Principal Investigators, with input from the Board of Advisors, existing Digital Nations sponsors at the time, and contributors to the Fund.

The initial target for the Fund is US$20million to fund membership in Digital Nations (plus related project and administrative expenses) for 10 governments for five years. The Digital Nations Fund will be administered by the MIT Treasurer’s Office.

Board of Advisors
Jose Maria Figueres, former President of Costa Rica
Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Media Laboratory
Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard Center for International Development

Principal Investigators
Alex (Sandy) Pentland
Mitchel Resnick

Project Leaders
Walter Bender, Michael Best, Justine Cassell, David Cavallo, Glorianna Davenport, Joe Jacobson, Geoffrey Kirkman, Bakhtiar Mikhak, Seymour Papert, Deb Roy, Ted Selker, Brian Smith

For more information, please contact:
David Riquier
Communications and Sponsor Relations
riquier@media.mit.edu