About

About Hyperstudio

MIT’s HyperStudio – Laboratory for Digital Humanities explores the potential of new media technologies for the enhancement of education and research in the humanities.

Our work focuses on questions about the integration of technology into humanities curricula within the broader context of scholarly inquiry and educational practice. We conceptualize, develop, and deploy innovative media applications in close collaboration with scholars, educators, students, and developers.

The HyperStudio is part of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and closely affiliated with the Comparative Media Studies Program.

Mission

The mission of HyperStudio is to enhance teaching, learning and research in the Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts, by working with MIT faculty to conceptualize, develop, and use collaborative digital media environments at MIT and beyond.

In particular we:

  • Support innovative teaching and active learning in the humanities
  • Conceptualize educational media projects in close collaboration with faculty
  • Work with faculty to specifically create media content for their courses
  • Help faculty integrate new media projects into the curriculum
  • Develop new technologies to flexibly deliver media content to students
  • Innovate new media-based pedagogies that engage students more fully in the learning process
  • Generate concepts for future educational media needs

How We Work

The HyperStudio team collaborates closely with faculty in the humanities and social sciences on media-rich digital projects for teaching, learning and research. Our involvement typically ranges from project conceptualization and multiple iterative development cycles with extensive end-user feedback, to classroom integration and evaluation. All of our projects emphasize collaboration among students and scholars and incorporate a high level of interaction with the media documents.

If you are interested in exploring new approaches to teaching and learning, and novel methods for research in the humanities, the HyperStudio will be able to:

  • assist in the conceptualization of your project
  • present you with a select number of technology platforms with the possibility of fine-tuning the platforms to your needs.
  • assist in fundraising for the expansion of your project
  • assist in the content development of your project
  • ensure software integration of your project
  • assist in the deployment of your project to the classroom
  • assist in the pedagogical integration of the project into your courses
  • ensure availability of your project on the HyperStudio platforms
  • ensure preservation of your project content
  • provide evaluation mechanisms for your project
  • provide a community of practitioners within digital humanities

Besides project-based work, HyperStudio engages in continuous research on aspects of teaching and learning with digital technologies in the humanities. This research influences the conceptualization and development of the portfolio of HyperStudio projects, as well as the HyperStudio Lecture Series, and Workshops.

FAQ

How much work is involved in a HyperStudio project?

We value collaboration involving faculty members and the HyperStudio team. This means that faculty members can Expect to allocate some of their own time to the project, while the team provides research and technical expertise to move the project forward.

We’ll start with a conversation about the strategic concept, the project’s uses in and outside of the classroom, and development requirements. Typically, in a second phase, the faculty member is responsible for providing content and metadata while the Hyperstudio will focus on the content format and creation of a database. During the rollout phase, the full team develops a communications plan to introduce the project to its audience (students and/or researchers).

How long does it take to develop a HyperStudio project?

Depending on the requirements of a project, production time can vary between 3 weeks and 12 months.

Metamedia projects typically take a shorter start-up time. With organized documents that already have descriptions and metadata, the project can be up and running in the mmedia platform in less than two weeks. If the project starts from the conceptual stage, and documents still need to be selected, collected, digitized, and described, the project’s development time will naturally be longer.

We are currently developing the Repertoire platform for rollout in the Fall 2008.

I’d like to start a project at the HyperStudio, but… I don’t have any funding (yet).

As a research group created to assist Humanities faculty at MIT in teaching, learning and research within the humanities at MIT, the HyperStudio has often been engaged in the creation of fully functional prototypes, which are used for fundraising.

For mutually interesting projects, the HyperStudio can engage in joint fundraising efforts.