USC Interactive Media Division

Research - Mobile: cut it loose. usc for mobile.

The Mobile and Pervasive Lab

The Mobile and Pervasive Lab (MaPL) at the University of Southern California is the core research facility for the mobile media research program. MaPL is an interdisciplinary think-tank and research and development facility focused on understanding the near-future possibilities for untethered digital media in society and culture. Operated by the School of Cinema-TV, Interactive Media Division and the Annenberg Center, MaPL research activities focus on defining new scenarios, technologies and operating models for a range of digital media areas. Such areas include the convergence of content and digital technologies, alternative networked environments, new distribution, collaboration and dissemination networks, the roles of place and space in mobile and pervasive media, and new ways to produce and consume visual stories.

The "always on" society has implications for how people work, play and live. Pervasive media, as enabled by mobile devices such as cell phones, networked PDAs, and other untethered means, are substantially changing how, when and where we receive and consume information. In concert with this shift, immersive technologies are advancing at such a rate that truly compelling interactions with these types of media are now possible.

New immersive capabilities such as 3D cameras, holographic image manipulation, and immersive audio are dramatically altering the way that media are designed and created, and, by extension, our basic underlying creative processes. However, the social implications of constant contact and the ability to generate and consume media wherever/whenever we desire are just beginning to be studied and understood. If these technologies are to achieve their fullest potential, it is essential that we consider some fundamental choices about how the networks that enable these technologies should function. Chief among these choices is the issue of whether cellular providers should control central access points, or will massively distributed mesh networks rule the day?

MaPL is in a unique position to address the topics relevant to understanding the production, consumption, design and social implications questions surrounding mobile and pervasive media, devices and techniques. The laboratory is inherently transdisciplinary and collaborative, drawing on the intellectual and creative resources of the graduate and faculty at the University, and working in concert with industry support.

Insights on these topic were recently published by the lab in a manifesto on design for mobile and location-based media.

Current Projects

Click here to see current mobile projects in the Interactive Media Division.

Facilities

MaPL is housed in the Carriage House adjacent to the Annenberg Center. The lab contains a variety of technology resources for prototyping mobile, pervasive and location-based designs.