Gideon Gil, Michael Greshko, and I set out to figure out MIT’s “Brown Book,” its yearly report on its finances. This is a work in progress and more visualizations are coming, but we found a number of interesting facts.

http://austinhess.github.io/finances/

The new Media Lab building, E14, was opened in 2009. The beautiful building, designed by the famous architect Fumihiko Maki of Japan, celebrates transparency, creativity and collaboration. The new building has also been equipped with various sensors across all internal spaces.

These sensors allow for a unique point of view into the building. In this article I will focus on temperature readings and will look into the stories entailed in the edge cases: the hottest and coldest spaces in E14.

First, some general statistics. 180 spaces are tracked in E14, every open space, meeting room, personal office and even storage units are monitored. The average temperature is 21.8c, which correlates well with the average thermometer setting : 21.9c. The readings I used were measured at 7pm, April 7th. Looking at the historical data reveals that the temperatures are stable throughout the day.

Warm and Empathetic – Opera of the Future

The highest temperature reading in E14, 24.8c, was from E14-433, The living room for the Opera of the Future group on the upper deck of the Swatch lab. a quick visit to the space reveals that it is indeed warmer than other spaces in the building although being an open space with a thermometer set to 22c. It is quite possible that heat from the entire swatch lab accumulates in this specific point.

Regardless of the reasons, the warmth is well suited for the Opera of the future group. It fits right within the creativity and empathy which guide the group in it’s work.
(waiting for a comment from Tod Machover)

Cold and Mysterious – E14-396T

The lowest temperature reading in E14, 13c, was measured in E14-396T. A mysterious locked door and a room number sign is all the innocent spectator has access to. Although it’s conceivable that behind the door is a storage unit or an electrical breaker box I can’t help but wonder: In the mystical playground that is the media lab, maybe an off the grid experiment is hidden behind that door? one that requires a cool 13c temperature.

Update: According to the Media Lab facilities department this space belongs to MIT IS&T and is dedicated to communications. Intriguingly, no one in the media lab has access to this space. 

About the data: 
All the data was collected through the Responsive Environments Chain API: an open source sensor data aggregation framework: https://github.com/ssfrr/chain-api
Media Lab sensors summary: http://chain-api.media.mit.edu/sites/5/summary (CSV)
You can also see this data live on project doppellab: http://doppellab.media.mit.edu/

Crime is often associated regarded by how someone perceives the environment he or she lives in. There are often places in a city that are more dangerous than others. However, are these places somehow attributable to the infrastructure within the community?

One hypothesis is brightness in the surrounding environment. While not bidirectional, but in unsafe regions, dark areas are perceives as especially dangerous. To test this hypothesis, I use the Boston Police crime report data and map the list of crimes occurring during nighttime to streetlight deployment. While incident reports seem quite ubiquitous, the crime density still seems quite high and perceivable in regions that are less safe and with less light installations.

Further, divide the crime incident by type, we can observe a heavy tail in terms of crimes that are distant from the nearest lights, emphasizing the perceptive unsafe nature. For example, crime types such as vandalism, burglary, and forgery have clear heavy tail. It is interesting to see crimes like vigilante and violence also share this characteristic to certain degree. This quick study provides a unique perspective to how interventions that cause perceptive differences may be a potential way to thinking about solving current municipal issues.

Follow the link to see the visualization of the data analysis (Note: the page may take some time to load).

http://web.media.mit.edu/~pernghwa/geomap.html

By Melissa Bailey and Audrey Cerdan.

Every year, thousands of New Haven parents try their luck in a lottery for schools of “choice.” Most walk away disappointed: In 2012, “9,333 local and suburban students applied for 2,677 open seats at 29 charter and magnet schools covering grades pre-K to 12,” according to Bailey. Students who live near the school, or already have a sibling in the school, get first dibs on open seats.

Bailey wrote about this in a 2013 article. The interviews were good, but the data was … not so easy for the reader to picture. So Bailey recruited top Parisian digital journalist Audrey Cerdan to try to visualize it better.

Our mission: Give disappointed parents a better sense of their odds in the lottery, to inform their future choices. For example: Maria really wants her daughter to go to Barnard school, which has a fancy vegetable garden and a good reputation. But she lives way across town. What are her chances of getting in?

We answer that question — and many more — in this exciting data visualization. Click “search” to try it out.

We used Caspio because Bailey liked the interactive dropdown menus and got a free account at a recent Super Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference. BUT it was not so easy to use. And in the end we decided bar charts weren’t the best choice.

Our major hurdle was how to represent the concept of “zero.” As in, you have zero chance of getting into that school if you don’t live nearby. At the end of our struggle with Caspio, we thought of a better way to visualize the data. We think Infogr.am would be a much better way to really give a sense of a person’s odds. Here’s a sketch by Cerdan:

Data Story: Ferguson A Timeline 

Using data aggregated from major news outlets, I made a timeline on Timeline JS regarding the Michael Brown Shooting in Ferguson, MO (August 2014).

With this data I then implemented Weebly.  Weebly enabled me to create a platform that would store my timeline and allow me to analyze the information I discovered (from each of the major news outlets and various timelines).

Once on the website, click “about” to read my analysis, discoveries (i.e. the varying information each news source decided to stress or otherwise neglect to report), and for links to other happenings regarding the issues of Ferguson.

Go here and here to see the CartoDB visualizations. Below is my story behind them.

The new gTLDs are here! Thanks IANA! Are you as excited as I am??

…

What?

Continue reading →

For this assignment, I wanted to give Fold a spin by writing about the controversy surrounding the “religious freedom” bill, HB 1228, currently working its way through Arkansas’ government. I’ve tried to keep it as up-to-the-minute as possible.

Check out my explainer here:

http://readfold.com/create/michaelgreshko/new-story-ZsA3Bjhy

RECENT UPDATE OF CHAOS IN FERGUSON:

Journalists sue St. Louis County police for alleged battery, false arrest

Politico | Hadas Gold | 3/31/15

Four journalists are filing a lawsuit against the St. Louis County police department for battery, false arrest and unreasonable search and seizure while they were covering the unrest in the city following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in August.

The suit is being brought by The Intercept’s Ryan Devereaux as well as German journalists Ansgar Graw, Frank Herrmann and Lukas Hermsmeier. The suit seeks unspecified punitive damages.

In one incident, the suit alleges Devereaux and Hermsmeier were shot at with rubber bullets while walking toward police with their hands in the air and identifying themselves as members of the media. Police then arrested the two, holding them for several hours before charging them with “refusal to disperse.”  Devereaux and Hermsmeier allege that their hands were injured as the result of plastic handcuffs they were made to wear for several hours.

Graw and Herrmann were arrested while trying to cover the protest and police activity at a gas station. According to the suit, Graw continued to take photographs after being told to “keep moving” by police while Herrmann questioned the directive. At that point, the police arrested the two journalists and allegedly purposely tightened the plastic handcuffs to inflict pain. When Graw asked for one of the arresting officer’s names, he replied “Donald Duck.” Both Graw and Herrmann allege that they suffered injuries from the handcuffs.

In both incidents, the journalists allege police complained about media coverage of the events in Ferguson. Graw and Herrmann were told they should be “ashamed” of being journalists.

__________________________________________________________________________

TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN FERGUSON:

MAS.700 | Melissa Clark | 3/30/2015

Ferguson, Missouri August 2014 – Present

AUGUST 9, 2014

11:48 a.m. – An officer responds to a call of an ill person

11:51 a.m. – A robbery was reported at a local convenience store.  In the call, the dispatcher gives a description of the robber and reports the suspect walking toward the ‘Quick Trip’ convenience store

12:01 p.m. – The officer (responding to the ill person) arrives on the scene and encounters Michael Brown and a friend walking down the middle of the street.  Brown is shot to death at the end of the encounter.

12:04 p.m – A second officer now arrives on scene followed by a supervisor. The ambulance that was dispatched for the ill person is now responding to the scene of the officer and suspect (Michael Brown).

AUGUST 10, 2014

10:00 a.m. – News Conference held by the St. Louis County Police Chief Joe Belmar:

>Suspect (Michael Brown, 18) was unarmed

>Brown physically assaulted the officer, and during the struggle between the two, Brown reached for the officer’s gun.  One shot was fired in the car followed by gunshots outside of the officer’s car.

>Michael Brown’s parents hire attorney Benjamin Crump (who represented Trayvon Martins family)

8:00 p.m. – A candlelight vigil to honor Brown turned violent and violence and vandal ensued (Over 12 businesses were vandalized and looted, more than 30 people were arrested, and 2 police officers suffered injuries)

AUGUST 11, 2014

5:00 a.m. – The first day of school is canceled in Jennings, Missouri (near Ferguson) to keep students safe.

7:00 a.m. – Ferguson police and city officials say death threats have been made against the police force in relation to the fatal shooting.

10:00 a.m. – Hundreds of people gather outside the Ferguson Police Department to demand justice for Brown’s death (Police arrested 7 people)

11:00 a.m. – FBI announced they will launch a parallel investigation into the case.

2:00 p.m. – St. Louis County Police Department announced that it would release the name of the officer who is accused of shooting Brown (by noon on 08/11/14)

4:00 p.m. – Brown’s parents (and attorney) hold a press conference to ask for the violence to stop and demand justice for their son.

8:00 p.m. – People gather on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson (main street in the town).  Police use tear gas to disperse crowds that did not protest peacefully.  15 arrested | Withholding officer’s name due to death threats made on social media.

AUGUST 12, 2014

10:00 a.m. – Protesters gather at St. Louis County Police Department to make demands over the investigation of Brown’s death.

12:00 p.m. – Rev. Al Sharpton arrives in St. Louis to demand justice for fatal shooting, he spoke at the Old Courthouse early 08/12/14

1:00 p.m. – Preliminary autopsy report was released by St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s office.  The FAA announces air restrictions over Ferguson to enable law enforcement helicopters

3:00 p.m. – Officials charge 9 people for looting on 08/10/14 – 08/11/14

4:00 p.m. – President Obama released a statement regarding the Brown incident. The Justice Department will review police tactics across the country.

7:00 p.m. – Governor Jay Nixon, Mayor of St. Louis come together to speak about the Brown incident.  Rev. Al Sharpton and Brown family publicly urge for a peaceful protest toward justice for Michael Brown.

10:00 p.m. – Tensions between protestors and Police are high (protestors arrive from all over the country)

AUGUST 13, 2014

10:00 a.m. – Protestors are asked to protest during the day.  Volunteers gather to help clean up after tense violence episodes. Brown’s remain have now been turned over to his family.

3:00 p.m. – Justice Department opens a federal civil rights investigation

4:00 p.m. – Information released: 911 tape will be released, Brown had no criminal background, Ferguson-Florissant School District remains closed, Police detain 2 reporters (Huffington Post and Washington Post) at a Ferguson McDonalds

9:00 p.m. – Police throw tear gas at protestors to disperse crowds, police also force media to move out of the area, tear gas is thrown at the Al Jazeera America News crew.

10:00 p.m. – Governor Jay Nixon on Twitter: cancels his visit to the Missouri State Fair, in order to visit Ferguson.

> People are being arrested for “unlawful assembly”

AUGUST 14, 2014

6:00 a.m. – 16 people have been arrested and 2 officers have been injured during the 4th night of the violence.

7:00 a.m. – Missouri Governor Jay Nixon makes his first stop through north St. Louis County and Ferguson

11:40 a.m. – Obama addresses the nation and urges for calm, and called on local police to be “open and transparent”

3:30 p.m. – Governor Nixon announces that the Missouri Highway Patrol will take control of security in Ferguson.  Captain Ron Johnson will now oversee Ferguson (He was born and raised near the community).

6:00 p.m. – Silent vigils are held across the country in remembrance and honor of Michael Brown.

8:00 p.m. – Citizens march peacefully alongside state troopers, no more violent clashes reported

AUGUST 15, 2014

9:00 a.m. – Darren Wilson is named the officer who shot brown on August 9, 2014.

12:00 p.m. – Dorian Johnson (eyewitness) who was interviewed by law enforcement, says that both Johnson and Brown took part in the convenience store robbery prior to the shooting.  Brown Family “beyond outraged” by the information and how its assassinates the “character of their son.”

3:00 p.m. Chief Jackson announces that Officer Wilson did not know Brown was a suspect in a strong-armed robbery that occurred before the fatal shooting.  (Wilson stopped Brown for walking down the middle of the street / Brown yelled back at the officer)

9:00 p.m. through 5:00 a.m. – Police and over 200 protesters clash.  Rocks are thrown at officers and armored trucks are deployed onto the streets (tear gas in used to disperse crowds).  Businesses are forced to shut their doors due to looting.

AUGUST 16, 2014

3:00 p.m. – Governor Nixon issues a state of emergency for the Ferguson area and imposed a curfew.  “This is a test.  The eyes of the world are watching.”

AUGUST 17, 2014

5:00 a.m. – 7 people were arrested, and 1 person was shot as police and protestors clashed.

2:00 p.m. – The Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder order a separate federal autopsy for Brown at the request of the family.  (The St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s autopsy concluded that brown died of gunshot wounds, six to be exact).  Autopsy contradicted a witness statement indicating that Brown was hit as he ran away from the police.

AUGUST 18, 2014

2:00 a.m. – Governor Nixon orders the National Guard into Ferguson after protestors shot at police, threw Molotov cocktails at officers, looted businesses, and carried out “coordinated attempt” to clock roads and overrun police command.

1:00 p.m. Governor Nixon lifts the curfew in Ferguson after it failed to prohibit violence the past two nights.

3:30 p.m. – Obama announces that Eric Holder will be sent to Ferguson to monitor the process.

5:00 p.m. – Getty Images photographer, Scott Olson, was arrested Monday while reporting in Ferguson.

9:00 p.m. – Ferguson-Florissant School District cancels school for the rest of the week to protect students

AUGUST 19, 2014

3:00 A.M. – 31 people were arrested over the night, 4 police officers were injured, and at least 2 people were shot.

7:00 a.m. – Brown’s mother goes on the Today Show and declares, “When justice is prevailed, then maybe they’ll regain their trust in the locals.”

1:00 p.m. – Man, 23, was fatally shot by police in North St. Lewis, as he threatened an officer with a knife, after threatening to kill him.

AUGUST 20, 2014

12:00 a.m. – 47 people were arrested and threats were made to kill an officer.

12:00 p.m. – Grand jury began their investigation on whether Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson should be criminally charged for the death of Michael Brown.

AUGUST 21, 2014

2:00 a.m. – First night of relative calm in Ferguson.  Many of the protestors had gone home, tensions diffused, and police were more relaxed.

12:00 p.m. – Governor Nixon orders the Missouri National Guard to start withdrawing from Ferguson.

AUGUST 22, 2014

1:00 a.m. – 7 arrests amid relative calm.

AUGUST 23, 2014

2:00 a.m. – Captain Ron Johnson said the police didn’t make any arrests that night.  More calm.  Online funds for both Officer Darren Wilson and Brown were created; Wilson’s continued to grown and surpasses Brown’s funds.

2:00 p.m. The NAACP held a peaceful protest throughout Ferguson.

7:00 p.m. President Obama announced that White house aides will attend Brown’s funeral.  The White House will also look into how local police forces are equipped and run.

AUGUST 24, 2014

2:00 a.m. – 6 were arrested overnight

AUGUST 25, 2014

-Brown’s public funeral was held at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

-Officer Darren Wilson testifies before the grand jury, which was reviewing evidence in Brown’s death to determine whether Wilson should face criminal charges.

OCTOBER 10, 2014

-A four-day peaceful protest “Ferguson October” with planned civil disobedience was planned.

OCTOBER 13, 2014

-Cornel West (clergy and academic activist) was arrested in Ferguson.  Hundreds of protesters marched in Ferguson during “Ferguson October.

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

-Governor Nixon claims he will activate National Guard to respond to any unrest that erupts after the grand jury decision is delivered.

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

-“Hands up, Don’t Shoot” protests and “Die-Ins” are held across the country in major cities and universities.

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

-Schools in Ferguson were closed in anticipation of grand jury decision.

NOVEMBER 24, 2014

– St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict officer Darren Wilson for firing six shots in the confrontation hat killed Michael brown.

>24 journalists have been arrested while covering the unrest in Ferguson (The Huffington Post, 3/15)

__________________________________________________________________________

Sources: USA Today | 12/2/14 | http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/michael-brown-ferguson-missouri-timeline/14051827/

The Huffington Post | 3/30/15

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/30/civi-rights-action-journalists-ferguson_n_6971346.html

ABC News | 3/15/15

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/timeline-events-fatal-police-shooting-ferguson-29653702

From algorithms to microchips, biotech to batteries, legal battles rage on, with patent owners seeking millions or even billions of dollars of royalties from those who they say use their protected technology. But private companies aren’t the only players in the high-stakes world of intellectual property. Prominent research universities and the companies they spin off have also chosen to assert their patents in court seeking large payoffs.

Just last month, MIT filed a lawsuit against Micron Technology, a supplier of random access memory chips for several Apple products, on claims that it violated a 1997 laser-cutting patent in the production of the chips. Seeking damages and royalties on all the devices Apple sold that include the allegedly infringing chip technology, MIT stands to collect a massive sum if it is successful.

This is part of a growing trend of research universities going to court to assert the patents they or their spinoff companies control.

The legal basis for university patents

Before 1980, inventions made from federally funded research had to be turned over to be owned by the federal government. But the Bayh-Dole Act passed that year allowed universities to disclose and own intellectual property originating from such grants. Following the passage of the bill, many research universities started technology transfer programs — offices that help researchers patent new developments when appropriate, and which sometimes transfer patent ownership to startups in exchange for royalties or equity.

MIT’s patents 

MIT’s Technology Licensing Office serves this function for MIT. Its self-described function is advising students and faculty on whether to patent technology, assisting in the patent filing process, and transferring patents to startups for which it also helps find seed funding.

When, for example, a faculty member comes to TLO with a new invention, the office may advise the professor to file for a patent. The TLO will then pay the legal costs of the filing. If awarded, the royalties from the patent may be split in thirds between MIT, the inventor’s lab, and the inventor after the deduction of fees. Alternatively, if the inventor wants to use the patented technology to start a company, TLO will help find venture capitalist investment for the startup and MIT will take a “small percentage” of equity in exchange for transferring or exclusively licensing the patent to the company. About 27 percent of its licenses were transferred to 16 startups in FY2013.

The office made nearly $80 million in FY2013, mostly from royalties and fees on patents, while it said it spent about $19 million on filing patents, a task for which it says it uses mostly outside patent counsel. 

It appears the number of patents issued to MIT has been increasing over the past few decades. The Tech reported the Institute was awarded 126 patents in 1992, by far the most for any university that year. MIT TLO’s own statistics show it was awarded patents at a rate of 140 to 175 per year throughout the 2000s, but this jumped to 199 in FY2012 and 288 in FY2013.

The trend seems to extend to universities well beyond MIT. There were 1,491 patents issued in total to all U.S. universities in 1992. According to the Intellectual Property Owners Association, just the top seven patent-seeking universities combined surpassed that number in 2013.

Legal Battles

MIT’s litigation against Micron over its use of RAM is asserting a patent issued to an MIT scientist and his co-inventor in 2000 but owned by MIT. The move is certainly not unprecedented for MIT, which is listed as being the plaintiff in 32 litigation campaigns since 2000 by RPX, a patent litigation search engine. MIT’s cases cover a wide range of industries.

Companies that have exclusive licenses from MIT account for some of the litigation around MIT patents, even when the company rather than MIT is leading the claim. And while most cases end in settlement, some do go to trial. In 2003, a jury awarded MIT a rare patent loss on its claim that a Lockheed Martin satellite phone system infringed on its speech encoding intellectual property.

MIT is certainly not alone as a university asserting its patents in court. RPX lists Stanford with 14 campaigns as plaintiff since 2000, with all its cases in the biomedical industry. Most notably, Boston University sued many companies in a bid to assert a 1997 patent regarding a step in the production of blue LEDs. While many defendants settled, more suits have continued.

Some universities, in attempts to make unused intellectual property profitable, have turned to selling their patents. But some of these are often snapped up by non-practicing entities or “patent trolls,” firms that exist simply to own patents and collect licensing fees, and which are quick to sue companies that they claim are infringing on their patents.

Trolls are widely criticized as preying upon companies without legal resources to defend themselves, trying to extract fees or settlements by claiming infringement on the sometimes absurdly broad and vague patents they own. A study published in the Stanford Law Review in 2012 found 45 universities had sold patents to a particularly notorious troll, Intellectual Ventures, or its shell companies.

Even if the patents don’t fall into the hands of trolls, some contend that universities seeking to assert old patents in high-stakes court battles are harming innovation and betraying their principles. 

The payoff

Does it make sense for universities to engage in this type of technology licensing and transfer? A report from the Brookings Institution suggests that for many universities, the answer is no. It found that for 87 percent of universities with a technology transfer office, the program did not even break even in FY2012. It also found that a fairly stable group of top-earning universities netted more than all other universities combined. MIT had one of the most profitable programs, and was ranked third in the report.

It appears MIT’s TLO is profitable, making nearly $80 million in royalties and fees and spending just $19 million to file patents, but these numbers may not include its settlement wins or patent litigation fees. But even the TLO cautions other universities seeking to replicate its apparent success, “Do not expect to break even for five years or more.”

[In response to http://tech.mit.edu/V135/N5/patentviolation.html  I originally expected to mostly focus on MIT’s own TLO/patent history and just re-make their statistics with nicer graphs and visuals, but it turns out that the whole world of university patent lawsuits is interesting enough that I wanted to focus on digesting all the reports and information I found. I hope to expand this with more multimedia elements later.]