Media Arts and Sciences

A white robot.

(Photo courtesy of the Media Arts and Sciences department.)


If anything can be certain about the future, it is that the influence of technology, especially digital technology, will continue to grow and to profoundly change how we express ourselves, how we communicate with each other and how we perceive, think about and interact with our world.

These "mediating technologies" are only in the first stages of their modern evolution; they are still crude, unwieldy, unpersonalized and poorly matched to the human needs of their users. Their fullest development in those terms is emerging as one of the principal technical and design challenges of the emerging information age.

At MIT, the phrase Media Arts and Sciences signifies the study, invention and creative use of enabling technologies for understanding and expression by people and machines. The field is rooted in modern communication, computer and human sciences, and the academic program is intimately linked with research programs within the Media Laboratory. Computers and computation are the most prominent common denominators of this multi-disciplinary merger of previously separate domains. For underlying the explosive advances of the various technologies involved, we are discovering and cultivating a new set of shared intellectual and practical concerns that are becoming the foundations of a new academic discipline. In its simplest form, the field of Media Arts and Sciences can be thought of as exploring the technical, cognitive and aesthetic bases of satisfying human interaction as mediated by technology. In more forward-looking terms, it addresses the quality of life in the information-rich environment of the future.


Media Arts and Sciences Courses

Course # Course Title Level
MAS.110 Fundamentals of Computational Media Design Undergraduate
MAS.111 Introduction to Doing Research in Media Arts and Sciences Undergraduate
MAS.131 Computational Camera and Photography (Fall 2009) Undergraduate
MAS.160 Signals, Systems and Information for Media Technology (Fall 2007) Undergraduate
MAS.330J Design Across Scales, Disciplines and Problem Contexts Undergraduate
MAS.450 Holographic Imaging Undergraduate
MAS.965 NextLab I: Designing Mobile Technologies for the Next Billion Users Undergraduate
MAS.478 Special Topics in Multimedia Production: Experiences in Interactive Art (Fall 2003) Graduate
MAS.510 Signals, Systems and Information for Media Technology (Fall 2007) Graduate
MAS.511 Signals, Systems and Information for Media Technology (Fall 2007) Graduate
MAS.531 Computational Camera and Photography (Fall 2009) Graduate
MAS.622J Pattern Recognition and Analysis Graduate
MAS.630 Affective Computing Graduate
MAS.632 Conversational Computer Systems Graduate
MAS.666 Developmental Entrepreneurship Graduate
MAS.712 How to Learn (Almost) Anything Graduate
MAS.714J Technologies for Creative Learning Graduate
MAS.742 Industrial Design Intelligence: A Cognitive Approach to Engineering Graduate
MAS.771 Autism Theory and Technology Graduate
MAS.836 Sensor Technologies for Interactive Environments Graduate
MAS.845 Special Topics in Cinematic Storytelling Graduate
MAS.857J Optical Engineering Graduate
MAS.863 How to Make (Almost) Anything Graduate
MAS.865J Quantum Information Science Graduate
MAS.878 Special Topics in Multimedia Production: Experiences in Interactive Art (Fall 2003) Graduate
MAS.961 Networks, Complexity and Its Applications Graduate
MAS.961 Special Topics: Designing Sociable Media Graduate
MAS.961 Ambient Intelligence Graduate
MAS.961 Seminar on Deep Engagement Graduate
MAS.961 Numeric Photography Graduate
MAS.962 Special Topics: New Textiles Graduate
MAS.962 Common Sense Reasoning for Interactive Applications (Fall 2006) Graduate
MAS.962 The Nature of Constructionist Learning Graduate
MAS.962 Special Topics in Media Technology: Computational Semantics Graduate
MAS.962 Digital Typography Graduate
MAS.963 Technological Tools for School Reform Graduate
MAS.963 Techno-identity: Who we are and how we perceive ourselves and others Graduate
MAS.963 Out of Context: A Course on Computer Systems That Adapt To, and Learn From, Context Graduate
MAS.964 Common Sense Reasoning for Interactive Applications (Fall 2006) Graduate
MAS.964 Common Sense Reasoning for Interactive Applications (Fall 2002) Graduate
MAS.965 Relational Machines Graduate
MAS.965 Social Visualization Graduate
MAS.965 Special Topics in Media Technology: Cooperative Machines Graduate
MAS.966 Digital Anthropology Graduate
MAS.S63 Engineering Health: Towards the Tricorder Graduate
MAS.S66 Indistinguishable From... Magic as Interface, Technology, and Tradition Graduate

Archived Media Arts and Sciences Courses

Some prior versions of courses listed above have been archived in OCW's DSpace@MIT repository for long-term access and preservation. Links to archived prior versions of a course may be found on that course's "Other Versions" tab.

Additionally, the Archived Media Arts and Sciences Courses page has links to every archived course from this department.