Publications

• About the Media Lab Publications Archive
• File Format Types
• Search Basics - The Anatomy of a Query
• Publications Home
• Browse by Type, Author, Date
• Submit/Edit Listing
• Media Labbers: Help Classify Documents!

The Media Lab Publications Archive is a listing of articles, books, technical reports, and other sources written by Media Lab faculty, students, and research staff. Whenever possible, links to the full document are provided. The Media Lab community is encouraged to submit or edit listings.

Many publications are available to download, sometimes in multiple formats. This is on a case-by-case basis; if the researcher has made it publicly accessible in electronic form, it will also be available here. In order to maintain the precise format of the documents as intended by the authors themselves, the publications may appear as HTML, PDF, DOC, or PostScript files.

PostScript is a standard printer language, which was the de facto standard for the exchange of scientific documents for a number of years. ".ps" files can be sent directly to any PostScript printer. Third-party PostScript viewers might be required to view these documents. Often, compressed PostScript files (e.g., ".ps.Z") need to be uncompressed.

If only the publication abstract is available, a third-party search might be required to obtain the original document.

To request printed copies of student theses, visit MIT Libraries.

For a simple search, just type your query word(s) into the search box and click "Search." In addition to the traditional AND, OR, and NOT operators, additional "advanced" searching options are available.

Queries are broken down into sets of concepts. A comma defines a break between concepts. The symbol "!" in front of a concept implies that all results with the concept should be exluded. Given a concept to search, your query will display results for documents with all the words in a concept but will favor results which contain the concept. Below are a set of examples that illustrate the different standard searches available.

In addition to the standard boolean operators (AND,OR, NOT), using the semantic focus operator ">" is also possible. This enables you to favor documents which contain a concept but mention another. Thus, we can search for "china > india", which will return the same set of documents as "china, india" but will favor results where india is more relevant.

Query		Interpretation
computer		A straightforward search for all results with the concept 'computer'
computer,graphics		A search for documents with both the words 'computer' and 'graphics'
computer graphics		This will also search for all documents with the words 'computer' and 'graphics' but will favor documents that contain the concept 'computer graphics'
india, !china		This will search for all documents with 'india' but will remove all results that contain 'china'
(india,china)		This will search for all documents that contain 'india' or 'china'
(india,!china)(russia,france)		This will AND the two separate parenthetical searches. The first search is 'india' without references to 'china'. The second search is 'russia' or 'france'. These two searches are then ANDed together.
china > india		This will return the same set of documents as "china, india" but will favor results where india is more relevant. Relevance is determined by 2028 Inc.'s patented ASK technology.

Home provides the user with a simple but informative interface: a Search Box and Most Recent Publications.

The search box provides a standard search form allowing you to enter your query. For information on query options please refer to The Anatomy of a Query.

This section presents recent or spotlighted articles of potential interest to the user. This is defined by the Web site's webmaster or author submissions.

View the documents in the collection by publication type.

An easy-to-use author directory provides the option of browsing the collection by author. This directory is organized alphabetically by the last name of an author. To view the documents by an author, just click on the displayed link. Bear in mind, names may have variations in spelling depending on how the author's name was published.

A simple way to view the documents in the collection, these documents in the collection are ordered by year.

Former and current Media Lab faculty, staff, and students can edit or submit a publication reference, with or without the original publication attached, under these basic guidelines:

• It was authored by Media Lab-affiliated members.
• It was authored during active Media Lab affiliation.
  (Pre- and post- Media Lab work should not be submitted.)
• It can be posted to this archive, free of copyright violation.

PDF is the preferred format for submitting a document. Please be sure to reduce the file size before uploading.

The Media Lab Publications Archive needs your help: Media Labbers are encouraged to login and not only contribute documents, but help classify archived documents that are "uncategorized"—those that are not assigned a document type (e.g., thesis, technical report).