Digital Media Street: The City as Product Laboratory Michael L.

Joroff, Dennis Frenchman Thomas Campanella, Anthony Townsend, Alexis Bennett Massachusetts Institute of Technology November 1, 2002 One of the most exciting aspects of Digital Media City is the opportunity it presents to create a real-time urban laboratory in which a range of emerging media technologies may be field-tested and refined. As a flagship new town in the world's foremost techsavvy city, Digital Media City can take a lead role in the development and refinement of personal and community digital information technologies. The development of Digital Media City presents a unique opportunity to create a new kind of digital media laboratory where homes, schools, and the workplace all become parts of a great urban experiment in 21 century living. Combining the innovative prowess of Korea's existing media and information technology sectors with the technological sophistication of Seoul's cosmopolitan population, DMC will be a place where the world watches digital media be seamlessly woven into all aspects of business, personal and community life. Laboratory DMC can improve the quality of the lives of those who reside, work in, and visit the DMC by making available a unique variety of services and experiences. Laboratory DMC will provide a test bed and showcase for innovative services and products and will, because of its scale, promote the Korean spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation as well as make this spirit known around the world. The scope for innovation is limitless. The central boulevard of DMC has been envisioned as a Digital Media Street in which a host of exciting new enablers can be launched, studied and refined. The most promising of these "mediate" between the bricks-and-mortar city and the invisible network of information. Bits will be rejoined with bricks, and bring the city alive with place-specific knowledge and information. The digital mediation of the DMC's homes and workplaces can also enhance the ability of people to more fully function and respond to the complexities of life. With new products, services and systems, the home can become the digitally connected center for all of family life, education, entertainment and health care. And, with similar developments, the mediated workplace can blend physical and virtual space, allowing people to do more creative knowledge work and work anytime, anyplace and with geographically distributed teams -- a requirement of our fast-paced, global economy. The challenge is to both develop innovative services and products and to create systems that can integrate what are now highly fragmented offerings.