IEEE Computer Society and GBC/ACM

7:00 PM, Thursday, 29 April 2010

MIT Room E14-633

The Next Net: Reality Mining for Honest Signals

Prof. Alex `Sandy' Pentland, MIT

We have invented the technology of reality mining, which uses sensor data to extract subtle patterns that predict future human behavior. These predictive patterns begin with "honest signals," human behaviors that evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, and which are major factors in human decision making in everything from job interviews to first dates. Management insights based on Honest Signals were Named a "Breakthrough Idea of 2009" by Harvard Business Review. By using data from mobile phones and other electronic devices to track these honest signals, we can create a "god's eye" view of how the people interact, and even "see" the rhythms of interaction for everyone in a city. Business Week declared this new view of human life to be `the next Net' and Newsweek described it as `the next Google.'

Professor Alex (“Sandy”) Pentland is a pioneer in organizational engineering, mobile information systems, and computational social science. Sandy's focus is the development of human-centered technology and the creation of ventures that take this technology into the real world. He directs MIT's Human Dynamics Lab, helping companies become more productive and creative through organizational engineering, and the Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, which helps translate cutting-edge technology into real-world impact around the world. He is among the most-cited computer scientists in the world; in 1997 Newsweek magazine named him one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.

This joint meeting of the Boston Chapter of the IEEE Computer Society and GBC/ACM will be held in MIT Room E14-633.  E14 is the new Media Lab building on the corner of Ames and Amherst Sts. Come check out the auditorium in this new building. You can see it on this map of the MIT campus.

Up-to-date information about this and other talks is available online at https://ewh.ieee.org/r1/boston/computer/. You can sign up to receive updated status information about this talk and informational emails about future talks at https://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/ieee-cs, our self-administered mailing list.

For more information contact Peter Mager (p.mager AT computer.org)

Updated: Feb 19, 2010.