Thank you for visiting the Media Lab website. The Media Lab was developed with the intention of preparing the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication for today's rapidly changing communication environment. The main rationale behind this lab is that we, as Communication scholars, should not merely be reactive to changes, but also proactive in preparing our students and faculty to maximize their participation in leading some of these changes. Students and faculty can now move forward in the collaborative testing and development of new communication technologies - technologies which have an interdisciplinary aspect that can integrate a wide range of ideas and interests.

Currently, the Media Lab facility is being used for development and testing of computer software for experiments and data analysis; conducting on-site and internet-based experiments; and serving web-based communication/collaboration facilities for practical use by students and faculty.

Potential and planned uses for the future in terms of faculty/student research and development include web-based supplemental course work design; web-based software design for research (related to new media); and experimenting with new web-based ideas (Online Newspapers, Online Campaign, and Online Research such as data gathering and reporting).

The facility in terms of equipment, consists of two fast, heavy duty workgroup servers (one Linux and one Windows 2000), eight thin clients, a heavy duty laser printer, and a scanner. The thin clients can run both Linux and Windows. In addition, a number of commercial programming, multimedia, and data processing softwares have been installed for use in the lab.

Future expansion in terms of additional equipment and software has been planned.