ExtrAct, a set of Internet-based, databasing, mapping and communications technologies for communities impacted by natural gas development, is a novel platform for community education and civic action.

Its objective is to create and distribute open-source, web-based tools for mapping, analyzing, and intervening in this industry based on supplementing data obtained from state and federal agencies with user generated reports, complaints, and experiences.

All of these tools, though accessible individually, will share information through a unified database. Given that these tools will be serving both urban and rural populations, we are also developing innovative paper and phone interfaces to the web-services. To develop these tools we are working with a network of lawyers, citizen’s alliances, national activist organizations and environmental health experts in Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Texas.

How might communities use it?
By geographically displaying the data, ExtrAct tools provide a textured sense of how issues related to oil and gas differ among the legal, social, and physical landscapes of various communities. Regional views and rates of complaints might differ significantly, or a company may behave differently depending on the legal, social and physical place. The ExtrAct system will hopefully illustrate those differences and provide the means for geographic communities to generate information about their own particular conditions as well as allow them to connect with, learn from, and act in concert with other geographic communities that share similar issues or engage with similar companies. Through the ExtrAct tools users will be able to contact other users with issues related to theirs as well as experts who may be able to assist them. Likewise experts interested in oil and gas will be able to contact community groups and individuals reporting information potentially useful to them.

The tools’ source-code will be licensed with a Creative Commons or an alternative free and open source software license to encourage continued adaptation and optimization of the tools themselves. Eventually we aim that the tools will be adopted, served and adapted by the community groups that use them rather than require any long-term support from MIT. We have code repository that is currently accessible upon request.

At what stage of development is it?
As part of the tools’ structure and to speed development to meet the emerging needs of communities in the booming Marcellus Shale region (including parts of Ohio, New York, West Virginia and Pennsylvania), we are staggering the rollout of the tools. First, we are deploying the primarily web-based tool, Landman Report Card, to the urban group we are working with in Cleveland; we hope to then spread the tool to other citizen’s groups in the Marcellus Shale area. We have also begun testing of LRC in community groups in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. We are currently working with communities in Ohio, New Mexico and Texas to develop a moderation system for LRC based on feed back received during testing. Once that moderation system is in place we will be going live with the site.

While rolling out LRC we are iteratively developing functions for another tool, Drill Well.

Selectricity is "voting machinery for the masses." It consists of a suite of tools to allow groups of people to make decisions using cutting-edge voting technologies. While most voting technology projects are geared to government-based decision-making, Selectricity aims to apply decades of voting research created for governments toward everyday decisions. The system emphasizes preferential decision-making, cryptographic means of voter verifiability, and algorithmically complex election methods.

How might communities use it?
It helps groups make better decisions, more easily. It allows voting, usually in form of ranking a list of choices in order of preference. It has been used for electing the boards of non-profit organizations and or choosing the officers of student groups. It is simple and fast enough to help a group decide where to go to dinner or when to have a meeting. It's flexible enough to be integrated into an outside website or used from a mobile phone.

At what stage of development is it?
Selectricity is under active development and new features are added each month. That said, currently released features have already seen thousands of users of a variety of types and are well tested. We understand that we're building election software and, as a result, we're very conservative about releasing new features. Everything on the "live" site is tested in a large number of real world environments over weeks or months. Additional testing of new features including kiosk mode and structured roll out of other new features developed in the first half of the year.

Code is available, under a free software and open source license, in our source code repository.

TimeLab 2100 is anugmented reality (AR) game. It was designed to create a participatory educational experience, leveraging existing AR technology in which participants consider and discuss local issues of scientific and societal significance and prompting civic media and citizen/political action.

TimeLab 2100: Game Description
It is the year 2100 and the TimeLab needs your help. Climate change has not been kind to Cambridge, Massachusetts, or the rest of the world. TimeLab researchers have determined that a pivotal election held in 2008 might have changed the course of history. As players in this AR game, your goal will be to research possible laws to put on the 2008 ballot (out of 17 possible laws, TimeLab can put 5 on the ballot). Players will factor in two things about each potential law:

1. Each law has a predetermined impact rating (low impact, medium impact, high impact)
2. Each law has a pre-determined popularity rating (unpopular, somewhat popular, very popular)--meaning how likely a law is to pass (reminder: players are just putting laws on the ballot, which still must be voted upon).

As players walk around outside, they meet virtual characters or get other virtual information to tell them about the laws. Then the players reconvene, review what they learned during the outside portion of the game, and prepare a thirty-second plea to the group in which they nominate potential laws. As each new law is mentioned, it is added to a 3x3 grid reminding the group of its impact/popularity. Once all groups have spoken, the non-nominated laws get put aside. Then each player (or team of players) gets ten minutes during which they decide where to cast their three votes. When the voting is complete, the whole group sees which laws got the most nominations. Then to account for whether a law is voted into legislation, a 20-sided dice is rolled to determine if votes pass (1/20 unlikely, 10/20 moderate likely, 19/20 very likely). Outcomes are read for each of the laws which DID pass.

Additional collaborators: Joshua Sheldon, Judy Perry, Marleigh Norton

How might communities use it?
Can be used to see what the impact of two competing proposals would mean to a neighborhood, town, campus, etc.

At what stage of development is it?
Deployed at the Cambridge science festival, a summer camp for students at MIT, and at the conference last summer.

The Open Park project looks to define an 'ideal' or at least improved model and practice for online collaborative news-reporting and -writing.

As newsrooms across the country and beyond are grappling with the new economic realities of reduced budgets and news media professionals are busy drafting and testing plans for new models of news production and distribution, the little-explored practice of 'Don't compete, collaborate!' is well worth considering.

Collaboration and the sharing of skills and resources have already proved in other professional spheres that it is a winning formula--one especially well adapted to these economically demanding times. It is thus only logical to explore what this new practice could do for the future of journalism.

At what stage of development is it?
Currently being developed, with field-testing due to start in the fall '09 semester with journalism students. Further development of online collaborative news-reporting tools for OP users, selection of candidates [journalism schools] for testing OP, building of journalism students' teams, development of four case studies for them to cover.