Microsoft Research has launched a new, interdisciplinary research center – MSR New England – in Cambridge, MA. I’ve found out about this from danah boyd, who is joining the center. danah writes:
Jennifer and Christian’s vision for the lab aligned with my view of research. They believe in interdisciplinary work, believe in the ways that new ideas can come from unexpected collaborations. While I know a lot of social scientists who curl their nose at the idea of a lab full of physicists, mathematicians, and economists, I find that quite appealing.
Microsoft describes the lab as “pursuing new, interdisciplinary areas of research that bring together core computer scientists and social scientists to understand, model, and enable the computing and online experiences of the future.” This is great news for danah, a huge win for Microsoft, and another really exciting research center on the East Coast. I’ll be keeping my eye on Microsoft and IBM.
Fred Stutzman is a doctoral student, researcher and teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science. He studies how people use social media.
