Worker placement games are beloved by modern board gamers. The act of placing cubes or discs in factories or farms to increase production and profit is certainly enticing, but what do the workers want? Are they being played? What if we instead make games that promote worker rights? In this two-day workshop, we explore the role of workers in boardgames through play and presentations.Morningside Academy for Design and MIT Game Lab invite you to a Two-Day Workshop . Each day begins with a presentation followed by playing of games curated by the MIT Game Lab. On Thursday, Mikael Jakobsson from MIT Game Lab will talk about workers in board games from a critical design perspective. On Friday, John du Bois, the designer of the game Striking Flint will talk about why and how he makes games. Come and play with us!Thursday Jan 30 12-1pm Presentation Zoom Link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91287160644 Mikael Jakobsson "Playing Workers – The Mechanics and Politics of Worker Representation in Board Games" 1-5pm Gameplay with John Du Bois and the MIT Game LabFriday Jan 31 10-11am Presentation Zoom Link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92614107506 A Conversation with John Du Bois hosted by Mikael Jakobsson 11am-5pm Gameplay with John Du Bois and the MIT Game LabMore information about the presentations: https://gamelab.mit.edu/iap-2025-playing-workers-the-mechanics-and-politics-of-worker-representation-in-board-games/

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is seeking solutions to reconnect the city with the riverfront, proposing floating parks, highway coverings, and layered urban interventions. This workshop invites participants to envision innovative designs—such as bridges, floating structures, or highway coverings—that reunite the city with its landscape. The project integrates architecture, infrastructure, landscape, and climate considerations, addressing urban interventions to enhance seamless access to the riverfront. Projects can be developed individually or in groups using images, panels, models, or videos. Students in civil engineering, architecture (undergraduate or graduate), or related fields are welcome to explore ideas from conceptual design to master planning. Guidance will include virtual and in-person sessions with guest lecturers and critics. The aim of this course is to exhibit material together in Seoul in 2025.Students should bring laptop to all sessions with Rhinoceros installed.

Title: Synthesis and perception of sounds from physical interactions reveals auditory intuitive physicsSpeaker: Vinayak Agarwal Abstract: Object interactions – collisions, scraping and rolling – create many of the sounds that we hear in the world around us. These sounds are generated via lawful physical dynamics. Anecdotally, humans possess some intuitive knowledge of the physical generative processes underlying sound production, but little is known about the extent and nature of this knowledge. This thesis characterizes the auditory perception of physical object interactions, making three main contributions. First, we develop realistic contact sound synthesis tools, in part via large-scale measurements of object acoustics. Second, we show that humans solve ill-posed problems of inferring object mass and damping by using internalized knowledge of the distribution of object resonances. Third, we provide evidence for “auditory intuitive physics” in which human listeners derive physical information through sound, maintain it over time in object representations, and compare it across sensory modalities.

Registration is now open!Before the start of each semester, TLL offers a series of workshops for TAs and teacher trainees to help them prepare for the roles and responsibilities of the position of teaching at MIT. Topics include giving feedback, presenting a class session, and facilitating office hours, among other practical subjects related to teaching. Please visit our Teaching Days page to view the full schedule and location for each of the workshops . Register via CanvasPlease note that the IAP 2025 Teaching Days schedule includes a mix of in-person and online sessions.

Design, build and test your own laptop-based radar capable of forming Doppler, range and synthetic aperature radar (SAR) images. Must register by 1/22/2025Dates: Jan 27th, 29th, 31stTime: 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM ESTLocation: 33-419Registration Opens: November 25, 2024To register email: kenneth.koloddziej@ll.mit.edu

Oscar Volpe, University of Chicago