Finding Coffee and Walking Through Your Email
Sometimes computer science research is not about solving the most serious problems in the world. Sometimes it is just about trying an idea to see where it will take you. Microsoft Research has over 700 researchers who look into all sorts of things. Every year they have an event called Tech Fest where they highlight what they have been doing and show it to other Microsoft employees. Think about it as a super science fair were all the projects have been done by PhDs.
While most of the show is just for employees (one of these days I really want to get to go) some of the exhibits are shown to invited media people. The Seattle P-I has some stories about some of these exhibits that give a taste of the different ways research can go.
One story is about a trial of a new user interface device - a step pad. While in it's research phase is seems mostly a fun toy application think about how it could be applied to other, more serious things. Things like people who need to use their hands for other things or who can't use their hands at all. How might something like this change the way they work?
A second story is about using location information from different sources. In this case a database with locations of coffee shops and infromation about where the user is from GPS to locate the way to the nearest coffee shop. This again is actually more seriously about using different kinds of devices to communicate with the user. The application may seem fun and not very important (unless you really need your morning Starbucks) but there is serious research involved.
Who says that research has to be all boring and stuffy?
