Flavia Sparacino is an American-based space maker and scientist. She is currently CEO/Founder of Sensing Places, a

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...

spinoff that specializes in immersive space design and technology. Influenced by

Professor

Alex Pentland Alex Paul "Sandy" Pentland (born 1951) is an American computer scientist, HAI Fellow at Stanford, Toshiba Professor at MIT, and serial entrepreneur. Education Pentland received his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and obtaine ...

and Glorianna Davenport, Sparacino was one of the first people to develop

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

, virtual studios,

Kinect Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB color model, RGB cameras, and Thermographic camera, infrared projectors and detectors that map dep ...

applications,

wearable computing A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches. Wearables may be for general ...

, and multi-touch technology.

Biography

Sparacino was part of the

from 1994 – 2002 and received her PhD in Media Arts and Sciences at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 2002. She also holds Masters in Cognitive Sciences and Media Arts and Sciences, and degrees in Electrical Engineering and Robotics.

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

granted her 13 technology licenses for her inventions, one of the highest numbers of intellectual property licenses ever awarded to one person. Sparacino holds more than a 1000 academic paper citations for her contribution to entertainment technology and gesture-driven interactive environments. Italian-born, she was nominated Knight of the Republic of Italy in 2000 for her numerous contributions to innovative communication of art and culture supported by

emerging technologies Emerging technologies are technology, technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized. These technologies are generally innovation, new but also include old technologies finding new applications. Emer ...

. Sparacino was awarded the Women in Tech Awards America for Arts in 202

Work

Through her company Sensing Places, Sparacino specializes in providing innovation consulting for large companies, business strategies for technology products, customized technology for the next-generation retail stores, showroom architecture and design, and designing futuristic museum exhibits and pavilions. She is also the founder of two

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...

product companies - Presentize and Beam, which were built to overcome the challenge many businesses face of not being able to share and display content on screens quickly and easily. Her background covers ambient and body sensors, statistical mathematical models, interactive

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

, and

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

. Her work on

gesture recognition Gesture recognition is an area of research and development in computer science and language technology concerned with the recognition and interpretation of human gestures. A subdiscipline of computer vision, it employs mathematical algorithms to ...

and body-driven dance, music, and gaming applications came 12 years before the launch of

Microsoft Kinect Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light o ...

and 5 years before Spielberg's Minority Report movie was released, as documented by the Discovery Channel feature on her work. Sparacino built

wearable computers A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches. Wearables may be for general ...

and sensors for use in museums and performance spaces almost 10 years before the launch of

Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a discontinued brand of smart glasses developed by Google's X Development (formerly Google X), with a mission of producing a ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using a head-u ...

. Sparacino designed museum installations for

MOMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

SFMOMA The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art, and has b ...

, the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...

, Milan's La Scala Opera theater, the

National Museum of American Jewish History The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum at 101 South Independence Mall East (S. 5th Street) at Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. It was founded in 1976. History With ...

, and the MIHL (Museo Interactivo de la Historia de Lugo). She designed interactive spaces for

Gehry Partners Frank Owen Gehry ( ; ; born February 28, 1929) is a Canadian-American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. Gehry rose to prominence in the ...

Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid Architects is a British architecture and design firm founded by Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), with its main office situated in Clerkenwell, London. After the death of " starchitect" Hadid, Patrik Schumacher became head of the firm. At ...

, the FX Luxury Developers Group in Las Vegas, and the governments of Dubai and Qatar. She designed

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

Italy's headquarter showroom inclusive of visitor and content management software and interactive installations. Sparacino was cited by Anna Italian Magazine as "one of the leading Italian women scientists' who are following along the footsteps of

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

Winner,

Rita Levi-Montalcini Rita Levi-Montalcini ( , ; 22 April 1909 – 30 December 2012) was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor ( ...

, for her work that connects art and culture." She is a regular speaker and panelist at conferences including

American Alliance of Museums The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals w ...

, SEDG, and Los Angeles Idea Project and has had her work featured in ''The Boston Globe'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal,'' and the ''Discovery Channel.''

Projects and inventions

Early work

Sparacino released a thesis in 2003 on ''Sto(ry)chastics: A Bayesian Network Architecture for User Modeling and Computational Storytelling for Interactive Spaces''. Her work was guided by understanding people's preferences in an unobtrusive manner so as to present them only with relevant information at the right time. In 2000, she created the first museum wearable which used real-time sensor-driven technology to create a personalized

experience for the visitor. Later that year she developed interactive space software architecture for dance, theater, and museum exhibits which was used in conjunction with real-time computer-vision-based body tracking and

techniques to choreograph digital media together with human performers or museum visitors. Her ''Narrative Spaces: bridging architecture and entertainment via interactive technology'' project in 2002 described technological platforms built at the

, through 1994-2002, that contribute to defining new trends in architecture that merge virtual and real spaces, and are reshaping. In 2004 Sparacino created ''Scenographies of the past and museums of the future: from the wunderkammer to body-driven interactive narrative spaces.'' This project included numerous innovative technological solutions adopted for the exhibit: "

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

Set Designer" organized with the support and collaboration of Milan's renown

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

opera theater. In 2005 her ''Museum Intelligence: Using Interactive Technologies for Effective Communication and Storytelling'' project developed a series of high-end interactive technologies designed to support the communication needs and strategies of the

Set Designer museum exhibit.

Recent work

In 2010 Sparacino worked on the Museo Interactivo de la Historia de Lugo project in Galicia, Spain. Her design showcased the latest sensing technologies that allow visitors to engage with the stories on display through immersive embodied interactions. She designed a highly theatrical space in which technology animates historical characters and places to foster playful learning driven by the public's own spontaneous curiosity and engagement. Sparacino collaborated with

in 2011 on the

National Art Museum of China The National Art Museum of China (NAMOC; ) is the national art museum of China and one of the largest art museums in the nation. Located in Beijing and opened since 1963, it is a level-1 public welfare institution funded by the Ministry of Cultur ...

project (NAMOC). Inspired by the ancient Chinese art of

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

, her contribution involved designing large-scale interactive projections that transformed the museum floor into beautifully rendered calligraphic brushstrokes that guided visitors through the exhibits. A mobile application was also created to conduct customized tours based on a visitor's preferences. In 2012 she worked with KR Architects to create the winning bid for the Museum of Contemporary Architecture (MoCA) in Hangzhou, China. In this project Sparacino designed a reconfigurable street using two parallel screens up to six meters high and concealed projectors to reproduce the experience of walking in a major city. In 2013 Sparacino worked with

Vodafone Italy Vodafone Italy is an Italian telecommunications company part of Fastweb + Vodafone, as a subsidiary of Italian telecommunications group Fastweb. The company's headquarters are in Ivrea ( TO) and Milan. Founded in 1994 as Omnitel, in 2001, fo ...

An Experiential Customer Journey with Vodafone
https://segd.org/], 2015 to design, engineer, and develop software for an invite-only 10,000 sq feet interactive showroom to creatively unveil new enterprise products to CEOs, high-level executives, city officials, and journalists. The showroom articulated the experience through eight different interactive environments controlled by a dedicated software running on a tablet. Her custom mobile user interface and back-end server software allowed for easy content management and controls of all screens, audio, and lighting levels in all areas of the showroom.

References

External links

Sensing Places Website

Presentize Website

Beam Software Website

Discovery Channel's Augmented Reality - featuring Flavia Sparacino

* ttps://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/videos/11783 Life on board Volvo XC90 - Jaime & Flavia

Women in Tech Awards America for Arts {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparacino, Flavia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Businesspeople from Los Angeles 21st-century Italian scientists Place of birth missing (living people) Italian emigrants to the United States Flavia Sparacino Gesture recognition