Project Voyager : Building an Internet Presence for People , Places , and Things

Project Voyager builds applications that link virtual services to people, places, and things. This thesis describes the design and implementation of two such systems. The MIT Campus Guide application provides services for specific points of interests. Campus visitors used the system to interact with different sites—for example, a restaurant, a lecture hall, or a sculpture. The Voyager Personal Shopping Assistant (PSA) connects shoppers in a supermarket to virtual services, linked to specific products. Customers used handheld computers to scan products. The system retrieved relevant information from the Internet about each item, including recipes, nutritional information, and related product recommendations. Project Voyager successfully deployed both systems and conducted informal user trials. User feedback confirmed our belief that people derive significant value from interacting with information that is relevant to them.