Kurt von Laven

I found Medialab thanks to Jacob Wittenberg, who, at the time of this writing, studies at Stanford University in the United States, like me.  The Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) gave us the opportunity to spend a trimester in Madrid, and the class Integration into Spanish Society: Service Learning and Professional Opportunities, taught by Professor Sheila Klaiber, gave us the opportunity to spend part of that trimester as interns.  There were many organizations in which I could have completed the internship, but only Medialab, which Jacob had discovered and recommended to Professor Klaiber for future students, offered the possibility of undertaking an independent project.

I had been wanting to develop an alternative to passwords for months, and I was excited to do so at Medialab.  I would never have imagined such an interdisciplinary and flexible community.  Everyone was always disposed to smile and offer support.  Even though I usually came with the intention to program, sometimes the discussions were too interesting to ignore.  Through BOSP, I had many means by which to get to know Spain, but a debate over the relationship between the internet and activism, Redada 6 proved my best teacher, because it let me hear innovative ideas from freethinking Spaniards.  I came to better appreciate the value of freedom of expression and open-source code.

For that reason I decided to publish the source code from my project, entitled SyneSafe.  The application and its source code will be available online until June 2012.  The prototype demonstrates how some synesthetes innate associations with colors could be leveraged to develop strong, memorable passwords.

Many thanks to everyone at Medialab for giving me my best experience in Spain and I wish you all much luck.