This RFP has been awarded. To view the award recipients, see Digital Memories (Memex) 2005 RFP Awards.

Background
In 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote an article called “As We May Think,” in which he posited Memex: “a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.” Memex was to have virtually unlimited memory. It would support annotations and what we would now call hyperlinks.

Memex has been an inspiration for the past 50 years. Hypertext researchers from the 1960s onwards flocked to its banner. Jim Gray’s Turing award lecture proposed a dozen research goals, one of which was “Personal Memex: Record everything a person sees and hears, and quickly retrieve any item on request.”

As digital storage capacity has blossomed in recent years, so has research aimed at personal storage. Examples include Haystack, LifeStreams, and the Remembrance Agent. At Microsoft Research, Stuff I’ve Seen, Sapphire and MyLifeBits have tackled the problem. In October of 2004, the first ACM Workshop on Continuous Archival and Retrieval of Personal Experiences sold out and generated strong enthusiasm, leading to a special issue in IEEE Multimedia. Interest in this topic has also been demonstrated by the success of the Memory and Sharing of Experiences workshop at Pervasive 04, the DARPA Assist program and the UK Memories for Life grand challenge proposal.

Goals & Objectives
Building on Vannevar Bush’s “memex” vision, the Digital Memories (Memex) research kit gives a jump-start to perform research around storing all of an individual’s lifetime information, novel capture methods (for example, Bush’s head-worn stereo camera), linking of information, and use of meta-data. The Digital Memories (Memex) research kit includes a SenseCam, a camera enhanced by sensors to automatically take pictures at “good” times and a software package that includes collaboration with the Microsoft Research MyLifeBits, VIBE, and Phlat groups. It has database storage for many types of objects, and it supports capture of files, Web pages, IM chat sessions, e-mail, GPS, and SenseCam. It has logging software to track window, keyboard, and mouse activity that can simplify user testing as well as providing useful information for the user. It is easy to plug new visualizations into the Digital Memories (Memex) shell or to build new applications that directly access the database.

We invite all proposals that deal with the fundamental aspects of the Digital Memories (Memex) research kit, including capture, annotation, links between items, and extensive use of metadata. The context should be personal lifetime storage, but other cases will be considered if the potential cross-over technology is compelling enough. Some of the topics related to research kit include:

• Capture/sensors (e.g., scanning, wearable, embedded, different kinds of sensors, robotic assistance), experiential sampling
• Data storage, management, organization, and retrieval
• Insight: content analysis and data mining
• User interface issues, including: visualization, authoring, story-telling, annotation
• Applications: e.g., personal museum, health-support, childcare, research tools, meeting capture
• Security, privacy, and legal issues

Awards
Each award will include the Digital Memories (Memex) software and two SenseCams.

The total amount available under this request for proposals (RFP) is $350,000 (US). Microsoft Research anticipates making approximately 6–9 awards, with a maximum of $50,000 for any single award. All awards will be made in $US as unrestricted gifts to the institution with the understanding that recipients should provide Microsoft Research with suitable progress reports at least twice yearly.

Awards under this program are for one year only, but may be renewable at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research.

Eligibility
Conditions of eligibility listed below will be strictly adhered to, so please read them carefully. Proposals not meeting all these criteria will not be considered.

1. The proposing institution must be an accredited four-year college or university with non-profit status.
2. An institution will be awarded a maximum of one gift per RFP, regardless of the number of proposals submitted from the institution. However, collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across the organization are encouraged.
3. Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, request funds in excess of the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the terms and conditions of this RFP will, at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research, be excluded from consideration.
4. Proposals from on or behalf of persons participating in the evaluation process for this RFP will not be considered.
5. Proposals should evidence a commitment to make all results arising from a funded project (including all intellectual property in those results) broadly available by either: (i) dedicating such results to the public domain; or (ii) making the results available under a non-restrictive license that allows modification and redistribution without any significant restrictions or conditions, such as the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html. Proposals should further evidence willingness to contribute any resulting curriculum material to the MSDN Academic Alliance Curriculum Repository at http://msdnaa.net/curriculum.
6. RFP Recipients will attend at least one Digital Memories (Memex) RFP workshop to present and discuss their project. Funding for travel to be included in the award.

Submission Process
Proposals will be accepted in electronic form only at http://microsoft.redwhale.com. Proposals submitted to Microsoft will not be returned. Microsoft cannot assume responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted or sensitive. Microsoft reserves the right to make public proposals that receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.

The submission process includes two parts:

1. Brief summary and contact information. Applicants must provide full contact information for principal investigators, amount requested and a brief abstract. This information will be submitted through a web form as part of the submission process.
2. Complete proposal containing full detail on the proposed project. 7 pages maximum, 10-point font or larger, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Proposals should fully address each of the items listed below under separate numbered headings.

1. Problem Statement — What is the problem area addressed by the proposal and why is it important? What is the potential contribution to the field of the project if successful? Cite relevant work in the field as appropriate.
2. Expected outcomes — What tangible assets, if any, will be created or produced as a result of the proposed project? How will the results of this project be disseminated to others?
3. Schedule — When is the project to be completed? What milestones will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed? (If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only).
4. Use of Funds — Provide a high-level budget ($US) describing how the award will be used, including purchases of hardware or software, salaries, and other costs.
5. Amount of SenseCams — List the number of SenseCams requested and how they will be used in the project.
6. Dissemination and Evaluation — How will the results of this project be evaluated (if appropriate), and how will they be disseminated to others? Under what general license terms will the results be made available?
7. Other Support — Including other contributions to this project (cash, goods or services), if any, but not including such things as use of university facilities otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Please note: authors of winning proposals will be required to submit an original letter on department letterhead certifying the commitment of any additional or matching support described in the proposal.
8. Qualifications of Principal Investigator — Include a brief description of any relevant prior research, teaching, publication or other professional experience. A detailed vita or list of publications is not required.
9. Secondary Plan: Interest in HW/SW package only (optional) — In the case that the proposal isn’t selected as one of the RFP recipients, would the PI like to obtain the hardware and software? Briefly describe if/how the proposal would change.

Selection Process and Criteria
All proposals received will be reviewed by Microsoft Research and eligible proposals will be evaluated by a panel of subject-matter experts chosen by Microsoft Research. All evaluations will be conducted anonymously. Based on evaluations by the review panel, Microsoft Research will select the most worthy proposals for funding. Microsoft Research reserves the right to fund winning proposals at an amount greater or less than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum amount for individual awards. Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft Research cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.

All proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:

1. Well-defined goals and objectives that, if achieved, have the potential to have a significant research impact.
2. Potential for wide dissemination and use of intellectual property created, including specific plans for publications, conference presentations, distance learning, etc., as well as plans to distribute content in multiple formats or languages.
3. Ability to complete the project, including the adequacy of resources available, reasonableness of timelines, and number and qualifications of identified contributors.
4. Qualifications of principal investigator, including previous history of work in the trustworthy computing area, successful completion of previous funded projects, teaching awards, books published, etc.

Schedule and Deadlines

Additional Resources

Microsoft Research MyLifeBits Project
http://research.microsoft.com/research/barc/MediaPresence/MyLifeBits.aspx

Microsoft Research SenseCam Project
http://research.microsoft.com/sendev/project_sensecam.aspx

Microsoft Research VIBE Team
http://research.microsoft.com/research/vibe/

Microsoft Research Memex Summit (Digital Memories Workshop) Video Library
http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayseries.aspx?pID=868&fID=2216

Please address any questions to urinq@microsoft.com. Please put “Memex RFP” in the subject line of your e-mail message to ensure a prompt and proper response.
 

Microsoft Word version of this document