Dorms Go Digital

Lost or stolen packages, missing DVD rentals, and misplaced ping-pong paddles are common problems in MIT dormitories. A Web-based software system for front-desk workers funded with $30,000 from the MIT-Microsoft iCampus partnership could help end these dorm-life quandaries.

Principal investigator Luxiou Chen '04 developed the system, FrontDesk, which does away with the dozens of binders dormitory workers use to keep track of equipment, video rentals, and residents' delivered packages.

The new software allows workers to easily record package deliveries, maintain lists of non-MIT visitors, and track movies and equipment that have been labeled with bar code stickers. To register the arrival of a package, for example, a worker searches for the recipient's name and clicks on an "add package" button. Then the system automatically notifies the recipient by e-mail that the package is waiting. The software also links to a database that records when packages arrive and when students retrieve them.

Speaking as a former front-desk worker, Chen says, "This is something that we've really been wanting for a long time; it's just that no one has ever gotten $30,000 to develop it." The beta system will be released this fall in Baker House, Burton-Conner, and McCormick Hall, but Chen hopes that it will eventually be adopted by other MIT dorms.