Story by Mark Owczarski
maowczar@syr.edu
Phone: 443-1068
Story ran in the April 13, 1998 Syracuse Record

 In its past life, the large, three-story white structure on the corner of Comstock Avenue and University Place housed SU's anthropology department and a fraternity, although not at the same time.

 Today, there are a number of colorful signs nailed to the side facing Comstock, a constant buzz of activity inside, and a hot tub parked on the front porch.

 Leftovers from its fraternity days? Not really.

 As one of the signs indicates, the building is now home to the Center for Really Neat Research (CRNR) at Syracuse University. Founded just two years ago, CRNR has become a mecca of imaginative thinking and cutting-edge research. Powerful new technologies that promise to revolutionize the way people interface with computers have been developed here by SU students, alumni and faculty.

 But identifying this house as the home of CRNR tells only part of its story. It's also believed to be the world's first "Cyberarium"-a collaborative environment that cultivates an awareness of and experimentation with communications interfaces. According to a statement on the group's Web site http://www.pulsar.org, it encourages interaction between individuals interested in these ideas "without the administrative, pedagogical or political dramas that can hinder true creativity."

 The idea for the Cyberarium came from David J. Warner, the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC) Nason Fellow, who moved his laboratory from California to the SU campus in 1996. As he and CRNR principal collaborator Edward Lipson, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, began to assemble their team of student researchers, Warner leased the building at 500 University Place. The plan was to create an environment that would foster the free flow and exchange of ideas and creativity in a way that can't be accomplished when living and working quarters are separate.

 A handful of people now live at the Cyberarium rent-free in exchange for their intellectual inventiveness, productivity and commitment.

 "The purpose for our Cyberarium is to do work which improves how humans use communications technology," explains Rik Rusovik, director of communications for and a resident of the Cyberarium. "Our hope is to make the world a better place through the unfettered creativity of users being fully engaged in the process of conceptualizing, designing and building methods for humans to interact with computers."

 "This house [has become] a medium for information exchange," adds Mike Konieczny, a 1997 graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts' industrial design program and another Cyberarium resident. "Here, you can have full-body experiences. This environment helps us approach unique problems in unique ways."

 Konieczny's words may explain why this house doesn't look like a typical research laboratory or college apartment. The Cyberarium is fully equipped with a basement workshop and electronic lab, computer work stations throughout the building, and a 10-megabyte high speed Internet connection. It also features tree trunks in the hallway, bungee chairs hanging from the ceiling, and a climbing wall-complete with cargo net-the height of a three-story staircase.

 "Because we're able to have new personal experiences at the Cyberarium, we can enhance our own personal perceptions," says resident Matt Carbone, also a 1997 industrial design graduate. "If you hope to create devices for persons with disabilities who perceive the world differently from you or me, you have to approach [your work] differently."

 Over the past year, the residents of the Cyberarium have devoted themselves to working with Eyal Sherman, 17, and Brooke Kendrick, 4, two local youths with severe physical disabilities. Using a combination of devices they created, the student researchers have given Brooke and Eyal an opportunity to break through their physical barriers and, using the computer as a voice, share their thoughts, talents and creativity with the world.

 "When you bring all these people together, you have talent that is capable of doing something really fantastic," says Konieczny. "With this [place] as a backdrop, synergy happens."

 Taresa Downey, a junior English major in the College of Arts and Sciences, moved into the Cyberarium last year when she was recruited to write and develop Web pages for the project. "Although we work separately on different aspects of a project, we have the ability to come together for the good of the project. This house helps make that happen."

 Downey encouraged her friend Amanda Stolarski, a senior computer graphics major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, to get involved. Although she doesn't live at the Cyberarium, Stolarski has her own room there, and is creating a five-minute, two- and three-dimensional animated video about what goes on in the Cyberarium.

 "There's real spontaneity here," says Rahul Panesar, an NPAC research assistant and Cyberarium resident. "We've created an environment to enhance our perceptual state. We've taken our environment and pushed it one step further."

 "The Cyberarium creates positive unpredictability" says Rusovik. "At the heart of the Cyberarium are imaginative and creative people who want to channel their penchant for technological development toward social good. Here, you can do that because you are free do what you want."