The Future of the Alice Project

Research, News

The circumstances surrounding Randy Pausch have been both remarkable and moving. Randy’s talk in the university’s Journeys Lecture Series (formerly the “Last Lecture Series” — a most fitting venue) was watched live by hundreds of people on campus and thousands all over the world. The video has been downloaded by countless numbers. It is clear now that Randy’s approach to life and death is affecting people in ways that even he could never have imagined.

Diane Sawyer’s interview on Good Morning America has generated responses by millions of people, causing ABC News to name Randy Pausch its Person of the Week. I’ve received unsolicited comments from many of our colleagues at CS departments nationwide, as I’m sure many of you have. Reading through some of the comments posted on the web at various sites, such as ABC News, I am amazed at how such a brief encounter with Randy has affected people. We should feel thankful to have be so closely associated with Randy Pausch, and for so many years.

With Randy’s impending departure there are two major questions involving CSD. The first is the status of the Alice Project, and the second is the nature of our relationship with the Entertainment Technology Center. In this article I will focus on Alice.

Status and plans for Alice v3

One of the fortunate aspects of Randy’s situation is that he has been given time, while in good health, to plan for his departure. In fact, for most of the past year Randy has been thinking about how to ensure the successful completion of Alice (version 3) in the event of his departure. He has interacted with many people in SCS and in Warner Hall to develop and implement a plan. As a bit of background, the currently available version of Alice is version 2. This piece of software is enabling thousands of children and adults to learn how to write computer programs through activities that are akin to storytelling or game playing. Alice v2 has been extremely successful. There are 5 textbooks on Alice v2 (one written by Wanda Dann, Stephen Cooper, and Randy Pausch), and about 10% of the nation’s colleges have ordered copies. The impact on middle schools and high schools is also significant, particularly with girls.

The current project, Alice version 3, is a major step forward from version 2. With a grant from Electronic Arts, the entire character and animation database for The Sims has been given to the project. This will allow Alice v3 to have artwork and animation from the world’s most popular computer game. Another major feature will be support for programming in Java. This is crucial not only for fitting in with high school curricula but also to provide support for and instruction in data structures, something missing in Alice v2.

One of Randy’s fervent wishes is that the Alice v3 project is able to be completed. After considerable discussion, I’ve become convinced that the best hope for doing this is to keep the team we have here at CMU together, and provide continued support for the team. Besides the money and space to keep the team alive, there are critical questions of Electronic Arts’ continued support. And most important, who would provide the leadership for the project, in Randy’s absence? Let me address each of these issues in turn.

• The team working on Alice v3 is called Stage 3. You can see a list of people involved at the Alice project web site. (Note that Don Slater’s name doesn’t appear, although he has also been working closely with the group.) The project currently has adequate space and money to last it about a year to a year and a half. Looking ahead, the new textbook and system may take on the order of two years to complete, and then another two years or so to propagate the system, conduct studies, etc. So, while the funding needs aren’t immediate, they are fairly significant. After consulting with many of you individually, I’ve committed CSD to seek the financial support for the project, and this commitment has been joined by HCII and the Dean. Furthermore, the university administration, including President Cohon himself, is actively seeking funds. Finally, Randy’s approach to the situation has been so inspirational that a number of friends of the university (both individuals and companies) are mobilizing to raise the money we need. I will continue to be worried about raising the money we need, but many people are working on this and I am guardedly optimistic.

One desire I have is to be able to tell Randy, before he leaves us permanently, that we have raised all the money needed to finish the project. We’ll see if we can do that.

• On the second issue of Electronic Arts’ support, we have had very good interactions with our primary point of contact at EA, Steve Seabolt. (You will remember Steve as the close friend of Randy’s who gave one of the introductions at Randy’s lecture.) Steve was given a technical status report on the Alice v3 project, including a demo, and a summary of our plans to finish the project. Steve was extremely supportive and helpful, and pledged EA’s continued support for the project at CMU.

• On the third issue of leadership, we have decided to ask one of Randy’s primary collaborators on Alice, Wanda Dann, to join the Computer Science Department faculty and see the project through to completion. Wanda has collaborated for quite some time with Randy and is a coauthor on their Alice v2 textbook. She is also here at CMU this year on a sabbatical. After consulting with several of you, I made an offer to Wanda as an Associate Teaching Professor in the Computer Science Department for a term of 3 years, starting on July 1, 2008 (i.e., starting immediately at the end of her sabbatical). She would carry a half teaching load, nominally teaching 50 students per semester and then spending the other half of her time managing the Alice project. I note that Wanda would be resigning from her tenured professorship at Ithaca College in order to do this.

In my interactions with Randy and observations of the Stage 3 group, it is clear that Wanda has already established a clear management and leadership role, and during the past few months while Randy was distracted with his fight with cancer Wanda was de facto the leader of the group. Fortunately, also, the team chemistry appears to be very good. I am extremely pleased that Wanda will be able to join us and help us carry the Alice project forward. I am equally pleased that the whole team has remained so firmly committed to the project. I have high hopes for it. I hope that you will all welcome Wanda into our department. In my dealings with her, it becomes clearer that she could have a lot to contribute to us.

Peter Lee @ September 26, 2007