Digital technology offers dramatic new ways for developing and expressing ideas. Information need not be constrained to a particular medium, but can flourish in dynamic and multiple media. Ideas can flow, be freed from ownership and embark on their own adventure. Media themselves become modes of engagement - collaboration and interaction are easier than ever before.

metaMedia@Stanford was formed as a group of academics, software engineers, artists and designers to provide tools for the development and expression of ideas, for creative and collaborative authorship in the Arts and Humanities. These tools are designed to free content and provoke thought, with an emphasis upon transparency and ease of use. The aim is enrichment and enchantment - the adventure of ideas.

metaMedia projects fall into three categories:
- basic research and development of generic technologies that can be used across a wide range of Arts and Humanities;
- applied research and development, using digital technology with specific material;
- theory building in relation to new digital media and underpinning metaMedia's research and development.

metaMedia's founding directors are Michael Shanks, Professor, Stanford Archaeology Center, and Joseph Adler, CEO, Instinct Corporation, an educational software company. Their partnership promises the effective and creative merger of the Academy and the Digital technology industry.