A new research project at MIT's Media Lab aims to turn every cell phone or PDA carrying member of the public into a podcaster, and every mobile device into a virtual podcasting studio.

The first reportedly working prototype was built on a Motorola A1000 cell phone, and is currently being tested in Spain as part of the Electronic Lens project. A live demo of the new project, which has been dubbed "RadioActive," should be available soon.

The RadioActive project, which Donath created with student Aaron Zinman, defines a large-scale asynchronous audio messaging system, or mobile audio forum. In this system, voice messages, which are short audio sound bytes, are exchanged between groups of users via mobile devices, like cell phones or PDAs, as a method of "discussion-on-demand."

Just like an email application or an RSS reader, RadioActive supplies its users with an inbox, which displays the first message of discussion threads that have been subscribed to or are contextually relevant. For instance, location may be one factor the system takes into account when determining contextual relevance. In this scenario, threads relating to New York City restaurants may appear in the inbox as the user walks around Manhattan.

See the full story on PCMag.com, MIT Plans To Convert Cell Phone Users Into Podcasters and flip through the photo slideshow.