An update of my Project Description. The PDF document can be downloaded here:
Project Description.pdf
Introduction
Companies and governments show a lot of interest in Radio Frequency Identification: chips without battery sending a unique identifying code through radio waves. Especially the tracking and tracing industry realises it can benefit from this technique. Companies and governments expect a lot from this technique. RFID will not just be attached to pallets and boxes but will expand to everyday objects from clothing and food to passports and medication. A lot of data is collected about these objects. This data will not just refer to the history of the objects itself but can be referred directly to the users of these objects. In this situation people’s privacy will be in danger.
Organisations like CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion And Numbering) come up with these dark scenarios. It’s a way to create awareness but this way it’s also putting RFID in the very negative context of ‘Spy Chips’.
The end user has hardly any influence on what is done with the data. Great part of the negativity around RFID is created because of this. In order to create bright scenarios for RFID it’s important to give end users influence on both infrastructure and content of the system. A similar development can be seen with the world wide web.
The data collected with RFID tagged objects results in objects carrying their own ‘blog’ about their history with them. Designers of RFID systems determine what kind of information is included. I want to enable end users to decide what content is added and what objects will be tagged.
Project
My graduation project at the European Media Master of Arts course at the Utrecht School of Arts will be an Open Story Tool. Users will be able to stick RFID tags on objects of their choice. Then they will be able to associate multimedia narratives to them with a mobile device. The media files will be sent to and retrieved from a server on the network.
The mobility of the device would allow people to read other people’s stories, and write their own, wherever they go. Instead of deciding what kind of content users are allowed to add I want to give them total freedom.
At the graduation exposition I will present a room full of objects, each carrying it’s own story with an RFID sticker. Because RFID is quite new, the stories will be in the context of RFID as well. Carrying a mobile device embedded with an RFID reader visitors will be able to view the stories on screen by moving their mobile device close to the object. I’m emphasizing the open structure of the system by allowing visitors to photograph their own pictures and then adding them to an object of their choice.
To technically realise the mobile device I’m looking for a mobile device with imaging and network capabilities as well as an RFID reader. An HP iPAQ with WiFi for the server connection, a camera for imaging and an RFID reader to connect with the RFID tags would be a perfect platform.