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Part One: An RFID-driven welcome application
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We installed 1 RFID Alien reader, at the entrance, on a walk-through arch. The arch reader’s signal was boosted by 4 antennas which are the white blocks.

We distributed simple conference name tag holders fitted with a thin passive RFID tag. These were connected to guests contact details – name, company, email address, LinkedIn. Beyond the arch we projected each name and company related to name card/tag detected. It would pick you up from about 3 meters from the screen. We calibrated it to pop your name a little before reaching the arch.

We also projected the same inside the exhibition space (as another projector was available), while on side monitors we showed a variation of the welcome screen with “person x, company x, has just entered this space”. These were turned off early due to mix-ups as there was a lot going on.

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Part deux: 2 physical “swap contact details” touchscreen consoles
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We placed the other two readers inside vertical touch screen units.

Your badge triggers your name to appear on the screen in a circle. The signal reached 2 meters. People in front of the unit blocked this reach signal working as a perfect damper to return only those in front of the screen to show up. Test, test. This is not really the best sequence series. Video would be great showing people interacting (coming soon).

As all participants had already given us their contact details before entering, we could easily hook people together. See the steps below. Pressing the central button sent emails to respective swappers. It worked! And of course there are a million add-ons that might be possible now, but heck this is just a prototype.

This project helped kick-start development of some new goodies for the Roomware Server. Due to the miserable software support we received from the RFID hardware suppliers, we were forced to write drivers for the RFID reader to communicate with the Roomware Server. So now the Alien reader is supported. What is the state of middleware for RFID? Anything else open source with lots of support for different readers? I assume that as we can read an Alien RFID reader that we are now supporting all Gen 2 UHF readers as that’s an RFID standard.

So this concludes this small case study on a social use of RFID in an exhibition/conference environment.

Oh and they went crazy with segways and smoke machines plus all those LEDs.

And a bit of a tour of the location via dutchcowboys, a dutch marketing and tech blog.

Thanks go to Tom for saving the day (once again!), as 4 people in the team were seriously ill during the crunch period(me included!), so not enough time to test and integrate. Also a big shout out to our collaborators and new special “Internet of Things” operations hit team, Tim and Maarten. All ran smoothly from about 6.30pm onwards. The guests responded very positively!!

My only dark moment was reflecting on the possible extinction of the business card and what that might mean for graphic design on small pieces of card. I was also slightly surprised by how some people used the application. I noticed people in their haste to show it off, clicking on 3 or 4 people they had just met and not really spoken to, pressing the connect button before receiving consent. It was game-like, youthful enthusiasm on show. Treating it as a game when you just meet people was probably due to the nature of the event, which was to show of cool technology. Some people might see this as “connection-lite”, or a new form of spam in which you see your spammer. Shy people will get their email address sent to a stranger who they did not really want to be associated with. Let’s implement that on/off button for RFID tags for people soon.

Team:
Project Management + RFID : Tim and Maarten of Innoviting
Registration web application: Rob van der Burgt – Asva
Roomware Server, database: Tom Burger of Mimic Media, Roomware Project
UI development: Mark Barcinski and Adrien JeanJean of BarcinskiJeanJean
Concept development and creative direction: James Burke of Alchemyst and Roomware Project

 

It’s great to get acknowledged for our project and that we are on to something that means more than just a marketing concept. Yesterday we picked up a major marketing award in the Netherlands, the Spin Awards, which was a triumph of content over spin. Thanks to the jury for realizing the potential of what we have unleashed.

Beste mobiele concept

Goud:
Bureau: Alchemyst i.s.m. The Roomware Project 
Opdrachtgever: Hyves
Titel: Hyves Roomware Gallery

Juryrapport:

De jury is onder de indruk van deze inzending die op alle drie de criteria, effectiviteit, interactie en vooral creativiteit bovenmatig scoort. Om te beginnen is het een oplossing die mensen en hun relaties centraal stelt en in tweede instantie de content. Hiermee spelen de makers heel goed in op de huidige onderstroom in onze samenleving en cultuur. De case geeft de gevoelswaarde van digitale media bij een “event” een krachtige impuls. Een win-win voor organisatoren en vooral voor de bezoeker die meteen in het event worden “gedompeld”, je bent meteen aanwezig en er actief bij betrokken. Een case met veel potentieel in de entertainment industrie en een leverage biedt in het gebruik van LIVE mobile streams vanaf mobile phones in deze entertainment industrie.