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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.

 

“Reverse Shadow Theatre is an installation created with the Animata real-time animation editor.

Wayang Kulit is the indonesian shadow puppet theatre, in which finely carved and painted leather puppets move behind a screen making the audiance see their shadows only. In our installation the situation is reversed. The role of the elaborate puppets is emphasized, while the visitor is a mere shadow trying to control the puppets by her movements.”

via WMMNA

We’ve placed a Mac Mini inside the bathroom with a Roomware server installed. This tracks all Bluetooth devices that walk into and out of this space. A neat application created in Flash using Papervision3D then ties a music sample to every Bluetooth device. Every time somebody with a mobile phone walks into the bathroom a certain instrument starts playing, like a drum, a harp or a saxophone. There are around 20 unique pieces of music that if played together are complimentary. This way a symphony of sounds is created every time people walk into and out of the bathroom. But visuals also play a large part in this. Each instrument is displayed as a primitive shape inside a 3D grid, which also moves in accordance to the sample it’s playing. A skybox of the actual physical location links the virtual and real together. There’s even a small legend that shows who is playing which instrument and what the Bluetooth name of his or hers device is. The result is stunning if we say so ourselves:

It’s a bit of a hassle to describe this application in word, so go and experience this great app for yourself.If you have time to swing by Keizersgracht 324 in Amsterdam this monday or tuesday, please take a leak!

Update: here’s a video walkthrough as well.

Apple is creating the future again with its partnership with Starbucks. What’s great is how the two can so easily support each other given the way they are organized. The basic problem they are solving is “How can you optimize drinks reaching people within a confined space (store/venue/booth)?”.

Apple can reach people with iPhones or iPodTouches via their infrastructure. They have the software (iTunes), the hardware (iPhones) and payment system (iTunes) and now partnership with a physical location and service provider(Starbucks).

Of course being one of the dudes behind the roomware project and although loving Apple for making great stuff, their remains that niggling question of whether this whole infrastructure could be more open? Could you do the same using Roomware Project code? Well perhaps. Certainly you need the right service providing partner who is willing to experiment. .

How this could happen? You need to be able to: receive the menu, need a mobile device that is the interface for making choices and send/receiving data, it would be nice if you could do payments automatically as money transactions are a big time hole, although not mandatory. You then need a partner willing to try this out. This is just a sketch, but it sure would be nice to get into a faster lane like we see in Starbucks (if you have an iPhone) or as happens when traveling and having a pre-printed boarding pass, stepping straight through customs.

So what do you think? Is this kind of problem something easily solved using our open source software (or that of other OS software providers) or are the hurdles just too high?

Orange has unveiled a gesture based interaction screen that has been produced by a UK agency on their behalf. The agency, known as The Alternative, said it was the first time such a display had been on show to the general public. The purpose of the technology is mainly as an advertising opportunity for Orange, but selecting your favorite music clips have never been so fun. Check out the clip to see what all the fuss is about. 

 

via gizmodo 

This video really is worth checking out if you want to see how furniture and interaction with screen-based technology and software services are about to arrive near a living room or winebar near you sometime soon. Kudos go to the team at Microsoft for pulling this off.

Included in the demonstration are: – showing how the table links devices to it, enabling easy routes like taking a picture with a bluetooth enabled camera, which immediately appears on surface screen and can then be further manipulated (send to friend, print, etc)
– a wine bar application to help select wine also with a gimmicky wine glass with RFiD or some such id technology so their is retention of object memory even when it is removed from the surface

Unveiled at the end of November, there’s a “Media Board” for displaying information about Cheonggyecheon along with a “Free Board” from iKorea that lets people email digital postcards to friends along with attaching a photo from the built-in camera.   

The media board is a large flat screen display with a multi-touch interface that allows the user to browse through pictures and videos. There are no instructions posted, so most people that I observed had problems at times with trying to interact with the media board. But if you’ve played around with an iPhone or seen a Microsoft Surface demo it uses similar gestures.