Giving a voice to the inanimate
The ability to add context to everyday things is just rolling right along. On Springwise today I saw this story about TOTeM, or Tales of Things and Electronic Memory. How it works, briefly:
People donating items at an Oxfam store in Manchester were asked to tell a story about the object into a microphone, including when and where they acquired it and any personal stories associated with it. The audio clips were linked to an RFID tag and QR code and items tagged with a story were added to the shop's stock as part of the in-store exhibition. Visitors to the shop used their own smart phone or a bespoke RFID reader to listen to the stories through speakers in the shop, and were invited to purchase the story-tagged objects.
It appears this the concept behind this isn't super-new (not old either) but I like the idea of being able to imbue materials with context and information beyond what it obvious from the surface. Having context on second-hand items adds a whole other layer, literally, to having a vintage item. Instead of getting something for the simple reason that it's old, you get a much richer understanding of the value of the item.
Extending this concept further, what if in addition to CarFax, you had a means of seeing pictures, videos or stories of the owners of a car before you bought it. In my case, you'd hear an passionate plea to the future owner to take care of what has been, for me, an outstanding car. My baby as it were. Having a story makes the car personal, it imbues it with character beyond what can be gleaned from a superficial inspection.
Comments [0]